680: Complete Elixir Formula

"Senior Sister is absolutely right." Yao Delong stopped hesitating and nodded decisively.

"Wind and clouds are gathering here, and the treasures are shaking the heavens; it is not something we can fully control on our own."

He paused, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. "I have a premonition that after the third round, a Dao Artifact might appear in the world!"

"A Dao Artifact?!" Even figures like Han Yun and Hall Master Li could not help but gasp! A Dao Artifact!

That was a supreme treasure containing the Laws of the Great Dao, enough to suppress the Luck of a major Sect!

Liu Ruyan no longer hesitated. Her slender fingers formed hand seals within her sleeves, and a warm jade talisman quietly dissolved.

A highly secretive Divine Thought message instantly pierced through the Void Realm and flew toward the depths of the Yin Yang Sect:

'Urgent report! An ancient Pill Venerable Secret Realm has appeared in the Azure Cloud Mountains! The second round rewards have already revealed the Glazed Divine Fire and a supreme grade heavenly artifact! Tu Wanxiong of the Nine Nether Sect is suspected of colluding with the Sky-Rending Demon King and plotting something evil! There is a fear that a peerless Dao Artifact will emerge from the Secret Realm! I implore the Sect to urgently dispatch powerful experts to descend and provide support!'

Just as the message was sent, the Pill Venerable Phantom in mid-air spoke again, its magnificent voice suppressing the clamor in the plaza:

"Everyone, the next stage is the final round of testing!"

The voice was not loud, but it struck everyone's heart like a great bell!

"Those who pass this round will obtain the Treasure Pill that once made me famous across all domains—the nine aperture spirit nurturing pill!"

"What?! The nine aperture spirit nurturing pill!!"

"My heavens! It's actually this pill!"

"The legendary ancient Divine Pill that can directly nourish and strengthen the Primordial Spirit without any side effects?!"

"Although it is Eighth Order Peak, it is said to be more tyrannical than many Ninth-Grade Divine Pills! Any Cultivator who follows the path of the Primordial Spirit dreams of it!"

Exclamations swept across the plaza like a tsunami! Countless greedy and burning gazes focused instantly!

"Hahahaha! Good! There really is one! Heaven is helping me!"

Sky-Rending was so excited that his Demonic Qi was boiling, and terrifying light erupted from his blood-red pupils! The nine aperture spirit nurturing pill!

With it, his chances of breaking through to Void Refining Perfection, or even challenging the Realm of the Demon Emperor, would increase several times over!

He turned fiercely toward the Savage Demon Green Dragon beside him, his voice slightly hoarse from excitement:

"Azure Dragon! Listen to me carefully! This pill, I must have it! If you can win this pill for me, I swear here and now! Once I ascend to the throne of the Demon Emperor, you will be the Vice City Lord of the Sky-Rending Demon City! Your status will be second only to mine! Ruling over ten thousand demons, with the power of life and death! How about it?!"

"Vice... Vice City Lord?!" Savage Demon Green Dragon's entire body shook violently! His heart beat wildly! The weight of this promise was too heavy!

The Sky-Rending Demon City had vast influence; besides the Sky-Rending Demon King, there were two other powerful low-level demon kings sitting in command.

Once he became the Vice City Lord, it would be a true step to the heavens! The resentment from having the supreme grade heavenly artifact snatched away was instantly washed away by this huge temptation!

He suppressed his excitement, knelt on one knee, and his voice trembled with excitement:

"Your Majesty, rest assured! I, Azure Dragon, will do everything in my power to win the Divine Pill for you! I will not hesitate to give my all!"

It was as if that nine aperture spirit nurturing pill was already in his pocket!

The Pill Venerable Phantom ignored the commotion below and continued to announce the rules:

"The final round of assessment: complete the Pill Formula!"

"I will bestow an ancient incomplete formula. You must rely on your own accumulation of Alchemy knowledge and pharmacological deduction to complete the missing main ingredients and refine the finished Medicinal Pill on the spot!"

"Whoever successfully refines the complete Medicinal Pill will be the champion of this round and can obtain the nine aperture spirit nurturing pill!"

"The time limit is twelve hours!"

As the words fell, thirteen balls of light flickering with ancient, mysterious runes fell like meteors, precisely into the brows of the thirteen people who had passed the second round of assessment!

In an instant, the entire plaza went quiet.

Apart from heavy breathing, there were only the sounds of contemplation and furrowed brows.

"Hiss... This... This incomplete formula!" A Seventh Order Alchemist only probed for a moment before cold sweat seeped from his forehead.

"The flow of medicinal power is obscure and intricately linked. I fear more than one main ingredient is missing... Difficult! Too difficult!"

"It's at least a Seventh Order Peak formula... maybe even Eighth Order early-stage!" Someone's face turned pale, their confidence lost.

Liu Ruyan's brows were tightly knit. The information of the incomplete formula in her Sea of Consciousness was like a heavenly book; the complex combination of pharmacology and the peculiar roles of the sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy caused her mind to shake violently!

Her Alchemy Realm had barely reached the Sixth Order Peak. Facing a Pill Formula of this level was like a child facing advanced mathematics; a deep sense of powerlessness welled up in her heart.

"Seventh Order... or even higher... With my cultivation and Pill Fire, refining it by force would be certain death..."

But she looked at Yao Delong beside her, then looked at the Sky-Rending Demon King and Tu Wanxiong in the distance, and gritted her teeth:

"But... I cannot give up! At least... I must try my best to deduce it!" She sat cross-legged and began to calculate with her jade fingers, starting the most basic deduction of medicinal properties.

Sharing the same plight as her were three other Sixth Order Alchemists, all of them gloomy and distressed.

Among the remaining nine, Savage Demon Green Dragon was the only non-Human Race Seventh Order Alchemist.

Although he was still suffering from serious injuries, his Wood Spirit Sacred Body was operating at full power, and his innate affinity for the properties of herbs and plants was brought to the extreme. The information of the incomplete formula was being analyzed rapidly in his mind.

"Hmph, Heaven is helping me! Although this formula is difficult, the core lies in balancing Yin and Yang and nourishing the Divine Soul! It secretly aligns with my path of Wood Spirit vitality!"

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and he seemed to have grasped a thread. His face regained a confident glow, and he immediately sat cross-legged to deduce it. His goal at this moment was extremely clear—the Divine Pill! The position of Vice City Lord!

And Yao Delong...

He simply received the information of the incomplete formula calmly.

In his Sea of Consciousness, countless herb names, medicinal properties, dosages, and combinations of sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy... flowed past like a waterfall.

"Concentration Grass, Soul-Calming Fruit, Millennium Stone Milk Marrow... supplemented by Three Yang Flower and Cold Jade Soul to balance Yin and Yang... Hmm, a typical approach to nourishing the Primordial Spirit and stabilizing the Divine Soul..."

In just a few breaths, with his half-step Ninth Order Alchemy foundation and the deductive ability of the Void Derivation Pill Transformation Art, several possible completion schemes had already emerged in his mind!

Every scheme was logically self-consistent and had a very high success rate!

But...

A trace of extremely subtle incongruity suddenly arose!

This Pill Formula... this combination of medicinal properties... why was it so similar to the "nine aperture spirit nurturing pill" that the Pill Venerable mentioned just now?

Even... Yao Delong keenly sensed that the missing parts in the incomplete Pill Formula, and the information revealed by the context before and after, faintly pointed to the core of "nine aperture" and "spirit nurturing"!

'The reward is the nine aperture spirit nurturing pill, and the incomplete formula for the assessment is also the nine aperture spirit nurturing pill? Pill Venerable... what is the intention behind this? Is it a pure test? Or... is there another meaning?'

A trace of warning flashed through his heart!

When things are abnormal, there must be a demon! Especially at this critical moment concerning the Legacy of an ancient master!

'I cannot take risks!' Yao Delong made a decision instantly. He had the safest trump card!

"System!" he muttered in his heart, "Help me complete this incomplete formula! How much yin-yang value is needed?"

The cold, mechanical prompt sounded almost at the same moment his thought fell:

"Ding! Detected ancient incomplete Pill Formula—nine aperture spirit nurturing pill (Eighth Order Peak / Pseudo-Ninth Order). Completing the full Pill Formula and the best refining method requires 150 points of yin-yang value."

'As expected!' Yao Delong's eyes sharpened! The reward pill and the assessment formula were indeed the same thing! This was definitely no coincidence!