In Lin Ye's courtyard, he brought out the Scarlet Lotus Calamity Cauldron.
With the seventh-rank essence blood in hand, he didn't hesitate.
He started refining immediately.
Several restrictions were set around the courtyard, and he had the Blacksteel Panther stand guard to prevent anyone from disturbing him.
One by one, he dropped the herbs into the cauldron.
As Lin Ye's strength rose, his control of the cauldron became smoother and more refined.
Only the Scarlet Lotus Karma Flame remained beyond his ability to truly refine—it was power of terrifying level, useful for far more than pill-making.
Lin Ye pushed the thought aside and focused on the pill.
Refining a Seventh-Rank pill took him three full days.
But mystic energy consumption was no longer a problem.
His Moon Wheel Realm foundation made his mystic energy reserves comparable to Solar Radiance experts—perhaps even greater.
Three days and nights without pause.
The medicinal liquids were complete.
Only the final step remained: condensing the pill.
Lin Ye dripped the seventh-rank essence blood into the cauldron.
A tyrannical force exploded outward instantly.
Boom!
The purity was even higher than Lin Ye expected.
He immediately poured in mystic energy, forcefully suppressing the violent blood power inside the cauldron.
It felt like a ferocious beast raging inside the cauldron, slamming and thrashing.
A single drop already carried such frightening might.
If it were the actual seventh-rank beast itself…
How terrifying would it be?
An ordinary alchemist would have had their ingredients destroyed the moment the essence blood erupted—wasting all prior work.
But Lin Ye had vast experience.
After the initial turbulence, the power gradually stabilized.
Lin Ye began fusing it into the pill.
Then, in the final stage, he sliced off half of the Seven-Color Spirit Blood Mushroom and dropped it in.
The Seven-Color Spirit Blood Mushroom was an Eighth-Rank herb.
But it wasn't a main ingredient—more of a catalyst.
It required beast blood as a "medicinal trigger" to fully awaken its power.
The refined beast blood surged into the mushroom quickly.
The tyrannical power merged perfectly.
Finally, Lin Ye formed over a hundred condensation seals, driving them into the cauldron to compress and refine the massive energies within.
Boom!
A pillar of light shot into the sky.
Xu Yaozi, who had waited in Thousand Spirit City for three days, was patrolling the branch hall when he sensed the sky-shaking aura.
His body trembled.
He turned sharply toward the pillar's direction.
"Th-that… that can't be…"
Clatter!
The tea cup slipped from his hand and shattered on the ground.
But Xu Yaozi didn't even notice.
Over Five Spirit Manor, dark clouds gathered rapidly.
Within the clouds, terrifying power churned.
"Pill lightning!"
"It's pill lightning!"
"To think… in my lifetime… I could witness pill lightning again!"
Xu Yaozi's old eyes were filled with shock and ecstasy.
For an alchemist, there was nothing more thrilling.
Pill lightning appeared because the pill's power was "heaven-defying."
Not just because it was Seventh-Rank—
But because its quality was so high that even the heavens grew jealous.
People in the streets erupted in discussion.
"Pill lightning! Someone refined a supreme-grade pill!"
"Was it the Hundred Spirit Medicine Sect master?"
"Unbelievable—this alone will make their sect's fame soar!"
Xu Yaozi could only smile bitterly.
He didn't have that ability.
Meanwhile, at the Spiritwater Riverland docks, a massive ship slowly docked, pushing other ships aside.
People were angry—until they saw the flag.
Then they fell silent.
"It's the Plum Blossom Sword Sect's Myriad Symbols Hall!"
"I almost cursed just now—thank heavens I didn't!"
"I came from their territory recently… I heard they suffered a huge loss a few days ago."
"What loss?"
"You don't know? Their Four Symbols Hall… a commander and over a dozen elites were slaughtered. Brutally. Like the killer didn't even care about the Plum Blossom Sword Sect."
Someone whispered with certainty.
Then a scream erupted on a boat.
A sword qi flashed—
Bang!
The man was cut in half.
The boatman collapsed, shaking.
Even gossiping about a great sect's reputation could get you killed.
On the deck, dozens gathered.
A man sat on a fine golden nanmu chair.
"Myriad Symbols Hall Master—We've arrived in Spiritwater Riverland."
"The target is in Thousand Spirit City."
"But above Thousand Spirit City, a thunder cloud has formed. Preliminary estimate: pill lightning."
They had already tracked Lin Ye thoroughly.
The Myriad Symbols Hall master, Zhang Tianran, believed Lin Ye was only a pawn—maybe backed by the Heavenly Nether Sect.
The surviving disciples had confirmed the Heavenly Nether Sect also appeared at Thousand Slaughter Riverlands, but nobody knew why.
Everything was murky.
Nearly twenty experts had died with none returning.
This was targeted assassination.
"Has anyone else contacted Lin Ye?" Zhang Tianran asked.
"Report: No."
Zhang Tianran frowned.
If Lin Ye were merely a chess piece, someone behind him should have contacted him by now.
"Move."
He couldn't wait.
Nearly ten days had passed.
If the mastermind didn't show, he'd seize Lin Ye first.
Pill lightning?
Was a pill more important than dozens of Plum Blossom Sword Sect lives?
Dozens of figures immediately rushed toward the thunder cloud.
If too many approached, pill lightning would intensify like a tribulation—possibly destroying the pill.
At Five Spirit Manor, Fang Yiyi stared at the pill lightning, completely stunned.
Three days with no obvious movement—she hadn't even "felt" Lin Ye refining pills.
But pill lightning proved his ability.
"Could it… could he really succeed?!"
Pill lightning wasn't something that appeared casually.
Only a pill worthy of it could summon it.
"This is pill lightning?" Xia Wei gasped, staring up.
Fang Yiyi grabbed her arm.
"We must leave the area immediately!"
"If we're too close, the pill lightning may strengthen. If it goes wrong, the whole batch could be destroyed!"
Pill lightning existed to refine—
Or to destroy.
If you endured it, the pill was tempered.
If you failed, it was obliterated.
Xia Wei followed quickly, retreating beyond the manor's range.
The Blacksteel Panther leapt out as well.
Xu Yaozi arrived with branch hall personnel and sealed off Five Spirit Manor to prevent interference.
Seventh-Rank pill!
Xu Yaozi felt he had never been this close to one in his life.
Then a grim-faced elder rushed to him.
"Sect Master—bad news."
Xu Yaozi's expression shifted. "What?"
"The Plum Blossom Sword Sect's Myriad Symbols Hall has arrived. Their target seems to be Sect Master Lin Ye!"
"What?!" Xu Yaozi's face changed sharply.
And in the next instant—
Dozens of figures descended through the air.
Their combined aura pressed down like a moving mountain.
Even Xu Yaozi felt oppressed.
More than thirty—nearly forty—
All Moon Wheel experts.
The entire Thousand Spirit City was terrified.
That force could erase the city in a single breath.
But just as Zhang Tianran's group arrived above the city—
A crimson blood-asura sword qi suddenly shot out of Five Spirit Manor like a comet.
Boom!
The pill lightning tribulation cloud was split apart in an instant.