Once they stepped out of the time barrier, the Sacred Sakura's purifying energy immediately washed over Urakusai, cleansing the faint trace of Abyssal Aura clinging to him.
A wisp of black energy was pulled out of his body and dispersed.
Urakusai felt a release more profound than anything he'd known. He lifted his head, taking in the shrine he hadn't seen in five hundred years. A complex emotion flickered in his eyes.
Five centuries. The world had changed completely.
Urakusai turned to Hanachirusato.
Her face was identical to Kitsune Saiguu's, but instead of silver hair, hers was black.
He then looked toward Ei and bowed respectfully. "Lady Beelzebul, this old one has yet to greet you properly…"
Ei shook her head. "Old friends meeting again don't need formalities."
Urakusai froze.
He had only met Raiden Makoto twice, but even he could sense that the current Raiden Makoto seemed different from the one in his memories.
Raiden Ei, however, was exactly the same. Calm. Silent. Unreadable.
Urakusai nodded and turned to Yae Miko. "Guuji… I want to ask you something. Have you been well all these years?"
Yae Miko narrowed her eyes with a playful smile. "Of course I have. I'm very happy. Especially lately. Ever since Mr. Xia and the others came to Inazuma, the shrine has been so lively. And there's delicious food every day."
Urakusai murmured, "Good… that's good…"
Yae Miko added, "You'll like this era too. Someone who can tell stories and paint like you will definitely become a star at Yae Publishing House. I'll even be the one chasing after your deadlines."
Urakusai chuckled bitterly. "Light novels… That A First-Hand Guide to Summoning Spirits was just something I wrote casually. I'll be dedicating myself to serving Lady Baal from now on. I won't have the leisure to write books."
Yae Miko didn't comment and instead asked, "Then the incantation you included in that book and spread everywhere… you must've had some reason for doing that?"
Urakusai nodded. "The ley lines were leaking. When everyone returned to the mortal world again, of course they wanted to stay longer. I was powerful enough in life for my memories to enter a living body, but lesser youkai couldn't do that. With the summoning spell, though, they could."
Yae Miko clicked her tongue. "So I was right. Humans reciting that spell were basically inviting spirits into their own bodies. No resistance at all."
Hanachirusato frowned. "But ghostly power is too cold. Once the spirit leaves, the vessel will definitely fall ill for a few days."
Yae Miko shrugged. "People who rely on outside forces to fulfill their wishes instead of improving themselves deserve a little lesson."
Hanachirusato sighed and said nothing more.
She couldn't argue with that.
If you ask too much from a miracle you don't understand, you'd better be ready to pay the price.
A small lesson might even be good for them.
---
Once everything was settled, Xia Zhen returned to Tenshukaku looking quite pleased.
Xia Zhi pressed his lips together. He could still taste a faint hint of cherry blossoms.
Honestly, it was great.
A new thought popped into his head. Ei and Makoto were twin gods… so maybe Ei's lips also tasted like cherry blossoms…
Wait, no. That was his sister-in-law.
Xia Zhi quickly dispersed the time barrier and walked back to his room.
Soon, he arrived and opened the Shop.
He found the Transformation Pill page. The listed price was five hundred points. Not expensive for him now.
If Urakusai were the only one who needed it, he'd buy one immediately.
But he would be resurrecting many youkai. They'd all need one. Buying them in bulk would be wasteful. It was better to refine the pills himself.
Transformation Pills were medicine.
And he happened to have the perfect alchemy tool: the Yin-Yang Medicine Furnace.
Xia Zhi opened his inventory, pulled out the ancient round furnace, and bought the Transformation Pill recipe from the Shop.
It was far more complex than the Silver-quality Calming Pill, but since it came in the form of a skill orb, once Xia Zhi absorbed it, the entire process became instinctive.
He bought all the necessary ingredients from the Shop.
Then he began refining.
He added the herbs according to the recipe.
The two yin-yang fish on the furnace stirred to life and swam. But their movements were extremely slow this time.
Half an hour passed before they returned to their original positions.
Xia Zhi opened the lid and poured out several smooth pills.
He picked one up and examined it.
[Perfect Transformation Pill]
Quality: Gold
Type: Consumable
Trait: Transformation
Effect: A special pill refined through the Yin-Yang Medicine Furnace. Allows a monster-type creature to enter the transformation stage immediately.
Hidden Effect: Transformation is painless, transformation speed increased by 20 percent.
Recyclable: 100 points.
He compared it with the ordinary Transformation Pill sold in the Shop.
The effect was mostly the same, just faster.
Half the pills he'd made were Perfect Transformation Pills, the rest normal ones.
The furnace only had a twenty-percent chance to produce perfect pills, so making half perfect had to be thanks to his unusually high luck.
He stored all the pills.
The process had gone well, but it took too long. Half an hour per batch was definitely because the pill's quality was too high.
Transformation Pill was gold. The Yin-Yang Medicine Furnace was gold. The furnace clearly struggled with the load.
There were two ways to fix this.
Use time manipulation to accelerate the process.
Or evolve the furnace to a higher tier.
The first method was simple and crude.
The second required spending points but would give the furnace new traits and, very likely, enhance future Transformation Pills.
Xia Zhi thought briefly, then opened the Evolution tab and placed the furnace inside.
He drank a Luck Potion for good measure.
A moment later, the evolution was complete.
[Yin-Yang Medicine Furnace]
Quality: Diamond
Type: Alchemy equipment
Traits: Fusion, Tempering, Dao Imbuement
Effect: Balances yin and yang, cures a hundred illnesses, dispels any poison. When tempering with exotic flames, the resulting medicine gains their corresponding effects. Pills refined in this furnace acquire random dao resonance.
Hidden Effect: Guaranteed perfect refinement. Final pill quantity may double.
Recyclable: 10,000 points.
Xia Zhi pulled the furnace out.
It was much larger now. It no longer fit on his table.
He had to set it on the floor.
Its appearance hadn't changed much except for the two yin-yang fish, which were now plump and lively, and a flame emblem newly engraved on the front.
Xia Zhi touched the symbol.
A message resonated in his mind.
So that was how to infuse exotic fire into the furnace.
Conveniently, he had one.
True Sunfire.
A golden flame rose in his palm with a thought.
He pressed his hand against the flame emblem.
At once, a blazing power ignited inside the furnace.
He opened the lid and saw the golden flame inside, though it emitted no heat at all.
He added the ingredients according to the recipe.
The two yin-yang fish leapt into motion instantly. They swam playfully, even weaving through the golden flames.
In barely over ten seconds, they returned to their positions.
Xia Zhi lifted the lid. Several golden pills floated up from within.
It looked strangely like witnessing the birth of divine golden cores.
He collected them.
Counting them, he realized the yield had doubled despite using the same amount of ingredients.
So the hidden effect had triggered.
Each pill had strange patterns etched on its surface, carrying a mysterious aura.
The lines looked similar to the ones on Rule Fragments…
So that was dao resonance.
Xia Zhi examined one pill and stored it.
[Perfect Transformation Pill]
Quality: Gold
Type: Consumable
Trait: Transformation
Effect: A special pill refined through the Yin-Yang Medicine Furnace and tempered with True Sunfire. Allows a monster-type creature to enter the transformation stage immediately.
Hidden Effect: Transformation is painless, transformation speed increased by 50 percent, and there is a small chance of mastering a fragment of rule power.
Recyclable: 100 points.
Fragment of rule power…
Xia Zhi thought of the Path of the Netherworld Chef he had once absorbed.
This was basically a chance to draw from a rule-fragment gacha.
----
Join my Patreon for early access to 100+ chapters: Patreon.com/rivyura