5 Chapter 5: Refining Pills in Pill Square

"Young Master, did you oversleep today?"

Zhang Yibai looked at Long Yan with a strange expression and blurted out his question.

This was probably the longest time Long Yan had ever spent in the practice room. He used to never stay for more than an hour. Who knew what he was doing?

Practicing?

Rubbish, Long Yan would only practice if the world were upside down and rivers flowed backward.

Slap!

A black mark appeared on Long Yan's forehead as he gave Zhang Yibai a resounding smack: "Am I really that hopeless?"

"Hehe, of course not. In my heart, Young Master is the most wise and invincible."

Zhang Yibai rubbed the back of his head and chuckled.

Today's events at Drunken Red Mansion and Wanbao Trading Company had greatly changed his view of Long Yan.

"That seems about right."

Long Yan snorted lightly, appreciating Zhang Yibai's unwavering loyalty to him.

"Come on, attack me with all your strength, let me see if there's been any progress in your powers?"

"What?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yibai looked at Long Yan with an odd expression. As Long Yan's close guard, he had reached the True Martial Realm Fifth Level, and now Long Yan was asking him to attack with full force.

"Young Master, you're courting death."

"What are you waiting for? If you can knock me back, I'll reward you with One Hundred Spirit Stones."

Long Yan said.

"One Hundred Spirit Stones."

Heavy rewards lead to brave warriors.

Zhang Yibai swallowed hard and said, "Young Master, you're asking for trouble. Those One Hundred Spirit Stones are as good as mine."

With that, Zhang Yibai activated his True Qi and attacked Long Yan with a palm strike. Although his move seemed fierce, he was holding back a bit. If he really injured Long Yan, even ten of his heads wouldn't be enough to atone for the offense.

"One Hundred Spirit Stones, here I come!"

Zhang Yibai was very confident and secretly delighted. Long Yan had always kept his promises - One Hundred Spirit Stones would soon be his.

"How is this possible!?"

However, what transpired next left him dumbfounded.

He couldn't even see how Long Yan had counterattacked. Long Yan's hand gripped his fist like an iron clamp, stopping his forward momentum with an immense force.

Zhang Yibai was shocked. Although he had held back a bit, there was no way anyone below True Martial Realm Fourth Level could withstand his attack. Moreover, he had felt Long Yan hadn't even used his full power.

"Young Master, when did you become so strong?"

Zhang Yibai's shocked mouth could fit an egg inside.

It should be known that Long Yan had not even reached True Martial Level 1, and was considered a cultivation waste. Yet now, he was showing the strength of at least True Martial Realm Fifth Level.

"I've always been strong, I just keep a low profile. I'll only get stronger."

Long Yan's mouth curved into a smile. If he used his full power, even a True Martial Sixth Level might not be his match: "Let's go, follow me to the Pill Square."

"Oh."

Zhang Yibai woodenly replied, then suddenly he exclaimed, "Young Master, what are you going to the Pill Square for, are you going to steal elixirs again?"

Stealing elixirs was something Long Yan had done more than once in the past, with Zhang Yibai always taking the blame. He had been beaten half to death several times, so he had secretly vowed never to help Long Yan steal elixirs again.

Slap!

As soon as Zhang Yibai's words left his mouth, Long Yan delivered another smack on his forehead.

"Would this young master need to steal elixirs?"

The Nine Suns Divine Cauldron is a pill refining artifact. When he became a Martial Venerable, it had broken through the Sixth Layer of Prohibition, enabling it to easily refine Sixth-grade Pills without any impurities. Even a Pill God would struggle to create such elixirs.

Zhang Yibai rubbed his head and looked innocently at Long Yan. Indeed, Long Yan had just made ten thousand spirit stones, so there was no need for him to risk stealing elixirs.

If he knew that those Ten Thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones had already been completely consumed by Long Yan, who knows what kind of expression he would have made?

The Long and Lin Families were the two hegemons in Ling Wu City. Although Wanbao Trading Company was a massive force, it only occupied part of the city's pill market. For the Long and Lin Families, elixirs were their main source of income.

The Long Family had a Second-Grade Pill Refiner, Long Kun, the only one in the family. Although he was from a sideline family branch, his status in the Long Family was very high. In addition, he was a Spiritual Martial Seventh Level expert, and he was in charge of the Long Family's Pill Square.

It took Long Yan and Zhang Yibai a quarter of an hour to reach the Long family's Pill Square.

Pill Square was an important place, with many high-level guards stationed around. As soon as Long Yan and Zhang Yibai approached the Pill Square, they attracted the attention of those guards.

When Long Yan comes to Pill Square, it was bound to be for no good reason.

"Third Young Master, what are you here for?"

A middle-aged man wearing a hundred-pound heavy armor stepped forward and indifferently looked at Long Yan. While calling Long Yan "Third Young Master," his face showed no respect.

This man was named Zhao Baichuan, a captain of the Long Family's guards, with the strength of Spiritual Martial Boundary.

"I'm here to refine pills."

Long Yan didn't lift his head and spoke lightly.

"Refine pills?"

"Hahaha..."

Zhao Baichuan paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Third Young Master, you should stop teasing me. You're good at consuming pills, but refining? I think you should forget about it."

Over the years, the elixirs wasted on Long Yan could have trained several others to reach Spiritual Martial Boundary.

"Exactly, I think you're here to pretend to refine pills, but actually to steal them."

"We can't let him in. If he steals elixirs again, our wages for this month will be wasted."

The other guards were also resentful. Several times they had had their wages deducted because Long Yan had stolen elixirs.

"Third Young Master, please turn back. This is not a place you should be."

Zhao Baichuan said.

"What if I insist on going in?"

Long Yan slightly raised his head, directing his gaze at Zhao Baichuan.

"If you insist on going in, it's not impossible. However, you must first get past me."

Zhao Baichuan looked at Long Yan with a smirk. Since he had nothing better to do, he didn't mind teaching this prodigal a lesson.

"This is what you said."

Long Yan's mouth curled up in a smile.

In that instant, Zhao Baichuan only felt that his vision blurred, and Long Yan seemingly disappeared like a ghost.

"Captain Zhao, does this count?"

Long Yan's playful voice came from behind Zhao Baichuan.

"This..."

Zhao Baichuan turned around and saw Long Yan's indifferent face, but his heart was filled with waves. Long Yan's speed was too fast, so fast that he couldn't even see it clearly.

"How did you do that?"

"You guess?"

Long Yan chuckled and walked into the Pill Square.

"Too much Black Bone Powder."

As soon as he stepped in, he smelled a strange scent and immediately shouted.

Bang!

Just as he finished speaking, a loud noise of a pill explosion came from the alchemy room ahead. A figure rushed out from the thick smoke, with unkempt and dirty appearance, with smoke rising from his messy chicken-style hair - who else could it be but Long Kun?

"It was clearly right, why did the pill explode?"

Long Kun casually waved away the smoke, his thoughts trapped deep in contemplation.

"You added several times more Black Bone Powder; it would be strange if the pill didn't explode,"

Long Yan said.

"You brat, how dare you show up here? I will break your dog legs!"

Seeing Long Yan, Long Kun's rage shot up immediately.

He had finally figured out the ratio of medicinal materials needed to refine the Spiritual Core Elixir. As long as he could successfully refine the Spiritual Core Elixir, he could reach the level of refining 2nd-grade Middle-tier pills, and get one step closer to becoming a Third-grade Pill Refiner.

"By the way, what did you just say? Too much Black Bone Powder?"

Suddenly remembering something, Long Kun released a burst of momentum, locking onto Long Yan.