This was a Netherbeast above the Netherpassage realm. Although its flesh had vanished, the detonation of its crystal core could blast this mountain to pieces.
Suddenly, nine lotuses bloomed above Meng Qiâs head. Divine light flowed out, enveloping the crystal core and pacifying the berserk energy within.
The Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill had come out at this critical moment, using some unknown method to suppress the explosive energy.
âI understand.â Meng Qi suddenly laughed. Just now, the technique of the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill had made her realize that her method was wrong.
After all, she didnât have experience in this regard and was trying to control it like controlling demonic beasts. But that didnât work on this. Now, her Spiritual Strength once more gathered, and she used a different technique to enter the Netherbeastâs crystal core. This time, there was no explosive reaction.
After an incense stickâs worth of time, the skeleton shuddered for an instant before becoming motionless once more.
âWas it a failure?â Although he had expected this, Long Chen couldnât help being a bit disappointed.
âNo, it was a success.â Meng Qi wiped away a trace of sweat and smiled excitedly.
âThen whyâŚ?â Long Chen pointed to the motionless corpse.
âIâve managed to stimulate the energy within the crystal core. However, after so many years, thereâs less than a tenth of the original energy within the core. In other words, once I activate it, it will only be able to keep fighting for at most two hours. After that, the coreâs energy will run out and it will no longer be usable. So summoning it now would be a waste,â explained Meng Qi.
âAh, I see. Then youâre right, donât waste it,â said Long Chen.
âLong Chen, Iâve also found a trace of these Netherbeastsâ soul essence within their crystal cores. Iâm going to extract it and condense a life soul beast. Your soul energy is also strong enough to condense one,â said Meng Qi. Her eyes were shining brightly. The soul essence of these Netherbeasts was incredibly powerful and the perfect choice for condensing a soul beast.
Long Chen shook his head. âI donât walk the path of a soul cultivator. I donât have the energy to raise a soul beast. Itâs not worth the distraction.â
The soul beast didnât just require nourishment from the soul but also constant communication to erase its violent will. Long Chen didnât have that patience or time.
âThen Iâll go ask Wan-er and Chu Yao,â said Meng Qi.
Long Chen once more shook his head. âNo. Chu Yao and Wan-er have powerful Spiritual Strength, but they have their own specialties. Unless they can find soul essence containing powerful wood essence or wind essence, thereâs no point in them raising such a soul beast. In fact, even if one of these beasts is of the right attribute, due to coming from the Netherworld, their core energy will definitely have some differences. Transforming that energy will take more time than its worth.â
Meng Qi nodded. âMaybe Iâm just too excited.â
A soul beast was a powerful helper, capable of offense and defense. For herself, with her pure Spiritual Strength of no other attribute, she was a true Beast Tamer. Because she had no other attributes, she could control beasts of all attributes. A Beast Tamer with the flame attribute wouldnât be able to control water attribute Magical Beasts. That was not the same for other people.
âYou can take them all. Pick out the strongest one to condense your life soul beast. You can turn the rest into ordinary soul beasts. Hehe, I really look forward to seeing how strong you are. Big sister Meng Qi, youâll have to look after this little brother in the future.â Long Chen smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Meng Qi kissed Long Chen lightly on the cheek. âAlright, donât make a fuss. You should focus on healing and cultivating. Youâre the one with the lowest cultivation base now. I also have to go activate these skeletons one by one. Hehe, donât worry, your big sister will definitely protect you.â
Meng Qi winked and left, taking the skeletons with her.
Long Chen sorted out his feelings. Activating the formation, he isolated himself from the rest of the world. It was time to refine pills.
Long Chen began taking out one medicinal ingredient after another. After counting them all, he nodded. He had all three hundred and seventeen ingredients that he needed.
âHuo Long is still in slumber. I donât know whether Iâll affect it if I use its flames.â
Huo Long had gone into slumber after devouring the Heavenly Flame Orb. Long Chen could clearly sense it undergoing some kind of transformation, but now he needed to refine pills. If he used Huo Longâs energy, what if that affected it?
âBig brother Long Chen, I can help. I havenât fully recovered, so my core flame canât be used for battle, but it should be alright for this,â said Ling-er.
âWonât using the core flame damage you?â asked Long Chen.
âIf the core flame is constantly exhausted without being replenished, then there will definitely be damage. But just refining pills for a few days shouldnât have an effect. My core flame has recovered immensely from the trip to the Netherworld. If itâs not an incredibly strong pill, and you support me with your Spiritual Strength, I donât foresee any issues,â said Ling-er very confidently.
âExcellent! Ling-er, itâs up to you.â Originally, Long Chen had been planning on using the Moon and Star Refining Furnace because it had refined countless pills and had immense experience.
However, it had yet to fully recover. He had no idea how many years it might take if he was constantly using its core energy.
Since Ling-er could help, Long Chen didnât take the risk of using Huo Longâs energy. Although refining pills with Ling-er required some breaking in due to her lack of experience, she was quite talented.
âLing-er, I will refine the Yin Yang Merger Dao Pill twice without your help. Watch closely,â said Long Chen.
Long Chen began to send medicinal ingredients into the Demon Moon Furnace. A flame ignited within and enveloped those ingredients.
Last time when they had refined pills, Long Chen had left his spiritual mark within the Demon Moon Furnace. That was why he was able to communicate so easily with Ling-er.
Ling-erâs core flame was no longer the old color. Now, it was a light green color. It was extremely pure and stable.
Using this core flame, Long Chen formed one hundred and thirty-seven flame furnaces within the Demon Moon Furnace to refine these ingredients.
âBig brother Long Chen, youâre so amazing!â Ling-er had never seen such powerful alchemy arts. This could no longer be considered to be on the same level as doing two things at once.
âLing-er, do your best to learn this. The more demonic pills that you refine, the stronger youâll grow.â Long Chen taught her with his full abilities. The more she learned, the happier he was.
As Long Chen controlled the flame, he also explained things to Ling-er, things such as how to control the temperature, what to pay attention to while purifying the ingredients, what kind of color the ingredients should have, etc.
As an item-spirit, Ling-er memorized everything that he said. The runes inside her also memorized the way that Long Chenâs flame changed. She truly learned quickly.
Once the refinement of all the medicinal powders was complete, Long Chen sent them into Ling-erâs storage space. That way, she could directly use them to refine pills on her own without asking him for more ingredients.
Following that, Long Chen truly started the refinement of the Yin Yang Merger Dao Pill. This was a pill used for those who had just entered the Netherpassage realm. It was used to balance the life and death energy within the body.
Long Chen refined it twice, each time refining nine high grade pills. Because it was just a display, Long Chen didnât waste too much energy on them, resulting in them not being top grade. After finishing, he tossed them away.
âLing-er, you try now. You can use your demonic runes.â
Ling-er assented. Her runes lit up as she worked together with Long Chen to refine the next furnace of pills.
This time, Long Chen also sent in more Spiritual Strength. Ling-erâs cooperation was excellent after the two refinements, and there were no big mistakes.
In just a few minutes, the first furnace of pills was complete. The lid opened, revealing nine black and white pills. They charged out of the furnace ferociously, going straight toward Long Chen.
These were demonic pills that were naturally fierce. They were very difficult to subdue.
Long Chen waved his hand, tossing them into the primal chaos space. There, Lei Long devoured them.
They crazily bounced around within Lei Longâs mouth, trying to escape. But their struggle was useless.
âWell done. However, there were three small flaws. Although they were top grade, quite a bit of their medicinal energy slipped away. Letâs go again,â said Long Chen.
They refined three furnaces of pills in a row. Ling-er finally fully mastered the refinement of the Yin Yang Merger Dao Pill.
Long Chen praised Ling-er, delighting her. Refining demonic pills could be considered a form of cultivation for her, so she had gained quite a bit.
Long Chen had Ling-er refine pills on her own, while a pill wrapped in lightning appeared in his hand.
âTime to test the effect.â
Long Chen tossed the Yin Yang Merger Dao Pill into his mouth. It instantly exploded and sent a wave of berserk energy throughout his entire body.