Three days passed like this.
The Tiansang Spirit Palace was crowded with people again. Though the excitement of the "Windcloud Competition" had faded away, the Spirit Palace had started recruiting new disciples from the major cities of Tianshan Prefecture in the past few days.
The introduction of fresh blood made the Outer Yard look more vibrant again.
The only exception was a certain place where it was still rather stale.
This was a private courtyard with potholes all over it. Zhou Tiansen curled up on the wooden bed in the guest room, large black circles around his eyes.
He couldn't understand why Xu Xiaoshou hadn't returned in three days and three nights. This would've been easy to ignore if Xu Xiaoshou had come back for at least one night.
"Where did he go to fool around!"
Looking at the sky, Zhou Tiansen got up from bed. He couldn't sleep well once he had something on his mind, and he wouldn't rest until he finished the task.
But, the Tianxuan Gate was going to open.
"Forget it. Let Xu Xiaoshou take care of himself!" Zhou Tiansen feebly got out of the room by holding onto the door.
The Spiritual Library Division.
Mu Zixi had dust all over her head and face. She hadn't bathed for three days. This would've been unbearable under any other circumstances, but...
"Master said I have to stay here for three days and try my hardest to refine the medicinal liquid.
"But..."
She looked at the vat full of medicinal liquid and pouted her small mouth.
It was obvious that the task wouldn't take three days to complete!
Why couldn't her master have opened the door and let her go out?
"Ah, I need to take a bath."
She propped her chin on her hands while leaning against the windowsill.
Suddenly, she seemed to see a figure wearing a conical hat, and she felt extremely excited.
Elder Sang landed on the third floor and looked at the large filled-up bathtub in shock. "You did this?"
Mu Zixi nodded, and, pointing to the medicine bottles on the ground, she said unhappily, "They have also been filled. Master, you should've come over earlier to let me out!"
Elder Sang was amazed at what she'd achieved. This disciple of his had an extraordinary natural talent!
He rubbed the little girl's head and comforted her, saying, "Cultivating Magic Pills is like creating a work of art. You have to be patient if you want to succeed. But this time you didn't do a bad job. Go now!"
"Not a bad job," muttered Mu Zixi. Yet, she wasn't in a hurry to leave.
"Just 'didn't do a bad job?' Is Xu Xiaoshou any better than me?" she asked.
She could tell from the experiences recorded in the jade scroll from Elder Sang that her speed was absolutely unparalleled, so how could it just be "not a bad job"?
Ever since Xu Xiaoshou threw her off the competition platform, she'd dreamed of beating him.
She'd sworn that if she had the chance to do it, she would never be bewildered by his fragrant scent again!
Hearing this, Elder Sang's smile froze. "I was just trying to be nice," he thought. "But this is only the first step to completing the cultivation of Magic Pills, so how could I praise her more than that?
"Moreover, compared to Xu Xiaozhou…"
"Now that you mention it," he said, "This old man just remembered that he drove him away three days ago and didn't have time to check on his progress yet!"
"But..." Elder Sang looked at the large filled-up three-legged bathtub and nodded confidently.
"You seem to be doing much better than him!"
The little girl's twin ponytails seemed to perk up with delight, and her mood seemed to brighten.
"Well, this is only in the way of Cultivating Magic Pills," Elder Sang added.
Mu Zixi looked up.
"Is he better than me in any other way?" she asked curiously.
Elder Sang shook his head and didn't reply, his expression a bit gloomy.
"As far as the ability to demolish a house is concerned, your senior brother is a few hundred times better than you!" he thought.
"Of course, this isn't a good thing. But, at the same time, it's also one of the reasons why you're here."
"Go on! The Tianxuan Gate is about to open, so do your best!" Elder Sang threw a jade scroll at her.
"What is it?"
"The specific location of each secretive realm inside. Don't show it to anybody else. Use it with your senior brother only!"
The little girl's big eyes lit up. "Thank you, Master!"
Elder Sang looked out the window and saw the young girl bound away. He couldn't help the corners of his mouth from curling upward, and his mood became calmer.
Looking toward the sky, a rare look of bafflement appeared in his eyes, and the old man pressed his conical hat down on his head.
"Time is running out!
"Xu Xiaoshou, how should this old man use you?"
At the Inner courtyard and the entrance to Lan Xinzi's spirit site.
Yuan Tou, dressed in black and holding the Mysterious Overlord Spear, seemed to be waiting for something.
With a creaking noise, the door was pushed open, and Lan Xinzi walked inside, carrying a small blood-colored vial in her hands.
"Are you sure you want this thing? There's no turning back after you take it!"
Yuan Tou took the vial from her, his eyes full of disdain.
"Xu Xiaoshou is very strong, but everyone's fooled by his sheepish appearance. Even if I am currently in my best state, I don't think I'll be able to beat him without the help of this thing."
Lan Xinzi laughed lightly. She didn't think so.
"Good luck."
Yuan Tou nodded and quickly disappeared.
Xu Xiaoshou's new spirit site.
"Boom!"
A gust of air rushed to the sky, and the guest room trembled violently. The wooden window panel that opened to the outside finally gave in and fell to the ground after having managed to hold up for three days.
"I've succeeded!"
Xu Xiaoshou was immensely excited. Seeing one and a half Magic Pills lying in the small bathtub, he could hardly suppress his joy and laughed out loud.
"Hahaha, I can't believe I've actually done it!"
He picked up the pills and took one. With a slight shudder, he withstood the pill's strong effects, and the process was so familiar it was almost heartbreaking.
A burst of spiritual energy surged in his energy reserve. The medicinal power of the Spiritual Pill would be absorbed in just one week and become part of his body.
The cultivation of the ninth level had continued absorbing the spiritual liquid the past three days and seemed like it was so full that it would soon break through.
"It really works."
Xu Xiaoshou couldn't mull over his cultivation at the moment. He looked at the half spiritual pill left in his hand and almost burst into tears.
For three days, in order to improve the method of "[Infernal Magic Pill Condensation]" and combine it with his own "boiling soup" method, he'd even used his Spiritual Source!
In the final step of condensation, he'd added an extra step of physical compression and finally turned the "spiritual liquid" into a solid form!
Xu Xiaoshou laughed loudly and kept stroking the small and seemingly malnourished Spiritual Pill in his hand.
"Though it looks small, this thing means that I'm a ninth-grade pill cultivator already!" he thought. "That's right. Not a tenth-grade, but a ninth-grade pill cultivator!"
As for the study of the tenth-grade Red Gold Pill, he'd nailed it on the first day!
"The 'Mastery of Cooking' is an amazing skill!"
Xu Xiaoshou was overcome with emotion. The "Red Gold Liquid" and "Spiritual Liquid" had actually been developed long ago, and their medicinal properties were several times stronger than the solid form pills.
If not for the need to satisfy the market and solidify the Magic Pills…
"Forget it. Though the pills condensed into a solid form will lose some medicinal power, the products are, after all, recognized by the public and can be sold.
"Those droplets with stronger medicinal properties will be kept for my own consumption!"
Xu Xiaoshou mused that he'd be able to promote the medicinal soup when he became famous.
"Well, let everyone in the world drink the wonderful medicinal soup, which is my dream!"
He tilted his head up and found the hot sunlight shining on his face through the "skylight," so he hastened to move away.
Well, the guest room didn't originally have a skylight. It'd been created after a great deal of Magic Pill Cultivation.
"Based on the time I've spent here, the Tianxuan Gate will probably be opening soon."
Practitioners could easily lose track of time while cultivating. Xu Xiaoshou had spent three days doing the study.
Surprisingly, he didn't encounter any assassination attempts during this period, which made him feel astonished.
"Haha. It's impossible for them to come to the Tianxuan Gate to kill me!"
Xu Xiaoshou soon dismissed the idea as a ridiculous one.
After he washed his face and cleaned his teeth, Xu Xiaoshou put on several layers of clothes, even though a hot sun was hanging in the sky.
"Tianxuan Gate, here I come!"
"I heard that the concentration of spiritual energy there is a hundred times more than that in the Outer Yard, right? This little master is ready. I won't be defeated by you!"
He thought about it and wrapped himself in three more layers of coats.
"Come and fight me!"