Ning Cheng had looked around for something like the Six Yin Soul Pill was for Xun Hanrui. After all, Xun Hanrui was one of his oldest friends in the cultivation world. Moreover, it was also because of him that she ‘fell’[1]. Therefore, after Xun Hanrui’s fall, Ning Cheng carried her still alive but unresponsive body with him, vowing to bring her back to life. It’s just that he couldn’t find any feasible way to accomplish it.
He once again tried to research ways to find Xun Hanrui’s soul on reaching the starry skies. But despite searching everywhere, the only way he found was to search for her soul in the underworld. Unfortunately, his strength wasn’t high enough to open the door to the underworld. As for the Six Yin Soul Pill, a Dao Essence Dao Pill, Ning Cheng had only learned about it after coming to the Grand Essence Realm.
“You want me to refine the Six Yin Soul Pill?” Ning Cheng stared hard at Gong Huayu with excitement in his eyes. He knew that he couldn’t obtain the Six Yin Soul Pill’s ingredients by himself, not with his present strength. Besides, he didn’t think of refining the pill until now because a few crucial ingredients had already gone extinct.
However, he didn’t expect that Gong Huayu would be so generous to take out the Six Yin Soul Pill’s materials for him to refine. Even though Ning Cheng knew that Gong Huayu might have done this because he saved the silver-haired woman’s life, Ning Cheng still felt grateful in his heart.
“Did I hear that right? Six Yin Soul Pill? A Dao Essence Dao Pill?”
“There must be a mistake. How precious are the ingredients for the Six Yin Soul Pill? Even the ten major forces wouldn’t take them out, right?”
“That Gong Huayu is the young master of the Grand Essence Sea’s Silver Dragon Clan. Isn’t it also one of the ten major forces?”
The public square immediately erupted as if someone had thrown watery tofu into a pan of boiling oil.
Just as others doubted Gong Huayu’s words, Gong Huayu once again confirmed it. “That’s right. What I want you to refine is the Six Yin Soul Pill. The ingredients have been sitting in my Grand Essence Sea’s Silver Dragon Clan for countless years, and no one could turn them into pills. Even if I left it there for many more years, I’m afraid no one would be able to turn it into pills. Better to take it out and let you refine it today.”
All of them were clear that Gong Huayu spoke out of politeness. Even if one couldn’t turn the ingredients into a pill, just the individual spirit herbs would still be of inestimable value. After all, some of them no longer existed in the Grand Essence Realm. Even if they put up just one of the primary ingredients for auction, crowds of people would immediately fight over it. In fact, there was even a potential for a bloodbath.
Those who knew Gong Huayu knew that Gong Huayu wasn’t an idiot. So why did he take out such precious pill-making materials? There was only one explanation. That is, he wanted to draw in Ning Cheng. After all, Ning Cheng was a certified Dao Transformation Pill Sage. But if that was the case, he could have used Dao Transformation Dao Pill-level ingredients to win Ning Cheng over without losing much. Yet, he used Dao Essence Dao Pill-level ingredients, which simply didn’t justify it.
Some people here who had ingredients for ordinary Dao Essence Dao Pills started to feel some regrets. After all, even the easiest-to-refine Dao Essence Dao Pill was harder to refine than the Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pill. Moreover, even if Ning Cheng couldn’t refine the pill, so what? At least it would have made a Dao Transformation Pill Sage indebted to them.
Cen Ruxuan, who also came from the Grand Essence Sea, sighed. “The Silver Dragon Clan’s young master is bold enough to even dare to take out materials for the Six Yin Soul Pills. Looks like my views are quite a bit worse than his.”
She had only thought of using beautiful women to woo Ning Cheng and never even considered using alchemy materials for the same. If she had known that this Alchemy Discourse would take such an unexpected turn, she would have done everything to come up with spirit herbs for a Dao Transformation Dao Pill. She could have even produced ingredients for something better than the Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pill. That way, she might have pulled Ning Cheng to their side.
“Looking at how Gong Qianyu and Ning Cheng are making eyes at each other, Gong Huayu truly is an idiot. Maybe these two have already cuckolded him, turning him complacent enough to take out the Six Yin Soul Pill’s ingredients to give to Ning Cheng.” The woman with a veiled face sitting beside Cen Ruxuan gave a cold snort and said in a light whisper.
Cen Ruxuan frowned and immediately rebuked her sternly, “You’re not allowed to say such things.”
Although she rebuked Yue Shu, she sighed internally. Yue Shu, without a doubt, was a cultivation genius. However, she stayed in seclusion for many years, not even interacting with her fellow disciples. It made her dao heart exceedingly fragile. In fact, it had twisted her thinking so much that it had even warped her sense of reality. It couldn’t match up with Zhongmeng Yuxiu or other disciples, whose cultivation was far below hers.
Ning Cheng bowed to Gong Huayu, clasped his fists and said, “Many thanks, Brother Gong. Regardless of the outcome, I, Ning Cheng, owe you a favour.”
Guan Huayu walked out and purposely handed a ring to Ning Cheng and said with a smile, “Then, let me wish you success first.”
Ning Cheng put away the ring and said, “Brother Gong, I also have one small request. If I can successfully refine the Six Yin Soul Pills, I would like to ask Brother Gong for one.”
Gong Huayu laughed loudly, “Let’s just follow the original rules. If you can refine the pills, we will each have a half. If it doesn’t, then forget about it.”
Ning Cheng nodded and didn’t pretend to refuse. As a Dao Transformation Pill Sage, Gong Huayu definitely would have something to ask him for in the future. Since Gong Huayu had already mentioned it publicly, there wasn’t any need for him to reject it either.
Seeing Ning Cheng take Gong Huayu’s ring and walk back, Le Xichen looked at Ning Cheng in disbelief. “Alchemist Ning, are you really refining the Six Yin Soul Pill?”
Gong Huayu giving the Six Yin Soul Pill’s ingredients to Ning Cheng to refine, in a certain sense, indicated that he didn’t want these materials anymore. Rather, he wanted to pull in Ning Cheng. But whether Ning Cheng could really refine the Six Yin Soul Pills from the ingredients was an entirely different thing. Not to mention Le Xichen, everyone, including Sichen Qiutian, couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
“No way? He really dares to refine it?”
“That’s only natural. Didn’t you see how he took out his alchemy qualifications? If it weren’t because the Second Union Master could only issue Dao Transformation Pill Sage’s qualification tokens, maybe he would’ve even taken out a Dao Essence Pill Sage’s qualification token.”
“Stop spouting nonsense. Better take care of what you say with that mouth.”
Regardless of the chatter in the public square, Ning Cheng flicked his hand and brought out No Furnace. He purposely decided to go with No Furnace instead of Primal Chaos’s First Furnace. Plus, as he had already refined No Furnace, it had now turned into the size of an ordinary pill furnace.
After bringing out No Furnace, Ning Cheng looked at Le Xichen, “That’s right, I will refine the Six Yin Soul Pill.”
“No Furnace?” Sichen Qiutian looked at Ning Cheng’s pill furnace in amazement. There was hardly anyone here who could recognise Ning Cheng’s furnace, but he just happened to know it.
Initially, No Furnace wasn’t called No Furnace, but Black and White Pill Furnace. It was the pill furnace used by Old Man Black and White. Because of this pill furnace, Old Man Black and White’s pills were always unparalleled. In fact, as long as he took out the Black and White Furnace, no one in the world could match him. Because of this, people later said that once Black and White came out, no furnace could reach it in the entire world. In the end, Old Man Black and White simply changed the name of his furnace to No Furnace.
After Old Man Black and White disappeared, this pill furnace got passed down to his disciple, Min[2]. After Min’s death, this pill furnace then vanished from the world. Unexpectedly, this pill furnace had fallen into Ning Cheng’s hands. A hint of longing flashed in Sichen Qiutian’s eyes, but it quickly dissipated.
All spiritual objects under the heavens would recognise their masters. Since the furnace had fallen into Ning Cheng, it meant that it recognised Ning Cheng as its master. Therefore, even if he took it by force, it would no longer be the No Furnace. Besides, he wasn’t willing to fight with a junior over a furnace.
Ning Cheng carefully sat down within the pill refinement restrictions and raised his hand to bring out hundreds of spirit herbs. The Six Yin Fruits, the Nine Curved Soul Grass, and the Forgetfulness Flower were all carefully wrapped in Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness but were clearly visible to everyone.
At this moment, the eyes of every single person in the public square focused on Ning Cheng’s movements. Whether Ning Cheng could successfully refine the Six Yin Soul Pill, it was definitely a one-in-a-million opportunity to see an alchemist attempt to refine it.
Unlike his previous refinements, Ning Cheng didn’t throw any spirit herbs into the pill furnace. Instead, he used his Starry Sky Sea of Consciousness to wrap around and analyse the spirit herbs individually. After all, he dared to refine the Six Yin Soul Pill not because his understanding of laws went far beyond that of ordinary pill sages. But primarily because of his desire to help his friend, Xun Hanrui.
Previously, he consistently failed to refine the first batch during the pill sage’s assessments. But this time, when attempting to refine a Dao Essence Dao Pill, he absolutely couldn’t fail.
Failing in the pill sage’s assessments didn’t significantly impact Ning Cheng. After all, he had successfully refined the required grade of pills in the subsequent batches. Moreover, regardless of the outcome, he finished the refinement quite fast for each level. But he couldn’t replicate the same speed right now. What’s more, he currently had just enough ingredients for one batch of Six Yin Soul Pills. If he failed, who knows how long he would have to wait to help Xun Hanrui.
Ning Cheng wasn’t any weaker than Le Xichen as a Dao Transformation Pill Sage. It also meant that advancing to the Dao Essence Pill Sage for both was only a step away. However, this step was even more difficult for Ning Cheng than for Le Xichen.
This was because Le Xichen was already at the peak of the Dao Transformation Realm[3] in cultivation and had already become aware of the door to the Dao Essence Realm. The only thing that Le Xichen lacked right now was a bit more comprehension. On the other hand, Ning Cheng was only at the Dao Sculpting Realm, still a far cry from the Dao Essence Realm.
After all, refining a Dao Essence Dao Pill wasn’t only related to one’s attainments in the Dao of Alchemy but also to one’s comprehension of the Grand Daos of heaven and earth. To put it simply, it had a high relation to one’s cultivation level.
Pushing the Mysterious Yellow Formless to its limit, Ning Cheng had long since forgotten that he was in the process of refining pills and competing in alchemy.
When Bei Hanyuan discussed his alchemic philosophy, it gave Ning Cheng an epiphany about his own Returning-to-one Dao. But because he still wanted to participate in this Alchemy Discourse, he didn’t have the opportunity to immediately go into seclusion to solidify his dao enlightenment.
Therefore, now that he started to refine the Six Yin Soul Pill, the dao rhythms of his alchemic dao and the dao rhythms of his grand dao gradually began to fuse with the three law-infused spirit herbs.
As the worldly dao rhythms grew thicker around Ning Cheng, even though Ning Cheng didn’t move a muscle, the manifested phenomenon had long since surpassed Le Xichen.
At this moment, everyone felt as if they had suddenly appeared within a vast green world. This world had endless plants and countless living beings. These living creatures and plants continually experienced sorrow, joy, rain, lightning and thunder, as well as shade and sunshine……
Eventually, they began to wither, and the green world started to turn desolate. Slowly, all life within this world dissipated, and the world itself began to collapse and finally turned into fragments. These fragments and the countless similar fragments in space gradually came together and became one. This seemed to demonstrate the world’s origin and the slow reversing back to the primal chaos universe.
Whether powerful experts or alchemists, everyone in the public square found themselves immersed in Ning Cheng’s Returning-to-one dao rhythm, whether they wanted it or not. Even the Holy Emperors who had reached the second step of Dao Confirming felt shaken by Ning Cheng’s majestic and thick dao rhythm. It had even started to affect their dao hearts.
Unfortunately, the place where Ning Cheng refined pills had been sealed off by many restrictions. One could only try to see and feel it but couldn’t use their spiritual consciousness to investigate. Otherwise, there was no telling how many spiritual consciousnesses would have gone in to check out Ning Cheng’s grand dao and dao rhythm.
As time slowly passed, the deadline Ning Cheng set had also passed. Without noticing, ten days passed quietly, yet not a single person raised any objections. Even Yan Ji, who couldn’t cultivate, got engrossed in Ning Cheng’s Returning-to-one Dao.
The Returning-to-one’s dao rhythm continued to flow through Ning Cheng’s consciousness. “My dao, filled with hundredfold worries, entails unity under the heaven. Various branches lead to the same end, but without roots and stems, leaves or blooming flowers. As all things come into being, and all things reach their end, it is when my dao forms…….”
This particular dao rhythm kept reverberating in Ning Cheng’s mind, like a morning bell and evening drums. Ning Cheng had a feeling that once this world created by dao rhythms once again blossomed from that resolute rootlessness and leaflessness, his Dao would genuinely reach grand completion.
The Dao of Alchemy, like all other daos, was just one of the daos; major or minor, it didn’t matter. No matter how powerful it was, it couldn’t surpass his dao. And although the Six Yin Fruit’s dao rhythm far exceeded his current understanding, in the end, it boiled down to just one of the laws of heaven and earth. It meant that it was also a law of heaven and earth that existed within his Returning-to-one Dao.
The Nine Curved Soul Grass and the Forgetfulness Flower……. Although law-infused spirit herbs, he still found their laws in his dao rhythm.
With my Returning-to-one Dao, I refine the Six Yin Fruits! Six Yin Fruits into the furnace!
With my Returning-to-one Dao, I refine the Nine Curved Soul Grass! Nine Curved Soul Grass into the furnace!
With my Returning-to-one Dao, I refine the Forgetfulness Flower! Forgetfulness Flower into the furnace!
……
With my Returning-to-one Dao, I fuse the Six Yin Soul Pill! Dao rhythm rise, pill rhythm form!
[1] For those confused, Xun Hanrui has not technically died as mentioned in the chapter when Ning Cheng found Xun Hanrui’s body in the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect. Rather, her body has gone into something like a suspended animation due to the disconnect between her spirit soul and her body. It’s more of a living dead situation, where her body is still alive and well, but is also dead because of a lack of soul.
[2] The name is only one character ‘Min’, the same one from ‘Min Kong’. However, I do not know if the two refer to the same person. Need more context.
[3] Cultivation Progression: First Step Dao Confirming – Dao Sculpting, Dao Raising, Dao Transformation. Second Step Dao Confirming – Dao Essence, Dao Fusion, Dao Perfection. Third Step Dao Confirming – Not yet named.
