Replacing Zhang with Ye (Bonus chapter for monthly votes, revised)

Three months passed in the blink of an eye, atop a barren mountain within the Grotto-Heaven.

Ye Jingcheng opened his eyes.

His gaze was filled with exhaustion.

He had spent these three months studying the fourth-tier Golden Scale Pill.

After all, he had now gathered every ingredient in the formula, and the Golden-Scaled Beast had already broken through to the early fourth tier. With an Advancement Pill, its chances of successfully advancing, or even breaking through to the middle fourth tier, would be extremely high.

His combat strength would naturally rise another notch as well.

Although he now had quite a few demon kings, and even the Earth Dragon Demon Emperor, the ones who actually stayed by his side were still his own spirit beasts.

The Earth Dragon Demon Emperor had to guard the Desert Sea teleportation formation.

The Three-Eyed Demon King, Thunder Roc Demon King, and Mammoth Demon King also had to guard their demon king territories.

Only his own spirit beasts were free to accompany him.

Yet even after three months of study, Ye Jingcheng still had little confidence.

The difficulty of refining a fourth-tier Advancement Pill was far greater than he had imagined, probably comparable to refining a superior-grade fourth-tier spirit pill. Most importantly, Ye Jingcheng only had enough spirit herbs for two attempts.

If both attempts failed, neither the blood essence nor the main ingredient would be easy for him to gather again.

Naturally, Ye Jingcheng did not dare make a reckless attempt.

He reckoned he would need another breakthrough in his alchemy before he could confidently refine the Golden Scale Pill.

As Ye Jingcheng rose, the Golden-Scaled Beast immediately trotted over from the distance.

It ran circles around him.

Ever since learning that Ye Jingcheng was studying the fourth-tier Golden Scale Pill, the Golden-Scaled Beast