The return to the Verdant Serpent Sect was met with a wave of anxious anticipation. The news of the Grey Rot plague had begun to leak from the upper echelons, sowing fear among the disciples. The sight of the four-person expedition returning was a cause for both hope and dread.
Wei immediately led his team to the Palace of Verdant Skies for a private debriefing. This time, the council chamber was more crowded. The First Elder and Wei's friends were present, but so were five other Spirit Kings, the ruling elders from the sect's three new peaks. They were powerful figures, their auras a mixture of curiosity and suspicion as they laid eyes on the man whose legend had only grown in his ten-year absence.
Wei's report was a masterpiece of calculated omission. He described the Necrotic Anchor, the heretical Bone Sage, and the battle that had ensued. He framed the fight as a desperate struggle, where Elder Jin's valiant frontal assault had provided him the crucial opening to strike a fatal blow with a specialized, single-use poison he had prepared. He completely omitted the soul absorption and, most critically, his breakthrough to the Spirit Emperor realm. He kept his aura suppressed to the absolute peak of a Spirit King, a level of control that was in itself a terrifying display of power. He was a newly ascended Emperor, but he would not reveal that card until it was absolutely necessary.
"The Bone Sage has been eliminated, and the Necrotic Anchor has been destroyed," Wei concluded, his voice flat. "The curse will no longer spread."
A collective sigh of relief went through the chamber. The First Elder, however, looked at him with a knowing gaze. "And the victims? The thousands already petrified in the Azure Province?"
"Their life force has been consumed by the curse. They cannot be revived," Wei stated, his words extinguishing the nascent hope in the room. He saw Elder Lihua and Sun Ling flinch at the bluntness of his statement. "However," he continued, "I have a theory. The curse operates on a specific law of necrosis. I have brought back... samples." He produced the pulsating, black Curse Core he had retrieved from the first beast, careful to keep its true nature shielded. "By studying this, I believe I can create a solvent. Not an antidote. It will not restore life. But it may be able to dissolve the petrified state, returning the bodies to their natural forms so they may be given a proper burial."
It was the perfect lie. It offered a sliver of compassionate closure, cementing his image as a grim but ultimately dutiful elder, while keeping the true, miraculous potential of a cure hidden.
"To create such a complex agent will require resources I do not possess," Wei continued, his gaze sweeping over the new elders. "I will need access to the sect's deepest, most secure laboratory, the 'Heavenly Cauldron Chamber'. I will also require three specific catalysts from the sect's core treasury: a vial of True Dragon's Blood, a nine-leafed Sunstone Herb, and a single Ethereal Void Crystal."
A sharp intake of breath came from one of the new elders, a stern-looking man from the Peak of the Soaring Sword. "Elder Wei, what you ask for is no small matter! Those are strategic, quasi-legendary resources! The True Dragon's Blood alone is a priceless treasure used to help Spirit Kings attempt a breakthrough!"
"Is the dignity of ten thousand of our sect's people not worth a few treasures?" Wei countered, his voice turning cold. "The solvent I envision requires a perfect balance of life, fire, and spatial energy to counteract the law of necrosis. The Dragon's Blood provides the life, the Sunstone Herb provides the fire, and the Void Crystal is needed to stabilize the reaction. If any of you has a better solution, I am open to hearing it."
The chamber fell silent. No one did. They had been powerless against the plague. Wei was their only hope, and he knew it. He was leveraging the crisis he had solved to acquire the very resources he needed for his own research, all under the guise of benevolence.
The First Elder made the final decision. "He will have what he needs. Grant him full access."
For the next week, Wei sealed himself within the Heavenly Cauldron Chamber, a massive, heavily fortified laboratory deep within Jade Emperor Peak. Elder Lihua and Sun Ling were assigned as his assistants, a political move by the First Elder to both learn from Wei and to keep an eye on him. Wei allowed it; their presence would serve as the perfect witnesses to his "difficult" and "laborious" work.
The chamber was dominated by a massive, ancient cauldron forged from white jade, formations etched all over its surface. Wei ignored it, bringing out his own Cauldron of Myriad Venoms, a move that caused Sun Ling to raise an eyebrow but say nothing.
The brewing process began. Wei first took the pulsating, black 'Heart of the Curse'—the crystallized essence of the plague—and told his assistants it was a "concentrated sample of the curse's energy." He placed it within his cauldron. Then, he requested the three legendary resources.
He first introduced the nine-leafed Sunstone Herb. The moment the fiery, sun-like herb touched the Heart of the Curse, a violent reaction occurred. The cauldron began to shake, and a wave of pure, chaotic necrotic energy erupted from the black pearl, fighting against the herb's life-aspected fire.
"The curse resists purification!" Lihua exclaimed.
"As expected," Wei said calmly. This was the challenge he had been waiting for. This was no simple brewing process; it was a battle of concepts. He began to use the Bone Sage's own inherited knowledge, not to control the necrotic energy, but to guide it. His spiritual sense plunged into the cauldron, weaving intricate runic patterns, not of poison, but of containment. He was not trying to destroy the necrotic energy; he was trying to tame it.
The fight raged for two full days. Wei stood before the cauldron, unmoving, his entire being focused on the war within. He used the True Dragon's Blood next, its potent, almost infinite life force acting as a hammer to shatter the curse's defenses. The cauldron roared, the sounds of ghostly wails and furious hisses echoing in the chamber. Sun Ling and Lihua were forced back by the sheer pressure, having to erect their own spiritual barriers to keep from being overwhelmed. They watched in awe as Wei, with a calm, almost bored expression, manipulated forces that could annihilate a city.
Finally, on the third day, the chaotic energy began to subside. He had broken the curse's will. Now came the final, most delicate step. He introduced the Ethereal Void Crystal. The crystal dissolved, releasing a wave of spatial energy that did not attack, but enveloped the warring factions of life and death within the cauldron. It created a stable, pocket-dimension within the liquid, forcing the two opposing concepts into a state of suspended, perfect equilibrium.
The roaring stopped. The violent shaking ceased. Within the cauldron, a single gallon of liquid now rested. It was a beautiful, shimmering silver, with motes of golden light (from the life energy) and black shadow (from the necrotic energy) swirling within it in a slow, hypnotic dance.
It was done. He had created the "solvent." But in the process of taming the Heart of the Curse, he had learned something profound. The connection to the Netherworld was not just a simple conduit. It had an intelligence, a hungry, predatory consciousness on the other side. The Bone Sage had not been a master boring a hole into another dimension; he had been a fool who had answered a knock from the other side. A new, far greater threat was now on Wei's mental map, a mystery for another day.
He siphoned the silver liquid into a series of jade vials. He was exhausted, his spiritual reserves nearly depleted from the three-day battle of wills, but his eyes held a deep, satisfied light.
He handed a vial to Elder Lihua. "Here is your solvent. A single drop, diluted in water, will be enough to treat a dozen victims. It will dissolve the petrification and return the bodies. Nothing more."
Lihua took the vial with a trembling hand, her eyes filled with an emotion Wei could not quite decipher.
"Elder Wei," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "Your skill... it is not of this world."
Wei simply gave a slight nod. He had what he wanted. He had the sect's gratitude, a new level of fear and respect from his peers, and most importantly, the remaining half of the True Dragon's Blood and the other priceless catalysts, which he had secretly siphoned off for his own use during the "brewing" process. As he walked out of the chamber, leaving the others to manage the grim logistics of the cure, his mind was already on the 'Mythical' section of the system store, and the new, far more interesting enemies that awaited him in the wider world.