“Hm…”

Seeing that long oval-shaped result, Ling-er was dumbfounded. That was different from her predictions.

Long Chen took a deep breath. He praised her, “In all my life, it’s my first time refining such a divine pill. Haha, if my enemies knew of it, they would probably die from laughing. Hehe, I’ve gained another killer trump card.”

Even Ling-er could now hear his anger. She awkwardly said, “I don’t know what’s going on. Based on my experience, this pill… Well, maybe my experience was wrong.” She hastily changed her tone when she saw his expression sink. But she said, “You can’t blame me entirely! It’s those three masters who were garbage.”

The possessor of the Pill Sovereign memories who controlled unparalleled alchemy arts had just refined a giant turd. If the Pill Sovereign were to learn of this, perhaps she would wipe him out of existence for shaming her.

“Big brother Long Chen, don’t be angry. Your face is quite scary like that. Here, I’ll let you control my spirit instead,” said Ling-er pleadingly.

Letting Long Chen control her spirit would be giving all the responsibility of the alchemy to him. It also meant that if he wished for it, he could control her into forming a contract.

Hearing that, Long Chen shook his head with a bitter smile. Getting angry with a foolish girl was meaningless.

Long Chen took a deep breath and did his best to gentle his tone. “Let me tell you, those previous masters of yours were just some dabblers. Their alchemy arts were worse than crap. If you want to learn alchemy, you should learn from me. Now stop causing trouble, understand?”

“Yes, yes.” Like a child who realized she had made a mistake, Ling-er became extremely obedient, nodding like a chicken pecking at corn.

“Here, although I haven’t refined a demonic pill before, I know the technique. I’ll take the lead, and you support me.”

Long Chen started a new refinement. This time, his full Spiritual Strength entered the pill furnace.

Sensing her nervousness, he said, “Don’t worry. I’m not that kind of despicable person.”

With his soul merged into the Demon Moon Furnace, he found that it really was different from normal pill furnaces. The runes on it were absorbing a very strange energy from the world.

That energy was a bit sinister, lying on the Yin side. That energy contained qualities that were the opposite of what was required during normal refining processes.

“Ling-er, concentrate on remembering this process,” said Long Chen.

“Yes.”

Medicinal powders began to merge within the furnace. Under Long Chen’s control, everything went very smoothly. The refinement was quickly completed.

The lid opened, revealing seven bright pills. Ling-er clapped her hands excitedly. “They’re round and not strung together like the last turd...”

Ling-er trailed off when she saw Long Chen glaring at her. She stuck out her tongue and shut her mouth.

Long Chen took out one of those pills. He couldn’t help frowning. “It can barely count as high grade. There aren’t even pill rings.”

He didn’t even know how many Life Star Pills he had refined in the past. He was able to refine them into top grade pills with his eyes closed. But these were barely even high grade.

Long Chen swallowed one of them. The pill’s energy exploded like a volcano, filling his mouth with a burning sensation.

The Life Star Pill was originally a very gentle pill, but after being refined into a demonic pill, it became so intense.

“Although it’s only high grade, the effect is several times greater than an ordinary high grade pill. It might even reach the level of a top grade pill. Demonic pills really are strange. If it was refined into top grade, then a normal person wouldn’t even be able to consume one,” praised Long Chen.

Demonic pills were extremely particular. They were able to grasp a trace of strange energy within the world, giving the medicinal effect its own life.

As for top grade pills, in order for them to gain a spirit, they needed to undergo tribulation first, just like the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill that he had given Meng Qi.

However, these demonic pills had their own spiritual fluctuations even without a tribulation. Those fluctuations definitely contained something sinister and violent. It was due to this that its medicinal effect was so explosive. If the body could endure it, then the effect would be ten times greater than a corresponding normal pill.

Demonic pills could only be refined by a demonic furnace. Demonic furnaces were the rarest of all demonic weapons, and demonic weapons were existences that only existed in stories on the Martial Heaven Continent. No one had ever seen one, let alone forged one.

The Martial Heaven Continent didn’t have techniques to create such a weapon. Guo Ran had flipped through the ancient records, with even the Huayun Sect helping him find information on it, only to end up empty-handed.

Just a little high grade pill possessed such a powerful effect. If it was top grade, then it would be amazing.

“Ling-er, this time you refine it,” said Long Chen.

“Me? I don’t think I can. Your flame changes occurred too quickly for me to understand.” Ling-er was apprehensive. After seeing him refine pills, she understood why Long Chen turned his nose up at her three previous alchemist masters. His alchemy arts could not be compared to theirs. Even after focusing on memorizing his technique, there were still areas she hadn’t managed to remember.

“Don’t be afraid. We have as many ingredients as you need,” comforted Long Chen.

Hearing that, under his encouragement, she tried to refine the same pill. Her memory was actually quite amazing. She perfectly replicated the order of adding the medicinal powders, the timing, and the merger times. He was delighted by this inside. If he could raise her into an alchemist master, wouldn’t he no longer need to refine pills himself?

As she refined, Long Chen examined the Demon Moon Furnace. He also spread his senses toward the subtle changes in heaven and earth.

He found that there were several runes activating when she refined pills, drawing in that strange energy within the world.

The strange thing was that those runes would only flicker slightly before going dark again. They didn’t seem to be fully activated.

The lid popped open, and three balls appeared. They looked like rabbit poop.

“Big brother Long Chen, am I too dumb?”

Long Chen smiled and comforted her. “You’re already very amazing. You weren’t wrong in any aspect of the merger process, even in the one hundred and ninety-seven steps. You messed up seven of the two thousand six hundred and twenty-one flame changes, and that’s after only watching me once. By the Martial Heaven Continent’s standards, you are an absolute genius.”

“Really?” Ling-er grew excited again.

“Ling-er, why are those runes still not fully activated?”

“Them? They are demonic runes used for absorbing the demonic energy within heaven and earth. I’ve never had the power to fully activate them,” answered Ling-er.

“No wonder.” Long Chen suddenly understood. Even if it had been his first time refining demonic pills, the results shouldn’t have been what they were. “Ling-er, can you fully trust me?”

“Yes. You are the person I trust the most in this world.” Ling-er nodded sincerely. Through the exchange between their souls during this time, she had been able to sense his true heart more and more.

“Then I will leave a rune within your soul, and it will allow our souls to fully merge. That way, I can use my Spiritual Strength to help you fully activate those runes. Is that alright?”

“Yes.” Ling-er agreed without hesitation.

Long Chen smiled and rubbed her head. “Thank you. Thank you for your trust in me. Let’s start.”

A rune appeared on Long Chen’s forehead, and it slowly entered Ling-er’s forehead.

The Divine Gate Star within his Divine Gate shook. A sea of Spiritual Strength gushed into Ling-er.

As the Demon Moon Furnace rumbled, the dark runes began to light up, growing brighter and brighter.

“Don’t suppress it. Fully unleash it. You need to activate all your runes, or we won’t be able to refine higher level pills,” shouted Long Chen.

Ling-er gave up on controlling the speed of things. She allowed Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength to pour into the Demon Moon Furnace.

As more and more of his Spiritual Strength entered, a bewitching divine light blazed out of the Demon Moon Furnace. As a result, the surrounding mountains began to collapse. A wave of light suddenly shot out, shattering the mountains and turning the rubble to nothingness.

“This Demon Moon Furnace isn’t just capable of refining pills. It’s also a powerful killing weapon.” Long Chen hadn’t expected it to suddenly unleash such immense power after its runes were activated.

He also found that there were thousands and thousands of runes on the furnace, and only seventy percent of them were shining with the help of his Spiritual Strength. Some runes were still dim.

Ling-er cried out excitedly. She felt like her shackles had been removed.

After an incense stick’s worth of time, Long Chen managed to activate over eighty percent of the Demon Moon Furnace’s runes, but he had exhausted his Spiritual Strength in the process. Stars were spinning in his head. He couldn’t activate the remaining runes in this state.

“Big brother Long Chen, I feel much stronger than before! Let’s keep refining pills!” Ling-er grabbed Long Chen’s hand and cried out excitedly.

“Wait a moment. I need to rest.”

Long Chen sat on his butt, resting for six full hours before getting back up.

“Alright, let’s see the results this time.” Long Chen was full of anticipation.