"This Wu Tao fellow, does he have a grudge against the heavens!"
Yōumèng sighed, watching Wu Tao continuously attempt alchemy only to fail.
This was also the truest thought in the heart of Wukongzi, who was both contributing his efforts and materials.
"Before anyone taught him, Wu Tao figured out alchemy on his own, and it ended in failure."
"Now, with a teacher standing at the pinnacle of the Dao of Alchemy, teaching him hand-in-hand, he's still failing!"
"They say bad alchemists tend to have nine furnaces explode out of ten, with one succeeding."
"What would you call Wu Tao's current situation? One exploded, one successful? Or none successful?"
"No, not one exploded, one successful. This is nine plus one, ten furnaces all exploding!"
"It's understandable for an alchemist to explode nine furnaces and succeed with one. Most alchemists in this world will have their furnaces explode; it's not rare."
"Bad alchemists simply explode more and fail more than others!"
"But Wu Tao's current level of failure is a unique case in the history of alchemy!"
"What 'Terminator of the Dao of Alchemy', from this day forward, there will only be one 'Furnace King' in this world..."
"'Brother Furnace Ash', 'Creator of Black Ash', 'Wu Family's Iron Hands', 'Number One Furnace Exploder in the Dao of Alchemy', 'Number One Person to Seal the Coffin of the God of Alchemy'."
"'Goddess of Fate's Trash Can', 'Metaphysical Master of the Cultivation World', 'Anti-Alchemy Genius', 'King of Furnace Explosions, Lord Wu Tao'!"
Hearing the nicknames Yōumèng gave him in his sea of consciousness, Wu Tao was completely bewildered.
Wu Tao had always thought that the most difficult phase was when he was exploring the Dao of Alchemy alone.
He believed that even if he were the dullest person, with guidance, he could become a lucrative alchemist.
Especially with a grandmaster standing at the pinnacle of the Dao of Alchemy teaching him hand-in-hand, he was sure to succeed.
He had thought he was on his way to the peak of his life.
But now...
Wu Tao's mind was filled with the new nicknames Yōumèng had bestowed upon him.
"Terminator of the Dao of Alchemy, Brother Furnace Ash, Creator of Black Ash, Wu Family's Iron Hands, Number One Furnace Exploder in the Dao of Alchemy, Coffin Sealer of the God of Alchemy, Goddess of Fate's Trash Can, Metaphysical Master of the Cultivation World, Anti-Alchemy Genius, King of Furnace Explosions, Lord Wu Tao!"
Goddess of Fate's Trash Can...
Anti-Alchemy Genius...
Creator of Black Ash...
Metaphysical Master of the Cultivation World...
Wu Family's Iron Hands...
"..."
Just as Wu Tao was recovering from Yōumèng's onslaught, Wukongzi, his master, began to roar at him by his ear.
Wu Tao felt like he was on the verge of being completely broken.
He shook his head. *Damn it, being broken, I must be strong.*
How could someone like him be defeated by such a small matter, let alone be broken!
*Yes, I must be strong!*
Wu Tao's expression kept changing.
He hadn't been broken, but he had gained a pile of nicknames that made him want to kill a cat!
Having failed again, Wu Tao was beginning to doubt his own existence.
While Wu Tao was pondering this, Yōumèng, of course, couldn't help but pop out and chirp a few times, mocking Wu Tao.
However, Wu Tao, who was deep in thought, chose to ignore the fellow in front of him.
After thinking for a while and still unable to figure it out, Wu Tao, feeling depressed, used his divine sense to look inward and meticulously examine his entire body.
He discovered something very strange: ever since the Source of Time entered his body, even without cultivation, the Source of Time had been continuously propelling him forward!
His current cultivation speed was ten times faster than before, which was the fundamental reason he could break through from the middle Nascent Soul stage to the late Nascent Soul stage in just a few years.
Initially, Wu Tao's talent was very poor, just like that of ordinary cultivators. It wasn't until he passed through the Sea of Ten Thousand Swords and reshaped his physical body that he became a Innate Sword Body.
At that point, his talent could match that of heavenly prodigies.
And ever since he merged with the Source of Time, his talent had reached the absolute top tier.
It couldn't be said to be unprecedented and unparalleled, but it could be considered a rare talent monster of the century!
"Time is king, space is supreme. As the strongest first law among the three thousand laws, if I one day reach the peak, can I truly reverse time and travel to the past and future?"
As Wu Tao pondered this, a flash of inspiration struck him, as if he had grasped something crucial.
"That's not right. I've tried alchemy before, and even with countless failures, there were always successes..."
"Why have I been failing for more than half a year without a single success this time?"
"Could it be that I haven't been controlling the Source of Time?" A thought suddenly appeared in Wu Tao's mind.
"Ever since the Source of Time entered my body, I haven't deliberately controlled it..."
"Could it really be that the Source of Time is causing trouble for me? Every failure of mine is actually the Source of Time's fault?"
With this thought, Wu Tao immediately began to control the Source of Time. Under his control, the temporal power of the Source of Time instantly condensed into a ball.
The power, which was once filled with the flow of time, instantly transformed into a small transparent ball.
As the ball spun, it transformed into countless traces of temporal energy that flowed through Wu Tao's limbs and bones, with the power of time instantly occupying his entire body.
As the power of time surged, Wu Tao found that the alchemy furnace before him was enveloped by the temporal energy.
Wukongzi, who was standing beside him, naturally saw this scene.
Yōumèng, who had been mocking Wu Tao in his sea of consciousness, also suddenly fell silent.
She also wanted to see what Wu Tao was trying to achieve with such a grand spectacle.
"Bang..."
Just as Wukongzi and Yōumèng, one person and one cat, were intently focused on seeing the result, Wu Tao opened the furnace again, and what he took out was still black ash.
Moreover, due to the explosion of the elixir, cracks appeared on the body of the alchemy furnace.
It was clear that this alchemy furnace would not last much longer.
Facing such a scene, Wukongzi almost fainted...
*Damn it, is he crazy?*
He put on such a grand show at the beginning, making it seem like he was going to defy fate, only for the result to be the same, another failure!
"Why do I have such a strong urge to expel this kid from my sect at this moment?"
Wukongzi covered his face with one hand and his heart with the other, bent over, and thought with immense grief.
But as Wukongzi looked up again, he stopped speaking!
Because he now discovered a strange sight.
His beloved disciple seemed to have broken down!
From then on, his disciple stopped refining elixirs and instead began to study things related to formations and formation diagrams.
Formations? Formation diagrams?
The Dao of Formations?
After observing Wu Tao for several days, Wukongzi was completely stunned.
After being stunned, Wukongzi used his divine sense to observe his disciple's mind, wondering if there was something wrong with it.
Had his disciple been driven mad?
Could he really have gone insane?
On the other side!
Wu Tao had never imagined that while refining elixirs, he would also have to learn the Dao of Formations.
He needed to construct a system that could fully utilize his temporal power in refining elixirs and assisting the operation of the alchemy furnace.
For the past few days, Wu Tao had been preparing to build this system, collecting data.
After a few days, Wu Tao had collected almost all the data he wanted, and it could be said that he was already halfway successful.
In the system that Wu Tao was constructing, temporal power would serve as the regulator for the final formation of the elixir.
Wu Tao's conception of this was both accidental and a pleasant surprise.
For an alchemist to stabilize the alchemy furnace, flames, and refining materials at a certain fixed value is truly difficult.
Without thousands of trials and diligent practice, it would be impossible. Moreover, one would need extremely high talent in this regard to succeed.
Among all the alchemists in the cultivation world, only a select few grandmasters of the Dao of Alchemy could achieve this.
Of course, alchemists who reached this level had basically reached the pinnacle of the Dao of Alchemy.
A constant refining speed for an alchemist meant that the variables were controllable.
In other words, to a certain extent, this meant that the probability of errors could be significantly reduced.
If this system that Wu Tao hypothesized could truly be deduced and successfully implemented by him,
Then, with the help of temporal power, Wu Tao would be truly invincible in the Dao of Alchemy.
After all, with the blessing of temporal power, it would be difficult for Wu Tao not to be invincible in the Dao of Alchemy.
Of course, this was the result that could only be achieved after Wu Tao successfully deduced the system.
This was by no means something that could be accomplished overnight.
Of course, for now, having even a rudimentary form of such a system would be enough.
Seeing Wu Tao in this state, Yōumèng was so amused that she was rolling all over the sea of consciousness.
Wukongzi, on the other hand, now had an expression as dark as the bottom of a pot.
He was truly embarrassed now.
He had thought he had received a perfect successor.
But he never expected that in just a few months, his good disciple would become somewhat comical.
He truly could not have foreseen this.
When in doubt, turn to the Dao of Formations. His beloved disciple was now turning to the Dao of Formations to become an alchemist. Would the next step be to burn incense and pray to the gods?
However, in Wukongzi's eyes, his disciple's talent in alchemy could be described as a bane to ghosts, rejected by Buddhas, unwanted by gods, and useless to anyone who tried to help.
While Wukongzi was worried, Wu Tao, after discarding the residues from his previous failed attempts, began to refine elixirs again.
"..."