Knowing this was the Golden Dragon Gate Chief probing him, Huang Xiaolong acted normal, as if he didn’t notice the Gate Chief’s action. At the end of the day, this Gate Chief Liu Zhuo was just a peak late-First Order Ancient God Realm, whereas Huang Xiaolong’s Green Ice Hail Devil Bing Jiuyi was a mid-Second Order Ancient God Realm. Since he was concealed within space, there was no danger in letting the Gate Chief probe as much as he liked.

Huang Xiaolong stepped forward, saluting in greeting.

The obscure golden light in Liu Zhuo’s eyes subsided before he lightly nodded with an amiable smile as he said "You’re the disciple who refined grade three Hundred Scales of the Golden Dragon Divine Pills, Tang Hong?”

“Yes, Gate Chief.” Huang Xiaolong looked greatly respectful and cautious when replying.

“Rise.” Liu Zhuo’s smile widened, “Looks like you have a good talent for alchemy, you must continue to work hard.” These were considered words of encouragement.

This caused the other five disciples to look at Huang Xiaolong with envy; receiving a word of encouragement from their Gate Chief was something they could only dream of.

Huang Xiaolong nodded and complied.

“Alright, since everyone is here, let’s head to the pill refining chamber and prepare.” Liu Zhuo shifted his gaze to the group of Grand Elders.

Led by the Golden Dragon Gate Chief at the front of the group, Huang Xiaolong, Tian Juaner, and the rest made their way to the pill refining chamber.

As expected, Liu Zhuo’s personal pill refining chamber was large and spacious, taking up several thousand square meters, resembling a large square. Placed right at the center of the chamber was a pill furnace supported by five feet.

Life-like carvings of Godfiends filled the surface of furnace, exuding a faint but ancient Godfiend aura.

Just a glance and anyone could see that this pill furnace was extraordinary, most likely some high grade ancient treasure.

Other than this pill furnace, nothing else could be seen inside the large room.

The furnace was over ten meters tall. When Huang Xiaolong stood in front of it, he couldn’t help feeling slightly dwarfed, while the others also had the same feeling.

The Golden Dragon Gate Chief then explained the things they needed to pay attention to during the pill concoction and reiterated several times the important stages.

Having made sure everyone fully understood what was required of them, the Gate Chief had Huang Xiaolong and the rest move into position around the five-legged pill furnace, forming a small scale ancient divine formation.

When Huang Xiaolong and others sent their lightning and fire element godforce into the pill furnace during the refining process, the small scale divine formation would act as a moderator, balancing and circulating their godforce. Not only would it reduce the depletion of their godforce, it also increased the medicinal efficiency of the herbs inside the pill furnace.

While the divine formation circulated their lightning and fire element godforce, it would also temper their bodies. This indirectly benefited everyone involved, especially Huang Xiaolong, Tian Juaner, and the other four core disciples.

After the small scale ancient divine formation was arranged, Gate Chief Liu Zhuo gathered his Ancient God Realm godforce and struck his palm onto the surface of the pill furnace. Dazzling rays of light broke out from the pill furnace, causing its cover to quiver and slowly rise into the air.

“Herbs in!”

The Golden Dragon Gate Chief’s sonorous voice rang.

A Grand Elder briskly stepped forward, waving his hands and sending more than a dozen kinds of medicinal herbs into the pill furnace.

While refining an ancient divine pellet such as the Lighting War Monarch Pill, the order of the herbs was extremely strict, as was the timing of adding them. The slightest error could cause any one of the herbs to explode.

The moment the dozen herbs fell into the furnace, a different Grand Elder used his godforce to activate the formation inscribed inside the pill furnace. His lightning fire element godforce activated the flames, causing them to burn brighter, refining away the herbs’ impurities.

Following this, Huang Xiaolong and the others sent their godforce into the pill furnace according to a predetermined order.

Eighteen people’s lightning and fire element godforce merged into one, entering Huang Xiaolong and the others’ bodies as it circulated through the divine formation.

Tempered by this combined lightning and fire element godforce, Huang Xiaolong felt his True Divine Dragon Physique growing stronger still. This finding delighted Huang Xiaolong. Having his body tempered by the combination of eighteen people’s lightning and fire godforce was slightly more effective than absorbing a grade four spiritual vein.

Some time later, a few breaths before the first batch of herbs completely merged, Liu Zhuo barked another order: “Herbs in!’

A second Grand Elder waved his hands, sending out eight kinds of herbs into the pill furnace.

The moment these eight herbs entered the furnace, they reacted with the first batch of herbs, causing the pill furnace to emit an even brighter light.

Seeing this change, Huang Xiaolong and the others swiftly retracted a portion of their godforce as instructed earlier.

The muffled explosions and sparks inside the furnace gradually subsided.

An hour into the refining, more than four hundred kinds of herbs had been added.

These herbs were placed into the pill furnace in varied batches; sometimes there were as many as a dozen or more herbs in a batch, or even as little as one or two kinds.

However, refining the Lightning War Monarch Pill required over one thousand and two hundred kinds of herbs, therefore, they had only gone through one-third of the herbs.

At this point, Huang Xiaolong was beginning to see why the Golden Dragon Gate Chief gathered eighteen people who possessed dual lightning and fire element godforce to assist him.

Having eighteen people help would enhance the quality of the pill, but more importantly, the Gate Chief was incapable of refining this Lightning War Monarch Pill alone.

Soon, ten hours had passed since the eighteen of them entered the pill refining chamber.

At this point, all the required twelve hundred plus medicinal herbs had already been added into the furnace, except for the more precious ones as well as the chaos spiritual herb.

This was the crucial moment.

Most of everyone’s godforce had been exhausted.

The Golden Dragon Gate Chief’s hand movements increased in speed as he formed a series of seals. An extremely pure spiritual energy filled the chamber, coursing through all eighteen people’s bodies, replenishing their depleted godforce.

Huang Xiaolong’s heart raced, ‘This is a grade five spiritual vein! It’s absolutely a grade five spiritual vein’s energy!’ Only a grade five spiritual vein could have such an effect.

Saying that the Golden Dragon Gate Chief owning a grade five spiritual vein surprised Huang Xiaolong was an understatement

When he and the others had their godforce replenished by the influx of spiritual energy, the flames made by lightning and fire inside the pill furnace seemed to receive a second life.

At this time, Gate Chief Liu Zhuo once again reminded a Grand Elder to add the next herb. The remaining ingredients were the most important and precious ones, followed by the chaos spiritual herb, hence, these were added into the pill furnace one by one.

Every time a new herb was added in, the dazzling light around the pill furnace became stronger, and so did the refreshing pill aroma, indicating they were close to condensing into pellets.

Everyone grew more nervous.

When only three chaos spiritual herbs remained, the Golden Dragon Gate Chief ordered: “Nine Petals Spiritual Lightning Lotus!”

One of the Grand Elders responded, taking out the Nine Petals Spiritual Lightning Lotus. Almost exactly at the same time it appeared, flashes of lightning lit up the room, forming rays of crepuscular white light that spread out.

However, just as the Grand Elder was about to throw the Nine Petals Spiritual Lightning Lotus into the pill furnace, a giant ice hand appeared out of nowhere, slapping down on the Grand Elder. That Grand Elder turned into an ice statue in a split second before the giant ice hand scooped up the Nine Petals Spiritual Lightning Lotus into its palm.

In the blink of an eye, the giant ice hand vanished from sight.

The sequence of events happened so fast that everyone was still dazed where they stood.

“Chase!” The Golden Dragon Gate Chief reacted, bellowing in rage. His voice thundered, resembling an enraged primordial fierce beast.

In order to concoct the Lightning War Monarch Pill, over thousand two hundred medicinal herbs and chaos spiritual herbs were required. Not a single one could be substituted or missing. Now that the Nine Petals Spiritual Lightning Lotus was stolen, the refinement was doomed to fail. His painstaking effort and all the precious herbs inside the pill furnace were wasted!