Immortality Cultivation

Chapter 359: Nascent Soul Pill Completed

In the Earth Fire Cave, heat steamed, and the firelight cast Fang Hao’s face in flickering light and shadow. He was not in a hurry to open the furnace, sitting cross-legged in front of the chaos pill cauldron, motionless like an old monk in meditation. In fact, his heart was already churning like a stormy sea.

He held a primitive Jade Slip in his hand, inscribed with the nascent soul pill formula he had looted from that unlucky fellow Su Xuan. He had not dared to let this item leave his side since obtaining it; it was almost worn smooth from constant handling. However, his cultivation had not been high enough, and the Materials were incomplete, so he had not dared to study it in detail. Now that everything was ready, with only the final step remaining, he finally took out this treasure he had kept hidden, sank his consciousness into it, and began to ’gnaw’ through it word by word.

"Main ingredients: nine-leaf star grass, at least five hundred years old, take its Power of the Stars to enlighten the Golden Core and connect with heaven and earth... Auxiliary ingredients: purple monkey flower, Heavenly Spirit Fruit, Blood Essence Demon Fruit, Thousand Spirit Ginseng, Bone Spirit Fruit, seven-colored moon orchid, Jade Bone Fruit... Whoa, these auxiliary ingredients are ruthless; none of them are to be trifled with. Fortunately, I have a deep family fortune and managed to gather them all..."

Fang Hao muttered to himself while reading. This Pill Formula did not just list the ingredients; it detailed the processing method, sequence of addition, heat control, and timing for the Fusion of medicinal power for each ingredient. It even mentioned the pill signs and pill tribulations that might occur during pill formation. It was complex, too complex! It was more than ten times more complex than all the Medicinal Pills he had concocted before! One wrong step, and not only would the entire furnace be ruined, but the Pill Furnace might even explode.

"No wonder that old fellow Su Xuan treated this Pill Formula like a treasure even at the Late Nascent Soul Stage. If this thing is successfully refined, it is the key to mass-producing Nascent Souls!" Fang Hao felt his scalp tingle, but he was also more excited. The greater the difficulty, the more powerful it must be!

He did not rush to start, but instead broke down and pulverized every word of the Pill Formula, repeatedly ’projecting’ it in his Sea of Consciousness. How to process the nine-leaf star grass to maximize the retention of the Power of the Stars without damaging its nature? What method should be used to neutralize the violent medicinal power of the purple monkey flower? The Bone Spirit Fruit and the Jade Bone Fruit, one extremely Yin and one extremely Yang, how to make them coexist harmoniously in the Pill Furnace instead of fighting and causing an explosion?

He integrated his own Alchemy experience, the properties of the chaos pill cauldron, and his insights into controlling the Earthly Fiend Golden Flame, simulating the Alchemy process over and over in his mind. From warming the furnace, adding ingredients, liquefying, forming the pill, and separating the pills, to the final nourishing and collecting of the pills, he thought of at least three contingency plans for every step and every possible accident (such as medicinal power going out of control, heat deviation, or insufficient spiritual power).

This work was more exhausting than fighting the Ice Scale Profound Python. His brain did not stop for a moment—deducing, failing, adjusting, and deducing again... Sometimes, for a single detail, he would sit still for several hours, his brows knitted into a knot. Sweat streamed down his temples, but he did not even have time to wipe it away.

Old Jin stood motionless at the entrance of the cave, like a real stone, with only the occasional flash of silver-white light in its eyes showing that it was always on alert. With it there, Fang Hao could focus on torturing his own brain without distraction.

He did not know how many furnaces of pills he had ’exploded’ in his Sea of Consciousness or how many times he had simulated failure, but finally, one day, Fang Hao opened his eyes abruptly and let out a long breath of stale air, which condensed into white mist in the scorching air. His face remained expressionless, but in his eyes, there was an indescribable calmness and confidence.

"Almost there." He said in a low voice, as if telling himself, and also as if telling Old Jin behind him.

The feeling had come. That sense of familiarity—where all steps were well-known, all changes were under control, and it was as if he had refined it thousands of times—filled his heart and mind. Although there would certainly be variables in actual operation, this psychological state of ’ten percent certainty’ was crucial for an Alchemist.

He no longer hesitated, got up, and walked to the chaos pill cauldron. The primitive body of the cauldron flowed with mysterious luster under the reflection of the flickering firelight.

"Rise!"

Fang Hao let out a low shout, his hands forming seals, and a stream of pure Chaos Spiritual Power struck the bottom of the Pill Furnace. The body of the cauldron trembled slightly, emitting a low hum, and the lid automatically floated up. Immediately, with a thought, the cluster of dark blue Earthly Fiend Golden Flame in his Dantian danced happily. It surged out from his palm along his Meridians, turning into a dark blue fire snake, and was precisely cast into the bottom of the Pill Furnace.

"Boom!"

As soon as the Earthly Fiend Golden Flame entered the Pill Furnace, the fire surged instantly. The dark blue flames wrapped around the entire cauldron, emitting a terrifying high temperature, and even the surrounding air became distorted. The primitive patterns on the surface of the chaos pill cauldron began to light up with a faint Chaos-colored glow under the burning of the flames, and an ancient and mysterious aura permeated the area.

Fang Hao’s expression was solemn, his full attention focused. He did not rush to add ingredients, but instead controlled the Earthly Fiend Golden Flame to begin ’warming the furnace.’ This was the first step of Alchemy and also a crucial one. Its purpose was to make the Pill Furnace heated evenly, remove any Impurities that might remain inside, and adjust the Pill Furnace to the most suitable temperature and state for Alchemy.

The flames were sometimes fierce and sometimes gentle. Under Fang Hao’s precise control, they licked every inch of the cauldron as if they had a life of their own. After warming it for a full hour, the chaos pill cauldron emitted a sound like a satisfied hum. The temperature inside the furnace stabilized, and the Chaos aura flowed, as if a sleeping giant beast had completely awakened.

"It’s time." A sharp light flashed in Fang Hao’s eyes, and he no longer hesitated. He reached out with a beckoning gesture, and the first jade box automatically flew up and opened. Inside was a Spiritual Plant that was emerald green throughout, with star spots on its leaves—the nine-leaf star grass!

Fang Hao carefully wrapped the thousand-year-old Spiritual Plant with his spiritual power and cast it into the Pill Furnace. The lid fell, sealing the Spiritual Plant inside.

"Refine!"

The Dharma seal in Fang Hao’s hands changed, and the firepower of the Earthly Fiend Golden Flame instantly became soft and lingering, like a mother’s hand gently soothing the Spiritual Plant in the furnace. What he had to do was not violent extraction, but using gentle flames to ’dissolve’ the nine-leaf star grass bit by bit, perfectly and slowly guiding out the Power of the Stars and the essence of the plant without any waste, and certainly without damaging its spirituality.

This process was extremely slow and extremely mentally draining. Fang Hao was like an old monk in meditation, motionless, with only the fine beads of sweat constantly seeping from his forehead and his slightly trembling fingers showing that he was under tremendous pressure. Strands of silver starlight, almost invisible to the naked eye, mixed with the emerald green plant essence, were slowly stripped from the nine-leaf star grass and swirled and flowed within the Pill Furnace.

Three full hours passed before the nine-leaf star grass completely turned into a small ball of silver-green, viscous liquid shimmering with star points, floating in the center of the Pill Furnace, emitting pure and majestic energy fluctuations.

The first step, success! Fang Hao felt slightly relieved, but he dared not slack off in the slightest. He raised his hand, and the second jade box opened, revealing a purple, strange flower shaped like a monkey’s face—the purple monkey flower!

To process the purple monkey flower, gentle methods could not be used. This flower’s medicinal power was violent, and it required fierce fire to quench its Impurities and retain its essence. Fang Hao’s Dharma seal changed again, and the firepower of the Earthly Fiend Golden Flame suddenly became violent and scorching, like an angry Dragon, swallowing the purple monkey flower in one gulp!

"Chih chih chih..." Intense reaction sounds came from inside the furnace. The purple monkey flower quickly withered and charred in the raging fire, but wisps of pure purple medicinal liquid were forced out, floating and condensing in the flames...

Alchemy was an extremely tedious and tense job. Time passed quietly as Fang Hao controlled the fire with precision, added ingredients with caution, and focused intently on Fusion, time and time again.

One day, two days, three days...

In the cave, there was only the whooshing sound of the Earthly Fiend Golden Flame burning, the sizzling sound of the medicinal ingredients reacting inside the furnace, and the occasional short, solemn Dharma seal incantation issued by Fang Hao. Old Jin stood like a true guardian deity at the entrance of the cave, motionless, with only those silver-white eyes occasionally sweeping over Fang Hao’s back, the light flickering slightly.

As time passed, Fang Hao’s face became paler and paler. The consumption of spiritual power, Divine Sense, and mental energy was huge. He had to swallow a few Medicinal Pills to restore his spiritual power and Divine Sense every so often to keep going. Sweat had long since soaked his clothes, only to be dried by the high temperature of the Earth Fire, leaving circles of white salt stains.

The most difficult hurdle appeared on the seventh day. When the extremely Yin Bone Spirit Fruit and the extremely Yang Jade Bone Fruit—two auxiliary ingredients with diametrically opposite attributes that yet had to be perfectly fused—were cast into the Pill Furnace at the same time, the entire chaos pill cauldron shook violently! Inside the furnace, the Yin and Yang Qi clashed crazily, like water and fire that could not coexist, erupting into a terrifying turbulence of energy. The lid of the furnace was impacted and hummed, as if it were about to explode at any moment!

Fang Hao’s expression changed, but his eyes remained calm. He had anticipated this long ago. His hands moved like butterflies flitting through flowers, casting complex Dharma seals one after another. Massive Chaos Spiritual Power surged into the Pill Furnace, and at the same time, he controlled the Earthly Fiend Golden Flame to form a delicate flame vortex inside the furnace, forcibly suppressing, guiding, and harmonizing the violent power of Yin and Yang.

"Fuse—for me!"

Fang Hao roared in a low voice, the veins on his forehead bulging, and he pressed all his mental energy and spiritual power into it. The chaos pill cauldron shone brightly, and the Chaos patterns on its surface seemed to come alive, emitting an aura that suppressed everything. Under the fourfold action of the Pill Furnace, the Chaos Spiritual Power, the Earthly Fiend Golden Flame, and Fang Hao’s powerful Divine Sense, the two violent medicinal powers finally began to reluctantly and slowly fuse together...

Another three days passed. When the medicinal power of all the auxiliary ingredients had been perfectly extracted and fused, turning into a ball of colorful, energy-surging medicinal liquid, and it came into contact with the silver-green star medicinal liquid in the center, the entire Alchemy process entered the most critical moment—pill formation!

Fang Hao held his breath, his hands forming a strange seal, and he pressed it abruptly onto the chaos pill cauldron.

"Form!"

Inside the Pill Furnace, all the medicinal liquid, as if drawn by an invisible force, began to gather and compress crazily toward the center! A strange medicinal fragrance could no longer be contained by the lid; it drifted out in wisps, permeating the entire cave. Upon smelling this medicinal fragrance, even Old Jin, who was guarding the door, seemed to have the silver-white light in its eyes brighten for a moment.

The medicinal liquid gathered into a smaller and smaller mass, its energy becoming increasingly solid, forming a fist-sized, spinning, seven-colored glowing medicinal mass in the center of the Pill Furnace. Inside the medicinal mass, the energy churned like a tsunami, as if it wanted to break free from the shackles and explode.

Fang Hao knew that this was the last step before the pill was formed, and also the most dangerous one. Any slight carelessness would result in the destruction of the pill and his own death. He dared not be careless in the slightest, pouring his remaining Divine Sense and spiritual power into the Pill Furnace without reservation, controlling the Earthly Fiend Golden Flame to carry out the final, extremely precise ’nourishing of the pill.’