Word Count: 3,088 Words
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Resplendent light surged upward, bathing the entire alchemy room in a wash of crimson. The medicinal fragrance seeped into hearts and refreshed minds, and a single breath was enough to make everyone feel as though the spirit power within their bodies stirred on the verge of breakthrough.
"Clan disciples, meditate together!" Jianmu Douluo's voice rang out.
Outside the alchemy room, the elite disciples of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan answered the call at once, settling cross-legged and slipping into meditation as they drew in the pill aura condensed from over a hundred peerless treasures.
The closer one drew to the alchemy room, the denser that aura became. A faint flush of red rose on the faces of the Titled Douluo gathered within. Medicinal power seeped through their pores and coursed through their limbs and bones until their bodies felt almost translucent.
Jianmu Douluo sensed the terrifying potency contained within the pill aura, and a great weight lifted from his heart at last. Pill refinement was not as troublesome as crafting Spirit Guidance Devices, yet it was hardly a simple affair.
The Angel Empire had unified the three great empires of the Douluo Continent, and the resources it could now mobilize had multiplied many times over. So Jianmu Douluo had reconsidered his plans and revised the list of pill recipients. Even Titled Douluo experts such as Ning Fengya, Ning Fengyu, and Xie Qin would each receive a custom-crafted pill suited to their Martial Spirits.
The principal ingredients were dozens of immortal herbs harvested from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, supplemented by the sea spirit beast essences Ling Bai had reaped, the medicinal herbs amassed within the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's Heaven's Treasury, the treasured collections of the Body Sect and the Holy Spirit Cult, and Shrek Academy's 'generous assistance.'
The workload had ballooned enormously in scope. Even matching medicines to each Martial Spirit was a troublesome ordeal in its own right. Jianmu Douluo shut himself in the alchemy room and toiled away day after day. Were it not for the profound depth of his Limit Douluo cultivation, his mind would long since have fractured under the strain.
In keeping with the differing medicinal properties of every Heaven and Earth Treasure, Jianmu Douluo harmonized and purified them in cycle after cycle. Once all the ingredients had undergone their initial refinement, their concentrated essences were committed to this final furnace.
The pills that emerged bore a rainbow of hues. Within their crystalline translucence drifted a faint mist, like clouds adrift inside each one, and they seemed almost alive, dimly manifesting the wondrous vision of sun and moon contending for radiance.
Jianmu Douluo gazed with satisfaction at the pills jostling within the furnace and turned to Ling Bai at his side. "Xiao Bai, these pills are even more potent than the Bright Emperor Pill you absorbed back then. The Douluo Continent won't have the resources to refine another furnace like this for a thousand years."
Ling Bai nodded in deep agreement. The Bright Emperor Pill of years past had been forged from the inner core of a 100,000-year light-attribute spirit beast, and it had been potent enough to suppress the Death Abyss Spider Emperor for five whole years. Now the pills inside the furnace gathered the accumulated wealth of every great super faction, and the aura of each one surpassed that of the Bright Emperor Pill.
A Rank 98 Titled Douluo who consumed one would gain the spirit power reserves needed to condense a second Spirit Core. A Spirit Douluo who consumed one would see their spirit power vault straight into the Titled Douluo realm.
By now, the spirit power of the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape had been almost wholly drained by the members of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and the others had crossed in succession into the Spirit Douluo realm. Once they absorbed Jianmu Douluo's pills, they would be true Titled Douluo by the time they next met.
"Thank you for your hard work, Teacher."
"Hard work or no, so be it." Jianmu Douluo waved a hand. "As a teacher, I must offer some gifts to my disciple's wives, after all.
Of course, it would be best if you found fewer of them next time. Refining this many top-tier pills in a single batch nearly turned this old bag of bones into a sacrifice for the furnace."
He transmitted the last sentence directly into Ling Bai's ears, lest the women not far away overhear. Ling Bai gave him a deadpan look and did not reply. Jianmu Douluo patted his shoulder with a solemn expression and began distributing the pills.
"Fengya, Xiao Tian, Nine-Colored Glazed Pill."
Two pills shimmering with nine dazzling hues drifted upward and came to rest before mother and daughter. Both were Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Spirit Masters, so their pills were identical.
"Qiuxi, Golden Dragon Ruination Pill.
Xiao Feng, Fire Dragon Sun-Burning Pill.
Xiaotao, Nine Heavens Flame Phoenix Pill.
Guyi, Angelic Sacred Heart Pill.
Ruoruo, Golden Fairy Radiant Swan Pill.
…"
Beneath everyone's expectant gazes, Jianmu Douluo unhurriedly released his spirit power, lifting one luminous pill after another into the air. Ning Fengyu watched with mounting impatience until at last she could endure no more. Her voice took on a pitiful note:
"Teacher, do you not dote on me anymore? Where's mine! Where's mine!"
"What's the rush? Azure Emperor Vitality Pill. This one's yours."
Jianmu Douluo tossed a cyan-green pill her way with a touch of exasperation. Ning Fengyu's face lit up in an instant, and she giggled as she declared that Teacher was the best in all the world.
Ever since Clear Sky Douluo Tang Chen had shattered her dream of idling away her days with three swings of his hammer, Azure Emperor Douluo had thrown herself into vigorous effort. Not only did she meditate and cultivate every day, but, as though the sun had risen in the west, she had even devoted herself to studying the true essence of plants. Once Ning Fengyu set her mind to something, her talent rivaled any genius. Her cultivation advanced a thousand miles in a day, and she had climbed to Rank 97.
Jianmu Douluo felt deeply comforted in his old age. One of his two disciples had embarked upon the path of becoming a God, while the other, after lazing away half her life, had finally awakened anew. It seemed his life no longer held any regrets.
Everyone took their pills on the spot, sat cross-legged, and slipped into meditation. They circulated their spirit power to drive the fusion, only to discover at once that no effort was required of them at all. The medicinal power was everywhere, surging ceaselessly through their meridians and drawing the illusory projections of their Martial Spirits into being behind them of their own accord.
For a moment, dragons sang and phoenixes cried, and precious light wreathed the air. The alchemy room had become a wondrous spectacle.
The medicinal fragrance remained as rich as ever, undiminished by the consumption of the pills. This time, however, it radiated outward from the bodies of those who had taken them.
Like catalysts, the pills elevated everyone's spirit power at an astonishing pace. Nor was the change limited to spirit power alone. Their flesh, blood, and meridians drank in the nourishment as well. Every soul in the room possessed a high-tier Martial Spirit, and their bodies had long contained scant impurities. Beneath the pills' influence, they grew purer still.
The situation gradually stabilized without mishap. Both Ling Bai and Jianmu Douluo let out a quiet breath, and the latter spoke.
"Xiao Bai, there are five uniformly refined Yin Yang Fortune Pills left. Send one to Shrek Academy to keep that old fellow Elder Mu from grumbling. The other four are yours to distribute."
At the mention of Elder Mu, Ling Bai could not help a faint smile, recalling Ma Xiaotao's complaints after a certain tender evening.
Elder Mu existed eternally in the form of the Ancient Golden Tree, and so Jianmu Douluo had once paid him a visit. The two veteran Limit Douluo, both representatives of an earlier era, had drunk wine together and conversed in good cheer.
After three cups, Jianmu Douluo's true intent had surfaced. Not only did he refuse to pay any entrance fee for setting foot in Shrek Academy, he had begun sweeping its treasures into his own pockets.
According to Ma Xiaotao's retelling, the famously even-tempered Elder Mu had cursed with exceptional filth that day.
"Dissolve the rest in water and pick out the most outstanding clan disciples and imperial geniuses to drink it."
"Mm." Jianmu Douluo nodded faintly. He swept his gaze across the peerless beauties gathered in the room like a hundred flowers in bloom, and his tone shifted without warning:
"Xiao Bai, these disciples-in-law of mine are all in fine health. While your teacher is still hale and hearty and good for a few more decades yet, you'd best hurry and sire some children. I can lend a hand looking after them.
Oh, right. Fengya tells me Xiao Tian is terribly anxious. She can't stop thinking about a legitimate eldest son."
Ling Bai helplessly averted his gaze. Over the past half year he had reveled every night and spread his rain and dew equally among his women, devoting himself wholeheartedly and without reserve. Yet everyone on the continent knew the Seraphim lineage passed down only a single heir each generation. Whether he would father children at all came down to fate.
The Douluo Continent still held to the ancient ways, and it was common enough for a man to keep wives and concubines. Since Ling Bai had arranged for the women to guard the continent's major cities and hold down different regions, Ning Tian no longer dwelt on his scoundrel nature.
She longed to bear his legitimate eldest son. On one hand it would secure her standing as his official wife, especially with her rivals all being women of extraordinary beauty and talent. On the other, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan likewise required an heir to carry on the continent's number one auxiliary-type Martial Spirit, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. In matters of continuing the family line, a son held a natural advantage over a daughter.
"Teacher, that isn't really something I can decide…"
Ling Bai smiled bitterly. His strength and his station alike stood at the pinnacle of the continent, with peerless beauties at his side. How could he not yearn to pass down his bloodline?
In the Divine Realm, even the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life had exhausted every effort and still failed to produce offspring. As a human who had yet to become a God, he was all the more helpless.
"No matter. I've been researching a folk remedy. Next time you…" Jianmu Douluo stroked his chin and offered the suggestion in earnest sincerity.
"Teacher, I'm off to absorb my pill."
Sensing danger at once, Ling Bai tore open a spatial gate and fled the terrifying pressure to procreate, emerging within a towering palace carved entirely from ice and snow.
A white-haired woman of peerless elegance sat upon the throne. Her sky-blue eyes were limpid and clear as she gazed out across the vast, boundless snowfield.
"Are you ready?"
The woman appeared before him in an instant. Her crimson lips parted softly, and her voice came clear and cold, untouched by the slightest mortal warmth.
"Everything is in readiness."
Ling Bai gently drew her into his arms and savored that singular touch of cool softness. The woman's icy reserve melted in turn, and the corners of her lips curved into a captivating arc.
A streak of gray light surged forth from his Spiritual Sea and slowly condensed into substance. Holding a necromancer's staff, the figure inclined his head toward the woman.
"Snow Empress."
"Elder Yi."
Over the years, Electrolux's fragments of divine sense had become the first spirit ring of the Death Abyss Spider Emperor. As the Death Abyss Spider Emperor steadily reclaimed the strength it had possessed before death, the Snow Empress had likewise broken through her own realm and become the third Yin-Yang Complement twin Spirit Core Great Beast, after the Beast God Di Tian and the Evileye Tyrant Emperor.
Jianmu Douluo could not help Ling Bai condense his third Spirit Core. A fundamental gulf in origin lay between Yin-Yang Complement twin Spirit Cores and Resonance twin Spirit Cores. The Snow Empress and Electrolux, however, could. They were each a part of Ling Bai's two great Martial Spirits.
To condense a third Spirit Core, unprecedented in all of human history, the iron triangle of his Spiritual Sea gathered once more.
Everything was understood without words. Ling Bai produced a silver pill, and the moment it appeared, the space within the Snow Empress's palace began to fracture and collapse. Surprise surfaced on her peerlessly beautiful face.
"This is the pill your teacher refined for you?"
"Seven 100,000-year spatial-attribute spirit beasts and three 100,000-year time-attribute spirit beasts went into the making of this single pill…
The Space-Time Holy Origin Pill."
Ling Bai sighed with feeling. A 100,000-year spatial-attribute spirit beast was already extraordinarily rare. As for 100,000-year time-attribute spirit beasts…
In Shrek Academy's ten-thousand-year history, only a single one had ever been slain, and its inner core had been enshrined within the underground treasury beneath the Ancient Golden Tree. Small wonder Elder Mu gnashed his teeth at the mention of Jianmu Douluo.
Even Heaven's Treasury, famed for holding the wealth of the world, could not turn up a preserved remnant of a 100,000-year time-attribute spirit beast. The other two inner cores had come from the Holy Spirit Cult and the Body Sect.
Jianmu Douluo had wracked his brains to refine the Space-Time Holy Origin Pill for Ling Bai. The reason, ultimately, was that condensing a purely spatial Spirit Core would squander the potential of a super Great Beast like the Evileye Tyrant Emperor. Space-Time Light was an ultimate Spirit Skill that wove together the three great attributes of spirit, time, and space, and so Ling Bai had resolved to condense a third Spirit Core around space and time.
Hummmm—
The Angel Spirit Core manifested at the center of his brow, and the radiance of the Death Abyss Spirit Core kindled in his chest. The vast aura of the Holy Evil Spirit Core surged upward and shrouded the entire Extreme North in an instant.
'It's that fellow who bullied Xue Er…'
Ice Empress raised her head and surveyed the sky, half blazing gold and half ashen with death. The crushing pressure stirred instinctive fear, and she swiftly summoned the spirit beasts of the Extreme North to retreat from the core region.
Resplendent light blazed from within Ling Bai's body. His Yin-Yang Complement twin Spirit Cores spun without cease, while the Space-Time Holy Origin Pill served at once as his source of spirit power and as the embryo of his third Spirit Core. His task was to fuse this third Space-Time Spirit Core with the Yin-Yang Complement twin Spirit Cores and, in the process of that fusion, forge an entirely new collision chain.
Had he not devoured every last shred of energy from the Evileye Tyrant Emperor and the Blood Red Nine-Headed Bat King and lifted his spiritual power onto another plane entirely, Ling Bai would never have chosen a Space-Time Spirit Core. Now, however, he held a measure of confidence.
Spirit Cores were built upon balance, for only balance permitted symbiosis. The Yin-Yang Complement twin Spirit Cores were rooted in his two great Martial Spirits, the Seraphim and the Death Abyss Spider Emperor, and they had coexisted in serene harmony. With the sudden intrusion of a third party, however, both cores reacted at once. Much like Ling Bai's title of Holy Evil Douluo, holy and evil fused into a single front and turned outward together to face the newcomer.
"Snow Empress, Elder Yi!"
Ling Bai's deep voice cracked through the chamber. The two great experts possessed experience beyond measure and moved without hesitation. The Snow Empress dissolved into snowflakes and took command of the Angel Spirit Core. Electrolux swept his necromancer's staff and seized control of the Death Abyss Spirit Core. Ling Bai marshaled his spiritual will and bent his entire focus upon the third Space-Time Spirit Core, channeling spiritual power from the Evileye Tyrant's skull spirit bone into it. Under their combined efforts, the rotation of all three Spirit Cores gradually slowed.
Holy, light, and fire. The Angel Spirit Core.
Death, evil, and poison. The Death Abyss Spirit Core.
Time, space, and spirit. The Space-Time Spirit Core.
Nine supreme attributes clashed and intertwined, churning out spirit power so chaotic it defied control. Low concussions rippled across Ling Bai's body, and glaring red blood soaked through his robes.
The Space-Time Holy Origin Pill harbored the terrifying energies of ten 100,000-year spirit beasts and countless Heaven and Earth Treasures, compounded by the spiritual power the Evileye Tyrant Emperor had devoured from the Evil Eye clan. The pill itself was nothing less than a restless space-time bomb.
A tremendous gravitational pull erupted without warning. The Space-Time Spirit Core sought to devour the other two and become the sole source of spirit power within Ling Bai's body, hurtling first toward the Death Abyss Spirit Core in his chest.
Ling Bai and Electrolux exchanged a swift glance. Electrolux held the Death Abyss Spirit Core steady while Ling Bai marshaled his spiritual power and forcibly wrenched the Space-Time Spirit Core into the opposite rotation, driving it spiraling downward into his dantian!
The two Spirit Cores spun in perfect opposition, and a wondrous sight unfolded. Under their precise control, the cores completed a Yin-Yang Complement-style fusion. The Space-Time Spirit Core settled into stable rotation within his dantian and ceased its assault upon the Death Abyss Spirit Core.
Forward, reverse, forward. A strange equilibrium was born. Two Yin-Yang Complement vortices took shape, one between his brow and his chest, the other between his chest and his dantian. The three great Spirit Cores wound through Ling Bai's body like a coiling ribbon, and the immense spirit power, refined now through layer upon layer of fusion, flowed freely through his every limb and bone.
"Elder Yi, Snow Empress. It really does come down to the three of us."
The trio exchanged a smile, their brows alight with carefree delight.
The third Spirit Core was complete. The Space-Time Sovereign Spirit Core!
Spirit power broke through.
Limit Douluo!