Battle Through the Heaven: Purple Heaven

Xiao Clan's Back Mountain, Inside a Secluded Cave

After sending Xiao Yan off, Xiao Bai came alone to this quiet retreat. As for the auction, he had no interest.

In the original story, the auction's highlights were a high-tier Xuan Class technique, Wind Scroll Art, snapped up by the Jia Lie Clan, and Yao Lao's "substandard" second-tier pill, Foundation Spirit Liquid. Neither was useful to him. Why bother going when he could spend the time refining pills and gaining experience?

Seating himself on the massive stone he used for cultivation, Xiao Bai felt a surge of excitement. He retrieved the blackwood cauldron and placed it on the ground, then carefully laid out the herbs, sorting them one by one.

Alchemy was meticulous work, requiring patience. As he organized the herbs, Xiao Bai's excitement gradually settled, his mind calming like still water.

Once the herbs were sorted, he reviewed Yao Lao's alchemy basics and the pill recipe again, mentally mapping out his approach. His method wasn't conventional, after all.

After some thought, he realized his limited alchemical knowledge wouldn't yield breakthroughs through planning alone. He decided to abandon overthinking and use the simplest approach.

Just dive in!

As a saying from his past life goes, knowledge from books is shallow; true understanding comes from practice. Only through action could he uncover the problems he'd face.

For a novice like him, theorizing wouldn't reveal much.

Xiao Bai was decisive. Though he preferred careful planning, once he made up his mind, he acted swiftly.

The first step in alchemy was extracting the medicinal essence from the herbs.

He summoned a wisp of Bing Fire Yang Lightning and sent it into the blackwood cauldron, maintaining its presence. With his soul force, he delicately lifted a Purple Sun Fruit and eased it into the cauldron, guiding it toward the flickering Bing Fire Yang Lightning.

Crackle!

The moment the Purple Sun Fruit touched the lightning, it charred black. Xiao Bai retrieved it, holding it in his hand. With a gentle squeeze, the blackened fruit crumbled into ash, slipping through his fingers.

This wasn't a Purple Sun Fruit—it was a lump of charcoal!

Xiao Bai's face darkened. That was the smallest amount of Bing Fire Yang Lightning he could control, yet the fruit couldn't withstand it. How was he supposed to refine pills like this?

Recalling the alchemy basics, he remembered that fire-attribute Dou Qi, when channeled into a cauldron, produced flames that needed to be tempered with wood attributes to make them more stable and enduring.

He decided to try again. Placing another Purple Sun Fruit in the cauldron, he summoned a wisp of Bing Fire Yang Lightning and blended in a trace of Yi Wood True Lightning.

But the moment the two met, their power surged, doubling the lightning's intensity. The wood attribute fueled the fire, making the Bing Fire essence even more ferocious.

Glancing at the result, Xiao Bai dispersed the lightning without letting it touch the fruit. This is even stronger than before. No need to test it—I'd just get an even blacker piece of charcoal, not medicinal essence.

"What's going wrong?" Xiao Bai muttered, rubbing his chin, lost in thought.

Fire-attribute Dou Qi flames might be gentle enough to avoid burning herbs, but Heavenly Flames were powerful too. If Heavenly Flames could refine pills without reducing herbs to ash, why was his lightning failing?

"Is my control over the lightning too weak?"

He summoned a wisp of Bing Fire Yang Lightning, letting it dance on his fingertip, and studied it closely, murmuring to himself.

___

Xiao Bai set aside refining for now, focusing on adjusting his control over the lightning.

Previously, he'd maximized the lightning's destructive power. The Bing Fire Yang Lightning in his body wasn't fully refined, and he hadn't studied it deeply. But using it this way for alchemy was clearly too crude.

His late-stage Mortal Realm soul force surged, probing the wisp of Bing Fire Yang Lightning at his fingertip. His soul force remained unharmed, sensing a tingling, fiery warmth that was oddly pleasant.

Xiao Bai focused, trying to separate the Bing Fire essence from the lightning. If he could isolate them, refining would be much simpler.

After several attempts, he realized it was impossible. The two were fused at their core, sharing a single origin. With his current strength, separating them was beyond him.

"If I can't split them, I'll suppress the lightning to the center and keep the Bing Fire essence on the outside," he thought.

He directed part of his soul force to push the lightning attribute inward while guiding the Bing Fire essence outward. This way, he could use the outer fire for refining without breaking the Bing Fire Yang Lightning apart.

At first, he was clumsy. The task demanded extreme precision, essentially splitting his focus three ways: controlling the lightning, managing the fire, and maintaining overall balance.

But with time, he grew more adept.

The wisp of Bing Fire Yang Lightning at his fingertip now resembled a flickering crimson flame. Only up close could one see a tiny red lightning orb pulsing at its core, a striking sight.

Occasional sparks of lightning flickered in the flame, not due to poor control but because the two were fundamentally one. The outer flame couldn't be entirely free of lightning, just as the inner orb couldn't turn silver-white. This was the limit of what he could achieve.

Though he'd succeeded, Xiao Bai wasn't thrilled. He was stumped.

Maintaining this state required constant triple-focus, draining his mental energy rapidly. He couldn't sustain it for long.

And refining pills would demand even more—using soul perception to monitor the process, effectively splitting his focus four ways. Who could handle that?

Alchemy wasn't a quick task either. It required prolonged control of flame temperature and constant monitoring of the herbs' state, further taxing his mind.

"What now?" Xiao Bai's thoughts raced, searching for a solution.

After racking his brain, he felt stuck.

"If only the Bing Fire Yang Lightning could maintain this state on its own," he mumbled after a long, fruitless pause.

Suddenly, he sensed a stir within him. Xiao Bai quickly turned his focus inward.

The Bing Fire Yang Lightning in his heart seemed to respond to his thought—or perhaps to the state of the wisp at his fingertip—and began to shift on its own.

Could it actually mimic the state of this wisp?

A spark of excitement flared in Xiao Bai. Keeping the fingertip lightning steady, he watched with anticipation, whispering, "Little Bing, good boy, you can do it!"