That was a three-legged medicinal cauldron, its body encircled by five intricately carved purple imperial pills that rotated backward toward the lid.

This was the Purple Imperial Pill Cauldron, an acquisition by Zong Shou from the Qiankun Bag belonging to Li Yuan Dan, and the legendary Purple Imperial Pill Turtle was rumored to be the spirit pet of a Saint Realm powerhouse in the ancient era.

It was said that this individual was the foremost figure in the Dao of Alchemy during the Cloud Desolation Era.

The innate divine abilities of the Purple Imperial Pill Turtle offered considerable benefits to alchemy, increasing the success rate by seventy percent during each refinement.

Thus, for alchemists, the Purple Imperial Pill Turtle held immense symbolic significance.

And what Zong Shou held before him could be considered a rare treasure of the Dan Ling Sect—a method to manifest the divine abilities of the Purple Imperial Pill Turtle through spirit pattern talismans to boost the success rate of pill formation.

However, what lay within this cauldron at the moment was not pill refinement, but the refinement of medicine.

“This fragrance, has it completed?”

Zong Shou inhaled lightly. At first contact, the aroma was pleasant, but as time passed, it inexplicably induced a feeling of profound annoyance.

Even his True Qi, at the Martial Sect realm, could not suppress the sensation; he felt nauseous and on the verge of vomiting.

This was quite consistent with the book he had read in his previous life; since the original substance was inherently highly toxic, the scent naturally carried traces of poison.

He retrieved a small vial from his sleeve and sniffed it near his nose. Zong Shou felt his mind instantly clear and cautiously approached the medicinal cauldron.

Lifting the lid, he found it brimming with a dark, bluish-black liquid, constantly bubbling.

The potent odor immediately caused a wave of dizziness in Zong Shou’s head. He quickly replaced the lid and sniffed the vial again, which brought immediate relief.

A trace of delight then spread across his face. He had spent nearly ten days refining this substance, failing seven times and consuming numerous medicinal ingredients. This time, it had finally succeeded.

He couldn't help feeling a bit smug. His talent for pill refinement might be lacking, but his skill in refining poisons was still quite considerable.

He added more charcoal fire beneath the cauldron. This too was taken from Li Yuan Dan’s Qiankun Bag—charcoal kernels meticulously refined and cast by the Dan Ling Sect. A single piece could burn for several days, maintaining a constant high temperature.

Immediately, Zong Shou retreated dozens of feet until he could no longer detect the aroma, then he stopped. He sat down to meditate, and only when the sun had set and the stars filled the night sky did Zong Shou open his eyes again.

A glimmer of joy flickered first in his eyes. Since solving the mystery of the nine-faced shadow-retaining stone wall and the reflection wall, and battling Long Ruo, both his spirit techniques and martial path had advanced by leaps and bounds.

The Dragon Shadow Elder integrated the Dragon Essence into his body, transforming it into physical potential, which amounted to strengthening his physique from the very foundation.

Therefore, his soul power had grown crazily just from minor cultivation. The convergence of several True Talisman Spirit Restrictions also proceeded at an astonishing speed.

Here on Gathering Dragon Mountain, just ten days of cultivation was equivalent to nearly a hundred days of arduous practice for him normally.

However, when he observed his divine soul, Zong Shou felt a headache brewing.

“Water, Fire, Metal, Thunder, Fortune, Swallow, Purify, Stack—these seven talismans formed within the divine soul, along with the nearly complete 'Stack' talisman, are almost half support-only true talismans that cannot directly harm enemies.

In terms of usable spirit techniques, he estimated his number was the smallest among spirit masters of the same rank.

But this was a case of gaining something while losing something else; while the spirit techniques he could deploy were few, their sheer power was beyond comparison for ordinary spirit masters. Shaking his head, Zong Shou had firmly decided that before attempting to break through to the Sun Roaming Realm, he must at least condense the Wood and Earth characters to complete the Five Elements.

He rose to his full height, executing a fluid sidestep to arrive before the medicinal cauldron. When he removed the charcoal core below and lifted the lid, he found no liquid remaining, only a layer of residue about a finger thick at the bottom, shimmering like blue jade, crystal clear—the medicinal paste.

It looked visually appealing, but Zong Shou knew that a mere fingernail-sized amount of this paste could poison thousands of Cloud Whales weighing over a hundred thousand catties; its toxicity was truly extreme.

It had been refined according to a toxic formula he had seen in his later life, named the 'Illusory Hundred Mile Pure Scent.' Legend claimed that once lit, the area within a hundred miles would be utterly clean—all humans, beasts, birds, and insects within one hundred li would perish, thus becoming clean.

It had an immediate, miraculous effect on insects and beasts. Ten thousand years later, a certain company improved upon it to create a highly popular insecticide.

Of course, when used against human spirit cultivators and martial masters, it was equally effective at a specific dosage.

As the heat from the charcoal dissipated, the temperature inside the cauldron gradually dropped. The suffocating odor finally faded.

Zong Shou plugged his nose with two wads of cloth, then sprinkled some gold powder, giving the jade-blue paste glittering specks of gold, quite attractive to behold. After coating his entire hands with the sap of a glue tree, he carefully gathered portions of the medicinal paste and slowly kneaded them into thin incense sticks.

He did not seek aesthetic perfection; functionality was all that mattered. Each incense stick used the highly poisonous Kezhang wood as its core, coated with a thick layer of the blue medicinal paste, then baked with a summoned spirit flame to force out all remaining moisture. Only then was the 'Hundred Mile Pure Scent' successfully refined.

When refining medicine, Zong Shou was generous with his ingredients, always selecting materials with the best medicinal properties for their age. Now, while making incense, he wished the potency of this toxic scent could be even greater. Consequently, when the sticks were formed, they were as thick as a child’s arm, though the exterior was somewhat rough. The gold powder sprinkled on top was also a unique item from the Dan Ling Sect—powdered shell of a highly venomous Golden Scorpion. It was said that unless the poison was of the cold element, it could boost the efficacy of any poison by at least thirty percent.

Just as Zong Shou finished using all the medicinal paste in the cauldron, forming about fourteen sticks of the Hundred Mile Pure Scent,

Zong Shou’s spiritual sense detected a strong gust of wind rushing up from the foot of the mountain. In just a moment, it arrived before him.

Stopping and revealing his figure, it was Zong Yuan. His brow was slightly furrowed, carrying a look of deep concentration: “My Lord, that Daoist priest, I fear he cannot hold back any longer—”

Zong Shou’s eyebrows flickered as he looked down. All he saw was open ground, nothing worthy of special attention.

However, if one were to probe carefully with spiritual sense, one could feel thousands upon thousands of Crystal Ants lurking secretly beneath the earth layer.

It was only because they still worried that the Dragon Shadow Elder might still be present that they refrained from attacking openly.

But at this moment, the entire area was unnaturally quiet, a silence so deep it was unsettling.

Those Crystal Ants buried thousands of feet underground were less 'lurking' than they were 'gathering strength,' poised for action.

Ant True Man? Indeed, he could no longer wait.

Zong Shou gave a cold laugh, then dismissed the concern. This was also within his expectations; beyond the swamp, Chai Yuan should have already received word and be gathering troops.

If the Ant True Man did not make a move these past few days, it was likely he would lose the opportunity to do so.

“No matter!”

Even before this, he had ways for the two of them to escape.

With the sect token gifted by Wei Xu, a single spatial shift could take him to the Sky Realm of All Beings.

Moreover, now that he had successfully refined the Hundred Mile Pure Scent, there was no need to retreat.

He took out the miniaturized altar from his Qiankun Bag, chanted the true incantation, shaped a spiritual seal with his senses, and waved his hand. A mass of spiritual light descended, and the small altar instantaneously expanded a hundredfold, becoming ten feet in size.

It was similar to its previous state when shrunk to a hundred zhang, taking a pyramid shape.

But now, it spanned a full ten zhang in circumference and over five zhang in height. The wooden offerings, incense, and candles on the altar had all manifested to their true size.

And atop the altar was carved a seven-star pattern, dotted with countless surrounding stars, corresponding to the constellations above.

After putting away the medicinal cauldron, Zong Shou ascended the altar. He looked around, then his eyebrows raised again.

It wasn't just that there was a seven-star pattern resembling an array diagram below. The surrounding stone railings were also inscribed with various markings, predominantly Metal-aligned, with the other five elements as secondary supports.

The Big Dipper governs slaughter; it seemed Long Ruo truly intended to walk the path of a Sword Cultivator to the very end.

A sense of novelty rose within him. He had dueled with many spirit masters before, several of whom were wealthy enough to possess their own altars.

But borrowing the power of the altar as a spirit master to engage in a duel—this was unprecedented.

He had already nearly finished refining this altar previously, so it required no further effort now. He simply took out seven long banners and inserted them one by one around the altar.

The true talismans for Metal, Water, Fire, and Thunder were already present in Long Ruo’s Qiankun Bag. As for the 'Purify,' 'Swallow,' and 'Fortune' talismans, Zong Shou had fashioned them temporarily. They were crude and could only be used about five or six times at most. However, they were sufficient to handle today’s battle.

Then, Zong Shou lightly tapped his own arm. A dragon shadow suddenly surged out from his left arm.

It was the Thunder Winged Flood Dragon, which had finally awakened three days prior and completely integrated the essence blood of the Thunder Giant Dragon. The two drops of blood from the Divine Realm True Dragon powerhouse were not so easily refined and absorbed, so they were merely stored within its body for the time being.

Its body had transformed from its previous size of less than half an arm to its current length of ten zhang.

It possessed scales and horns, several long whiskers beneath its jaw floating in the wind. Thunder crackled around its body, making it look incomparably majestic, already resembling those giant dragons.

Zong Shou, however, knew that no matter how similar its appearance, this Thunder Winged Flood Dragon was still only a flood dragon. Although infinitely close, perhaps requiring only the next rank to truly achieve a dragon body, its innate divine abilities and combat power were still a notch below those of a true Great Dragon.

After the Thunder Winged Flood Dragon manifested, its divine soul remained extended outside its body, stretching over a hundred zhang long. The massive dragon head first nodded towards Zong Shou, then coiled around the altar, glaring menacingly downward, its posture vigilant.

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to cast recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)