Time slipped by, and a full year had passed since the Star Palace's founding ceremony.
Deep beneath Star-Magnetic Peak, the Demonflame Sect's former "Heavenburn Grotto" had been completely transformed into the "Hundred-Grass Pill Hall," under the Star Palace's Yellow Division. Spiritual fire abounded here, and earthfire burned fiercely. With all the rare spirit herbs from the Five Demonic Sects' treasuries transplanted here, along with spiritual plants requisitioned from across the Heavenly South, it had become the region's foremost sacred ground of the Pill Dao.
Zhou Tong, a veteran Nascent Soul cultivator from Yellow Maple Valley, was now the elder in charge of the Yellow Division's Pill Hall. Yet his lofty position had not made him complacent. Instead, he was busier than ever.
"The Palace Master has ordered us to produce, within three years, enough Grain-Avoidance Pills and Rejuvenation Powder to supply an army of a hundred thousand for three years, as well as Warm Sun Pills and Astral-Resistance Pills to counter the cold, yin-laden climate of the Mulan grasslands."
Standing before the enormous Nine-Turn Purple Copper Cauldron, Zhou Tong directed dozens of busy Pill Hall disciples. Beneath the cauldron burned not ordinary earthfire, but a wisp of World-Cleansing Glazed Fire taken from the Demonflame Sect's forbidden land and personally purified by Han Li with the sword intent of the Great Evolutionary Sword Art. Its flame was pure, without the slightest trace of sinister impurities, making it ideal for drawing out medicinal potency.
"Elder, this is the newly cultivated Seven-Star Grass. Its medicinal potency is thirty percent stronger than the ordinary variety!"
A disciple excitedly presented a pot of spirit grass radiant with Spiritual Light.
Zhou Tong accepted it and swept it with his spiritual sense. A gleam flashed in his eyes. "Excellent! With this grass as the principal ingredient, combined