Chapter 178 - Nascent Soul Breakthrough Pill

Seven days had passed since the celebration on White Lotus Peak.

During this week, the Medicine Hall had not seen a single breath of quiet. Grandmaster Yao, who had remained in closed-door seclusion for hundreds of years, had finally stepped into the open. With the Half-Step Saint actively walking the corridors, the entire Medicine Hall ran without a single moment of idleness.

Bai Qingxian was buried under a mountain of responsibilities. Between clinical duties, learning about administrative tasks, and personal guidance under Grandmaster Yao, she barely had time to do anything else.

White Lotus Peak, by contrast, remained as quiet as always.

Sitting cross-legged in the quiet alchemy chamber of his courtyard, Su Ming opened his eyes. Before him, nine jade trays rested neatly on the ground, each holding an ingredient required for the ancient Nascent Soul Breakthrough Pill.

Gathering and preparing these ingredients had taken Su Ming the last couple of days of coordination.

He had gathered what he could directly from the sect. The exchange pavilions supplied the Soul-Nourishing Jade Marrow, the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo Heart, and a bundle of Heartroot. For the Demon King’s True Blood, Su Ming had traded for a sealed jade vial directly from Spirit Beast Peak. Unlike blood essence, which contains one’s lifespan and vitality, True Blood was merely the circulating life force of a beast. A healthy Demon King possessed enough of it that extracting a small portion caused no permanent harm.

Whatever the sect lacked had been covered through his partnership with the Wang Clan. The Heaven-Seeking Jade Orchid, the Five-Color Spirit Fruit, the Moon-Washing Spirit Dew, and the Spirit-Gathering Flower were all high-grade resources, yet common enough among large trade networks to secure without delay.

The only real obstacle had been the Nine-Leaf Soul Lotus, a well known Nascent Soul-grade herb that served as the main ingredient for the pill.

When Su Ming first checked the sect’s internal treasury, every single stock of the lotus was empty. The Second Elder of Alchemy Peak had spent the past few months buying up and hoarding all the available lotus for his own experiments, leaving nothing for others.

Left with no choice, Su Ming had sent word to Patriarch Wang.

The Wang Clan’s merchant network managed to secure a package from an outside trade fair for a total value of one hundred thousand spirit stones. The package contained one mature Nine-Leaf Soul Lotus and three withered rootstocks that were discarded as dead scrap.

But Su Ming did not have to pay a single spirit stone personally.

Thanks to his business arrangements with the Wang Clan, White Lotus Peak received thirty to fifty thousand spirit stones every month in steady profits. The sum did not seem massive individually when compared to astronomical auction prices, but as regular passive income, it helped take the burden off his personal expenses. The cost of the lotus had simply been deducted from his monthly balance.

After receiving the package, Su Ming had placed the three withered rootstocks into a pool of spiritual water in his grotto heaven. The Nine-Leaf Soul Lotus was a fragile plant, delicate enough that it could not even withstand direct sunlight.

While the three rootstocks still retained a faint trace of life, they refused to absorb nourishment in their current state. Pouring potent energy like Samsara Resin or raw qi into them would only crush them.

’Force won’t work on these,’ Su Ming thought. ’They need something gentler to nurse them back to health.’

Lu Feng immediately came to his mind.

The former prodigy had humbled himself after his failure at the exam, currently working as an apprentice under the Medicine Hall elders. His Wood Spirit Constitution was naturally suited for tending fragile spirit plants. Handing him the rootstocks to tend would save Su Ming tedious effort.

Setting the thought aside, Su Ming turned his attention back to the table.

According to the bamboo slip left by the Green Lotus Valley disciple, this formula was the orthodox standard for making the Nascent Soul realm breakthrough pill. However, the disciple had also recorded a special case.

In that ancient era, there was an even higher variety of this pill, known as the Perfected Nascent Soul Breakthrough Pill. That formula required an additional ingredient, the Heaven’s Gate Fruit.

Before deciphering the slip, Su Ming had never encountered the name in any of the sect’s library scrolls. When he asked Bai Qingxian about it, she told him the fruit was extinct. Elders of Medicine Valley had documented sighting one in ancient records, but after thousands of years with no trace, scholars concluded the species had vanished from the world.

Even if one existed today, using it for a Nascent Soul pill would be pure madness. The fruit’s true purpose was to help peak cultivators break open the barrier to the Saint Realm. Wasting such an item on the Nascent Soul realm was pure waste.

Su Ming shook his head slightly. The standard recipe was more than enough for his current situation.

His gaze swept across the jade trays, reviewing the precise order of refinement once again.

First was Gathering. The Spirit-Gathering Flower would go first, establishing a steady reservoir of spiritual energy and life essence within the cauldron.

Second was Purification. The Moon-Washing Spirit Dew would wash through the liquid, stripping away any impurities and leftover residue.

Then came Five-Element Harmonization. The Five-Color Spirit Fruit would balance the elemental properties of the blend, preventing internal clashing.

The Demon King’s True Blood would infuse next, adding the raw vigor needed to sustain the body during a breakthrough.

Then the Soul-Nourishing Jade Marrow would fortify the infant nascent soul to withstand any sudden shock.

The Heaven-Seeking Jade Orchid and the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo Heart would follow next, establishing the foundation and adding the lightning resistance to endure the heavenly tribulation.

In this world, powerful cultivators attempting to form a Nascent Soul often had to face the wrath of the heavens in the form of destructive lightning tribulations. Yet Su Ming realized that across all his past breakthroughs, though he frequently stirred heavenly phenomena, destructive lightning had never once struck him.