Brian Carter sorted through the speed and amount of qi fusion using his incantations, calculating in his mind that he only had memories of the technique for pulling out pills, but had never actually practiced it. He wondered if he could pull out a few more pills this time, so he could share them with his disciples later.

The young attendant outside saw the formation activate and the earth fire being stirred up, but noticed that not a trace of medicinal fragrance was wafting out. He was curious—could it be that this person hadn’t come to refine medicine or pills?

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two hours had passed.

Thomas Baker stood in the middle of the long street, gazing at the stars in the sky, suddenly feeling like a fool being watched by everyone.

Two hours! At this time of night, the long street should have long since emptied.

But because earlier someone on the street had heard that Thomas Baker was challenging the master of Four Treasures Peak, not only was the street still crowded, but there were even more people than at the start.

Nearly a hundred pairs of eyes were fixed on Thomas Baker, watching him stand alone in the center of the street like an idiot.

He could feel the looks around him shifting from initial admiration to a sense of ridicule.

Thomas Baker realized he’d been played! Not long ago, he’d heard from the young attendant who came out of Baoding Pavilion that Brian Carter had gone to the pill room to refine pills.

Refining pills was never something that could be accomplished in a day or two!

Yet the two had agreed to spar here! If he left, and Brian Carter came out of Baoding Pavilion, he could spread rumors that Xingyao Peak had retreated without a fight.

Thomas Baker found himself tricked by a fool! Now he was stuck—unable to advance or retreat! If he stayed, more people would laugh at him for being a fool, and more would know he’d been played! If he left? If he walked away and Brian Carter came out right after, what would become of Xingyao Peak’s reputation?

“Brian Carter!” Thomas Baker muttered through gritted teeth, “Just you wait! When you come out, I’ll use my five Dao platforms to thoroughly humiliate you!”

After three hours of pill refining, Brian Carter suddenly pinched a pill incantation, and the basic pill furnace shook violently as if a demon monkey was about to leap out. All the medicinal qi crowded together, beginning to arrange themselves into the shape of pills.

Brian Carter knew this was only the initial pill condensation. If his pill-pulling technique was poor, the pills would scatter the moment they left the furnace, with no chance to salvage them.

A small Dragon-Tiger Pill shot out from the furnace, with faint sounds of dragon roars and tiger growls emanating from it. Wisps of medicinal qi formed the shapes of a dragon and tiger, coiling around the pill.

One... two... five... seven...

Fifteen pills, each wreathed in dragon and tiger qi, appeared in Brian Carter’s hand. If Benjamin Evans saw this scene, he would surely sell his house on the spot just to bet on Brian Carter winning the duel.

Pill qi taking form! Even a layman who didn’t recognize the pill would know it was definitely of superior quality!

With the pills refined, the next step was to take them and raise his cultivation level!

Brian Carter looked up at the four Dao platforms floating above his head and sighed softly. One reason his cultivation had progressed so slowly was precisely because of these four Dao platforms.

Back then, his previous self, Brian Carter, due to poor aptitude, might never have achieved Foundation Establishment in his life. But with his master’s help, he managed to forcefully complete it.

Because of this, the Foundation Establishment was not done well, and his cultivation naturally progressed even more slowly.

Now, the best solution was to destroy his cultivation and rebuild his Dao foundation!

Brian Carter redirected his internal power to shatter the Dao platforms one by one. When the last platform broke and vanished, he seemed to hear a sigh, and an image of an old man’s lonely figure appeared in his mind.

As the platforms shattered, the old man’s lonely figure quietly stared at Brian Carter in his sea of consciousness.

Brian Carter remembered that this lonely old man was his former master. He hadn’t expected that his master’s last lingering obsession would reside in the Dao platform and manifest as it shattered.

A wave of indescribable sorrow welled up in Brian Carter’s heart. He knew this was human empathy at work, and he softly murmured, “Elder, I will take good care of Four Treasures Peak for you.”

The old man’s figure seemed to hear this promise. After clasping his fists in salute, he slowly faded away in the sea of consciousness.

The small Dragon-Tiger Pill entered his mouth. Brian Carter calmed his mind, feeling the power of dragon roars and tiger growls within him. The spiritual energy from the shattered Dao platforms had not yet dissipated and was all drawn into his body by the dragon and tiger-shaped qi.

The power of the dragon and tiger quickly expelled the impurities from Brian Carter’s body, while the tiger inhaled and the dragon drank in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, forging a new Dao platform.

Brian Carter swiftly adjusted his cultivation technique, no longer using the Four Treasures Peak’s Four Treasures True Method, but instead crossing the middle and ring fingers of both hands, bringing the index finger, little finger, and thumb together and straight, with the index and little fingers pointing up and the thumb pointing down, forming the [Dragon-Tiger Seal], and practicing the Dragon-Tiger Harmony technique from the Eight Consciousnesses Returning to Origin Method.

Behind Brian Carter, the forms of a dragon and a tiger appeared, intertwining and rising into the air to condense a Dao platform. The dragon and tiger shone upon each other atop the platform—a Dragon-Tiger Dao platform!

With the successful condensation of the first Dragon-Tiger Dao platform, the dragon and tiger forms appeared behind Brian Carter again, though much weaker than before.

Brian Carter knew this probably wasn’t enough to condense a second Dao platform, so he quickly swallowed a second small Dragon-Tiger Pill!