As she passed through the palace gates, the figure formed by that spiritual thought instantly merged with Nie Kong’s main body. At this time, more than twenty figures had appeared within the palace hall.
Those from the Heavenly Spirit Continent—Xu Tuo, Xu Ba, Meng Feiyang, Hua Caidie, Long Tiangong, Yu Qinglan, Yu Qingshan, and others; those from the Netherworld—Zhan Xinzi, Mo Huang, Jing Ji, Hua Ruxian, several Spirit Venerables, and the ninth-level peak Black Spirit Masters like Zhan Yunlan—more than twenty individuals gathered inside the Medicine King Palace.
When Nie Kong’s spiritual thought left the Spirit Residence, he had taken all the remaining "Spirit Return Jade Tablets" with him and distributed them, which was why they were able to reach the Medicine King Palace so rapidly.
Bai Yuqing did not recognize the vast majority of the people here, but the powerful auras emanating from them caused a flicker of astonishment in her eyes, making her instinctively pause. She clearly had not expected such a concentration of powerhouses to be assembled in Nie Kong’s Medicine King Palace.
However, Bai Yuqing’s arrival did not draw much attention; almost every gaze was fixed upon Nie Kong, filled with anticipation.
“Xiangxiang.”
Nie Kong nodded toward the little creature perched on his shoulder, and his right eye instantly transformed into a purple vortex. This vortex expanded rapidly, soon reaching several meters in diameter.
“Venerable seniors, please!” Nie Kong swept his gaze across everyone, offering a slight smile.
“I’ll go first.”
Long Tiangong laughed heartily, his body dissolving into a streak of golden light that plunged into the vortex.
“Whoosh!”
Yu Qinglan followed closely behind, then Hua Caidie, Xu Tuo, Xu Ba, Zhan Xinzi, and the others entered in single file. In a brief moment, only a handful of people, including Nie Kong, remained in the hall.
“I’m going too.”
Hua Pianxian had been eager to participate for some time and could no longer hold back, stepping into the purple vortex. Qingyue, the little fellow, was equally impatient, rushing in almost simultaneously with her.
“Sister Yuqing.” Long Ping and Long Ting happily ran up to Bai Yuqing. They had been very close back when they were in Spirit Imperial City. Yet, after all these years, the two innocent young girls had grown into young women, while Bai Yuqing still possessed a baby face.
“Whoosh!”
Hulu’s round body, however, hopped onto Bai Yuqing’s shoulder, his two eyeballs seeming intent on drilling into the valley between her breasts. But the moment his eyes moved, he was slapped away with a sharp “slap.” Bai Yuqing looked toward the vortex, a hint of suspicion in her voice: “Nie Kong, is this the cultivation holy land you spoke of?”
Nie Kong nodded and chuckled: “This is the ‘Violet Luo Space’ that manifested when I advanced to the Great Venerable rank. The concentration of spiritual power elements here is dozens of times that of the Heavenly Spirit Continent. Cultivating within it allows for extremely fast progress. For those on the verge of reaching the Spirit God realm, the effect is even better; within this space, one can bypass the interference of the Threefold Spirit Tribulation and advance directly to Spirit God.”
“Oh?”
A trace of emotion touched Bai Yuqing’s normally icy face. “In that case, I will enter and test it first.” Her white shadow moved, and she vanished into the depths of the purple vortex, even taking Long Ping and Long Ting with her.
“Mother, do you all want to…”
“Is that even a question!” Before Nie Kong could finish speaking, Mu Xueyi, Hua Mei, Ling Yanluo, Tai Yan, and the Great Yan Spirit Venerable were already walking toward the vortex.
“Aunt Xue, wait for me.”
Hulu quickly gave chase, but before he could enter the vortex, Nie Kong’s palm enveloped his small body. “Hulu, you’ll come with me to another place.” After Mu Xueyi and the other two also entered the Violet Luo Space, the purple vortex disappeared, and the little creature melted into Nie Kong’s body.
“Nie Kong, where are we going?”
Hulu had barely spoken when he found himself in a lush green space. Various items floated in the surrounding void, including the condensed medicinal essence of that “Viper Sea Serpent Dragon.” Hulu stared with wide, round eyes, pouncing onto the essence mass, almost wishing to swallow it whole in one gulp.
“This is my ‘Illusory Spirit Space.’”
Nie Kong smiled. “Hulu, haven’t you always wanted to use this ‘Viper Sea Serpent Dragon’ to refine medicine? Today, you can have your wish.”
“Wonderful! I have a chance to become a Spirit God too!” Upon hearing this, Hulu was overjoyed, quickly scooping up the essence mass and floating before Nie Kong.
“…”
Nie Kong stood suspended in the void, flicked a finger, and a soybean-sized clump of the Viper Sea Serpent Dragon’s medicinal essence entered his mouth. An intention was transmitted to the little creature: “Xiangxiang, identify the medicine by its scent!”
Instantly, the clump of medicine split in two. One half enveloped the little fellow; the other half melted within Nie Kong’s body, spreading its potent energy throughout his limbs and bones.
This Viper Sea Serpent Dragon had cultivated to the ninth-grade Spirit God realm and was one of the Five Great Divine Venerables; its medicinal power was overwhelmingly intense. After a long while, Nie Kong’s slightly narrowed eyes snapped open. He reached the determination regarding this medicinal power almost simultaneously with the little creature.
After a brief sensory check, a smile touched Nie Kong’s face. The conclusion he reached was completely identical to the result obtained through ‘identifying the medicine by scent.’
With the identification complete, the next step was compounding the medicine.
To successfully refine a spirit medicine using the power of the Viper Sea Serpent Dragon, one needed to find perfectly complementary ingredients and devise a suitable formula. Nie Kong’s gaze swept repeatedly over the various drugs floating in the void, while his mind rapidly deduced potential formulas at an incredibly terrifying speed.
Many of the medicinal herbs within this Illusory Spirit Space had been brought by Nie Kong from the “Seven-Colored Divine Realm.”
The Seven-Colored Great Venerable and Gu Quan rarely engaged in alchemy; in that place, they were merely decorative elements. But in Nie Kong’s hands, they were finally put to their best use.
“Whoosh!”
Several minutes later, with a thought from Nie Kong, a verdant medicinal herb shot through the air and stopped before him, only to be immediately seized by Hulu beside him.
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
“…”
Medicinal ingredients arrived one after another like electric jolts. After about an hour, aside from the main essence mass, there were already forty-seven different types of medicine suspended before Hulu.
Waiting for a long time, seeing that Nie Kong still made no move, Hulu opened his mouth several times but refrained from interrupting Nie Kong’s concentration. He paced anxiously, occasionally adopting a look of hesitation.
“Whoosh!”
Nearly half an hour later, another sound of rushing air echoed—it was Tai Yan entering the Illusory Spirit Space. This girl had just slipped out of the Violet Luo Space only to find the entire Spirit Residence empty, immediately calling out Nie Kong’s name in panic. Consequently, in the next moment, Nie Kong had drawn her into this space.
“Brother, Hulu, so you were here! You scared me half to death,” Tai Yan patted her chest and floated over, visibly relieved.
“Got it!”
Seeing her figure, Nie Kong’s eyes brightened. The difficult problem that had consumed his thoughts finally had an answer. “Tai Yan, I will need to extract about one-tenth of your medicinal power in a moment.” For the current Tai Yan, as long as the lost medicinal power did not exceed fifty percent, there would be no issue. She could recover the lost energy completely within a few days of cultivation.
Tai Yan would refuse none of Nie Kong’s requests, let alone for just a small portion of her power. She readily agreed with a delighted smile, and her graceful figure floated to Nie Kong’s side…
…… ……