The Way of The Dao

* Fwoosh~ *

A wave of scorching heat flooded an extremely spacious room, filling every corner and space with an almost tangible fire. Needless to say, even the grassy and fragrant aroma emanated in the place as well, but it was rewritten by the intense heat in the place.

"Add more spiritual energy! If you let the aura keep leaking more and more we will fail!"

Suddenly, an old but tired voice was heard as a powerful energy swept through the place, slightly lessening the heat.

A huge cauldron with a cover on its surface was placed in the middle of the room, while around it stood several people. The intense and terrifying heat that could be felt came from this huge cauldron, while flames engulfed it from below and various auras covered it completely, trying to prevent whatever was inside from coming out and blowing the cover off.

"You think I don't try to do that, Master Fengta? My range is bigger than yours because I had to cover your carelessness from a while back in the first place!"

An old man in his 70s with a white beard who seemed to be the one who was scolded by the first voice exclaimed seriously and wearily towards Master Fengta as well. As he sat in front of the furnace in the middle, his spirit sense again covered the furnace in the middle as his cultivation essence rose again.

"If you hadn't rushed to add the Icy Maple Leaf Grass we wouldn't be in trouble now!" Master Fengta did not lag behind and retorted, unwilling to accept the blame. His long beard between gray and white dripped with sweat that exuded his entire body, from his forehead to his feet as the cultivation energy flowed madly into his body and flowed towards the cauldron in the middle.

Suddenly, a powerful spirit sense combined with a smooth cultivation essence covered the cauldron in the middle, adding one more layer of protection. This caused the furnace that was trembling from within to calm down greatly while the flames around it calmed down, stabilizing the situation for a moment.

"Masters, can you focus please? We can discuss the mistakes and oversights later once we are done. If you continue to get distracted, we might fail to create this pill, and there's no need to remind you of all that it has cost us to get to this point..."

Then, a young but full of vigor and powerful voice spread out in the room, reaching the ears of both old men who were arguing.

"Master Daihang."

"You are right, Vice President Daihang! This old man was too careless."

The other white-bearded, grizzled old man's name was Woo Chin. His tired and agitated mind calmed down once he understood the words, realizing that they only had this one chance to realize this pill!

This group of three men were creating a powerful pill together!

Already this was the fifth day they would pass and finish the pill!

Both old men looked sideways at the young and powerful voice that had cleared their minds a few moments ago. Respect and admiration filled their pupils once their gaze fell upon the main figure in front of the pill furnace as he held his arms outstretched towards it. They could feel both cultivation essence and spiritual energy flowing nonstop from his body, intermingling and completely covering the cauldron, momentarily stabilizing it.

A young man with an appearance of just over 20 years old carried the leadership and greatest weight in this group. A serious face so detailed and well contoured, but with a mettle of calm and serenity yet conveying a warm aura that could melt the icy shells of the heart was reflected in this young man's appearance; though it was not uncommon to find handsome men like him, he was still far above average and so on. His snow white robe slowly began to cling to his body due to small beads of sweat beginning to soak into the fabric, showing the amount of exertion he was also exerting.

This young man who was admired and listened to by both old men was the Vice President of the Alchemy Association, Daihang Guan!

Daihang Guan frowned a little more, slightly squeezing his eyes shut as he felt the fatigue and tiredness begin to take its toll on his body. The fingers of his outstretched hands twitched slightly, increasing the flow of spiritual energy and cultivation essence. A sufficiently visible bead of sweat formed on his forehead and began to roll downward.

The next moment, a small, slightly pale hand reached up to his forehead and with a delicate handkerchief gently wiped away the several beads of sweat on Daihang Guan's forehead.

Daihang Guan's eyes widened in slight surprise before he turned his gaze to the side and finally smiled gratefully.

"Thank you... I thought you had gone to rest as I asked, Wenwen." Daihang Guan looked at her for a few seconds before saying quietly but still exerting his power towards the pill cauldron.

A young woman in her early twenties stood beside Daihang Guan, wearing a white robe to match his own, but with a simple, plain fabric, nothing ostentatious or flashy. Except that because of the slender but well-proportioned body figure going unnoticed, making one think that this was a very pretty young woman with a good body to look at. But if one were to look at her face, they would think twice: this once pretty face that was once pretty in the past, almost above average, now had a large and long scar that crossed from the top corner of her eyebrow to below her right cheek, completely ruining her face.

"You are at a very important phase, how could I leave and abandon you here, Senior Brother Daihang?" Yi Jingwen shook her head and replied with a soft and tender smile as she finished wiping the sweat from Daihang Guan's forehead gently. She had refused to leave this room for these five full days.

Daihang Guan again opened his eyes and looked straight at Yi Jingwen. Their eyes met and he smiled even more gently. He didn't even show any dislike or displeasure towards the scar that was quite noticeable all over Yi Jingwen's face.

* Boom! *

A bang erupted inside the furnace, shaking even slightly the space around it!

"Looks like we're at the last stage of condensation! It's all or nothing!" Master Fengta shouted madly as he expelled even more of his spiritual energy, using every trace in his Consciousness Sea to resist and stabilize the pill furnace.

Daihang Guan focused his spiritual sense completely, concentrating. He knew that if he missed by one second all the effort they had put in these days would be a failure. Only a little more than half of the materials were almost impossible to get!

Yi Jingwen withdrew quickly but quietly, not wanting to break Daihang Guan's concentration. She was the only one of the people present in the room who was not a direct part of the pill creation at the moment, so she remained quiet. Yi Jingwen would only help in extreme or difficult cases such as adding the special grasses prepared in the furnace in order and slowly, or even handing out the recovery pills for the three alchemists on site.

The energy contained within the cauldron quickly began to stir more and more, intensifying the aura and power it emanated. Daihang Guan and the other two alchemists added more energy to the cauldron, controlling the flames, binding the refined liquids inside, adjusting every bit of aura and energy that intermingled.

"Why don't they manage to mix and refine? At this rate everything will fail!" Elder Woo Chin exclaimed helplessly as he added the last traces of cultivation essence. His spirit senses could see inside the furnace that the refined liquids were beginning to clash and not mix properly, creating an imbalance altogether and causing the furnace to begin to shake and want to explode from the intense amount of pent up energy! There were even grasses and liquids that were completely unrefined!

Daihang Guan finally gritted his teeth somewhat tightly, his expression becoming more stern and serious. Finally the last step was happening but they were about to fail. He was the main pill creator who carried the most weight and work unlike the other two, Daihang Guan began to feel deeply tired.

"We can't withdraw the refined liquids either! It can't be done!"

The cauldron in the center was shaking more and more, still being enveloped by the energies of the three of them.

Suddenly, the door opened, taking the attention of everyone in the place slightly off-center and causing the cauldron to shake even more.

"Who dares to interrupt at this crucial moment!" Woo Chin exclaimed through gritted teeth, wanting to punch the guards he had set to guard the entrance so that nothing and no one would disturb them. He barely had the ability and energy to keep the furnace under control, and he could only glance around and was stunned to see that it was not one person but several people. What was going on?

"Elder Lu!"

Suddenly, Woo Chin caught a glimpse of Lu Wuhu and his body seemed to be relieved a little. Although he didn't know what Lu Wuhu wanted to do with all those people by interrupting at this crucial moment, but with Lu Wuhu's help they could stabilize the situation a bit!

Master Fengta was surprised to hear Woo Chin and remembered who Lu Wuhu was. He couldn't help but be slightly reassured at the thought that they might still have a chance.

"Brother! How good of you to arrive! I need your help in stabilizing the refining and essential integration!"

As if finding some salvation, Daihang Guan called out wearily when he heard Elder Woo Chin mention Lu Wuhu. He did not know why one of his brothers was in this place and why he decided to show himself at this time, but it was the right time. Now Daihang Guan was happy that Lu Wuhu arrived, he really needed his help as as the seconds passed the pressure emanating from the pill furnace became more and more unbearable. With Lu Wuhu's powerful spirit sense, they might have a chance to stabilize the pill furnace! They might even be able to finish it!

"What's wrong, brother? I don't think I can resist much longer!"

"Looks like it's not just a simple high-level pill you guys want to create, huh? Little brat~"

So when mere seconds had passed but seemed like an eternity to Daihang Guan and the other two alchemists when Lu Wuhu didn't respond, a somewhat surprised but extremely calm and collected voice answered their despairs.

* Boom~ *

This caused the pill furnace to shake a lot more, causing some grasses and unrefined liquids to explode inside as Daihang Guan's astonishing power that covered the entire furnace shook fiercely for a moment, becoming stupefied the next second when that familiar voice that he hadn't heard for centuries echoed in his consciousness.