A Pill for the Lady

The moment he sensed the aura unique to angels, Jiang Baiyu's Shennong Cauldron trembled. Its deep, ancient hum rippled through the courtyard, and a wisp of azure spiritual light took shape in the air.

"What brings you here?" Jiang Baiyu asked in delight, hurrying to welcome her into the courtyard.

"What, you don't want me here?" Qian Renxue teased.

"Of course I do. I've been wanting to see you. By the way, you're already the Crown Prince. Why not just deal with the Heaven Dou emperor..." Jiang Baiyu gave her a meaningful look.

"You think I haven't wanted to? Poison Douluo was helping him before, so even poison wouldn't have worked. As for other methods, Ning Fengzhi is too clever. If he caught on, Spirit Hall would be finished!" she said irritably.

Then something occurred to her, and she smiled. "But now, given your relationship with Dugu Bo, tell me: could you get him to look the other way?"

Jiang Baiyu thought for a moment. "I could. But what about Xue Xing and Xue Beng?"

"According to reliable information, Xue Beng is crippled. That leaves only Xue Xing. It happened right after your quarrel, apparently. Was that you?"

Jiang Baiyu rubbed his nose. "Mm."

"It's fine. He was no good anyway, bullying men and forcing himself on women." Qian Renxue's voice turned fierce. "Oh, and I told my grandfather about helping Grandpa Su hunt a Soul Ring, like you asked. When do we leave?"

"I should visit your grandfather first." Jiang Baiyu felt a little awkward. He had not even met her family, yet he was already calling on their connections.

"All right," Qian Renxue said. "I need to see him too."

"Oh, right..." Jiang Baiyu started to say something, but at the sight of her radiant smile, he changed the subject. "Look. Dugu Bo and I went to a place full of treasures, and my martial soul became like this!"

He turned his hand, and the ancient, weighty Shennong Cauldron floated above it. Dao patterns of plants from ages past covered its surface, flowing with a gentle vitality that seemed inexhaustible.

Most striking was the hazy image of a hidden realm within the cauldron. Misty green spiritual fog swirled around glimpses of rising mountains, murmuring streams, and rare spirit herbs thriving everywhere. Spiritual energy stretched across it like a vast sea of mist, boundless, mysterious, and wondrous.

Qian Renxue walked slowly to his side and stared at the ethereal realm inside the cauldron, awe and wonder filling her eyes. "Is that... a little world?"

Jiang Baiyu turned to her with a warm smile. "Mm. The cauldron holds a realm that forms a world of its own." He pointed to two eggs radiating powerful auras. "See those? They're the greatest thing I gained this time. The Ice and Fire Dragon Kings—God King-level power!"

"What?" Qian Renxue's eyes widened. As the heir to the angel's legacy, she knew what God King-level power meant.

"Yes, you heard me." Jiang Baiyu raised an eyebrow at her astonished expression.

"See the Immortal Herbs in my world? I found them too. They can strengthen a Soul Master's very foundation, though they've all become spirits of my cauldron now." Jiang Baiyu smiled. "Want to go in and take a look?"

Under the influence of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' auras, his Cauldron World had grown steadily more stable. He had entered it once before and found its heavens and earth secure.

"Of course." Qian Renxue held out her hand.

"My pleasure." Jiang Baiyu took it. Azure and white spiritual light swept around them, and the moonlit courtyard vanished.

They landed steadily inside the small world held within the Shennong Cauldron. The first thing that washed over them was spiritual energy so dense it was nearly liquid.

Looking into the distance, they saw a vast realm. It was no cramped little barrier, but a complete, self-sustaining world.

Endless soft light fell across the land. Mountain ranges rose in the distance, their green slopes layered beneath mist, while radiant clouds shone over the wilderness.

Spirit Spring water plunged a thousand feet down the mountainside and gathered in the valley as a winding stream. The water was clear and luminous, scattering tiny starry glints as it flowed. Every drop held concentrated, pure energy from the world's source.

The soil was a warm jade-green, formed from spirit earth hardened over ten thousand years. Simply standing on it sent a steady stream of vitality through them. The newborn world brimmed with life. A gentle breeze carried falling blossoms through immortal light that shimmered everywhere.

Across the mountains and valleys grew top-grade Immortal Herbs and spirit medicines long extinct in the outside world, some known only from ancient records. They spread through the valley for miles:

Thousand-Year Moonlight Snow Orchids grew in clusters beside the stream, their petals white as the moon as they drew in its silver radiance.

Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Grass grew in profusion, each plant bearing nine leaves and nine markings. Its surging vitality could heal grievous wounds, restore the soul, and prolong life.

Netherworld Heavenly Heart Lotuses grew in cracks between the rocks, able to balance yin and yang and harmonize even the most conflicting spiritual energies.

Taiqing Spirit Ginseng, Dragon-Blood Purple Ganoderma, Nine-Heavens Dew Grass, Angel Sacred Heart Flowers, Ice-Fire Spirit-Nurturing Vines... Countless spirit herbs grew wherever they looked.

Natural treasures flourished in layers, nourishing one another as their Dao rhythms intertwined. At a passing breeze, ten thousand herbs rustled together and spiritual light danced through the air. Their crisp, rich fragrance alone could cleanse the marrow and purify Soul Power.

At the heart of the realm, two enormous oval eggs floated quietly above the highest stone platform, where the Spirit Spring waters converged. One was blue, the other red: the eggs formed by the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings. They drew nourishment from the Shennong Cauldron's vitality as they awaited their birth. Positioned at the world's center, ice and fire formed the balance of yin and yang. They stabilized its laws and supplied the realm with a ceaseless flow of the highest source energy.

Standing a short distance away, Qian Renxue stared at the Dragon Kings' divine eggs, her pupils trembling slightly. She could tell from their auras alone that god-level beings were growing inside them.

Qian Renxue gazed around the thriving world, her eyes shining. Its rich life energy felt wonderfully soothing.

Jiang Baiyu walked to the central platform and stood beneath the dragon eggs. He looked out over the vibrant realm and took a deep breath.

The entire Shennong realm shook violently! Immortal Herbs across the mountains blazed with light, streams surged backward, and clouds gathered. All the world's source energy converged on Jiang Baiyu.

A vast torrent of jade-green energy descended like a river from the heavens and poured into him. The plant Dao patterns around him glowed gold as his Shennong martial soul unfurled completely. He and the realm became one, giving him command over its vitality and the laws at its source.

Qian Renxue stood quietly amid the flowers, watching the young man's straight-backed figure with wonder and tenderness in her eyes.

His talent had already been extraordinary. Now, bolstered by the realm's source energy, his aura grew still more unfathomable. After a while, Jiang Baiyu slowly opened his eyes, a flash of green light passing through them. He had absorbed enough of the realm's power. Steadying his mind, he beckoned into the air, and a Five-Colored Medicine Flame sprang to life.

Dozens of the finest spirit herbs and divine flowers rose toward him: three Angel Sacred Heart Flowers, nine Moonlight Snow Orchids, Nine-Heavens Dew Grass, Nine-Turn Ganoderma, Sacred Soul Heavenly Ginseng...

Answering Jiang Baiyu's summons, every ingredient released its concentrated source essence.

Green, white, and gold medicinal light swirled through the air, filling the realm with a sacred aura. Within the divine flame, the herbs' essences slowly melted and fused. Every impurity burned away, leaving only the purest medicinal power, perfectly suited to an angel martial soul.

The energy of the realm gathered around them, while a faint trace of the Dragon Kings' source power from the eggs slipped into the forming pill and gently nourished it. Gradually, all the medicinal power became one.

A golden spirit pill slowly took shape, wreathed in faint moonlight and Holy Light, with sacred dragon patterns flowing across its surface.

The instant the pill formed, the wind stopped. Every herb bowed, the streams fell still, and heaven and earth rang out together!

The pill floated in midair, golden light flowing gently over it as a sacred, soothing aura washed over them.

Jiang Baiyu caught the peerless sacred pill in his palm and turned toward Qian Renxue, who watched him quietly from the sea of flowers. Soft light fell over them amid fragrant blooms and still mountains. He looked at her and spoke gently:

"Your angel martial soul is noble and powerful. You've only just reached level sixty-five, but your Soul Power cultivation has already slowed, hasn't it? With your martial soul's ultimate light and fire attributes, cultivating was always going to be slow. More importantly, its divine barrier is too strong. That's your greatest obstacle to becoming a Soul Sage.

"So I used the abundant source vitality of my Shennong realm, along with Sacred Heart Spirit Grass and Moonlight Spirit Herbs, to make a pill that will harmonize your angel divinity. It should break through that barrier and strengthen the foundation of your angel power. If you take it, you might rise straight to the Soul Sage realm!"

With that, he handed Qian Renxue the pill, rich with the aura of light.