A fist-sized jade cauldron stood amidst the darkness. It had three feet and two handles, and it glittered with purple light.

“Cauldrons this small exist? It looks more like a wine cask,” exclaimed Mu Xi.

Su Yi reached out and grabbed. The jade cauldron whooshed into his palm. He examined it, then said, “This is a pill furnace.”

As he spoke, he exerted strength through his fingers.

Bzzzz!

The fist-sized jade cauldron suddenly expanded. It was now several dozen feet tall, and purple spiritual light circulated around it. It was bright and magnificent.

Only now did they see clearly that the cauldron’s surface was engraved with totems of vermillion birds, luan, one-legged bi fang cranes, and other sacred birds and beasts. All were highly realistic.

Purple smoke drifted out of the opening, and a mysterious, obscure presence permeated the air.

The bottom of the cauldron was engraved with the characters “Violet Palace.”

There was no doubt about it; that was the pill furnace’s name. 

“A treasure!” The groups’ eyes lit up.

“This is a spirit-marked treasure, and it’s the work of a Spirit Dao cultivator. The pill furnace contains eight layers of spiritual markings. Each has a different function, but all are designed for preparing medicine.”

Su Yi examined it, then said, “This pill furnace can only reveal the full extent of its abilities in the hands of a Spirit Dao cultivator. Fortunately, someone like me can still use it to refine medicine by borrowing the power of a formation.”

As he spoke, he reabsorbed the true essence between his fingers, and the purple pill furnace shrank back down to the size of a fist. 

He then split off a wisp of his divine sense to investigate the furnace’s interior.

An independent space existed within the cauldron. It was fully one hundred feet across and about as tall as a three-story building.

When Su Yi’s divine sense entered it, he immediately saw a flowing ball of light hovering within, emitting wave after wave of dense medicinal fragrance.

“Bloodleaf Poria, Longevity Power, Origin-Condensing Spirit Pith, Nine-Striped Beetle, Firefeather Kiss….” Su Yi instantly recognized the few dozen ingredients the ball of light contained.

When he recognized the Spirit Pith, a rare ingredient, Su Yi instantly understood—

That guy who called himself the Crimson Peng Monarch was trying to refine a Spiritual Origin Rebirth Pill!

This pill was the work of soul cultivators, and while it wasn’t all that subtle or miraculous, it allowed one’s soul to condense and form a “spirit body.”

That wasn’t much different from having a true fleshly body, save for spirit bodies’ one obvious downside: without true flesh, one could only pursue the path of the soul cultivator.

Take Qing Wan, a soul body. The body she condensed as she stepped onto the true path of cultivation was, in fact, a type of spirit body. 

“Based on the pill’s level of finish, he’s likely refined it for quite some time already, and it’s almost done….” A strange light appeared in Su Yi’s eyes. No wonder the Crimson Peng Monarch was so irritable. No wonder he was so unwilling to leave. So, I ruined his plans to refine this pill...

From this, Su Yi could deduce that it hadn’t been long since the Crimson Peng Monarch’s soul avatar had crossed over.

It was precisely because of his arrival that the crimson vortex shook, causing an enormous disturbance and leading the world’s martial artists to believe that Treasure Tower Yao Mountain had undergone a tremendous shift.

This in turn led to numerous people gathering here, including the monks of Shanglin Temple.

And it was obvious that when the Crimson Peng Monarch crossed over, he’d come thoroughly prepared. He planned to refine a Spirit Origin Rebirth Pill to condense a body for himself as quickly as possible, then cultivate anew.

As for why he’d stayed near the vortex to refine his pill…

That was simple. This underground world had the Prajna Meditation Garden’s Burning Heaven Restricting Demon Formation; it was completely sealed off.

The Crimson Peng Monarch’s abilities were insufficient to break through that terrifying sealing formation. 

Otherwise, Su Yi feared he would have left a long time ago. He wouldn’t have needed to refine a pill, either; he could have just possessed someone and started cultivating that way.

Su Yi then proceeded to share his deductions with his companions, as well as tell them his plans.

“I intend to borrow the power of this grand formation to refine a batch of pills. Watch over me, and when the pills are ready, we can split them.”

His companions’ eyes lit up, and they straightforwardly agreed.

Su Yi sat cross-legged atop the black jade lotus platform without any further delays. He planned to fully recover from his wounds, then restore his cultivation to its peak state before attempting to refine medicine.

When Lan Suo saw this, she took out a bottle and passed it to him. “Young Lord Su, this is a bottle of Fragrant Heaven Jade Dew. Please use it.”

Su Yi didn’t refuse. He simply accepted the bottle and swallowed its contents.

When Lan Suo saw this, she was inwardly gleeful, and her soft, glistening lips curved up into a grin. I’m just glad you accepted it. After this… I refuse to believe you’ll dare call me a burden!

Ning Sihua and Mu Xi sighed to themselves again.

Fragrant Heaven Jade Dew!

This was one of the Great Qin’s Donghua Sword Sect’s top sacred medicines. Rumor had it that even one drop was worth a hundred tier-three spirit stones!

It was extremely famous even in the Great Zhou, where martial artists saw it as a medicine capable of bringing back the dead and restoring flesh to white bone!

Yet now, Lan Suo had casually handed Su Yi an entire bottle to treat his wounds…

This level of wealth gave them firsthand exposure to what it meant to ‘throw one’s money around’ and ‘be rich and overbearing'! 

About ten minutes later, Su Yi rose and decided to start refining medicine.

His companions watched as he rose into the air. With a wave of his sleeves and a mighty boom, the Burning Heaven Restricting Demon Formation started circulating, surging with the energy fluctuations of a restriction.

Bzzzz!

Once activated, the fist-sized Violet Palace grew until it was several dozen feet tall, then hung suspended in the air.

When Su Yi controlled the power of the grand formation, directing it into the Violet Palace Furnace, the spirit-marked treasure burst with radiant light. One strange and beautiful illusory totem rose up after another—vermillion birds bathed in flame, bi fang cranes attacking the skies, fire pheasants wandering the abyss, and luan releasing cries as resonant as thunder…

His companions gasped repeatedly as they watched this play out.

Who’d have thought such miraculous methods were the work of a young man who was just a second-level Grandmaster?

Su Yi sat cross-legged in the air, his sleeves fluttering around him as he tossed stalks of spiritual medicine into Violet Palace. Practically all of them were tier four and up.

In fact, Su Yi was now extremely wealthy.

Between the massacre at the seat of the Imperatorial Province’s government to his battles at Dragonbridge Station and Roiling Cloud Temple, he’d already obtained an inestimably valuable collection of spoils.

Then there was the ninety percent of the profits the Ten Directions Pavilion had sent him.

Better yet, the Violet Palace Cauldron was already stocked with several dozen types of spiritual medicine. Now, all of these became supplies for Su Yi to refine pills with.

Rumble~!

The Violet Palace shook, then overflowed with spiritual light.

Su Yi occasionally manipulated the grand formation’s power, forming several profound pill incantations. 

With his second-level Grandmaster cultivation, never mind refining pills; even just activating the pill furnace should have been beyond him.

Fortunately, with the power of the Burning Heaven Restricting Demon Formation, Su Yi could benefit from another’s resources. This was one of the miraculous applications of the Dao of Talismans and Formations.

A mighty formations grandmaster could even slay foes of greater cultivations!

Ning Sihua, Mu Xi, and Lan Suo stood guard nearby. If anything unexpected happened now, their losses would be enormous. 

Enough time to burn a stick of incense passed. Su Yi was visibly exhausted.

Although he was borrowing the power of the formation to refine pills, controlling the formation continuously expended both his cultivation base and his soul power.

Now, he looked like a candle on the verge of blowing out.

Fortunately, despite how long it had been since he last refined pills, he wasn’t currently producing some lofty and unparalleled divine medicine, so the process went smoothly.

Wisps of clear medicinal aroma were already wafting out of the furnace’s interior. Just one sniff was enough to clear the heart, soothe the mind, and make one’s pores open.

“Just one more step.” Su Yi forcefully endured his exhaustion and focused on refining. He dared not be the least bit negligent.

It didn’t matter whether you were refining pills or weapons; you couldn’t get the least bit complacent until after you succeeded.

Otherwise, you were highly likely to fail at the final step.

Clang!

But just at the final, most critical juncture, the clear hum of a sword rang out.

The sound still echoed through the air as a black talisman sword streaked through the air and descended. It was preternaturally quick as it slashed at Su Yi.

They’d chosen the best possible moment for an assassination attempt. Su Yi was completely focused on refining medicine. If he split his attention, he might manage to dodge, but the entire batch of pills would be ruined.

But if he didn’t dodge, he’d almost certainly die on the spot.

This was a no-win situation!

Su Yi’s eyelids twitched slightly, but he remained clear-headed, calm, and unhurried. He continued focusing on his work.

Clang!

A shocking impact rang out.

Ning Sihua intervened right at the critical moment. A bright red, fish-shaped flying sword blocked the black talisman sword by a hair.

They clashed only about a foot away from Su Yi. The aftermath of the collision spread out and struck him, and he suddenly staggered.

Despite this, Su Yi’s expression was just as calm as before. He was clear-headed and focused, and he formed hand seals in order, without suffering the slightest impact.

When they saw this, his companions couldn’t help but break out in cold sweats. Then, their expressions darkened, their faces now brimming with killing intent.

Clang!

The blocked talisman sword immediately shot away, then fell into the distant darkness.

When they looked over, Ning Sihua and the others immediately saw a group approaching from afar.

Their leader was an ordinary-looking man in long robes. The only unusual thing about him was his eyes; they were sharp as a hawk’s. 

He was accompanied by a silver-haired, benevolent-looking elder and a woman in Daoist robes with a massive sword on her back.

They were none other than the elder of the Hidden Dragon Sect’s Text Transmission Pavilion, Lu Dongliu, as well as the outer sect's grand and second elders, Li Cang and Liao Yunliu!

When they saw this group, Mu Xi and Ning Sihua’s pupils constricted. How could they fail to recognize these three Xiantian Martial Ancestors of the Hidden Dragon Sword Sect?

If that were all, it wouldn’t be a big deal. After all, the three of them had only recently joined forces to kill a whole group of Shanglin Temple monks. They weren’t afraid of Lu Dongliu and his companions.

But this was terrible timing!

Su Yi was right at a critical juncture, and he couldn’t afford to divide his attention. If their opponents went all out to disrupt him, the consequences would be unimaginable.

What made their hearts even heavier was that there were two others accompanying the Hidden Dragon Sword Sect elders.

The first was a gaunt old man with disheveled hair. He walked with a cane.

The other was a dignified-looking middle-aged man in jade-colored robes. He had a white belt around his waist. He looked as steady and upright as a mountain, and a black talisman sword hovered over his palm.

It was obvious that he was behind that assassination attempt just now!

When Ning Sihua saw these two, her brow furrowed, while the look on Mu Xi’s handsome face darkened.

靈體, or “spirit body” is the same two characters I translated as “spiritual physique” way back when we first met Qing Jin, but it seems to mean something different here. Qing Jin seems like a mostly normal human with an unusual talent in the form of her physique, while the Crimson Peng Monarch is just a wisp of soul. Just gonna have to translate in context, I guess. 

Qing Wan’s “soul body”, or “魂體” also seems to be a subset of spirit bodies, although I’m not sure of the details.

The bi fang/Bi Fang/Bifang is a type of mythological bird.