Splitting the Heavens

“This is Alchemy Grandmaster, Mister Lu Chuan. After Grandmaster Ge left us… He took over the Medicine Hall. I believe you should have already heard about it.” Kou Chongxue introduced.

Shang Xia smiled and cupped his fists towards Lu Chuan. “Disciple had long since heard of the Alchemist Grandmaster’s resounding reputation!”

An awkward smile hung on Lu Chuan’s face as he replied hastily, “That’s a praise I wouldn’t dare accept. Hall Master Shang, you’re the true face of our Tongyou Institution.”

Kou Chongxue couldn’t take it anymore and he interrupted, “Grandmaster Lu is one of the few rank five Alchemy Grandmasters in our Spirit Luxuriant World. He was already a master when I was still making a name for myself. You better treat him respectfully in the future…”

Without missing a beat, Shang Xia grinned, “Patriarch Kou, there’s no need for such reminders! I have always been cared for and taught by the institution and yourself. Would I not know anything about respecting my elders?”

Lu Chuan also muttered at the side, “Patriarch Kou, you’re exaggerating…”

Kou Chongxue waved his hand to stop both of them from speaking further and he turned to Shang Xia. “If you need to borrow the Origin Holy Artifact to complete your Spirituality of the Six Directions before completing your rank six advancement medicine, Mister Lu wishes to observe how you do it…”

Shang Xia looked at Kou Chongxue before turning to Lu Chuan who had a hopeful expression on his face. He laughed, “Mister Lu, since you entered the institution, you’re one of us. I can’t ask for more since an Alchemy Grandmaster wishes to be there for the creation of my advancement medicine.”

A look of approval flashed in Kou Chongxue’s eyes. He quickly muttered, “Alright, let Mister Lu help you then. We’ll talk about the rest of the matters after you complete the fusion of your Spirituality of the Six Directions.”

It wasn’t too difficult to fuse the spirits to form the Spirituality of the Six Directions for someone like Shang Xia who had the massive cheat code that was the Crimson Soul Tablet.

According to the Crimson Soul Tablet, the first thing Shang Xia had to do was to combine the Spirit of the First Moon and the Spirit of the Seventh Moon in the Stellar Cauldron.

With the world origin it contained, he would use the Crimson Soul Tablet to induce the fusion process. Everything went exceedingly smoothly.

Kou Chongxue observed at the side and grunted softly, “Oh? Looks like the moment the Spirituality of the Six Directions is formed, it increased greatly in quality. It’s close to a rank six treasure by now…”

Without Kou Chongxue’s reminder, Shang Xia knew when the process was complete. The Crimson Soul Tablet in his sea of consciousness trembled slightly, and the reaction was close to what he felt when he looked for the Four Extremity Spirituality back then.

Successfully forming one of the Spirituality of the Six Directions, Shang Xia immediately started on the second.

With the guidance of the Crimson Soul Tablet, Shang Xia faced no difficulty and he circulated his Five Element Origin to fuse the Spirit of the Second Moon and the Spirit of the Eighth Moon to obtain the second Spirituality of the Six Directions.

All of a sudden, Lu Chuan who had been watching silently at the side, spoke up, “Hall Master Little Shang, you should be using other types of secret skills during the fusion process, right? Without your special ability, I’m afraid it wouldn’t be so easy for you to complete the fusion process.”

Shang Xia was slightly taken aback, but he nodded eventually. “Indeed. However, this is something unique to myself and other people will not be able to learn it. As such, I’m afraid I will have to trouble Mister Lu to find another method to complete the fusion process…”

Lu Chuang stared at Kou Chongxue and saw that the patriarch wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Even though he was a little confused and reluctant to accept that as a response, he didn’t say anything. He simply pressed his lips together and muttered, “I’ll try my best…”

Shang Xia could tell that Lu Chuan wasn’t fully satisfied with his response, but he didn’t bother too much about it. He didn’t even look at Kou Chongxue before he continued, “I’m going to start the fusion of the third Spirituality of the Six Directions now…”

With the world origin that was pouring out from the Stellar Cauldron, no accidents happened throughout the fusion process. Shang Xia soon gathered the Spirituality of the Six Directions.

With that, Shang Xia gathered everything he needed to craft the advancement medicine. The only thing left was to actually put it together.

Of course, he needed the assistance of the Origin Holy Artifact in order to make it happen.

Grandmaster Lu Chuan seemed to understand what was going to happen next, and the look on his face showed how excited he was. In fact, he looked even more emotional than Shang Xia.

Looking at Kou Chongxue with a raised eyebrow, all he got in response was a chuckle from the patriarch.

Seeing as how Kou Chongxue hadn’t chased Lu Chuan away, Shang Xia understood that they probably had an agreement with each other. There should be some sort of hidden relationship between them such that Kou Chongxue could trust the Alchemy Grandmaster who entered the Tongyou Institution for several short years…

No longer hesitating, Shang Xia decided to begin. It wasn’t that he trusted the new Alchemy Grandmaster. Instead, it was because he had unconditional trust that Kou Chongxue wouldn’t allow anything to mess him up.

He might have prepared everything, but before he could move on to creating his Six Direction Heaven Restoration, Shang Xia couldn’t help but ask, “Mister Lu, do you know how a rank six advancement medicine is created?”

A burning light shone in Lu Chuan’s eyes as he stared at the spiritual treasures Shang Xia had prepared. He didn’t even raise his head as his breathing became a little hurried. “I know that the end product will be some sort of paste, but I have no idea the process that takes place to make it happen.”

“Looks like Hall Master Lu will be able to see it happen for yourself.” Shang Xia chuckled in response.

Lu Chuan was slightly taken aback at Shang Xia’s sudden change when addressing himself. Earlier, Shang Xia had been calling him ‘Mister Lu’, which showed his respect, but there still existed some distance between them. He changed his way of address to ‘Hall Master Lu’, which showed that Shang Xia had finally accepted him as a trusted peer.

The next moment, Shang Xia handed a jade slip to Lu Chuan that contained the ingredients required to craft the Six Direction Heaven Restoration.

Lu Chuan was a rank five Alchemy Grandmaster, and he had his fair share of crafting rank five advancement medicines, but it was his first time coming into contact with the recipe for a rank six advancement medicine.

That was one of the conditions Kou Chongxue had given him to pull him over to the Tongyou Institution, and Shang Xia had fulfilled it.

As one of the very few Alchemy Grandmasters, Lu Chuan understood the value of the jade slip Shang Xia had given him. As he received it, his hands were trembling uncontrollably.

It was then that Kou Chongxue’s voice rang in his mind. “The Stellar Cauldron has the ability to create rank six advancement medicine, but it’s not a long-term solution. With the assistance of a rank five Alchemy Grandmaster like yourself, we can lower the possibility of anything going wrong. You can also use the chance to quickly grasp the ability to craft the rank six advancement medicine on your own.”

Lu Chuan understood that chances like that weren't easy to come by and he quickly showed his respect and thanked the 2.

The Stellar Cauldron has the ability to create rank six advancement medicine, but it’s not a long-term solution…

Shang Xia seemed to have heard the hidden meaning behind his words, and he couldn’t help but ask, “Patriarch Kou, are you planning to make use of the Azure Flame World to lay the foundations for us to become the Tongyou Elysium?”

Once the Tongyou Paradise became the Tongyou Elysium, the Stellar Cauldron would most definitely become the Origin Holy Artifact of the Elysium and they wouldn’t be able to use it to craft advancement medicines any longer.

That was one of the main reasons Kou Chongxue invited Lu Chuan to the institution. He even seemed a little impatient to get Lu Chuan to start producing rank six advancement medicines.

Crafting advancement medicine wasn’t actually related to one’s rank as an Alchemy Grandmaster. As a rank five Alchemy Grandmaster, Lu Chuan had his fair share of experience crafting rank four and five advancement medicines, but what qualified him to become a rank five Alchemy Grandmaster was the fact that he would be able to modify an advancement formula to better suit the person using it.

Like the time Shang Xia crafted his rank four advancement medicine, he only needed several rank three Alchemy Masters to do it. As long as they had the recipe, lower-leveled Alchemists would be able to craft an advancement medicine with a certain chance for success.

Now that Shang Xia had provided Lu Chuan with the recipe for the advancement medicine, there was no need for him to modify anything. Lu Chuan could just follow the steps recorded and refine the medicine with the help of the Stellar Cauldron…

“Heavenly Screen Cloud, Earth Essence Milk, Four Extremity Spirituality…” Looking at the content, Lu Chuan seemed to lose himself in it.

Shang Xia slowly left the cauldron and went over to Kou Chongxue’s side.

“Patriarch, where did you find him anyway? A rank five Alchemy Grandmaster… How could he not have been forced into another great power’s service?” Shang Xia asked in a low voice.

Raising his eyebrow, Kou Chongxue glanced at Shang Xia. “How do you know he wasn’t forced into the service of a great power? How the hell do you think he ended up as a hall master of our Medicine Hall?”

Something clicked in Shang Xia’s mind. Kou Chongxue was right… In the eyes of many experts, the Tongyou Institution was a great power. Wouldn’t that mean…

Slowly turning to Kou Chongxue, Shang Xia snorted in fright, “Patriarch Kou, did you… Did you force him to come here to work for you?”

Narrowing his gaze and physically looking down on Shang Xia, Kou Chongxue sneered, “Do you think this granddaddy here really managed to form some amazing connection with a rank five Alchemy Grandmaster and get him to willingly work for our institution while being bound to the rules of the institution. Do you also think I’ll give him a rank six advancement formula for nothing?”

Shang Xia thought for a second and muttered, “Hall Master Lu is at the Martial Dipper Realm anyway… Did you make him swear an oath or something?”

“Heh!” Kou Chongxue snorted in response. “I left a strand of sword qi in his sea of consciousness. If he follows the oath he made, he would be one of us. If he doesn’t… Hehehe…”

Shang Xia instantly broke out into praise. “Patriarch Kou, you really thought of all angles! You’re amazing…”

“Enough of that shit. You better think of a time to break through after your advancement medicine is complete.” Kou Chongxue brushed him off immediately.

With the Origin Holy Artifact and a rank five Alchemy Grandmaster to ensure nothing went wrong during the crafting process, Shang Xia’s Six Direction Heaven Restoration was completed after slightly more than a month.

The time that passed was naturally inconsequential to Kou Chongxue and Shang Xia. However, it seemed to completely exhaust Lu Chuan, whose attention was fully focused on the crafting process. The moment the medicine was complete, a disheveled monster staggered away from the Stellar Cauldron.

If anyone else saw the unkempt and exhausted person walking around with a massive grin on his face after the completion of the rank six advancement medicine, they would think that a lunatic was on the loose.

Whatever the case, Shang Xia’s Six Direction Heaven Restoration was complete and the only thing left was when he would attempt to break through to the Six Direction Realm!

This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶