Chapter 53: Welfare of Demonic Sect
The cultivator appeared to be in his late twenties, but as soon as he flicked his sleeve and settled into a seated position, his voice rasped like that of an old man—dry and weathered, like the pages of ancient scrolls.
After a few polite pleasantries, he cut straight to the chase. "Over the past few days, I've walked you through every step of alchemying the Bone Tempering Pill. Today, I'll iginite the flame onto Dao Furnace right here and let you witness the entire process from start to finish. During this demonstration, there will be no talking, no interruptions. Once the alchemy is complete, you'll have five free chances to ask questions."
With that, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a palm-sized Dao Furnace. With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed it into the air. Mid-flight, the furnace began to swell, growing rapidly until it transformed into a three-legged bronze cauldron, half the height of a man. Its dark body shimmered with flecks of silver, intricately carved with motifs of demons and ghosts. The lid, shaped like a pagoda, added an air of mystique to the already imposing artifact.
The moment the cauldron landed on the platform, the temperature in the hall seemed to drop. A faint shiver crept through the air.
The senior cultivator formed a hand seal with practiced ease, and a ghostly blue flame blossomed to life before him—cold, desolate, and eerily silent. It slithered beneath the furnace, licking the bronze surface with a patient, almost predatory grace.
"This," he began, his voice carrying the weight of experience, "is a seventh-tier Dao Flame, a rare treasure I stumbled upon in my youth. Consider it a stroke of fate." As he spoke, he began pulling out various medicinal herbs and unknown metals from his sleeve, arranging them meticulously on the platform. "None of you have acquired a Dao Flame yet, and that's fine. But if you ever do and it's only a ninth-tier flame, don't waste your time struggling with it. Instead, rent an alchemy lab here on Alchemy Peak. The C-grade and above labs are equipped with array formations that can tap directly into the Nether Fire at the core of our mountain. It's a far superior flame for alchemy. Even the D-grade labs aren't useless—you can purchase Nether Fire sealed in Dao Fulu. Trust me, Nether Fire is among the finest ninth-tier Dao flames you'll find."
Lordi Payne's eyes were locked on the scene, his mind racing to absorb every detail. He didn't understand half of what was being said, but he knew this was knowledge he couldn't afford to miss. The senior cultivator wasn't going to give him a private lecture, so all he could do was memorize everything and hope to piece it together later with the help of his fellow sect comrades.
As he watched intently, a blood-curdling scream pierced the air—sharp, wretched, and utterly unnerving.
Lordi Payne's head spun, and when his vision cleared, he saw the senior cultivator holding a blurry mass of flesh and blood, his expression calm and unbothered.
"Well, these," the cultivator said, holding up the grotesque mass, "are Ghost Placenta. They're one of the most challenging materials to pre-process, as I mentioned earlier. Theirs wails attack your soul, and for Qi Refinement cultivators like you guys, it can easily overwhelm you in a blink of an eye. That's why you must precisely follow the steps that I've taught you."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the room. "If you find the pre-process of this type of raw material too difficult, don't fret. Head to the Alchemy Peak market and look for stalls with a flag bearing the character 'Y.' They sell pre-processed Ghost Placenta. Mention my name—Yearn Goul—and you'll get a discount."