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**
As Lin Feng picked up the Cold Marrow Branch, a chilling cold that could pierce to the bone instantly seeped in through his fingertips.
That terrifying chill almost caused his entire arm to go numb.
Staring at the frost quickly covering his arm, Lin Feng circulated the emerald-green flame within his body and let it surge out, expelling the cold.
With a flick of his fingers, the Cold Marrow Branch was accurately tossed into the medicine cauldron.
Immediately, the Heavenly Flame within surged up violently, rapidly engulfing the branch.
However, faced with the burning of the flame, the Cold Marrow Branch did not sit idly by and await destruction.
On the contrary, it continuously emitted freezing mist, trying to use the extremely low temperature of its cold air to extinguish the flames attempting to incinerate it.
The mist and the pale green flame eroded each other. Amid hissing sounds, the white fog it emitted gradually filled the entire medicine cauldron.
Because the Cold Marrow Branch required hundreds of years of extreme cold energy to form...
It relied on that accumulated energy and, for a time, actually held its ground against the Glazed Lotus Heart Flame.
However, the Cold Marrow Branch was ultimately alone and unaided.
Unlike the Glazed Lotus Heart Flame, which had Lin Feng's Dou Qi as support within his body.
Thus, after some time, it could no longer resist the terrifying high temperature of the Heavenly Flame and was finally defeated.
The ice crystal-like outer layer began to show signs of melting.
This refining process continued for several hours until the Cold Marrow Branch was completely subdued by the Heavenly Flame and transformed into a ball of snow-white medicinal essence.
Sensing the incredibly dense energy within that medicinal liquid...
Lin Feng let out a slight sigh of relief. With a wave of his hand, he stored it into a jade bottle.
Without resting, he swallowed Qi Recovery Pill and then picked up another jade box.
He took out the medicinal ingredient inside and tossed it into the cauldron to continue the refinement process.
As Lin Feng's alchemy continued, the number of empty boxes on the ground gradually increased.
By the end, the ground was littered with opened boxes.
However, beside Lin Feng now sat over a dozen jade bottles filled with refined medicinal essence.
Yet, the expression on his face showed no signs of happiness.
Because even a novice alchemist knew one universal truth: when it came to refining pills, the hardest step was always the fusion!
Seeing that all the medicinal ingredients had been refined, Lin Feng immediately began to control the medicinal liquids within the nearby jade bottles, guiding them in an orderly fashion into the medicine cauldron.
Then, a massive surge of soul power burst forth from his brow.
He forced all the differently colored energy liquids toward a single convergence point.
As expected, the rare medicinal materials inside the cauldron were instantly ruined.
Seeing this, Lin Feng let out a slow breath and had no choice but to repeat the same process again.
After failing the second, third, and fourth attempts...
Finally, on his fifth try, he succeeded in refining a Zong Breaking Pill.
Storing it into a jade bottle, Lin Feng was filled with joy—yet also a trace of helplessness.
Though the pill had been successfully refined, the cost had truly been steep.
Thinking about the four sets of rare medicinal ingredients he had wasted earlier, his heart ached uncontrollably.
After a while, he shook his head and gave a bitter smile. "Looks like improving an alchemist's rank isn't so easy. Even though I now possess soul power of sufficient strength and alchemy manuals of both high quality and quantity, I still run into so many problems upgrading my alchemy skills."
However, thinking about the mummified corpse of the Heaven Demon Phoenix, his mood lightened a bit.
"It's fine. As long as I can trade for that thing, these costs are worth it."
He comforted himself internally, then stood up, pushed open the heavy stone door, and walked outside.
He'd been in seclusion for so long—he ought to check on Queen Medusa and the others, and see how the auction preparations were going.
"Elder Yao, can you help me take a look at what this thing is?"
After making a round through Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and seeing that their preparations were decent, Lin Feng made his way to the treasure appraising section and struck up a conversation with Tian Huo Zun Zhe, who was searching for medicinal ingredients.
As he spoke, he pulled out a bronze scroll that had been stored in his storage ring for quite a while—something he had obtained in the Magic Beast Mountain Range.
"Hmm? Let this old man take a look."
Seeing the bronze scroll covered in rust, Yao Tianhuo showed a hint of surprise.
This ancient method of storing information was already quite rare back in his era.
And based on the information he had gathered recently, this form of data preservation had long been lost to history.
Now, to see one appear in Lin Feng's possession—he couldn't help but feel a deep curiosity.
Judging by the astonishment on the elder's face, Lin Feng could roughly tell that Tian Huo Zun Zhe had definitely seen something like this before.
Without much hesitation, he casually tossed it to Yao Tianhuo.
After catching it, the old man floated over to the window.
Using the sunlight from the blazing midday sun overhead, he carefully examined the artificial carvings etched on the bronze scroll.
As time went by, his head nearly pressed itself right up against the surface of the scroll.
After a long while, he finally turned back to Lin Feng and asked slowly, "Brat, where did you get this bronze scroll?"
"Uh… back when I was still a Dou Shi, I, uh... picked it up from the den of a Rank 6 Amethyst Winged Lion King."
As he spoke, Lin Feng suddenly recalled the time he had spent with Yun Yun in the Magic Beast Mountain Range.
"Well, damn. You're not just lucky—you've got some guts too, huh? A mere Dou Shi daring to sneak into the den of a Rank 6 magical beast to steal stuff?"
Hearing of Lin Feng's outrageous deed, Yao Tianhuo couldn't help but twitch his mouth in disbelief.
Lin Feng shook his head with a wry smile. "At the time, the Amethyst Winged Lion King had been lured away by others. Only a Rank 3 cub was left inside. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even gotten close before becoming its snack."
"But Elder Yao, what exactly is this thing? I once thought about using beast flame to burn it open, but I was afraid of destroying it, so I gave up on the idea."
After listening to Lin Feng's description, Yao Tianhuo scolded him, "Good thing you gave up on that idea. Otherwise, whatever's inside would've been reduced to ashes."
"Then what is it, really?" Lin Feng couldn't help but ask directly, seeing how mysterious the elder was acting.
"You're lucky you ran into me, brat. This bronze scroll is a method from ancient times used to preserve information. Its essence lies in the grooves of the engraved markings. The powder that looks like corrosion is actually a special material used to store data."
As he explained, Yao Tianhuo tossed the item back to Lin Feng and continued, "However, this thing appears to have been buried underground for a long time.
You'll need to separate out the powder and cleanse it of impurities before it can be used. Fortunately, you have a Heavenly Flame. You can burn away the impurities directly."
AN: The secret of the bronze scroll is about to be revealed (partially).
You might be able to guess what's inside (evil grin).
However, this opportunity is actually prepared for one of the protagonist's wives.
Also, I've rewritten the backstory of the Black Emperor Sect's mummified corpse from the original novel. Expect some changes.
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