Gradually, the transformation began to manifest in the cauldron.
The blood thickened.
Its consistency shifted, becoming denser and more viscous. At the sa ti, a separation occurred. Clear liquid began to rise to the surface, forming a distinct layer above the darker, heavier substance below.
Water.
The excess components were being expelled.
Lin Mu's eyes sharpened slightly.
"This is it."
The volu of the blood reduced steadily, nearly halving as the impurities and unnecessary elents were separated out. What remained was far more concentrated, its color deepening into a rich, almost tallic red.
Lin Mu did not remove the water.
Not yet.
Instead, he prepared for the next step.
A faint glow appeared in his palm.
Then, a fla ignited.
HUA
Pale blue.
It flickered softly, yet its presence was anything but ordinary.
The temperature within the chamber shifted subtly, though no heat seed to spread outward. The fla burned with precision rather than intensity, its energy refined to an extraordinary degree.
This was no ordinary fire.
This was a High Grade Alchemical Fla.
Within the Immortal Realm, alchemical flas were categorized into distinct tiers. The lowest grade manifested as yellow, crude and unstable. The mid grade flas carried an orange hue, more refined but still lacking in purity. Above them were the blue flas, representing a level of mastery that only Grandmaster Alchemists could typically achieve.
Beyond even that were the legendary top grade flas, which required the assimilation of natural spirit flas, treasures born from the world itself.
Lin Mu's fla stood firmly within the high grade.
And yet...
He was not an alchemist by trade.
He had never devoted himself fully to the path of alchemy.
What he possessed instead was sothing far rarer.
The accumulated experience of the Withered Spirit Daoist.
Over a million years of knowledge, refined through countless experints and failures, now existed within him. Though he had not personally walked that path, he could access its results.
The fla in his hand was proof of that.
Lin Mu gazed at it for a brief mont before lowering his hand toward the cauldron.
The blue fla descended.
The mont it made contact with the vessel, the entire structure resonated faintly. The patterns on its surface lit up, responding to the introduction of high grade energy.
Inside, the thickened blood reacted instantly and trembled. It was not violently, but rather with a controlled intensity which made the refinent process enter its next phase.
Lin Mu's expression remained steady as he guided the fla, his control precise to the smallest detail.
The pale blue fla settled beneath the Bloody Glaze Immortal Cauldron, its light steady and controlled, lacking the wild flicker of ordinary fire. Lin Mu's gaze remained fixed, his immortal sense spread thin and precise as it penetrated every layer of the blood within.
As the fla's heat began to perate the cauldron, the blood responded.
Slowly at first.
Then more distinctly.
The thickened mass trembled faintly, its surface quivering as if resisting the change. Yet sothing unusual occurred. The blood did not boil. Not even a single bubble ford within its dense structure.
Instead, the layer of clear liquid resting above it reacted.
The water began to bubble.
Soft at first, then steadily intensifying as heat accumulated. Small ripples ford across its surface, followed by the gentle release of vapor. Within monts, the sound of simring filled the otherwise silent chamber.
Lin Mu watched this carefully, his control unwavering.
He had expected this.
The water was not an impurity to be discarded prematurely. It was a necessary interdiary, a buffer that regulated the transfer of heat. Without it, the blood would be exposed directly to the alchemical fla, and the sudden influx of energy would destabilize its structure.
It would curdle and the entire process would collapse.
It would lose its integrity before the essence could be extracted.
What he was doing required patience and subtlety. The process bore resemblance to certain culinary techniques where delicate ingredients were tempered such as eggs gradually to prevent heat shock. The sa principle applied here, though at a far more intricate level.
The water absorbed the initial intensity.
Then released it in a controlled manner.
Minutes passed.
The bubbling grew stronger.
Steam rose in thin wisps, carried upward before dissipating into the isolated space of the chamber. Lin Mu adjusted the fla slightly, maintaining a consistent level of heat as the water continued to evaporate.
Eventually, the last traces of liquid vanished.
Only the blood remained.
By now, it had undergone another transformation.
The volu had reduced significantly, its consistency shifting further into a dense, almost gelatinous state. Its color deepened, taking on a richer hue that seed to shimr faintly under the blue glow of the fla.
Lin Mu did not pause.
He transitioned imdiately into the next phase.
With a subtle movent of his hand, the internal structure of the cauldron responded. From its inner walls, thin streams of blood began to rise, drawn upward by controlled Qi manipulation. They stretched like threads, forming delicate arcs that hovered just above the main mass.
The mont these streams were exposed to the fla, they reacted.
A sharp sizzling sound echoed faintly.
Lin Mu's eyes narrowed.
"Too much heat.
Without hesitation, he adjusted the fla.
The once steady blaze diminished, shrinking gradually until it beca sothing far more refined. The blue light condensed into thin strands, each one no thicker than a thread. Their intensity did not diminish, but their
application beca far more precise.
The sizzling stopped.
Silence returned.
Lin Mu began guiding the threads of fla across the surface of the blood.
They moved in slow, deliberate patterns, weaving across the exposed arcas while the bulk of the mass continued to be heated indirectly through the
cauldron walls.
This stage required absolute control.
It appeared simple from the outside.
In reality, it was anything but.
The process operated on two levels simultaneously. The alchemical fla. worked externally, applying carefully asured heat to stimulate transformation without causing structural collapse.
At the sa ti, the Blood Essence Transmogrifying Art continued its function internally, breaking down and reorganizing the components of the blood at a fundantal level. Any imbalance between the two would result in
failure.
Too much heat, and the essence would destabilize.
Too little, and the refinent would stagnate.
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