The Imperial Martial Pill Venerable

"Why would I lie to you?" Qin Ya said with a faint smile. "I originally intended to refine this Spirit Pill for the Ancient King as repayment for the Ting Xiao Sword. However, I don’t have the ingredients from the Pill Formula on hand, so I had to ask you to gather them. Besides, if I didn’t give you the Pill Formula, how would you be able to gather the ingredients?"

’Was that his only reason? Honestly, if Qin Ya hadn’t wanted to share the Spirit Pill Formula, he could have easily split it into several parts and had the Ancient King and Yur Piaoyun gather the ingredients separately. But would a mere Spirit Pill Formula even register with a Pill Venerable?’

Besides, seeing Yur Piaoyun’s deep devotion to the Alchemy Dao reminded him of himself in his past life. ’Why not grant him this great opportunity?’

The Ancient King and Yur Piaoyun gazed deeply at Qin Ya. ’What kind of young man is he? Just how many secrets is he hiding? He gave away a Spirit Pill Formula just like that.’

Then, Yur Piaoyun bowed deeply to Qin Ya. "I will never forget your kindness, Young Friend Qin. If you ever need anything in the future, I am at your command."

To elicit such a promise from a Ninth-Grade Alchemist was no small feat.

One could only imagine how much this Spirit Pill Formula meant to Yur Piaoyun.

"You’re being too serious," Qin Ya said lightly.

Then, to prevent Yur Piaoyun from becoming completely absorbed in the Spirit Pill Formula again, Qin Ya handed the formula to the Ancient King, tasking him with gathering the ingredients.

The ingredients required for a Spirit Pill Formula were incredibly valuable.

If converted into Primordial Stones, the cost would be at least one million catties. But the Ancient King and Yur Piaoyun were hardly ordinary men. One was a Martial Arts King who dominated the seas, and the other was a wealthy Ninth-Grade Alchemist. While one million catties of Primordial Stones was an enormous sum, it was still an amount the two of them could produce.

After all, Qin Ya had just received a million catties of Primordial Stones from Yur Piaoyun yesterday.

"You just handed the Spirit Pill Formula over to those two. Aren’t you afraid they’ll get greedy? After all, they must be dying to know what other treasures you’re hiding." After the two of them left, the blade of the nearby Ting Xiao Sword quivered slightly as it spoke in a leisurely tone.

"If they were that kind of people, I wouldn’t have stayed on Liubo Island. Besides, don’t I have you with me? You’ve lived for so long, I’m sure you’re a good judge of character. If they really harbored ill intentions, you would have warned me already," Qin Ya said with a faint smile, drawing the Ting Xiao Sword.

"Hmph. You see things quite clearly, don’t you, kid?"

"So, what’s your plan now?" Ting Xiao asked.

"Cultivate."

For the next few days, Qin Ya spent all his time cultivating.

With the help of the Quenching God Array, Qin Ya’s progress was incredibly fast. In just seven days, the strength of his Divine Thought had increased again, and the range of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi he could control now extended to a vast sixty-three hundred zhang.

Sixty-three hundred zhang was extremely close to the maximum range for Sky-Controlling Martial Artists. But for Qin Ya, who possessed the Leakless Body, this was nowhere near his limit. He could feel that he was capable of controlling even more!

One day, Qin Ya emerged from his cultivation.

"Whew." Exhaling lightly, Qin Ya slowly opened his eyes. ’The strength of my Divine Thought really gets harder to increase the further I progress. During my first cultivation session, I used six hundred catties of Primordial Stones to expand my Primordial Qi control range by fifty zhang. Over these past seven days, I’ve absorbed ten thousand catties of Primordial Stones, yet my range only expanded by two hundred and fifty zhang. And that’s with the amplification from the Quenching God Array.’

"You’ve only just entered the Sky-Controlling Realm. The difficulty of cultivation will only get greater from here. In the Azure Sky Realm, countless people get stuck at the Sky-Controlling threshold, unable to break through to the Celestial Human Realm in their entire lifetime," said Ting Xiao.

"Don’t you worry. I definitely won’t be one of them."

"Young Master Qin, the Ancient King requests your presence."

Li Shuo slowly approached and spoke respectfully to Qin Ya. His attitude was a world away from his previous arrogance and aggression—it was as if he were a completely different person.

"Understood."

Qin Ya rose and headed for the central palace. Along the way, any maids and servants who saw him bowed respectfully. Following behind him, Li Shuo gazed at the young man’s back and couldn’t help but marvel at how unpredictable life was.

’Just a short while ago, I was poisoned and threatened by Qin Ya, and I hated him to the bone. I never thought that only a few days later, I’d be acting so deferential toward him.’

’But what choice do I have? The Ancient King himself gave the order.’

’Everyone must treat Qin Ya with the same respect they show to him and Master Yur.’

Once that command was issued, who on all of Liubo Island would dare disrespect Qin Ya? Even if Li Shuo had a grudge against him, he was the Ancient King’s subordinate and had to obey.

"Young Friend Qin, you’re here."

Upon seeing Qin Ya, Yur Piaoyun and the Ancient King walked over together. Qin Ya, however, noticed a beaming old man standing behind them. The elder’s appearance was quite peculiar; his face was average, but two long red whiskers hung from his chin like a pair of ribbons, giving him a somewhat comical look.

After glancing at the red-whiskered elder, Qin Ya greeted the two of them.

He wasn’t in a hurry to ask the red-whiskered elder’s identity, and sure enough, the Ancient King began the introductions. "Young Friend Qin, let me introduce you. This is Vice President Lin Yuan of the Worldwide Business Association. The Association primarily deals in selling all kinds of medicinal ingredients and weapons, with a presence all over the Southern Domain. We purchased most of the ingredients for the pill from Vice President Lin this time."

"Elder Lin, this is Young Friend Qin Ya, a bona fide, peerless genius."

Compared to the Ancient King, Yur Piaoyun was far less courteous to the red-whiskered elder. However, Lin Yuan was familiar with his temper and didn’t take it to heart.

However, when he looked at Qin Ya, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes.

He had done business with Yur Piaoyun for many years and understood his temperament to some degree. This Ninth-Grade Alchemist very rarely praised anyone, yet the young man before him had managed to earn the title of "peerless genius" from him.

’Huh? I can’t see through his cultivation!’

Suddenly, Lin Yuan’s expression shifted. He realized that even with his Celestial Human Realm cultivation, he couldn’t see through Qin Ya’s cultivation at all. It was as if the boy were shrouded in mist.

’It seems he has some method of concealing his cultivation.’

"I am Qin Ya. A pleasure to meet you, Vice President Lin."

"A pleasure, Young Friend Qin. To earn the title of ’peerless genius’ from Master Yur, you must be truly extraordinary," Lin Yuan said, wearing the practiced, amiable smile of a merchant.

Noticing the peculiar expression that had just flashed across Lin Yuan’s face, Yur Piaoyun chuckled slyly. "Elder Lin, why don’t you take a guess at Young Friend Qin’s cultivation level?"

"In my opinion, he’s at least at Celestial Essence Realm Perfection. And he’s the kind who has comprehended a Great Trend to the Perfection stage. Truly remarkable."

Lin Yuan felt that this was already a very high evaluation. Celestial Essence Realm Perfection wasn’t uncommon, but a cultivator at that realm who had comprehended a Great Trend to the Perfection stage was exceedingly rare—let alone a young man like Qin Ya, who wasn’t even twenty.

"Guess again." Yur Piaoyun shook his head.

Lin Yuan froze for a moment. ’Was I wrong?’

He couldn’t help but study Qin Ya more closely. "It seems I’ve underestimated Young Friend Qin. He must have comprehended more than one Great Trend, with at least one of them at the Perfection stage. Moreover, his cultivation is likely on the cusp of the Heaven-Reaching Pass. Am I mistaken?"

Lin Yuan thought to himself that this was already the highest praise he could possibly offer.

But he saw Yur Piaoyun shake his head again, a cryptic smile playing on his lips.

"Don’t tell me he’s actually reached the Extraordinary Realm."

Lin Yuan laughed and said this half-jokingly, only to see both Yur Piaoyun and the Ancient King staring at him with the same cryptic smiles. The sight made him freeze.