Sixty pills are formed.

First came the azure thunder and violet lightning.
Then followed the Shattered Calamity Claws.
The Azure Nether Ghost Bat.
And the Chaos Fang of Discord...

Nine heavenly tribulations arrived one after another, gouging the vast mountain range three feet deep!

The Great Kidney, together with Wan Tong and the others, had retreated far away in advance. When they glanced back towards Shanglu, sympathy flickered in their eyes.

He must have been battered by the aftermath into something barely recognizable as human.

Especially the last calamity—Wan Tong, though blind, could still sense an intense, suffocating dread in the darkness.

Yet Qin Chuan remained utterly unharmed!

By contrast, Xiang Yin’s handsome face was now disheveled and grimy. Staring at the vortex in the heavens above, his eye twitched; his gaze towards Qin Chuan carried a subtle resentment.

“I’ll need a century in the Sea of Vision to recover from today’s losses,” he thought.

His spiritual energy was nearly depleted, the chaotic force of the nine tribulations rampaging within, refusing to dissipate.

Meanwhile, Qin Chuan’s eyes grew ever brighter.

He was aware of the events in the outside world. Though he didn’t know who had borne the calamities for him or why, it was ultimately a blessing.

At this crucial moment of fusion, the two pill embryos were just a hair’s breadth from completion, yet he couldn’t take the final step—it felt as though something was missing.

What was lacking?

In a moment of clarity, Qin Chuan recalled that this Dao Pill had come from the realm of transformation.

“The old man spent his life pondering, and found only three methods. The first: seek out every ingredient under heaven, fuse countless medicines into one, so that though the pill is small, it contains the fullness of the world. But how rare and difficult is this!

“The second method is equally arduous. Before the world opened, all was primordial chaos, then came enlightenment. If one could find a shred of this unformed primordial qi, it too could forge a supreme pill embodying the ultimate truths of existence.

“The third method is to use oneself as the furnace, refine the soul to the utmost—nine cycles reaching the clouds.”

The words of the wandering Daoist lingered in his ear. Unwittingly, he had chosen the third path, melding the pill through self-refinement. Now, what remained was the soul itself.

A blessing enveloped his heart, and a cold light gradually surfaced in Qin Chuan’s gaze. He had entered the state of supreme detachment.

As he closed his eyes, he seemed to become dust, become the Dao Pill, become all things, become the universe itself.

The soul, formless and intangible, lightly wrapped itself around the pill embryo.

With this closing of his eyes, it felt as if another ten thousand years had passed.

Xiang Yin scattered the tribulation clouds, his eyes fixed on the Dao Pill embryo within Qin Chuan’s lower dantian. Seeing the final step unfulfilled, his expression darkened.

If this Dao Pill failed to take shape, he swore he would chew this brat to pieces a thousand times over, swallow him, digest him, then do it all again, for ten thousand years—only then would his resentment be sated!

Long had he watched for changes in the pill embryo, but instead he noticed a transformation in Qin Chuan himself.

At first he paid no mind, but soon he was surprised, then deeply alarmed.

A mysterious aura arose from Qin Chuan, one Xiang Yin couldn’t even perceive, as if it contained all things in existence.

But instantly, the Dao Pill embryo in his dantian let out a resonant hum, pulling his attention back.

The Dao Pill was about to form!

On Qin Chuan’s soul, a pair of eyeless eyes had long since appeared, and now the black pill embryo slowly moved toward the left eye.

The moment they aligned—

A resonant hum, not of sound but arising from the depths of the heart, shook the world and all its creatures!

Within Qin Chuan’s soul, the missing left eye and the black Dao Pill suddenly merged.

The Dao Pill was complete!

Qin Chuan abruptly opened his eyes; his left eye now bore a fully formed pupil.

The aura from the pill embryo immediately dissipated, as if it had never existed. When Qin Chuan probed his dantian, the Dao Pill hung motionless at the very center of the swirling energy, emanating a faint, inscrutable aura.

Seeing the Dao Pill’s aura recede, Xiang Yin’s expression brightened, joy lighting his face. Though his spiritual energy was low, handling a mere Qi refiner would be effortless.

Still, to avoid a desperate struggle, he ought to subdue him first.

With this thought, Xiang Yin formed a hand seal, and a palm fan slowly materialized in his right hand.

He flicked his wrist and gently waved the fan at Qin Chuan.

But unexpectedly, a new anomaly arose—the magic sword suddenly emitted a resonant hum!

Then, all present saw a streak of light flash through the void, accompanied by a sound like cloth being torn.

“Who’s there?”

Though Xiang Yin had shielded Qin Chuan from the tribulations, he had never revealed himself, and his cultivation far exceeded theirs, making his hiding place impossible to detect.

During the forging of the Dao Pill, Qin Chuan had no mind to attend to anything else, nor knew who had intervened in secret.

Now that Xiang Yin was exposed, he no longer concealed himself, openly revealing his form. He stared at the magic sword floating two feet before Qin Chuan, hatred deepening in his somber gaze.

“You wretched Sword of Sacrifice, you sealed me for a thousand years, and now that I seek my due, you still stand in my way.”

His voice twisted into a shrill, furious cry. “Do you really think I’m made of clay?”

“At least tell me why! Why?”

Calculating carefully, Xiang Yin realized he was at only a third of his usual strength, making it impossible to wrest any advantage from the sword. His tone shifted, a hint of pleading in his voice.

Qin Chuan, too, was surprised, uncertain why the sword suddenly protected him. But as he glanced at the scattered vials and bottles around him, his eyes lit up. He bent to pick up the sword talisman lying on the ground.

He breathed gently upon it, then carefully wiped it with his sleeve. “Junior Qin Chuan thanks Senior Sword of Sacrifice for your rescue!”

The sword seemed almost sentient, emitting a soft hum in reply.

Xiang Yin was momentarily stunned by the scene. “No, the soul and nascent spirit of the Sword of Sacrifice’s heir had long since faded; only a crude rule remains in this world. How can it be so responsive?”

Qin Chuan’s heart found an answer.

Once, in the domain, he had unintentionally invoked a sword imbued with the Sword of Sacrifice’s intent. Presumably, the resonance had awakened a fragment of will.

Will is not soul—even Qin Chuan could preserve a trace of will within spiritual energy, so the Sword of Sacrifice could do the same.

Yet after a thousand years, that will was like water without roots, now reduced to a mere thread.

The preservation of will differs greatly from that of soul. To retain only will is true death, but with the soul intact, one can always find a new vessel and linger a while in the world.

As Qin Chuan realized this, Xiang Yin did as well. He summoned the remnants of his spiritual energy, revealing his true form—a black python several dozen yards long. To the others, it seemed poised to shatter the heavens.

The python let out a deafening roar, foul winds sweeping forth. From its mouth, a mass of dark yellow saliva splattered onto the ground, instantly corroding a deep hole.