The Dragon Tiger True Monarch seemed to have appeared out of thin air. His past was a blank slate and his purpose a mystery, yet his power was suffocatingly terrifying, enough to make even the Great Xia, one of the three great empires of the world, tremble.
’Could it be... that a great catastrophe is about to befall us?’
In the dead of night, this thought hammered at Emperor Xia’s mind with increasing frequency, making it nearly impossible for him to sleep peacefully.
He could only pin his hopes on finding an opportunity to break through to the True Monarch realm, on the endless stream of Consort Ji look-alikes sent to the palace, and on the increasingly frequent consumption of Dragon Tiger Bone Strengthening Pills. The sense of urgency in his heart grew ever more intense.
Like a gambler on a losing streak, he desperately raised the stakes, unaware that he was sliding into an even deeper abyss, drawing ever closer to death.
Wenhua Hall. The Practice Room.
Xia Wuyang remained unhurried. He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, finishing another round of comprehending the Vajra Unbreakable Techniques and refining the Pill Formula for the Bodhi Pill.
He opened his eyes, his gaze sharp and radiant, as if illusory images of a dragon, a tiger, and Vajra Runes had flashed within them for a moment before vanishing.
A figure appeared silently outside and presented an intelligence report summarizing the recent reactions of various powers to the Dragon Tiger True Monarch. It had been compiled by Zheng Zhicang, the Shadow Guard Chief.
Zheng Zhicang didn’t know who the Dragon Tiger True Monarch was, but he naturally prioritized gathering intelligence on such a major affair.
Xia Wuyang took the report and scanned it quickly, his expression unreadable.
’The Northern Desert is wary, the Southern Barbarians are probing, the Western Rong and the East Sea are watching from the sidelines, and Xia Shengming is living in constant terror... It seems Extraordinary True Monarchs are even rarer than I imagined.’
He muttered to himself, a faint, indifferent smile playing on his lips. ’The title of Dragon Tiger True Monarch has drawn a lot of attention, buying me more time to grow stronger in peace.’
’That’s fine. Let the waters become even murkier. The day I become invincible, I can settle all accounts. Then, the entire world will listen to my teachings.’
He gazed in the direction of Qianqing Palace, the cold light in his eyes so intense it seemed tangible.
Outside the window, the setting sun stained the clouds on the horizon a stark, tragic crimson. No one knew how far this bloody tide was about to spread.
The July heat was still stifling and oppressive.
But a storm, poised to sweep across the entire Fallen Dragon Land, had already begun to reveal its blurred yet monstrous silhouette against the blood-red sunset, its rumblings heard by all the world.
Time flowed on. The sweltering heat, like a maggot clinging to bone, refused to dissipate. Instead, it seemed to be locked in a stubborn stalemate with a long-overdue storm, blanketing the whole of White Jade City in a thick, suffocating, humid vapor.
Taiye Pool was once again completely dry, save for a small, murky green puddle of stagnant water at its center. It exuded a nauseating, putrid stench that repelled even the smallest animals.
The weeping willows on the banks looked like skeletal remains, sucked dry of all moisture. Their scorched-yellow leaves rustled down to cover the cracked lakebed, looking as if they might burst into flame at any moment.
The red lacquer on some of the palace walls had grown mottled and peeled away under the relentless sun, revealing the drab gray brick beneath. From afar, the entire Imperial City looked faded, exposing a weary and anxious foundation that mirrored Xia Shengming’s own state of mind.
But deep within Wenhua Hall, the Practice Room remained a cool, pristine sanctuary.
At this moment, however, the atmosphere within the room was different. The air was no longer filled with the faint scent of herbs or the cool aura of jade. Instead, a strange aroma permeated the space—a mixture of the fresh fragrance of herbs and wood, the gentle warmth of jade marrow, a crispness like the first light of dawn, and an indescribable tranquility that seemed capable of cleansing the very soul.
It was the natural aroma emitted by the Spirit Materials for the Bodhi Pill, which, after careful processing and combination, created a unique fragrance that was both pleasant and refreshing.
Xia Wuyang sat cross-legged before the Pill Furnace. The fire in the Crane Pattern Furnace had long been extinguished, but the furnace body retained a residual warmth that was not hot to the touch—one of the marvels of a Spiritual Artifact.
He held a longan-sized Elixir in his palm. It was semi-transparent and the color of polished glaze. Within it, what looked like countless motes of starlight swirled and flowed, giving the Elixir the appearance of a living thing.
The Elixir’s surface was naturally formed with patterns resembling the leaves of a Bodhi Tree. At its center, a single point of light flickered like the morning star, blinking in and out of existence.
Each flicker seemed to resonate in some wondrous way with the observer’s heartbeat, breath, and even their deepest waves of consciousness, far surpassing the level of any Mortal Pill.
The Middle Level Spirit Pill, the Bodhi Pill, was finally refined!
Moreover, he had succeeded by refining a pill a level above his rank. After all, Xia Wuyang was currently only a Low Level Spirit Pill Master, yet he had produced a Middle Level Spirit Pill.
Xia Wuyang looked at the Elixir in his palm—the culmination of immense effort, wisdom, and fortuitous chance. His eyes were perfectly calm, but a nearly imperceptible flicker of satisfaction passed through their depths. He couldn’t help but give a slight nod.
It had all started with the epiphany he’d experienced when his Spiritual Power broke through four hundred and sixty points.
He had been studying the precious and complex Pill Formula for the Middle Level Spirit Pill, the Bodhi Pill, for many days.
Leveraging the Comprehension from his Seven-Aperture Exquisite Supreme Talent and his Alchemy Genius Companion Talent, he had already dissected its key aspects, the nuances of fire control, and the principles governing the hierarchy and interaction of the ingredients. His understanding was, one might say, exceptionally thorough.
However, an invisible chasm separated Middle Level Spirit Pills from Low Level Spirit Pills. It was not merely that the ingredients were more precious and the steps more complex; it also placed far higher demands on the Alchemy Master’s Spiritual Power, Fire Manipulation Techniques, and Understanding of the Pill Dao. Refining a pill beyond one’s own rank was considered fundamentally impossible, but right now, he was in desperate need.
At his Cultivation Level of a mere Low Level Spirit Pill Master, the chances of success were minuscule. Even if he succeeded by some stroke of luck, the quality would be dubious at best; it would almost certainly be substandard.
But the arrival of his epiphany changed everything, giving him a chance.
When that familiar, vast torrent of enlightenment, boundless as a sea of stars, flooded his Sea of Consciousness, Xia Wuyang did not apply it to his Cultivation Technique or to comprehending Combat Techniques. Instead, he channeled it entirely into deducing and improving the Pill Formula for the Bodhi Pill. The results were beyond his wildest imagination.
In the mystical state of epiphany, the passage of time seemed to lose all meaning. Several hours passed in what felt like the blink of an eye.
His mind was like a master artisan wielding a scalpel of Spiritual Power, performing delicate surgery on the impossibly complex Pill Formula, swiftly refining and improving it.
’The medicinal properties of the main ingredient, the Thousand-year-old Bodhi Heart, are too gentle and stable. They need to be activated and guided by the supremely pure energy of the Dawn Dew Essence?’
’So, what if I adjust the order in which they are added and the heat control curve during fusion? With a slight change in method and technique, could I make the purity of the Dawn Dew Essence penetrate the Bodhi Heart earlier, softening its structure in advance and reducing the difficulty and risk of the subsequent fusion?’
’The Soul Nourishing Jade Marrow is yin-aspected and cold, making it difficult to harmonize with the yang-aspected, warm energy of the Bodhi Heart. This could easily leave behind latent flaws when the pill forms?’
’In that case, could I introduce the essence of an auxiliary ingredient, Yang Flame Grass? I could use its gentle, yang-fire power as a bridge, creating a stable energy channel between the jade marrow and the Bodhi Heart.’
’Could I even time the addition of the Yang Flame Grass essence to a precise, subtle moment when the medicinal energies are surging, to further enhance its effect?’

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