"Spirit stones… spirit stones!" Meng Hao's face glowed and he took a deep breath.

"Fang Qun told me that the Dao of Alchemy Division has three types of medicinal pills that no one has ever been able to concoct. The clan will give a huge reward to anybody who does. Since I don't have any spirit stones, I might as well go see if I can concoct one of them and get that reward!" This was the simplest method he could think of, and he was just about to go try it out when Fang Xi's excited voice could be heard outside his residence.

"Coz, are you there?!"

Before Meng Hao could even respond, Fang Xi pushed the front door open and rushed in, looking very excited, even entranced. As he ran over, Meng Hao noticed that sky outside looked somewhat different than usual.

Meng Hao's eyes narrowed in concentration.

It was currently midday, but the sky outside almost appeared to be aflame. The entire sky was crimson red, yet no sun was visible.

It was just barely possible to see that the natural law of a great Dao hung up in the sky.

"Coz, I just saw Goddess Fan Dong'er from the Nine Seas God World!!

"And Li Ling'er from the Li Clan! And also some new disciple from the Church of the Blood Orchid!" Fang Xi seemed very excited. When he mentioned Fan Dong'er's name, his eyes seemed to gleam with adoration, and he seemed especially enthusiastic when he talked about Li Ling'er.

"Lots of Chosen have come. Taiyang Zi, Sun Hai from the Church of the Emperor Immortal, Wang Mu from the Wang Clan, and Song Luodan from the Song Clan. There's even a guy from the Sublime Flow Sword Grotto, someone named Zhou Xin!" As Fang Xi spoke, Meng Hao rose to his feet. Eyes shining, he reached out and grabbed Fang Xi's shoulders.

"Taiyang Zi is here? And Song Luodan? Li Ling'er? And Sun Hai…?" Meng Hao started laughing out loud. Just when he started worrying about his lack of spirit stones, a whole throng of people showed up who all happened to owe him money.

"Over the next few days, even more Chosen are going to arrive from the various sects and clans. They're here to watch the East Ascension Sun from the East Ascension Pavilion," Fang Xi exclaimed excitedly. Although he felt that Meng Hao was acting a bit strange, he didn't put too much thought into it.

"East Ascension Sun?" This was the second time Meng Hao had heard someone mention East Ascension. The first time had been when Fang Hong's group had mentioned it.

"Every hundred years, the sun outside of the Nine Mountains and Seas reaches the point in its orbit in which it is closest to Planet East Victory. At that time, Planet East Victory will experience a brand new rising sun!

"Daoist magic and natural laws of Heaven and Earth will appear. Because the sun is so close, if you have the intuition and understanding, then in the moment that the East Ascension Sun rises, you can bathe in the resulting boundless sunlight. That sunlight contains a great Dao that can strengthen your fleshly body!

"Coz, you definitely have to go watch. When the East Ascension Sun appears, all of the clan members under the age of 1,000 will fly up to bathe in the sunlight. The higher you fly, and the closer you get to the sun, the more you'll benefit!

"A hundred years ago," Fang Xi continued excitedly, "Wu Daozi from the Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite made a breakthrough, and his fleshly body reached a height almost comparable to true Immortality!"

Meng Hao's eyes glittered. His fleshly body was already incredibly powerful, but now that his Immortal meridian had appeared, his fleshly body was actually a bit weaker than his cultivation base. Furthermore, he knew of no way to improve it. If he could use this chance to do so, it would be great good fortune.

"When does it start?" Meng Hao asked.

"In seven days," Fang Xi replied.

Meng Hao rubbed his bag of holding and then licked his lips. "Where are Taiyang Zi and all the others?" he asked. "Take me to them."

"Huh?" Fang Xi hesitated for a moment. Just now, he had seen the aforementioned group at the ancestral mansion's main gate. "Oh, Fang Wei invited them all to the East Ascension Pavilion in the East District. That… belongs to their branch of the clan. It would be appropriate to go there on the actual day of the East Ascension Sun, but right now…."

"Oh, I see…." Meng Hao's eyes glittered, and he smiled. "Well, never mind, then. I'll just see them in seven days. First, I need to make a trip to the Dao of Alchemy Division. Why don't you come along?"

Fang Xi shook his head.

"Dad wanted me to go find him. I only came here to tell you about the East Ascension Sun. You go ahead without me, Coz."

Meng Hao nodded, and he and Fang Xi walked out of the residence, after which they went their separate ways.

Meng Hao transformed into a beam of light that shot out of the ancestral mansion and headed toward the Dao of Alchemy Division. Before long, he arrived. Many of the apprentice alchemists were discussing the East Ascension Sun, and numerous full alchemists were making special preparations to concoct pills during that time. Condensing the power of the sun into fire-type medicinal pills would significantly increase their medicinal strength.

Furthermore, the power of the sun could be used to condense sunlight itself to concoct East Ascension Pills. Such pills could only be concocted once every hundred years, during the rising of the East Ascension Sun!

Furthermore, only tier 7 alchemists or higher could actually concoct such pills.

Meng Hao did not go to Peak #7191, but instead, went to find Fang Qun. After he explained what he wanted to do, Fang Qun stared back at him in a daze. He had never seen Meng Hao concoct pills. In fact, he wasn't the only one. No one in the entire Dao of Alchemy Division had ever seen Meng Hao concoct pills.

Because of that, many people speculated that Meng Hao only understood plants and vegetation, not pill concocting.

Others believed that Meng Hao would definitely have an understanding of the Dao of alchemy, and only wondered what realm his pill concocting was in.

When Fang Qun heard that he was going to try to concoct one of the three legendary pills that nobody had ever concocted, he stared in shock. A moment later, though, he started to get excited. Nodding his head, he began to show Meng Hao the way.

The two of them sped through the Dao of Alchemy Division, straight into the inner mountains. Many apprentice alchemists saw them, and their eyes began to shine.

"Fang Hao's going into the inner mountains? Could it be that he's heading to the Medicine Pavilion again?!?!"

"I need to go early this time or I won't get a good seat."

"Come on, let's follow him!" Numerous apprentice alchemists hurried to follow Meng Hao, and soon, he had a crowd of thousands following him. Bright beams of light shot through the air into the inner mountains. Many of the alchemists there sensed what was happening, and immediately joined the crowd.

After they realized he wasn't heading to the Medicine Pavilion, many of them were disappointed. However, it was at this point that people started to realize that he was actually headed…

To the Pill Pavilion!

The Dao of Alchemy Division had a Medicine Pavilion and also a Pill Pavilion!

Enshrined within the Pill Pavilion were vast quantities of medicinal pills. Whenever alchemists concocted pills, they could actually sell them here in exchange for other items that they needed.

It was also the location where a huge reward was offered for those three sacred pills!

"He's going to the Pill Pavilion? Maybe he's going to buy some medicinal pills?"

"No, that isn't right...the Pill Pavilion doesn't sell pills, it only buys them.... Don't tell me he knows how to concoct pills?"

All of the people following Meng Hao were very curious. Few of them left; most continued to follow him as he neared the Pill Pavilion.

This pavilion didn't look very different from the Medicine Pavilion. There were also two old men standing guard outside, as well as a huge stone stele that was packed tight with the names of various medicinal pills.

Another difference between the two was that the Medicine Pavilion floated in the air, seemingly held in place by fetters, as if it wished to fly out of the Dao of Alchemy Division into the sky.

The Pill Pavilion did not float in the air. It was held down on the ground by an enormous stone hand, the fingers of which pierced into the pavilion itself. It, too, seemed to wish to fly away, but was forever obstructed by the gigantic hand.

"The Medicine Pavilion was obviously snatched from somewhere else and then brought to the Dao of Alchemy Division by the Fang Clan's first generation Patriarch," thought Meng Hao. "That's why it's held in place with fetters; to prevent it from returning to its original master. As for the Pill Pavilion, at a single glance you can tell that it was also snatched from somewhere else, and is being held in place to prevent it from going back to its true master." A strange expression could be seen on Meng Hao's face as he looked at the Pill Pavilion. From the situation of these two pavilions, it was possible to see how domineering the first generation Fang Patriarch had been.

In front of the Pill Pavilion were three enormous drums, each of which looked ancient, as if they had existed for countless years. On each of the drum heads could be seen ancient characters, glittering with radiant light.

Heavenly One Thought Pill!

Sea-Cleaving Heaven-Defying Pill!

Skypalace Sunspirit Pill!

Three drums, three sets of ancient characters. These three medicinal pills had been the life's work of three Patriarchs of the Fang Clan of ages past. And yet, in all the years since, no one else from the Fang Clan had been able to concoct them!

It was even publicly acknowledged that not even this generation's most powerful alchemist, Fang Danyun, could concoct it. However, some people speculated that, although Pill Elder could not concoct the Heavenly One Thought Pill and the Sea Cleaving Heaven Defying Pill, he actually could concoct the easiest of the three pills, the Skypalace Sunspirit Pill.

Meng Hao took a deep breath and sent out his divine sense. As soon as it touched the three drums, an archaic voice echoed inside of his head.

"Skypalace Sunspirit Pill. Whoever concocts this pill will receive a reward of 100,000,000 spirit stones, 100,000 Immortal jades, 5,000,000 merit points, 10,000 medicinal plants of your choice from the Dao of Alchemy Division, three clan Daoist magics, and one Immortal treasure. Furthermore, the Dao Bell will toll nine times! Those who wish to attempt this pill, strike the drum and produce the fee of 1,000,000 merit points to acquire a set of ingredients.

"Sea-Cleaving Heaven-Defying Pill! Whoever concocts this pill will receive a reward of 1,000,000,000 spirit stones, 1,000,000 Immortal jades, 20,000,000 merit points, 100,000 medicinal plants of your choice from the Dao of Alchemy Division, six clan Daoist magics, and one Ancient treasure. The Dao Bell will toll 18 times! The ingredient fee is 10,000,000 merit points."

Meng Hao's eyes glittered, and he began to pant. He looked at the drums with wide eyes.

"Heavenly One Thought Pill. Whoever concocts this pill will be the Lord of the Dao of Alchemy Division! The prerequisite to attempt this pill is to concoct the previous two pills. The ingredient fee is 100,000,000 merit points."

Meng Hao's mind reeled. He knew that, considering the rewards that were available, and the fact that tens of thousands of years had passed without anyone concocting the pills... the Heavenly One Thought Pill was incredibly difficult to concoct.

"I don't really need to concoct the Heavenly One Thought Pill," he mused. "If I can simply concoct the Skypalace Sunspirit Pill and get that 100,000,000 spirit stone reward, that will be enough." Licking his lips, he kept the thought of the reward in his mind as if he had just imprinted it onto his soul. His eyes were completely bloodshot.

"For the spirit stones!! And for that Immortal treasure!" He flew forward.

"I'm going to go all out!" Transforming into a beam of light, he shot toward the Pill Pavilion as the surrounding audience of several thousand looked on. He didn't enter the pavilion, but instead, headed toward the three drums. The eyes of the audience went wide.

In the blink of an eye, he was directly in front of the drums. He then extended his right hand toward the Skypalace Sunspirit Pill drum and struck it with his palm.

DONG!!

The drum reverberated with a deep thrum that echoed out through the entire Dao of Alchemy Division. Ripples spread out in all directions, and all alchemists and apprentice alchemists heard the sound.

"That's… the sound of someone striking a drum at the Pill Pavilion!!"

"Someone's trying to concoct one of the three impossible medicinal pills! Even the simplest one requires a fee 1,000,000 merit points. Who could possibly be so rich? Those pills can't be concocted! It's a complete waste of 1,000,000 points!"

"That's… an entire 1,000,000 points!!"

The Dao of Alchemy Division was instantly thrown into an uproar.