Carrying Feifei, Mo Tiange rushed back to the small hut. For a moment, she didn't know what to do.
Feifei was still just a First-Rank little spirit beast; it definitely couldn't withstand this surge of Spiritual Qi. But how could she draw out this qi?
A thought flashed through her mind, and Mo Tiange immediately made a decision. She took out several spirit stones and a formation plate, quickly setting up a formation. This was a defensive formation called the Earth Prison Formation, most suitable for defending against Spiritual Qi attacks, but she had made some modifications, hoping to suppress the Spiritual Qi within Feifei's body and make it more comfortable.
Then, she pressed her hand against Feifei's head, channeled her own Spiritual Qi inside, and probed to see what was truly happening within Feifei.
This golden qi didn't repel her Spiritual Qi, but it was extremely tenacious, filling all the meridians. No matter how Mo Tiange probed, she couldn't penetrate deeper; she could only barely enter the entrance of Feifei's meridians before being unable to advance further.
After probing for a long time, she still returned empty-handed. Mo Tiange had no choice but to withdraw. This Spiritual Qi had already exceeded her current capabilities; she simply couldn't do anything about it.
Left with no alternative, she could only hold Feifei, continuously feeding it healing and pain-suppressing pills, hoping it would feel a bit better.
Time passed bit by bit. At first, Feifei was in so much pain it rolled around, but later it had no strength left. Its dark, glistening eyes stared blankly, filled with agony.
However, Mo Tiange sensed that this Spiritual Qi was slowly fading, and Feifei's body seemed to be undergoing continuous transformation, with the pain lessening.
Her spirits lifted. "Feifei, hang in there."
It seemed the animal's instinct wasn't wrong. This Spiritual Qi was indeed beneficial to Feifei. Perhaps if it endured, everything would be fine.
Feifei whimpered, struggling against this force.
Mo Tiange recalled her own Foundation Establishment experience and quickly said, "Feifei, you might be about to undergo Advancement. Don't fight the Spiritual Qi; guide it!"
Although Feifei couldn't understand her words yet, it could sense her meaning through divine sense and soon complied.
Indeed. The pain grew lighter and lighter, and this Spiritual Qi gradually merged along Feifei's meridians.
Mo Tiange breathed a sigh of relief. "It's alright now. From here on, just focus on guiding this Spiritual Qi properly."
The Advancement of spirit beasts was different from humans. Their bodies seemed to retain ancient memories, possessing an innate sensitivity to the fusion of Spiritual Qi, so spirit beasts found Advancement much easier compared to human cultivators. However, in the current world where Spiritual Qi was scarce and few cultivators could continuously feed their spirit beasts pills, high-rank spirit beasts were not common.
Now that Feifei had escaped its initial state of Spiritual Qi explosion, and Mo Tiange sensed it was undergoing Advancement, she knew it was out of danger.
The intuition of spirit beasts was truly extraordinary. Feifei had immediately found the spiritual medicine that could allow it to Advance. Back then, Little Fire was the same. Left to roam freely within this Void Heaven Realm, it ate something unknown and Advanced, even altering its original Fiery Sun True Fire into Solar True Fire. She wondered if Feifei, after eating this Flowerless Golden Fruit, might also gain special abilities.
However, she didn't have time to wait for Feifei to complete its Advancement. The Bixuan Pavilion was still waiting for her to refine Azure Cloud Pills.
Placing Feifei within the Earth Prison Formation to let it Advance on its own, Mo Tiange sat in meditation for a while. After regulating her breathing, she thought for a moment and then organized her magical treasures and artifacts.
For some reason, thinking about starting the alchemy process made her brow twitch.
She put on her Qiankun Cloud Silk Armor and Treading Cloud Boots, placed the White Silk Handkerchief, Flying Shuttle, Soul-Bewitching Lamp, Earth-Escaping Ruler, and other items within easy reach, hesitated for a moment, and then also stored the two stone puppet figurines in her Qiankun Bag, just in case.
After finishing all this, it was about time. Seeing that Feifei's Advancement was proceeding smoothly, she left the Void Heaven Realm, letting it Advance slowly on its own. After all, Advancement wasn't a matter of one or two days; it might take over half a year.
Not long after leaving the Void Heaven Realm, Yiqiu called from outside, "Senior Ye, are you ready?"
She put away the defensive formation she had set up here, walked out of the room, and found Yiliu and Yiqiu already waiting outside.
"Ready. Let's go."
"Yes."
Arriving at the alchemy chamber, she saw the three Core Formation Elders already waiting. Mo Tiange stepped forward and saluted. "Greetings, three Seniors."
The three nodded. Elder Qingyi smiled and said, "Little Friend Ye, no need for such courtesy. Today we rely on you."
Mo Tiange smiled, raised her hand in a salute, and without further pleasantries, went to check the preparations.
"Fellow Daoist Ye." Xia Qing came towards her.
Mo Tiange was startled. Xia Qing looked utterly exhausted, her eyes dull and her voice hoarse.
"Fellow Daoist Xia, what happened to you?"
Rubbing her eyes, Xia Qing said, "It's nothing. Just too tired."
"We're refining pills today. Shouldn't you have rested properly yesterday?"
Sect Leader Wei Haolan walked over and said with a smile, "Junior Sister Xia was busy for several days preparing the materials beforehand. Then yesterday she was too excited and couldn't enter meditation, so she ended up like this."
Mo Tiange was taken aback. She had thought only mortals would be like this. Cultivators, even when excited, could usually enter meditation with a little restraint, especially a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Xia Qing. Well, one could only say Xia Qing was too obsessed with alchemy.
Xia Qing said, "The thought of refining Azure Cloud Pills just makes me unable to calm down. Never mind. Today I'm just observing; the main focus is on Fellow Daoist Ye's alchemy."
Mo Tiange could only say, "Then Fellow Daoist Xia can watch from the side."
Xia Qing nodded, perked up, and went back to directing the disciples.
Wei Haolan came closer and said, "Fellow Daoist Ye, please check if anything is missing. If not, we can begin."
Mo Tiange inspected the prepared spiritual herbs and the pill furnace. After a moment's thought, she set up a simple Spirit-Gathering Formation around the furnace and said, "Alright, we can begin."
Wei Haolan looked at her Spirit-Gathering Formation, a trace of surprise appearing on her face. She nodded and went to invite the three Elders.
"Fellow Daoist Xia."
Hearing her voice, Xia Qing hurried over. "Fellow Daoist Ye, is something wrong?"
"Please have all non-essential personnel leave. We're starting the alchemy now."
"Alright, alright!" Xia Qing said excitedly, turning and shouting loudly to the attendant disciples, "That's enough, all of you out! Wait outside. No one is allowed to enter, no matter what happens or doesn't happen."
"Yes." Rarely getting to witness the refinement of high-grade Core Formation pills, yet unable to observe, the attendant disciples were reluctant but dared not disobey and left.
Afterwards, Elder Qingxi walked over. "Little Friend Ye, what should I do?"
Mo Tiange said, "Senior, please sit here. Just use your Dantian True Fire."
Elder Qingxi nodded, sitting cross-legged beside the pill furnace.
Mo Tiange looked up and saw Elder Qingmiao meditating to the side, while Elder Qingyi had gone to the doorway.
Puzzled, she pulled Wei Haolan aside and asked quietly, "Sect Leader Wei, what is Elder Qingyi doing?"
Wei Haolan said, "The Elders decided that Elder Qingyi will stand guard, while the other two Elders will take turns providing the pill fire."
"Oh." Mo Tiange nodded. "The Elders are indeed thoughtful. Having one Elder standing guard at all times is the best arrangement." After all, two Elders were sufficient to provide the pill fire.
Wei Haolan nodded. "Fellow Daoist Ye, please begin. I won't disturb you further."
"Mm." Mo Tiange turned to Elder Qingxi. "Senior, let's begin."
Elder Qingxi brought her palms together, circulated her Spiritual Qi, and pushed her right palm forward flatly. A stream of Spiritual Qi surged from her palm, instantly transforming into Dantian True Fire that shot towards the furnace base.
The Dantian True Fire of a Core Formation cultivator was far superior to the original earth fire of this place. The pill furnace heated up almost instantly.
Mo Tiange opened the furnace lid, swiftly threw in several spiritual herbs, then closed the lid, focusing intently on sensing the condition of the herbs inside with her divine sense.
The several herbs quickly liquefied, mixing together and emitting a rich medicinal fragrance. Although not as fast as when she used Solar True Fire, it was incomparably faster than when using earth fire before.
Actually, if she used the Purple Wood Cauldron to refine Azure Cloud Pills, she could probably finish in about half a day. But the Purple Wood Cauldron absolutely could not be revealed. Not to mention it was a magical treasure once used by a Deity Transformation cultivator, just the Sunlight Stone she had sealed within it was already extremely precious.
Inside the pill furnace, several medicinal liquids were undergoing intense changes. Mo Tiange sat cross-legged, eyes closed, but her divine sense never relaxed for a moment, closely monitoring the changes within.
At this moment, Elder Qingyi was standing guard outside the door. The attendant disciples had been thoroughly cleared out. Only five people remained in the alchemy chamber: Mo Tiange focusing on the furnace interior, Elder Qingxi concentrating on using her Dantian True Fire, and Elder Qingmiao, Wei Haolan, and Xia Qing staring unblinkingly at the alchemy process.
Time slowly passed. Elder Qingxi's face gradually paled. She had been using Dantian True Fire for three hours now, and her Spiritual Qi consumption was already significant.
Mo Tiange opened her eyes, saw the situation, and said, "Senior Qingmiao, please come relieve Senior Qingxi."
Hearing this, Elder Qingmiao stood up, walked over, sat beside Elder Qingxi, circulated her Spiritual Qi, and forced out her Dantian True Fire.
In that instant, Elder Qingxi withdrew her own Dantian True Fire and, supported by Wei Haolan, sat to the side to meditate and recover her Spiritual Qi.
Mo Tiange observed. Elder Qingmiao's Dantian True Fire was almost identical to Elder Qingxi's. This was better than expected. Although differences wouldn't matter much, pill fire was more stable the better, so there wouldn't be a situation where changes in the herbs became abnormal and uncontrollable.
"Two Seniors, please coordinate the timing of your shifts yourselves. It's best not to exchange only after completely exhausting your Spiritual Qi; it will be easier for you to recover."
Elder Qingmiao acknowledged and focused on outputting her Dantian True Fire.
Sensing that the materials in the furnace were almost ready, Mo Tiange lifted the furnace lid, added most of the remaining materials, then quickly closed the lid, sat to the side, and began forming Hand Seals.
Refining Condensing Yuan Pills was relatively simple, but Azure Cloud Pills absolutely counted as high-grade pills, requiring many Hand Seals in coordination. One intricate Hand Seal followed another almost without pause, flowing smoothly like clouds and water, making Xia Qing's eyes widen in amazement.
Such complex Hand Seals required long practice to achieve. Xia Qing admitted to herself that she was still a bit lacking in this aspect. She truly didn't know how high Fellow Daoist Ye's alchemy talent was—not a dedicated alchemist, yet stronger than herself.
Actually, Mo Tiange had also practiced extensively. Her alchemy talent was quite ordinary, but she had refined an enormous number of pills, all high-grade ones, which was how she had developed this skill in forming seals.
Recalling the past, she had once seen Qin Xi's Hand Seal techniques and had been amazed at the time. Only after she began alchemy herself did she realize she had underestimated him back then. To possess such exquisite Hand Seal techniques, and to have memorized them after just one viewing... His alchemy skills were far higher than hers now. How could that be achieved by an ordinary cultivator who had just established his Foundation?
Sighing inwardly, she closed her eyes and focused on sensing the condition of the pill furnace.