Essence Gathering Pill! Scheme!

The pill Zhu Ziyang was preparing to refine was called the Essence Gathering Pill.

The Essence Gathering Pill was a low-grade medicinal pill that could assist Soul Power cultivation and accelerate the circulation of Soul Power. It was exceptionally helpful to Soul Masters below the Soul Ancestor rank and had been one of the basic cultivation resources for Soul Masters in ancient times. It had now been lost.

The refinement method for the Essence Gathering Pill was very simple, and the required materials were all common. It was an excellent pill for beginners to practice with.

The Essence Gathering Pill was currently the most suitable choice for Zhu Ziyang. It could satisfy his need for cultivation resources while also being sold for profit.

He took out the Soul Guidance Alchemy Furnace and infused it with Soul Power, activating the furnace's internal flame core.

This Soul Guidance Alchemy Furnace was a Fourth-Grade Soul Tool. Though it was called a Soul Guidance Alchemy Furnace, it was actually just an ordinary pill furnace with a flame core installed inside.

The flame core was a Fourth-Grade Soul Tool. Once infused with Soul Power, its flames could reach a temperature of 1,500°C, more than sufficient for refining a low-grade pill like the Essence Gathering Pill.

Once the temperature inside the furnace had risen to the proper level, Zhu Ziyang began adding the spiritual herbs for the first step of pill refinement: purification.

First came the Gathering Essence Flower, the main ingredient of the Essence Gathering Pill. It had the effect of gathering essence and condensing qi. The formula recommended a Hundred-Year Gathering Essence Flower, but Zhu Ziyang was placing a Millennium Gathering Essence Flower inside, which could improve the pill's efficacy by several degrees.

About ten minutes later, when Zhu Ziyang felt that the essence of the Gathering Essence Flower had nearly been fully extracted, he opened the furnace and removed it before immediately proceeding to the next step.

This step involved adding the Sacred Origin Fruit, an ingredient second only to the Gathering Essence Flower. It could increase Soul Power. A Hundred-Year Sacred Origin Fruit cost no less than ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, making it the most valuable ingredient in the Essence Gathering Pill formula.

Using the same method, he purified the essence of the Sacred Origin Fruit.

Then, he added the Gathering Essence Flower essence and Sacred Origin Fruit essence and condensed them at high temperatures, removing the impurities left within the condensed liquid.

After waiting for a quarter of an hour, he added Jade Ganoderma, Astragalus Grass, and Azure Harvest Beast Blood Essence in sequence. Jade Ganoderma and Astragalus Grass were both the most common spiritual herbs, serving supporting roles in the formula. Worth mentioning was the Azure Harvest Beast Blood Essence. The Azure Harvest Beast was a mild-tempered small Soul Beast, and its blood essence could soothe qi and calm the mind while also assisting with harmonization. It was equivalent to a catalyst and stabilizer in the refinement of the Essence Gathering Pill.

After placing the essences of the two main ingredients and all the supplementary materials into the furnace, Zhu Ziyang increased his infusion of Soul Power, causing the furnace's flame temperature to surge. The second step of pill refinement had begun: fusion refining.

This step required extremely high temperatures. Through such heat, all the materials within the furnace were forcibly fused together, refined, fused again, and refined again. This process repeated several times until all the materials were melted into an almost solid liquid. This was the most important step in the entire pill-refining process and required the alchemist to possess exquisite flame-control techniques. For someone like Zhu Ziyang, who used a Soul Guidance Alchemy Furnace to refine pills, careful control of Soul Power was necessary.

The second step took roughly two hours and was finally completed.

Zhu Ziyang could not help but let out a breath, a relaxed smile appearing on his face. So far, everything had gone smoothly.

Now came the final step of pill refinement: pill condensation!

As the name implied, pill condensation was the process of solidifying the medicinal liquid refined in the second step into individual pills. Though this step appeared simple, it was actually very easy to fail. It was the step requiring the most caution and also the most time in the entire pill-refining process.

Zhu Ziyang's expression turned solemn as he began condensing the pills. By altering the amount of Soul Power he infused into the furnace, he controlled the temperature of its flames. After carefully experimenting, he finally found the temperature most suitable for pill condensation.

He maintained the flames at that level and slowly controlled a small mass of medicinal liquid, gradually compressing it with the flames as time silently passed.

While Zhu Ziyang was focused on refining pills, within Yunhe Grand Canyon of the Heaven Dou Empire...

A young man, a young girl, and a burly elderly man with white hair stood together.

"Xiaoya, have you really decided? It's not too late to regret it now," Yu Beibei said to Tang Ya.

"Yes! I've decided." Pain and determination filled Tang Ya's pretty face as she said, "The successive ancestors of the Tang Sect, my parents... it feels as though their lives are all crying out to me, telling me that the path we once believed in was wrong. In truth, we always knew this path was wrong. It was simply that no one was willing to believe it.

"Now that Zhu Ziyang has laid it bare, perhaps it is actually a good thing! Rather than walk a path doomed to fail, why not be willful for once and walk a path no one else has ever taken? Besides, didn't you say that your family elders also agreed with Zhu Ziyang's view?"

As Tang Ya spoke, her gaze involuntarily turned toward the expressionless old man beside them.

"Since that's the case, I won't say any more. Remember, I will always support you!" Yu Beibei said solemnly.

"Yes! Thank you, Beibei!" Tang Ya revealed a heartfelt smile.

Then, her gaze fell upon the uprooted green vine before her, speckled with yellow spots. Without hesitation, she sat cross-legged and began guiding the yellow Soul Ring floating above the vine.

While Tang Ya was absorbing her second Soul Ring, in a place beyond the reach of mortals...

A gentle halo was like a mother's hand, lightly caressing clouds as delicate as a young girl's skin. The illusory space possessed an exceptionally moving sense of substance. Faintly, a majestic palace seemed to stand there, both illusory and real beneath the touch of that gentle halo.

A figure stood quietly amid the clouds, gazing into the endless distance, though no one knew what he was looking at.

He had waterfall-like aqua-blue hair that hung all the way to his feet. If not for his imposing build and broad shoulders, one might have mistaken him for a woman from behind. Ripples seemed to flow across his luxurious blue robe. Should one look closely, their eyes would instantly be drawn into that deep azure, and even their entire soul might be swallowed by that ocean-like, boundless blue.

His handsome face looked no older than his twenties, yet he possessed a pair of profound eyes. His gaze seemed vacant, yet it also seemed to encompass all things. Occasionally, a trace of violet flashed through them, stirring the very soul. It carried the sensation of fleeting splendor, of life and death vanishing in an instant.

"Why?" A trace of confusion flashed through the man's eyes as he murmured, "Why has my connection with the Tang Sect suddenly become so weak? Could some other change have occurred? That shouldn't be possible."

The man was deeply puzzled. His slender fingers moved through the air as though unraveling silk, searching for something.

"Eh? There's no problem. Everything was arranged without issue, so why... Could it be that It noticed?" A strange light suddenly flickered in the man's eyes.

"Damn it, my perception of Douluo Continent is beginning to blur? Could it be... that It really made a move? Was I too hasty after all?... Forget it. My arrangements have already been completed. It is time to remain quiet for a while."

The man's hand began stirring through the clouds again. A trace of ruthlessness flashed in his deep eyes as he softly said, "Soon. Very soon. That new star's fate has already become intertwined with the Tang Sect. All that remains is to wait quietly. I hope the person of great fortune you chose will not disappoint me. Otherwise, hehe... the Sun Moon Empire and Soul Tools will ultimately become nothing more than my chess pieces, won't they? Hehe... I even sent Xiao Qi away..."

The man gave an inexplicable laugh and extended a hand. A pale-blue orb of light appeared in his palm, and a little girl could faintly be seen within it. He murmured, "Good daughter, wait a little longer. The coming-of-age gift Father has prepared for you is almost complete. We only need that beast to take the bait..."

"...Enjoy your final days to the fullest! World Will? Tch~"

The man's figure completely vanished into the clouds. A vague yet disdainful voice drifted down from the sky.