Chapter 135: Starfall Flame Refinement Art

The next moment, Long Feng raised his hand and a cluster of purple-black flame slowly emerged from his palm.

Hiss!

The temperature in the courtyard suddenly rose.

The flame twisted in the air like a living creature, and within its depths, the vague silhouette of a gigantic python briefly appeared before disappearing again.

’This flame...’

Elder Zixuan’s expression finally changed. His eyes locked onto the flame.

As an eighth-rank alchemist, he had encountered countless strange flames throughout his long life, including flames belonging to powerful beasts or rare natural treasures.

Therefore, the appearance of a strange beast flame alone was not enough to surprise him.

What surprised him was that he could not recognize the origin of this flame.

’It resembles the flame of a serpent-type beast, at least a sixth-rank beast.’

A faint pressure hidden within the flame carried the characteristics of a powerful snake-like creature, yet Elder Zixuan could not determine exactly what kind of beast it came from.

A sixth-rank beast was equivalent to the human Nascent Soul Realm.

Yet even after searching through his memories, he could not recall any sixth-rank or higher serpent-type beast whose flame possessed these exact characteristics.

’Could it be some extremely rare bloodline variant?’

His gaze deepened.

The more he looked at Long Feng, the more he felt that this young man was not as simple as he appeared.

Long Feng, however, had already begun refining.

With a thought, the Hell Python Flame divided into several streams.

One entered the bottom of the cauldron, another spread along its inner walls, while the remaining flame hovered around his fingers.

His soul power spread throughout the cauldron, allowing him to clearly sense every change taking place within.

The temperature, the purity of the medicinal ingredients, the speed at which their medicinal properties were released, and even the subtle interactions between different medicinal energies were all reflected in his perception.

Long Feng adjusted the Hell Python Flame, increasing its temperature slightly before lowering it again almost immediately.

The entire change happened so smoothly that there was barely any fluctuation.

Elder Zixuan’s expression gradually became serious.

’His soul control is excellent and his spiritual energy...’

The moment Long Feng took action, his energy manifested in front of him. He was surprised to find that the quality of his spiritual energy was far purer, denser than his realm.

’This isn’t normal.’

Yet that was not the most surprising part.

As the refining continued, Long Feng’s movements became even more precise.

He separated the purified medicinal essences with his soul power and controlled each one independently before gradually bringing them together.

Every movement had a purpose. There was no wasted effort and no reckless increase in temperature.

’His refining technique is also extremely mature.’

Flame control could be improved through experience. Spiritual energy quality could be explained by a cultivation technique, special physique, or some other opportunity.

But refining skill was different.

It required years of accumulated experience.

Yet Long Feng’s movements were so natural that there was no trace of the awkwardness one would expect from a young fifth-rank alchemist.

’No fifth-rank alchemist should possess this level of refinement skill.’

Elder Zixuan’s gaze became increasingly serious.

He did not know that Long Feng’s current skill had little to do with ordinary fifth-rank alchemy knowledge.

The inheritance he had obtained from the seventh-rank alchemist contained countless techniques involving poison refinement, blood refinement, soul-related alchemy, and other dangerous methods.

But regardless of their nature, the person who had left that inheritance had been a seventh-rank alchemist.

The understanding of medicinal properties, purification, fusion, flame control, temperature control, timing, and soul manipulation accumulated by such an alchemist could not simply disappear because the inheritance focused on evil arts.

Long Feng had inherited that knowledge and experience.

Although he had never refined this exact fifth-rank Energy Gathering Pill before, the fundamental principles of alchemy were not unfamiliar to him.

A fifth-rank pill was still an alchemical pill.

The medicinal properties and spiritual energy requirements were different, and the difficulty was naturally greater, but the underlying principles remained the same.

The medicinal essences gradually merged.

"Form it!"

Long Feng calmly controlled the Hell Python Flame, allowing the different energies to become harmonious without damaging their individual medicinal properties.

Then, the final fusion began. The Hell Python Flame suddenly surged upward.

BOOM!

The cauldron trembled slightly.

The purified medicinal essences had already reached their most delicate stage. Now they needed to be fused together while maintaining their medicinal properties.

A single mistake at this point could destroy the entire batch.

Long Feng’s soul power became denser as he compressed and controlled the flame with increasing precision.

His fingers moved several times, each movement subtly changing the structure of the flame.

Long Feng’s soul power had become so precise that the Hell Python Flame seemed almost like an extension of his consciousness.

The medicinal fragrance inside the cauldron gradually became richer.

Then everything suddenly became still.

Long Feng withdrew his hand, and the Hell Python Flame disappeared. He slowly opened the lid and a rich medicinal fragrance immediately spread throughout the courtyard.

Looking at the three golden-red pills quietly rested inside, a smile appeared on his face as he took out.

Elder Zixuan stared at the pills. For a moment, he did not speak.

The Energy Gathering Pill was not an extremely complicated fifth-rank pill, but refining it at fifth rank was still considerably difficult.

Even experienced fifth-rank alchemists would generally produce only one or two pills from a single batch.

Three pills was already the maximum possible from the prepared ingredients.

And Long Feng had produced all three on his first attempt without making a single mistake.

Long Feng turned around and handed the pills over.

"Elder Zixuan, this."

Elder Zixuan accepted them and carefully examined each one.

The surface was smooth, the medicinal fragrance was pure, and the energy contained within the pills was extremely stable. There was almost no impurity.

His eyes flickered.

’Three perfect fifth-rank pills.’

Yet he did not praise Long Feng.

Instead, he calmly said, "Your refining ability is acceptable."

Long Feng’s mouth twitched slightly.

’Acceptable?’

He had refined three fifth-rank pills on his first attempt, and even he felt that the word was somewhat stingy.

Still, he did not complain.

Elder Zixuan placed the pills aside.

"Your flame control is excellent. Your soul power is unusually strong, and your refining ability is far beyond what I expected from a fifth-rank alchemist."

He paused briefly before continuing.

"But there is one problem."

Long Feng’s expression became serious.

"What problem?"

"You don’t know any proper flame-control technique."

Elder Zixuan continued, "Your control is entirely dependent on your soul power and your understanding of the flame. There is no systematic flame-control method behind your movements."

Long Feng remained silent for a moment before honestly nodding.

"Because I don’t have one."

He scratched his cheek slightly.

Alchemy depends on many things. Cultivation technique, alchemy knowledge, refining experience, soul control, flame quality, and flame-control techniques all matter.

He have methods for some of those aspects, but unfortunately, his inheritance didn’t contain a proper flame-control technique.

If he had one, his combat ability would probably be much better. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been forced to fight so passively against Han Tianyu.

Elder Zixuan stared at him for several breaths. Then, without warning, he raised his hand.

Long Feng’s expression changed. Before he could react, Elder Zixuan pointed one finger toward his forehead. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

A powerful wave of soul energy rushed forward.

Long Feng instinctively became alert, but the moment that soul energy entered between his eyebrows, he realized there was no killing intent.

Instead, an enormous amount of information poured directly into his mind.

Images, words, diagrams, cultivation principles, and detailed explanations of flame control rapidly appeared in his consciousness.

After several breaths, the information finally stabilized.

Long Feng immediately began sorting through it. His expression slowly changed.

’This is...’

It was a flame-control technique named Starfall Flame Refinement Art.

Long Feng’s eyes flickered.

The technique focused on compressing flame layer by layer, forcing countless layers of flame inward until they formed a tiny, star-like core.

Rather than allowing the flame to spread freely, the user continuously compressed it, stabilizing the innermost flame while increasing its temperature and destructive power.

The technique was equally useful in alchemy.

The compressed flame could be formed into an extremely stable core, allowing medicinal ingredients to be refined without being damaged by unnecessary fluctuations.

At the same time, the same principle could be applied in battle to release the compressed flame in a single concentrated burst.

Long Feng’s eyes gradually brightened.

’What an excellent flame-control technique.’

It was not simply a method of making the flame stronger. It completely changed the way the flame was controlled.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

’This should work extremely well with my flame.’

He continued studying the technique and soon encountered several points he did not fully understand.

Instead of guessing, he asked Elder Zixuan directly.

"Why does the third compression layer require soul power instead of spiritual energy?"

"Because spiritual energy becomes too unstable at that stage. Soul power can maintain the structure."

Long Feng nodded.

"Then why does the fourth layer require the flame to rotate?"

"Because the compression force must be evenly distributed."

Long Feng thought for a moment before asking another question.

"If the flame rotates in the opposite direction, can the compression speed be increased?"

"It can, but the danger will increase considerably."

Long Feng’s eyes flickered. "Then what if the rotation is combined with this method?"

He pointed toward a particular section of the technique.

Elder Zixuan looked at it before turning back toward him.

"You understood that already?"

"Somewhat."

Elder Zixuan fell silent.

The comprehension speed of this young man was surprisingly high.

He had only transferred the technique into Long Feng’s mind moments ago, yet Long Feng had already begun understanding the relationship between several complicated principles.

After asking a few more questions, Long Feng finally understood the fundamental principles of the Starfall Flame Refinement Art.