Chapter 179 - Yin-Yang Guiding Method

He suspected this anomaly was related to the mysterious Twilight Nether Lantern floating in his sea of consciousness. He decided to look more into it later.

The next step was Stabilization. Strictly speaking, the orthodox recipe worked without Heartroot, but adding it was a secret trick a senior brother passed down to the ancient disciple. In modern alchemy, true masters dismissed Heartroot as cheap filler and used it only in low-level pills and basic ointments. No high-ranking alchemist would ever consider adding such a mundane herb to a cauldron filled with precious herbs.

Yet its neutral nature made it the perfect ingredient, capable of taming violent medicinal clashes without polluting the pill’s potency.

’I guess the greatest secrets are often hidden in plain sight,’ Su Ming thought with a faint smile. A fine powder made from Heartroot would dampen the violent energies inside the cauldron, absorbing the turbulent energy and binding the opposing currents into a single stream.

Only after the pool was fully stabilized would the fragile Nine-Leaf Soul Lotus be added to form the nascent soul core.

Finally came the Ninefold Condensation. All the energies inside the cauldron would be compressed under precise heat nine times to form the finished pill.

Everything was ready.

Su Ming raised his hand and activated the restriction formations around the chamber.

He lowered his hand toward the center of the stone platform.

With a faint flick of his fingers, a flame intertwining gold and violet sparks ignited in midair, burning with a steady hum.

Commanding the Yin-Yang Origin Flame, Su Ming was prepared to begin.

***

Across the long history of the cultivation world, generations of alchemists had refined countless Flame Guiding and Pill Refining methods, eventually categorizing the craft into seven orthodox methods.

Among them, the oldest was the River-Guiding Method. Originating from ancient times, it was renowned as the most reliable foundation in existence. Instead of forcing herbs to submit under brutal heat, it guided medicinal energies into streams like a river. When Su Ming first started with alchemy, he started with this very method.

Yet its flaw was equally famous. The River-Guiding Method was exceedingly slow, often requiring hours of unbroken concentration just to refine a single batch of basic pills.

Other methods sought different extremes. The Heavenly Hammer Method crushed ingredients through pulses of spiritual power. The Nine-Flame Refinement Method stacked layers of rising heat to refine the medicinal essence.

Then there was the Yin-Yang Circulation Method. By alternating flames of different temperatures, it could even make incompatible herbs merge flawlessly. But it was notoriously dangerous. An alchemist had to control two conflicting flames at once. A single thread of imbalance would instantly blow the cauldron to pieces.

After gaining mastery over his Yin-Yang Origin Flame, Su Ming had tested this method. Surprisingly, it worked without any major issues. However, the process was excessively fast and lacked the stability of his usual River-Guiding Method.

To solve this, Su Ming had created the Yin-Yang Guiding Method a while back.

Instead of wrestling with two conflicting flame sources, he commanded the Yin-Yang Origin Flame. The flame intertwined radiant gold and deep violet, containing both cold Yin and hot Yang in natural harmony. By weaving this unique flame into the steady flow of the River-Guiding Method, he eliminated the shortcomings of the traditional method while keeping the entire refining process stable.

His method still had some rough edges due to his limited experience in alchemy. Over the past couple of months, Su Ming had spent his spare moments repeatedly refining basic pills to test and hone his technique.

Under the guidance of his Essence Sight and Insight Halo, his results had steadily improved, routinely reaching eighty to ninety percent purity every time. In one rare batch of Qi-Gathering Pills, he had even successfully produced a faint wisp of dancing pill clouds.

Yet those were merely basic pill formulas with herbs of lesser medicinal potency. The ancient Nascent Soul Breakthrough Pill was an entirely different challenge. It was a volatile concoction packed with multiple high-grade ingredients. This was going to be a far more serious process.

Still, Su Ming was confident. His flame control was exceptionally precise. Even with the mediocre talent of his physical vessel, his command over fire had always been remarkably natural.

’Speaking of natural talent...’

Su Ming paused, letting out a quiet breath. A distant trace of helplessness surfaced in his mind as he was once again reminded of the limited talent of his body, and how he had already pushed it beyond what it was ever meant to achieve.

Yet he quickly shook his head and dispelled the thought. Now was not the time to be distracted.

Su Ming focused his divine sense and activated his Essence Sight.

Within the cauldron chamber, the medicinal energies melted into distinct streams of light. Inside his sea of consciousness, the Insight Halo illuminated brightly, and with his Essence Sight heightening his perception, every subtle shift of temperature and reaction of the ingredients was translated into clear streams of information.

He raised his left hand, guiding the first batch of ingredients into the cauldron.

The Spirit-Gathering Flower and the Moon-Washing Spirit Dew met the flame first. Under the cool Yin aspect of the flame, they dissolved into a clear pool of liquid that coated the bottom of the vessel. Moments later, the Five-Color Spirit Fruit entered the pool, its elemental properties spreading outward like gentle ripples to anchor the pill’s foundation.

Then came the most volatile part.

Su Ming flicked his sleeves, sending the Demon King’s True Blood and the Soul-Nourishing Jade Marrow into the mixture, followed immediately by the Heaven-Seeking Jade Orchid and the crackling Heavenly Thunder Bamboo Heart.

The moment they met, the cauldron violently shuddered.

The purified True Blood surged with immense energy, while the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo Heart crackled with arcs of raw lightning. The mixture churned violently as massive energies clashed against one another, threatening to tear the cauldron apart.

Ordinary alchemists would have panicked, but Su Ming remained still.

Through his Essence Sight, he tracked the exact moments when the energies collided. With the Insight Halo accelerating his mind, his fingers moved in fluid movements, shifting the Yin-Yang Origin Flame around the clashing pool. The golden Yang heat melted the purified blood, while the violet Yin chill shielded the delicate essence from being scorched.