Word Count: 3,087 Words
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"Customized pills..."
Ling Bai fell into deep thought. He had already harvested a round of herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and the Tang Sect medicinal compendium once safeguarded by the Aromatic Silk Beauty had ended up in his hands as well. Among its pages was the refinement method for the Yin Yang Fortune Pill.
He had no reason not to refine it. The pill's effects were, frankly, outrageous.
In another timeline, Huo Yuhao had refined seven Yin Yang Fortune Pills. One of them had been taken jointly by the Shrek Seven Monsters, Nan Qiuqiu, Ye Guyi, and more than a dozen others. Afterward, the Spirit Douluo-ranked Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong each gained two ranks of spirit power, while the Spirit Saints Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi jumped five ranks apiece. Those with weaker cultivation couldn't withstand even a fraction of the medicinal power and needed Huo Yuhao's aid to absorb it. That alone showed just how fierce the Yin Yang Fortune Pill truly was.
Jianmu Douluo's idea, however, was to forgo the Yin Yang Fortune Pill entirely. With the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, the deep sea, Heaven's Treasury, and even the Holy Spirit Cult's and Body Sect's stores of top-tier herbs all under their control, they had more than enough resources to refine tailor-made pills for each person based on their Martial Spirit.
A single dose crafted this way wouldn't match a full Yin Yang Fortune Pill in sheer force, but each one would be perfectly suited to its user. The benefits would clearly be greater.
"This is a colossal undertaking. The entire burden of pill refinement will fall squarely on Teacher's shoulders, and we won't be able to help much.
The Yin Yang Fortune Pill, on the other hand, only needs to be refined once. Its medicinal nature is gentle and suits everyone, and I happen to have the recipe right here..."
A flicker of hesitation crossed Ling Bai's face. Pill refinement consumed enormous heart and effort. The Bright Emperor Pill alone had worsened Jianmu Douluo's injuries and sent his health into a sharp decline. Piling so many future refinements on top of that filled him with worry for the old man.
Jianmu Douluo only smiled and waved a hand. "Your teacher is old. I don't blame Fengyu for calling me 'old man' every single day.
My life has been brilliant enough. I have no real regrets. It's just that before I die, I still have three wishes left. The first is to see Fengyu inherit the truths of plants I've spent my life comprehending. That wretched girl may be lazy, but her wit is absolutely first-rate.
The second is to help the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan return to its peak. And the last is to guard you as you take another step forward.
All of you need pills. The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's foundation lies in the overall strength of its disciples, and for you, Xiao Bai, the precondition for breaking through to Limit Douluo is condensing a third spatial spirit core.
A third spirit core is unprecedented. Your teacher can't help you there. The only thing I can do is refine a pill brimming with spatial energy to help you pass that hurdle safely."
"Xiao Bai, Elder Zhou, let's find a middle ground," Ning Fengya said. "We'll cap the special custom refinements at ten people. Everyone else takes the Yin Yang Fortune Pill.
That way, we won't exhaust too much of Elder Zhou's strength, and we'll still make the best possible use of our herbs."
Ling Bai and Jianmu Douluo exchanged a glance and nodded in unison, agreeing with Ning Fengya's proposal. Ling Bai produced the Yin Yang Fortune Pill recipe, and the task of choosing the custom list began.
He, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng were the innermost circle of the inner circle and naturally needed no discussion. The remaining seven spots would be assigned based on talent and contribution.
Ning Fengya and Shadow Dragon Douluo Xie Qin voluntarily gave up their own slots, leaving the opportunities for the younger generation. Ning Fengya did, however, hope to reserve one place for Demon Dragon Douluo Lin Jiaran.
Lin Jiaran was one of only two Class 9 Spirit Guidance Masters across the three great empires. The other was Tang Sect's Hall Master, Xuan Ziwen. Her standing within the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan carried immense weight. She had set the clan's Spirit Guidance Device technology on a path of rapid development and was highly regarded by Ning Fengya.
Technology was the primary productive force. As the clan's chief Spirit Guidance Master, Lin Jiaran had every right to a customized pill, and awarding her one would also demonstrate the clan's preferential treatment of high-level Spirit Guidance Masters.
After a brief three-way discussion, the remaining six slots were quickly settled:
Golden Dragon Ling Qiuxi, Holy Angel Ye Guyi, Ultimate Ice Element Ling Luochen, Sword Fanatic Ji Juechen, 'Specter' Na Na, and Angel Yu Mengdi.
All six went to young geniuses. Everyone else would take the Yin Yang Fortune Pill. As for Ma Xiaotao and Han Ruoruo at Shrek Academy, and Dugu Lin, who was devouring poisonous miasma deep in the Sunset Forest, Ling Bai would gift them Yin Yang Fortune Pills when the time came.
"Then it's settled. If we come up short on herbs, I'll mobilize every force under the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan to buy them across the entire continent."
Ning Fengya closed the matter with that single line.
The continent's number one rich woman. Truly domineering!
...
That afternoon, Ling Bai and Ye Guyi left Nine Treasure City. They spread their angelic wings and flew toward Jialing Pass.
The Angel God Position was already in his hands, but it was, in the end, a broken one. What Ling Bai truly wanted was the complete Rakshasa God Position. Only when it lay firmly in his own grasp would he feel at ease.
Jialing Pass lay within the borders of the Heavenly Soul Empire, and the two arrived that same night.
A pitch-black ancient battlefield stretched out before them. Ye Guyi edged two steps closer to Ling Bai's side, as if his proximity alone could ease her nerves.
"Ling Bai, who exactly are we going to see?"
Before setting out, he had told her only that they were meeting someone.
"She… could be considered an ancestor of our bloodline."
Both of their Angel Martial Spirits traced back to the last Angel God, Qian Renxue. From a lineage perspective, half of Bibi Dong's blood had run through Qian Renxue's veins, and the later-born Ling Bai and Ye Guyi both carried Bibi Dong's imprint.
"Ancestor…"
Gold flickered in Ye Guyi's eyes, her true thoughts impossible to read.
Buzz—
Space trembled and six figures slowly emerged. They were the Six Great Worships of the Spirit Hall. The instant he spotted Ling Bai, the Second Worship, Golden Crocodile Douluo, transformed into a streak of golden light and drove a heavy fist straight at his skull!
BOOM—
Ling Bai struck out with a palm. Fist met palm and a violent gust exploded outward. Neither released a spirit skill. It was a simple, straightforward clash of raw spirit power. Ling Bai did not budge an inch. Golden Crocodile Douluo staggered back some thirty feet and shook out his numb fist, yet his old face beamed like a chrysanthemum in full bloom.
"Good boy! Rank 95! Xue Er didn't choose the wrong person!"
A Rank 98 suppressed by a Rank 95, and yet Golden Crocodile Douluo laughed with sheer, unbridled delight. The other five Worships joined in, teasing their Second Brother for no longer having the vigor of his youth while shooting Ling Bai a unanimous thumbs-up.
Once Ling Bai had exchanged greetings with all six, the Worships turned their attention to Ye Guyi. Golden Crocodile Douluo hesitated:
"Is this… a Holy Angel?!"
"Yes."
"A Holy Angel! Wonderful! A Holy Angel is truly wonderful!"
The Six Great Worships were unwaveringly loyal to the Angel bloodline, and a Holy Angel was tantamount to Qian Renxue's successor. They swarmed around Ye Guyi with overflowing goodwill, peppering her with questions all at once:
"Little girl, what's your name?"
"Ye… Ye Guyi…"
"How old are you? What rank is your spirit power?"
"Twenty-four. Rank 70."
"Any older brothers, older sisters, younger brothers, or younger sisters at home? Bring them along next time so we can all play together!"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't run off, Little Ye! Your grandpas here used to be Worships of the Spirit Hall. We're not bad people!"
The sheer 'killing power' of this pack of eccentric old men proved far too much. Ye Guyi turned and fled in a panic.
Golden Crocodile Douluo scratched his head, helpless. "Come on. She's invited you in."
The Six Great Worships led the two into the manifested Spirit Hall. Ye Guyi was drawn in almost at once, her gaze drifting from one towering white jade palace to the next. The old glories of a fallen age seemed to call to the blood in her veins.
At the summit, the Supreme Pontiff's Palace rose above all others. A peerlessly beautiful woman sat upon the Supreme Pontiff's throne, one jade-white hand lightly propping up her chin. Her long, snow-white legs were elegantly crossed. A tiny golden angel lay obediently on her fragrant shoulder, and a pair of captivating eyes gazed down at the two visitors.
"Your Holiness the Supreme Pontiff."
"Your Holiness the Supreme Pontiff…"
Ye Guyi had been watching Ling Bai all along and echoed him without hesitation. That unwavering gaze did not escape Bibi Dong's notice. The corners of her lips curved in a faint, ambiguous smile:
"So you've finally brought me the one I wanted?
Come here. Let me get a look at you."
The next instant, Ye Guyi's body moved as if beyond her own control. She walked up to Bibi Dong and stood before her, powerless to resist as the Supreme Pontiff pinched her chin and studied her face.
Ten thousand years of shifting eras had scrambled countless bloodlines. Ye Guyi bore no particular resemblance to Qian Renxue, yet a trace of angelic holiness still lingered between her brows and eyes.
Ye Guyi did not appreciate being held like this. Her turquoise eyes brimmed with refusal, and that very expression stirred something deeper in Bibi Dong, a sharper pang of nostalgia. Once upon a time, her daughter Qian Renxue had looked at her in exactly the same way.
"You are the Rakshasa God…"
Ye Guyi spoke through gritted teeth. Everyone on the Douluo Continent knew that the last Supreme Pontiff of the Spirit Hall had been the Rakshasa God.
At those words, Bibi Dong shot Ling Bai a sideways glare.
What's the meaning of this, brat? You couldn't even be bothered to clean up my reputation a little?!
Ling Bai tilted his head back at a forty-five-degree angle and studied the ceiling with rapt interest.
None of my business. I brought her here. The rest is on you.
He had already laid all the groundwork he intended to lay. There was absolutely no way he was going to step on a landmine and whitewash Bibi Dong for her. Ye Guyi was a fully grown adult with perfectly normal values. Bibi Dong's deeds were for the benevolent and the wise to judge as they saw fit. Whether or not Ye Guyi accepted her was Ye Guyi's decision alone. Ling Bai's role had been limited to teaching her one principle: an evil-attribute Martial Spirit was not the same thing as an Evil Spirit Master.
"That's right. I am the Rakshasa God, the one who governs all the evil thoughts of this world."
With Ling Bai clearly determined to play deaf and dumb, Bibi Dong simply admitted it outright.
"Little girl, you take pride in your Angel bloodline, don't you? What a pity. I am the mother of the Angel God. From this day forward, the Angel will always carry a piece of the Rakshasa within it!"
She turned her wrist over, revealing a golden bead resting in her palm. It looked as if carved from a single flawless piece of golden crystal, utterly translucent, with wisps of pale gold mist flowing continuously within.
She trapped Ye Guyi inside a cage of divine power. Golden light flashed and the bead shot forth, drifting to a stop above Ye Guyi's head. A flick of Bibi Dong's finger shattered it. Dense golden mist poured straight down and engulfed Ye Guyi's entire body.
"On Xue Er's account, this Supreme Pontiff will forgive your overstepping. This item is called the God Bestowed Spirit Ring.
Your spirit power stands at Rank 70. There is no need to hunt spirit beasts. The God Bestowed Spirit Ring will grant you a spirit skill and a maximum-age spirit ring.
Feel it carefully. Endure the baptism of the God Bestowed Spirit Ring with your willpower, and you will gain the greatest benefit from it!"
Ye Guyi gave no reply. The impact of the God Bestowed Spirit Ring had already crashed down upon her.
Ling Bai looked at Bibi Dong, who even had to strong-arm people into accepting her generosity, and sighed helplessly:
"Your Holiness the Supreme Pontiff, weren't you trying to mend your relationship with the descendants of the Holy Angel? This will only make Guyi resent you more."
"Mend our relationship? Who said that?" Bibi Dong sneered. "When I couldn't see her, I thought of her constantly. The moment I did see her, I knew she was just a lucky child. Not my Xue Er!
Besides, this is simply who I am. A gentle, virtuous mother? A loving ancestor who dotes on her juniors? This Supreme Pontiff cannot be any of those things!
My only compensation is power!"
Well. Still the same stubborn Bibi Dong as ever.
Ling Bai shifted his gaze to Ye Guyi. The golden mist, hazy and luminous, slowly engulfed her figure, and rings of light bloomed outward around her, a sign that she was already pushing against the limit of her spirit ring.
"Your Holiness the Supreme Pontiff..." Ling Bai began, bashful yet eager in the same breath, "actually, I happen to be missing a spirit ring..."
"You want a God Bestowed Spirit Ring?" Bibi Dong saw straight through him in a single breath. "Do you really have no idea how strong you are?
If I gave you a God Bestowed Spirit Ring, would my remnant soul even survive?"
His plan ran aground. Ling Bai felt a genuine pang of regret. If he could have swindled a God Bestowed Spirit Ring out of her, his Seraphim would have been guaranteed a million-year ninth spirit ring at minimum!
Ling Bai smoothly changed tack. "Your Holiness the Supreme Pontiff, what is the principle behind the God Bestowed Spirit Ring? Can a God bypass spirit beasts entirely and grant spirit rings directly to humans?"
"You want to learn?" Bibi Dong asked.
"Mhm."
"I won't teach you."
Ling Bai nearly choked. Do you have to go completely off-script like this?!
Isn't the correct line supposed to be that you teach me?!
His stunned, speechless look reflected perfectly in Bibi Dong's crimson-purple eyes, and she smiled. Those old coffin-stuffers serving as the Spirit Hall's Worships were nothing but an eyesore to her, and she had never had the slightest interest in joking with them. But teasing Ling Bai from time to time felt like a peculiar kind of familial joy.
"You'll be a God sooner or later. There's no harm in this Supreme Pontiff teaching you in advance.
A God Bestowed Spirit Ring and a spirit beast's spirit ring are vastly different things.
When humans on the Douluo Continent slay spirit beasts and absorb their rings, the principle is to seek outward, fusing with one of the beast's abilities.
A God Bestowed Spirit Ring works in the opposite direction. It explores inward, stirring the martial spirit's origin to shape a spirit skill perfectly suited to the individual."
Ling Bai considered this thoughtfully. "According to Your Holiness, if the Gods were willing to manufacture God Bestowed Spirit Rings on a large scale, the Divine Realm would have a way to resolve the conflict between spirit beasts and humans."
"The reasoning holds, but there are two major problems.
First, the sheer number of Spirit Masters on the Douluo Continent is staggering. Even if every God in the Divine Realm worked themselves to death, they could never produce enough God Bestowed Spirit Rings to meet the demand.
Second, why should the Divine Realm help the Douluo Continent at all? The Divine Realm oversees countless worlds. The rise and fall of any single one is almost meaningless.
Beyond that, according to the legacy of the first Rakshasa God, the Divine Realm forbids spirit beasts from becoming Gods and keeps them under strict management. The Gods tacitly, and even gladly, accept the permanent extinction of spirit beasts. The only price would be that the Spirit Masters of the Douluo Continent revert to ordinary people.
Gods are Gods, gazing down upon the mortal dust. Humans are humans, humble and insignificant. No God in the Divine Realm truly gives thought to the fate of the Douluo Continent.
Take Tang San. Was he not born on the Douluo Continent? Half his blood is that of the spirit beast Blue Silver Emperor, and his wife is the 100,000-year transformed spirit beast Soft Bone Rabbit. Yet after inheriting the Asura God King's position, he did nothing to secure benefits for spirit beasts.
You are a pure human. There is no need for you to concern yourself with spirit beasts."
Snow Empress frowned in displeasure within his Spiritual Sea at those words. Ling Bai's expression, however, remained calm as still water. Bibi Dong went on:
"If you want to learn, then learn. But you aren't a God. You cannot create attributeless God Bestowed Spirit Rings. At most, you can condense Human Bestowed Spirit Rings that carry the same attributes as you.
Holy, light, fire, death, evil, and poison. Those six are the only types you can create."
"That's more than enough. Please teach me, Your Holiness the Supreme Pontiff."
"Mhm."
Bibi Dong sent him a strand of spiritual memory containing the complete method for creating God Bestowed Spirit Rings.
Ling Bai absorbed it for a moment, and it felt as though a door to an entirely new world had swung open before him.
What an incredible ability...
At last. I've finally found the key to making both humans and spirit beasts willingly place their faith in me...