After leaving the Bubu Pharmacy, Ryan once again climbed Mt. Tianheng.
This time, he wasn't there to refine elixirs, but to imbue them with color.
Imbuing with color was different from refining elixirs; it wouldn't gather a large amount of elemental energy to attract monsters. Instead, the surging tribulation lightning would scare them away.
After all, he had imbued elixirs with color outdoors when he was in Jueyun Karst.
"Heavenly Tribulation as my chisel! Nine Heavens' Thunder for mystic light! Transmute!"
Arriving at the summit of Mt. Tianheng, Ryan made some preparations, then cupped the elixir in his hands and chanted a spell.
Rumble rumble—
As Ryan's incantation ended, dense dark clouds quickly gathered, obscuring the night sky, and lightning flashes were clearly visible surging within the clouds.
For a moment, fierce winds howled between heaven and earth, making Ryan's fur fly in the wind, and his ears tilted slightly backward.
However, having been struck by lightning so many times, he was prepared this time.
"Immortal Art, I invite my Martial Uncle to possess me!"
Facing the shimmering thunderclouds in the sky, Ryan once again unleashed an Immortal Art.
This time, what appeared behind Ryan was not the fiery red phantom of a Damselette, but a robust, four-armed purple humanoid phantom.
With the appearance of this phantom, purple lightning flashed around Ryan, intending to help him block the tribulation lightning.
"Hahaha, come on, this time my lightning resistance is maxed out! Do you dare strike me again!"
With lightning surging around him, Ryan laughed triumphantly, looking up at the sky.
Rumble—!
No sooner had he spoken than a bolt of lightning descended from the sky.
Although a portion of it was absorbed by the lightning around him, it still made Ryan feel an instant tingle course through his entire body.
It didn't hurt much, but it instantly paralyzed his body with electricity.
'Oh ho... this is bad...'
Realizing his body was paralyzed by electricity and unable to move, Ryan's ears on top of his head instantly drooped down, flopping against his skull.
Rumble—!
Then, another bolt of lightning struck, threatening to engulf Ryan.
At this moment, the phantom behind Ryan moved, its four arms throwing punches in succession, stirring up a sky full of purple lightning that dissipated along with the tribulation lightning falling from the sky.
But blocking one bolt of tribulation lightning was its limit, and the phantom behind Ryan quickly faded and disappeared.
Fortunately, the time it took for one bolt of tribulation lightning allowed Ryan to break free from the electric paralysis, and he quickly scurried out of the tribulation's range, leaving only a blue and white elixir floating in the air to continue facing the lightning tribulation.
"Phew ah... Phew ah... I almost got zapped into an Inazuma fox..."
Ryan wiped the sweat from his forehead, speaking with lingering fear.
However, compared to collapsing after a single strike before, Ryan had made some progress now.
After Ryan ran off, the lightning tribulation continued. With one bolt of lightning striking, more than half of Liyue Harbor below Mt. Tianheng was illuminated for an instant.
A roar startled children into crying, and adults awoke from their dreams, their minds unsettled by the shock.
On Mt. Tianheng, the Hilichurls huddled together, trembling, and the Slimes buried their faces in their companions.
At the same time, on the floating structure named Jade Chamber, a noble woman with long white hair stood at the edge of the Jade Chamber, gazing at the lightning striking Mt. Tianheng, deep in thought.
Perhaps due to the special nature of the three-star elixir, this lightning tribulation lasted longer than usual.
"Immortal Art! I invite my Martial Uncle to possess me!"
Ryan was worried that the elixir would really be shattered, so after resting for a while, he quickly used the Immortal Art again, rushing in to forcefully endure a bolt of tribulation lightning.
"Martial Uncle, save me!"
After taking a bolt of tribulation lightning, he scurried out again, looking dejected.
"Hmm... why is my fur so fluffy...?"
Running out and letting out a sigh of relief, Ryan suddenly noticed that all his fur had puffed up, even more noticeably than when he was startled.
After a while longer, the lightning tribulation gradually subsided.
This was Ryan's first time consciously watching a lightning tribulation end, and he saw electric arcs constantly jumping around the elixir that had been there earlier.
But the next moment, an ethereal colored halo, like a rainbow, emanated from the elixir, the electric arcs were scattered, and a faint medicinal fragrance wafted across the summit of Mt. Tianheng, entering Ryan's nose.
Ryan eagerly leaned forward, extending his hand to catch the elixir.
Earlier, when it was finished refining and had cooled down, its golden light dissipated, it was just a blue and white elixir.
But now, although its color was still blue and white, it had many more details, looking like a plump, blue and white Qilin curled up, with some spiral patterns on its surface resembling clouds and fur.
"Wow, this elixir even looks a bit like how Martial Sister Ganyu looked when she was little, as Master said..."
Looking at the elixir, which resembled a small Qilin curled up, Ryan couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
[Qilin Pill (3-star · Colored): After consumption, the body part where the medicinal power gathers gains the power of the Qilin, and at the same time, that part gains the undead power of a zombie and the destructive power of a yaksha.]
The Qilin Pill, after being imbued with color, also gained new effects, seemingly activating the effects brought by the zombie hair and yaksha hair added to its ingredients.
"The power of the Qilin, the power of a zombie, and the power of a yaksha... Such a precious elixir, I really have to test it myself."
Ryan wiped away non-existent drool from the corner of his mouth.
Then, he eagerly picked up the elixir and put it into his mouth.
"Sorry, Martial Sister Ganyu."
Looking at the small Qilin that seemed to be curled into a ball, Ryan said apologetically, then put the elixir into his mouth.
"Mmm...? !"
The next moment, Ryan suddenly felt something, as if a small animal held in his mouth gently struggled, startling him.
But before he could spit out the elixir, the Qilin Pill had already melted upon contact with his mouth, turning into a warm current that surged into Ryan's body.
"Wait, wait... Did it, did it just move...?"
Ryan covered his mouth, his eyes wide with terror as he spoke.
"I won't choke, will I?"
Then Ryan moved his hands down, from covering his mouth to covering his neck.
However, the elixir had already transformed into a warm current, and Ryan soon felt the warm current surge to every corner of his body, making him feel warm all over.
Immediately after, the warm current contracted back into a ball, gathering in Ryan's abdomen.
Finally, seemingly having chosen a target, this ball of warm current surged in one direction.
"Hmm... why is it going down?"
Ryan closed his eyes, sensing the warm current flowing within his body, but suddenly felt something was not quite right.
Logically, shouldn't it surge into his arm to become a Qilin arm?
Just as Ryan was wondering, this ball of warm current gathered below Ryan's lower abdomen, then surged towards his back.
The next moment, Ryan felt as if his tail had been set on fire, making him gasp in pain, and he quickly wrapped his tail around to the front of his body to protect it with his hands.
And that warm current stopped flowing, slowly merging with Ryan's tail.
"Merged... with my tail?"
Ryan held the fox tail that had wrapped around to his front, looking a bit dazed.
But he had no way to change the elixir's effect, so he could only slowly wait for the warm current to integrate into his tail.
"And just now the elixir... came alive? Was it an illusion? Or was it really alive...?"
"Hiss... Did I just eat the child of Martial Sister Ganyu, Vanquisher of Evil, Qiqi, and Shenhe?"
Ryan didn't know if the feeling he just had was an illusion, but he still made a terrified guess.
The fusion of the tail and the elixir quickly finished, and Ryan also felt that his tail was no longer so hot, and even had a feeling that his tail had become very strong, as if he could swat a person away with a single flick of his tail.
Ryan shook his head, no longer thinking about that terrifying possibility, but instead focused his attention on his tail.
His originally pure white tail now had some blue fur on its surface, similar to Ganyu's fur.
Although the fusion of the Qilin's power with his tail was not quite as expected, in order to test the efficacy, Ryan still tried it on the spot, turning around and whipping a nearby large tree with his tail.
Slap—
"Hiss—"
"Ouch ouch ouch!"
Although it made a loud crack similar to a whip, Ryan winced in pain and quickly rubbed his tail as he descended the mountain.
As for the large tree that had been struck by his tail, the entire tree tilted to one side, and the soil on the ground was overturned, revealing part of its roots.
After descending Mt. Tianheng, Ryan recorded the elixir's effects in the Grand Pill Compendium, and also noted down the suspicion that the elixir might be alive.
"I was a bit careless this time. Next time if I refine an elixir that looks like Martial Sister Ganyu, I'll have to test if it's alive first..."
Ryan muttered softly, then returned to Wangshu Inn.
Now his tail had become much stronger, and had even gained the undead power of a zombie, but there was one problem: if he hit something hard with his tail, Ryan would feel pain.
So, overall, this Qilin Fox Tail was not very useful to him; even if he had to fight, he usually chose to invite his Martial Uncle to possess him for help.
However, Ryan could now do single-tail push-ups with his tail...