Chapter 363: The Calamity Arrives

Han Li's face darkened. He waved a hand to extinguish the flame beneath the furnace and, with a single gesture, retrieved the discarded pill from within.

This attempt at alchemy had made little progress; he had only succeeded in incorporating one material into the pill, failing again when trying to add a second.

The closer the alchemy came to completion, the more difficult it became.

At this thought, Han Li couldn't help but frown.

With the True Eye, no matter how arduous the alchemy process, as long as he examined it repeatedly, he was confident he could overcome it.

But he had only prepared nine sets of materials, and three had already been used. If he still couldn't produce a single Dao Pill with the remaining six sets...

He took a deep breath and stopped thinking about it, once again activating the True Eye to examine the discarded pill.

A month later, Han Li began his fourth attempt.

The initial steps went smoothly, and he soon reached the point where he had previously failed.

With repeated observations from before and the aid of the Truthful Speech Dharma Wheel, he quickly overcame this hurdle, successfully incorporating a piece of pale golden honey into the pill.

He calmed his mind and glanced to the side; there were still five types of materials remaining.

Han Li gritted his teeth inwardly, picked up the next material, and threw it into the furnace.

His expression was intensely focused, a faint green light appearing on his face. His hands formed hand seals rapidly, pushing his alchemy skills to their utmost.

Inside the furnace, the pill rolled slightly, its surface shimmering with multicolored spiritual light, flickering and undulating.

Adding each material required adjusting the relationship between the new material and the others in the pill to achieve a new balance. It was like pouring a basin of cold water into a pot of hot oil without letting a single drop splash out.

Han Li's hands moved like wheels as he formed seals, striving to control the conflicting medicinal forces within the pill and stabilize them.

With a soft "bang!"

Han Li's seal-forming movements froze, and his face darkened.

This time, he had failed without even successfully incorporating a single material.

He sat in silence for a long while, then took out the discarded pill and once again used the True Eye to examine it.

A month later, the fifth alchemy attempt began.

After a month of repeated examination, Han Li had understood the reason for the previous failure, and this time the result was the same as before—he smoothly overcame that difficulty.

However, when melting the next material, despite his utmost caution and pushing his alchemy skills to the limit, he ultimately failed again.

Han Li smiled wryly in resignation, activated the True Eye, and examined this discarded pill to find the cause of failure.

Then, after waiting another month, he began refining again and finally succeeded.

In the blink of an eye, two or three months had passed.

Han Li sat cross-legged in his cave dwelling, his ten fingers moving like blooming lotuses as he formed one hand seal after another.

From within the furnace came faint crackling sounds, and multicolored spiritual light flickered, occasionally leaking out despite the lid.

The air was filled with a rich medicinal fragrance.

Beside him, not a single material remained; all had been incorporated into the pill within the furnace.

Over the past few months, for the remaining materials, Han Li had given his all in each attempt, but none succeeded on the first try. Only after failing and then using the True Eye to summarize the experience did he manage to complete them.

Thus, although he gradually overcame each difficulty, he had also exhausted all his prepared materials. What was now in the furnace was the last set.

As for melting the final material, he had already failed once before. Since then, he had used the True Eye to observe it repeatedly and had mentally deliberated over it no fewer than a hundred times. Barring accidents, this attempt should be problem-free.

What he now had to worry about was the subsequent pill tribulation.

With only this one set of materials left, if he couldn't withstand the pill tribulation, he would have no second chance for at least the next several hundred years.

Items like Dew-Coagulating Grass and Heaven-Made Ginseng were easier to handle; he still had some seeds and seedlings, which he could continue to hasten with the green liquid.

But other non-spiritual-plant materials could not be hastened with the green liquid; they had to be purchased with immortal jade stones. Some of these materials were not easily obtainable outside, especially the main spiritual ingredients, which he had only found in Tao Yu's storage artifact. If he had to search for them himself, it would take who knows how much time and effort.

Now, being in the Black Wind Sea region, it went without saying that even if he put up a bounty in the Unconstant Alliance, he simply couldn't buy them.

So this was his last chance; he absolutely could not afford to fail.

Han Li mustered all his concentration, using his divine sense to probe every change within the furnace, his hands forming seals to control everything inside.

Inside the furnace, the various medicinal forces clashed violently, like a pot of boiling water, chaotic and tangled.

Even though he had grasped the key points of this alchemy attempt, he still found it extremely taxing.

Time passed bit by bit, and Han Li's mind gradually entered a state of utter tranquility, like a still, waveless ancient well.

His seal-forming hands became slow, but every movement exuded an inexplicable charm.

One hand seal after another flowed from his hands like water, disappearing into the furnace.

The originally complex situation inside the furnace became simple in Han Li's eyes, and he manipulated it with increasing ease.

The violently clashing medicinal forces inside the furnace suddenly calmed down, rapidly advancing according to the steps recorded in the pill formula.

A smile appeared on his face. His alchemy skills had unknowingly taken a great leap forward, breaking through a bottleneck and entering a completely new realm.

Han Li took a light breath, his expression turning grave again as he suddenly changed his hand seals.

Boom, boom, boom...

The sounds within the furnace grew louder, like rolling thunder, but it was not the elixir exploding—it was caused by the turbulent clash of various energies.

The multicolored light emanating from within also grew increasingly dazzling, gradually merging into a pure gold.

Han Li's eyes lit up.

He knew that this scene was precisely the sign of an elixir about to form.

His hand seals quickened, and the golden light within the furnace grew more brilliant, occasionally coalescing into shapes of dragons, tigers, and colorful clouds, while the fragrance of the elixir became richer, like orchid or musk.

Roar, roar, roar!

At that moment, the sound from the furnace suddenly changed, as if a giant beast was roaring.

With a loud bang!

A blinding golden light burst forth from the furnace, the lid blasted away, and a dazzling golden mass flew out—a golden elixir the size of a dragon's eye.

Flame-like golden rays radiated from the elixir, coalescing into rings of golden light that rippled outward.

On the elixir's surface appeared golden Dao patterns representing a Dao elixir, emitting a profound fluctuation of the law of time, nearly akin to the Heavenly Dao.

Moreover, the golden Dao patterns on the elixir were clearly two in number.

Seeing this, a glimmer of surprise flashed in Han Li's eyes.

He had not expected the Dao elixir he refined to reach the second grade; perhaps it was due to the rich time power in the time crystals, or other reasons.

Regardless, a second-grade Dao elixir was far more potent than a first-grade one.

At that moment, the clear sky above the island suddenly stirred with wind and clouds; countless golden specks appeared, quickly forming an enormous golden cloud that churned endlessly.

Looking into the distance, the golden cloud seemed boundless, as if filling the entire sky, and the sea below was also dyed gold.

An immense fluctuation of law emanated from the golden cloud, causing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within hundreds of thousands of li to churn violently.

The law fluctuation in the golden cloud was so powerful that even cultivators millions of li away felt an inexplicable palpitation and looked toward the cloud.

The golden cloud churned fiercely, its color growing increasingly dense; within a few breaths, it seemed to become solid, covering the entire sky, not allowing a single ray of sunlight to penetrate.

Though the entire sea was illuminated in a bright gold, it gave a feeling of immense heaviness, as if the whole world were pressing down.

Inside the cave dwelling, Han Li sensed the situation outside and frowned.

Although he had read records of the elixir tribulation in ancient texts, he had not expected its might to be greater than he imagined.

Rumble!

Within the golden cloud, a rumbling sound arose, wind and clouds surged, and suddenly a massive golden vortex appeared, spinning rapidly.

From the center of the vortex, dazzling golden light emerged, crackling with a sizzling sound.

A terrifying fluctuation of law, as if capable of crushing everything, descended from the vortex and enveloped the cave dwelling.

Crack!

Cracks appeared on the walls of the cave dwelling, and Han Li's body trembled.

Above the cave dwelling, a flash of golden lightning, and the figure of Crab Immortal appeared.

He looked up at the golden cloud in the sky, faint golden light flickering in his pupils, a trace of emotion showing on his wooden face.

At that moment, the golden vortex in the sky brightened sharply, and a blinding golden beam shot out from the vortex, striking toward the cave dwelling below.

Within the golden light were countless golden runes, flashing wildly, emitting a terrifying fluctuation of the law of time.

Yet this fluctuation of time power clearly carried a strong sense of slaughter.

Crab Immortal made no attempt to block, merely standing still.

Just then, a flash of golden light struck the cave dwelling and directly penetrated it.

The formations and stone walls outside the cave dwelling remained unscathed; the golden light seemed illusory, passing straight through.

Inside the cave dwelling, Han Li sensed the situation outside and was startled.

The speed at which the elixir tribulation descended far exceeded his expectations.

He quickly urged his technique, his whole body radiating golden light as the True Word Wheel appeared, countless dense golden ripples emerging from the wheel to envelop the golden Dao elixir.

At the same time, he opened his mouth and spat out seven star rings, which spun rapidly and linked together, forming a larger ring.

It was the Seven Luminaries Star Ring.

Dazzling starlight radiated, forming a starry light screen adorned with countless twinkling star patterns, like a miniature starry sky.

Thumb-sized star runes danced on the light screen, emitting faint fluctuations of law.

Before he could react further, the cave ceiling flashed, and a golden light shot down with lightning speed, striking the starry light screen.

The starry light screen immediately brightened, all the star runes blazing with light and emitting sharp whistles as they tried to block the golden light.

But with a flicker, the golden light pillar pierced through the starry light screen as if through the cave roof, striking the Dao elixir with pinpoint accuracy.