Chapter Thirty-Five: The Grand Tournament Begins

Yang Xiao once again chose the ninth secret chamber as he entered the Earthfire Vein. In truth, not many disciples of the Giant Spirit Sect came here to refine pills. Most of the ordinary disciples had limited alchemy skills and would only perform simple processing of a few spiritual herbs to concoct basic medicinal elixirs. Their sessions were brief and unsophisticated.

As for the more talented disciples, the sect allocated them a monthly supply of pills beneficial to their cultivation. They spent their days absorbed in training and rarely bothered to refine their own medicines. For all these reasons, few disciples actually used the Earthfire Vein, and most of its nine secret chambers remained vacant. When Yang Xiao arrived, the ninth chamber was unoccupied, so the two guards promptly handed him its numbered token.

Once inside, Yang Xiao took out the recipe for the Guangling Pill. This pill was a mid-grade spiritual elixir, far superior to the lesser Soaring Dragon Pill recipe he had obtained from the marketplace. The two burly men sent by Xing Wu Tian to ambush him, Yang Xiao deduced, were after his Soaring Dragon Pill recipe. Yet, curiously, these men carried with them the recipe for the superior Guangling Pill—a mocking irony for Xing Wu Tian, who likely had no idea such a thing was within their possession. Had he known, he would have never let them carry it so freely.

As for the two men's identities, they were not ordinary rogue cultivators, but neither could they have been members of the Black Tortoise Sect. It was clear they acted for profit and not out of loyalty to Xing Wu Tian; nor did they bear the sect's insignia. After some thought, Yang Xiao pieced together the matter with reasonable clarity.

However, the precise relationship between Xing Wu Tian and those two interceptors was not his immediate concern. Yang Xiao's focus was now entirely on refining the Guangling Pill, hoping it would break through his recent stagnation and propel his cultivation forward once more.

For rapid advancement, his only option was to craft a superior pill to replace the Spiritual Nurturing Pill he had used before. This newly acquired Guangling Pill recipe was precisely what he needed.

Once all the required ingredients were prepared, Yang Xiao placed them into the cauldron and began skillfully manipulating the intensity of the earthfire. During the process, he also summoned a sliver of light from the mysterious jade fragment in his dantian, enveloping the cauldron to preserve the spiritual essence of the herbs intact.

Ever since Yang Xiao had discovered the jade fragment's function, he had used it in the refining of the Spiritual Nurturing Pill, which dramatically improved its efficacy—elevating it from a low-grade elixir to a mid-grade one. Through repeated practice, he had mastered this technique. Now, in refining the Guangling Pill, everything flowed naturally. Yang Xiao only hoped that this pill, too, would be transformed, making its effects even more extraordinary.

Several hours later, the first batch of Guangling Pills was complete. To his astonishment, these pills were a full grade higher than described in the recipe. By Yang Xiao's estimation, they could now be classified as high-grade spiritual medicines, brimming with energy more potent than any he had encountered before.

"The power of the jade fragment is truly miraculous," Yang Xiao thought delightedly as he held the Guangling Pill in his hand. "It preserves the spiritual essence of the herbs almost perfectly, allowing me to create flawless pills beyond the reach of any other alchemist." With the jade fragment's aid, his alchemy had reached a level bordering on the miraculous, and his cultivation would benefit enormously.

A subtle fragrance wafted from the Guangling Pill, as if inviting one into a sacred world—a world that, for cultivators, was vaster and more profound than any other. Such a pill was indeed worthy of being called a high-grade spiritual elixir, just a step away from perfection. For most, the prospect of obtaining such a rare medicine was unthinkable. It was said that even a single high-grade pill could cause one's cultivation to soar, enabling a cultivator to advance several realms in a single leap.

Though the pill was finished, Yang Xiao dared not ingest it all at once. Its potency was simply too great; consuming it whole could result in his body exploding from the surging energy. Only by dividing the pill into several doses could he absorb its essence safely and to the greatest effect.

Thus, Yang Xiao split the first pill into four portions, consuming only a quarter at a time. Even this fraction contained far more spiritual power than any Spiritual Nurturing Pill he had used before. The absorption process was arduous, but after a full day, he succeeded in integrating the energy.

After absorbing the first pill in four doses, Yang Xiao's cultivation showed clear signs of improvement, filling him with elation. Typically, each advancement in realm grew more difficult, and progress slowed as one's power increased. Formerly, even with Spiritual Nurturing Pills, it would have taken a month or more for improvement. Now, with the Guangling Pill, just a few days brought noticeable growth—his rate of progress outstripping even the most gifted geniuses.

Naturally, no other genius could consume such quantities of rare pills so freely, one after another. Under these circumstances, it was impossible not to advance.

Having refined and absorbed the first Guangling Pill, Yang Xiao immediately began another, this time splitting it in two and consuming each half separately. As time went on, he continued to take more pills, refining and absorbing them with ever-increasing speed, and his cultivation soared to unprecedented heights.

In the blink of an eye, two months had passed. Yang Xiao had reached the eighth level of the Spirit Perception realm. His spiritual energy was so abundant that it overflowed and gathered around him in a massive aura that extended several meters in every direction—a phenomenon rarely seen even among ninth-level cultivators. Yet for Yang Xiao, it was a tangible reality; his power had reached a truly fearsome level.

At this time, the annual grand tournament was about to begin. Yang Xiao decided to pause his cultivation in the Earthfire Vein and participate in the competition. He was eager to achieve an impressive result, to prove to everyone that he would never again be seen as a "good-for-nothing."