" … Try again. The concept behind the spear needs to be as merciless as a volcano exploding, yet as unpredictable as a snowflake dancing in the midst of a blizzard —" I shouted as I deflected the spear with a casual palm strike.

I was planning to continue longer, but I had received a message from my formation. Janassa had just submitted her updated recipe for the Foundation Establishment pill.

I had been initially planning to practice with them more, but letting Janassa advance to Foundation Establishment was considerably more important than practicing with them for another day. Especially since, after a week of continuous reinforcement, the spiritual pillar had finally recovered enough that I didn't have to observe every time they shared some of their essence with it.

Especially since I managed to keep the concept of the spiritual pillar and their essence closely aligned.

It was already paying off. Earlier, their essence was as weak as an empty essence when it came to practice, and after a week of steady effort, it was several times stronger. Of course, that improvement meant that it was still weaker than Everdawn, let alone the other essences that were reinforced by Dao, but I could see the improvement, which was the important part.

"It's enough sparring," I called even as I pulled a lever, and a second glass platform rose, one that held the secrets of the breakthrough for the Blood Essence realm. "Your essence is finally solid enough to allow you to break through. Continue practicing what we have learned and study the breakthrough method, but don't try to test it before I return," I warned them.

I didn't fear them ignoring my words. Not only did they treat my word as gospel, but even if one of them ignored it, I had formations in place to detect and interrupt it. I didn't want them to attempt it without me to assist it.

The reason for it was simple. While the Burning Blizzard technique explained the process of breakthrough in great detail, that process of breakthrough was reliant on the strength of the essence. Without me to assist with my alchemy, it was impossible to complete the breakthrough as is.

There were three ways to solve it. One was to let them repeat the current status quo for years — maybe decades — as they slowly repaired the Symbol with their weak feedback. It was the simplest method, requiring no intervention, but I simply lacked time to wait for it.

The second was to find tens of thousands of martial artists and raise them to Connate Realm to increase the feedback process, which was the method that the conspiracy seemed to mainly embrace, though they were probably aiming to use millions.

I didn't want to use that method, because it risked corrupting the spiritual pillar. I had put a lot of effort into making sure the hundred I had hired maintained a cohesive perception of Burning Blizzard essence, and scaling it before the Symbol recovered somewhat was not reasonable.

As a result, I chose to embrace the third method, the forced breakthrough, using alchemy to resolve the side effects. However, I suspected that the conspiracy also wanted to use a forced breakthrough method to support the second path, which explained why they were so excited when I joined them under a false identity.

While they studied the technique of the breakthrough, I ignored my desire to start studying the spiritual pillar in detail — still afraid of damaging it — and instead went back to Markas. A quick change later, I wasn't the old and lofty apothecary that could raise an army of Connate Realm martial artists alone, but the poor, unlucky servant trapped in the mystical realm, about to make another pot of tea.

But, not before a pitstop, where I kept my five prisoners. Four of them were studying various techniques, though I noticed that they preferred techniques like artifact refining and alchemy over others.

A reasonable choice, and considering my need for assistance on those topics as well, I saw no reason to change it. After all, it was just a proof of concept. As long as it didn't trigger a great disaster, I was willing to expand it.

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Maybe even without the prison aspect.

I didn't spend much time with them. Instead, my focus was on the fifth cultivator, which was being an opaque screen. He had managed to break through to Foundation Establishment using the pill, and he was currently in the process of recovering from the internal wounds it created.

I activated the recording I had taken, finally observing the process of the breakthrough. It was, for the lack of a better word, violent.

The Foundation Establishment pill had two functions. The first, and the relatively pedestrian function, was to protect the dantian, which was the first target of the transformation, as the breakthrough was rather violent.

The second, and more important part, was to activate the Immortal Root. Admittedly, that activation was more like creating a spark against a pile of paper that was ready to burn. The rest was handled by the Immortal Root, working almost independently of the cultivator.

My formation skills were ultimately at Qi Gathering Realm, which meant there were things it couldn't detect, like Providence. But, knowing what to look for, I was certain that providence somehow played a role in the process.

Ultimately, the Immortal Root had transformed and turned into a part of the dantian. Its transformed form was able to metabolize Qi far faster, saving the cultivators from the limitation of their immortal root, which increases their effective Qi output several times.

The recording had been interesting, but ultimately, I wasn't able to learn much. Whatever that was going on with the Immortal Root was a mystery. Still, what I saw was enough for me to have the confidence to save Janassa in case of a problem, I counted that as a victory.

Once that was done, I went to see Janassa, brewing a pot of tea before I walked toward her. "You look chipper, mistress."

"How many times do I have to tell you, to call me Janassa," she corrected.

"I'm sorry, m — Janassa," I corrected as I approached her, placing down the tea along with the rewards she had requested. "What's the recipe?" I asked.

"My last task. The recipe of the Foundation Establishment Pill."

I made a show of looking shocked. "How? I thought the great sects don't allow anyone else to learn it."

She shrugged. "I don't know much about the great sects. It's not something small cultivators like us could wonder," she said.

Even with all my practice acting, I wasn't able to keep my smile. The true source of her 'nameless' alchemy technique made that statement deeply ironic. Too bad I couldn't tease her about it. "Too bad I don't know it," I sighed. "It would have helped greatly once I get out." Then I passed dramatically, reflecting my 'pain'. "If I get out."

"Don't worry, you will," she consoled. "Come here. I'll teach you," she said and started explaining the technique. And, once the class came to an end, my System notification popped free.

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 60; Pity Bonus - 70 (Capped)]

[130x Return - Foundation Establishment Pill Recipe - Earth Medium-Grade]

The reward surprised me, as I didn't expect to get a reward at Earth grade, but the system must have rated the incomplete recipe higher than I expected. I left Janassa alone and activated it, my mind once again filling with many combinations.

And, with an Earth Grade recipe in hand, refining the Foundation Establishment pill hadn't been particularly difficult. Not with my talent. Once I finished, I was looking at a dozen pills, the weakest at Black Low Grade, and the best was Black Peak Grade.

I tried a few times, but despite having several advanced recipes, I wasn't able to breach it, the low material quality holding me back.

I had several ideas to collect high-quality materials, but that wasn't as easy. And, not to mention, Janassa didn't actually need a better one. Ultimately, as I had seen before, the Foundation Establishment pill was merely there to assist, while the Immortal Root did most of the work.

Janassa was too capable for it to hold her back.

I could have done so, but I decided to test my alchemy knowledge, and actually tried to come up with two new pill recipes based on the foundation establishment pill, separating two effects. One was to protect the gates and recover damaged cultivation, while the other was there to hasten the cultivation process.

Both, I passed to Janassa, and another quick study session gave me two new rewards.

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 60; Pity Bonus - 70 (Capped)]

[130x Return - Dustless Renewal Pill Recipe - Yellow Peak-Grade]

[130x Return - Radiant Rainbow Pill Recipe - Yellow Peak-Grade]

I activated the recipe, and realized Radiant Rainbow Pill was designed to enhance the cultivation of Foundation Establishment cultivators by hastening the growth of their transformed Immortal Root, while Dustless Renewal helped to recover from internal cultivation injuries.

I refined several of them, before adding all three for Janassa to purchase through the inventory interface for reasonably low merit points, giving her the courage to attempt a breakthrough without risking herself too much.

With that, everything was ready for Janassa's breakthrough. I once again stepped on my flying boat and flew away.

The rest was up to her.