Chapter 3365: Pill Completed
A shocking great war had erupted within the divine temple, leaving many places damaged and dilapidated. Only the divine tree at the very center shone with brilliant light, scattering rain of light, creating a beautiful and striking sight.
Around the War Dharma Divine Temple, dense Time Imprint light points shrouded the area.
The gods cultivating outside the temple were immersed in an ocean of light mist.
Chi Yao and Bai Qinger were like banished immortals descending to the mortal world, stunningly beautiful and ethereal. Together, they practiced sword techniques, their fragrant sleeves waving as their figures crossed paths.
Zhang Ruochen's Abyssal Ancient Sword had been borrowed by Bai Qinger, and Chi Yao had taught her the "Yin-Yang Two Forms Sword Technique" and the "Wordless Sword Manual."
The two women danced with their swords, forming a formation, its power not to be underestimated.
Bai Qinger had taught Chi Yao the "Cloud Dream Thirteen Chapters." Like sleeping beauties, they were immersed in the Source Divine Sea, comprehending the Dao in their dreams, their cultivation progress astonishing.
The Cloud Dream Thirteen Chapters was not only a divine technique but also a shortcut to cultivation.
An ancient legend spoke of cultivating for a thousand years in a dream, only to wake up after a single night.
This was the "One Dream, A Thousand Autumns" within the thirteen chapters.
The two women who had caused Zhang Ruochen the most headaches had suddenly become so harmonious and beautiful, like two celestial maidens untouched by worldly affairs. His heart was filled with mixed emotions, unsure whether to be happy or worried.
Without dwelling on it, Zhang Ruochen devoted all his time to studying the Dao of alchemy, repeatedly researching the formula for the Divine Pill of Connecting Heaven, and attempting to refine some of the auxiliary ingredients multiple times.
Under the Sundial, ten years passed in the blink of an eye.
Zhang Ruochen decided to officially begin the refinement.
For the first furnace, he did not hold high hopes and decided to use a small amount of materials to refine the Taizhen Divine Pill of Connecting Heaven.
Being able to produce even one pill would be considered a success.
...
The Empty Flame Divine Mountain was a cultivation secret realm left behind by a being with a spiritual power level above ninety from the Blazing Sun Civilization. Now, it appeared beside the War Dharma Divine Temple, towering and majestic, with jagged rocks.
The Sea Gold Divine Mulberry at the mountain's peak was a divine tree that had lived for over a thousand eons. Golden streams flowed between its branches and leaves, shrouded in vast mist, brimming with life energy.
Beneath the tree.
Zhang Ruochen took out the Earth Cauldron, a section of divine bone from the Nine-Headed Bone Serpent, some scales from the Phoenix-Headed Dragon-Shaped Fu Fang Vine, blood nurtured from the Longevity Blood Tree...
In total, over a hundred types of materials, each one considered extremely rare.
The Nine-Headed Bone Serpent, in its previous life, was a top-tier expert among the Boundless. Its divine bone was a precious medicinal material. Even if not refined, using it to steep wine would produce a divine brew for body refinement, a priceless treasure.
The Phoenix-Headed Dragon-Shaped Fu Fang Vine was a divine medicine from the bottom of the Mishen Heavenly Lord Lake on Xinghuantian, planted by the Heavenly Lord in the past. Zhang Ruochen had to invite Grand Supreme Patriarch and Yu Shenwang to break through the means left by the Heavenly Lord, cutting down a few sections.
As for the blood of the Longevity Blood Tree, it naturally came from the Blood Absolute Family.
At the Hundred Clans Royal City, the Underworld King had handed a branch of the Longevity Blood Tree's mother tree to Zhang Ruochen, repeatedly urging that he must have a share of the Divine Pill of Connecting Heaven.
Though it was called a branch, its diameter was thicker than a mountain peak, containing a vast amount of blood energy within.
Additionally, other materials, such as the "Snow Elephant Shell Stone" born in the Sea Stone Star Dock, the "Sun-Moon Flower" unique to the Rakshasa Clan's ancestral realm, and the "Ghost God Cry" from the Ten Thousand Ruins Realm, were not things ordinary gods could find.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen's treasure vault was large enough, and his luck was good. The gods under his command came from all over, and by pooling their resources, they managed to gather everything!
Of course, the vault was huge. The gods he had killed or captured numbered not a thousand, but several hundred. How could he not take the treasures from their space treasures and divine realm worlds?
Why did the three great god kings of the Hell Realm want to kill him?
Aside from the Sword Realm and the hatred in their hearts, the main reason was that Zhang Ruochen was too wealthy, having plundered all the Hell Realm gods he had captured!
It was impossible to imagine the sheer quantity of his wealth, resources, and treasures.
Just looking at the foot of the mountain, the Sundial operated continuously, and the gods in seclusion consumed a small mountain of divine stones each year, yet Zhang Ruochen didn't even furrow his brow.
Various alchemical materials were successively placed into the cauldron.
Without activating the Earth Cauldron's source power, he simply ignited a ball of divine flame beneath the cauldron.
Next, Zhang Ruochen split into countless avatars, hovering in the air, continuously inscribing alchemical patterns.
"Whoosh!"
The patterns fell like a rainstorm, pouring into the cauldron.
He spent a full three years inscribing, the number of patterns exceeding a trillion. They merged with the medicinal mist formed from the various materials, creating a hazy, dense atmosphere. Faintly, the sounds of wind and thunder could be heard.
Inside the cauldron, it was like a chaotic world taking shape.
Those alchemical patterns were the rules of heaven and earth.
Zhang Ruochen sat beneath the cauldron, cultivating his Sword Dao and spiritual power while tending to the divine flame.
Refining a divine pill required patience.
Luo Ji and Mo Yin had both come, offering to help Zhang Ruochen tend the divine flame, but he refused, telling them to focus on their cultivation.
Unknowingly, another three years passed.
A fragrance of the pill emanated from the cauldron.
Zhang Ruochen sniffed lightly and looked up. Above the Earth Cauldron, a five-colored pill cloud had formed. The fragrance formed a bridge, drifting out of the Empty Flame Divine Mountain.
"The formula clearly states that the pill must be nurtured for at least a hundred years to develop its fragrance and cloud. Yet it's only been three years!" Zhang Ruochen said.
"It must be due to the Earth Cauldron's wonder."
Ji Fanxin appeared behind Zhang Ruochen, drawn by the pill's fragrance.
Beneath her feet, a hundred flowers bloomed, and colorful butterflies danced.
"The Earth Cauldron is the Cauldron of Origin. Even if you haven't deliberately activated its source power, the medicinal ingredients inside are still affected, making them easier to decompose, condense, and transform," she said.
Zhang Ruochen nodded slightly. "Grand Supreme Patriarch once said that when refining a divine pill, the pill tribulation is crucial—it is the final transformation of the divine pill. The Sword God Temple is shrouded in the Sword Source's light rain, and the rules of heaven and earth are pushed aside, so a pill tribulation likely cannot descend."
"You want to go out?" Ji Fanxin asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, "The Divine Pill of Connecting Heaven is very important."
"Alright, I'll go with you," Ji Fanxin said.
Zhang Ruochen sent a message to Grand Supreme Patriarch and Jade Supreme Patriarch, then steered the Empty Flame Divine Mountain out of the Sword God Temple, flying into the darkness away from the Sword Source's light rain.
They flew all the way out of the Dark Star Gate, entering the void of the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain.
The rules of heaven and earth sensed their presence and became agitated, rapidly converging toward Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin's location.
Zhang Ruochen looked up at the tribulation clouds gathering in the darkness, growing thicker, with lightning flashing and thunder roaring incessantly.
"It seems the pill will soon be complete!"
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen waved his hand and struck out with a palm. The Earth Cauldron flew up, charging into the tribulation clouds.
A stretch of colorful clouds, a thousand miles wide, poured out from the cauldron.
Within the clouds, over eight hundred pills floated, each one very bright, with a rich medicinal essence, showing a five-colored hue.
"Boom!"
Lightning, like purple flood dragons, descended from above, striking into the colorful clouds.
Every pill was tempered by the lightning.
With just this first strike, dozens of pills couldn't withstand it and turned to dust.
Then, lightning fell like a waterfall, continuously striking the pills.
After a quarter of an hour, the tribulation clouds gradually dispersed.
Zhang Ruochen's expression turned somewhat bitter. When he saw that over eight hundred pills had been refined, he had secretly felt proud, after all, it was his first time refining a divine pill.
But after the pill tribulation, only four pills remained.
Ji Fanxin sensed Zhang Ruochen's subtle emotional fluctuation and said, "Don't be disappointed. You have to understand that refining a divine pill is no different from creating a god. The difficulty of refining a single divine pill is comparable to teaching a god as a disciple."
"To refine four pills on your first attempt, and in just a few years, is truly remarkable!"
"From today onward, you can truly be called a Divine Pill Alchemist."
Zhang Ruochen smiled. "I was just feeling a bit emotional. Pills and cultivators are alike in their hardship. Even with the best materials and the best cauldron, reaching the final step of pill formation, that last step causes ninety-nine percent of the pills to vanish into smoke."
The rules of heaven and earth continuously poured into the four Divine Pills of Connecting Heaven. Gradually, life fluctuations emerged within the pills, intelligence was born, and Dao essence was nurtured.
They had truly transcended the mortal realm!
Each divine pill was jointly created by the alchemist and heaven and earth, granting the pill life.
Zhang Ruochen reached out and gathered the four Boundless Divine Pills into his palm. They were all five-colored, spinning around each other.
Returning to the Sword God Temple, no incidents occurred.
Ji Fanxin said, "The Heavenly Ladder didn't take this opportunity to strike, probably because it recognized the power of the defensive formations here."
"Perhaps it was suspicious, thinking that you and I leaving was a deliberate attempt to lure it out. Forget it for now."
Zhang Ruochen sent out a message. Soon, Xiao Hei arrived at the Empty Flame Divine Mountain in high spirits and asked, "The pill is done? The first one goes to this Emperor?"
Zhang Ruochen nodded, gesturing for him to sit down.
Xiao Hei felt a surge of emotion, thinking that Zhang Ruochen valued friendship far more than romance, making him a true brother to share life and death with.
Otherwise, why would he think of him first after the pill was completed?
Xiao Hei sat down and sighed. "In the past, this Emperor did have some shortcomings toward you, but they were unintentional. Especially that time with Feng Xi, this Emperor definitely didn't mean to let it slip. This Emperor can swear to heaven..."
"Don't swear! With our bond, would I hold a grudge over something like this?"
Zhang Ruochen took out a Divine Pill of Connecting Heaven and handed it to Xiao Hei, signaling him to take it.
Taking the pill and holding it in his hand, Xiao Hei took a deep sniff.
The pill's energy entered his body, causing his five organs and six viscera to tremble, his blood to boil, as if he had taken a great tonic.
Xiao Hei's pores opened wide all over his body, and he said excitedly, "A divine pill! Absolutely a supreme divine pill for body refinement. No other divine pill can compare."
"Hurry up and take it!"
"Alright!"
Xiao Hei swallowed it in one gulp, almost dropping it, but managed to catch it in his mouth.
"Boom!"
It was like a star exploding inside Xiao Hei's body, his form swelling several times. His skin, flesh, blood, and bones all erupted with five-colored divine light, and flames half a zhang high blazed from his head.
Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin retreated to a distance.
All four Divine Pills of Connecting Heaven were of the Taizhen level, but Zhang Ruochen truly had no idea about the specific medicinal power, which was why he had called Xiao Hei to test the pill.
Ji Fanxin said, "The pill's power is too strong. Will he explode?"
"No, Xiao Hei is, after all, a cultivator at the Upper-Level God Great Perfection realm, with an extraordinary physique," Zhang Ruochen said.
"Boom!"
A second explosion.
Xiao Hei's body swelled several times again. He sat there unable to move, his eyes bulging to the size of fists, his face like a washbasin, every feather on his face standing on end!
Zhang Ruochen's expression changed, and he quickly asked, "Xiao Hei, can you still hold on?"
Xiao Hei had just opened his mouth when flames over ten zhang long shot out, his whole body convulsing.
"Don't scare me!" Zhang Ruochen said.
The next moment, Xiao Hei leaped up from the ground, his body growing even larger.
"Bang! Bang! Bang..."
Xiao Hei was like an inflated ball, covered in flames, bouncing uncontrollably down the mountain. With each bounce, his body grew significantly larger.
Zhang Ruochen sensed something was wrong. The medicinal power of the Taizhen Divine Pill of Connecting Heaven was too fierce, exceeding expectations.
He immediately chased down the mountain.