Chapter 4759 — An Arc of Lightning Pierces the Sky

"All right, I'll fire up the cauldron and refine the pill right now." Wei Zhao promptly had Ning Xuefei find him a dedicated pill-refining chamber, and once he had laid out all the necessary materials he made ready to begin. Seeing this, Huo Yudie hurried off to fetch her own Thunder Mystic Vine. Though Wei Zhao actually had more of it than she did, this pill was being refined on her account, and she felt that, in all fairness, the vine ought to come from her.

Since Huo Yudie insisted, Wei Zhao did not press the matter. He had already come to regard her as one of his own, and for one of his own, whatever fine things came his way in the future would be shared with her. Whose Thunder Mystic Vine they used this time hardly mattered.

To refine a Thunder Mystic Pill, beyond the core ingredient of Thunder Mystic Vine, one also needed a whole array of supplementary materials of every description. Wei Zhao's store of supplies, though already taking decent shape, was not quite complete. As luck would have it, among the heap of rare treasures he had extorted from Scarface earlier, the two missing materials were both to be found, and so everything was in readiness.

As Wei Zhao sorted the materials and adjusted his condition, Huo Yudie and the others watched from a distance, scarcely daring to breathe too loudly for fear of disturbing him.

Nothing is more detrimental during pill refinement than outside interference; ideally, Wei Zhao would have shut himself away alone to work. But this time was special—Han Jingyi needed to be on hand to monitor things—so he simply let Huo Yudie and the rest come in to watch the excitement. They were all his people, after all, and each of them knew how to conduct herself.

After checking off the Thunder Mystic Vine and the various supplementary materials one by one and placing them all into the Divine Farmer's Cauldron, Wei Zhao drew a deep breath and set the refining process in motion.

Listening to Han Jingyi's voice issuing from the tablet, Huo Yudie could not help but widen her eyes. Beside her, however, Ning Xuefei and Shangguan Lan'er both wore expressions of perfect indifference; they had witnessed Wei Zhao refining pills long ago. Just as Wei Zhao had said, they were already used to it.

Everything proceeded normally, and the tablet quickly calculated the refinement curve. Wei Zhao examined it closely and at once discovered that this curve was utterly different from those of his previous attempts.

His earlier attempts, though not Thunder Mystic Pills, had all been seventh-grade pills as well. At first glance their refinement curves looked wildly dissimilar, yet they shared one thing in common: the early and middle stages were intricate and tortuous, but once they reached the later stage, every single one of them turned into a classic, most pleasing arc—without exception.

This time was different. The curve was not only turbulent through the early and middle stages, but in the later stage it grew obscure and unfathomable, winding and convoluted to the extreme. Set beside those classic arcs of previous attempts, it was downright hideous to behold.

Wei Zhao instinctively turned to glance at Han Jingyi. Seeing her give him a nod, his heart settled at once, and a faint understanding began to dawn on him.

The reason those earlier refinement curves had been so beautiful was that they had been derived purely from data projection—a perfect curve existing only in the ideal, one that could never exist in reality. To follow such a castle-in-the-air ideal curve single-mindedly, it would have been a wonder if the refinement had not gone wrong.

Reassured, Wei Zhao immediately channeled his true qi according to the tablet's instructions, and the Divine Farmer's Cauldron began to hum. Every one of the women except Han Jingyi could not help but show tension on her face; Huo Yudie in particular felt her heart pounding. Success or failure in this refinement bore directly on her lifelong happiness. It absolutely must not fail!

Everyone knew that each step up in pill grade meant a steep rise in refinement difficulty—not a doubling or tripling, but at least tenfold or a hundredfold, and for certain special pills perhaps even a thousandfold. The gap was far wider than that between cultivation levels; otherwise high-grade alchemists would not be so exceedingly rare.

Every grade apart was a chasm all but impossible to cross. Across Cloud Terrace Island, outside of the Eastern Continent, third- and fourth-grade alchemists were not exactly uncommon, but by the fifth and sixth grades they had already become the prized retainers that every faction vied to court. As for seventh-grade alchemists, only the very top powers could boast one—and only ever a single one—their status utterly transcendent.

Though Huo Yudie had come to harbor an almost blind faith in Wei Zhao, in her heart she truly had not the slightest confidence that he could refine a Thunder Mystic Pill. If it were so easy to make, her master would never have been so troubled, never have stooped to haggling with a man like Ren Zhongyuan.

Whether or not the Thunder Mystic Pill could be refined, Huo Yudie was already deeply moved simply to see Wei Zhao willing to strive so hard on her behalf. As for what to do if it failed—well, they would have to cross that bridge when they came to it.

Time crept by, and everyone's nerves stayed strung tight. Now and then the Divine Farmer's Cauldron would stir with some strange movement, giving Wei Zhao and Huo Yudie and the others a fright each time. Once in particular, electric arcs came darting wildly all over the room, as though heavenly thunder had descended upon them, giving everyone a thorough scare.

A single careless moment in refining a Thunder Mystic Pill could burst the cauldron—and that was no idle saying. At that moment Wei Zhao had even been prepared to forcibly withdraw his true qi and flee with the women to safety. Fortunately the episode lasted only an instant; the startling arcs raced about for a while and then swiftly dissolved into nothing, which finally let everyone breathe a little easier.

For a full day and night, Wei Zhao and the others somehow got through to the end without mishap. To cultivators of their level, such a span of time was hardly long, yet the entire process had been one of constant dread, with the Divine Farmer's Cauldron stirring every so often and even spitting dangerous arcs of lightning. This was no pill cauldron—it was a time bomb!

Such mental strain was truly more than an ordinary person could bear. With a slightly weaker constitution, a total breakdown on the spot would not have been out of the question.

Fortunately, their minds proved sturdy enough. At the tablet's chime announcing the end of the refinement, and at the sight of the Divine Farmer's Cauldron falling completely still, Wei Zhao and the others exchanged a lingering, fearful glance and let out a long breath in unison.

"Little junior brother, quick, see if it worked!" Shangguan Lan'er urged impatiently, and the others all wore looks of eager expectation as well.

Huo Yudie especially—though she had held no hope for it at the start, now that the moment had truly arrived she could not help but cherish a sliver of luck. The whole process had looked so very impressive—what if it really had succeeded?!

Drawing a deep breath, Wei Zhao slowly lifted the lid of the Divine Farmer's Cauldron. Before he could lean over to look inside, a deep blue electric arc shot skyward, sending the women into a chorus of startled screams as they rushed forward to see whether Wei Zhao had been hurt.