“Gurgle gurgle…”

Purple-gray clear water flowed down from the jade bottle, slowly pouring into the plum vase.

Jian Chou complained verbally, but her hands were unambiguous.

This former master of the study seemed to be quite fond of plum blossoms. Though Jian Chou didn’t know his origins, she had ultimately received his fortune. Now that he had a request, how could she ignore it?

Therefore, even though she inwardly sighed deeply about such “elegant extravagance,” she shouldn’t fail to follow his wishes.

Before long, the purple-gray Reincarnation Pool water had gradually filled up, and seeing it had reached the seven-tenths mark, Jian Chou withdrew her hand.

About half the Reincarnation Pool water remained in the jade bottle.

This water could nourish all things, but these three plum branches had been withered for quite some time. Jian Chou was curious: would there be any effect after pouring this water in?

She looked carefully.

The bases of all three plum branches were soaked in that purple-gray Reincarnation Pool water.

At this moment, tiny points of deep emerald fluorescence kept emerging from the water, automatically climbing up along the bases of the plum branches.

The outer layer of black bark on the withered plum branches had long lost vitality.

But as that deep emerald fluorescence climbed up, the color of that layer of black bark actually lightened, starting from the bottom and slowly moving upward, even faintly revealing a green vitality full of life!

How miraculous!

Jian Chou couldn’t help but widen her eyes, amazed by such divine effects of “resurrection from the dead”!

That deep emerald fluorescence should be the most formidable aspect of this Reincarnation Pool water.

It seemed inexhaustible, drawing away from the water and then clinging to the plum branches. Gradually, all three plum branches actually regained their full appearance.

Only that sole plum blossom bud seemed to change more slowly.

The power of the Reincarnation Pool water spread through the entire plum branch, then enveloped the entire flower bud, sweeping over layer after layer of petals.

The deep black withered petals quickly turned purple-black, then purple-red…

The color gradually approached the original hue of plum blossoms.

It seemed this flower bud would require more effort to return to its original state.

Jian Chou was curious about what it would ultimately become, whether it would bloom, so she stared intently.

After about a quarter-hour, the plum blossom finally returned to its normal appearance.

The three withered branches had actually regained their vitality, and even the flower bud she hadn’t dared touch before had become fresh and full…

Only it hadn’t opened.

The efficacy of the Reincarnation Pool water seemed to automatically stop here.

Jian Chou examined carefully and saw that the deep emerald fluorescence in the plum vase had dimmed but not disappeared. It could be triggered at any moment, suggesting that any depletion of the plum branches would be replenished from here.

It’s just that…

It had no intention of making the plum blossom bloom prematurely.

When it withered, it was in the state of a tightly wrapped bud.

Now revived, it stood exactly at this point, which conformed to the Way of Heaven and felt natural.

Jian Chou gazed like this for a long time.

Looking at that colorfully revived flower bud, she felt her heart had become as full as this bud.

It was real.

The Reincarnation Pool water was real!

This meant she truly had hope of refining the “Soul-Reversing Pill” to complete her soul!

For a moment, it was as if a fire burned in Jian Chou’s chest.

She had to open those two tightly closed carved windows, letting the fine cold wind from outside blow across her face, gradually cooling the heat rising from her heart.

After quite a while, Jian Chou finally calmed down, and simultaneously, the entire plan completely surfaced in her mind.

Wolves ahead, tigers behind.

Someone at the Reception Department was investigating her—her identity might be exposed. The legendary Yin-Yang realm was beneath the eighteenth level of hell, deep underground, making it nearly impossible for her to infiltrate.

But these were all matters Jian Chou couldn’t resolve alone. What she could decide was only what was within her power—

Improving her strength to handle all changes with constancy.

Cultivation was imperative, but the matter of her soul was fundamental to her.

With such a great opportunity before her, sharpening the blade wouldn’t delay the woodcutting. Wouldn’t it be twice as effective to repair her soul before cultivating?

Having made up her mind, Jian Chou directly swallowed a pill to refresh herself.

She had been reading books continuously without rest, severely depleted and somewhat fatigued. After taking the pill, gentle medicinal power flowed throughout her body.

Jian Chou sat down, regulated her breathing briefly, and felt she had recovered almost completely.

No time to lose.

She directly returned to the desk, carefully reviewed the pill formula once more, and counted the materials on her fingers. The most important was that azure lotus spiritual fire for refining medicine.

The fire for alchemy was of utmost importance.

Azure Lotus Spiritual Fire had never ranked low among all strange fires, and had been used as a clearance reward by the master of the Slaughter Red Small Realm. Jian Chou had obtained one bloom at that time. After circulating through her entire body, a small bloom remained, not completely consumed, and Jian Chou had never touched it since.

Unexpectedly, there was now an opportunity to put it to use.

Next were the remaining medicinal herbs and spiritual grasses.

Jian Chou had never seen these things before. After thinking it over, she originally planned to go to Pinzi Tower to resolve this and conveniently dispose of that pile of “junk.”

After all, she had received messages from the short shopkeeper these past few days, but immersed in the various secrets of this study, Jian Chou simply couldn’t spare the mental energy to deal with them.

Unfortunately, her luck was excellent—she ultimately didn’t need to go.

When she pushed open the door to leave the residence, Jian Chou saw the dust-covered pill room on the right side of the courtyard and had a sudden inspiration to go look.

She originally wanted to see if there were any other essential alchemy items, planning to buy anything missing together.

Unexpectedly, upon entering, except for a large pill furnace covered with a lid, there was nothing else.

Jian Chou walked around in a circle, only feeling this place hadn’t been visited for too long, though indeed as Old Zhou said, the array formations were still good.

She circled the pill furnace twice, casually opening the heavy lid covering it, and was startled.

Inside the sizeable pill furnace were various medicinal materials!

The types were diverse, and the quality seemed to vary greatly, as if randomly thrown in.

This previous residence owner seemed to have used this large pill furnace as storage containers.

Jian Chou was stunned for quite a while, truly not knowing what to think.

She touched her nose and became interested, going to the study to fetch those books explaining medicinal material identification, comparing them one by one to distinguish the medicinal materials in the pill furnace.

As she had thought, there were indeed several varieties she needed among them.

That pill formula was researched by the residence’s former owner, who must have conducted long-term experiments. How could these things be missing?

It’s just that this person, in Old Zhou’s words, had “disappeared without reason.” Among these medicinal materials were rare precious varieties, yet this person hadn’t taken them away…

Was he unable to take them, or simply didn’t care?

Jian Chou could never figure it out, but was too lazy to think further.

Heaven and earth were vast, but alchemy was supreme.

With materials complete and spiritual fire in hand, what remained was refining the Soul-Reversing Pill.

Jian Chou had basically never touched alchemy before, but the Soul-Reversing Pill was different—she absolutely didn’t dare ask anyone to help refine it. Once the Reincarnation Pool water was exposed, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Even if her identity wasn’t exposed then, she would still die miserably.

Moreover, Jian Chou really didn’t know many people in this Extreme Domain, and the alchemy masters of the Extreme Domain weren’t on the same level as those of the Shijiu Zhou.

Rather than take enormous risks in exchange for a furnace of questionable waste pills, Jian Chou felt it was better to trust herself.

She cleaned that large pill furnace thoroughly and placed the medicinal materials needed for alchemy beside it, ready for use at any time.

Through precise calculations, the Reincarnation Pool water in Jian Chou’s possession could refine two Soul-Reversing Pills.

However, this was only theoretical.

In reality, Jian Chou had almost never touched alchemy before. The probability of success on the first try was almost zero, and failing twice was quite normal.

There was only so much Reincarnation Pool water—she didn’t dare be careless at all.

Therefore, she simply looked up other relatively simple pill formulas and first tried refining a few simple pills herself.

She discovered that following the precautions this person had written in the book and being more careful during her own alchemy, the success rate was actually quite high.

After successfully refining three consecutive furnaces without waste pills, Jian Chou finally grasped some basic principles.

This didn’t mean she had exceptional talent in this field, comparable to Lu Xiangleng.

It could only be said that Jian Chou had strong learning ability and keen observation, able to promptly detect emerging problems and solve them according to the notes.

After roughly confirming she could begin, Jian Chou cleaned the pill furnace again.

She placed her remaining Reincarnation Pool water in white jade, then ignited the Azure Lotus Spiritual Fire inside the pill furnace, and began brewing under the white jade.

This step was to concentrate the medicinal properties, requiring only constant temperature, and wasn’t very difficult.

Therefore, Jian Chou divided her attention to crush the other needed medicinal materials one by one, taking out the small pill furnace she hadn’t used from her time at Yashan, also placing it inside for refinement with ordinary fire.

Alchemy generally had two methods.

One was to first refine everything together into a thick paste, then use molds for slight control or cultivator mental control to form pills.

The other was to refine separately, individually placing some medicines in spherical vessels, finally suspending the vessels in the pill furnace to fully absorb the medicinal power of other materials, ultimately forming pills.

The Soul-Reversing Pill used the latter method.

The other medicinal materials would only contact the Reincarnation Pool water at the very end. Only this final step was also the most difficult, requiring extremely high control of heat. One careless moment could cause the furnace to explode.

After Jian Chou preliminarily refined the other medicines, she loosened a chain from the top of the small pill furnace. A spherical object like an incense ball hung from it, with holes around it allowing medicinal liquid to enter.

Those dried, semi-powdered medicinal materials were filled into this vessel by her.

After completing all this, Jian Chou focused on tending to the Reincarnation Pool water.

She carefully sensed the changes in the pill furnace, her heartbeat quickening somewhat.

Jian Chou had personally experienced the power of Azure Lotus Spiritual Fire.

Used in alchemy, it could be called supreme spiritual fire.

She saw the purple-gray Reincarnation Pool water quickly begin boiling in the pill furnace, with bubble after bubble slowly rising from below.

With a soft “pop,” a bubble reached the water surface and immediately burst, releasing a faint gray qi that rose and disappeared without trace.

This was so-called “yin and yang generating and restraining each other.” Since the Reincarnation Pool water contained infinite vitality, it also harbored countless death qi, specifically to restrain the Reincarnation Pool water.

Current refinement aimed to drive out the impurities and death qi contained within.

When impurities and death qi were completely driven out, reaching a state of pure extremity, that would be the time to add the remaining medicines.

Jian Chou wasn’t hasty or impatient, patiently controlling that spiritual fire.

Outside, day turned to night, and after a full day and night passed, by the second day’s dusk, the gray qi emerging from the pill furnace had become very sparse. The Reincarnation Pool water in the entire pill furnace had actually reduced to just a small bowl, pure deep purple in color and quite beautiful.

“Gurgle…”

Another bubble rose.

The instant it appeared, Jian Chou’s eyes focused, staring intently.

“Pop.”

The next moment, it burst directly.

However, this time, a mass of purple qi burst out from within!

The heat was perfect!

Seeing this, Jian Chou knew this furnace had reached the right moment. She quickly pulled the chain beside her and threw the copper ball filled with medicine into the large pill furnace!

Unexpectedly, before the copper ball could fall into the pill furnace, the entire furnace emitted a crisp sound—

“Crack!”

A mass of cold purple light suddenly exploded from within the furnace!

At this moment, Jian Chou’s perception hadn’t withdrawn from the pill furnace. She only felt that in that instant, it seemed to finally cross some critical point. The gentle aura of the Reincarnation Pool water in the furnace suddenly became fierce!

The temperature plummeted sharply!

Jian Chou reacted extremely quickly, hurriedly withdrawing her hand and recalling the flame burning beneath the pill furnace…

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Still holding the copper ball filled with medicine, she looked up to see the originally bronze-colored pill furnace surface now covered with a thin layer of purple ice crystals.

Peering inside, the Reincarnation Pool water that had been refined to just a small bowl had become a solid block of purple jade.

Ruined.

These two words appeared clearly before Jian Chou.

Her brow furrowed and heart sank as she couldn’t come to her senses.

How could this happen?

Jian Chou felt a sharp pain in her heart. Filling the plum vase seven-tenths full earlier was one thing—after all, it was repaying someone’s kindness—but what was this situation now?

Had she wasted it once?

Unable to help pressing her hand to her forehead, her entire complexion became somewhat unsightly.

Everything had been fine before.

According to what the book said, when refined to the extreme, that was when the Reincarnation Pool water was purest. Timely adding the remaining medicines and refining for over sixty days would yield one Soul-Reversing Pill.

How…

Jian Chou carefully recalled the problematic step just now.

Purple qi emerged from the water bubble, so she judged it had been refined to the extreme and quickly took the copper ball to throw it in. Unexpectedly, at this moment, an accident occurred…

From no problem to having a problem, there was barely one breath’s time in between!

Could it be that this tiny step was where things went wrong?

Jian Chou originally only had materials to refine two Soul-Reversing Pills. To be safe, she had divided it into two attempts, not expecting the first to fail.

Only one chance remained. Even with Jian Chou’s boldness and careful nature, her heart was now completely suspended.

She forcibly endured that stifling feeling, put down the copper ball with medicine, went to the pill furnace side, and carefully extended her spiritual consciousness, wanting to contact the Reincarnation Pool water that had become purple ice crystals in the pill furnace.

Unexpectedly, the instant her spiritual consciousness made contact, she felt a terrifying coldness.

It was like…

That was frozen snowland, wanting to freeze her spiritual consciousness solid as well!

Jian Chou was greatly alarmed and directly withdrew her spiritual consciousness, stepping back!

“This is!”

If she hadn’t reacted quickly, she would probably have been absorbed into those ice crystals just now, her spirit and soul destroyed!

Reincarnation Pool water…

Jian Chou blinked, looking at these ice crystals. After the previous shock, she suddenly began to understand somewhat.

Yin and yang restrained each other. Using Azure Lotus Spiritual Fire was to drive out the death qi within with extreme fire.

When all death qi was completely driven out, the Reincarnation Pool water reached an extreme purity. The purer it became, the more sensitive it became to changes in other conditions.

Though her speed with the copper ball earlier was fast, relative to the current Reincarnation Pool water, it was already too slow.

Missing this opportunity, the Reincarnation Pool water went from one extreme to another, thus immediately becoming ice crystals.

Touching the ice crystals was like Jian Chou’s initial contact with Reincarnation Pool water—one couldn’t help being attracted to it.

Who said everyone was willing to enter reincarnation?

But with this Reincarnation Pool water’s attractive effect on soul consciousness, it would be relatively easier.

The character “life” reached its extreme through the removal of impurities, and its efficacy accordingly reached its limit.

Only this extreme state could no longer be used for alchemy.

What Jian Chou needed to catch was that instant when it transformed toward the extreme—

Only that one instant!

Her reaction needed to be faster, more acute!

Understanding all this, Jian Chou still couldn’t help sighing: “What a waste of natural treasures…”

This furnace of Reincarnation Pool water was now ruined.

But she couldn’t bear to just throw it away—perhaps she could research some use for it later?

So she patted the pill furnace with her hand. With a “clang,” all the purple ice crystals formed from Reincarnation Pool water automatically flew out from the pill furnace and were collected by Jian Chou into her Qiankun Bag.

“No wonder they say alchemy is hard work!”

Physical hardship was secondary—the key was that the mental blow was truly too severe. One failure cost many years of savings!

The Shijiu Zhou had a saying: don’t cultivate immortality while practicing alchemy, don’t practice alchemy while cultivating immortality.

Both consumed too much energy, and more importantly, alchemy could easily break one’s heart.

Jian Chou sat on the ground regulating her breathing to calm her emotions for a while, looking at the last small half-bottle of Reincarnation Pool water before her. She thought: now her heart wasn’t broken yet, but if this second time—the final time—also failed, her heart would probably rot.

“Sigh…”

With a long sigh, Jian Chou reached up to rub her temples, slowly closing her eyes to drive the shadow of her previous failure from her mind.

In alchemy, hands must be steady, eyes must be sharp, heart must be calm.

After about half an hour, she slowly exhaled.

Failure wasn’t frightening—what was frightening was continuous failure.

This time she had proceeded almost to the final step before failing, meaning everything before was fine. As long as she grasped this step firmly, the Soul-Reversing Pill could succeed!

She stood up again, looked at the cleaned pill furnace, and slowly poured in the remaining Reincarnation Pool water from the bottle.

“Drip!”

Soon, the last drop of purple-gray pool water also fell into the pill furnace.

Jian Chou’s eyes were calm and waveless. Her left hand swept through empty space, and the spiritual fire she had previously stored emerged from her fingertip—a small bloom like an azure lotus, slowly rotating.

With a flick of her finger, the spiritual fire flew back beneath the pill furnace, transforming into a larger lotus bloom that covered the furnace bottom.

The second time—and final time—of refinement began.