Nie Kong’s consciousness snapped back to awareness.

Indeed, a thought instantly transmitted itself: The pet, "Purple Luo Phantom Spirit Fragrance," had successfully upgraded to the Ninth Rank, gaining four slots in the Pet Backpack; it had mastered the Ninth Rank Symbiotic Combat Skill, "Flower Mountain Blood Sea"; it had mastered the Ninth Rank Symbiotic Combat Skill, "Mirror Flower Water Moon"; and the "Medicine Cauldron Phantom Body" had advanced to the Ninth Rank.

After nearly half a year of slumber, the little creature had finally achieved promotion.

Nie Kong was ecstatic. From the moment he first bonded with the pet in Jiyang City until now, the little one had finally reached the pinnacle rank, allowing him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the little creature had only grasped the two ultimate skills, "Flower Mountain Blood Sea" and "Mirror Flower Water Moon," Nie Kong was immensely satisfied. Especially the Ninth Rank "Medicine Cauldron Phantom Body," which could now be summoned or dismissed at will, with the rest time akin to a skill cooldown completely vanishing.

"From now on, Xiangxiang might not advance any further..."

Nie Kong shifted his focus to the Spiritual Nascence Aperture. The little creature, curled into a ball, was slowly unfurling. The most significant change was the increase to nine leaves, and the stem and roots had become considerably sturdier. However, that single flower bud remained just a bud, showing no sign of blooming.

Nie Kong felt a pang of doubt. If measured against its appearance in the Demon Game, the Purple Luo Phantom Spirit Fragrance should fully blossom to be considered truly mature.

Had Xiangxiang’s promotion not yet reached its peak?

Nie Kong wasn't entirely certain. In the Demon Game, the Purple Luo Phantom Spirit Fragrance was merely a string of data, but here on the Heavenly Spirit Continent, it possessed genuine sentience. If it could take on a human form, it would be almost indistinguishable from a lively, adorable child. The two were fundamentally different.

If the day came when Xiangxiang stopped making "Ayaya..." sounds and started speaking like a human, Nie Kong would not be surprised in the least.

In the next moment, Nie Kong abandoned his preoccupation with the question.

If the little creature could still advance, Nie Kong would certainly exhaust every means to help it accumulate the necessary resources for promotion, as well as the medicinal herbs required during the advancement itself. If the Ninth Rank was the pinnacle the little one could reach, Nie Kong wouldn't mind; maintaining its current form was also excellent.

"Ayaya..."

After its body completely unfurled, the little creature drowsily swayed its flower bud. Nie Kong chuckled inwardly and quickly sent a sliver of Natural Origin Power over. The little creature absorbed Nie Kong's wisp of origin power completely in the blink of an eye, like a child presented with delicious candy.

After indulging the little creature for a long while, Nie Kong finally composed himself.

Now that Xiangxiang was awake, he could immediately begin the process of re-refining the "As You Wish Fire Lotus." Although, with the improved prescription, Nie Kong was confident in refining the "As You Wish Fire Lotus" to over ninety-five percent fusion even with an ordinary medicine cauldron, achieving a perfect ten-tenths fusion absolutely required utilizing the "Medicine Cauldron Phantom Body."

Musing, Nie Kong opened his eyes. The sky outside the window was still dark and heavy.

Noisy sounds continuously filtered in; a large crowd of Spirit Masters had already gathered outside, awaiting the purchase of the Compendium of Materia Medica. In fact, Nie Kong's Compendium of Materia Medica had only just been finalized a few days ago, and Red Chamber currently held only two hundred sets in stock. Most of the Spirit Masters outside would have to leave empty-handed.

Nie Kong secretly smirked. Once the Spirit Masters who purchased the Compendium of Materia Medica circulated the content over the next few days, the subsequent release in the capitals of the Three Great Empires would likely trigger an even greater frenzy of desperate buying, inevitably followed by a flood of low-quality, cheap pirated editions.

However, Nie Kong compiled the Compendium of Materia Medica not to earn gold coins. If someone truly pirated and sold the Compendium, he would welcome it.

"Little Brother Nie Kong, gently—'gently,' your sister is about to be worn out by you..." Long Xuechan suddenly twisted her delicate body, murmuring indistinctly.

Looking at the woman coiled around him like an octopus, Nie Kong was somewhat speechless.

Who was wearing out whom? During the day, Long Xuechan had been like a raging fire, intensely passionate. When he couldn't bear it in the front, she had made him switch to the back. Fortunately, she only indulged in such madness occasionally; if it were like this every time, even Nie Kong's iron body wouldn't be able to sustain it.

He stroked her satin-smooth, tender skin with both hands for a while, then gently laid her exquisite, curvy body flat and carefully tucked the blanket around her before stepping off the bed. After tidying himself up, Nie Kong left a note for Long Xuechan and activated the "Returning Spirit Jade Tablet."

"Bang!"

The void subtly fluctuated, and Nie Kong's figure instantly vanished from the room. As soon as he returned to the Spirit Residence, he summoned Tai Yan, Qing Yue, and Hulu and headed straight for the ninth floor of the Medicine Pagoda.

In the Medicine Garden, Nie Kong had already prepared the ingredients for two batches of the "As You Wish Fire Lotus." Now that Nie Kong possessed the Second Grade Heaven Spirit cultivation, as soon as the medicinal power fusion degree of the "As You Wish Fire Lotus" reached ten-tenths, Nie Kong would immediately consume it to advance his cultivation to the Third Grade Heaven Spirit.

High-grade spirit medicines that boost cultivation generate inner demon interference during consumption.

However, the higher the medicinal fusion degree, the weaker the inner demons become. With a fusion degree of ninety-five percent or higher, the residual inner demons can be easily overcome by a Spirit Master with firm willpower. For a spirit medicine with ten-tenths fusion, there are absolutely no inner demons; everything proceeds smoothly.

Since Nie Kong possessed the ability to refine a spirit medicine with ten-tenths fusion, he would never deliberately consume a lower-fused medicine just to experience the ordeal of inner demons, cynically calling it tempering his will.

What he desired was an advancement that arrived naturally!

"Hulu, are you ready?"

"Ready."

"Then let's start immediately..."

"..."

The darkness of night dissipated, and the world grew brighter, the entire Imperial Capital of Chen Kingdom bathed in the morning light.

The queue outside the Red Chamber Auction House stretched for several miles. Many more, seeing the line was too long, wisely avoided queuing; instead, they gathered in small groups near the front, hoping to sneak in during the Compendium of Materia Medica sale and perhaps snag a set.

Inside the pavilion, Long Xuechan finally awoke.

A feeling of aching soreness surged from both the front and back simultaneously... Even she, recalling the wildness of the previous day, couldn't help but blush deeply. She let out a languid, delicate moan, enveloped herself in a thin, cicada-wing sheer gauze, and walked with a slight limp and an awkward gait to the window to secretly look outside.

"My goodness, so many people."

Long Xuechan started in alarm. Red Chamber only had "two hundred sets" of the Compendium of Materia Medica left; the vast majority of the Spirit Masters below would be unable to purchase one. If they became enraged, wouldn't they tear Red Chamber apart... Many of the people waiting in line were people she couldn't even see through; they were likely high-level Cave Spirit Masters.

Although the Dragon Spirit Clan stood behind Red Chamber, if those people below became truly agitated, it would still be trouble. With a thought, Long Xuechan's figure appeared in the adjacent room.

Long Meixian was standing quietly by the window, observing. Seeing Long Xuechan approach with worry etched on her face, she seemed to guess her concerns and immediately spoke with a hint of annoyance, "Stop frowning. Your wicked man already arranged everything for you." With that, she handed over the rolled-up note in her hand.

"So Brother Nie Kong returned to the Spirit Residence last night. Good thing he already invited You Li and Hua Zhan to come hold things down at noon today; now I can rest assured. Huh? How did the note Brother Nie Kong left me end up in your hands, Meixian? When did you sneak into my room?"

"Sneak? If I weren't concerned about your physical state, you think I'd bother going in? The whole room was filled with that scent—it was truly... truly disgusting!"

"Ouch, so sore, so..."

"..."