"Not bad, you have some guts." Sicily laughed heartily. "Since you dare to refine pills, I'll give you a stroke of fortune."
With that, Sicily casually tossed a ring in front of Joe Di. "Inside are a pile of second- and third-grade divine spirit herbs. As long as you manage to produce pills, all these herbs are yours. I don't even care about the grade of your pills—just as long as you make some."
Joe Di didn't even look at the ring on the ground. He simply took out a semi-artifact pill furnace. His main pill furnace was the Grand Cosmos Cauldron, but for refining such low-grade pills as the Hua Dao Divine Pill, he didn't need to bring out his Grand Cosmos Cauldron.
The surrounding cultivators were dumbfounded when they saw Joe Di only take out a semi-artifact pill furnace. In the Immortal Realm, a semi-artifact pill furnace would be a top-tier treasure, but here in the Divine Realm, giving one to a pill refiner was extraordinary. If someone could refine Dao Shaping Divine Pills with a semi-artifact furnace, they'd be considered a top pill god.
And yet Joe Di was going to use this semi-artifact pill furnace to refine Hua Dao Divine Pills? Was he just counting on others' ignorance of pill refining and forcibly lowering everyone's intelligence?
"Joe Di, I thought you were a pill refiner, so I respected you. But with this insult to the Dao of Alchemy, even if I, Isabelle Shao, die here today, I will kill you!" Isabelle Shao's anger flared when she saw Joe Di's semi-artifact pill furnace. Killing intent surged around her, as if she might attack Joe Di at any moment.
Nora Su sneered. She thought Joe Di was just some arrogant upstart, daring to act so brazenly in this place—truly courting death.
Though the Taiji Realm had declined, its Dao of Alchemy remained formidable, with at least ten major pill sects. If Isabelle Shao killed Joe Di here for insulting the Dao of Alchemy, no matter how strong his backing, he probably wouldn't survive. Besides, in Nora Su's eyes, Joe Di had no real backing—he'd only managed to please Luna Fairchild.
Luna Fairchild frowned slightly. Joe Di hadn't even started refining pills before putting away her Lunar Heart, which already irked her. Now that Joe Di was courting death so boldly, she suddenly felt she needed to be more careful when choosing people in the future.
Joe Di stared coldly at Isabelle Shao. "Oh? Then tell me, how have I insulted the Dao of Alchemy? Is it only your family's pill refining that counts as respect, and everyone else's is an insult? If that's the case, why bother asking for advice? With hypocrisy like yours, do your family even know what you're like?"
Isabelle Shao took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her killing intent, and said in a low voice, "I've been immersed in the Dao of Alchemy for over a hundred thousand years, yet I've never seen anyone use a semi-artifact to refine Hua Dao Divine Pills. Are you perhaps a Genesis Pill Saint, or even a Unity Pill Saint?"
Joe Di laughed loudly. "So you're saying all those years you lived were wasted, and now you expect everyone else to waste theirs too? Just because you can't do something, it's wrong? What kind of Dao of Alchemy is that? Are you the creator of the universe? Did you set all the rules of heaven and earth, even the rules for pill refinement? Does something only become truth once you're able to do it?"
To be honest, Joe Di hadn't really disliked Isabelle Shao at first. But this woman was far too self-centered, unable to tolerate any differing opinions. She'd been spoiled all her life, always at the center of everything, and anything that diverged from her thoughts or beliefs was simply wrong.
Even if you think others are wrong, that's not a big deal. After all, everyone has their own perspective, and there's no need to force others to agree with you. But this woman acted as if the entire Dao of Alchemy was under her control. Just because he took out a semi-artifact pill furnace to refine Hua Dao Divine Pills, she was enraged, even harboring murderous intent toward him.
It would be strange for Joe Di to show her any kindness.
"A Jiu, you've gone too far. Everyone here is your senior—how can you speak like this?" Luna Fairchild's face darkened, her tone growing cold.
Joe Di laughed heartily. "Everyone here is my senior? You can keep that thought to yourselves—don't drag me into it. In my eyes, there are no seniors here, and I don't want to be a senior among you either. Let's just keep to ourselves."
"Joe Di, if you can't refine pills, just say so. For Luna Fairchild's sake, we might spare your life. But if you keep making trouble and refuse to refine pills, even Luna Fairchild won't be able to protect you." Sicily's face grew uglier, and his words even put Luna Fairchild on the spot.
Luna Fairchild replied coolly, "No need to consider my feelings. Joe Di, you'd better look after yourself."
She was thoroughly disappointed in Joe Di. Once he was killed, she planned to take his corpse and investigate the mysterious yin-yang Taiji aura within him.
Joe Di said coldly, "Are you blind? Didn't you see Isabelle Shao stirring up trouble and not letting me refine pills just now?"
At these words, killing intent surged across Sicily's face, and he raised his hand to strike at Joe Di.
Joe Di was also ready to put away his pill furnace and fight. Although he hadn't fully recovered, he could still kill Sicily and escape afterward.
"Senior Sicily, please stop." Isabelle Shao called out to Sicily, then suppressed her anger and said, "Alchemist Di, since my years were wasted, then please, you who haven't wasted yours, refine a batch of Divine Cloud Pills for us."
Joe Di ignored Isabelle Shao and grabbed a handful of divine spirit herbs.
"Twinleaf Cloudroot!" Dan Yan, who had been awkwardly silent, exclaimed in surprise. This whole matter started because of him, but it had become everyone confronting Joe Di, and he couldn't even speak up.
At this moment, seeing that the top herb in Joe Di's pile was a Twinleaf Cloudroot, Dan Yan finally understood what pill Joe Di intended to refine.
Joe Di was about to refine Divine Cloud Pills—a top-tier Ascendant Pill. This pill was renowned for its excellent effect in restoring spiritual essence for cultivators below the Prime Realm, making it one of the best recovery Ascendant Pills. Because the main herb was Twinleaf Cloudroot, it was extremely difficult to refine, and was considered one of the hardest Ascendant Pills to make.
"You're going to refine Divine Cloud Pills?" Isabelle Shao looked at Joe Di in disbelief.
Even refining God Origin Pills was difficult for her—producing a top-grade pill was rare, with most results only being mid-grade.
Joe Di didn't answer Isabelle Shao. He raised his hand and summoned his flame. Of course, he wouldn't use his Dao Fire here—advancing Dao Fire required the Lunar Heart and Solar Heart. What he summoned was merely a simulated Nurturing Dao Flame.
Seeing Joe Di summon the Nurturing Dao Flame, some cultivators who hadn't joined the argument couldn't bear to watch. Clearly, Joe Di's concealment technique was decent, but now that he'd revealed the Nurturing Dao Flame, everyone knew he was only at the Dao Nurturing stage.
So now, with Joe Di about to refine God Origin Pills, the only thing genuine was the quality of the herbs—everything else was unworthy of attention.
Only Ling Xiaoshuang watched Joe Di's actions without blinking. She was certain Joe Di wasn't the superficial type. She'd seen people like him before—more than one.
At this moment, no one spoke. Everyone waited for Joe Di to finish refining the pills—or rather, they were all waiting for him to fail.
Joe Di's flame landed on the semi-artifact pill furnace. After only a dozen breaths, he slapped his hand, and all the impurities in the furnace were expelled in one motion.
Isabelle Shao's eyes widened in disbelief—had he already cleaned the furnace? When Joe Di added all the divine spirit herbs to the furnace, she realized he truly had prepared it.
Everyone present was exceptional. Just by watching Joe Di's cleaning technique, they could tell he had some real skill.
But when they saw Joe Di toss all the herbs into the furnace at once, those who understood alchemy sighed—the batch of pills was doomed.