Chapter 1290: Yaoyao's Training

Zhou Yuan taking over from Xu Beiyan to assist in refining the Ancestral Dragon Pill quickly spread throughout All-Heavens City.

This naturally caused a considerable stir, as expected. After all, Xu Beiyan had performed quite well in assisting with the alchemy over the past two years. The refinement of the Ancestral Dragon Pill had finally become more stable, and the success rate was gradually increasing. A sudden change in personnel would surely undo all that progress, wouldn't it?

Furthermore, although Zhou Yuan's spirit also entered the Roaming Spirit Stage, he was clearly just a novice. In contrast, Xu Beiyan had been immersed in this stage for many years. When it came to controlling spiritual power, he was surely much stronger than Zhou Yuan, wasn't he?

Considering these reasons, very few people were optimistic about Zhou Yuan replacing him.

However, it was said that this decision was made personally by the Saintess, and even the Sages guarding All-Heavens City couldn't change it. This made many people feel a pang of jealousy...

The Saintess was clearly so perfect, so why would she do something like this for a mere Zhou Yuan? Could it be that even the Saintess couldn't escape worldly desires once she fell in love? But why... wasn't that person *them*?!

Many felt a sour taste in their mouths, but fortunately, Zhou Yuan was quite sensible. According to him, if he couldn't surpass Xu Beiyan's success rate in the next Ancestral Dragon Pill refinement, he would voluntarily step aside.

However, some viewed this as Zhou Yuan creating an escape route for himself, to avoid being put on the spot and losing face if he truly failed.

"This guy, he's actually a bit clever."

"But ultimately, he's still young and hot-headed. If he had a premonition he couldn't do it, he should have simply refused. Now that he's caused such a stir, if he fails, he won't just lose face himself, but the Saintess will also be affected."

Inside All-Heavens City, the matter made things even livelier and more boisterous.

Teams returning from their missions, upon learning of the situation, decided not to venture out again. They all wanted to witness the results of the next alchemy session firsthand, as it concerned their personal interests.

While the news was spreading like wildfire throughout All-Heavens City, Zhou Yuan, the man at the center of it all, began to intensely review the Ancestral Dragon Pill refinement process under Yaoyao's supervision.

"During the refinement of the Ancestral Dragon Pill, thirteen experts of the Law Domain will continuously provide Genesis Qi as fuel from start to finish..."

"And your main task as the assistant is to control all the Genesis Qi they infuse, then release it in an orderly fashion according to the rhythm I require, using it to temper the remnant Ancestral Dragon Soul, which is the main material." In a quiet courtyard, Yaoyao sat gracefully on a stone pavilion bench. Tun Tun, like a fluffy puppy, lay on her slender legs, leisurely napping. Yaoyao stroked its fur while speaking to Zhou Yuan, who was meditating on a blue rock in front of her.

"It actually requires thirteen Law Domain experts to continuously supply Genesis Qi..." Zhou Yuan gasped at the revelation. The refinement of the Ancestral Dragon Pill was indeed extraordinary; just the lineup needed to provide Genesis Qi was something even the entire Tianyuan Region couldn't assemble.

"This won't be easy."

Zhou Yuan's expression was solemn. The Genesis Qi from thirteen Law Domain experts—how vast and mighty it must be. Guiding and controlling it would undoubtedly be a challenging task.

"While this is a difficult point, it's not the most troublesome," Yaoyao's leisurely voice drifted over. "After all, this isn't a battle. Those Law Domain experts won't deliberately resist your guidance. So, with training, your spiritual power at the Roaming Spirit Stage should be capable of it."

Yaoyao's voice continued, "In this kind of cooperative alchemy, the most difficult aspect is coordination. The assistant needs to grasp the rapidly changing situation within the pill furnace and direct the Genesis Qi to the precise location at the precise time."

"Xu Beiyan couldn't master this rhythm for nearly a year at the beginning, leading to many failures. It was only after numerous failures that he gradually grasped the rhythm, but even then, it wasn't perfect, which is why the success rate has never been particularly high."

Zhou Yuan nodded thoughtfully. This was indeed a tricky part. He would need to simultaneously focus on guiding the Genesis Qi from thirteen Law Domain experts while constantly paying attention to Yaoyao's refinement rhythm. Even a slight error during the process could affect the final outcome.

However, there were no shortcuts here; he could only gradually grasp the alchemy rhythm through continuous trial and error.

But the problem was... he probably didn't have much time, did he?

"When is the next Ancestral Dragon Pill refinement?" Zhou Yuan asked.

"All-Heavens City has two furnace openings each month. The next one should be in half a month."

Zhou Yuan's face fell. Xu Beiyan had a year to adapt, but he only had half a month? That seemed incredibly difficult.

Seeing his distressed expression, Yaoyao's lips curled slightly. "Actually, this is the easiest part for you to resolve."

"Why?" Zhou Yuan asked, stunned.

Yaoyao propped her delicate, fair chin with her small hand, a faint smile in her cool eyes. "Because I can place a sliver of my divine sense into your spirit. This way, we can perceive things together. You'll naturally know easily what stage the alchemy process has reached and what you need to do next."

Zhou Yuan was dumbfounded. Was it even possible to do that?

This was practically like taking an open-book exam, wasn't it?

So Xu Beiyan had a closed-book exam, and he got an open-book one?

"You..." Zhou Yuan couldn't help but scratch his head. Clearly, Yaoyao had long had a way to solve this major problem in refining the Ancestral Dragon Pill, but she hadn't mentioned it, instead letting Xu Beiyan endure a year of failures.

"You want to ask why I didn't use this method on Xu Beiyan?"

Yaoyao glanced at Zhou Yuan. "Why would I share my perception with him?"

Her words were light, almost like a girl's arrogant petulance. However, Zhou Yuan understood that this was due to the divinity within Yaoyao. Her divinity made her indifferent; although she had agreed to refine the Ancestral Dragon Pill, she clearly held a casual attitude of "if it succeeds, good; if not, so be it."

Furthermore, this spiritual fusion and shared perception was a rather unique form of communication. Yaoyao was willing to do this with Zhou Yuan, but there was no way she would choose Xu Beiyan, even if the cost was nearly a year of less-than-optimal alchemy.

Zhou Yuan nodded, smiling. "So, that means I just need to focus on guiding and controlling the Genesis Qi from those thirteen Law Domain experts?"

Yaoyao lightly nodded her head, then extended her fair hand, tapping her fingertip in the air.

The space around Zhou Yuan immediately shifted. Thirteen vast and mighty torrents of Genesis Qi surged forth, swirling and roaring around him like enraged dragons.

"For the next half month, just try to guide these thirteen Genesis Qi torrents with your spirit," Yaoyao said casually. "Once you can guide them peacefully, that should be enough."

A brilliant divine light flashed between Zhou Yuan's brows, and powerful spiritual energy surged out like a tide. The strength of this spiritual power was almost unimaginable compared to two years ago.

The spiritual power poured forth, beginning to make contact with the thirteen Genesis Qi torrents.

The initial collision was not smooth. Each of the thirteen Genesis Qi torrents was equivalent to the full Genesis Qi of a Law Domain expert, so even with Zhou Yuan's spirit having entered the Roaming Spirit Stage, it still felt somewhat strenuous.

However, he wasn't in a hurry. As he adapted, and as long as he grasped the rhythm, he was confident he could manipulate these thirteen Genesis Qi torrents. Once he brought them into his control rhythm, he would naturally be able to guide them.

Yet, he had somewhat underestimated Yaoyao's training for him.

"For this Ancestral Dragon Pill refinement, you'll also need to help me refine the remnant Ancestral Dragon Soul," Yaoyao said. "So, you can now split off a spiritual avatar to familiarize yourself with this refining process alongside me." On Yaoyao's small hand, a wisp of profound yellow aura rose, emitting ancient and primal fluctuations.

It was indeed an extremely faint wisp of remnant Ancestral Dragon Soul.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuan couldn't help but grimace. With his spirit having entered the Roaming Spirit Stage, he could indeed directly separate a portion of his spirit to form a spiritual avatar. This avatar shared all perceptions with the main body, but separating it would undoubtedly also divide his mental focus, thus interfering with his guidance of the Genesis Qi torrents.

But he also knew this was Yaoyao testing him.

So, divine light flickered between his brows, and a figure, almost substantial, slowly rose. It took two steps, completely transforming into another Zhou Yuan.

The two Zhou Yuans met each other's gaze and both smiled, feeling a bit peculiar.

Then, the spiritual avatar landed inside the stone pavilion, sat cross-legged before Yaoyao, and began assisting her in refining the wisp of remnant Ancestral Dragon Soul.

Meanwhile, the main body, due to the separation of a portion of its spirit, became somewhat uncontrolled. The thirteen Genesis Qi torrents instantly chaotic and vibrated wildly. Finally, amidst the main body's exclamation, they directly slammed into his form, sending him crashing down in a sorry state.

Inside the stone pavilion, Zhou Yuan's spiritual avatar also trembled, ripples undulating across its body, but then it stabilized again.

He glanced at his disheveled main body, then looked at the rising wisp of remnant Ancestral Dragon Soul before him. Taking a deep breath, he slowly closed his eyes and began to follow Yaoyao's rhythm, learning how to assist in the refinement...

Yaoyao completely disregarded what others thought, directly deciding that he should assist in the alchemy. Perhaps she didn't care about others' opinions, but Zhou Yuan had to give his all. He didn't want anyone to criticize Yaoyao because of him.

"Zhou Yuan, you must strive for success," he told himself in his heart.