"Speaking of which, why did you all come to Mt. Tianheng?"
After putting Lime back into his qiankun bag, allowing it to slowly digest on its own, Ryan turned to ask Lumine and the others.
If he remembered correctly, Lumine and the others had already searched Mt. Tianheng from top to bottom; there were almost no wild treasure chests left here.
"Oh, it's like this, there's a guy impersonating an adeptus using a Talisman of Abiding…"
Hearing Ryan's question, Lumine didn't hide anything and explained the situation to him.
Someone was using a Talisman of Abiding to impersonate an adeptus and scam people. She and Xiao planned to teach the person a lesson and retrieve the Talisman of Abiding.
The method of teaching a lesson was to use the Dream Walking Through Realms technique to lure his soul, and the ritual for the Dream Walking Through Realms technique required a lot of materials, which they were currently collecting.
Since the scheduled meeting time with Xiao was at night, they weren't in a hurry to go and meet him now, which gave them time to watch Ryan's tribulation.
"I-I see…"
Hearing about the Dream Walking Through Realms technique, a smile uglier than crying appeared on Ryan's face.
The Dream Walking Through Realms technique was similar to dream-sending, and Xiao had been sending him dreams every night while he slept during this period, telling him to practice his spear.
Only by refining pills all day without rest could he avoid being sent dreams by Xiao.
Although he had already reached an agreement with Xiao that he would practice the spear himself, once he mastered it, Xiao would help him test his elixirs.
However, practicing the spear every day was almost driving the fox crazy!
"Please give my regards to Vanquisher of Evil… Uh, I'm going back to rest first!"
Then Ryan chose to run away.
Although he had just refined two batches of elixirs, the Sweet Sweet Pill took less time, so he wasn't in urgent need of rest yet.
Leaving Mt. Tianheng, Ryan ran to the vicinity of the road directly connecting Liyue Harbor to Guili Plains. There were also many mountains here, and Ryan transformed back into a fox and easily climbed up a mountain.
To prevent the sun and moon cup from being picked up by someone again, Ryan specifically placed it on a protruding stone platform on a cliff.
Except for flying birds, almost no humans or monsters could reach this place.
After doing all this, Ryan returned to the qiankun bag and began refining pills again.
This time he chose the youyou great march developed by Hu Tao, and incidentally added some paimon soup.
That pot of paimon soup had been sitting for many days; he didn't know if it had gone bad… but even if it had, it could still be used for refining pills.
Then Ryan added a little of Osial's blood and skin.
The paimon soup and Osial's materials were far from being used up by Ryan in a short time, so he now liked to add some no matter what he was refining.
"…"
Time flew by, and a large amount of sweat appeared on Ryan's forehead.
Whoosh whoosh—
Whoosh—
Inside the alchemy furnace, strange sounds howled, and the grass around the furnace withered one after another, the withered area continuously expanding outwards.
Before long, Ryan, who was sitting cross-legged on the grass, found himself sitting on gray withered grass.
Lime, who was nearby, was a little scared and quickly hid behind Ryan, trembling, not daring to look at the alchemy furnace.
Thump—
Thump—!
Heavy thumping sounds came from inside the alchemy furnace, each thump causing the furnace lid to vibrate.
"…"
Behind Ryan, the fiery red girl phantom gradually faded, and the flames beneath the alchemy furnace weakened accordingly.
Boom—!
Accompanied by a sudden explosion, the lid of the alchemy furnace was instantly blown off, and Ryan, sitting cross-legged on the ground, was also sent flying, colliding with Lime who had hidden behind him.
Dark mist rose into the sky, and a black pill slowly floated out of the alchemy furnace.
"Wuwu…"
Ryan, who had been sent flying, struggled inside Lime's body.
The force of the impact was so great that he was directly embedded in Lime's body, and Lime, out of fear, instinctively hugged him, causing him to be completely enveloped in thick Slime mucus and making it difficult to move due to the compression.
Finally, after a great deal of effort, Ryan managed to squeeze out of Lime's body, barely avoiding suffocating.
However, seeing Lime cowering and trembling, Ryan didn't blame it. Instead, he looked at the culprit that had sent him flying: the pitch-black pill.
Unlike other pills that emit golden light when they emerge from the furnace, it was entirely black, surrounded by black mist.
If one looked closely, one could vaguely see distorted faces flashing within the mist.
"Golden Light Tracing Origin, Illuminating Pill Soul…"
Ryan felt a chill in his heart and didn't dare to pick up the pill directly. He merely swept it from a distance with his tail and chanted an incantation, shining the golden light from his eyes onto it from a meter or two away.
[Three Souls Seven Spirits Pill (3-star · Failed Pill): After consumption, the three souls and seven spirits within the body will devour each other. The remaining one soul and one spirit will automatically condense into a pill. When consumed by another, this effect continues. The stronger the souls that devour each other, the longer the required time, and the stronger the effect of the pill when consumed by the next person.]
Ryan being sent flying just now already proved that the pill refining had failed. However, as long as the basic steps of alchemy were completed, a failed refining would result in a failed pill with a rather twisted effect, rather than the materials being wasted.
"Hmm? The outcome is a bit more… significant than expected. I thought it would turn into a poisonous pill, though this is quite malicious too…"
Looking at the pill's effect, Ryan muttered.
All beings born from vital essence possess three souls and seven spirits, symbolizing the mind and soul of the body.
Losing even one of the three souls and seven spirits would have a significant impact on a person, let alone mutual devouring, which would basically only lead to becoming a vegetable.
Moreover, during the mutual devouring of souls, there would be unbearable spiritual pain, which is why Ryan called it malicious.
Then Ryan cautiously approached, took out a glass bottle, and tried to put the black pill into the bottle.
The black mist floated around Ryan, making him smell an indescribable scent, and he felt his soul seemed to tremble.
Fortunately, no accidents occurred. After Ryan placed it in the glass bottle, the mist in the surrounding air quickly dissipated, but the inside of the glass bottle was occupied by the mist, making it completely impossible to see inside.
"Phew… I need to store this carefully. If someone accidentally eats this, the consequences will be endless…"
Ryan finally breathed a sigh of relief and carefully placed the pill in a safe place.
Lime generally wouldn't casually eat his pills, but Ryan still placed it out of Lime's reach for safety.
Next, Ryan left the island where he refined pills and returned to a quieter island.
Finding a spot with good sunlight, Ryan transformed back into a white fox, jumped onto Lime, who had followed him, and lay down to rest.
Lime didn't dare to move recklessly and just stayed put obediently.
"Get up, practice the spear."
Not long after Ryan fell asleep, the figure of Vanquisher of Evil appeared in his dream, handing him the Primordial Jade Winged-Spear.
"…"
Ryan in the dream maintained his white fox form, holding the Primordial Jade Winged-Spear with his two paws, his ears and tail all drooping…