Chapter 1842

Shenzhou's forty provinces, a glorious era rising like the sun.

Outside the House House Luolan Mansion in Daxia City, the sign of Xiyang House had long been changed to gilded golden characters, with constant traffic before the door year-round; all who came and went were top cultivators from various provinces, Marquis Realm powerhouses, and even direct disciples of Sovereign Realm masters. Their sole purpose in coming was to seek audience with the continent-recognized foremost alchemist and foremost tempering master of Shenzhou, Bai Tianwang Bai Mengmeng.

At this moment, in the backyard of Xiyang House, within an alchemy chamber floating with seven-colored glazed light, Bai Mengmeng stood before an alchemy furnace about a zhang high. She still bore her petite and exquisite appearance, but the former timidity in her brows had faded, replaced by composure and tranquility. On her pure face, colorful butterfly patterns occasionally appeared, and the splendid butterfly wings on her back fluttered lightly, stirring breezes laden with medicinal fragrance and pure spiritual aura.

Inside the furnace, nine top-grade spiritual materials slowly melted, among them not lacking "Merit Golden Lotus" and "Moon Heart Marrow"—divine materials only reappeable in this prosperous age. Bai Mengmeng's slender fingers formed intricate seals; with each seal cast, a wisp of faint golden merit power seeped from her fingertips into the furnace. The originally restless power of the spiritual materials instantly became docile, intertwining like streams.

"Mengmeng, take a rest; this 'Merit Solidifying Origin Pill' has been refined for three hours, and your phase power and merit power have been considerably depleted." At the alchemy chamber door, Bai Doudou held a bowl of clear spiritual spring, her eyes full of concern. Now Bai Doudou had already reached the peak of the King Realm; her spear-wielding figure held extremely high prestige in the Daxia army, but before her sister, she remained that protective elder sister.

Bai Mengmeng turned her head, a faint smile on her face, sweat beads on her temples sliding down her cheeks, which she casually wiped away: "Almost done, sister. This pill is being refined for the Yunzhu of Xihe Shenzhou; he is eager for success in cultivating merit phase, his phase palace slightly unstable, and if not stabilized soon, it might affect his subsequent advancement."

Her voice remained soft and sweet, yet carried an undeniable firmness.

Since Li Luo achieved the title of World Sovereign and reshaped Shenzhou's cultivation laws, merit power has become crucial for cultivators' advancement, while pills and tempering methods compatible with merit power have become urgent necessities for powerhouses across the provinces.

Bai Mengmeng inherited the complete legacy of the Butterfly Saint, and under Li Luo's guidance, integrated merit power into alchemy and tempering arts, thus attaining her current status.

Bai Doudou walked in, handing her the spiritual spring: "You're just too sincere. Now throughout Shenzhou, only you can refine pills containing pure merit power; even if Yunzhu waits a few more days, he dare not utter half a complaint."

Bai Mengmeng drank the spiritual spring in one gulp; the clear, sweet spring slid down her throat, instantly replenishing her depleted phase power. She gazed at the furnace, eyes focused: "Butterfly Sister said alchemy values sincerity, cannot be negligent just because others seek it. Moreover, Luo Gege said merit power lies in purity; the alchemist's state of mind directly affects the pill's quality."

Mentioning Li Luo, a bright light flashed in her eyes. After the great battle, Li Luo not only rescued her from the Phantom Spirit Realm but also sensed that her consciousness of the Butterfly Saint and her own had not fully merged, causing occasional sluggishness when she employed high-level alchemy and tempering arts. At that time, Li Luo infused a thread of world will and his own merit origin into her body, helping her organize the Butterfly Saint's legacy power and enabling her to comprehend the truth: "Alchemy is the Human Way, tempering is tempering the heart." That day, beneath the Star Tower of House House Luolan Mansion, Li Luo told her: "Mengmeng, your alchemy talent is no less than the Butterfly's; your tempering art is uniquely outstanding. Now Shenzhou has merit laws; you can integrate them into alchemy and tempering, both dispelling evil thoughts and nourishing cultivators' origins—this is your path."

These words enlightened Bai Mengmeng. She recalled the Butterfly Sister's alchemy canon mentioning "transform evil with kindness, aid people with spirit," which aligned with Li Luo's merit laws. Over the following years, she devoted herself to research, integrating merit power into every step of alchemy—selecting materials with merit light to purify impurities, refining with merit fire to nurture the pill soul, completing the pill with merit seals to stabilize the pill patterns.

Likewise, in tempering arts, she surpassed the Butterfly's limitations. Previous tempering arts mainly strengthened the phase palace and enhanced phase affinity, but Bai Mengmeng's tempering art, while strengthening the phase palace, used merit power to dispel latent evil thoughts and inner demons within the phase palace, smoothing cultivators' paths. For cultivators practicing the myriad phases, this is undoubtedly a great blessing.

"Om—"

At this moment, the alchemy furnace suddenly emitted a low hum; on its surface, golden merit patterns intertwined with colorful butterfly patterns, bursting forth, and a pillar of light containing a clear medicinal cry shot up into the heavens, penetrating Xiyang House's barrier and soaring into the clouds. Wherever the light passed, condensed clouds in the sky turned into a downpour of spiritual rain, carrying a faint medicinal fragrance, falling to moisten Daxia City's land.

"Success!" Bai Mengmeng's face lit with joy; her butterfly wings fluttered faster, seven-colored light converging into a soft light curtain enveloping the furnace. She gently raised her hand; the furnace lid slowly rose, and three round, plump pills emitting a golden-red dual luster floated out, their surfaces flowing with fine merit patterns; each turn produced faint Sanskrit sounds.

This is the "Merit Solidifying Origin Pill," which not only stabilizes the phase palace and nourishes the origin but also dispels accumulated evil thought backlash in cultivation, a treasure dreamed of by cultivators below the Sovereign Realm. Even Sovereign Realm powerhouses benefit greatly after consumption.

Bai Doudou gazed at these three pills, her eyes full of astonishment: "Mengmeng, your alchemy is becoming ever more divine and miraculous. Even the Butterfly Senior's alchemy back then might not match your current realm."

Bai Mengmeng blushed slightly, storing the pills in a specially crafted jade bottle: "All thanks to Butterfly Sister's legacy and Luo Gege's guidance. By the way, sister, should Yunzhu's disciple be arriving soon? Let them deliver the pill quickly, lest anything happen on Yunzhu's side."

As her words fell, a respectful announcement came from outside the courtyard: "Report to Bai Tianwang, Qin Yue, chief disciple of Xihe Shenzhou's Yunzhu, has come to seek audience."

Bai Mengmeng nodded, telling the maid behind her: "Let him in; have him wait in the front hall."

Turning around, her smile faded slightly, a fleeting hint of solemnity crossing her brows. While refining the pill, she had faintly sensed a thread of extremely faint "evil-errant qi" in the furnace; though instantly dissolved by merit power, its strangeness reminded her of the aura on the Evil Abyss Demon King when she was trapped in the Phantom Spirit Realm. "Could the spiritual materials be problematic?" Bai Mengmeng pondered. These materials were carefully selected by Xiyang House, having undergone preliminary merit purification; logically, there should be no issue.

In the front hall, Qin Yue wore a blue Daoist robe, his visage solemn; upon seeing Bai Mengmeng enter, he immediately bowed respectfully: "Qin Yue, pays respects to Bai Tianwang. My master recently, while cultivating merit phase, suddenly experienced phase palace turbulence and signs of evil thought backlash; I beg Tianwang to bestow medicine and save my master's life."

Bai Mengmeng handed him the jade bottle, her tone calm: "These are three Merit Solidifying Origin Pills; your master should take one daily, and after three days his phase palace will stabilize. However, I have a question: in the spiritual materials sent this time, where was the 'Moon Heart Marrow' obtained?"

Qin Yue startled at the words, pondered carefully: "Reporting to Tianwang, the Moon Heart Marrow was obtained by my master from the 'Cold Moon Abyss' in Bei Huang Shenzhou. It is said that the Cold Moon Abyss is a secret realm formed after the dark world merged into Shenzhou, abounding in yin-cold spiritual materials like Moon Heart Marrow."

"Cold Moon Abyss..." Bai Mengmeng mused. After the dark world merged into Shenzhou, although most evil thoughts were dissolved by merit power, some secret realms retained remnants of the era's evil-errant qi. The evil-errant qi mixed into the Moon Heart Marrow likely came from there.

"Qin Yue, when you return, tell your master: while taking the pills, do not use spiritual materials from the Cold Moon Abyss for cultivation." Bai Mengmeng instructed, "That secret realm retains some evil-errant qi; if carelessly inhaled, it may affect the stabilization of merit phase."

Qin Yue's heart startled, he hastily bowed in response: "Many thanks for Tianwang's reminder; Qin Yue will surely relay this to my master."

After seeing Qin Yue off, Bai Mengmeng immediately returned to the backyard alchemy chamber, took out the remaining batch of Moon Heart Marrow. She condensed a thread of merit power on her fingertip, lightly touched the Moon Heart Marrow, and saw a layer of faint black qi instantly appear on its surface, the black qi twisting and struggling, trying to break free from the merit power's binding.

"Indeed there is a problem." Bai Mengmeng's eyes narrowed, her butterfly wings unfurled, seven-colored light enveloping the entire batch of Moon Heart Marrow. She murmured words, precisely the Butterfly Saint's "Purifying Spirit Mantra," combined with Li Luo's merit seal teachings, dual-pronged, purifying the evil-errant qi in the Moon Heart Marrow.

As purification deepened, the black qi grew denser, even emitting sharp hisses. Bai Mengmeng frowned tightly; she could feel this evil-errant qi was far more stubborn than she imagined, and seemed to possess a certain consciousness, resisting purification.

"Butterfly Sister, can you sense it?" Bai Mengmeng softly called in her heart.

After a moment, a gentle voice sounded in her mind: "This is a remnant of the source of myriad evils. After Luo Zun slew the source of myriad evils, its origin breath scattered into various places of the dark world; when the dark world merged into Shenzhou, these remnants attached to various spiritual materials, lying dormant." This was the consciousness of the Butterfly Saint; now she and Bai Mengmeng's consciousness have fully merged, no longer independent existences, but become part of Bai Mengmeng's power.

"What harm can these remnants cause?" Bai Mengmeng asked.

"In the short term, as long as they affect cultivators' cultivation, causing evil thought backlash." The Butterfly Saint's voice carried a hint of solemnity, "But in the long term, these remnants will accumulate in cultivators' bodies; once reaching a certain degree, they may trigger new calamities, reappearing the scene of aberrant beings running rampant."

Bai Mengmeng's heart sank. Li Luo had paid so much for Shenzhou's peace; she absolutely could not let this happen.

"Butterfly Sister, can we not refine a pill that not only purifies the evil-errant remnants in cultivators' bodies but also thoroughly cleanses hidden dangers in spiritual materials?" Bai Mengmeng asked.

The Butterfly Saint fell silent for a moment, then said: "It is possible, but the difficulty is extreme. Need a spiritual material capable of bearing merit power while simultaneously restraining evil-errant. When I was in the Wu Xiang Holy Sect, I once heard of a divine material named 'Chaos Butterfly Crystal,' formed when the first butterfly divine beast fell after chaos opened; it can purify all things and suppress evil. But this divine material has long vanished, rarely even mentioned in legends."

"Chaos Butterfly Crystal..." Bai Mengmeng engraved this name in her heart. She knew that, given Li Luo's current status, perhaps he could know the whereabouts of this divine material.

That evening, Bai Mengmeng came to House House Luolan Mansion. Now House House Luolan Mansion is the most honored place in Shenzhou; outside its plaza, cultivators constantly kneel devoutly, praying for the Sovereign's protection. Bai Mengmeng presented her token, entered smoothly, and beneath the Star Tower met Li Luo and Jiang Qinge.

At this moment, Li Luo leaned on the railing gazing afar at the prosperous scenery of Shenzhou's forty provinces; Jiang Qinge stood beside him, her golden eyes gently falling on him. Seeing Bai Mengmeng enter, both turned, revealing gentle smiles.

"Mengmeng, why do you have time to come today?" Li Luo asked with a smile.

Bai Mengmeng stepped forward, laid out the matter of the evil-errant remnants in the Moon Heart Marrow in full detail, including the Butterfly Saint's mention of the Chaos Butterfly Crystal.

Li Luo heard this, the smile on his face gradually faded, his eyes turning solemn: "The remnants of the source of myriad evils... it seems the scheming of that extramural existence back then was even deeper than I imagined."