58: Chapter 58 Blood Essence Pill

The spring was dripping steadily.

Water seeped from the crevices in the rock, leaving a dark streak on the stone wall as it dripped into the pool below.

The sound bounced back and forth in the enclosed cave; listening to it, it no longer felt noisy—it became a constant background sound, as rhythmic as a heartbeat.

Jiang Yan sat cross-legged on the stone platform beside the spring and cleaned the Artifact Refining furnace once more.

Under the stimulation of his Qi, the flame gold patterns on the inner walls of the furnace glowed with a crimson luster. The fire-attribute Qi stored in the heat-retention layer was slowly released, raising the temperature of the entire cave by twenty or thirty percent compared to the outside.

Spring water dripping onto the furnace walls evaporated instantly, hissing as a puff of white steam rose.

He lined up all the Spirit Medicine.

The blood-blood flower was placed on the far right.

This flower, brought out from the secret chamber in Prince Yongs Mansion, had wilted slightly. Its petals were curling inward from the edges, but the dark brown droplet at the center of the stamen remained. When brought close to his nose, he could smell a fishy, sweet scent like rust.

That power of blood and Qi felt as if it could seep through his skin and into his blood vessels; after sniffing it twice, his heartbeat involuntarily quickened.

The silver thread grass was placed on the far left.

The silvery-white patterns on its leaves emitted a very faint glow in the dim cave, extending from the leaf stalk to the tip and converging into a bright line at the edge.

He touched the leaf with his finger, and a slight coolness transmitted to his fingertip—not the coolness of ice, but the penetrating coolness of mint.

This herb was yin in nature, making it the opposite of the yang blood-blood flower; they could not be in the same furnace.

He moved the silver thread grass half an arm's length further to the left.

In the middle, he laid out a century-old lingzhi, two century-old fleece-flower roots, three half-century-old astragalus, two pieces of poria, a cluster of angelica, and several auxiliary materials that were lacking in age but still had decent medicinal power.

They were all scavenged from various secret chambers; their quality varied, but they had the advantage of being sufficient in quantity.

He brought the blood-blood flower to his nose and sniffed it again.

The fishy, sweet scent of the dark brown droplet at the stamen swirled in his nasal cavity, bearing some resemblance to the warm and viscous sensation when absorbing essence and blood with the Bloodthirsty Demon Scripture—both were the condensation of the purest power of blood and Qi.

The difference was that the Demon Scripture was yin-leaning and overbearing, while the blood-blood flower was yang-leaning and nourishing; essentially, both were mediums for stimulating the potential of human blood and Qi.

He had repeatedly deduced the Pill Formula for the blood origin pill while on the road.

The main ingredient was the blood-blood flower. For auxiliary ingredients, he chose the yang-leaning fleece-flower root from the half-Spirit Medicines and one half-century-old astragalus as the medicinal guide, then used the century-old lingzhi as the medicinal base to neutralize the harshness.

The silver thread grass could not be used in this formula—its yin-cold medicinal properties would neutralize the yang properties of the blood-blood flower. If the two medicinal powers clashed, at best the efficacy would be lost, and at worst, the furnace would explode.

The silver thread grass was to be saved for the Guiyuan peiyuan pill; its yin attribute would happen to neutralize the dryness of the peiyuan pill.

He let out a breath and began refining the first batch.

He cut off one-third of the century-old lingzhi and tossed it into the Artifact Refining furnace.

The fire-gathering Restriction was activated, and a pale blue spirit fire rose in the belly of the furnace. The lingzhi slowly softened in the flames.

He did not use high heat or fierce flames this time—it was his first time refining the blood-blood flower, and he hadn't fully grasped its medicinal properties, so he preferred to be slow rather than fast.

A milky white medicinal liquid seeped from the surface of the lingzhi, and the unique, fresh fragrance of fungi wafted from the furnace mouth, mixing with the scent of damp rocks in the cave.

After the medicinal base was brewed, he suspended the blood-blood flower above the furnace mouth.

He didn't dare to throw it directly into the high-temperature furnace belly.

The petals of the blood-blood flower were too thin; even a slightly higher temperature would cause them to char instantly, resulting in a loss of at least half the medicinal power.

He used his Divine Sense to wrap the entire flower from the calyx to the tips of the petals, leaving only the dark brown droplet at the stamen exposed.

A very thin wisp of the pale blue spirit fire separated from the belly of the furnace and began to slowly roast the calyx.

Under the low-temperature roasting, the petals gradually changed from dark red to transparent, revealing the extremely fine veins inside—they were dark red patterns formed by the condensation of the power of blood and Qi, radiating from the calyx to the edges of the petals like a miniature network of blood vessels.

Under the licking of the flames, the dark brown droplet at the stamen began to emit fine bubbles. Each bubble that burst released a wave of medicinal Qi so rich that it could almost be tasted as a sweet, fishy flavor.

This process lasted for a full hour.

By the end, sweat had beaded on Jiang Yan's forehead. It wasn't from fatigue—it was the power of blood and Qi from the blood-blood flower, which could penetrate even through his Divine Sense. His heartbeat kept accelerating, and his temples throbbed.

Finally, the droplet completely vaporized. A mass of dark brown medicinal Qi hovered above the furnace mouth, rolling slowly within the wrap of his Divine Sense, like a small, compressed dark cloud.

He slowly lowered the medicinal Qi into the belly of the furnace.

The instant the medicinal Qi came into contact with the lingzhi medicinal liquid, a dull humming sound erupted from the furnace belly—it wasn't an explosion, but a resonance caused by the lingzhi liquid being impacted by the blood-blood flower medicinal Qi. The entire Artifact Refining furnace trembled slightly from the vibration.

The medicinal properties of the blood-blood flower were too harsh; the lingzhi medicinal base couldn't contain it at all. The two medicinal properties clashed violently inside the furnace belly, and sparks of spirit light splashed where they collided.

Jiang Yan gritted his teeth, spreading his Divine Sense to its limit, tightly wrapping the two medicinal properties together and pressing them inward.

The rumbling sound lasted for about thirty breaths before slowly subsiding. The medicinal liquid in the furnace belly gradually deepened in color—first light brown, then dark brown, and finally settling into a dark red that was nearly black.

The surface was still rolling slightly, like boiling blood.

The two fleece-flower roots and the astragalus were tossed in one by one.

The fleece-flower roots turned into pale yellow powder in the spirit fire and rustled down into the medicinal liquid, while the astragalus melted into viscous, amber-colored droplets that slowly sank to the bottom.

After the auxiliary medicines entered the furnace, the dark brown medicinal liquid finally calmed down slowly. The rolling surface went from violent to slight, and in the end, only an occasional bubble would rise.

The most strenuous stage, pill condensation, had arrived.

Jiang Yan took a deep breath.

The damp air in the cave, mixed with the medicinal fragrance, poured into his lungs. He spread his Divine Sense to the maximum and compressed the medicinal liquid from the size of a fist toward the center.

Under the pressure of his Divine Sense, the medicinal liquid shrank smaller and smaller, from the size of a fist to that of a pigeon egg. Its surface began to solidify under the dual action of high temperature and pressure.

First, the outermost layer in contact with the furnace wall formed an extremely thin pill membrane, which was transparent and gleamed with an amber luster under the reflection of the furnace fire.

The medicinal liquid beneath the pill membrane was still rolling, shrinking a fraction with every rotation.

The color shifted from dark brown to dark red, and from dark red, it settled into a purplish-red that was nearly black.

The way this Medicinal Pill formed was not by slow solidification, but by the pill membrane suddenly tightening in an instant—like being gripped hard by an invisible hand, completely sealing the medicinal liquid inside.

With a faint hiss, the first purplish-black pill floated quietly in the center of the furnace belly.

Immediately after, the second one formed, then the third—but when the fourth one was halfway through forming, something went wrong.

The pill membrane suddenly trembled violently during the condensation process, and an extremely fine crack split open on the surface, with medicinal Qi hissing out from the gap.

Jiang Yan's pupils constricted. He immediately increased his Divine Sense suppression, using it to press the crack tightly shut.

The crack barely closed under the pressure of his Divine Sense, but it left a scar-like blemish.

The fifth and sixth ones formed smoothly. When condensing the seventh pill, there was little medicinal liquid left, and the pill was only half the size of the previous ones, so he simply kneaded the remaining medicinal dregs and liquid together to form a defective one.

Opening the furnace.

The moment the furnace lid was lifted, a strong wave of medicinal Qi surged out from the belly of the furnace—it was the unique power of blood and Qi from the blood-blood flower. Smelling it was like standing by a pool of blood in a slaughterhouse; the fishy sweetness carried a burning sensation that made one's heartbeat accelerate.

Seven purplish-black pills hovered at the furnace mouth, the size of Dragon eyes, with extremely faint crimson patterns flowing on their surfaces.

Those were the blood patterns formed by the condensation of the power of blood and Qi from the blood-blood flower, glowing dimly red in the dark cave.

The last defective one was only the size of a fingernail, with incomplete pill patterns, and its medicinal power was estimated to be less than half of a normal one.

blood origin pill, First Grade Low Grade, seven pills.