Great Pill and Essence Blood!

In the room.

The couple sat down.

"Amnesia?"

"No wonder!"

Zhao Xiaoshuang was surprised after hearing Meng Nan's account of his amnesia and cultivation regression, but she quickly accepted it, just as she had in their previous life.

Meng Nan made it a habit to record everything whenever something happened.

From Yinlian Village to Angming City, and then from Angming City to Qingtian Mountain.

He carried all those notes with him, unwilling to leave a single one behind. Even if there were omissions, he would quickly supplement them from memory afterward.

It was inevitably troublesome to carry these things along their journey, but Meng Nan persisted.

He would occasionally look back and consolidate or organize them.

Others simply thought this was a form of cultivation for Meng Nan.

Zhao Xiaoshuang had asked him about it before, but Meng Nan never explained, only telling her to keep recording her cultivation experience. It wasn't just him; he had the same requirement for Meng Xingzhe and the other two, as well as for those disciples.

Everyone had to record.

After more than sixty years like this.

Meng Nan's diaries and notes had already filled three entire rooms.

Zhao Xiaoshuang's cultivation notes also numbered over a thousand scrolls.

Half of their living quarters were used to store these items.

She hadn't understood before.

But now, Zhao Xiaoshuang finally understood—

"You knew you were going to lose your memory?"

"You only have memories from before you were eighteen?"

After this realization, Zhao Xiaoshuang couldn't help but burst into laughter—

"Then I'm talking to an eighteen-year-old kid right now?"

"In your current memory, I should be eighteen. That year I had just become pregnant with Meng Xingzhe, still young and tender. Now look at me, I'm an old woman. Are you disappointed?"

"Little kid, are you scared?"

"What does it feel like? Tell Grandma."

Having spent over sixty years together day and night, Zhao Xiaoshuang's interactions with Meng Nan were more casual. Despite being over eighty, her personality was more lively than in their previous two lives or in reality.

She even started teasing Meng Nan.

This was something that hadn't happened in their previous two lives.

"You're much more mischievous than you were at eighteen."

Meng Nan also laughed.

Zhao Xiaoshuang wasn't unattractive when she was young, nor was she unattractive when she got old. After all, her cultivation foundation was there, giving her a clean and simple appearance. The accumulation of years had added even more charm.

Looking at Zhao Xiaoshuang's appearance, and then at his own graying hair and slightly withered hands.

Meng Nan felt a peculiar sensation.

To have skipped the years and arrived directly at the end of their time together, at their old age, felt very strange.

They chatted for a while.

It wasn't just Meng Nan who found it strange and wonderful; Zhao Xiaoshuang felt the same.

When one is seventy or eighty, and their spouse suddenly becomes eighteen again, what kind of feeling is that?

An old cow eating young grass?

A second spring?

Most people would never experience this.

Zhao Xiaoshuang reveled in it.

The old couple seemed to be conversing across time, each finding novelty in the other's perspective.

But Meng Nan hadn't forgotten the important matters.

For the next ten-plus days, he flipped through his diaries while talking to Zhao Xiaoshuang, asking her about various situations.

After more than half a month like this.

Meng Nan finally gained a more detailed understanding of the events of the past sixty-four years.

In this life.

Meng Nan's alchemy skills did not achieve rapid success.

Without alchemy as a foundation, any cooperation with Qian Yu was naturally out of the question.

Everything had to proceed step by step.

Fortunately, Meng Nan encountered no further bottlenecks before the Inner Qi Minor Heavenly Cycle, achieving it smoothly around the end of the year.

From then on, he would cultivate while also studying alchemy.

After reaching the Inner Qi Minor Heavenly Cycle, cultivation progress slowed drastically, like a snail's crawl.

Alchemy, however, was difficult from the very beginning.

There were two main difficulties.

Firstly, the technical challenges.

Analyzing the properties of various medicinal herbs, pairing main and auxiliary ingredients, controlling the heat, and so on – these aspects were incredibly detailed, hundreds of times more difficult than chemistry experiments in his previous life.

If it weren't difficult, that person wouldn't have bothered selling it to Zhao Xiaoshuang back then.

Meng Nan had patience and perseverance, unwilling to give up.

But this was only one of the difficulties.

The second was the cost.

One failure, two failures – each failure would ruin a batch and waste a lot of medicinal ingredients.

In Yinlian Village during the 18th year of the Immortal Calendar, an ordinary couple could earn about four taels of silver a year, equivalent to about four to five thousand copper coins.

An ordinary Inner Qi Stage cultivator could earn around twenty taels a year.

Meng Nan used to be a carpenter, earning over ten taels a year, which was considered a lot.

Yet, in the Alchemy Notes, the cost of even the simplest hemostatic agent, named 'Hemostasis Powder', was over one tael per dose.

Ten failures would wipe out Meng Nan's entire year's income.

Who could afford to burn through that much?

For the first two years, Meng Nan didn't dare to experiment recklessly, focusing more on theoretical research.

After two years, once his theoretical understanding was more solid and he had greater confidence, and after figuring out which agents were easier to start with, Meng Nan began to practice alchemy more frequently.

The savings from the previous two years were, of course, not enough.

But during those two years, Meng Nan had frequent contact with Qian Yu. Two years later, Meng Nan secretly used the 'Suoluo Seed' to persuade Qian Yu to switch to the medicinal herb business.

The two then hit it off immediately.

Meng Nan used the 'Suoluo Seed' to obtain medicinal herbs and research alchemy; Qian Yu, with the help of the 'Suoluo Seed', rapidly advanced her cultivation.

Ten years flashed by.

Qian Yu successfully advanced to the True Essence Stage, while Meng Nan mastered the refinement of four medicinal agents, including 'Hemostasis Powder', finally achieving a balance between income and expenses.

And at this time.

Meng Nan's cultivation also reached the Inner Qi Greater Heavenly Cycle.

Another twenty years passed.

By the time Meng Nan, Zhao Xiaoshuang, Qian Yu, and others fled 'Angming City', Meng Nan had finally broken through to the True Qi Stage.

True Qi Qi Accumulation.

True Qi Body Cleansing.

The True Qi Stage was an extremely time-consuming period.

Take Wang An, for example.

He advanced to the True Qi Stage at twenty, but by forty, he still hadn't completed the True Qi Stage and advanced to True Essence.

This shows the difficulty.

However, after Meng Nan advanced to the True Qi Stage in the 50th year of the Immortal Calendar, he quickly broke through 'True Qi Qi Accumulation' in the following thirty years, reaching 'True Qi Body Cleansing', and then rapidly completed the four stages of 'flesh', 'tendons', 'skin', and 'bone'.

Two years ago, when Meng Nan was 80, he successfully cleansed his 'five organs', leaving only 'blood replacement' before advancing to 'True Essence'.

But at this point, his lifespan was nearing its end, and he had no more time.

He ultimately died at 82, at the peak of 'True Qi Body Cleansing'.

"If you only have memories from before you were eighteen, then you should remember that year you killed Zhou Boren and obtained an Iron Token with the image of the 'Eight-Armed Demon God'. This Iron Token was strange; it could absorb the vital energy, blood, and soul of the deceased, and then condense Essence Blood. The Essence Blood contained spiritual energy and could help people break through. But you didn't dare to consume it directly. You only used the Essence Blood in alchemy to refine a 'Great Pill', wanting to reduce its ferocity and impurities. The effect was slightly worse, but this, combined with the 'Suoluo Seed' and 'Qi Circulation Powder', allowed you to advance through the True Qi Stage quite steadily."

"However, ordinary True Qi Stage cultivators can live from one hundred to one hundred and twenty years old, but you, at only eighty, already felt your lifespan nearing its end, knowing you wouldn't live much longer. At the time, I guessed it was the hidden danger of using Essence Blood to refine a 'Great Pill'."

Zhao Xiaoshuang took out a so-called 'Great Pill'. Meng Nan took it and saw that the Great Pill smelled delicious and was smooth and lustrous, but there were faint blood-red threads on its surface, adding a touch of strangeness.

"Great Pill."

"Iron Token."

Meng Nan didn't find these records in his diary. After Zhao Xiaoshuang searched, she discovered that all research related to the 'Iron Token' was recorded in a separate notebook.

This was done out of concern for leaks, for the sake of secrecy.

Everyone else was unaware, but Zhao Xiaoshuang was the only one who knew.

"The 'Iron Token' is strange, its origins still unknown."

"Holding the 'Iron Token' grants access to a cultivation technique called the 'Nameless Demonic Art,' which specializes in absorbing **blood for cultivation, allowing one to reach the True Essence Stage within a mere few years."

"However, this demonic art is peculiar and can affect one's mind. You were unwilling to cultivate it, so you kept it stored away."

"The 'Essence Blood,' on the other hand, has endless uses. Even if not used for cultivating the demonic art, it can be used to perform the 'Blood Arrow Secret Technique.' Relying on 'Essence Blood' and the 'Blood Arrow Secret Technique,' we have narrowly escaped death several times."

"Even now, with this 'Essence Blood' combined with the 'Blood Arrow Secret Technique,' you can threaten those in the True Essence Stage, despite only being in the True Qi Stage yourself."

Zhao Xiaoshuang took out a small bottle, opened it, and looked inside. It was indeed vibrant, glistening 'Essence Blood.'

This was Zhao Xiaoshuang's self-preservation tool.

Normally, activating the 'Blood Arrow Secret Technique' consumes one's own Essence Blood, which is difficult to recover afterward. It's a trump card used for life-or-death situations and is rarely used.

But if the 'Essence Blood' condensed by the 'Iron Token' is used instead, not only is its power greater, but it also has the advantage of not harming oneself.

For sixty years, the combination of 'Essence Blood' and the 'Blood Arrow Secret Technique' had been the couple's ultimate secret move.

It had never been passed on before.

Only when they arrived in Jiancheng City during its construction period was it taught to Meng Xingzhe, Meng Jian, and Meng Santan.

"Those three—"

They were born after all.

Among them, Meng Xingzhe died unexpectedly in the fourth year after arriving at Qingtian Mountain.

In the tenth year, Meng Jian left to seek opportunities and breakthroughs.

Meng Santan stayed for two more years before also departing, seeking immortality.

More than ten years passed, and neither sibling returned.

Their fates were unknown.

"If they were still alive, they would have returned by now after more than ten years."

"They probably died out there."

Zhao Xiaoshuang sighed. This wasn't a parent's complaint, but her deduction based on the actual situation.

Ghost Mother Mountain was fraught with lurking Yao Beasts and itinerant cultivators, always a dangerous place.

The siblings were not prodigies. It was easy to guess what had happened after they hadn't emerged for over a decade.

It was just that without seeing them alive or their bodies, there was still a sliver of hope.

Meng Nan had a complete understanding of the situation sixty-four years later, and all the events within those sixty-four years.

He was silent for a moment.

Then, he felt a surge of emotion.

Finally, all that remained was a sigh—

"Time is merciless."

"Cultivation is not easy!"

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