“A Dao Fruit Pill...” Lu Yun frowned. That was a ninth-rank pill, but it was much more valuable than many supreme-rank pills. He knew very well that the Panorama Pavilion wanted the methods with which each master refined their pills, but didn’t care about the actual pills themselves.

Once the pill was refined, Gu Zun would be deemed the winner, even if it ended up being poison. All Lu Yun had done would be for nothing. Neither the Skydragon Tendon and the Lunar Wings held any value to him; he was here for one thing and one thing alone—the Ten Orientations Stone. He needed it to create a luopan!

All eyes focused on Gu Zun. No matter how impressive it’d been for Lu Yun to identify all of the herbs and extract their essence in one fell swoop, none of that meant anything in comparison to the Dao Fruit Pill.

Identifying and distilling herbs were a means to an end, just a part of the journey to the real task of refining pills. Even if one were immensely skilled at the first two tasks, it was still completely useless if pill refinement was out of their reach.

“Dao Fruit Pill? That’s something, but pills like these have a fatal flaw,” muttered Wayfarer. “After consuming one and successfully picking a dao fruit, the immortal in question will never be able to progress beyond that point.”

His words registered in all ears, but no one cared. The flaw was common knowledge. For many peerless immortals, the dao immortal realm was a tantalizing goal ever out of reach. Plucking just one dao fruit and ascending to the aether dao immortal realm would fulfill their heart’s desire for a lifetime.

Wayfarer got to work, materializing a giant cauldron before him. He selected a number of ingredients and cast them into the cauldron, quickly disintegrating them with intense fire. The other pill masters followed suit.

“Although Gu Zun deduced the recipe of Dao Fruit Pill, he won’t necessarily succeed in refining one,” muttered one of them. “We still have a chance!”

Though the pill masters were competing for the three treasures at the behest of others, they nevertheless felt an urge to prove themselves. Lu Yun had completely dominated the first two tasks, but they remained confident in their ability to refine pills. Only the top pill masters of the world possessed the courage to remain on stage now.

One after another, cauldrons and flames appeared, marking everyone’s progress in the refining process. Yue Longsha threw a glance at the unmoving Lu Yun, then summoned a ball of flame to bend her mind to the task at hand.

What pill can exceed the Dao Fruit Pill? was the question that Lu Yun frantically sought an answer to. He sent his question to hell as well, where his envoys and Infernum were waiting. He could tell from Gu Zun’s well-practiced motions that he’d already tried refining the Dao Fruit Pill many times.

The man was very likely to succeed this time.

Lu Yun had offended the pill master to the point of no return. Or, to be precise, Gu Zun had been hostile to the Dusk governor since the very beginning. If the man acquired the Ten Orientations Stone, Lu Yun would never be able to get hold of it.

“There is,” Ruyi’s voice sounded in his head. “There is a pill called the Heaven Descent Pill, also known as the Empyrean Pill. It cannot be assigned a rank, and has only one singular purpose.”

Lu Yun’s eyes lit up. “What is it?” Rankless pills were always the most impressive ones.

“To ascend to the heavens with one bound,” explained Ruyi. “When a pregnant being takes a Heaven Descent Pill, her newborn will possess a dao foundation and constitution tempered by the principles of the golden immortal realm. In other words, the child will be born a golden immortal.”

“What?!” Electricity passed through Lun Yun, dumbfounded by the explanation. The child would be born as a golden immortal?!

That sounded far-fetched, even for the ancient world of immortals! And that had been an age where the dao of immortals was still complete. While the children of immortals were also immortals, it was still unheard of for newborns to be golden immortals. That impacted not only their starting point in life, but also their potential!

A natural-born golden immortal could easily become a celestial emperor, and was very likely to ascend beyond the broken immortal dao and reach that fabled realm.

“Among the 1,080 herbs, 943 are main ingredients for the pill, but you need another supplementary ingredient,” Ruyi relayed seriously, “the heart’s blood of a golden immortal.”

Lu Yun nodded. A golden immortal’s heart’s blood contained their essence, where the golden immortal principles collected. It was the only thing that could channel the doctrines of cultivation to temper one’s body.

With a single thought, Ruyi transmitted the pill recipe to Lu Yun; it was so ancient that even a mental copy of it exuded a prehistoric air.

It doesn’t make use of the immortal dao principles within the herbs! His heart shook after studying the recipe.

All of the ingredients they were presented with were dead, and the corrupted immortal dao principles within meant that any pills refined from them would be great poison. However, the Heaven Descent Pill didn’t require the immortal dao principles. Its effects resulted from the combination of the ingredients’ inherent properties and effects. Therefore, if Lu Yun succeeded in refining a pill, it would be the real deal!

“For my luopan!” Lu Yun took a deep breath and looked at Qing Xun. Her attention was on him as well. All of the other pill masters were buried deep in their work; in fact, Gu Zun had finished extracting all of his ingredients’ essence and was refining his pill.

Qing Xun didn’t believe for a second that Lu Yun knew only to identify and distill herbs. Someone who could process all thousand and eighty ingredients at the same time couldn’t be a novice in pill refinement.

“This humble one has a favor to ask, Fairy Qing Xun,” Lu Yun broached with a smile.

“Oh?” Qing Xun paused. “Pray tell, Sir Lu.”

“I would like to borrow your heart’s blood,” the governor said slowly.

“My heart’s blood?” Qing Xun frowned.

“Have you lost your mind, Lu Yun?!” a man snapped from a gazebo when he heard Lu Yun’s request. “That’s a golden immortal’s essence. One drop will take ten years of cultivation to replenish! Fairy Qing Xun, I am at your service to kick this bastard out!”

The young man rolled up his sleeves and was about to jump onstage, when his elders pulled him back. This was the blessed land of the Panorama Pavilion and an internal affair. Outsiders were not to stick their noses where they wouldn’t be welcome.

“What does he need that for?”

“Is he refining something incredible to counter the Dao Fruit Pill?” The crowd erupted in discussion. They expected Lu Yun to amaze them, since he’d performed very well in the previous stages.

……

Wu Tulong and the other youth sovereigns shared a look of shock in their gazebo, feeling nothing but complete admiration for Lu Yun. That young man was not only the best of cultivators at his level, but also an expert in pill refinement!

Wu Tulong and the others were all cultivation fanatics that devoted their energies into studying various combat arts and techniques; they didn’t have time for the supplemental paths.

Qing Han maintained an impassive expression, despite the displeasure that flared when Lu Yun drew close to Qing Xun.

“He wants to refine a Heaven Descent Pill,” Empress Myrtlestar floated up to Qing Han’s mind. “The heart’s blood of a golden immortal and 943 immortal herbs form the basis of this pill. Also known as the empyrean pill, it enables one to reach the heavens at birth. It is a rankless pill that all pill masters can refine, invented by Qi Hai, the foremost pill master of my time. However, he only successfully refined three of them in his lifetime, giving rise to three immortal emperors.”

Her tone was tinged with melancholy. It was clear she’d had a history with the pill master. “I never dreamed I would see the recipe again.”