Chapter 10

Just as Su Yan was about to enter the second step, Li Mo suddenly said, "Increase the fire by three more points, don't rush into the next step."

"What did you say?"

Su Yan shot him a cold glance, clearly annoyed by his interference.

Li Mo knew she might not listen to him, so he simply sat by the furnace, placed one hand on the side, and performed the Seven-Star Fire Refinement Technique.

Suddenly, another flame appeared at the bottom of the furnace.

"You know the Seven-Star Fire Refinement Technique too?"

Su Yan was greatly surprised, her beautiful eyes wide open.

"This is not a difficult technique to learn."

Li Mo smiled slightly. Although he mainly practiced the Dao Tian Fire Refinement Technique, he had also studied various other fire refinement techniques.

For such a basic fire refinement technique, it was merely a matter of using it at will. If he were not injured, splitting the flame into five would be easy.

"Such arrogance!"

Su Yan's eyes widened in anger. Even with her exceptional talent, she had endured much hardship in practicing the Seven-Star Fire Refinement Technique and would never claim it was easy.

Then, she immediately reacted, her face full of anger, and scolded, "Since you are a pill master, you should know not to interfere when someone else is refining pills!"

"Miss Su, don't be angry. If the pills don't turn out to be of superior quality later, I won't blame you." Li Mo said calmly, then withdrew his hand, extinguishing the flame, and said, "Now you can proceed to the layering."

"Hmph!"

Su Yan's face turned sour. She had never encountered such a person during her first pill refinement and really wanted to smash the furnace lid on his head.

However, she had the professional ethics of a pill master and would never give up until the pill was complete.

She forced herself to suppress her anger and continued refining the pill.

She thought Li Mo would only interfere once, but when the second step of layering was almost over, he again showed his flame and interfered.

Su Yan's beautiful face was filled with black lines, her heart burning with anger. Even with her good temperament, encountering such a person made her furious.

Three hours passed, and every time a critical step was reached, Li Mo would interfere. By the time the pill was completed, Su Yan's face was completely black.

She had been devoted to the art of pill refinement for ten years.

This was the first time someone had disturbed her during the refinement process. The fact that the pill was completed was entirely due to her exceptional ability.

If it were anyone else, the pill would have been ruined halfway.

Such impolite behavior from the young man was absolutely intolerable!

She looked at Li Mo coldly, her voice like ice, and said, "I don't care who you are or what your status is, don't ever step into my courtyard again!"

Li Mo was not angry but smiled, thinking that this little girl had good upbringing, even when scolding someone, she was so gentle.

He smiled, lifted the furnace lid, and nodded in satisfaction.

Su Yan glanced into the furnace and her face changed dramatically, almost shouting, "What's going on, this..."

In the furnace, there were six pills.

When she was dividing the pills, Li Mo did indeed interfere, and in a short time, he managed to produce two more pills.

But the most astonishing thing was that the two additional pills were one of superior quality and one of the highest quality!

Su Yan stared at the pill furnace, utterly shocked and finding it hard to believe.

Dual refinement required a high level of默契 (coordination), and it was something that ordinary people would not attempt.

But this unfamiliar young man interfered a few times so casually, not only without affecting the refinement process, but also producing the highest quality pills that she could only dream of. This result deeply shocked her.

Li Mo smiled slightly and said slowly, "Although Miss Su has exceptional talent, your Seven-Star Fire Refinement Technique is not yet refined enough. In the Xuan Ji Pill, the two ingredients, Water Spirit Grass and Black Heart Stone, produce a special phenomenon called 'reverse aggregation' during the refinement process."

"Reverse aggregation?" Su Yan thought for a moment, remembering that this rare phenomenon was indeed recorded in the pill books.

Li Mo continued, "When the temperature reaches a certain level, just as most people are about to enter the layering stage, the dregs will automatically coalesce into a ball, absorbing the medicinal juice. If you enter the layering stage prematurely, the amount of medicinal juice will not reach the perfect state, and a large amount of medicinal juice will be absorbed by the dregs. At this point, the fire temperature needs to be increased by three points to break the dregs back into dregs with intense fire."

Su Yan's eyes lit up, feeling as if she had been enlightened.

She had refined the Xuan Ji Pill more than once, and each time after the liquidation, she had a vague feeling of disharmony. Now, with this hint, she suddenly understood.

The so-called disharmony was precisely the imperfect amount of medicinal juice.

Li Mo added casually, "At the end of the layering stage, to achieve the perfect medicinal juice, you need to create two isolation layers above the dregs, but you only created one."

"When dividing the pills, the fire temperature and technique need to be further improved, and the fire temperature should be reduced earlier to possibly refine the highest quality pills."

"When collecting the pills, remember to grasp the time when the medicinal fragrance disappears. A moment too early or too late will result in the degradation of the highest quality pills."

Li Mo spoke confidently, and although his words were few, each one enlightened Su Yan.

Listening to the young man's explanation, Su Yan was deeply shocked.

She couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's your name? Which family in the county are you from? Why have I never heard of you?"

Li Mo smiled and said, "I am Li Mo, just a minor branch of the Li family, newly enrolled in the Martial Academy."

"What, a minor branch? With such talent, you are learning martial arts?" Su Yan was greatly surprised.

Even the main branch of the Li family did not have such a talented young pill master.

Li Mo smiled faintly but did not explain further.

After taking the pills and leaving three taels of silver, he said, "Miss Su, if you have any questions about pill refinement in the future, you can come to me, and I will definitely guide you."

With that, he left.

This made Su Yan's face change again. She was a proud person with exceptional talent, a rare pill master in the Su family for hundreds of years. She had never been so lightly regarded.

Although this young man refined the highest quality Xuan Ji Pill, it might have been luck or guidance from others, yet he was showing off in front of her.

Moreover, even with his exceptional talent, interfering in the refinement process was still a very impolite act.

Now, he was acting like an elder in front of her, making her anger flare up again.

No matter how good her temperament, she couldn't help but stomp her foot and huff, "What an impolite brat, just a minor branch, what's so great about you? Who would beg you?"

What she didn't know was that being able to receive guidance from the first-class pill master of the Shangguo Kingdom was a great fortune.

Li Mo's intervention was, first, to help this young girl grow, and second, to ensure that the hard-earned inner core was not wasted, as the highest quality pills had stronger medicinal effects.

In the following days, Li Mo mainly focused on refining pills to heal his injuries, which gradually improved. At the same time, with the help of the Xuan Ji Pill, his cultivation greatly increased, and he was not far from breaking through to the later stage.

"Ha!"

On the training ground, Li Mo swung his sword swiftly.

One sword, two swords... eight swords!

After the battle with the Fire Bull Leader, he deeply felt the insufficiency of his strength and had been training even harder. Now, he could already perform eight consecutive sword strikes.

The ironwood sword slashed horizontally and vertically, the blade glowing faintly red.

True Qi continuously flowed into the sword, each strike stronger than the last.

Compared to ordinary martial disciples who mechanically practiced martial techniques, for Li Mo, each sword strike brought new insights.

After several consecutive days, Li Mo finally managed to perform ten consecutive sword strikes, bringing the Blood-Drinking Sword to its advanced stage.

At this point, he began to practice the killing move "Blood-Drinking Torrent" of the Blood-Drinking Sword.

One sword strike, like a long river surging.

One sword strike could produce two or even three layers of force, making it harder to control but more lethal.

"Torrent!"

"Torrent!"

Li Mo's comprehension was extraordinary. After a few days of practice on the training ground, he quickly mastered this killing move and could consistently produce two layers of force.

However, he was not satisfied with the low probability of producing three layers of force, and more practice was needed.

With some success, Li Mo then began to practice the Lightning Step.

In the battle with the Fire Bull Leader, the Lightning Step played a crucial role; otherwise, he would not have been able to jump onto the Fire Bull's back.

What he needed was faster and farther movement.

In a corner of the lightness skill area, Li Mo practiced the Lightning Step for half a day without rest.

His movements became faster, and the distance and speed of his steps increased rapidly.

A step of five zhang in an instant.

But this high-speed movement in a single step was just the beginning.

What Li Mo aimed for was to make each of a hundred steps as fast and far as the first, and even faster and farther with each step.

For several consecutive days, Li Mo devoted himself to the Lightning Step, burning the midnight oil, until it finally reached its advanced stage.

At this point, he suddenly noticed a killing move called "Lightning Slash" written on the last page of the martial technique.

This was an ultimate killing move that could only be mastered after reaching the advanced stage.

The Lightning Slash involved using the Lightning Step to approach the enemy at high speed and slashing three times in an instant.

Movement, slashing, and concentration in one moment, making it impossible to avoid or defend against.

He immediately began to practice the Lightning Slash. It was not difficult to slash three times while moving, but the challenge was to do it quickly and at the limit of speed.

Li Mo was delighted, not expecting this low-level lightness skill to have a killing move.

For ordinary martial disciples, this was a difficult puzzle.

But for Li Mo, with his experience in the Eighth Realm of Martial Dao, it could be mastered in a short time.

Moreover, Li Mo thought that if he could use the Lightning Slash to perform the Blood-Drinking Torrent, it would be the ultimate killing move.

After a month of intense practice, Li Mo's strength far exceeded what it was during the beast hunting trip. At this point, he thought of another serious issue.

The Blood-Drinking Sword itself was powerful, and when driven by the Dao Tian Fire Refinement Technique, its power increased even more, but it was also very difficult to control.

In the future, when facing strong enemies, it would not be enough to slash a dozen times; it might take dozens or even hundreds of strikes.

To perform such a large number of sword strikes like a surging river, he needed sufficient True Qi as support.

But at present, his cultivation had not reached that level, and he could only rely on external aids.

With this in mind, Li Mo went to the city's trading market.