"Buzzz!"
The energy fluctuations inside the cauldron grew increasingly violent. By the end, even the surrounding space had begun to twist and wrinkle.
Just as that tense, oppressive atmosphere reached its peak, Xiao Dong's eyes snapped open. A dazzling divine gleam flashed deep within them, and he roared in a low voice:
"Pills, take shape! Condense!"
"Boom!"
With Xiao Dong's low shout, the enormous, pure-white Fire Cauldron collapsed. Immediately afterward, a terrifying ripple of tangible energy, visible to the naked eye, swept madly outward in a ring from the core of the forming pills, like a storm of surging water!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Under the impact of that energy ripple, the hard boulders and dead trees throughout the valley proved as fragile as crumbling tofu. They were shattered into clouds of stone chips and fine dust on the spot, while deep, shocking furrows were plowed into the ground!
"Pills emerging from the cauldron... could actually stir the energy of heaven and earth into a tangible storm?!"
Ning Tian and Wu Feng shielded Xiao Xiao, hurriedly circulating their power to resist the raging winds. As they felt that heart-palpitating resonance between heaven and earth, their scalps tingled with horror!
Since when could the birth of a pill produce such a phenomenon?!
"Return!"
Ignoring the three girls' shock, Xiao Dong beckoned through the air with one hand.
The dazzling crimson radiance filling the sky abruptly contracted. Thirteen perfectly round pills, seemingly carved from blood jade and wreathed in faint, misty clouds of medicinal fragrance, spiraled merrily down into Xiao Dong's palm as though they possessed spirits of their own.
Thirteen flawless, perfectly rounded Fifth-grade Spirit Pills, their fragrance rich and heady-Blood-Tempering Body Pills!
Xiao Dong lowered his head to inspect the thirteen blood-red pills radiating warm energy in his palm. A satisfied smile lifted the corners of his mouth, and he nodded slowly.
After casually putting the Blood-Tempering Body Pills into a jade bottle, Xiao Dong sent his vast spiritual sense sweeping outward, drawing over the pair of Bone Wings from the thirty-thousand-year Azure Flame Demon Eagle, wind, lightning, and azure flames flowing across their surfaces.
If used to refine the Flying Dou Technique, Purple Cloud Wings, these would undoubtedly yield something of exceptional quality. Naturally, he could not simply leave them behind.
Putting the Bone Wings into his white-jade storage ring, Xiao Dong also tidied up the remaining medicinal ingredients. He brushed a little dust from the hem of his clothes, then turned to leave.
"Hey, wait!"
Just as Xiao Dong turned around, Wu Feng, who had already been struggling to contain her curiosity, finally hurried over. Her fiery-red eyes fixed on the jade bottle at his waist, and she stammered:
"Y-you... what exactly were those blood-red pills you just refined?!"
At Wu Feng's question, Xiao Dong paused. He lifted his eyelids slightly and gave her a bland glance, then simply put both hands in his pockets and remained serenely silent, showing no intention of acknowledging her.
"You...!"
Faced with Xiao Dong's arrogant, contemptuous disregard, Wu Feng grew so furious that her clenched teeth audibly ground together. She stamped one long, straight, shapely leg hard against the ground. The startlingly full curves of her chest trembled and swayed with her heavy breathing, sending rippling waves through her flesh that could set a heart racing.
Yet Wu Feng was not the only one. Beside her, Ning Tian and Xiao Xiao's beautiful eyes also brimmed with questions and unbearable curiosity.
They had witnessed the storm of heavenly and earthly energy stirred up when those pills emerged. With such a heaven-reaching phenomenon, even someone thinking with their toes could tell those pills were anything but ordinary!
"Young Master Xiao Dong... please tell us a little about them. We did put a good deal of effort into gathering those herbs, after all."
After several fierce battles between pride and desire, the normally fiery, haughty Wu Feng finally had to surrender completely to the temptation of that nearly miraculous medicine. Her lovely face flushed red as she lowered her head awkwardly, softened her voice, and pleaded with a rare hint of coy sweetness.
Seeing this little wild mare, who normally bared her teeth and claws, now standing so meekly before him, Xiao Dong finally let a satisfied, chilly smile curl his lips. He turned around leisurely and said:
"That pill is called the Blood-Tempering Body Pill."
"Blood-Tempering Body Pill?"
Ning Tian's delicate brows knitted slightly. A thoughtful look flickered in her eyes as she murmured the name.
"As its name suggests, this pill uses the immense, ferocious blood vitality and bone marrow of a ten-thousand-year soul beast as its catalyst to thoroughly cleanse the marrow and temper the bones. Once taken, your blood vitality and physical defenses will undergo a tremendous leap, as though you've shed your old body and been reborn."
Xiao Dong stood with his hands behind his back, his voice level. Yet to the three girls, his words exploded like thunder!
"It increases physical strength?!"
Ning Tian's breathing instantly quickened. Her lovely, jade-white face filled with disbelief and shock, and her slender hands clutched her skirt tightly.
As the young sect master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, she understood better than anyone what physical strength meant to a soul master!
The tougher and stronger the body, the more dramatically one's chances of surviving close combat increased. More importantly, the maximum age of a soul ring one could withstand during absorption would also be shattered!
With an exceptionally powerful physique, absorbing a black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring beyond one's normal limit while still at four rings would no longer be a fool's dream!
A divine treasure capable of forcibly changing the very ceiling of a soul master's future growth-if placed in an outside auction house, forget ten thousand gold pieces. Even if the price were an entire city, the great empires would likely fight until their heads split open!
Beside her, Wu Feng kept swallowing, her fiery-red eyes locked on the jade bottle with burning envy, her longing almost unbearable.
Yet before the three girls could recover from their shock and desire, Xiao Dong's casual voice, tinged with mockery, came pouring down over their heads like a bucket of ice water.
"But the three of you can stop daydreaming."
Xiao Dong folded his arms across his chest and swept his gaze over the three girls' eager eyes. A faint sneer curled his lips as he said, "The Blood-Tempering Body Pill contains such immense blood vitality that, never mind mere Soul Grandmasters in their twenties like you-even Five-Ring Soul Kings or Six-Ring Soul Emperors would meet only one end after swallowing it. Their bodies would fail to withstand its medicinal power, and they would explode and die on the spot."
"To truly swallow and refine this pill, you would need, at the very least, a physical foundation and cultivation comparable to a nine-ring Titled Douluo. Only then could you barely endure it."
"What?! Only... only a Titled Douluo could take it?!"
Xiao Dong's calm words left the three girls in the valley utterly speechless with horror!
Xiao Xiao's delicate little face went blank, while Ning Tian and Wu Feng sucked in sharp breaths and froze in place, as though struck by lightning.
What horrified them was not merely the pill's brutally demanding requirement for consumption. Far more terrifying was the fact that this boy, who looked barely in his teens, had casually concocted pills out here in the wilds that... that were heaven-reaching divine treasures only the continent's foremost Titled Douluos were qualified to enjoy?!
If word of such miraculous, heaven-defying methods reached those old monsters in Shrek's Sea God Pavilion, the sky over the entire continent would probably be pierced through on the spot!
"Let's go. It's getting late. Back to the city."
Ignoring the three girls, who remained overwhelmed and utterly bewildered, Xiao Dong smiled faintly. With a tap of his toes against the ground, he became a black shadow and glided effortlessly toward Shrek City.
Ning Tian and the other two exchanged glances, each seeing an almost numb reverence deep in the others' eyes. Not daring to delay even slightly, they hurried after him with light steps.
Barely an incense stick's worth of time after Xiao Dong and the others departed.
"Whoosh!"
High above the silent valley, space suddenly rippled violently. A fierce, peerlessly sharp rush of wind tore through the sky. Then a tall, valiant woman clad in dark-green, close-fitting leather armor swept out of the void as though teleporting, coming to hover steadily in midair.
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