Meng Lin began to think as she gazed at the towering palace, the spiritual energy emanating from it was swirling in the air like a magnetic force.
The platform at the top of the palace seemed to glow with an ethereal light, and upon seeing it, Meng Lin told the Crimson Tortoise Dragon to land there.
As the Crimson Tortoise Dragon descended toward the platform, Meng Lin couldn’t help but feel a twinge of surprise. Her master, Li Yu, had always been mysterious and low key, never showing much of what she could do. But this.
The island, the palace, and the sheer spiritual energy around it were beyond what she had experienced before.
When the dragon touched down, its massive form folded neatly as it landed, Meng Lin quickly dismounted, followed by Xi Lin, De Sijie, and Xi Lan. They all took in the breathtaking view of the palace, their expressions a mix of awe and curiosity.
The moment they set foot on the platform, a soft voice echoed through the air, warm yet commanding. "You’re back."
Meng Lin's gaze flickered as she recognized the voice immediately. It was Li Yu.
Suddenly, the space in front of them tore open and from within the torn space a serene figure was seated crossed legged on a bed.
She looked just as Meng Lin remembered, but there was an unmistakable aura of calm strength about her, Li Yu brought down her raised hand, her movements were slower than usual.
Li Yu gave a slight smile through the portal. "You took longer than expected."
Meng Lin hurried to ask. "Master, this place… When did you…?"
Li Yu’s replied. "This palace? I constructed it using the spiritual energy of the island. We’ll be staying here for a while, so I thought it would be best to create a place for us to rest and tend to our needs. The spiritual energy here is abundant, so it will aid in your cultivation as well as the cultivation of your three aids."
Meng Lin blinked in disbelief. "You made all of this with just spiritual energy?"
Li Yu nodded. "At my level, controlling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is a simple task, especially for something like this. This is a temporary residence, after all. Nothing too difficult."
She continued " I will continue to tend to my injury, you should too." With that the small tore in space closed and the Meng Lin and the others were left on the platform.
Meng Lin stood still for a moment, feeling a bit of gratitude towards her master. Li Yu had been thoughtful and resourceful enough to create this palace, even when she was injured.
"We should rest then and choose our rooms," Meng Lin said, turning to her companions.
As the group settled into the palace, Meng Lin led them in having a small tour of the various chambers, all constructed with the same spiritual energy that suffused the entire place. There were rooms for cultivation, rest, and even a space dedicated to blacksmith and alchemy, it seems her master had thought of everything.
De Sijie, Xi Lin and Xi Lan feeling the influx of energy in the air, directly went to different cultivation rooms, circulating their cultivation methods and absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy.
Meng Lin, however, didn't have the same immediate urge to cultivate. Her mind was already focused on something more pressing.
With a sense of urgency, she walked through the palace and made her way to the designated alchemy room, closing the door behind her shut.
The room, like all other rooms within the palace was vast yet empty, and suffused with rich spiritual energy that seemed to swirl around her, making the air feel dense.
Meng Lin walked over to the middle of the room, her mind already bringing up the system menu.
Sitting down, crossed legged. She opened the alchemy panel and began to insert the pill slot with the Spirit Rejuvenation Pill.
[Alchemy (Expert)1>8%]
Pill Slot: Spirit Rejuvenation Pill.
Ingredients: 5 Spirit Blossom Petals, 2 Dragon's Blood Herb, and 1 Moonlight Dew
Chance of Success: 65%.
Meng Lin took out the storage bag given to her by City Lord Yue Lan, and she began taking out the items within.
She had already scanned the contents of the storage bag when she got it, and she had found that there were six distinct stocks of ingredient, each stock had the ingredients for the Spirit Rejuvenation Pill, however there were additional ingredients too.
Meng Lin had written three rank 4 fake pill recipes with the ingredients for the Spirit Rejuvenation Pill added within. In the unlikely case that City Lord Yue had ulterior motives like stealing the recipes, she wouldn't be able to figure out the right ingredients from the fake.
As each ingredient is precious, Meng Lin doesn't think the city lord will go to the extent of trying every combination of the pill ingredients just to get the recipe.
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So after separating the real from the fake, Meng Lin was able to get 5 stocks of ingredients just for the Spirit Rejuvenation Pills.
Other than that, she also saw that there were five jade talismans as well as a piece of paper within the storage bag, the so call bonus that Yue Lan had mentioned.
The five stocks of the required ingredients—Spirit Blossom Petals, Dragon's Blood Herb, and Moonlight Dew—were of good quality and she quickly sorted them out before storing them inside her system inventory.
She turned towards the five jade slips and one piece of paper, her mind racing.
Yue Lan had made her intentions clear through the jade slips and the piece of paper that accompanied them. While the jade slips contained valuable rank 4 alchemy insights, it was the paper that caught Meng Lin's attention most.
The paper boldly declared "Rank 6 Alchemist Inheritance," a phrase that suggested a much more significant opportunity for Meng Lin.
"Rank 6 Alchemist Inheritance…?" she muttered under her breath. "Yue Lan wouldn’t just hand over something like this. Is it real? Or is she testing me?"
The jade slips beside the paper radiated faint spiritual fluctuations, each containing rank 4 alchemy insights. Those were tangible—practical and immediately useful. But this paper? It felt more like a key or a riddle than a straightforward offer.
She glanced toward the storage bag Yue Lan had given her, her thoughts swirling. A Soul Wandering Realm cultivator with a cracked soul core… and now this inheritance? Why is she so eager to pull me into her plans?
Meng Lin let out a small, dry laugh. “She’s clever. Dangling an inheritance in front of me like a carrot. Does she know something I don’t?”
Her voice softened as she thought aloud, her fingers gripping the paper more tightly. “What if it’s real? Just reading the Rank 4 jade slips are enough for me to progress this much without wasting valuable resource, if I had the rank 5 and 6 jade slips then it would only be a matter of time before I can reach Rank 6.
… the techniques, the methods, the knowledge… That could change everything. But why trust me with it? Unless…
" Unless she doesn’t have it yet. Could it be that she needs my help to claim it or does she merely want to exchange the location with me”
The thought lingered, gnawing at her curiosity. She didn't want to make any premature decisions especially when dealing with a lack of information.
Although the offer is alluring, alchemy wasn't her main occupation, just another way to gain more power, she could only sigh and put the matter at the back of her mind.
After carefully folding the paper and setting it aside, Meng Lin turned her attention to the jade slips. Although they were not as powerful as the inheritance hinted at on the paper, the rank 4 insights contained within the slips were still incredibly valuable.
They offered advanced techniques and methods that could help increase her chance of success.
Meng Lin spent the next few hours carefully absorbing the jade slip's teachings, each one adding new layers of understanding to her alchemical practice.
As she finally set the last jade slip aside, Meng Lin felt a deep sense of confidence and she finally turned her attention towards the alchemy panel.
[Alchemy (Expert)8>20%]
Pill Slot: Spirit Rejuvenation Pill.
Ingredients: 5 Spirit Blossom Petals, 2 Dragon's Blood Herb, and 1 Moonlight Dew
Chance of Success: 65%.
As Meng Lin stared at the alchemy panel in her system menu, she felt a surge of excitement. Her proficiency had climbed from 1% to 20% in a single day.
Even though the 65% success rate for the Spirit Rejuvenation Pill remained the same, she still felt overflowing confidence in refining it.
Taking out one stack of the ingredients for the Spirit Rejuvenation Pill, Meng Lin arranged them with precision, her movements ease and steady.
She activated the Rootless Flame, and controlled the flame to slowly burn away impurities of the Spirit Blossom Petals until it turned into shimmering droplets of pure essence.
The Dragon’s Blood Herb came next. The herb mixed with the droplets of pure essence from Spirit Blossom Petals, coating the herb before being carefully placed inside the small alchemy furnace.
Pressing start, the concoction began without the Moonlight Dew and Meng Lin used her spiritual consciousness to look at the situation within the furnace.
The Rootless Flame flickered with vibrant intensity, its heat carefully controlled as it was placed under the alchemy furnace.
The Dragon’s Blood Herb that was surrounded by the shimmering droplets of pure essence began to break down, its essence intertwining harmoniously with the surrounding pure essence.
Despite her confidence, Meng Lin took a deep breath, she didn’t let her guard down for a second.
She waited until the timer reached 15 minutes and the ingredients reached a complete state of harmony before introducing the Moonlight Dew.
It was the most delicate ingredient, its ethereal nature easily disrupted by even the slightest imbalance.
Meng Lin's eyes narrowed in concentration as she slowly put the Moonlight Dew into the furnace. The dew evaporated almost instantly, releasing a faint silver mist that enveloped the mixture inside.
She guided the mist with her spiritual consciousness, ensuring it evenly permeated the concoction.
The alchemy furnace trembled slightly, signaling the final stage of the refinement process, a faint glow emanated from the combined ingredients.
Moments later, the trembling stopped, and the glow intensified before subsiding as a small chime was heard from the furnace. Meng Lin exhaled slowly, a satisfied smile forming on her lips.
She opened the furnace and two perfectly formed pills floated out the furnace, their surfaces glistening with an iridescent sheen.
[Congratulations! You have successfully created two Expert-Grade Pills: Spirit Rejuvenation Pills]
As she held the pill in her hand, she couldn't help but feel a surge of satisfaction. "Perfect," she whispered. “Two down, and several more to go.”
Storing the completed pills, Meng Lin glanced at the remaining ingredients in her inventory. “With that, the chance of success is 70%, I should be able to refine the rest with greater efficiency now.”
“One step at a time,” Meng Lin murmured, reigniting the Rootless Flame.
****
Yuan Kingdom
Huanxia province
Skyveil Sect, a prominent mid-tier Rank 4 sect in Huanxia province, a powerhouse of several Nascent Soul Realm cultivators as well as dozens of Soul Wondering Realm cultivators was currently in complete chaos.
At the center of the chaos, high above the sect's grand halls, a woman floated, her presence radiating an otherworldly power. Dressed in ancient, flowing robes, the demoness's long black hair danced with the wind as her cold, demonic eyes scanned the crumbling sect below.
Several Nascent Soul cultivators lead by the sect master quickly gathered above the skies of the sect, the sect master's voices rising as he called out to the woman who hovered above them.
"You. Why are you attacking us? We have already agreed to the demands of the Golden Fang Bandits! We are not your enemies!"
The demoness's lips curled into a sneer, her eyes gleaming with contempt. "The Golden Fang Bandits? I don't take orders from anyone, let alone those filthy bandits."
With a flick of her wrist, she released a surge of demonic aura, and her horn pulsed light. In an instant, a beam of energy shot towards the sect master, too fast for him to react.
Boom!
The beam of energy struck the sect master directly in the chest, causing a massive explosion that rocked the air.
The Nascent Soul cultivators surrounding him scrambled to evade the shockwave, their faces filled with horror.
Despite the destructive force of the attack, the sect master’s Nascent Soul, glowing with a faint golden hue, shot out from the explosion.
The demoness watched coldly as the Nascent Soul flew away, attempting to escape, however it quickly began to writhed in the air, slowly deteriorating as a dark mist surrounded it.
The poisonous demonic energy she released seeped into the sect master's nascent soul like a curse. His attempts to resist the poison were futile. The once vibrant golden core of his soul began to tarnish, dark veins spreading across its surface as it came to a complete stop.
"You lowly humans think too highly of yourself ," the demoness whispered, her voice low and venomous.
As the sect master’s soul was subdued, the remaining Nascent Soul cultivators quickly employed multiple methods to flee, some of their bodies turning transparent and phasing out of the immediate area.
"Hump!"
The demoness’s energy surged, her dark aura flaring to new heights as her body began to distort and grow. Her form twisted into something monstrous—her human features dissolved, replaced by the hulking form of a colossal spider.
A sharp, menacing horn grew from the center of her forehead, glowing with ominous power, as her eight legs expanded, their tips razor-sharp and dripping with lethal intent.
With a deep, guttural growl, she raised her two front legs high into the air.
"Inherent Art, Sky Rending Silk!" she cried, her voice vibrating with dark energy.
From between her raised front legs, a beam of concentrated light shot out, its brilliance cutting through the air like a bolt of divine retribution. The beam stretched across the sky, faster than any eye could follow, and its target was the fleeing Nascent Soul cultivators.
Before they could even react, the beam struck them, severing their bodies in midair. The Nascent Soul cultivators, once among the most formidable of their kind, were torn in half, their forms disintegrated into nothingness, leaving only their Nascent Souls which were quickly covered with spider silk, brought to the demoness.
Returning to her original form, The demoness’s glowing crystal pulsed brightly in her hand, absorbing the Nascent souls of the fallen elders as well as the sect master.
The crystal radiated with an eerie glow, its energy growing ever stronger as the last remnants of their souls were consumed.
She stared at the crystal, her face unreadable, before murmuring in a voice laced with satisfaction, "It’s ready."
With a swift motion, she hurled the crystal into the air, where it burst with energy, sending shockwaves of dark power throughout the sect.
The sky above darkened further, the surrounding space itself beginning to tremble. A rift, massive and unnatural, began to tear through the sky, filling the air with the thunderous sound of breaking space.