Chapter 1369: Chapter 541: Gathering of the Worthies (Part 2)

"Thirty-seven years." The middle-aged cultivator repeated, shaking his head in reflection, "Thirty-seven years ago, you were the most promising young Pill Master in the Alchemy Hall. At that time, there were high hopes resting upon you, considered to be the future Vice Hall Master, and maybe even the Hall Master. But now? You set up a stall in the Black Market, and if cultivators can’t recognize the goods, they just consider your elixir pills ordinary."

Cloud Wanderer did not respond.

He reached under a piece of ragged cloth and pulled out a rough clay teacup and a water pouch, pouring half a cup of water, sipping leisurely. The water was cool, but he didn’t mind and drank comfortably, as if savoring some nectar.

The middle-aged cultivator looked at his laid-back demeanor, slightly furrowing his brow, then relaxed.

"You really don’t feel any regret?" He pursued.

Cloud Wanderer chuckled, "Not at all."

"In the matter of alchemy, the most important thing is to follow the heart. If the heart isn’t free, the pills produced are lifeless. I’m someone who can’t bear constraints. The Alchemy Hall’s rules are too many, the Elders’ admonitions too frequent, the comparisons among fellow cultivators too numerous. I stayed there for ten years, and the longer I stayed, the more stifled I felt."

"So I left. Traveled far and wide, admiring mountains and waters, helping those in need by refining a furnace of scattered pills. If there weren’t spiritual materials, I would use the most common herbs. If there wasn’t Pill Fire, I used the most basic Mortal Fire. If the pill furnace was small, I refined them one by one slowly."

He raised his head, looking past the shoulder of the middle-aged cultivator towards the dim darkness at the end of the Black Market, as if gazing far, far away.

"Between heaven and earth, life is vast and broad, don’t rush."

The middle-aged cultivator was silent for a moment.

He had known Cloud Wanderer for thirty-seven years, understanding his nature—carefree, easygoing, content with the circumstances, like a cloud drifting with the wind. You can’t make him follow the rules in the Alchemy Hall, but you can have him sell scattered pills in the Black Market, and he does it joyfully.

Yet knowing Cloud Wanderer’s talent made him feel regretful.

"I came to you with an important piece of information, something I need to discuss with you specifically." The middle-aged cultivator continued to reveal the matters of Danxia Peak and the Nanming Fire Furnace.

"Danxia Peak is now a chaotic mess internally, the old Pill Masters are being held accountable for furnace explosions, their positions unstable. The Alchemy Hall is also stirring restlessly, with various factions vying for the ownership of the Nanming Fire Furnace. But no matter who eventually wins, they can’t avoid one person—a person who can make the Vermilion Bird Artifact Spirit open its heart again."

"That person could be you."

The middle-aged cultivator’s gaze was burning, fixed on Cloud Wanderer.

Cloud Wanderer looked down at his worn-out pill furnace on his small stall, his gaze slightly moving, murmuring softly: "Nanming Fire Furnace?"

...

Flying Cloud Country, Moonlight Sect.

Moonlight Peak, Pill Room.

The Pill Room wasn’t large, only about three feet in circumference, its four walls made of moon-white jade stone, smooth and slightly translucent, enveloping the entire room in a soft halo. A skylight opened to the night sky at the ceiling, the full moon hanging in the center, pouring silver-white moonlight down like a silent waterfall, landing on the silver-white pill furnace at the center of the room.

The pill furnace was about half a person’s height, three-legged with two ears, engraved with the Moon Palace Osmanthus Tree Painting—the osmanthus tree was twisted and robust, with flourishing branches and leaves, its trunk marked with clear textures, as if one could smell the fragrance of the osmanthus flowers. A jade rabbit curled under the tree, ears upturned toward the moon, lifelike. The lid presented another scene: a jade rabbit perched atop, holding a small moon wheel with its front paws, a Luminous Pearl embedded at the center of the moon wheel, flashing gentle light with the fluctuations of the furnace’s heat.

Before the furnace, a slender figure sat cross-legged.

Mu Yuehua.

She appeared to be in her twenties, with delicate features, skin like condensed cream, a kind of graceful elegance between her brows and eyes that didn’t belong to the mortal world. Her long black hair was loosely tied up with a jade hairpin, a few strands hanging by her ears, slightly curled by the heat emanating from the furnace. Dressed in a moon-white long skirt, its hem spread out on the ground like a blooming Epiphyllum.

At this moment, her eyes were closed and she focused her mind, hands slowly forming seals in front of her, ten fingers slender as jade, with faint silver-white light twining around her fingertips. This light was the same in source and quality as the moonlight outside the window, as if she was the incarnation of the moon on earth, with every move she made drawing upon the purest power of Taiyin in the heavens and earth.

The flames inside the furnace burned silently.

This was Taiyin True Fire.

Silver-white as frost, cold as ice, burning without a single sound, just a slight, almost imperceptible quiver, like the breath of moonlight itself.

Inside the furnace, an elixir pill was taking shape.

The pill’s body was half-transparent, with faint osmanthus patterns swirling within, the fragrance of the pill escaping through the lid’s gap, a delicate and refined scent, not the intense medicinal aroma of ordinary elixir pills, but more like the subtle fragrance of osmanthus under the moon, faint yet penetrating.

This is the Moonlight Pill.

The pill is exclusive to the Moonlight Sect’s elixir recipe, made especially for female cultivators, to help them break through bottlenecks on moonlit nights, using the power of Taiyin to cleanse meridians and purify spirit roots.

A batch of Moonlight Pills requires seven weeks and forty-nine days of continuous refinement, during which one must maintain a state of tranquility and serenity, not stirred by waves. Any slight mishap could lead to the ruin of the pill, the explosion of the furnace, or even backfire on the alchemist.

This batch of pills holds extraordinary significance.

It is the final round in the internal competition of the Moonlight Sect, to decide the contemporary Yuehua Fairy.

Mu Yuehua has innate talent, considered the strongest seed, and is the sect’s most eagerly anticipated younger generation.

Yet at this moment, the waters of her heart were rippling endlessly.

She had been schemed against.

The method of the scheme was very clever, just delivering a single piece of information.

Information about Myriad Images Sect’s Nanming Fire Furnace.

Mu Yuehua’s heart was hard to calm.

"I cultivate Taiyin Magical Power, which is extremely Yin. Due to my innate talent, my Yin Qi is too abundant, Yang Energy too weak. If not careful, it leads to Yin Yang imbalance, unstable heart spirit."

"If it were before Foundation Establishment, there would still be ample space to adjust, change."

"But now, I have already established Foundation, facing the Core Formation bottleneck."

"If truly doing it by the book and forming the Moon Yin Golden Core, it would be too cold, pure Yin within Yin, excessive in its inferiority. Even if its power is eminent and extraordinary, it would be difficult to break the Core into Nascent Soul. Even if possessing a Nascent Soul, calamities would be abundant, it’s hard to grow into Primordial Spirit, reaching Divinity Transformation."

Mu Yuehua is well aware of the sect’s precedent, knowing that should she follow the path of her predecessors, her journey would be initially auspicious but ultimately perilous, her cultivation advance becoming stalled, rendering her future extremely bleak.

"Although I have established Foundation, I still haven’t formed the Golden Core."

Foundation Establishment may be rebuilt, but Golden Core is irrevocable!

Mu Yuehua still had one last chance to adjust.

Mu Yuehua had tried searching, but either the attempts failed, or what she found was beyond her preference.

Mu Yuehua gradually understood: The sect had long secretly taken actions multiple times to cut off all other future possibilities, leaving only the path of the Moon Yin Golden Core.

The Moonlight Pill is the Moonlight Sect’s emblem, and for the sect to establish a firm foothold in Flying Cloud Country and thrive, it needs generations of Yuehua Fairies, cultivating corresponding techniques and refining Moonlight Pills extensively.

This is where the sect’s interests lie!

"The Nanming Vermilion Bird Fire, indeed Yang Fire. What’s more impressive is that unlike the True Sun Fire, it also holds astrological qualities, it could be called Starfire."

Mu Yuehua cultivates Taiyin Skill, and utilizing Taiyin True Fire would create discord with Nanming Vermilion Bird Fire, being water and fire incompatible. But with star and moon in harmony, Nanming Vermilion Bird Fire could reflect her Taiyin Magical Power. Thus achieving Yin Yang symbiosis, water and fire reconciliation.

Ultimately, change Mu Yuehua’s Golden Core nature and quality!

Mu Yuehua knows this moment’s choice isn’t just about a batch of pills, nor just about the title contest of contemporary Yuehua Fairy but a pivotal decision in her life’s cultivation path!

She is like standing at a crossroads, the scenery of the left and right roads vastly different.

Mu Yuehua’s slender, jade-like fingers trembled slightly, the Taiyin True Fire within the furnace subtly fluctuated and danced. The Taiyin Magical Power at her fingertips wrapped like silver threads, just like her scattered thoughts and hesitation at this moment.

"Then... "

Yuehua Fairy took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

"Then leave."

The Taiyin True Fire in the pill furnace gradually extinguished. The about-to-form Moonlight Pill fell to the bottom of the furnace, shattering, its fragrance scattering, permeating into one’s heart.

A batch of Moonlight Pills, over a month’s effort, destroyed completely.

Upon seeing this, Mu Yuehua instead smiled with relief.

She already realized that when her heart lake couldn’t be calmed, she had already made her choice.

She slowly stood up, calmly retracting her gaze, pushed open the door to the Pill Room, and walked out.

Outside the door, moonlight fell like water, covering the entire Moonlight Peak.

She didn’t linger on Moonlight Peak.