The Supreme God

He had finally succeeded in bringing up the fire! Excitement flooded Austin's handsome face.
According to the tenets of the Elixir Foundation, making the fire was the first step to becoming a pill refiner. And his ability to call
it forth meant that he had the potential to become a pill refiner. A lot of people who had just started learning to refine pills couldn't
even make the fire.
Only ones with a strong, good-quality vital energy had a chance. Besides, it also required having good control of the vital energy.
Not meeting these requirements meant that they couldn't conjure the fire.
At first, Austin had only wanted to try if he could make it. But he hadn't expected to be successful just days after his first trial.
Other pill refiners would surely be astonished at this fact. And they had reason to disbelieve it, because it usually took a regular
pill refiner one, or even a few years to make the fire. And Austin bringing it up after mere days of learning was nothing short of a
miracle.
Austin let out a happy sigh of relief as he looked at the fire glowing in his hand.
With just a flicker of his will, the fire disappeared immediately. What was more, it reached his elixir field through the energy
meridian, and settled down in a quiet corner.
"So this is the fire of a pill refiner!"
Austin mumbled to himself. Willing it to change yet again, Austin made the fire pass back through the energy meridian into the
palm of his hand, appearing with a sharp crack. He repeated the process a few times, and found that he was getting better at
controlling the fire with each round.
It was a pleasant surprise to Austin that he was able to finish the first two steps of pill-refining in just a few days. All that
remained was to buy some spiritual herbs to assist him in refining pills.
He also needed a cauldron. Once he had everything ready, he was going to learn how to do it.
The problem was, all those things were all very expensive, especially the spiritual herbs. Immersed in these distressing thoughts,
Austin gently stroked the Space Ring. He knew that he would use up a lot of the vital energy crystals it held, and he couldn't help
but feel a little sad about it.

But there was no other way. This was the money he needed to spend if he wanted to learn pill-refining. And if he could succeed
in doing that, he would surely make a lot of money in the future.
This possibility was successful in quelling Austin's hesitation. He put on his black robe before opening the door that had been
shut for five days now. After all, he had killed Marvin, and he knew that his uncle Johnson would be looking for him everywhere
right now.
He finally left the room and the hotel that he had been staying in, to do a bit of shopping. He decided to look for some spiritual
herbs first, and then a cauldron. He wondered where he could find a good-quality cauldron in Peace Town.
Johnson's cultivation base was probably at the medium stage of the Earth Realm. Austin wasn't afraid of confronting him, but he
couldn't say for sure that he would definitely win against him. What was more, now was not a good time. He had neither the time
nor the heart to fight.
He knew he had to keep a low profile for now and gain more power in the meantime. And when the time came and he achieved
his goal, he would kill Johnson, because he was still a threat to him no matter what.
Austin walked into one of the two pill trading streets in town. Since he only needed the spiritual herbs to practice by burning them
and extracting the liquid medicine, he'd only get the cheapest spiritual herbs that were of the lowest quality.
As he entered a random shop, he saw that there were two other martial artists dressed in black robes, also shopping for spiritual
herbs.
Austin walked up where the spiritual herbs were on display and started to look for what he needed.
Austin seemed to have drawn the attention of the two martial artists, who kept glancing at Austin with confusion in their eyes.
Austin was known for his strong spiritual sense. So the fact that the two strangers were glancing at him from time to time
obviously piqued his interest.
He could also clearly hear what both of them were talking about.
"This guy dresses like he is a part of the Medicine Sect. Think he's one of us?"
"Yeah, he looks like one. But his robes are in the way. Can't see his face and can't tell if he belongs to us.
Besides, if he really is, why didn't he greet us when he walked in and saw us?

I think he just happens to dress the same way as our Sect."
"That's true.
We need to hurry up, though. Let's just pick some spiritual herbs soon and leave before the others notice us.
Medicine King asked us to come all the way here to get the powerful crystal without anyone finding out about it. The Cloud Cave
actually hasn't been found by any martial artist of the Violet Orchid Empire. Or the treasures there would have already attracted
every capable martial artist in the country. There would have been war for them!"
"Hush now! Be careful! You know our mission has to be a secret! Why do you talk about it in public? Especially on unfamiliar
terrain? If Elder Cao hears of this, he will have your head!"
The two strangers didn't speak any further as they looked around the shop. When they found that nobody seemed to have
noticed them, they let out sighs of relief.
Austin didn't have to look at them to hear what they were saying. His spiritual sense had been strong enough.
And listening to them had proven that they weren't martial artists of the Violet Orchid Empire, but belonged to the Medicine Sect,
a sect from abroad.
He wondered what exactly the Cloud Cave and the powerful crystal they were talking about were.
His curiosity was pierced by Violet's voice ringing through his mind, sounding shaky because of how excited she was.
"Master, did someone just mention the powerful crystal?"
Austin knew that Violet also had a good spiritual sense, only slightly weaker than his.
Although she was hiding in the Illusion Bead, she had the ability to use her spiritual sense to observe things around them as long
as she wanted to. But her overhearing the two martial artists might have been unintentional.
So Austin told Violet everything he had just heard.
"The powerful crystal! The Cloud Cave! Oh my God! They are both real! Unbelievable! That's exciting news!" !"
Violet's surprise translated into her gasping so excitedly that she almost couldn't form complete sentences.