Flames rose in Long Chen’s hand, resembling millions of wild dragons enveloping the Earth Cauldron. A pillar of flames then soared into the heavens, incinerating a hole in the sky.

Long Chen had no choice but to go all-out. With so many pills to refine at once, if the flame power didn’t reach the necessary level, there would be impurities in the refining process. If a single kernel appeared in the process of the medicinal powders merging back into liquid, these pills would essentially turn into medicinal porridge instead of pills.

The medicinal powders in the Earth Cauldron quickly turned into boiling medicinal liquid, but the Earth Cauldron tightly sealed it, not letting a trace of it escape, which led to the energy in the Earth Cauldron rapidly rising.

At this time, Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength erupted, surging into the cauldron to keep the energy suppressed. As Long Chen worked to suppress this energy, the medicinal liquid started to resist.

An immense pressure gradually grew against him. Threads of consciousness appeared, beginning to fight his Spiritual Strength. One, two, three… in a short moment, nine hundred and ninety-nine consciousnesses awoke, absorbing the energy of the medicinal liquid to strengthen themselves and fight Long Chen’s control.

Like clumps of fire, they crazily burned themselves. According to reason, they should have quickly exhausted themselves. However, refining pills required a constant stream of heaven and earth’s spiritual qi being injected into the refinement, so the energy they were burning was replenished by the energy of heaven and earth. In fact, their power only grew.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine clumps of fire appeared within the cauldron, looking like tailed spheres of fire flipping around.

Long Chen was like a chef, and his soul was the ladle constantly stirring the flame spheres inside of the Earth Cauldron. He could neither let them attack and destroy each other, nor could he let them join together to fight against him.

These nine hundred and ninety-nine flame spheres had to equally absorb the energy inside of the cauldron; every pill had to have the exact same amount. Otherwise, the disbalance would result in a pill explosion, and it could easily cost someone their life.

Thus, normally a furnace of pills could only have an upper limit of nine pills. Nine was the peak, and it was the limit of an alchemist’s control. They could keep it relatively safe even if the nine pills were to explode.

Furthermore, all alchemists knew that it was all too easy for accidents to occur during the refinement process. This had little to do with one’s skill. Even the strongest alchemist wouldn’t dare to say that they would definitely succeed in a refinement.

For example, even though Long Chen possessed the Pill Sovereign memories and his alchemy arts were unparalleled, he still failed some of his pill refinements.

To be fair, even one of the ten great primal chaos divine items and Huo Linger had made some pill explosion during their refinements.

To use the Earth Cauldron’s words, the failure of a refinement was sometimes due to that person’s bad luck—perhaps a shift in the laws of heaven and earth or even the rhythm of the cosmos. Even it had no way to handle such a thing.

Thus, no matter what level the alchemist was, as long as they were refining pills, even if it was the pill formula they were most familiar with, they wouldn’t dare to be the slightest bit careless.

Within the cauldron, the flame spheres fought even more intensely, and Long Chen’s expression was serious. He was constantly pushing those flame spheres around while also keeping an eye on any changes.

“Managing a grand empire is like boiling small fish, and comprehending the Grand Dao can be likened to refining an immortal pill. Have you ever once thought about what you are, in terms of the world inside the pill furnace? What do those spheres of fire represent? What does the medicinal liquid represent? What does your hand represent?” explained the Earth Cauldron.

Long Chen’s heart shook. The Earth Cauldron’s words made him recall what the sweeping elder had told him.

If the pill furnace was like the world of the nine heavens, then these nine hundred and ninety-nine flame spheres would represent nine hundred and ninety-nine races, factions, or planes, right?

The medicinal liquid was their source of energy. If his spiritual hand was the law that balanced this world, then what about himself?

If he were the master, then his goal would be to consume everything, all the while not letting them know of it. This seemingly balanced world was actually under the control of a single hand.

“One hand controlling things?”

Long Chen suddenly thought of himself. If he were one of these nine hundred and ninety-nine pills, could it be that because he was too strong, throwing this world into disbalance, so the hand wanted to eliminate him?

BOOM!

“Not good!”

Long Chen cried out. The moment he was distracted, three flame spheres merged and became a much larger one. Upon contact with Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength, they actually avoided his spiritual touch and headed directly for some other clumps.

Those flame clumps thought that they were under attack and immediately counterattacked. However, they were instantly absorbed, and the large flame clump once more grew.

“It’s over.”

Long Chen sighed. This clump had devoured six more flame spheres, causing it to have too much energy. If he were to destroy it, he might be able to take back the medicinal energy it had absorbed. But missing nine medicinal pills would affect the energy of the other pills. Although the other nine hundred and ninety pills would be able to absorb the energy of those nine pills, they would definitely be affected.

Refining pills was just like that. Even the slightest influence could cause a collapse of all previous efforts. Otherwise, there would be no need to precisely control the amount of medicinal energy before the refinement started.

At this point, continuing the refinement would be meaningless. Even if the pills condensed in the end, their quality would not be good. Hence, Long Chen decided to simply ignore it and let things play out. In any case, it wasn’t as if the Earth Cauldron would explode.

When Long Chen’s spiritual hand retreated from the Earth Cauldron, those clumps instantly grew berserk, crazily devouring the medicinal liquid and attacking each other. To Long Chen’s surprise, several of them actually bunched up as if discussing something.

“This is…”

This scene stunned Long Chen. Previously, these flame clumps only had a slight consciousness, but when his hand left, they seemed to gain intelligence.

Long Chen saw several clumps hiding in the corner, choosing not to fight or absorb the medicinal liquid. They were like spectators watching their surroundings.

“When your Spiritual Strength was within the cauldron, everything within was under your control. As you disturbed the Heavenly Daos, you disturbed the laws inside. Another way you could put it is that you were the Heavenly Daos; you were the laws. But when your Spiritual Strength retreated, it became its own miniature world with its own laws again. Do you still remember the sweeping fellow and what he said about the Heavenly Daos?” asked the Earth Cauldron.

“The Heavenly Daos have no start or end, no outer edge or core, no inside or outside… I understand. This world has no big, small, inside, or outside. Those are all labels we applied based on our perception. In my view, the inside of the furnace is just a space. But if I were one of those clumps, then the pill furnace would be the entire world…” In an instant, Long Chen had a new understanding of the Heavenly Daos. When the sweeping elder had tried to explain this to him, he had felt lost in the clouds. But now he felt like he had understood.

BOOM!

Just then, the interior of the pill furnace underwent a sudden change.