A purple jade scroll sat quietly atop the pile of grass in the ring.

"Looks rather simple…"

​​

While there was a lot of common alchemical knowledge elaborated in the jade scroll, more of the contents were about techniques for controlling the flames.

Xu Xiaoshou opened his hand and compressed the spiritual source on his palm, causing crackling sounds to erupt.

If he didn't have Sense, that bit of invisible flames would've been incredibly difficult for him to control.

"Compress the flames as much as possible to about ten times its original size, condensing all of the energy at the center. If it explodes, it'll bring about terrifying damage…"

"Umm, the latter part probably isn't the main point. The main point should be using the energy of the weakened flames on the outer layer to perform alchemy..."

He recalled the contents of the jade scroll and felt rather intimidated.

The Infernal Heavenly Flames were simply too overbearing to be used for alchemy in the first place. He had no idea what the founder was thinking when he'd thought to use something so terrifying for alchemical purposes.

Failing to control it would cause it to explode…

He glanced at the massive red pearl above his head. The jade scroll said that the pearl was capable of absorbing heat energy, which he speculated should be able to withstand explosions as well.

"Let's try it out, then."

Under the thrall of his will, the flames in his palm no longer spread their energy outwards. Instead, the energy turned inwards, gradually forming a ball about the size of a human head.

But, nonetheless, the scorching heat energy leaked outside, and the ball seemed to grow even more reckless.

He clenched his teeth and continued to exert his power over it.

Puk!

A slight crackle was heard as the ball-shaped bundle of flames the size of a human head was condensed even further and reduced to the size of a fist.

Terrifying high temperatures spread, causing the space around it to warp. He was thoroughly baffled.

"What's going on?

"Shouldn't the energy be turned to the innermost core? Why is the temperature so high?"

He looked at the ball-shaped thing in his hand with a confused look, then focused and willed it to move. The ball then spun at high speeds.

R-Rasengan?

"Damn it, no! This is not the direction I should be taking it!" Xu Xiaoshou's expression turned glum.

According to the jade scroll, if he could collapse that thing into to the size of a fingernail, all the heat energy would turn inward and become an "extreme flame," with whatever was left forming a layer called the "residual flame."

The residual flame, which was of considerably lower temperature, was what was required, as it could be used for alchemy.

But that wasn't all.

Not only did one need to keep the residual flame at a suitable temperature throughout the entire process of alchemy, but one also needed to be wary of that extreme flame condensed to the size of a fingernail.

A mishap would result in failing the process and killing the user.

He looked at that ball in his hand, feeling like he'd gotten himself into trouble. He was already barely able to keep the ball together, even after condensing it to such a size.

His forehead started to break out in beads of sweat, but he clenched his teeth and soldiered through. That ball-shaped flame in his hand flickered twice and instantly collapsed into the size of a fingernail.

He was able to tell from his Sense that slivers of formless mist were leaking from it, forming an external layer.

Residual flames!

I did it!

He was overjoyed, but his smile froze the next second.

That condensed flame in his hand shuddered unstably twice before stopping altogether.

"Well, that was close…

"Wait, no!

"The energy inside is still fluctuating!

"I can't keep it down anymore!"

His pupils contracted, and his hairs stood on end, and he felt a sense of impending death.

He looked up at the red pearl above and wondered if he would end up blowing the library up if he were to fail to keep this thing under control.

"Can't wait to see if that happens!"

He went to the window and threw the thing into the sky outside.

Boom!

An explosive rumble was heard in midair. Raging, majestic and scorching energy rippled out, thoroughly bombing the air above the library.

The currents shot up, and in the fluctuations, he was able to see a vague, near undetectable super mushroom cloud forming.

"What the f**!"

Xu Xiaoshou was baffled. "You call this alchemy?

"This is a super attack like no other!

"Have I just created yet another terrifying spiritual technique after the four moves of Fleeting White Clouds?

"Worse still, this is large area-of-effect damage that would attack anyone indiscriminately."

He immediately got excited. While it was extremely difficult to keep such a compressed fire seed stable, making it unstable was, on the other hand, as easy as could be.

He then checked his energy reserve, finding that the compressed bit of flames of the size of a fingernail had actually drained about 30 percent of his reserves.

However, his High Spirits enabled him to regenerate the depleted spiritual source to about 80 percent, and he deemed that his reserve would be full again in a matter of minutes.

"How about going wild for a bit, eh?"

He opened both of his hands, drained about half of his spiritual source, and conjured two balls of formless flames on his hands.

Crackle, crackle!

Compress, compress even more…

Without breaking a sweat, he condensed the flames into a ball the size of a fingernail.

However, the energy within was even more raging than the one before, as he no longer bothered to keep them controlled.

Swoop!

Swoop!

He flung his hands, and the two formless bits of flames shot to the skies and rammed into each other.

Boooom!

The explosive effect was more than just the culmination of the two bits. He was already able to see the protective barrier around the library materializing, seemingly being out to nullify the raging, scorching energies.

That was just the aftershock!

If he were to throw several of these at the library…

"Ehem, no, no, no, can't afford to think like that," he thought.

But just imagine…

If he were surrounded by a massive army, yet just casually rose riding his sword and then kept compressing this thing using High Spirits, then threw one out one after another...

Would that make him a living bomber, then?

Just how much admiration and resentment would he learn from that alone?

"Ohohoho…"

His eyes narrowed to slits. He'd initially come here to learn to make pills, yet now he seemed to have ended up creating an extremely terrifying attack instead.

"Right, I have to name it."

"All four moves of the Fleeting White Clouds have names, so I couldn't just call this thing 'compressed fire seed,' right?

"It's small, it's condensed from a ball, it's of fire element…

"Well then, I'll just call it the 'Lesser Fireball,' then! Perfect!"

He then pulled himself away from the window, dusted his hands off with satisfaction, and then looked at that massive tub standing on three legs.

"Sigh, gone off-course again. Alchemy, get back to alchemy…"

…

Zhao Xidong had a blade of grass in his mouth as he cradled the back of his head with both hands and leisurely took a stroll.

After sending He Yuxing to the Tribunal, he had nothing else to do.

As for Su Qianqian carving a place inside the Inner Yard…

Well, he guessed that scuffles like that didn't matter in the Inner Yard so long as no one died. He'd turn a blind eye to it, and the whole thing would blow over.

A rumble was heard in the sky at that moment.

Boom!

A wave of terrifying heat energy exploded in the sky not far away. His pupils contracted.

That was…

The library!

He recalled the case of the masked invader from the previous night and got a bad feeling about things.

Booom!

An explosion greater than the one before was heard from afar, yet his will allowed him to see that even the barrier protecting the library had materialized.

Someone was attacking the library in broad daylight!

Just how reckless would one need to be to do such a thing!?

He felt very uneasy at that moment. He then took to the skies and shouted,

"Intruder!!"