Chapter 64

Zhen Daoren here exhausted himself painstakingly refining an elixir…

But Qian Chen used his hands to transform medicinal herbs into the workings of heaven and earth, then stole that creation through a hundred insects and spectral entities, sealing them all within the furnace, using alchemical methods to refine these evils—poisonous miasmas, yin impurities, malevolent spirits, and plagues—like cultivating a poison Gu , forging a single most sinister elixir.

The myriad forms that had emerged from the hollowed-out essence of the medicinal herbs—eyeballs, strands of hair, fingers, teeth, bones, skulls, centipedes, scorpions, venomous snakes, vile toads—the elixir insects and elixir ghosts devoured and slaughtered one another, each consuming the ferocity and strangeness of its own kind.

The hundred insects and spectral hosts nourished and grew themselves on the five qi-energies of heaven’s evils: poison miasmas, yin impurities, malevolent spirits, and plagues, while simultaneously devouring the weaker among them as fuel for their own evolution.

Throughout the Wei mansion, all the hidden manipulations Qian Chen had planted earlier—the three corpses and nine worms infecting most of the Wei household—now surged toward the elixir furnace…

From the unconscious body of Wei Taiping, a hundred insects took form, carrying most of his cultivation base and bodily essence, transforming into a stream of spiritual light that flowed into the furnace; faint spiritual glows and spectral shadows rose from his lackeys and most of the Wei household as well… Though the corpse worms had been drawn away, the loss of essence left these people grievously depleted.

Those with mild infections merely suffered days of lethargy, but those like Wei Taiping—who had attacked the Three Yang villagers and been targeted by Qian Chen’s ruthless hand—would likely be bedridden for half a year!

As the hundred ghosts offered their qi to the furnace, the hundred insects returned to it, and the yin-turbid energies of heaven and earth converged upon the elixir furnace…

Cui Dan suddenly felt a chill run through his body, faintly sensing something amiss with the elixir on the altar.

He raised his gaze to observe the qi, only to see brilliant divine light radiating from the furnace, and frowned: “Strange… what manner of alchemist is this? Why are the Six Ding and Six Jia guardian gods showing him such deference?”

Due to the divine radiance obscuring his vision, he failed to see that within a hundred li, boundless yin-turbid qi was converging like a colossal black serpent, slithering into the furnace to nourish the countless strange energies within. Zhen Daoren grew increasingly uneasy—he felt the furnace’s flames not only losing heat, but growing cold.

Zhen Daoren attempted to control the fire with elixir incantations, yet faintly perceived someone beside him fanning the flames.

He slowly turned his head and saw a white fox holding a banana leaf fan in its mouth, seated on a nearby mat, fanning the furnace; beside it, a white snake also used its tail to coil around a fan, diligently fanning as well.

Not far away, a small white mouse carefully selected medicinal herbs, mixing ignition powders and tossing them into the fire, while a hedgehog stood by as its assistant.

Finally, a weasel rolled and danced before the furnace, as if performing a ritual to the furnace spirit!

At that moment, Zhen Daoren felt a bone-deep chill—but the vision vanished instantly as he focused his spirit, gone without a trace.

“Could this be an elixir tribulation?” Zhen Daoren wondered, puzzled by the hallucination.

“What a foolish elixir tribulation… this Hundred Spirits Azure Elixir used no hallucinogenic herbs—how could such illusions arise?” Zhen Daoren racked his brain but found no answer.

Qian Chen transformed the Five Poisons into furnace spirits, drawing upon the five qi-energies of heaven’s evils—poison miasmas, yin impurities, malevolent spirits, and plagues—and refined them with qi-refining techniques, harvesting the yin-turbid qi of heaven as medicine—this was taking medicine from heaven.

He then used the qi of a hundred ghosts to steal the essence of the medicinal herbs, transforming them into ghostly and insectile medicines—these hundred insects and spectral hosts were stealing medicine from earth.

Finally, the Five Immortals stoked the fire, drawing upon the essence of those in the Wei household whose bodies had been hollowed out by the Three Corpses and Nine Worms—stealing the great medicine of human cultivation.

Thus, the three great medicines of heaven, earth, and humanity converged in one furnace. Though rooted in yin, turbid, and evil, Qian Chen forged them into an elixir through poison-cultivation methods—what emerged would inevitably be a demonic entity, drawing essence from the Three Powers and favored by heaven’s yin-turbidity.

When such a demonic entity emerged, nearby cultivators sensed the shift in fortune and misfortune, receiving spiritual warnings.

Cui Dan felt a suffocating pressure enveloping the place, as if the furnace harbored some great calamity, and he muttered in confusion: “Wu Bo… do you feel anything? This elixir seems… off.”

Wu Bo also frowned: “Given the medicinal herbs he used, this elixir’s manifestation makes no sense. Could my eyesight have truly dulled so much that I can no longer perceive its subtleties?”

On the Green Stone Boat, the guests also felt a stifling pressure in their chests, yet they reassured themselves: “Master Zhen’s elixir is about to emerge—this shift in heavenly qi must be its sign! The elixir’s birth has even made us tremble with awe… clearly, it is extraordinary.”

Zhen Daoren, closest to the furnace, was already blinded by the tribulation, utterly unaware of its danger—only feeling that divine aid had blessed his elixir-making, and that he was surely forging something extraordinary.

In the City God Temple, the Wei City God faced the Wei mansion, where heaven’s yin, turbid, and malevolent qi converged; in his eyes, the world was now a rolling tide of black qi surging toward the Wei household. The City God shook his head: “Reaping what you sow! Day-Traveling Ghost Officer… I command you to warn the Wei household! This is one man’s sin—do not let so many innocents suffer for it.”

The Day-Traveling and Night-Traveling Ghost Officers could only grit their teeth: “Your servant obeys!”

They stared toward the Wei mansion, silently cursing: “This kind of spectacle isn’t a minor matter—how can we possibly deliver a warning? Even approaching it might mean we’re swallowed whole… but orders are orders. We’ll go quickly and return faster. We’ll escape this calamity! These Wei folk are blinded by greed—can’t they see this ominous sign?”

They didn’t realize they were clear-eyed observers—on the Green Stone Boat, the complex qi entanglements of the alchemy, coupled with the shielding of the Six Ding and Six Jia, prevented them from directly sensing the overwhelming negative energies.

In other words, their spiritual senses were clouded by the tribulation.

“The elixir is nearly ready!”

Unconsciously, Cui Dan’s attention was drawn: “This elixir is forming! Strange… it’s just an ordinary mid-grade elixir—why do I feel such dread?”

“The elixir is complete!” Zhen Daoren thought inwardly: “This is my sudden enlightenment—my greatest achievement in alchemy! What a gift to these people!”

His eyes locked on the furnace—the flames within had turned pure black, straining to burst free of the lid’s restraint; the fire crows trapped in the furnace ears stirred restlessly, no longer daring to spew flame. Yet the fire no longer needed them—it swirled, now pale, now pitch-black.

One moment bone-chilling cold, the next searing with the urge to burn all.

Finally, the black and white flames spiraled like Yin and Yang…

Unlike Qian Chen’s natural, formless cultivation of the Primordial Elixir, this poison-cultivation method birthed a peerless monster—its pre-emergence aura was ferocious, its spectacle grand, perfectly matching Zhen Daoren’s and the onlookers’ expectations.

Amid the wild dance of black and white flames, a strange sound emerged from the furnace.

A faint “crack” made Zhen Daoren’s face darken instantly. He twisted his neck, eyes fixed on the furnace body—deep purple-red, cast with eight monstrous beasts—and his pupils shrank by half…

A fine crack had silently spread across the thick, sturdy purple-copper furnace body!

On the Green Stone Boat, dew condensing on the stone turned blood-red, trickling down like splattered blood…

But no one noticed now.

The two ghost officers wiped nonexistent sweat from their brows, thinking: “Our lord, we’ve done our best! Whatever’s inside that furnace is too terrifying! Merely getting close makes us feel like we’ll be devoured!” They dared not turn back, sprinting as fast as they could toward the farthest direction…

“Is this…?” Zhen Daoren, drenched in sweat, heart pounding: “Is the furnace going to explode?”

“What have I even forged in this furnace? It seems the medicinal properties of over a hundred pills have been fused into one elixir… Could this be a Pill King? Legend says that if an elixir’s spiritual nature grows too strong, one pill may awaken, devouring the essence of the others in the same furnace to become a Pill King!”

“With such a divine artifact, if I refine this elixir, I’ll achieve Core Formation!”

“Then why even need a dragon pearl?”

Zhen Daoren struggled for breath. As he stared, eyes bulging, desperate to save the elixir, the furnace finally shattered—dozens of fire crows burst from the lid and fled, the exploding furnace sweeping across the entire Green Stone Boat; despite protective seals, it shattered nearly half the vessel.

Countless fragments flew everywhere, but the Wei household’s elders and Wu Bo jointly activated their artifacts to intercept them, preventing utter chaos.

“Wait…” Zhen Daoren, who had just despaired, suddenly gasped in joy—the spot where the furnace had exploded now held a single perfect elixir, emitting a faint green glow, hovering in midair as if alive.

“Impossible!” Cui Dan was stunned: “Even that elder’s use of Gangsha qi to refine elixirs only produced slight spiritual awareness—how could this ordinary batch of herbs forge an elixir so lifelike?”

Wu Bo gave a bitter, strange smile: “Young master, I fear we’ve misunderstood.”

“The master alchemist here may not be that elder at all—but that black-robed Daoist… appearances deceive! That master’s alchemy is indeed miraculous, but even in remote Nine True Prefecture, there are sages who can turn decay into wonder!”

Zhen Daoren approached the elixir, his heart swelling with uncontrollable joy—he burst into wild laughter.

“Hahahaha… my alchemy has reached perfection! I’ve forged the Eternal Pill King!”

Wei Lecheng’s composure had shattered—he stared at Zhen Daoren with utter horror. His plans to exploit, drain, and discard Zhen Daoren were now discarded; instead, he was already pondering how to befriend this man… such an alchemist was no longer a mere pawn—perhaps the entire Wei household’s future would depend on him!

“My alchemy has reached perfection!” Zhen Daoren laughed wildly: “This elixir emerged from the Hundred Spirits Azure Elixir—born of my sudden enlightenment.”

“I shall name it… Hundred Spirits Azure Primordial Elixir! Alchemy shall now add another peerless Primordial Elixir!”

………………

“My elixir is finally complete…” Qian Chen, dozens of li away, stood with arms crossed, gazing toward the distance calmly: “This elixir arose from the thought of combat, from a moment of inspiration—I used the qi of a hundred ghosts to steal the essence of medicinal herbs, the Five Poisons as spirits to draw heaven’s yin-turbid qi, and the Five Immortals to draw the Three Corpses and Nine Worms from the Wei household, sealing them in the furnace like cultivating a King of Poison, allowing them to absorb all poisons.”

“It may be called… the Three Corpses Ten-Thousand Poisons Elixir…”

“Or…”

Zhen Daoren reached for the Primordial Elixir, amid the gazes of greed, shock, reverence, and terror—his hand poised to claim it. Already, someone had secretly activated their artifact; Zhen Daoren, facing away from the crowd, gripped his black banner tightly, a cold smile curling his lips.

He had prepared everything—his hand nearly touched the elixir…

A streak of black light suddenly burst from the elixir, plunging into Zhen Daoren—the nearest target. The light bore eyes and brows, resembling a ghost, yet it wore Zhen Daoren’s own face.

Far away, Qian Chen slowly spoke its name—

“Or… the Three Corpses Spirit!”