Legend of Wyatt

"This..."

Facing the grey-robed old man’s skepticism, the Sect Leader of the Taiyi Immortal Sect, "Daven Buckingham," hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "On this point, Protector Iron and I can vouch for him."

Although he had not personally seen Wyatt Barnes refine the Top-grade Immortal Pill "Rowan Heaven Pill," nor had he seen any Rowan Heaven Pills refined by Wyatt.

But their Taiyi Immortal Sect’s Protector Iron had seen Rowan Heaven Pills refined by Wyatt.

Out of trust in their Taiyi Immortal Sect’s Protector Iron, he was willing to vouch for Wyatt in the face of doubt.

"Oh?"

Hearing that Daven Buckingham was willing to vouch for Wyatt, the grey-robed old man was somewhat surprised. When he, together with the green-robed old man and the green-robed middle-aged man, looked toward Wyatt, there was still a hint of suspicion in their eyes.

A Top-grade alchemist under a hundred years old already astonished them and was something they could only barely accept.

But a Top-grade alchemist capable of refining the Top-grade Immortal Pill "Rowan Heaven Pill" was something they found even harder to accept.

One must know that to refine a Top-grade Immortal Pill like "Rowan Heaven Pill," besides certain requirements on the Top-grade immortal fire, the requirements on alchemy proficiency were also extremely high...

Of course, relatively speaking, the better the Top-grade immortal fire, the slightly lower the requirement on alchemy proficiency could be.

One only needed to reach a balance point.

"Alchemist Barnes, my name is ’Hunter Swayer,’ a Top-grade alchemist and Sacrificial Officer of the Taiyi Immortal Sect... I wonder if you can let us witness your method of refining Rowan Heaven Pills?"

The grey-robed old man looked at Wyatt and said bluntly, "I, Hunter Swayer, hereby promise that as long as you, Alchemist Barnes, can refine a Rowan Heaven Pill, I will willingly acknowledge you as the ’Chief Alchemist’ of the Taiyi Immortal Sect!"

"Alchemist Swayer."

Wyatt could smell gunpowder from Hunter Swayer, but he didn’t care. With a faint smile, he asked, "Is this your personal opinion, or the shared opinion of the three of you?"

As Wyatt spoke, his gaze swept over the green-robed old man and the green-robed middle-aged man one by one.

And almost as soon as Wyatt’s words fell, before Hunter Swayer could respond—

The green-robed old man had already said to Wyatt, "Alchemist Barnes, if you can refine a Rowan Heaven Pill, I acknowledge you as this ’Chief Alchemist.’"

"Same for me."

The green-robed middle-aged man also spoke.

Before these three great alchemists of the Taiyi Immortal Sect came, Wyatt had already learned their names from Daven Buckingham.

Besides knowing that the grey-robed old man was called "Hunter Swayer," the green-robed old man was called "Russel Yorke," and as for the green-robed middle-aged man, he was called "Joshua Davies."

"Since the three of you are so straightforward, I naturally shouldn’t decline."

As the green-robed middle-aged man’s voice fell, Wyatt raised his hand and took out a pill furnace.

It was precisely that Top-grade Immortal Artifact pill furnace that, back in the Ascendant Dragon Celestial Nation, the Thirteenth Prince "Crue Dragonsmith" of the Ascendant Dragon Celestial Nation had fought to obtain for him.

Whoosh!

Seeing Wyatt take out a Top-grade Immortal Artifact pill furnace, Daven Buckingham naturally knew he was about to refine pills here. His brows lifted as he abruptly raised his hand, setting up a sound-insulating formation around Wyatt’s body.

Fearing that disturbances from outside would startle Wyatt.

And at this moment, the three Top-grade alchemists of the Taiyi Immortal Sect—Hunter Swayer, Russel Yorke, and Joshua Davies—were all looking at Wyatt with expressions of surprise.

They hadn’t expected this young man to be so straightforward.

"He’s actually really going to refine a Top-grade Immortal Pill ’Rowan Heaven Pill’?"

"Could it be that he really can refine a Rowan Heaven Pill?"

"Impossible... How old is he? Not yet a hundred. Even if he has barely grasped the level of a Top-grade alchemist, even if his Top-grade immortal fire is extraordinary, it shouldn’t be enough to support him in refining a Rowan Heaven Pill, right?"

...

Hunter Swayer, Russel Yorke, and Joshua Davies looked at one another, exchanging via voice transmission. None of them believed that Wyatt could truly refine a Top-grade pill like "Rowan Heaven Pill."

"Whether he can refine it or not, we’ll know if we watch."

"Exactly."

"If he really can refine a Rowan Heaven Pill, even if it’s largely relying on his Top-grade immortal fire, even if his alchemy proficiency is beneath mine... I’ll still acknowledge him as this ’Chief Alchemist.’"

...

The gazes of the three soon converged on Wyatt once more.

Although there was a sound-insulating formation set up by Daven Buckingham around Wyatt, this formation was invisible, and thus did not affect Hunter Swayer and the others from watching Wyatt refine pills.

At first, Wyatt’s manner and technique in handling the pill furnace made the three of them somewhat disdainful.

From this alone, they felt that as a Top-grade alchemist, Wyatt’s reputation was somewhat undeserved, as he couldn’t even properly carry out the very first step of "holding the cauldron."

However, in the next instant, when Wyatt’s immortal fire appeared, the disdain on their faces completely vanished, replaced by shock.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

...

The third form of the "chaotic divine flame," a wisp of grey flame, danced up in Wyatt’s hand, burning in the void, making that section of space seem to waver.

In the next moment, the chaotic divine flame shot into the pill furnace, beginning the second step of alchemy—"heating cauldron."

"What immortal fire is that?"

"The instant that immortal fire appeared, I felt the immortal fire in my own body inexplicably start to fluctuate... as if trembling, trembling in fright!"

"You felt that too? I thought it was just me."

"At first I still couldn’t quite believe he could refine the top-grade Immortal Pill ’Rowan Heaven Pill’, but now I’m no longer sure."

...

Outside the sound-isolating formations, while Hunter Swayer and the other two watched Wyatt Barnes, they were whispering among themselves, and from their words it was obvious that all three had been frightened by that thread of top-grade Immortal Fire Wyatt had summoned.

"Alchemist Barnes’s top-grade Immortal Fire... is it really that strong?"

Hearing the three’s whispering, Daven Buckingham was also somewhat shaken.

He was well aware of Hunter Swayer and the other two’s arrogance.

Today, after Wyatt’s red flame appeared, the fact that the three of them were acting like this had, to a certain extent, astonished him as well, and at the same time made his confidence in Wyatt rise sharply.

Although he had already spoken up strongly in support of Wyatt earlier, that was mostly because he trusted Protector Iron of their Taiyi Immortal Sect.

As for Wyatt Barnes himself, he didn’t know him deeply.

So from beginning to end, he had still felt somewhat uneasy in his heart.

But now, realizing that the top-grade Immortal Fire Wyatt had summoned was anything but ordinary, and adding in his trust in Protector Iron, his heart immediately settled quite a bit.

"It’s over already?"

"My god! Th-this... how long has it even been?"

"He’s got to be joking, right?"

...

Not long after, when Hunter Swayer and the other two saw Wyatt stop heating the cauldron and take out the medicinal ingredients needed to refine the Pill Medicine, they were stunned for a moment.

Utterly stunned!

As top-grade alchemists, they naturally knew roughly how long top-grade alchemists generally needed for heating the cauldron.

Granted, the heating time was related to the strength of the top-grade Immortal Fire.

But no matter how strong a top-grade Immortal Fire was, even if the heating time was shortened, it wouldn’t be shortened to such an absurd extent...

Yet now, the brevity of Wyatt’s heating time had completely exceeded the scope of their understanding.

Because it was simply too short!

"For heating the cauldron, I need at least nearly nine hours... but he actually only used half an hour? Th-this is way too exaggerated, isn’t it?"

Hunter Swayer muttered.

"My heating time is about the same as yours... half an hour really is too ridiculous."

Russel Yorke nodded in agreement, his face also full of shock and incredulity.

"Could he just be putting on a show? Only, if he hasn’t successfully heated the cauldron, then rashly taking out the materials needed to refine the Rowan Heaven Pill—no matter how much he takes out—it’s just waste, isn’t it?"

Joshua Davies said, frowning.

As everyone knew, when alchemists refined Pill Medicine, they all needed to heat the cauldron first; only after successfully heating the cauldron and then starting to refine could they guarantee the pill formation rate.

If the heating failed and they started refining anyway, it was simply impossible for pills to form.

"That shouldn’t be possible, right? Those are the ingredients for refining the top-grade Immortal Pill Rowan Heaven Pill—each portion is worth a fortune. He wouldn’t waste them like this, would he? Could it be that he’s already successfully heated the cauldron?"

Russel Yorke said hesitantly.

"Impossible!"

Joshua Davies shook his head. "My heating speed is already considered the fastest among the three of us... Looking across the entire Desolate Territory, only that Jared Sinclair of the Thousand Spider Immortal Sect has a faster heating speed than me."

"But even so, my heating time still stays around eight and a half hours... and even Jared Sinclair needs a full eight hours to heat the cauldron!"

"Finishing heating in half an hour... how is that possible!"

"From what I know, even the strongest top-grade Immortal Fire takes around five hours to finish heating."

The more Joshua Davies spoke, the more frequently he shook his head.

From his tone, it was clear he didn’t believe Wyatt had finished heating the cauldron at all.

"He’s starting to put the ingredients into the pill furnace!"

Hunter Swayer’s voice came, snapping Joshua Davies out of it and making him look at Wyatt again.

To be precise, he looked at Wyatt’s pair of hands.

They saw that as Wyatt raised his hand, he had already begun the fourth step, ’adding ingredients’, following the third step, ’taking ingredients’, of refining Pill Medicine—tossing the medicinal ingredients needed to refine the Pill Medicine into the pill furnace.

"That adding-ingredients technique... is way too clumsy, isn’t it?"

And when he saw Wyatt’s movements during the fourth step ’adding ingredients’, Russel Yorke wore a thoroughly dumbfounded expression again.

Because Wyatt’s way of adding ingredients was so clumsy it was practically an eyesore!

However, the adding-ingredients step wasn’t the key to refining Pill Medicine.

The crux lay in the second step beforehand, ’heating the cauldron’, and in four of the five steps that followed...

Namely, the fifth step ’refining’, the sixth step ’transforming’, and the seventh step ’gathering essence’ plus the eighth step ’condensing pills’.

Across the heavens and myriad planes, refining Immortal Pills was divided into nine steps in total.

They were, respectively:

setting the furnace, heating the cauldron, taking ingredients, adding ingredients, refining, transforming, gathering essence, condensing pills, and collecting pills.