The pill furnace rumbled. Divine runes appeared on it, and the stars moved around it. A vast aura caused heaven and earth to shake. Meng Qi and Chu Yao both became nervous.

Long Chen’s seclusion area was at the top of a large mountain. This place was originally the place for the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race’s disciples to absorb the light of the sun and moon while they cultivated.

A large spirit gathering formation had been installed here, and Long Chen was refining here precisely to absorb the energy of heaven and earth for his pills.

The two of them had been mentally prepared since Long Chen had deliberately asked for the two of them to help him, but they were still stunned by how intense it was.

The energy within the pill furnace made their hair stand on end. That energy had reached an inconceivable level. If it exploded out of control, the three of them might lose their lives.

Long Chen’s expression was also serious. He was completely focused, while Meng Qi stood behind him and poured her Spiritual Strength into him.

The rumbling intensified, and even the mountain range Long Chen was in was starting to shake. The pressure started to grow.

BOOM!

Finally, the pill furnace shuddered one final time. At that time, Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength burst forth in full force.

“Condense!”

The runes flowing across the pill furnace came to a sudden stop. Then all those runes slowly dimmed. The pill furnace returned to its normal appearance.

Three long sighs rang out in the air. Only now did Long Chen realize his forehead and back were covered in sweat. This refinement had been gripping.

Even Chu Yao had sweaty palms even though she hadn’t done anything. She didn’t understand alchemy, but from how tense Long Chen was, she could tell just how important this refinement was.

Long Chen slowly opened the lid. When the slightest crack appeared, rainbow lights filled the air.

“How beautiful!”

Chu Yao and Meng Qi let out a cry at the same time. When the lid was fully opened, it was like flowers were blossoming in the air. They looked both real and illusory, but either way, they were incredibly beautiful. It was like they were in a dream.

Long Chen looked and nodded. Not bad. He had refined nine pills, but there was one middle grade and two high grade ones. The rest were all top grade Hundred Flower Dao Resonation Pills.

Meng Qi and Chu Yao each took one of the pills. Seeing the flower patterns constantly transforming, they were infatuated.

Suddenly, a clap of thunder startled them. They looked at the sky.

“Give them to me. Otherwise, the heavens are going to unleash a lightning tribulation to destroy them.”

Long Chen put the pills into the primal chaos space. The lightning that had been slowly gathering in the sky lost its target and dispersed.

Long Chen called over Lei Long to have the six top grade pills undergo pill lightning tribulation to awaken their spirits, and then he prepared the next set of medicinal powders for refinement.

This time, it was Chu Yao helping him, while Meng Qi stood guard as she recovered her Spiritual Strength.

Just refining that first furnace of pills had exhausted around fifty percent of Meng Qi’s Spiritual Strength, and thirty percent of Long Chen’s.

Furthermore, this was only after the Moon and Star Refining Furnace had received the nourishment of the Heavenly Spirit Water, allowing it to recover a bit and help in the refinement. Otherwise, it would have taken up even more energy.

Of course, since that was the first refinement, Long Chen had been especially careful and expended some extra Spiritual Strength to guarantee a successful refinement.

As for the second furnace of pills, with his previous experience, it was much more relaxed. It only took an incense stick’s worth of time.

This time, there were seven top grade pills, and the other two also had signs of being top grade, but they lacked the requisite spirituality. Such pills could not count as top grade.

Things only grew smoother, because the more he refined, the more the Moon and Star Refining Furnace memorized this pill formula, making it even easier for Long Chen to refine the pills. He was also using up less Spiritual Strength.

For three days, Long Chen didn’t take a break. In the end, he relied entirely on Meng Qi and Chu Yao’s support as his own Spiritual Strength was exhausted.

During this time, he refined over a thousand Hundred Flower Dao Resonation Pills. The three of them were pale as paper, feeling like their heads would split open by the time they took a break. All three of them had completely run out of Spiritual Strength. They had no other choice but to rest.

Meng Qi and Chu Yao returned to their rooms to rest, while Long Chen wearily went to Gu Yang, having him distribute the pills and make sure that the squad captains in particular got one. They were to immediately take the pills and start awakening their manifestations.

He then went to Xia Chen. “Have there been any movements?”

“Not for now. Boss, don’t worry, my Heaven Peering Spirit Formation is connected to the Xuantian Dao Sect’s side. If there is anything questionable, I’ll immediately sense it,” said Xia Chen.

When they had first set up the ancestral land of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race here, Xia Chen had set up the formations. There were many backups, so there was nothing within a few million miles of this place that could escape his senses.

The Xuantian Dao Sect’s side was the same. He could keep watch over that side just like he did here. Long Chen had said that if Zhao Wuji were to make a move, he would definitely choose one of them. The chances of a simultaneous attack were very low.

Long Chen nodded. “Good. They’re probably still in the midst of planning. I feel like their chances of attacking here are the highest. When they do attack, it will be a thunderous attack. Have you finished setting things up?”

“Everything’s finished and all kinds of preparations have been made. To tell the truth, spending all this money was truly distressing,” said Xia Chen.

All those resources had been spent on creating an absolutely supreme formation. That formation could only be used once before it crumbled. Xia Chen had never thought about being this extravagant.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get back at least ten times our investment. I’ll leave this side to you. Don’t relax. I need to go rest,” said Long Chen.

“Go. I’ll keep watch here. There are many preparations set up. Even if the enemies come charging in with a giant army, I can hold them all by myself for a while.” Xia Chen was confident in his formations.

Long Chen nodded and left. He had wanted to go see Guo Ran as well, but he was too exhausted. He went into his room and instantly fell fast asleep.

It was a sweet sleep, with some beautiful dreams. He dreamed himself married to a huge line of brides. That line stretched back several hundred miles...

Every one of them was dressed in an imperial dress, having a red veil covering their faces. Long Chen delightedly ran over to take off those veils.

However, when he pulled off the first veil, it revealed a toad-like stone face smiling menacingly at him.

Long Chen instantly woke from his dream, sitting up. He found that Meng Qi and Chu Yao had been sleeping beside him and were startled awake now. They hastily asked what was going on.

“Zhao Wuji has come.”

“Xia Chen hasn’t set off the alarm yet. How can you tell?” asked Meng Qi.

“When we fought, I slipped a drop of my essence blood into his body. When he is close to me or feels intense killing intent toward me, I will sense it.” Long Chen slowly got out of bed.

When the two of them had fought, blood had been spraying everywhere. It would have been difficult for Zhao Wuji to sense a single drop entering his body.

Even if he had sensed it, he would have simply assumed it was from the blood flying everywhere. He would have simply expelled it from his body without a care. But even then, Long Chen’s mark would have been left on his body. Zhao Wuji might be a powerful opponent, but all his power lay in external forces. On his own, he wasn’t so powerful, and his spiritual perception wasn’t very great.

With Long Chen’s ability to sense him plus Xia Chen’s formations, Long Chen was confident in catching him.

“Are we going out to fight?” asked Chu Yao.

“It’s not so exaggerated. This feeling is still rather vague. He should still be very far away. I would guess that he has just come out of the Mechanism Sect’s minor world. I didn’t sense him before because he was recuperating in there. Now he’s come out, but there should still be some time before he makes his move. He first has to confirm my position. How are the two of you, have you recovered?” Long Chen looked at the two of them worriedly. He had tired them out badly with the refining this time.

“My Spiritual Strength has recovered between seventy to eighty percent. It shouldn’t be the problem. You’re the one I’m worried about,” said Meng Qi, straightening Long Chen’s robes.

“I can do it myself!”

When Chu Yao took out a washcloth to clean his mouth, Long Chen reached out, but Chu Yao caught his hand and warmly wiped his face. Long Chen still had some sweat from the nightmare.

As Chu Yao and Meng Qi freshened him up, Chu Yao also took out a new set of black robes. Most of Long Chen’s clothes were personally made by Chu Yao.

As Long Chen’s status elevated, the materials for his robes also grew more extravagant. They were more difficult to damage as well. Seeing the needlework that had gone into these new robes, Long Chen was emotional.

“Trust me. Once I stand at the top, I’ll go into seclusion in the mountains with you. We can distance ourselves from this clamorous world and create a peaceful place where we can live freely and happily,” swore Long Chen.

Meng Qi and Chu Yao both knew that Long Chen was referring to when he had wiped away all his enmities and solved the mystery of his origins. There was still a long path to walk.

They only smiled sweetly at him without replying. They felt happy just being able to accompany him, whether it was standing at the top of the world or retreating to the countryside. As long as Long Chen was happy, they were happy.

“Meng Qi, let me give you a gift.” Long Chen took out the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill.