A Pill for His Beloved

After sensing the aura unique to an angel, Jiang Baiyu's Shennong Cauldron trembled slightly. Its deep, distant ancient chime rippled through the courtyard, and a strand of azure spiritual light took shape in the air.

"What brings you here?" Jiang Baiyu asked in delighted surprise, hurriedly welcoming her into the courtyard.

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

"Of course I do. I couldn't wish for you more. Oh, right, you've already become the Crown Prince, so why don't you just deal with the Heaven Dou Emperor directly..." Jiang Baiyu gave her a meaningful look.

"You think I don't want to? With the Poison Douluo helping him before, even poisoning him wouldn't have worked. As for other methods, Ning Fengzhi is so clever that if I were exposed, Spirit Hall would be finished!" she said irritably.

Then something occurred to her, and she smiled again. "But now, given your relationship with Dugu Bo, let me ask you this: could you get him to keep one eye open and the other shut?"

After considering it, Jiang Baiyu said, "I could, but what about Xue Xing and Xue Beng?"

"According to reliable information, Xue Beng has been crippled, so only Xue Xing remains. It seems to have happened right after your argument. Was that your doing?"

Jiang Baiyu rubbed his nose. "Yes."

"It's fine. He was never anything good anyway, bullying men and forcing himself on women," Qian Renxue said fiercely. "Oh, about helping your Grandpa Su hunt for a soul ring, like you mentioned before—I've already told my grandfather. When are we leaving?" she asked.

"Let me visit your grandfather first." Jiang Baiyu felt a little embarrassed. He had yet to meet her elder, yet he was already borrowing his connections.

"All right," Qian Renxue said. "I need to see my grandfather anyway."

"By the way..." Jiang Baiyu was about to say something, but at the sight of the girl whose smile bloomed like a flower, he changed the subject. "Look, Dugu Bo and I went to a treasure land, and my martial soul turned into this!"

He turned his hand over, and the ancient, imposing Shennong Cauldron floated into view. Timeless patterns of the dao of plants covered its body, flowing with gentle, inexhaustible vitality.

But what drew the eye was the hazy image of a grotto-heaven within the cauldron. Misty emerald spiritual fog swirled and curled, offering glimpses of rolling mountains and murmuring spiritual streams inside. Rare spirit herbs grew vigorously everywhere, while spiritual energy surged like smoke and an ocean, vast, mysterious, and wondrous beyond measure.

With light, unhurried steps, Qian Renxue approached his side, gazing spellbound at the ethereal grotto-heaven inside the cauldron. Her eyes brimmed with shock and wonder. "Is this... a little world?"

Jiang Baiyu turned toward her, his expression gentle and smiling. "Yes. The cauldron holds a grotto-heaven, a world unto itself." Then he pointed to the two eggs radiating powerful auras within it. "See those? They're my greatest gain from this trip: the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings, with God King-level combat strength!"

"What?!" Qian Renxue's beautiful eyes widened. As the successor to the angel inheritance, she knew exactly what God King-level strength meant.

"Yes, you heard me right." Watching Qian Renxue's astonishment, Jiang Baiyu raised an eyebrow.

"See the immortal herbs in my world? They can strengthen a soul master's essence. I found them too, though they've all become spirits within my cauldron now," Jiang Baiyu said. "Want to go inside and have a look together?"

Under the influence of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' auras during this time, his Cauldron World had grown increasingly stable. He had entered it once before, and its heaven and earth were indeed secure.

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

"The honor is mine." Jiang Baiyu took Qian Renxue's hand. Azure-white spiritual light swept around them, and the moonlight outside vanished entirely.

They landed steadily, stepping into the small grotto-heaven world housed within the Shennong Cauldron. The first thing to engulf them upon entering was the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, so dense it was almost liquid.

Looking into the distance, they saw that the entire grotto-heaven was boundless. This was no cramped little barrier realm, but a truly complete, self-sustaining world.

Endless soft light streamed down, illuminating the mountains, rivers, and land. In the distance, green peaks rose in layer upon layer of emerald, clouds and mist winding around their slopes as spiritual radiance spilled across the wilderness.

Among the mountains, waterfalls from spiritual springs plunged a thousand fathoms, gathering into winding spiritual streams on the valley floor. The water was translucent and pearly white, scattering tiny, starlike glimmers as it flowed. Every drop was condensed, pure primordial essence of heaven and earth.

The soil was a gentle jade-green, formed from solidified spiritual earth ten thousand years old. Even stepping upon it sent an endless stream of vitality into them. This newborn world brimmed with flourishing life; soft breezes drifted past, fallen petals danced, and immortal radiance curled across the land.

Across the mountains and plains grew supreme immortal herbs and spiritual medicines long extinct in the outside world, some surviving only in ancient records and legends. They spread in layer upon layer through valleys stretching ten thousand miles:

Thousand-year moonlight snow orchids grew in swathes along the streams, their petals luminous and white as the moon, breathing in and out silver radiance;

Nine-turn soul-returning grass grew in clusters, each stalk bearing nine leaves and nine patterns, its vitality surging sky-high, capable of reviving the dead, restoring flesh, sustaining souls, and replenishing life;

Netherworld heavenly heart lotuses grew in cracks between the stones, able to balance yin and yang and harmonize all discordant spiritual power;

Taiqing spirit ginseng, dragon-blood purple ganoderma, Nine Heavens Dew-Condensing Grass, angel sacred heart flowers, ice-fire spirit-nurturing vines... countless spirit herbs could be seen everywhere.

Countless heavenly treasures grew in layers, nourishing one another as their dao resonances intertwined. When a breeze passed, all the herbs sang together, spiritual light danced across the sky, and the medicinal fragrance was cool, pure, and rich. Merely drawing it into the lungs was enough to cleanse the marrow, scour the meridians, and purify soul power.

At the very center of the grotto-heaven, above the highest stone platform where the spiritual springs converged, two enormous oval eggs floated silently. One blue and one red, they were the eggs into which the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings had transformed, nourished by Shennong's vitality as they quietly awaited their birth. Positioned at the heart of the grotto-heaven, one ice and one fire, they embodied the two forces of yin and yang, supplying the laws of heaven and earth that stabilized the entire little world while continuously feeding it primordial power of the highest order.

Standing nearby, Qian Renxue stared at the two divine Dragon King eggs, her pupils trembling slightly. From their auras alone, she could sense that divine beings were unquestionably growing within.

As she gazed at this world overflowing with life, light rippled through Qian Renxue's beautiful eyes. This rich aura of vitality truly felt wonderful.

Just then, Jiang Baiyu slowly approached the central stone platform and stood beneath the ice and fire dragon eggs. He raised his gaze to the flourishing grotto-heaven and drew a deep breath.

The entire Shennong Grotto-Heaven shook violently! Immortal herbs across the mountains blazed with light, spiritual streams surged backward, and clouds and mist converged. All the primordial essence of heaven and earth in this little world gathered toward him alone.

A vast torrent of azure-green primordial essence poured down like a celestial river, flooding into Jiang Baiyu's body. Plant dao patterns shone gold across him as his Shennong martial soul fully unfurled. Man and grotto-heaven became one, placing the vitality and laws of dao essence of the entire world under his control.

Qian Renxue stood quietly amid the sea of flowers, gazing at the young man's straight, tall back, her eyes full of wonder and tenderness.

His talent had already been unparalleled, and now, empowered by the grotto-heaven's primordial essence, his aura grew even more unfathomable. A moment later, Jiang Baiyu slowly opened his eyes, an azure gleam flashing through them. Having absorbed enough of the grotto-heaven's primordial power, he gathered his mind into perfect focus, raised a hand, and drew upon the air. The five-colored medicine flame ignited.

Dozens of supreme spirit herbs and divine flowers were drawn toward him: three angel sacred heart flowers, nine moonlight snow orchid blossoms, Nine Heavens Dew-Condensing Grass, nine-turn ganoderma, sacred soul heavenly ginseng...

Sensing Jiang Baiyu's call, all the medicinal plants immediately condensed their primordial auras.

Medicinal radiance filled the sky, flowing in azure, white, and gold, while a sacred aura suffused the entire grotto-heaven. Within the divine flame, the spirit herbs' essences slowly melted, condensed, and became one, shedding every impure trace until only the purest medicinal power remained, perfectly suited to the angel martial soul.

The energy of heaven and earth within the grotto-heaven slowly gathered, and faint traces of the Dragon Kings' primordial essence slipped quietly from the ice and fire dragon eggs into the pill, silently nurturing its medicinal properties. Gradually, all the medicinal power drew together as one.

A spirit pill slowly took shape, golden throughout, wreathed in faint moonlit holy light, its surface flowing with sacred dragon patterns.

The instant the pill formed, the wind in the grotto-heaven fell silent, all the herbs bowed their heads, the spiritual streams stood still, and heaven and earth rang out as one!

The spirit pill hovered in midair, golden light slowly flowing across it as its gentle, sacred aura washed over them.

Jiang Baiyu raised his hand to cradle the peerless sacred pill, then turned toward Qian Renxue, who stood quietly watching him amid the sea of flowers. Soft light fell around them both, immortal blossoms scented the land, and the mountains and rivers lay still. He turned his head toward Qian Renxue among the flowers and spoke gently:

"Your angel martial soul is noble and domineering, and you've only just reached level sixty-five. Your soul power cultivation has started slowing down, hasn't it? Since your martial soul possesses ultimate light and fire attributes, cultivation was always going to be slow. More importantly, the greatest obstacle to your breakthrough to Soul Sage is the formidable barrier formed by your martial soul's divinity.

"So I drew on the boundless primordial vitality of my Shennong Grotto-Heaven and refined this using sacred heart spirit grass and moonlight spirit herbs. It will help integrate your angel divinity, directly clear the bottleneck to the Sage rank, and stabilize the foundation of your angel essence. If you take this pill, you might be able to leap straight ahead and break through to Soul Sage!"

With that, he handed the pill, which radiated a rich aura of light, to Qian Renxue.