With the graceful departure of Long Xuechan, followed by Long Ping and Long Ting, and even the Ghost Eagle King taken away by Long Xuechan, the valley instantly fell into profound silence. Thus, Tai Yan openly revealed himself, while Qing Yue and Xiang Xiang also stealthily slipped out, trotting contentedly behind Tai Yan as they wandered around the valley.

Amidst the bright red blossoms, Nie Kong occupied Long Xuechan’s lounge chair. Before leaving, Long Xuechan had mentioned that Nie Kong needed to prepare for a spar with the Third Elder, Long Zhaojun.

In truth, Nie Kong didn't need much preparation; he already knew what he needed to know. Anything he didn't grasp couldn't be understood in just three short days, and cramming in the medical arts yielded little benefit.

However, since Long Xuechan had provided him with such a quiet environment, he shouldn't waste it. The Nether Pills and medicines in his pet backpack, along with the unfamiliar herbs growing in the valley, could all be taken out for research, allowing him to fully integrate the refining of Nether Pills and spiritual elixirs as soon as possible.

Nether Pills contained Origin Power, but as of yet, Nie Kong hadn't found a way to make spiritual herbs derive Origin Power as well. If he succeeded, after consuming all the Nether Pills in his backpack, the little fellow could completely refine a new batch of spiritual elixirs for it to consume, because after reaching the sixth tier, merely eating herbs seemed to offer little help for its advancement, unless he could find a rarity on the level of the Fire Tree Silver Flower.

"Aiya ya." With a thought from Nie Kong, Xiang Xiang, the little fellow, zipped back, and then an exquisite medicine cauldron materialized before him, spinning rapidly. Nie Kong narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment, took out a few precious herbs from his backpack whose death energy was slightly weaker—these herbs lay somewhere between the ink-black herbs of the Nether Soil and the herbs of the Heavenly Spirit Continent, serving as a transition between two different natures of herbs.

If he could thoroughly study them, the help would be immense. "Clang!" With a crisp sound, the cauldron lid opened, and Nie Kong tossed a spiritual herb directly inside, beginning to condense the medicinal potency.

For the current Nie Kong, this process was extremely easy, posing no difficulty whatsoever, especially as the consumption of the essence Qi from the spiritual treasure within his body was negligible, virtually ignorable. The sounds of opening the cauldron ("Keng Keng") and the sizzling of the burning fire occasionally echoed through the valley...

Once the support time for the "Medicine Cauldron Illusion Body" expired, Nie Kong took out an ordinary medicine cauldron from his pet backpack and continued refining. The sunlight shining vertically from above gradually slanted westward until night fully descended, at which point Nie Kong finally put away the cauldron, stopped condensing medicinal power, and walked into the house outside the flower patch.

The hall was brightly lit, and dinner, pre-prepared, was laid out on the table, having been quietly delivered by the Ping Ting sisters. Nie Kong had been focused on refining medicine at that time and, although he sensed their arrival, he didn't call out to stop them.

After quickly finishing dinner and washing up, seeing that Tai Yan and Qing Yue were still playing in the flower patch outside, Nie Kong didn't bother them either, casually picking a bedroom and walking in. The room was exquisitely decorated, and the air was filled with a mesmerizing, intoxicating fragrance.

Scattered on the bed, chairs, and table were quite a few pieces of clothing, mostly green, followed by black, and some pink; he could even faintly make out a few pairs of women's intimate undergarments. Without needing any guesswork, just by looking at the colors of the clothes, Nie Kong identified Long Ping and Long Ting, concluding this was Long Xuechan's own boudoir.

Before leaving, she hadn't made any arrangements for Nie Kong's daily life, and Nie Kong, too lazy to look for another place, directly removed his shoes and sat cross-legged on the bed. His mind gradually calmed, and the situation of condensing medicinal power from the afternoon flashed through Nie Kong's mind repeatedly.

The ink-black herbs from the Nether Soil, much like the "Nightmare Spirit Black Demon Vine" that appeared in the Yin Ruins, achieved a perfect balance between death energy and vital life force within the herb. This was the primary reason Nether Pills exhibited Origin Power, as Nether Pills containing Origin Power must have incorporated those ink-black herbs.

The herbs he selected today generally possessed potent medicinal qualities, but overall, their vital life force outweighed their death energy. According to Nie Kong's speculation, if herbs with a balance of vital life force and death energy could form an 'unseen' Origin Power during the refining of Nether Pills, then herbs containing absolutely no death energy should also be able to derive Origin Power.

However, on the Heavenly Spirit Continent, even herbs with the densest life force possessed a trace, extremely minute, of death energy. Similarly, no matter how dense the death energy in an herb was, it could never completely sever life force, because an herb devoid of life force would be utterly dead matter and couldn't be called an herb at all.

Now, Nie Kong could only hope to discover a new opportunity by condensing vast amounts of medicinal power. After a long while, Nie Kong opened his eyes, sighed inwardly, and glanced around.

Tai Yan and Qing Yue had not returned, and the sounds of the other two creatures were gone outside. But since Qing Yue was incredibly clever and Tai Yan possessed formidable retaliatory power, Nie Kong wasn't worried about their safety when they were together.

A faint, sweet fragrance drifted into his nostrils, permeating his heart and lungs. Nie Kong felt his chaotic thoughts gradually dissipate, and he lay back on the bed contentedly.

However, not long after, Nie Kong suddenly sprang up. "Xiang?" Muttering this word, a look of joy involuntarily surfaced on Nie Kong's face.

In his mind, a skill the little fellow had been comprehending for a long time instantly flashed: Dark Fragrance! Dark Fragrance had three functions: first, promoting the growth of medicinal herbs; second, helping the soul condense its physical body; and third, it was the nemesis of Nether Soil flora like the "Nightmare Spirit Black Demon Vine." Nie Kong hadn't understood before, but now he was perfectly clear: the reason this skill had these three functions was that it could dispel death energy.

Realizing this, Nie Kong's spirits immediately lifted. This skill felt somewhat distant to him; if not for the scent in this room, he didn't know how much longer it would have taken him to recall it.

"Medicine Cauldron Illusion Body!" Sensing that the rest period was over, Nie Kong thought, and with a 'buzz,' the small medicine cauldron manifested before him. Over the past few years, the little fellow had treasured and stored that fragrance, possessing a massive amount now, and since the little fellow was a sixth-tier pet, the speed at which the fragrance generated was much faster than before.

Nie Kong's current plan was to select a herb from the Heavenly Spirit Continent to condense its medicinal power, integrating the fragrance at the very last moment before the power was about to solidify. "Hope this works," Nie Kong mused silently.

He sent his intent into the pet backpack, but before he could find a suitable herb, a nearly inaudible sound of footsteps drifted in from outside. Tai Yan could be exposed, the Spirit Qing Yue could be exposed, and the "Crimson Star Battle Body" could be exposed, but the little fellow absolutely could not be exposed—this was Nie Kong's greatest secret.

In a flicker of thought, the medicine cauldron vanished. The footsteps outside remained light, but the sound was now very clear.

"Sister Chan." After listening for a moment and realizing the footsteps were heading toward his room, Nie Kong couldn't help but smile. The instant the sound faded, the door was pushed open, and a figure clad in snow-white entered Nie Kong's sight...

... ...RO