Inside a pavilion in Cloud Creek Valley.
Song Wen sat cross-legged on a cushion, with a pill furnace as tall as a man standing before him.
Blue flames churned beneath the furnace, at times as fierce as dragons surging from the sea, sending rolling waves of heat soaring; at others as docile as kittens, gently licking the furnace's base.
He was refining Beast Soul Pills. The Nine-Curve Grass and fifth-tier Yin Demon Spider demon souls that had originally been lacking had both been purchased in Taitan City.
This was already his second batch of Beast Soul Pills. The previous batch had failed when the furnace exploded.
After swiftly forming several more hand seals, the pill furnace trembled slightly, followed by a crisp ding.
It was the sound of the pills taking shape and falling onto the bottom of the furnace.
Song Wen swept up a hand, and the furnace lid sprang open.
A pill the size of a pigeon's egg flew out of the furnace and landed in Song Wen's hand.
Just then.
A gap suddenly opened in the barrier shrouding the entire pavilion, and a sesame-seed-sized insect flew inside. It was the fourth-tier peak Shadow King Gu.
Looking at the gu insect hovering before him, then at the pill in his hand, Song Wen's thoughts stirred. He set up another Spirit-Gathering Formation inside the cave abode before tossing the pill to the Shadow King Gu.
As the Shadow King Gu watched the pill fly toward it, greed flashed through its tiny eyes.
Its body abruptly swelled to the size of a millstone, and it swallowed the pill in a single gulp.
In an instant, a strange dark-purple radiance glowed around the gu insect as it began drawing in the spiritual energy within the pavilion.
Song Wen's eyes lit up