An Lin took a deep breath to calm himself before opening his mouth to speak. "Senior Yi Xi, please refine the second-grade immortal pill, Extreme Soul Pill, for me!"

Yi Xi had sweat pouring down his face from the past few pill refinements, but he was still full of vigor. He nodded in response after swallowing a Blood Spirit Pill. "No problem, but I have to warn you that one Extreme Soul Pill costs 5.6 million spirit stones."

An Lin's body swayed as his eyes widened in shock. "How could it be so expensive! The last three immortal pills combined were only 1.4 million; how could one second-grade immortal pill be 5.6 million?!"

Yi Xi rolled his eyes before explaining. "The main ingredient for refining the Extreme Soul Pill is the Dark Water Celestial Herb. There are only two of those in the whole Dou Shuai Palace, so they're naturally quite valuable. Furthermore, the Extreme Soul Pill is an immortal pill at the pinnacle of second-grade immortal pills. In other words, it's an immortal pill of the same caliber as the Ultimate Creation Pill, hence its price."

Never would An Lin have thought that a mishap would occur at the final hurdle.

And the mishap was that he didn't have enough money! This was simply unbearable to filthy rich An!

He initially had six million spirit stones in his storage ring. After spending 1.4 million on the first three immortal pills, he had 4.6 million left, which meant he was an entire million spirit stones short!

"Are there any other pills that can manifest its energy within the consumer's sea of vital energy?" An Lin asked in one last, desperate bid.

Yi Xi shook his head. "There aren't any other pills with that effect in my repertoire. But I have heard that the Holy Vermilion Flame of the Vermilion Bird Sect can enter a person's sea of vital energy through a certain avenue where it can manifest itself into holy flames."

An Lin nodded and committed this piece of information to memory.

"Mr. An Lin, are you going to continue feeding immortal pills to your pill-spirit domain?" Yi Xi asked with bright eyes.

"I can consider it if you lend me a million spirit stones," An Lin gritted his teeth before proposing.

In the cultivating world, strength was the greatest resource. Only after obtaining more strength will earning money become easier. Hence, An Lin wouldn't hesitate to spend money if it was for the sake of improving his cultivation base.

Yi Xi sighed after hearing An Lin's proposal. "I would, but I'm too poor. I still owe over three million spirit stones in debt…"

An Lin was quite shocked to hear this. "Senior, how can you be referred to as poor when you work as the head of such a lucrative place like this? And how did you end up owing so much debt?!"

Yi Xi puffed his stomach out and replied, "It's all because I gave too much in pursuit of my Dao. My heart lies with my Dao, and I'll have no regrets even if I die during my pursuit…"

An Lin: "Please elaborate!"

Yi Xi sighed in resignation. "What I'm saying is, I ate too many spirit pills and immortal pills. How else do you think I achieved this physique? But I won't give up on my pursuit of alchemy no matter what!"

An Lin looked at Yi Xi's round body and came to a realization.

All this fat is gained by consuming spirit pills and immortal pills! Just how much money would that take?!

He drew a sharp intake of breath and immediately joined his hands in farewell without another word.

It looked like his progression to Soul Formation Intermediate Stage would have to be delayed.

An Lin returned to his dorm and continued to digest the residual medicinal power flowing through his body. He just consumed three immortal pills in quick succession, which had done wonders for his body. The biggest reward he reaped for this trip was the improvement to the power of his Divine Flames. Aside from that, the golden baby's body weight had also reached 0.91 kilograms, so he was only one step away from completing the system's mission.

Yue Tu was sound asleep in another room, and she was sleeptalking about things like how delicious chips were and how she wouldn't be scared about getting fat in the future.

An Lin didn't disrupt Yue Tu from her rest and pondered just how he was going to complete the arduous mission before him.

He lacked money. The first person he thought of was the human piggy bank, Lin Junjun, but he didn't know whether she had enough money at the moment.

This method of increasing body weight through immortal pill consumption was far too expensive. This was more than five million spirit stones. It was the equivalent of a Return to Void Stage mighty figure's net worth! Hence, An Lin didn't really want to have to resort to this method.

The second method was to use the Holy Vermilion Flame. The Holy Vermilion Flame could manifest holy flames within one's sea of vital energy, but it had to be extremely important to the Vermilion Bird Sect. An outsider like him had next to no chance of being allowed to gain access to the Holy Vermilion Flame, even if he posed as Xu Xiaolan's Dao partner.

Could he go through a back door?

An Lin wasn't so sure. He would have to ask Xu Xiaolan about this.

That night, An Lin immediately went to seek out Xu Xiaolan after she returned from her classes.

"Xiaolan, can you tell me about the Holy Vermilion Flame of your sect?" An Lin asked as he ate the food Xu Xiaolan had brought back from the university cafeteria.

Xu Xiaolan turned to An Lin with an expression of alarm. "Are you finally extending your fiendish claws to the holy flame of our sect? You're not thinking about eating it, are you?!"

An Lin almost choked on his food after hearing her accusation. "Oi, oi, am I really that kind of person in your eyes?"

Xu Xiaolan glared at An Lin and retorted, "You even ate the four Divine Flames, it's certainly not impossible that you now have your eyes set on the holy flame of the Vermilion Bird Sect! We are very good friends, but I can't help you if you're trying to do something detriment to the sect!"

An Lin's lips twitched slightly. He didn't even know how to counter Xu Xiaolan's argument, so he could only come clean. "Alright, I heard that the Holy Vermilion Flame is able to manifest holy flames within the one's sea of vital energy, I just want to know if that's true."

"Yes, it's true, I have it in my sea of vital energy," Xu Xiaolan replied slowly as she chewed on her food.

An Lin immediately flared up in excitement. "Then can I also use the Holy Vermilion Flame to manifest holy flames within my sea of vital energy?"

Xu Xiaolan raised her head to look at An Lin with a serious expression and only replied after a few seconds of silence, "First, you have to be one of the core disciples of the Vermilion Bird Sect. Second, you have to pass through all the trials of the Vermilion Bird Trial Grounds. And third, you have to earn the approval of the Holy Vermilion Flame."

An Lin considered these requirements to himself and decided they were going to be a bit difficult to achieve. "Can I get in through the back door?"

Xu Xiaolan rolled her eyes. "Do you think your family owns the Vermilion Bird Sect? How can there be so many back doors?"

"But doesn't your family own the Vermilion Bird Sect?" An Lin joked with a glint in his eyes.

To his surprise, a dejected expression flashed across Xu Xiaolan's face upon hearing his words.

An Lin discovered that this might not have been the best topic of conversation.

Xu Xiaolan smiled and replied, "Alright, how about this? I'm going back to the sect next month, if you accompany me, I can help you ask."

"There's no need for that, I was just making a joke earlier, don't take it to heart." An Lin didn't want to trouble her any further after seeing her fleeting expression of dejection.

"Then it's decided! Shut up and eat!"

A light smile appeared on Xu Xiaolan's beautiful face as she cut off An Lin's words.

An Lin only knew that Xu Xiaolan's father was from the dragon tribe and that her mother was from the Vermilion Bird Sect. He knew nothing else aside from that, and he didn't want to pry into the issue if Xu Xiaolan didn't want to tell him.

"Xiaolan, the free-for-all battle is tomorrow, what placing are you aiming for?"

"I don't have any goals, top ten is enough for me."

"Those are some pretty low standards. With your strength, you'd be top five at least."

"We'll see. We can't all reserve number one like you have, please go easy on me when the time comes, Earth Immortal An Lin."

"No problem, I only bully others, not you."