It was as if millions of wild lions were running rampant within Long Chen’s body. The medicinal energy was erupting like a volcano, wanting to explode Long Chen’s body.

“A demonic pill really is demonic. They’re both powerful and vicious. Not just anyone would be able to endure this energy.” Long Chen was shaken inside.

Last time, he had refined a giant pill and learned of the terrifying medicinal effect of demonic pills. However, this time, it wasn’t a giant pill, but its effect was still more ferocious than he had expected.

Most likely, this was the result of Ling-er’s trip to the Netherworld. She had gotten stronger, resulting in stronger demonic pills.

Demonic pills earned their namesake due to the violent demonic energy within them. They possessed a berserk will that had an immense burden on not just the physical body, but also the soul and mind.

Orthodox alchemists viewed demonic pills as evil entities due to their strong side effects. Occasionally, eating one or two might not be a problem, but if consumed over the long term, they would create a dependence that a person wouldn’t be able to extricate themselves from. The mind would become twisted. That was why demonic pills were not recognized according to the normal alchemy world.

However, Long Chen disagreed. Everything existed for a reason. There was nothing meaningless within the Heavenly Daos.

A sword had two edges. Whether it was used to kill enemies or cut one’s own neck was based on the user, not the sword itself.

Those so-called side effects were because the ones consuming the pills didn’t have strong enough bodies or firm enough wills, resulting in the demonic pills invading them. The dependence on the pills was due to seeking greater medicinal effects while ignoring the burden to their body.

However, it was true that a demonic pill was really not something an ordinary person could consume. Long Chen wasn’t planning on giving even the Dragonblood warriors this kind of pill.

Long Chen consumed three demonic pills, and an endless torrent of medicinal energy was raging throughout his body.

His originally messy spiritual yuan gradually began to clear up. Black and white specks appeared as the medicinal energy violently crashed through his meridians.

The messy spiritual yuan represented an initial entry into the Netherpassage realm. It could not even be fully considered the first step. Only when life and death energy started to manifest would it be considered the first step.

When the spiritual yuan was turbid, it represented that the life and death energy had yet to separate and was still unusable. Now Long Chen was starting to separate them.

With the assistance of the Yin Yang Merger Dao Pill, his life and death energy began to differentiate.

For others, they required Heavenly Dao energy as a reference and to corroborate this process. Normally this was very slow, but due to the current era, everyone’s cultivation speed had increased.

The Dragonblood Legion in particular had the aid of Liu Ruyan. She had absorbed the comprehension of the Yin Yang Immortal Grass. Her life and death domain had become a perfect place for everyone’s cultivation. Adding on the blessing of the Heavenly Daos, the Martial Heaven Alliance’s experts had reached an unimaginable speed in terms of their cultivation.

However, even that speed could not compare to Long Chen. He had no need to comprehend life and death. He didn’t need the Heavenly Daos. He didn’t need a reference or someone to corroborate his understanding. The Nine Star Hegemon Body Art’s cultivation method was to simply eat more and more pills.

As he consumed one pill after another, his spiritual yuan gradually became two colors, one black as ink, one white as jade.

“Ling-er, there’s no need for more Yin Yang Merger Dao Pills. I’ll teach you to refine the Tiger Bone Life Spirit Pill now,” said Long Chen.

While Long Chen was busy consuming pills, Ling-er had refined two more furnaces of pills. That was enough. Any more would be a waste since no one else could consume these pills. After that, he took out more ingredients and taught Ling-er another pill formula.

Ling-er’s ability to work together with Long Chen grew smoother as they gained experience. They quickly finished another furnace of pills.

The lid opened and a tiger roared, shaking the room. One giant tiger after another came charging out at Long Chen.

The runes of the Demon Moon Furnace lit up, and those tigers vanished. They transformed into pills that were white as snow.

Inside of these pills was a milky light emitting boundless life energy. Even with the formation around him, Long Chen noticed the vegetation in the surroundings starting to grow faster.

The Tiger Bone Life Spirit Pills’ effect actually reached out of the formation. The surrounding vegetation greedily absorbed the life energy filling the air.

“What a powerful medicinal effect. As expected of top grade demonic pills. Even without undergoing a tribulation, it is so powerful,” praised Long Chen.

He refined two more furnaces of this pill before having Ling-er refine them on her own. He then went to finish consuming the Yin Yang Merger Dao Pills.

When all of them were consumed, his body rumbled. He sensed the FengFu, Alioth, Life Fate, Enlightenment Palace, and Divine Gate Stars shudder.

His 108,000 astral spaces grew once more. The primal chaos whirling around them also split into black and white parts.

The Divine Gate Star flashed repeatedly. Long Chen felt his mind-sea start to change. It began to grow rapidly. He could sense his Spiritual Strength growing along with it.

“Advancing to the first step of Netherpassage actually resulted in my Spiritual Strength transforming as well. Damn, my mind-sea has doubled in size. I wonder if I would be able to block Feng Fei’s attack now with just this Spiritual Strength.” Long Chen was astounded by this pleasant surprise.

However, when he thought about it, he shook his head. No matter how strong his Spiritual Strength grew, the quality of his techniques hadn’t. He couldn’t bring out the full potential of this immense Spiritual Strength. But it was still a nice surprise.

Long Chen began to laugh in delight at reaching the first step, but he suddenly shut his mouth. Within the entire Dragonblood Legion, even a lazy slacker like Guo Ran had reached the third step. His first step didn’t seem so dazzling.

“Gotta keep going.”

Long Chen took out the Tiger Bone Life Spirit Pills. Upon consuming one, a tiger roar rang out. The milky white medicinal energy surged through his body like lava.

“The Cloud Stepping Tiger is the only Magical Beast that doesn’t consume flesh, but only consumes various spirit fruits to extend its life. If refined into an ordinary pill, it is so gentle that even someone in the Xiantian realm would be able to consume it without a problem. But once refined into a demonic pill, even such gentle medicinal energy becomes violent. This world really is full of marvels.”

Long Chen sighed inside. This world was full of things that he didn’t know. The Pill Sovereign’s memories contained the refinement techniques for demonic pills, but there were many principles involved that he didn’t understand. He just had the knowledge without the why.

The Pill Dao, the Martial Dao, and every other Dao were boundless. It was possible to spend a lifetime studying one without learning even a tenth of its profundities. It truly made a person sigh.

Long Chen discarded those distracting thoughts and focused on absorbing the medicinal energy.

As he absorbed the energy of the Tiger Bone Life Spirit Pill, his originally equal life and death energy changed. His life energy gradually began to suppress his death energy.

When the life and death energy separated, it marked the first step. When the life energy suppressed the death energy, it marked the second step.

The death energy grew smaller and smaller. It gradually approached a sixty-forty proportion.

Long Chen found that even when the life energy occupied sixty percent and his death energy was clearly compressed, there was still a kind of balance between the two sides.

“The death energy becomes more condensed as it is pressured, strengthening it. So that’s how it goes,” realized Long Chen.

He continued consuming pills. Other people needed to borrow the world’s life energy to suppress their death energy, but Long Chen had no need to do so. He had a feeling that the heavens might even strike him down if he tried to absorb its life energy.

When his life and death energy reached a seventy-thirty proportion, his body shuddered, and his astral spaces grew once more.

“Is this the first Heavenstage of Netherpassage?”

Long Chen smiled. Based on the Martial Heaven Continent’s cultivation rules, only upon reaching the first step did one’s cultivation truly start. The third Heavenstage was considered the second step, the Life realm. The sixth Heavenstage was considered the third step, the Death realm. The ninth Heavenstage was considered the fourth step, the Samsara realm.

Long Chen suddenly felt something was off. The Nine Star Hegemon Body Art had more Heavenstages than others. Was there a fifth step?

His confidence flagged. He was still a blind man groping around when it came to the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.

“Whatever. There has to be a path. If there’s not, I’ll create one.” Long Chen clenched his teeth and decided not to think so far in advance. He continued consuming pills.

Ling-er was truly amazing. One furnace of pills after another entered Long Chen’s mouth.

These top grade demonic pills that would cause others to explode were eaten like candy. He never stopped, and his life energy rapidly grew.

BOOM!

Another explosion came from within Long Chen’s body. He entered the second Heavenstage of Netherpassage.