Heaven Mending Pill

"To think the Heaven Mending Pill was actually refined with Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi as its main ingredient. No wonder it could mend a cultivator's primordial spiritual root. In the end, a so-called spiritual root was nothing more than a cultivator's sensitivity to Five Elements Essence Qi."

"Once a cultivator swallowed a Heaven Mending Pill refined from Qianyang Five Elements Astral Qi, that Astral Qi could take up residence within their body. By using this Five Elements Astral Qi to draw in spiritual qi for cultivation, their sensitivity to Five Elements Essence Qi would naturally improve as the days and months accumulated." With a single explanation, Lin Yun laid bare the truth behind the Heaven Mending Pill.

Then he added with some regret, "But it's rather wasteful. Qianyang Five Elements Astral Qi has so many uses. Refining it into pills merely to improve spiritual roots hardly brings out the full potential of this innate Astral Qi."

After pondering for a moment, Lin Yun remembered where Heaven Mending Pills came from, and his heart immediately ached.

"Who knows how many times the Void Sky Cauldron has spat out Heaven Mending Pills over these past ten thousand years? All... all that Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi, if it had been used to refine magical treasures, or incorporated into Innate One Qi Great Grasping..."

Only after lamenting for a long while did he look at the five-colored bead in his hand with a measure of relief. "Luckily, that old ghost Ji Xuan died in time, preserving this strand of Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi within his bones before it could go to waste."

"Otherwise, if Ji Xuan had cultivated for a few more years, even the slightest dissipation of this stellar qi would have made it impossible to gather a complete strand of Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi."

And fortunately, I have the Pure Yang Golden Lamp. Only pure yang fire could extract the Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi intact, Lin Yun thought with a sigh.

After studying the five-colored bead for a moment, he suddenly frowned. "Ji Xuan cultivated the Profound Yin Demon Art, and yin demonic qi wears away Qianyang qi. The delicate balance between Qianyang qi and Five Elements Essence Qi within this Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi is already on the verge of breaking!"

"If I leave it in the form of a Heaven Mending Pill without dealing with it promptly, the pill will still be able to mend spiritual roots, but the Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi will be ruined."

After much deliberation, Lin Yun could no longer spare any attention for repairing the teleportation array. He immediately took out his pill furnace, intending to extract the Qianyang Five Elements Astral Qi first. Otherwise, if this Astral Qi went to waste, there was no telling when he would encounter it again.

After taking out the pill furnace, Lin Yun suddenly paused and looked around. Following a moment's consideration, he took out a set of array flags and drove them one by one into the surrounding stalactites according to the positions of the nine palaces.

Then he formed hand seals and gave a low shout. "Forward-Reverse Nine Palaces Array! Activate!"

The stalactites holding the array flags immediately shone with an earthen-yellow light. Runes appeared out of thin air, then vanished again.

A hemispherical, earthen-yellow barrier flashed briefly within the underground cavern.

Now, looking toward the underground cavern, one would find that it had disappeared. Only a natural stone wall remained at the entrance, without the slightest fluctuation of spiritual qi emanating from it.

Extracting the Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi intact from the Heaven Mending Pill was not particularly difficult given Lin Yun's attainments in qi refinement, but it still demanded meticulous care.

Thus, Lin Yun had to slow down, first eliminating the effects of the profound yin magical power on the Qianyang qi little by little before he could extract the Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi.

One year later.

Lin Yun's extraction of the Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi had reached its final stage.

That day, he sat cross-legged before the pill furnace, restoring his magical power with the raw spirit stone ore surrounding the teleportation array, preparing to extract the Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi in one final push.

Suddenly, he felt the earth quake and the mountains shake. Fortunately, an earthen-yellow light flashed within the Forward-Reverse Nine Palaces Array, and the underground cavern returned to stillness.

Sensing the commotion outside the cavern, Lin Yun opened his eyes and murmured, "Han Li should be outside, shouldn't he?"

Through the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivator under his control, he already knew that the Six Demonic Path Sects had begun invading the Yue Kingdom.

Moreover, through that cultivator's eyes, Lin Yun had even witnessed Han Li's escape from Yanling Fort not long ago. He therefore surmised that Han Li might already be inside the spirit stone mine.

But none of that required Lin Yun's attention for the moment. Extracting the Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi had reached its final step.

With a thought from Lin Yun, a pile of raw spirit stone ore beside him shattered instantly, turning into a mass of pure yet disordered spiritual qi. Within it, the spiritual qi of all five elements mingled indiscriminately. Any other cultivator would have had to specifically refine the spiritual qi suited to their primary cultivation method, then let the rest disperse into the world.

Lin Yun, however, had no need to bother with all that. With a stir of his spiritual sense, the mass of spiritual qi flew straight toward his forehead and instantly entered his profound aperture. In a moment, it was refined into a mass of five-colored true essence that settled into his Cinnabar Field.

With his magical power replenished, Lin Yun immediately began extracting the Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi.

Six hours later.

Dust-covered and bedraggled, Han Li followed behind a Lizard Puppet. After becoming separated from Xuan Le, Lü Tianmeng, and the others, he had relied on these Lizard Puppets to find a way out, while secretly keeping the Invisible Sword Talisman Treasure ready in his palm.

With the situation inside the underground caverns unclear, he intended to use the Invisible Sword Talisman Treasure to perform Formless Sword Escape and flee if he still could not find an exit.

He had used this Invisible Sword Talisman Treasure once before while escaping Wang Chan's pursuit, and its effectiveness had been astonishing. Combined with the Wind-Fire Boat, it had allowed him to escape without so much as the effort of blowing away a speck of dust, while also infuriating Wang Chan.

Han Li was just about to enter a cavern when he suddenly stopped, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

"Junior Brother Han." A familiar voice sounded beside his ear.

"Senior Brother Lin?!" Han Li exclaimed in astonishment.

Ever since obtaining the Wind-Fire Boat from Lin Yun four years ago, Han Li had not seen him again. How could he not be surprised to encounter him here of all places?

"Junior Brother Han, there's no need to transmit your voice. We're still quite far apart. Follow this strand of sword qi, and you'll be able to find me."

A three-inch strand of five-colored sword qi, resembling a swimming fish, suddenly appeared beside Han Li's feet.

Upon spotting it, Han Li immediately changed direction. Following the five-colored sword qi through several caverns, he arrived before a stone wall and stopped.

Lin Yun transmitted his voice again. "Don't worry, Junior Brother Han. This is an array I set up. Just follow the sword qi."

Hearing this, Han Li no longer hesitated and followed the sword qi into the Forward-Reverse Nine Palaces Array.

After the scene before his eyes shifted, Han Li finally saw his surroundings clearly.

Lin Yun sat before the pill furnace. Just as Han Li entered, he finished putting the extracted Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi into a jade bottle.

This substance was extremely precious, but there was not much of it-not enough to incorporate into Innate One Qi Great Grasping. Thus, he had yet to decide how to make the fullest use of it.

Looking at Han Li, Lin Yun smiled. "Long time no see, Junior Brother Han. I never expected to meet you here. Wait a moment; this batch of pills will be ready shortly."

Although the Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi had been extracted from the Heaven Mending Pill, the remaining medicinal substance could not be wasted either. Ingredients suitable for refining pills together with Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi were naturally of the finest quality, and could be used to refine a batch of

Spirit pills.

Seeing that Lin Yun was refining pills, Han Li paid it little mind. With a wry smile, he said, "Senior Brother Lin, do you know that the world outside is being turned upside down?"

Keeping an eye on the furnace's heat, Lin Yun smiled at his words. "Have the Six Demonic Path Sects invaded our Yue Kingdom?"