"The Pill Fla is a little aggressive," Karsha said, looking at the burning bud of fla.
"It's a heaven-grade pill fla I inherited from my master. He wanted to ta and refine it, but I couldn't, so I added it to the archives when I beca the Guild Leader, hoping to find sothing of equivalent value. Luckily for , you ca along and took it off my hands." Master Artemis smiled.
"Don't worry. Even if I can't refine it, the lightning fruit has already been given to you, so there's no need to worry about returning it." Karsha could sense the hesitation in his voice. The lightning fruit he had given him was sothing he had no use for.
He could return to the island and find its source whenever he wished. After all, the lightning fruit was found inside Thundercoil's hideout, suggesting there was a tree sowhere on the island. He hadn't had ti during his last visit, so he assigned the Shadow Guards to locate these important items whenever they had a chance.
But even if they didn't find a tree of lightning fruits, he still had four fruits he could sell or use whenever he pleased.
"Alright, none of you should co close, even if sothing happens," Karsha warned.
After the caution, he ford a hand seal, and a diagram appeared in front of him. The diagram was circular with a fla-like allure. It was a fla-refining diagram he had mastered from his master's mories.
He placed the fla inside the circle and, as before, began the taming incantation. Xian was imdiately captivated by how fluidly Karsha spoke. Curious about the extent of his soul strength, Xian began focusing on the essence behind the words, without even attempting to hide his curiosity.
Karsha recited a series of seemingly random words that held no aning to those around him, but to Xian, they carried a much deeper resonance.
Karsha had already shared taming techniques with him, but Xian's innate talent as a tar had awakened when he opened his soul sea. This talent allowed him to comprehend the essence behind sounds produced by most things. Although not at Karsha's level, his comprehension speed was still higher than that of most soul cultivators.
He could interpret the aning behind the reactions of the pill fla as it responded to each word Karsha spoke. Within a minute, Karsha had managed to gain the fla's acknowledgnt and was ready to move on to the difficult part.
He retrieved three legendary-grade flas and had the heaven-grade pill fla consu them. This was Karsha's way of solidifying their newly established bond.
Master Artemis was beyond shocked to see the fla he had spent years trying to ta submit to Karsha so effortlessly. When Karsha tad the epic-grade pill fla, Master Artemis thought it was normal, as many could manage such flas with relative ease.
However, even Pill Sages struggle to ta heaven-grade pill flas. But Karsha, a 19-year-old Pill Saint, had subdued a heaven-grade pill fla with ease, as if it were no harder than picking fruit from the ground.
"Alright, little fella, ti to et your new sibling," Karsha said, as a green fla appeared in his hands. The mont the Devil Breath fla materialized, the heaven-grade pill fla exuded a commanding presence, trying to assert its dominance.
To Karsha's surprise, his Devil Breath fla also emitted an infernal breath in response. Though much weaker than the heaven-grade fla, the confidence it showed spoke volus.
"No need to get hostile. This is just a rging ceremony. From now on, you two will beco one. Your confidence and his infernal might will rge to form a new whole. This will make you both stronger, so instead of fighting, accept each other and grow powerful together." Karsha wasn't sure if it would work, but he had to try.
What he didn't realize was that his soul strength had risen to a level where even taming a Tier 9 monster would be within his reach. Despite rely trying to encourage the two flas to rge, the strength radiating from his soul was too domineering for either fla to act arrogantly.
The heaven-grade pill fla, though stronger, recognized that rging with the confident epic-grade fla would benefit them both. Yet, accepting such a weaker fla as a companion was difficult for it.
"It's okay to be arrogant, little fella; your standards are clearly higher than little Devil's here. But you're both powerful, and rging could make you even greater, so why not give it a try?"
Karsha considered forcing them to rge if they resisted, but seeing that his words were influencing them, he waited. Once they accepted each other, he could use the Pyro rging Art to fuse the two flas, creating a new variant.
Lady Yi Ran watched Karsha from the sidelines, her eyes full of admiration. Like Xian, she also had so experience with soul cultivation. Although she didn't fully understand the essence behind Karsha's speech to ta the pill fla, she could sense the spiritual fluctuations radiating from him as he communicated with the two flas.
As a Sage with so skill in soul cultivation, she could detect these subtle fluctuations. Master Artemis sensed them as well, but the elders, most of whom were body or mana cultivators, were not so fortunate.
June and Fairy i Lin also watched with admiration. June was open about her feelings for Karsha, but i Lin had not yet taken that step. She was uncertain about how Karsha would feel or how to express her feelings.
She lacked June's confidence. But as a supportive friend, June assured her that Karsha would like her regardless of what happened.
Aside from admiring Karsha, June kept stealing glances at Li Fei, Xian's older sister. Although Li Fei's beauty didn't yet match her's, shecould tell that once Li Fei reached the level of Grandmaster or Semi-Saint, her beauty would be heavenly, capable of captivating anyone with just a smile.
Though no one knew what June was thinking, her smile hinted at the plans she was making as she observed Li Fei's continued gaze at the handso redhead.
"Since you two are willing to rge, try not to resist each other. The process will be over before you know it," Karsha said with a smile, looking at the two flas. He was impressed by their intelligence, especially Devil's Breath.
That little wretch even made so demands, and thanks to Karsha's ability as a Universal Enigma, he was able to respond to each of them.
The little wretch insisted on keeping part of his na, and after so back-and-forth, they finally agreed on a na: Aegon's Breath.
The heaven-grade fla was originally called the Aegon Blue Heaven Fla, a fla from a powerful beast known as the Single Horn Aegon Fla Lizard. This fla-type beast stored all its flas in its horn, and when it died, the horn would bury itself deep underground, preserving the heaven fla's purity until a worthy individual discovered it.
Master Artemis's master had found it in an underground passage during one of his adventures and brought it back, hoping his talented disciple would be able to ta it when he grew stronger. However, after years of failure, Master Artemis eventually gave up.
Karsha couldn't help but sigh—if Master Artemis had managed to ta this fla, he could have achieved the rank of Gold Badge Pill Sage by now.
While talent is important, a more powerful pill fla is also essential in the art of alchemy.
'I'll make sure to compensate him more; it feels like I'm cheating him,' Karsha thought. The heaven-grade pill fla was indeed powerful, and for soone indifferent to lightning fruits, the fla held far more value.
"rge," Karsha commanded, forming a hand seal. The green and blue flas flew toward each other, gradually beginning to fuse. The green fla exuded strong confidence, while the blue fla contributed infernal might.
As they started to bond, their consciousnesses began linking, forming a new whole. Because they were rging willingly, Karsha's role was minimal—he only needed to maintain the diagram for as long as the process required.
BOOM
A burst of energy erupted from the flas as the rging process entered its final phase. The two flas were almost fully combined, and to Karsha's surprise, the color barely changed.
Neither blue nor green dominated; instead, the result was a blend of green and blue with a subtle hint of purple. The aura coming from the rged flas was much stronger than even that of the Aegon Blue Heaven Fla.
"This aura... it's a mutation," Master Artemis murmured, eyes widening in amazent. "I never thought I would live long enough to witness a mutated Pill Fla."
"Master Artemis, what is a mutated Pill Fla?" Sect Master Xu asked, puzzled. They were not alchemists, so they had little knowledge of pill flas and their significance.
"In alchemy, a mutated Pill Fla is like a soul weapon for an alchemist."
"What?" Aside from Xian's family, the others gasped aloud. To them, a soul weapon was the ultimate and most powerful grade of item a cultivator could possess. Seeing sothing akin to a soul weapon, they couldn't help but marvel, awestruck by the strength and rarity of what they witnessed.
Explore stories on empire
"Success," Karsha announced with a smile, summoning the new fla. It radiated both confidence and fierceness. He then cut his palm, allowing a few drops of blood to fall onto the fla. The fla flew toward him and rged with his arm, making Karsha's smile widen even more.
"Ti to shake the alchemy world and show them what you're capable of—what we're capable of," Karsha said, clearly pleased with his achievent. Without wasting a mont, he summoned a pill furnace in front of him, signaling the start of his first refining session with his soul-bound Pill Fla, Aegon's Breath.
Reviews
All reviews (0)