Translator: CinderTL
Inside the pavilion in Cloudstream Valley, Song Wen sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, facing a ten-foot-tall Pill Furnace.
Beneath the furnace, blue flames surged, sometimes roaring like a Flood Dragon emerging from the sea, unleashing scorching waves of heat; at other times, they purred like a kitten, gently licking the furnace's base.
He was refining the Beast Soul Pill. The previously missing Nine-Turn Grass and the fifth-tier Yin Demon Spider Demon Soul had both been acquired in Great Tan City.
This was his second attempt at refining the Beast Soul Pill. His first attempt had failed due to a furnace explosion.
After rapidly forming several magic seals, the Pill Furnace trembled slightly, followed by a crisp ding—the sound of the medicinal pill solidifying and falling to the bottom of the furnace.
Song Wen waved his hand, and the Furnace Lid sprang open.
A pill the size of a pigeon's egg flew out of the furnace and landed in Song Wen's palm.
At that moment, a crack suddenly appeared in the barrier enveloping the pavilion, and a sesame seed-sized insect flew in—the fourth-tier peak Shadow King Gu.
Song Wen glanced at the Gu insect hovering before him, then at the pill in his hand. With a thought, he activated a spirit gathering formation within the cultivation cave before tossing the pill to the Shadow King Gu.
The Shadow King Gu gazed at the thrown pill, a flicker of greed flashing in its tiny eyes.
Its body suddenly expanded to the size of a millstone, and it swallowed the pill in a single gulp.
Instantly, a strange dark purple aura enveloped the Gu, and it began to draw in the Spiritual Qi from the pavilion.
Song Wen's eyes lit up slightly as he swiftly tossed dozens of high-grade spirit stones into the formation nodes of the spirit gathering formation.
Immediately, the Spiritual Qi within the pavilion noticeably thickened.
The Shadow King Gu's advancement process was lengthy. It lay curled in a corner of the pavilion, inhaling and exhaling the heaven and earth spiritual qi.
Meanwhile, Song Wen erected a spiritual power barrier in the opposite corner of the pavilion, both to avoid being affected by the Shadow King Gu and to prevent interfering with its advancement.
He resumed refining pills, this time crafting the Blood Luo Pill.
With no immediate leads on the Six Fiends Hall, he had no choice but to cultivate through pill consumption to enhance his cultivation.
This was also why he had asked Bai Wei for the True Yang Grass and Mingqing Grass.
Time flowed slowly through cultivation, and nine months passed in the blink of an eye.
Finally, the Shadow King Gu, which had been voraciously devouring heaven and earth spiritual qi, began to change.
Its aura began to fluctuate violently, surging like a raging tide one moment and becoming as still as a deep abyss the next.
Simultaneously, the rate at which it absorbed heaven and earth spiritual qi noticeably accelerated, forming a massive vortex of spiritual qi above the pavilion.
To avoid drawing too much attention, Song Wen retrieved several hundred high-grade spirit stones and placed them at the formation nodes of the spirit gathering formation.
He then began crushing the spirit stones one after another, continuously supplying the Gu with spiritual qi.
"Chirp..."
The Shadow King Gu suddenly emitted a sharp, piercing shriek, as if enduring some kind of agony.
Song Wen frowned slightly, attempting to communicate with the Shadow King Gu through the mental connection granted by their contract. However, the Gu offered no response, only continuing its relentless shrieking.
Song Wen then unleashed his divine sense, repeatedly probing the Shadow King Gu's body.
However, the spiritual qi within the Gu's body was fluctuating wildly, making it impossible for Song Wen to discern anything.
Left with no other options, Song Wen could only shake his head slightly and let events unfold as they would.
Several hours later, the Shadow King Gu's piercing shriek abruptly ceased.
Its body, as if drained of all strength, suddenly collapsed to the ground, motionless.
Song Wen approached the Shadow King Gu and examined it closely.
The Gu had already broken through to the fifth-tier, but for some reason, it had fallen into a deep slumber. No matter how Song Wen summoned it, it remained completely unresponsive.
Song Wen's Gu Techniques were either acquired through killing or purchased from shops. He had no formal training and no peers to consult with.
To put it kindly, this was called "drawing from the strengths of various schools"; to put it bluntly, it was a disorganized mishmash.
After studying the Gu for a long time, Song Wen couldn't discern the cause of its condition and eventually decided to ignore it.
Another month passed.
Seeing no sign of the Gu awakening, Song Wen, who had other matters to attend to, ended his cultivation session and left the pavilion.
Just as he was about to leave the canyon, he paused mid-air, reconsidering.
"Nether Fox, come here immediately."
As usual, the Nether Fox was idling about.
It had somehow obtained a nest of poisonous insects from some corner of the canyon and was feeding them chunks of demon beast meat.
The demon beast meat was blood food Song Wen had prepared for it, sourced from a fourth-tier poisonous python. The meat contained such potent venom and overwhelming Blood Qi that ordinary poisonous insects couldn't possibly withstand it.
The poisonous insects instinctively tried to flee at the sight of the demon beast meat, but under the Nether Fox's coercion, they were forced to consume it.
The inevitable result was that the insects exploded one by one.
Despite the tediousness of the task, the Nether Fox reveled in it, its five jet-black tails swaying rhythmically in the air.
Hearing Song Wen's call, it immediately leaped to his side.
"Master, you summoned me?"
Song Wen said, "I need to leave for a while. Keep a close watch on the Gu insect in the pavilion. If anything unusual occurs, deal with it."
The Nether Fox's dark eyes flickered with hesitation. "Master, your pavilion is protected by a formation. I can't enter."
Having recently slain several high-tier cultivators, Song Wen had acquired multiple sixth-tier formations.
In the canyon, he had established both a sixth-tier defensive formation and a concealment formation. To prevent interruptions during his cultivation, he had also set up the same formations around his pavilion. Even without manual activation, the Nether Fox couldn't forcibly breach them.
After a moment's thought, Song Wen deactivated the two formations around the pavilion.
"Remember, keep a close watch on it."
With those words, Song Wen shot skyward, leaving the mountain valley behind.
He sped toward Great Tan City.
First, Song Wen spent tens of thousands of spirit stones, purchasing vast quantities of demon beast souls from over a dozen shops. Then, he checked into a cultivator's inn.
Entering a secluded courtyard, Song Wen retrieved Bai Wei's Communication Jade Slip and sent a message:
Senior, it's been nearly a year since we last spoke. I hope you've been well.
Bai Wei's reply was much slower than Song Wen had anticipated, taking over ten days to arrive.
Gou Jun, I was focused on alchemy and couldn't be distracted. I apologize for the delay. I actually need to speak with you. Where are you? Bai Wei's tone was unusually polite.
Song Wen replied, Senior, would meeting at Auspicious Jade Mountain again be convenient?
Agreed, Bai Wei responded.
Song Wen put away the Communication Jade Slip and left the inn, heading straight for Auspicious Jade Mountain.
When he arrived, Bai Wei was already waiting in the sky above.
Without a word, she tossed him a storage pouch.
"Gou Jun, here are the nine hundred True Yang Grass plants I promised you last time."
Song Wen secretly examined the pouch to ensure it bore no traces of tampering before casually stowing it away.
Bai Wei had provided him with a thousand plants each of True Yang Grass and Mingqing Grass, enough Spirit Herbs to prepare a thousand batches of Blood Luo Pills.
While failures were inevitable in alchemy, Song Wen estimated that these resources should yield at least two thousand Blood Luo Pills.
Two thousand Blood Luo Pills would be sufficient to elevate his cultivation to the late-stage void refinement realm. Reaching the peak of void refinement, however, would likely require more than just these pills.
Breaking through the bottleneck of the late-stage void refinement realm would require alternative methods.
(End of the Chapter)
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