Night fell over Hundred Refinement Peak, and the mountain wind swept past the Blacksmith Residence, carrying the rusty scent of the mines. Han Li sat cross-legged on a bluestone slab, the incomplete lower volume of the Two-Ceremonies Formation-Pill Manual sent by Zi Ling spread before him. On the parchment, the words "Array-Pill Form Transformation" were outlined in cinnabar, their strokes sharp as blades and imbued with a fierce resonance of the Dao.
"Use your own spiritual power as a catalyst to inscribe formation patterns into the dantian..." Han Li traced the incomplete manuscript with his fingertips, the flickering pill flame reflected in his eyes—this was the Molten Fire Formation-Pattern Lamp he had lit with Mo Chen's Pill Flame Crystal. Its orange-red flame actually brightened and dimmed with the fluctuations of his spiritual power.
[Ding! Detected: host's cultivation has reached the peak of Foundation Establishment Middle Stage (99/100). Spiritual power density is approaching the critical threshold. Recommendation: find the primary ingredient for the Nine-Turn Linglong Pill and combine it with the Void Sky Space-Locking Formation to break through to Foundation Establishment Late Stage. Current breakthrough success rate: 65% (risk of spiritual power conflict).]
The system notification lit up in his sea of consciousness, and Han Li drew a deep breath-after ten years of secluded cultivation, he had finally reached the crucial moment of breakthrough.
Han Li took the ingredient list from his Storage Bag, his gaze settling on the primary ingredients for the Nine-Turn Linglong Pill: nine portions of star-tear grass, harvested on a full-moon night and containing nine streams of Star Power; seven portions of illusory star grass, with the thorns removed and veins retained to preserve its transforming properties; three portions of dew-congealing flower, steamed and sun-dried nine times to extract pure dew essence; jade silkworm shell