Long Chen had given the refining process a high estimation of difficulty, but for the Nethergate Pill to start acting up now signified that he would need to use up even more Spiritual Strength to refine it.

The pill furnace rumbled as if some wild Magical Beast was trying to charge out.

Meng Qi immediately sent her Spiritual Strength pouring toward Long Chen. With her help, divine runes appeared all over the pill furnace, like chains sealing it tightly.

However, the chains had just appeared when black runes appeared as well. Like beetles, they began to bite and tear into the runic chains.

“What damn thing is this?!” Long Chen jumped, never having encountered such a thing.

Those black runes were like cockroaches. They were only an inch long, but as they tore into his runic chains, he felt his Spiritual Strength vanishing from his control as if it was being consumed by them.

“They are like corpse-eating insects!” cried Meng Qi

“It seems so.” Long Chen looked and saw that they were really similar.

Suddenly, a sharp sound came from the pill furnace. A needle-like pain stabbed into Long Chen and Meng Qi’s souls.

Long Chen relaxed his hold, and the runic chains crumbled. The lid looked like it was about to be forced open.

“I refuse to believe I can’t suppress you!” Long Chen furiously slammed the lid with his Spiritual Strength, once more sealing it.

Flames surged violently as Long Chen quickened the refining process. The greater the heat, the greater the resistance. Shadows appeared on the pill furnace, and wailing sounds could be heard, starting to affect Long Chen.

BOOM!

Finally, the pill furnace shook one last time and became silent. Meng Qi sighed with relief. However, Long Chen wasn’t the slightest bit happy. He actually took out Evilmoon and slowly opened the lid.

When the slightest opening appeared, a black figure shot out at Long Chen’s head.

Even Meng Qi, with her experience in many battles and dangers, almost screamed upon seeing that figure.

It was a rotting corpse. Only its eyes glowed with a green light. A mouthful of sinister-looking white teeth reached toward Long Chen.

Just as it rushed out, it was blown apart by a swing of Long Chen’s saber. The black figure exploded, transforming into a foot-long bat that flew away.

It had just started flying when Long Chen slammed it into the ground. It then finally transformed into a perfectly spherical medicinal pill that rolled on the ground.

There was a sinister face inside the pill, howling crazily.

“Why is this medicinal pill so ferocious?” asked Meng Qi.

“A medicinal pill containing the Dao of Death exists to exterminate life. But this isn’t really ferocious. Once I awaken its spirit and have it go through tribulation, it might rival an Empyrean,” estimated Long Chen.

“Really?”

“Do you think alchemy masters only know how to refine pills?” Long Chen smiled. “True alchemy masters can refine powerful pills that can actually cultivate. For example, your Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill. If it was a fighting-type pill, its power would not be inferior to your own.”

“Then is it possible to refine a legion of medicinal pills?” asked Meng Qi.

Long Chen shook his head and took out the other Nethergate Pills that were inside the furnace. “Awakening a spirit is difficult. It requires your own soul to be injected inside to guide it. Also, not all alchemists are able to refine top grade pills. Tribulation pills are also the strongest. However, the requirements are too strict. Others don’t have the ability to do such a thing, and I don’t have the time.”

Long Chen examined the Nethergate Pills. Only one was top grade, and the rest were middle grade. That had been done on purpose, as after all, this was his first time refining this pill. He didn’t want to attempt a furnace of all top grade pills just in case something unexpected happened.

Long Chen crushed the only top grade pill. A spiritual fluctuation spread as if the pill was emitting its resentment before its death. It felt like a curse.

“Long Chen, are you sure you want to eat this kind of pill?” asked Meng Qi worriedly.

Long Chen bitterly smiled. He also didn’t feel that this was something edible, but he had no choice.

After he crushed the pill, he saw a small runic imprint at the core. Looking closely, he found that it looked like a skull.

Meng Qi also saw it and she shook her head. “I’m confident that this is a poison pill.” Even though Meng Qi wasn’t an alchemist, just based on her senses, she knew this was poison.

“Let’s just refine another furnace of pills first.”

Long Chen once more heated up the furnace. This time, he had Meng Qi bring out the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill as well. With their previous experience, the second furnace of pills was quickly finished.

Long Chen had just opened the lid when multiple figures shot out. Long Chen slammed them down with Evilmoon and drew the pills into the primal chaos space to have Lei Long make them undergo tribulation.

The Nethergate Pills that had gone through tribulation were even more berserk. They actually attacked Lei Long, and Lei Long almost destroyed them in its rage.

Long Chen hastily pulled the pills back. Having Meng Qi guard them, he looked at the pill in his hand. It was emitting endless Death Qi. Clenching his teeth, he popped it into his mouth.

He had just swallowed it when it dissolved and spread throughout his whole body. Black qi surged out of him, followed by black runes that crawled over his skin. His lifeforce was starting to be consumed.

Meng Qi’s heart clenched. Long Chen looked to be surrounded by death. A black mist appeared over his head.

Long Chen’s eyes were closed, and he was sweating. As his lifeforce dwindled away, he found that in just an incense stick’s worth of time, he would be poisoned to death.

However, he believed in the Pill Sovereign’s memories. There was no way that this pill could kill him. His body then turned numb and stiff, no longer listening to his orders. The Death Qi began to surge toward his mind-sea, wanting to wipe out his Yuan Spirit.

Just as the Death Qi charged into his mind-sea, the silent Divine Gate opened. The Divine Gate Star blazed with light. Like a giant mouth, it devoured the Death Qi.

As the Death Qi was sucked into the Divine Gate Star, Long Chen’s body quickly returned to normal. Seeing Long Chen survive, Meng Qi finally relaxed.

The black qi around him vanished. Opening his eyes, Long Chen sensed his body, but he couldn’t find the location of the sixth star.

“What is going on? Was there not enough medicinal energy?”

Long Chen swallowed a second pill. This time, he had refined seven top grade Nethergate Pills.

With the second pill, he found that his body had formed a resistance to the poison, and the Divine Gate Star automatically absorbed its energy even before it invaded his mind-sea. It directly sucked the poison all up.

In just two breaths’ time, the second pill’s energy was consumed.

Long Chen ate a third, fourth, and fifth pill. Finally, after the fifth Nethergate Pill, Long Chen felt the Divine Gate Star unleash a blaze of light. His Dantian heated up momentarily, and Long Chen immediately checked it out.

He found that a whirlpool had appeared at the top of his Dantian. The whirlpool was still very small and almost impossible to sense.

“The Nethergate Star is actually located above my Dantian?”

His Dantian was crippled. His Spirit Root had been extracted, turning his Dantian into a land of death. Only the primal chaos bead existed at the center of his Dantian.

Although the Nethergate Star hadn’t been condensed, the location was now determined. It was just unexpected for Long Chen.

Long Chen consumed the remaining two Nethergate Pills, but there was almost no reaction. He and Meng Qi refined three furnaces of pills in a row this time, making twenty Nethergate Pills.

After consuming twenty-five Nethergate Pills, the whirlpool above his Dantian finally stabilized.

“It’s over. This Nethergate Star is another bottomless pit. I don’t even know how many Nethergate Pills it will take to condense a star, and then there are the nine star transformations. How many years will it take?” Long Chen wanted to curse.

What kind of joke was this? Other people might die of joy after obtaining a top grade tribulation pill, while here he was consuming them like candy, and it wasn’t enough. Could the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art be more of a con art?

There was no way he could continue like this. If all he could do was refine pills all day, wouldn’t he end up coughing up blood from the frustration?

Just as Long Chen’s expression was darkening, a message appeared in his mind that delighted him. He stared at the Moon and Star Refining Furnace with disbelief.