Zongji Dan

Inside the Quiet Room, sandalwood smoke curled.

Shen Wen put the Jade Slip containing information about the Hall of Souls' strongholds into his storage ring, a plan already forming in his heart.

Those rats in the gutters certainly had to be eliminated, but there was no need for haste.

For now, another matter was clearly more urgent.

He walked to the long desk, which was covered with the deduction manuscripts for the "zong ji pill."

Layers of paper were filled with medicinal herb combinations, energy flow equations, and the most core element—the prototype runes outlined using the power of the space ancestral talisman as a guide.

"Ying'er, Dan Chen," Shen Wen called out.

Cao Ying was speaking softly with Cai Lin; hearing him, she immediately looked over, her beautiful eyes lighting up. Dan Chen also looked up from the table where she was organizing medicinal herbs, a questioning look on her clear and elegant face.

"The deduction of the zong ji pill has reached the final stage, and some joints need repeated verification. Come help me."

Shen Wen lightly tapped the complex runic networks on the desk. "Especially the nodes where medicinal properties balance and spatial power is embedded; I need different perspectives to deliberate on them."

Cao Ying smiled sweetly and stood up. "How could I refuse my husband's invitation? Creating a Medicinal Pill, especially a seventh-grade pill involving spatial power—this opportunity is much more interesting than listening to those old men lecture at the Pill Tower."

Dan Chen also set aside her work and stepped forward quickly, her gaze falling on those profound lines, focus and excitement appearing in her eyes. She was exceptionally gifted with a unique Soul Power, possessing an extraordinary intuition for energy flow.

Shen Wen briefly described the main ideas and difficulties.

Cao Ying listened carefully, interjecting with questions from time to time that often hit the mark. Dan Chen didn't speak much, but after moments of silence, she would point to a rune connection and softly suggest a gentler guidance plan.

Yao Lao's Soul body appeared at some point, hovering to the side, quietly observing the three of them discuss.

Seeing Cao Ying's quick-wittedness and Dan Chen's intuition for seeing through to the essence, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

This generation of Prodigies from the Pill Tower was truly extraordinary.

Given time, their achievements might not be inferior to his own back then.

For Shen Wen to let them participate in the deduction of a self-created high-tier Medicinal Pill at this stage, such foresight and courage in cultivation were even rarer.

The deduction lasted for several days. Inside the Quiet Room, there were periods of debate and silence, with only the sound of pens scratching on paper and low-voiced discussions.

Shen Wen did not simply instill knowledge but rather guided and inspired. Cao Ying and Dan Chen also gradually became immersed, their faces often showing the sudden realization after hard thinking and the sparks of creativity.

On this day, when a Pill Formula merging the wisdom of the three and nearly perfect in detail was finally finalized, Cao Ying let out a long breath, rubbed her slightly aching temples, and smiled. "I didn't expect creating a Medicinal Pill to be so mentally taxing, but... it's really interesting."

"In the past, learning Pill Formulas and performing Alchemy always felt like walking a path paved by predecessors."

"Now that I'm participating in paving the road myself, even if it's just a small section, the feeling is completely different."

Dan Chen also nodded gently, looking at the scroll of the Pill Formula that had condensed their hard work, her eyes flowing with light.

She subconsciously looked at Shen Wen; seeing him looking over with a smile, her face warmed slightly, and she quickly lowered her head, though a hint of sweetness and satisfaction rippled in her heart.

Yao Lao floated closer, his Soul Power scanning the finalized Pill Formula, especially the core steps marked with special runes that required spatial power to be injected at the moment of pill formation. After a long silence, he finally spoke with a complex tone: "The conception is ingenious, and the theory is near Perfection."

"If it can truly be formed into a pill, its effect might not be as simple as assisting a Dou Zong in a Breakthrough; it would also have miraculous effects on comprehending spatial power. It's just..."

He looked at Shen Wen: "The key to this Medicinal Pill lies in that strand of domesticated spatial power that can be integrated into the medicinal strength."

"In all the world, besides you, young friend, others... even a Dou Zun can only utilize spatial power and would find it difficult to solidify it so minutely. This 'zong ji pill' will likely end up being a 'lone pill' that only you can refine."

He didn't ask how Shen Wen did it; that was someone else's special secret.

Hearing this, Shen Wen smiled and shook his head. "What Yao Lao says is one reason, but not the only one."

His fingertips brushed over several rare supplementary herbs marked on the Pill Formula. "The main reason the zong ji pill is hard to appear in the world isn't that the refining method is unique to me."

"The fundamental reason is that natural treasures containing stable spatial power are too rare."

"Ordinary Materials containing spatial fluctuations either have energy too violent to be used in medicine or are too thin to form a pill."

He paused, his gaze becoming somewhat distant. "Actually, the best carrier... is the blood of a Void Ancient Dragon."

"Their Bloodline is naturally close to the Void Realm, and the Essence Blood contains spatial power that is relatively stable and pure, making it the finest 'spatial medicinal primer'."

Yao Lao's Soul body shook. "Void Ancient Dragon?"

He immediately shook his head with a bitter smile. "Setting aside that this tribe's traces are elusive and their strength is terrifyingly peerless, even if one were lucky enough to find them, hunting an Ancient Dragon for blood to refine medicine? That would be making an enemy of the entire Void Ancient Dragon race. Who would dare?"

"And to deduce it, one would need multiple attempts. Where would there be so many Materials for people to try?"

Shen Wen didn't respond, only saying calmly, "So this pill is hard to complete not because of a lack of skill, but because of the difficulty of the Materials."

"If someone can find a stable alternative spatial source substance in the future, it might not be impossible to refine."

He put away the Pill Formula, his tone calm yet certain. "The deduction is complete. Next is the actual verification."

...In the valley of the rear mountain, the heaven burning cauldron stood quietly.

Shen Wen sat cross-legged before the cauldron, his black robe unmoving in the breeze. Dozens of jade boxes floated before him, the medicinal herbs inside emitting faint spatial fluctuations.

These were the main and supplementary Materials he had finally determined after months of deducing the "zong ji pill."

"Let's begin."

Shen Wen formed hand seals, and the Fallen Heart Flame rose from his palms, turning into a gentle fire that enveloped the cauldron's body.

This refinement was indeed much simpler than the bone-generating blood-fusing pill.

The steps for the Fusion of medicinal strength were relatively conventional; the true difficulty lay in the final step.

One by one, the medicinal herbs were thrown into the cauldron in an orderly fashion, turning into pure medicinal liquid under the tempering of the Fallen Heart Flame.

Shen Wen's movements were smooth and fluid, even carrying a hint of leisure.

Cao Ying and Dan Chen stood on a distant cliff, watching without blinking.

"Husband seems very relaxed this time," Dan Chen said softly.

Cao Ying nodded, a smile on her lips. "The key isn't here. The true hurdle for the zong ji pill is how to stably integrate spatial power into the pill and ensure the consumer can safely absorb it."

"In all the world, he is probably the only one who can do this."

Six days passed quietly amidst the focused refining.

By the evening of the sixth day, the medicinal liquid in the heaven burning cauldron had completely fused, turning into a fist-sized essence of Chaos gray. Shen Wen's eyes sharpened; he knew the most critical moment had arrived.

He took a deep breath and raised his right hand, a silver light flickering at his fingertips.

The power of the space ancestral talisman was quietly triggered, and a strand of pure and docile spatial power, like the finest silver thread, was slowly stripped from the Void Realm. Under his control, it cautiously approached the medicinal liquid in the cauldron.

This was not a violent spatial tear, nor a heavy spatial imprisonment, but the most original and gentle strand of spatial power after being domesticated and wrapped layer by layer.

"Fuse!"

Shen Wen gave a low shout, and the silver thread sank into the Chaos medicinal liquid.

In an instant, the cauldron's body shook violently!

It was as if countless tiny voids exploded inside the medicinal liquid, yet they were firmly restrained by the Soul force field Shen Wen had already set up, forcibly suppressed back into the medicinal pill embryo.

After repeating this three times, that strand of spatial power finally fused completely with the medicinal liquid, with no further repulsion.

The sky turned gloomy at that very moment.

Thick leaden clouds gathered from all directions, forming a slowly rotating vortex above the valley.

Lightning snaked through the depths of the clouds, letting out muffled hisses.