Chapter 172: Heaven Realm!
"Swoosh—"
Figure after figure clad in armor, spears in hand, flew over and stood guard in the central area of the square. Formidable auras radiated from the many guards.
Sharp gazes, as keen as those of eagles, continuously swept back and forth over the surroundings, preventing any would-be troublemakers.
"My, my—the Pill Tower has certainly put on quite a grand display this time. If that Jiang Yun cannot surpass the masses with his skill and convince the entire world, won't the Pill Tower have lost face for nothing?"
On a distant building, the figures of Gu Qingyang and several others were prominently present. Among them, a man clad in silver robes cast a frivolous, mocking glance toward the field and spoke with ill intent.
"He won't." A calm, steady voice rang out. The man followed the sound and looked over, only to see Gu Qingyang, Gu Zhen, and the others who had met Jiang Yun before all staring at the field with solemn expressions.
"I'd like to see just what kind of person can make you, Big Brother and the rest, admire him so!" Seeing the expressions of Gu Qingyang and the others, the man put away his flippant attitude and stared down at the scene below with a serious expression.
"Look over there—it seems a few rather interesting fellows have arrived!" Just then, someone else pointed into the distance and spoke with keen interest.
The group followed the gaze. There stood several figures with the pattern of a medicinal gourd inscribed on their foreheads, their entire bodies carrying the faint fragrance of pills. They gazed down at the crowd below with faces full of arrogance.
They were precisely members of the Yao clan—descendants of the Yao Emperor, the only person on the Dou Qi Continent who, aside from being a Dou Di expert, had also been an Emperor Realm alchemist.
The Yao clan's strength ranked in the middle tier among the seven great imperial clans, possessing two Mystic Pill Grandmasters: Yao Dan and Yao Wanhuo. It could be said that after the Pill Tower's decline a thousand years ago, it was the Yao clan that truly represented the highest level of alchemy on the Dou Qi Continent.
And in the vicinity of the Yao clan, a group of Yan clan members, with flame markings on their foreheads, had also arrived. The Yan clan's members were almost all fire-attribute cultivators. Thanks to their vast numbers,
The Yan clan could be called the clan with the most alchemists aside from the Yao clan. Their curiosity toward Jiang Yun was second only to the Yao clan's.
For this pill refinement by Jiang Yun, three of the seven great imperial clans had come. This was somewhat beyond everyone's expectations.
"Fizz, fizz..."
Just then, the space before the square suddenly began to twist rapidly. A spatial passageway slowly took form under the countless watching gazes.
The moment the spatial passageway took shape, it brought with it a rich, peculiar medicinal fragrance. Then, figure after figure appeared within everyone's line of sight.
It was precisely the three great heads of the Pill Tower, the four remaining elders of the Small Pill Tower, and the protagonist of this event—Jiang Yun. Eight people in total.
"I never imagined the Small Pill Tower's elders would also attend. I recall that during the previous ceremony, none of the Small Pill Tower's seniors appeared?"
"Jiang Yun is, after all, different from the previous candidate heads. He himself is already a full-fledged 'major figure.' He can't be judged by the old standards."
"Indeed. Jiang Yun has already fully matured. I'm afraid he is in no way inferior to Xuan Kongzi and the other two. Judging by past standards, he is fully qualified to assume the position of a true head."
"I heard the Pill Tower Ancestor personally appeared during the great battle. I wonder if we'll be fortunate enough to see this legendary figure..."
A clamor of whispered discussions rose from below. Xuan Kongzi and the others arrived at an area already filled with seated elders and took their seats, leaving the stage to Jiang Yun.
The elders here were all alchemists who lived in seclusion within the Small Pill Tower—all at least at the eighth-tier level.
"Xuan Kongzi... Tian Leizi... and... Xuan Yi!" In a corner of the crowd, Yao Chen, residing within Xiao Yan, stared blankly at those familiar figures. For a moment, he was lost in a daze.
"Teacher..." Xiao Yan spoke with some worry.
"It's nothing. Xiao Yanzi, watch carefully. That kid Jiang Yun is definitely going to cause a major commotion!" Yao Chen regained his composure and spoke with a grave expression as he looked at Jiang Yun.
To Yao Chen, who had narrowly escaped death and had thoroughly comprehended the profound mysteries of the Heaven Realm, Jiang Yun's soul realm was, in his eyes, simply inconceivable. He had spent a hundred years of effort to reach this step. He never imagined Jiang Yun would have accomplished it in his twenties.
"Heh heh... The expressions on your faces right now should be quite interesting!" Seeming to think of something, Yao Chen looked in the direction of the Yao clan and chuckled with ill intent.
"Heaven Realm..."
The Yao clan members had fallen into silence the moment Jiang Yun appeared. After a period of silence, one of the elders murmured in disbelief.
"No—he hasn't fully broken through to the Heaven Realm yet. It's only half-step!" Very quickly, the elder shook his head, a trace of relief actually appearing in his heart.
The moment these words were spoken, the Yao clan members still stared at Jiang Yun's figure in disbelief. They had never imagined that while their own younger generation's genius, Yao Tian, was still circling within the Spirit Realm, the other party was already on the verge of breaking through to the Heaven Realm.
The gap between them was simply the difference between heaven and earth!
"Heh heh... A soul about to break through to the Heaven Realm. What a remarkable young man. I'm very curious right now to see the looks on those Yao clan fellows' faces!" Among the Yan clan, a middle-aged man with fiery-red eyebrows looked in the Yao clan's direction with schadenfreude.
"Sigh—even knowing beforehand, even having mentally prepared for it, seeing it in person... it's still somewhat hard to believe!"
Hearing this, the Yan clan members nodded involuntarily. Too young. So young that it made one somewhat incredulous.
"So this is the person who made Brother Qingyang take notice?" The Gu clan's silver-robed youth now looked at Jiang Yun with a grave expression. "I truly wonder—that Yun Yi, who stands equal in fame with him, just how terrifying must he be?"
Hearing this, the Gu clan members felt their hearts sink. Jiang Yun was one thing—he had no enmity with the Gu clan. But Yun Yi—there was real trouble.
"Dong!!!"
An ancient bell toll suddenly resounded through this stretch of heaven and earth. The majestic, sweeping sound of the bell spread throughout the entire square, finally rippling outward across the vast expanse of Holy Pill City.
"It's begun!"
After the bell toll resounded, everyone's bodies jolted. Solemnly, they gazed at Jiang Yun in the center of the square.
The pill refinement—had begun!
Jiang Yun's eyes were bright. The pure-white Undying Sacred Flame swept forth from within his body. Instantly, all fire-attribute cultivators present in the field stared at Jiang Yun with expressions of shock.
"It's a heavenly flame!"
"When a heavenly flame emerges, ten thousand flames pay homage..."
"I never imagined Jiang Yun actually possessed a heavenly flame!"
"But... it doesn't seem to be any of the heavenly flames on the Heavenly Flame List. Could a new heavenly flame have been born between heaven and earth?"
Paying no heed to the discussions in the field, Jiang Yun swept his palm across the void before him. Ingredient after ingredient flew out from his ring in an endless stream, densely packing the space above his head. At a rough glance, they probably numbered close to a thousand. Everyone who saw this could not help but click their tongues.
With a beckoning wave, Jiang Yun brought out the Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron, causing eyes to redden with envy. Fire dragons coiled around the cauldron, and low, deep dragon roars resounded as if tangible. In that instant, the temperature between heaven and earth rapidly soared.
"Go..."
In the next moment, everyone watched as, under Jiang Yun's control, ingredient after ingredient flowed like running water into the medicinal cauldron.
"What terrifyingly fast ingredient refinement speed!"
Seeing this scene, the eyelids of every alchemist present could not help but twitch. Refining ingredient after ingredient so rapidly—was that truly reasonable?
It had to be known that for nearly a thousand kinds of ingredients, the components that needed to be extracted from each were completely different. Such swift, seemingly cursory refinement—could it really work?
In the time that followed, Jiang Yun used practical action to tell everyone: it could!
Within the medicinal cauldron, as if inside a colossal furnace, every few minutes, small clusters of flame shot out from the fiery cauldron, ultimately hovering and revolving around it.
Within these flame clusters, medicinal liquids and powders of different colors were respectively wrapped. These were all refining materials purified to the purest possible degree.
As time passed, the flame clusters hovering around Jiang Yun grew more and more numerous. Densely packed, they made Jiang Yun appear as if he were standing amidst a sea of fire.
On the square, the many alchemists gazed at those pill-refining techniques in the sky—as fluid as drifting clouds and flowing water. All revealed expressions of entranced fascination, the fervent zeal in their eyes blazing brightly.
"Teacher, can you tell what pill Jiang Yun is refining?" Xiao Yan was similarly intoxicated, lost in it all. What set him apart from others was that he had a teacher who was also an eighth-tier, nine-color alchemist explaining by his side.
Unable to suppress the curiosity in his heart, Xiao Yan couldn't resist asking.
"I don't know either. In my memory, there is no pill that matches this at all!" After a moment of silence, Yao Chen's somewhat low voice rang out.
"However, judging by the current situation, the commotion won't be small!"
Nodding, Xiao Yan looked at Jiang Yun with a face full of anticipation. This was the highest-grade pill whose birth he had ever witnessed.
The same question similarly arose in the minds of the Yao clan, the Yan clan, and the others. Yet still, not a single person knew what pill Jiang Yun was refining.
Two days later, the refinement of the ingredients finally neared its end. Jiang Yun opened his eyes and gazed at the densely packed flame clusters suspended around the medicinal cauldron. Letting out a deep breath, he lightly waved his hand. The many flame clusters immediately shot back into the cauldron.
Immediately afterward, a shocking energy fluctuation spread madly outward from within the cauldron, so much so that even the Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron was shaken until it hummed and buzzed.
Seeing this, the light in Jiang Yun's eyes blazed brilliantly. No one else saw that within the medicinal cauldron, the Undying Sacred Flame had released a mass of pure soul origin into the medicinal liquid.
That was the fruit of his plundering of the four Earth Abyss Halls. He had absorbed a portion, but a portion still remained. He intended to refine it into this eighth-tier, nine-color Soul-Shaping Pill.
To break through to the Heaven Realm soul in a single bound!
"Condense—"
With a light shout from Jiang Yun, the purple medicinal liquid within the cauldron was instantly covered with a strange, wondrous luster, radiating mysterious, extraordinary fluctuations.
"He's successfully merged the pill!"
At the same moment, this identical thought streaked through countless minds.
"Pill Condensation!!!"
Jiang Yun's hand seals continuously transformed. An astonishing energy fluctuation spread out between heaven and earth. An aura of terrifying might radiated outward from within the Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron.
"Boom!!!"
Just then, a resounding, thunderous boom suddenly rang out in the sky. Then, everyone felt as if this entire stretch of heaven and earth had suddenly darkened. In the sky above, thunderclouds rapidly gathered from all directions.
"The pill lightning has appeared! That kid Jiang Yun has succeeded!" Watching the pill lightning converge, Xuan Kongzi and the others spoke with excitement.
"Boom!!!"
In the blink of an eye, nine colors appeared simultaneously. In that single instant, the very winds and clouds changed color. Everything within a radius of a hundred li was intensely affected.
"To think it's actually a nine-colored divine pill!"
Looking at the thunderclouds in the sky, voices of utter disbelief rang out one after another. The Yao clan members, in particular, stared blankly at the familiar yet foreign thunderclouds in the sky. At this moment, how dearly they wished that it was not them who had come!
"Heh heh... A nine-colored pill, was it? Jiang Yun truly didn't disappoint. Next, leave it to this old man!"
The Grand Elder, who had been watching for a long time, instantly broke into a beaming smile the moment the thunderclouds condensed. Rising to his feet, he spoke with a face full of ease.
But just then, under the dumbstruck gazes of the crowd, Jiang Yun calmly looked up at the nine-colored pill lightning in the sky. In the next instant, he opened his mouth and sucked. That pill, which had just emerged from the furnace, was swallowed directly into his belly by Jiang Yun in a single gulp.
As the pill entered his body, even the pill lightning in the sky seemed to pause for a fraction of a moment, as if it had never conceived of such a situation.
Terrifying medicinal power erupted from within Jiang Yun's body. A purple, illusory figure slowly materialized behind him, radiating a soul pressure that seized the heart.
"The true pressure of the Heaven Realm!"
Sensing the soul pressure that pervaded the field, quite a few elders instantly had this thought flash through their minds.
"To think it was actually a pill for breaking through the soul realm! That kid Jiang Yun wants to forcefully batter open the gates to the Heaven Realm in one go!"
The appearance of the purple phantom seemed to give the pill lightning in the sky a target. With a resounding, thunderous boom, a nine-colored bolt of lightning slashed straight toward Jiang Yun's brow.
"Heavenly Dragon Eight Tones!"
Jiang Yun's hand seals flickered with lightning speed. The soul power within his brow surged forth violently. The purple soul phantom instantly erupted with a terrifying divine light. In the next instant, a dreadful, strange fluctuation erupted from its mouth like a storm!
"Roar—"
A terrifying dragon roar shot toward the pill lightning in the sky. This entire stretch of heaven and earth seemed, in that single instant, to fall utterly silent.
A split second later, the nine-colored thunderbolt, still in mid-descent, shattered with a thunderous boom. And the thunderclouds in the sky, under the impact of that dreadful sound wave, instantly dispersed and vanished.
"Weng—"
Waves of humming reverberated beside everyone's ears. A sensation of dizziness washed over their minds. When they came back to their senses, they discovered that the thunderclouds in the sky had already dissipated.
And Jiang Yun stood there with an utterly calm expression, his entire aura perfectly tranquil, as if everything that had just occurred had been nothing but an illusion.
"Just now, that was?" Coming back to their senses, countless people stared at Jiang Yun's back with shock and uncertainty.
"A soul attack!"
Some people's expressions were grave. Soul attacks were not nonexistent nowadays, but they were still exceedingly rare. They never imagined Jiang Yun actually possessed such a method. That strike just now—even though it wasn't directed at them, they had still felt a wave of dizziness wash over them. It was simply terrifying.
This soul attack was at least a high-grade Earth Class technique!
Quite a few people inwardly formed this initial assessment of Jiang Yun's soul attack.
"A little fellow who brings surprises at every turn!" The Grand Elder looked at the dispersed thunderclouds, then gazed at Jiang Yun with a face full of wonder.
Unlike the Grand Elder, the members of the Gu clan, the Yan clan, and the Yao clan looked at Jiang Yun with gazes that had instantly become much heavier. Jiang Yun was simply powerful in every aspect, without any dead angles whatsoever.
An opponent like this was truly enough to drive one to despair!
At the same time, a thought surfaced in their hearts: in the days to come, they absolutely must not make an enemy of Jiang Yun!
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