98:

  Xiao Feng watched in fascination as the unshielded base of the Sylvan Heartroot began to seek out the refined mixture, the base remaining unmoved by the no doubt sweltering heat trapped within the pill furnace despite the fact that he had turned down the amethyst dragonstone burner’s intensity to a simmer.

  Yet, he continued to shield the Sylvan Heartroot with a layer of his Wind Qi, only drawing back the protection as the entirety of its exposed surface was covered in a layer of organic coating formed out of the refined mixture. It took two minutes for the entire surface of the Sylvan Heartroot to be coated in the organic mixture, with Xiao Feng having pulled back his shielding entirely, but even then there was some of the refined mixture left over.

  Lianhua had needed only a minute for this part of the process, so Xiao Feng couldn’t help but feel a pang of uncertainty as he continued to keep the heat at a simmer, making the decision not to interfere as he watched the excess refined mixture being drawn towards the Sylvan Heartroot.

  A sigh of relief escaped Xiao Feng as he watched the organic coating cocooning the Sylvan Heartroot thicken as the excess refined mixture bubbled at its borders, being drawn inwards to further conceal its form. It only took a total of thirty seconds for the remaining mixture to be subsumed into the organic coating, but for the nervous Xiao Feng it might as well have taken an eternity.

  Taking a deep breath, Xiao Feng raised the heat by a notch. The refined mixture had bonded to the Sylvan Heartroot about as well as he wanted it to, but the bonds of the Earth Qi ingredient still had to be weakened before the next ingredient could be added. He needed the Sylvan Heartroot to become malleable without losing its form, which was a delicate balance to strike, especially when considering the fact that he hadn’t gotten to practice with the Sylvan Heartroot even once— there were no cheap, alternative ingredients that could mimic its unique properties.

  Yet, Xiao Feng was reasonably confident in succeeding. Before the Essence Cultivation Art, there were few secrets that could be concealed.

  He watched as the tightly concentrated Qi packed within the Sylvan Heartroot began to diffuse outwards, leaking into the organic coating after five minutes of being consistently heated. Trying to push the Sylvan Heartroot any further would only risk destabilizing its structure, which meant that he had reached the balance he was hoping for. The Sylvan Heartroot had been integrated into the refined mixture of five ingredients and now offered the refinement much needed structural integrity and overall stability.

  Of course, Xiao Feng hadn’t missed on the opportunity to imbue his own Qi into the Sylvan Heartroot, especially given that heating it was essentially no drain on his focus. Which meant that there was no reason for Xiao Feng to hesitate any longer, as he reached for the seventh ingredient.

  The Frost Lily.

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  Xiao Feng caught the Frost Lily using shielding, directing it to rest next to the organic coating cocooned Sylvan Heartroot before pulling back the layer of Wind Qi entirely.

  The point of no return had finally arrived and Xiao Feng did not hesitate for a second as he ratcheted up the amethyst dragonstone burner to maximum heat.

  Immediately after, he focused his efforts on building up a perimeter of wind that was swirling along the pill furnace’s circumference with increasing intensity.

  Before his Essence Cultivation Art, Xiao Feng watched as Frost Qi began to seep out of the Frost Lily in response to the sweltering heat that was building up within the Pill Furnace, a portion of it spilling onto the Sylvan Heartroot and lowering the temperature it was being subjected to, if only temporarily.

  As Xiao Feng understood it, the Frost Lily only grew in frigid climates and as such, it was a natural defense mechanism of the spiritual plant to try and cool down its environment upon being subjected to a level of heat that made its survival untenable. Given that Frost Qi was a natural match, if not counter, for Fire Qi, the Frost Lily should have been more durable than the Sylvan Heartroot under the sweltering heat it was being subjected to, if not for the Pill Recipe exploiting it’s natural defense mechanisms against the spiritual plant.

  So it came as no surprise to Xiao Feng when the Frost Lily lost one tenth of its Frost Qi reserves in an effort to cool down its surroundings.

  That was when Xiao Feng began applying compression to the two ingredients, containing the spread of the Frost Qi with a cylindrical whirlwind of Wind Qi that was shrinking inwards at his command.

  Xiao Feng took his time with the approach, making sure that the speed of the cylindrical whirlwind of Qi only increased as its diameter shrinked, in an effort to reach the pressure he needed to compress the Sylvan Heartroot and Frost Lily into a pill without rushing the process and resulting in an explosion.

  By the time the whirlwind approached the periphery of the Sylvan Heartroot, nearly two thirds of the Frost Lily had melted under the heat, causing one side of the Sylvan Heartroot to be encased in an additional layer of frost. Unlike Lianhua, Xiao Feng did not have an alchemist’s flame to fall back on in case things went awry and maintaining the Whirlwind of Wind Qi at the speed he needed to maintain was a constant drain on his concentration that only added to the already built up fatigue.

  It would have been easier to compress the Sylvan Heartroot if the Frost Lily had already liquified, but the compression he would impose upon the two ingredients along with the heat already built up within the Pill Furnace would achieve much the same result.

  Xiao Feng did not hesitate any longer and the Whirlwind began to close in on the two ingredients.

  He watched as the Sylvan Heartroot was pressed against the Frost Lily and then compressed inwards, causing its Qi Density to intensify as its surface area folded in upon itself, the heat making its form malleable enough to offer little resistance. A portion of the ingredients were lost due to his uneven control over the wind, but that was a part of the process. Which would have been fine, except a small part of the now compressed mixture began to intensify in radiance and from its shape, Xiao Feng could tell what it was.

  The Frost Lily was going to blow up.

  “Cut the heat!” His predecessor bellowed from his mindspace.

  For once, Xiao Feng didn’t talk back, his body reacting instinctively to the command.

  “Use the fourth form and compress it!” His predecessor called out in rapid succession.

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