Eighth Grade

The Royal Mausoleum

After returning here, Ling Yun did not immediately begin refining the Cold Essence Pill. He took out all the spirit herbs he had obtained from Madam Wang.

Besides the four main ingredients, there were thirty-one auxiliary ingredients of all kinds, including quite a few fifth-tier spirit herbs. They were merely somewhat less valuable than the four main ingredients.

Ling Yun focused mainly on the Ice Essence Grass, Cold Marrow Liquid, Spirit Warmth Jade, and Azure Spirit Flower.

There was no need to think twice about the Ice Essence Grass: it was the most important spirit herb for refining the Cold Essence Pill. Most of the pill's ice attribute came from it.

Although the Cold Marrow Liquid was an ice-type spirit substance, its value did not lie in its ice attribute. It primarily served as a solvent for the other three main ingredients, preserving the Ice Essence Grass's perfect medicinal properties to the greatest possible extent.

The Azure Spirit Flower was a nourishing substance that could heal a body damaged by yang poison. Lastly, the Spirit Warmth Jade was there to balance the medicinal properties, keeping the Ice Essence Grass's effects from becoming too violent.

The Spirit Warmth Jade and Azure Spirit Flower were the keys to making the Cold Essence Pill a mild detoxification pill. Without them, the violent ice-attribute medicinal properties would clash with the yang Sha poison, and the poisoned person would be the first to suffer.

These were the key uses of the Cold Essence Pill's four main ingredients that Ling Yun had summed up, as well as the essence of the pill's effects. All the other ingredients existed to draw the greatest possible benefit from those four main ingredients.

Every step-when and at what heat each ingredient was added-would affect the medicinal properties of the main ingredients. Pull one hair and the whole body moved, causing the difficulty of refining the Cold Essence Pill to soar.

After half a day, Ling Yun had reviewed and memorized all the Cold Essence Pill's refining methods and steps over and over again. Only after making sure he knew them by heart did he carefully begin refining!

As before, he started by drawing out the earth fire.

When crimson flames burst forth, Ling Yun immediately summoned the Simu Suppression Furnace and placed it over the earth fire to preheat it evenly.

Once all the preparations were complete, Ling Yun finally added the first auxiliary ingredient to the furnace.

Under the intense heat, the spirit herb's purest medicinal liquid was refined out, turning into tiny droplets of mist that spread throughout the pill furnace.

Next came the second ingredient, then the third...

This process alone took Ling Yun a full day. Fortunately, the refining had only just begun and was not very difficult, so Ling Yun's spirit, Qi, and vitality remained at their peak throughout.

"Time to add the main ingredients!"

At last, Ling Yun had reached the most crucial step of the refining process.

The four main ingredients were far too precious, and he had only one chance to refine them. If he made a mistake, there would be no saving this batch of Cold Essence Pills.

Ling Yun dared not relax.

The first main ingredient to go in was the Cold Marrow Liquid!

The ice-blue liquid, held in a small vessel, was slowly poured into the pill furnace. In an instant, the intense cold clashed violently with the scorching furnace, producing an enormous repulsive reaction.

"Steady."

Ling Yun was utterly calm. He controlled the crimson flames, splitting them into multiple streams and distributing them evenly over points across the Simu Suppression Furnace's exterior.

"Next comes the Ice Essence Grass!"

Seeing the Cold Marrow Liquid settle, Ling Yun knew that the next step had to follow immediately.

Fusing the essence of the Ice Essence Grass, whose medicinal properties were the most violent, into the Cold Marrow Liquid was one of the most difficult steps in the entire pill-refining process!

Ling Yun seized the right moment and took out the most special Ice Essence Grass. In just a few breaths, the cold emanating from the formidable, top-grade fifth-tier spirit substance froze the ground and ancient trees for hundreds of zhang around into ice sculptures.

His expression unchanged, Ling Yun tossed it into the pill furnace!

"Boom-"

A violent explosion thundered from inside the furnace, making Ling Yun's eyelid twitch.

"A quasi-fifth-tier pill furnace can barely withstand the impact of such terrifying medicinal properties!"

Ling Yun felt somewhat helpless.

He had foreseen this but could not avoid it. To keep his identity secret, he had to prepare all the pill-refining equipment himself, and a quasi-fifth-tier pill furnace was the best he could find.

Suddenly, Ling Yun placed both hands on the furnace, which had been heated until it glowed red-hot!

"Sizzle..."

White smoke rose in an instant, but Ling Yun's hands were protected by a faint glow and remained unscathed. Instead, a wondrous force began flowing from his palms into the pill furnace.

Ling Yun closed his eyes and used his mind to sense the two incompatible medicinal forces rampaging inside the furnace. The energy from his palms passed through the furnace and eventually seemed to "grasp" the two clashing forces.

Ancient Fusion Refining Method...

He silently used the ancient pill-refining method, slowly guiding the conflicting medicinal forces until they flowed smoothly and gradually merged together.

The entire process was extremely slow. Ling Yun dared not stop to rest halfway through and kept at it for three days before he finally fused the violent medicinal force extracted from the Ice Essence Grass into the Cold Marrow Liquid.

"Finally, the first stage of refining is complete."

The tension in Ling Yun's heart eased a little.

The earth fire had become much smaller, as he had intended. At this lower temperature, the newly fused medicinal liquid could remain active without boiling too vigorously.

Next, Ling Yun sat down cross-legged to restore the strength he had expended, and to prepare for the most important step that followed: forming the pills.

The sun rose and set, and before he knew it, ten days had passed. Ling Yun had refined all four main ingredients into a single mass of mixed medicinal liquid!

Inside the pill furnace, the energy in the medicinal liquid had now reached the peak of purity. Only the final step remained to determine whether pills would form!

After a long while, Ling Yun took a deep breath and brought all his cultivation to bear. He reinforced the pill furnace with his mighty "dual-origin power," making it indestructible, while the earth fire erupted at its fiercest.

In an instant, like water dropped into a pan of oil, the entire interior of the furnace erupted into a boil. The medicinal forces of the four main ingredients and thirty-one auxiliary ingredients fused in an instant, colliding with one another under the intense heat and ultimately undergoing a series of wondrous reactions.

The reactions released an incomparably vast force. Even with the reinforcement of Ling Yun's full cultivation, the Simu Suppression Furnace began to groan under the strain!

"Crack-"

A sudden cracking sound rang out. The instant Ling Yun heard it, his eyes widened.

"Damn, the furnace is going to explode!"

No sooner had he spoken than more cracks sounded in succession. Ling Yun had used up nearly half his strength and could only struggle to hold on, sweat breaking out on his face from the strain.

Inside the furnace, energy burst outward; outside, Ling Yun reinforced it with his mighty cultivation. Caught between the two, even the quasi-fifth-tier Simu Suppression Furnace could not withstand the pressure.

"Only one last step!"

Ling Yun gritted his teeth, his gaze fierce, and desperately held the pill furnace together as cracks spread across half of it.

"Bang-"

Suddenly, several cracks appeared, each running across more than half the length of the pill furnace.

An incomparably terrifying force erupted like an exploding nova. The blinding light wiped every sight from view, leaving nothing but endless whiteness.

A few breaths later.

Everything returned to normal. A massive pit a hundred zhang across had appeared in the mountain forest, and it had even come close to reaching a predecessor's tomb!

The earthen pit originally used to draw out the fire had also vanished without a trace. As for the pill furnace, there was no telling how many pieces it had shattered into; not even a scrap of it could be seen.

"Cough, cough... cough..."

Not far from the massive pit.

Ling Yun coughed violently, a bright-red streak of blood running from the corner of his mouth. But immediately afterward, he burst into a thoroughly unrestrained laugh, not even bothering with the mess he was in.

"Eighth-grade... Cold Essence Pills!"

He opened his trembling hand. In an instant, three tightly protected spirit pills appeared, each bearing eight exquisite pill markings. A strange pill fragrance wafted toward him, sending a chill through his mind when he smelled it.