Creation Pill Fang

"How could this be?"

Li Mo couldn't understand why, after experiencing the so-called lightning tribulation in the Misty Dreamscape, he would spit out something like this from his mouth.

The reason he found it difficult to comprehend was that this pill recipe was undoubtedly man-made.

In his understanding, the Misty Dreamscape was a void of heaven and earth, a product of natural creation, akin to a secret corner of the world only he could explore. Yet, the appearance of this pill recipe made it incredibly hard to believe. Could it be that this place was an artificial construct, truly just a so-called box?

A box called Misty?

But why would this mass of golden paper be spat out from his mouth?

Since it was spat out from his mouth, it proved it was inside his body all along, only to be expelled due to the stimulation of the lightning tribulation.

"Could it be that along with the spiritual energy of this world, some inexplicable things were continuously absorbed by me and entered my body? Or, perhaps, as my integration with this place deepened, I was gradually eroded and contaminated by something, and the power of the lightning tribulation expelled it?"

Li Mo's mind raced as much as possible.

But how could those formless, intangible things transform into a tangible mass of golden paper, and moreover, record a pill recipe that undoubtedly incorporated the wisdom of human cultivators?

Even from the perspective of a Qi Refining cultivator, this was utterly baffling.

Li Mo felt immensely confused and lost.

And those voices too.

At first, it was despairing beast roars, followed by hoarse human murmurs. He always felt a connection, as if they were recording something. The bizarre changes of the Mystic Box made him feel increasingly bewildered.

This had definitely surpassed the fusion level of the mad hunter from before, entering a deeper stage.

So he lowered his head again, looking at the golden paper in his hand.

On this mysterious golden paper, a pill recipe called the Creation Pill was recorded.

The effect of swallowing and refining the Creation Pill was singular: to improve one's physique. Beyond that, there were no other detailed explanations.

Li Mo stared at the pill recipe, lost in thought.

He had now mastered the basic knowledge of alchemy, with only practical application remaining. However, this Creation Pill recipe left him momentarily stunned. This was because the process of refining the Creation Pill was not through the fire refining he was familiar with, but a so-called Lightning Refining Method. It also included the special way a cultivator with a Lightning Spiritual Root would circulate their Magical Power within their meridians when activating the Lightning Refining Method.

This required the cultivator to control lightning arcs and continuously focus them onto the alchemy furnace.

In addition to this.

The Creation Pill would also incorporate spiritual herbs of various ages, depending on the strength of the medicinal catalyst.

Li Mo glanced briefly. These herbs were not unfamiliar. If they were all under a hundred years old, it wouldn't be impossible to gather them. But the key was this so-called medicinal catalyst, which was also the main ingredient: a thing called a Misty Demon Core.

Li Mo naturally knew about Demon Cores.

But he had never heard of a Misty Demon Core.

Since the word "Misty" was added before "Demon Core," it seemed to have some connection to the Mystic Box, or perhaps to the Misty Dreamscape.

"Could it be the inner core of the Demons and Monsters in the Misty Dreamscape?"

Thinking of this, Li Mo's expression turned somewhat grim. He couldn't help but look up at the sky, coincidentally seeing a massive shadow quickly gliding across the dark clouds.

With his mere fourth-level Qi Refining cultivation, how could he possibly hunt a Demon to obtain its core?

Moreover, he had been in the Misty Dreamscape for so long and had never encountered any other living creatures. The occasional large shadows quickly gliding across the clouds were merely natural phenomena in his mind, not any kind of Monster. He had been scaring himself all along.

After regaining his reason, Li Mo quickly dismissed the speculation of obtaining a Misty Demon Core within the Misty Dreamscape.

Although he knew very little about this place now, his rationality told him that even if there were Demons here, they were absolutely not something he could contend with at his current level. Furthermore, the pill recipe clearly mentioned a Qi Refining Creation Pill that could be consumed by Qi Refining Stage cultivators, requiring only one Misty Demon Core of the Qi Refining Stage as a medicinal catalyst.

Li Mo didn't believe that there would be such weak Demons in the Misty Dreamscape. Besides, as far as he knew, Demon Beasts, depending on their innate talent, would only gradually begin to condense Demon Cores after reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, and all Demon Beasts would inevitably condense Demon Cores by the Golden Core Stage.

"Lightning Refining Method, Misty Demon Core. After waking up, I'll find an opportunity to ask Aunt-Master Chen Rong."

Li Mo firmly memorized the techniques of the Lightning Refining Method and the method for identifying the Misty Demon Core. He then actively controlled himself to exit the Misty Dreamscape and slowly woke up on his bed.

"My head hurts so much!"

Li Mo's face was pale.

He felt that his spiritual sense had suffered a severe blow, and his perception of his surroundings had greatly diminished. He could no longer even sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Fortunately, he had no magic artifacts on him, otherwise, they would be no different from scrap metal, completely uncontrollable.

After a while.

Li Mo managed to put on his clothes and wash up a bit.

"It's the second quarter of the Chen hour."

Taking a deep breath, Li Mo pushed open the door, only to find Ma Ling pacing back and forth not far away.

Upon seeing Li Mo, Ma Ling immediately lowered her head, her posture somewhat awkward. Clearly, due to Li Mo's explicit refusal earlier, she was unsure how to interact with him after returning.

Just as Li Mo was about to say something, his body suddenly went limp, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

Ma Ling was startled. As a martial artist, she quickly supported Li Mo, forgetting her awkwardness, and exclaimed in alarm.

"Li Mo, why are you so weak!"

"I might have injured my spiritual sense, I'm a bit dizzy."

It took a long time for Li Mo to recover.

He knew this was a lingering effect of being struck by lightning in the Misty Dreamscape. An injured spiritual sense was equivalent to an injured soul. Apart from a few legendary elixirs, it could only be slowly nurtured back to recovery.

"So, the methods for transcending tribulation recorded in the Mystic Box were actually for this purpose."

Looking at Ma Ling, this burly girl who was now taking care of him like a calf, Li Mo felt a mix of emotions.

"Stop crying."

Ma Ling pouted and whimpered in response, feeling wronged.

When Niu Li and Yang Guang saw how weak Li Mo was, they were both startled. Immediately, with the support of the three, Li Mo walked towards the Divine Tree Plaza.

Two barriers had already been set up in the Divine Tree Plaza.

One barrier was large, and the other was small.

Li Mo guessed that the larger barrier was likely for the graduation assessment of the third-year disciples.

The plaza was already packed with disciples from the Advanced Studies Hall, as well as some employed disciples from the inner sect who had come to join the fun. They were pointing at the two barriers, seemingly reminiscing about the past.

Li Mo's head started to feel dizzy again. Ma Ling, Niu Li, and Yang Guang quickly helped him to the Advanced Studies Hall's kitchen for a short rest.

Ma Ling looked worried.

"You're like this, can you still participate in the assessment?"

"I'll try my best."

Li Mo was still thinking about asking Senior Aunt Chen Rong about the Lightning Refining Method and the Demon Core.

Compared to the strange pill recipes that appeared in the ethereal dreamscape, this assessment wasn't that important to Li Mo. After all, he was only a first-year disciple, and his performance would depend more on luck than skill. He responded absentmindedly.

Niu Li brought over breakfast.

"How did you get yourself into this state?"

Li Mo gave a wry smile.

"I originally planned to master an advanced-level spell before the assessment, but I overestimated myself and ended up like this."

Yang Guang looked serious and glanced around furtively.

"There's a half-immortal in my hometown. I heard that if a child nearby gets scared and loses their soul, their parents will go to him to retrieve it. Why don't you go..."

Li Mo was speechless and immediately rejected Yang Guang's suggestion.

After breakfast, the annual assessment officially began.

Li Mo glanced at the draw list; his luck was quite good.

Not only was his turn in the afternoon, giving him some rest time, but his opponent in the arena combat was also a first-year disciple named Wu Xin.

In comparison, Ma Ling and Niu Li had much worse luck, both drawing second-year disciples.

The luckiest was Yang Guang, who received a bye!

The reason for the bye was that the first round of the assessment was to determine the top 256. After entering the second round, there would be a losers' bracket to compete for the top 200 positions and rewards.

"I know Wu Xin."

Yang Guang looked a bit serious.

"When I was on duty before, we were assigned to the same group. He seems to be from a hunter family and has some martial arts skills. He's also very close to Tao Ran. A few days ago, he was with Tao Ran and Zhou Zheng confronting those aristocratic disciples. I heard he's quite strong, so you should be careful."

"Okay, thank you."

After thanking him, Li Mo looked around and saw Senior Aunt Chen Rong. He then told the three, "I'm feeling a bit better. I plan to go over there and ask Senior Aunt Chen Rong about the alchemy assessment."

"Alright, be careful."

After bidding farewell to the three, Li Mo walked towards where Senior Aunt Chen Rong was. Along the way, he heard Guo Hongjuan's mocking voice.

He turned his head.

He saw Guo Hongjuan arm in arm with a male cultivator, standing in front of Lu Tianyou and sneering.

"Isn't this our heart-igniter, Young Master Lu? I heard that a while ago, he foolishly tried to pursue Miss Ye Family, but not only was he rejected, he was also severely disciplined by the Ye Family people. Tsk tsk, talk about a toad wanting to eat swan meat!"

Lu Tianyou lowered his head, remaining silent. He no longer had his former vitality.

Li Mo sighed inwardly.

Lu Tianyou had changed so much in the past six months. Although Li Mo knew he had made mistakes, he couldn't bear to see his friend being humiliated further. He forced himself to muster some energy and walked over, putting on a conciliatory demeanor.

"Hongjuan, Fairy Guo, look at him now. There's no point in mocking him anymore. Let it go."

Guo Hongjuan snorted upon hearing this and actually turned around, leaving with the man beside her.

From this, it seemed she wasn't the so-called "flower snake" but a girl who dared to love and hate. It was a pity that Lu Tianyou didn't know how to cherish her. In matters of the heart, Li Mo sighed helplessly for Lu Tianyou.

"How are you?"

Li Mo was worried that Lu Tianyou would be completely disheartened. He preferred the Lu Tianyou from before.

Lu Tianyou took a deep breath and seemed to be trying to pull himself together.

"I'm fine. I broke through to Qi Refining level three a few days ago."

Li Mo's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

"You're running the Greater Heavenly Cycle in the Advancement Hall? Isn't that too risky?"

Lu Tianyou gave a cold laugh.

"I will definitely prove to everyone that I, Lu Tianyou, am worthy of her!"

Li Mo sighed. His friend seemed to have become somewhat extreme, much like himself after Zhao Siman died, or a copy of Shi Yazhou who died earlier.

But this was something an outsider couldn't help with; it could only be healed by time.

"Alright, I have something else to attend to. I'll be going now. When do you go on stage? I'll come cheer you on."

"In half an hour."

"Okay."

After bidding farewell to Lu Tianyou, Li Mo found Chen Rong, his martial aunt, and asked her about his doubts regarding the Lightning Refining Method and the ethereal Demon Core.

Upon hearing this, Chen Rong frowned and remained silent for a long time.

"Regarding the Lightning Refining Method, although I haven't heard of it, I do know an elder who mastered the water refining method. According to this elder, the alchemy techniques of ancient times were not limited to fire refining. Therefore, I suspect that the Lightning Refining Method you mentioned might be a special alchemy technique from ancient times applicable to certain pills."

She paused here.

"However, analyzing the nature of refining pills with lightning, while it should have miraculous effects in removing impurities and significantly improve efficiency for refining low-grade pills, and might have extraordinary effects for refining spiritual pills with Demon Core as the main ingredient, it is likely not very suitable for medium and high-grade spiritual pills that use thousand-year or ten-thousand-year spiritual herbs as their main ingredients. I fear it would significantly increase the rate of pill fragmentation."

Li Mo was startled upon hearing this.

But he still held a sliver of hope and didn't say much, nodding silently.

"Therefore, cultivating alchemy using lightning secret arts might make it relatively easy to become an alchemist, but becoming an alchemy master or grandmaster would likely be an arduous journey. It can only be considered a side path, not the main road. At least in the current environment of this world, fire refining is the preferred method, and other alchemy techniques can only be considered secret arts applicable to specific situations."

Chen Rong provided a detailed analysis based on her knowledge, and Li Mo listened attentively.

As they interacted more, he became increasingly impressed with his martial aunt, both in terms of her knowledge and character.

It seemed that not all members of aristocratic families could be judged the same way.

"As for the so-called ethereal Demon Core, I have never heard of it. Since 'ethereal' is added before Demon Core, it most likely refers to a specific type of Demon Beast, perhaps a rare species or a Demon Beast from a special region?"

"Thank you for your guidance, Martial Aunt."

Li Mo benefited greatly and immediately expressed his gratitude.

Chen Rong smiled and said, "No matter what opportunities you discover, it seems you are indeed suited for practicing alchemy. You don't need to worry about the assessment; it's just a formality. During the year-end assessment period these few days, once you are ready, you can contact me anytime, and I will take you to see Head Chen, the head of the Alchemy Hall, who is my aunt."

"Thank you, Martial Aunt."

Li Mo quickly expressed his thanks.