It was actually a bit surprising to Fang Yuan that this dream realm was so detailed. There were very few skips in time. It was as if he had actually spent months here, even though his soul no longer felt burdened by it. He still could not feel a connection either to the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will outside or to the Dreams of Love and Happiness Gu, wherever it was.
Fang Yuan spent more time in the Apothecary Immortal's Blessed Land within the dream realm, wandering around the central laboratory area along with the Seven Rainbows Moth King.
Fang Yuan continued practicing the Pill Path methods that he had learned from the Apothecary Immortal's inheritance.
First, he made simple Rank 1 Pill Gu Worms like Vitality Pill or Meal Pill which were easy enough to deal with. Vitality Pill increased one's endurance, while Food Pill contained enough calories for someone to survive for a whole three days without having to eat or drink.
Then, he could move on to Rank 2 Pill Gu Worms, and finally Rank 3.
It was at this point that he began experimenting with a recipe he had found in the Immortal Apothecary's Inheritance that he felt could be useful if it was perfected."
"Two teaspoons full of white rhino horn powder," he said, adding them to the mortar. "Ten drops of White Tiger blood. Two thinly cut Yang Qi fruit. Thirteen grams of Poison Dart Frog liver."
Once the ingredients were added, they had to be thoroughly mixed by hand, ensuring that no contaminants got within them.
Even the slightest piece of dirt or metal on an unclean Gu Master's hands could ruin the recipe, as it would introduce impurities into the pill that would either cause it to implode or become toxic.
Lower grade pills could handle some degree of impurities, and simply washing one's hands was sufficient for them. However, for higher rank pills, particularly Rank 3 and above, one had to use specialized Gu worms to clean the microbes and other tiny, almost invisible particles from one's hands before handling the mixtures.
Additionally, since some of the ingredients were toxic like the Poison Dart Frog liver, Fang Yuan had to use gu worms in order to handle them.
Once this mixture was done, the pill had to be created by tossing in primeval stones into a flame beneath it. In this manner, it was different from typical gu refinement because, unlike typical Gu refinement where one fused separate gu worms together, there was no risk of one's soul being damaged as one combined one's will from two different gu worms.
However, it still required concentration. One had to be ever so vigilant, especially if one did not have access to specialized instruments like the furnace like Fang Yuan did, which made his job easier. If he had been trying to replicate such things in Gu Yue village without the Immortal Apothecary's equipment, for example, he would end up being unable to make most Rank 2 Pill Path gu worms.
It wasn't just the furnace - the air quality, temperature outside, and even magnetic fields could cause a recipe to go awry. Naturally the Immortal Apothecary's laboratory was fully equipped to produce most mortal Pill Path gu worms and had mechanisms in place to deal with this.
Even with his current advantages, Fang Yuan had to put all of his concentration into ensuring the mixture was proper.
You had to be mindful of so many things. That the powder wasn't overcooked, that the ingredients were being mixed evenly, that the dish you were using wasn't causing them to clump together. If one took their eyes off of this for even a second, all of their efforts would be in vain.
Finally, under the flame created through primeval stones, a pill emerged.
"Finally, I've been successful," Fang Yuan said to himself. He had been trying for over four days to perfect this pill recipe. The Immortal Apothecary had abandoned the project midway after theorizing a few recipes, and had about a dozen theoretical formulations for it at the end which he hadn't tried in practice. Fang Yuan had been greatly troubled to try and find one which worked, but he had finally succeeded.
The fruits of his efforts were two small blue pills. But the amount was not the main thing, the main thing was noting that he could make them.
So long as he had a working recipe, he could focus on making more of them.
"Well done, Master, well done!" the Seven Rainbows Moth King said, fluttering nearby. "You finally managed to make this pill. What kind of pill is this?"
"This is the Little Blue Pill Gu," Fang Yuan said. It was only Rank 3, but that was more than sufficient for Fang Yuan's needs.
"Oh, is this some kind of pill that will help us deal with the Earthly Calamity?" the Seven Rainbows Moth King asked, fluttering about excitedly.
"No," Fang Yuan answered, shaking his head. There were dark circles under his eyes. "This pill is designed to help me deal with Xie Han Mo."
"Master, should you really be wasting your time with something like this?"
"It might be a small thing for you, but it's a big deal for me!" Fang Yuan said.
The Seven Rainbows Moth King paused. "Oh, I get that then, Master."
"But concerning our upcoming Earthly Tribulation, have you prepared the Gu worms that I asked for?"
"Indeed, I have, Master," the Seven Rainbows Moth King replied. Several Blood Path Gu worms lay around harvested from the Crimson Peacock's corpse. As Fang Yuan explained to the Land Spirit how to use the killer moves in question, he became more confident in their success; they had served him well back when he had been a Rank 6 Blood Path Gu Immortal and expected them to do well now even with the partial suppression from this Blessed Land's conflicting dao marks.
With the invention of the Little Blue Pill Gu, Fang Yuan was able to relax as he finally had a crutch, and Xie Han Mo was very happy with the results of them being demonstrated by Fang Yuan each night.
Now that he had the right recipe, he could hand over production of Little Blue Pill gu worms to her while he put his attention on more serious matters.
Life continued like this, with Fang Yuan focusing on the management of the Blessed Land. Fang Yuan's top priority was to try to do something about the ice damage to a portion of the Blessed Land.
However, there simply weren't enough resources in the Blessed Land for him to trade for something on Yellow Treasure Heaven to fix this. Given that, all he could do was await the arrival of the Earthly Calamity. It wasn't like his old life; this was a dream realm, and he had to work with what he was given instead of finding some solution (which usually meant robbing someone). Then again, because it was a dream realm, there had to be some kind of solution.
"It's time, Master. The time of the Earthly Calamity has arrived," the Seven Rainbows Moth King said.
Fang Yuan was observing the Blessed Land from a perch atop the Apothecary Immortal's Laboratory. Xie Han Mo stood beside him with a worried expression. "Fang Yuan, be careful, will you?" She had only ever been a mortal and didn't fully understand the gravity of an Earthly Calamity, but seeing how worried Fang Yuan was about it, naturally she became concerned as well.
One might think she would let Fang Yuan relax given this, but if anything, the knowledge that their demise might very well be on its way only made her more... hungry for his attention. Perhaps the instinct to preserve one's species had kicked in?