881: Chapter 882 Refining with All Our Might

The cauldron body hummed as the Black and Yellow Qi merged with the nine-colored Glazed Hearth Fire, emitting a dreamlike halo.

One by one, priceless Eighth Order spiritual materials, enough to make an ordinary Demon Emperor green with envy, were tossed into the furnace by Yao Delong with movements as smooth as flowing water. Under the exquisite differentiation and control of the Glazed Hearth Fire, every single medicinal herb was tempered to its most perfect state, stripping away Impurities and extracting the essence! The entire process was as fast as lightning, yet as precise as if measured by a ruler! An indescribable and profound dao rhyme of Alchemy began to permeate the quiet room.

Time passed slowly amidst the silent tempering and Fusion.

Outside the quiet room.

Yun Xiu tightly held Xue Li's small paw; the palms of both mother and daughter were cold with sweat. Their eyes were fixed on the closed stone door, as if trying to see through it. The air was thick with the last sliver of hope amidst despair.

The Feathered Clothing Demon Emperor leaned against a jade pillar with her arms crossed. She appeared calm, but her slightly furrowed willow-leaf brows and the sharp gaze she occasionally cast toward the stone door betrayed her inner anxiety and a hint of anticipation that she herself was unwilling to admit.

An Eighth Order Medicinal Pill... even in the regions of the Human Race, the Alchemy Grandmasters capable of refining such precious pills could be counted on one's fingers. Which of them wasn't a famous, highly respected old monster? A High-Rank Demon King... can he really do it?

The first day passed in dead silence.

On the morning of the second day, when the first ray of dawn spilled through the window lattice—

Buzz!

An extremely faint yet unimaginably pure and strange pill fragrance—one that seemed to pierce through to the depths of the Soul and soothe all restlessness and trauma—quietly drifted out from the crack of the door like the tail of a mischievous sprite, completely ignoring the powerful Restriction of the quiet room!

It was just a wisp!

“Hiss—!”

The Feathered Clothing Demon Emperor, who had been resting with her eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open! Her pale gold pupils instantly contracted to the size of needles! She stood up straight like a startled leopard, staring at the stone door in disbelief!

“Pill fragrance?! How can it be so fast?!” she blurted out in a low cry, her voice carrying unprecedented shock!

The Yao Race's path of Alchemy was withered, but she wasn't entirely ignorant of the time required for refining! For an Eighth Order Medicinal Pill, it would take an ordinary Alchemy Grandmaster months or even years! Only a day and a night had passed! How could she already... smell the pill fragrance?! This speed simply subverted her understanding!

For the first time, Feathered Clothing's heart wavered violently because of the Demon King she had regarded as a 'quack'!

‘Could it be... he... he really has such heaven-reaching methods?!’ This thought exploded in her mind like a clap of thunder! All her previous contempt and doubt were now like fragile glass, covered in dense cracks before this wisp of pill fragrance!

She looked at Yun Xiu and Xue Li, who were also trembling with excitement, then thought of her eldest brother whose life hung by a thread on his sickbed. A surge of mixed emotions—wild joy, regret, anticipation, and an inexplicably complex feeling—welled up in her heart.

‘Eldest Brother... perhaps... there really is hope?’ For the first time, the Feathered Clothing Demon Emperor solemnly placed this slim hope behind that tightly closed stone door.

Inside the quiet room, the Glazed Hearth Fire illuminated Yao Delong's focused face. Within the xuanhuang creation cauldron, a pill embryo flowing with misty rosy light—constantly rotating like a miniature nebula—had already taken shape! That was the embryonic form of the great void spirit nurturing pill!

But Yao Delong did not stop. He knew well that an ordinary Eighth Order Low Grade spirit nurturing pill might be able to nourish the Divine Soul of a typical Demon Emperor, but for the Qingqiu King Demon Emperor Xue Wuya, whose Foundation had been eroded by the Chaos Soul-Devouring Curse for a long time and whose Origin was nearly exhausted, the medicinal power would still be insufficient!

‘If I’m going to save him, I must save him completely!’ A sharp light burst from Yao Delong's eyes! His Divine Thought, like the most precise carving knife, flooded into the cauldron! He not only wanted to complete the final Fusion of medicinal power but also intended to attempt to engrave pill patterns upon the pill embryo!

One after another, profound runes containing the mysteries of Yin-Yang Harmony and nourishing the Divine Soul Origin were guided by his Divine Thought. Using the power of the Glazed Hearth Fire, he etched them onto the rotating pill embryo like micro-carvings! With every rune engraved, the pill embryo snapped inward, its volume shrinking, but the rosy light and Soul fluctuations it emitted exploded geometrically! The medicinal power was being compressed, purified, and sublimated to the extreme!

This process was extremely taxing on both mind and strength! Even with Yao Delong's powerful Divine Sense and the assistance of a divine flame like the Glazed Hearth Fire, fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead. But his gaze remained determined, and his fingers were as steady as a rock!

One day and one night, without sleep or rest!

Finally, on the morning of the third day, at the moment the first ray of dawn attempted to penetrate the quiet room's Restriction—

“Buzz—!”

The xuanhuang creation cauldron emitted a long hum that shook the Soul! The cauldron lid vibrated violently!

Inside the cauldron was a precious pill the size of a longan, perfectly round. Nine incredibly profound pale-golden pill patterns flowed over the crystal-clear body of the pill like living things. It emitted a surging Soul Power fluctuation that caused the space of the entire quiet room to distort slightly! The rosy light almost burst through the cauldron lid!

Nine Patterns! A great void spirit nurturing pill of nearly Eighth Order Peak quality!

At the very moment the pill was formed—

“Rumble!!!”

Above the quiet room, the originally clear sky was suddenly torn apart by violent heaven and earth energy! Thick dark clouds condensed out of thin air like a raging sea! The cloud layers rolled, and blinding purple-white lightning flickered wildly like giant pythons! A destructive heavenly might crashed down, aimed directly at the quiet room!

A Pill Lightning tribulation! And it was a super Pill Lightning that faintly emitted a twelfth-colored light of destruction! This was the test and judgment of Heaven and Earth for a Heaven-Defying precious pill!

Outside the quiet room.

The Feathered Clothing Demon Emperor, who had been focused on sensing the movements within the quiet room, snapped her head up the instant the Pill Tribulation arrived! Within those pale-golden demon eyes, an unprecedented shock and wild joy erupted!

“Pill Lightning! It’s Pill Lightning! It really succeeded!!” she cried out, her voice trembling with disbelief! All her previous doubts, contempt, and ridicule were completely turned to dust before this majestic heavenly might! The intensity of this Pill Lightning far exceeded her imagination! This proved that the quality of that pill had definitely reached an inconceivable level!

Yun Xiu and Xue Li were trembling with even more excitement, clutching each other's hands tightly! They didn't understand Alchemy grades, but they knew that the arrival of Pill Lightning meant success was in sight! They saw the dawn of salvation!

“Feathered Clothing!” Yun Xiu's voice carried a choked urgency, “Quick! Help Fellow Daoist Long block this Pill Lightning!” She was terrified that this precious pill might suffer any mishap!

“Hmph! How can a mere heavenly punishment harm my Qingqiu’s Saint Pill?!”

At this moment, the Feathered Clothing Demon Emperor no longer had the slightest hesitation or contempt; her eyes held only absolute confidence and a protective will! She gave a cold snort, and without moving her body, she simply made a grasping motion toward the terrifying tribulation cloud that was about to strike!

“Buzz—!”

A giant fox claw that blotted out the sun, condensed purely from crystalline white Demonic Power and emitting the terrifying Law fluctuations of a Mid-Rank Demon Emperor, suddenly appeared beneath the tribulation cloud! Its five fingers spread out like the Five-Finger Divine Mountain, carrying a momentum that controlled the universe and tore through the firmament, as it fiercely grasped toward the center of the rolling and roaring lightning!

Boom!!!

A deafening explosion seemed as if it would shatter the heavens! Blinding lightning and crystalline white Demonic Power violently collided and annihilated each other!