While the people in the mortal realm prepared for their own plans, one of the rooms in a palace in the Nine Heavens lit up and a medicinal scent drifted into the adjacent courtyard and the corridor in front of the door.
The God of War, Qiang Yan, had been pacing up and down in that corridor, stopped in his tracks and straightened up, turning to face the door with a tensed expression.
This medicinal scent should mean that it had been a success, shouldn't it? So the pill for Nie Huang should be ready to be brought over so that she would be able to start cultivating and hopefully become immortal soon so she could accompany Bai Mu for the rest of his life.
He stared at the door, waiting for the God of Medicine to finally come out. He really wished that he could just barge right in but he didn't know if there were any last steps that needed to be taken care of before things were indeed done so he didn't dare to do anything.
They might have another few sets of ingredients that could be used but that didn't mean that he wanted to make using them necessary. One could never know what would happen in the future. Each day that went by was one day more that Nie Huang couldn't cultivate. Who knew if that one day might be important later on? Or who knew if the God of Medicine would indeed be able to refine the pill a second time? No, it was better to give him the time to do it right the first time around instead of relying on the future.
Qiang Yan took a deep breath to calm down and then once again paced up and down, listening for the sound of footsteps — or anything else really — from inside.
Another hour went by until finally a sound could be heard from the other side of the door. There was the rattling of metal and then a high sound like the whistle of a teapot that was about to finish boiling. Then, footsteps finally approached the door.
Qiang Yan stopped in his tracks once more and turned around, just in time to look into the fatigued face of the God of Medicine.
The God of Medicine gave a tired smile and then reached out, offering the pill to Qiang Yan. "I guess you've waited long enough. You should bring it over to whoever it is that needs this."
Qiang Yan hesitated, looking at the pill in the God of Medicine's hand. It was looking quite … unspectacular. It was not even as big as the nail of his little finger and the color was a dull brown. If somebody other than the God of Medicine had told him that this pill was the result of the Nine Heavens' best alchemist following a miraculous recipe unearthed from a person that had been thought to be long dead, he would've laughed and asked for the real pill. Now, it seemed that this unassuming thing was indeed exactly what he had been waiting for for so long.
Well, it wasn't like the way it looked was the important thing. No, the spiritual energy and the other properties the thing had were much more important. And even though he couldn't say how this pill had been created, he could at least say that the spiritual energy the pill emanated was rather strong. It wasn't obvious when he didn't pay attention since the whole palace was always brimming with spiritual energy but when he focused, he could feel that there was a tremendous amount of power inside the thing.
Qiang Yan took a deep breath and then gingerly reached out, taking the pill from the God of Medicine as carefully as he could. "Should I put this in some vial or something?"
The God of Medicine laughed and waved his hand. "There's no need for that. Although it looks small, it is really robust so there is no need to fear for anythin to happen. Just take it and bring it over."
Qiang Yan nodded and looked at the pill again. "Thank you."
"There's no need to thank me at all. As I've said before, I feel like I was the one who struck a good deal with this. These recipes that the dragons were willing to give up are worth much more than even ten of these pills would amount to. So if anything, I'd have to thank you. Now go. Weren't you anxious to get this delivered?"
Qiang Yan gave another nod and then hurried away, rushing out of the palace and over to the dragon realm. Thinking of his son and his daughter-in-law, he really was eager to deliver the pill.
As soon as he reached the door of the dragon king's palace, the gate opened itself and a familiar person appeared on the other side. "God of War."
Qiang Yan's brows twitched. This guy was really well-informed. "Adviser Xiang Yong."
"I heard that you were coming for a visit so I felt I should come and greet you."
Qiang Yan nodded. "Actually, I came to see my son."
"I see. Well, let me bring you over. We wouldn't want to let the Nine Heavens say that we're a bad host."
Qiang Yan only laughed and followed him. The Nine Heavens, or rather their Heavenly Emperor, would certainly have a lot to say about the dragons but them being bad hosts wasn't very high up on that list. Then again, this kind of insult might actually be better to hear than what his brother-in-law would actually want to say. Well, that wasn't his problem right now.
The two of them reached the door and Xiang Yong bid his farewell, walking back to his own study. Anyway, the God of War would be able to find his way around the palace himself if he needed to. As for everything else … It was alright as long as they knew just who was coming to visit. After all, they didn't want to get any nasty surprises.
Thinking of that, he really couldn't help but think of that person that had come over the other day to see Bai Mu. Even though there had been a good explanation, he couldn't help but have the nagging feeling that something would go wrong. It really made him feel ill at ease.