Pill Completion

"Hey, don't spout nonsense! If I hear that rubbish out of your mouth again, I'll use you for my next project!" brayed Elder Leng, scaring Xiaoshuai back to Mu Yu.

"Father, do you still not understand that he cannot withstand your provocations now that he has erased his cultivation?" hostilely questioned Leng Bingxue.

"What can we do? Is there nothing we can do?" Mu Yu asked, panicking. He was arguably the main perpetrator when it came to provoking Ku Mu to force the latter to speak fluidly. He asked Xiaoshuai, "Can we supply him with vitality? Will that help?"

"You're cognisant of his condition even if I don't explicate it," whispered Xiaoshuai.

"There must be a way." Mu Yu slogged back the serenity qi water. He turned his held and, in a loud voice, inquired, "You are alchemists. Is there nothing you can do?"

Elder Leng passed Mu Yu a white vial. "Life prolonging pill…"

Mu Yu refused with a head shake, aware it wouldn't work for an ordinary human. "You, as alchemists, are beholden to help him hang in there. I will be back soon."

Mu Yu flew out of the house with Xiaoshuai. Xiaoshuai, knowing what Mu Yu had in mind, simply commented, "Reversal pill?"

"Any better ideas?"

"It's highly unlikely to succeed. I'm not trying to dampen your determination, but your attempt just failed."

"If I can't control the liaozhi, I'll refine its resistant component. I need to calm down to analyse what part of it conflicts with gui herb so that I can refine precisely that."

"Your blood!"

"What?"

"Your blood! Remember how you tamed the celestial fiend tree using your blood? Plants tend innately reject certain things. Your blood is plants' natural enemy. I suspect you can overcome the potency barrier if you imbue the liaozhi with your blood. Best of all, unlike other alchemists, you don't need concentrated blood. Your ordinary blood should do."

"I don't have any brighter ideas. Let's give it a go."

Mu Yu cut open his finer and dripped a drop into the liaozhi liquid. The liquid jolted, turning from black to a deep green. The purifying spiritual energy excited the liquid. The effects the liquid offer weren't altered, but the resistant component was erased. The question was, was the resistant component gone for good. Either way, he had to try to find out.

Mu Yu repeated the siphoning process again using Speed Alchemy Mental Cultivation. The mixing step went smoothly and arguably easier than before. The two clashing herbs fit like a glove and mixed with the thousand-plus other herbs without a hitch. Once the pieces clicked together, the pill began to glow once again. The orange light beamed through the clouds. The same spiritual energy dispersed throughout the mountain.

Gulping when the orange light illuminated his face, Elder Leng stuttered, "H-He didn't actually succeed now, did he?"

"N-No idea," replied Daoist Yun Dan, hesitant to jump to conclusions again in case he'd be let down a second time.

Words failed the two elders upon sighting their sights on the pill cauldron in front of Mu Yu. At long last, Daoist Yun Dan exclaimed, "It's an eighth-rank pill! Reversal pill was theorised to be a rank seven pill, but this energy is unquestionably eighth rank!"

The other sect elders soon arrived on the scene sharing similar sentiments. Mu Yu was the only unhappy one for he knew what would happen once he removed his spiritual energy from the equation. He, therefore, hesitated to let go. He constantly prayed, "Make it! Make it!" as he cautiously withdrew his spiritual energy.

Mu Yu's heart skipped a bit when he finished his withdrawal. There was a small reaction, but his nightmare didn't become a reality. The green pill, adorned with seven golden streaks and a white line, was in front of him.

"Yes!"

Mu Yu looked up at the sky. Thunder rumbled, and blue sparks flickered behind green clouds. A violent lightning bolt descended!

"I don't remember anything about thunder in today's forecast!" cried Xiaoshuai.

Mu Yu grabbed the cauldron to run. Elder Leng, nonetheless, called, "Don't run, Mu Yu! It's a lightning tribulation. The heavens want to get rid of the pill; it's up to you to protect it!"

"Easier said than done. You want to bloody take my place?!" Mu Yu exclaimed a moment before jumping out of the next strike's way.

Elder Leng didn't know how to the sudden coarse language since nobody – barring Ku Mu – would ever use foul language with him.

"Pick somebody else to go after, damn it!"

Mu Yu leapt aside, but the lightning nipped his hair, zapping him. Seeing him stumble, Elder Leng declared, "Only we can handle an eighth rank lightning tribulation. We need to help him!"

"He has to overcome it himself, though. Else, the lightning will aim for him instead of the pill. If we help, the tribulation will surface again," disputed Daoist Yun Dan."

"God damn it, I wasn't the one who produced the pill. I only added the finishing touch. Reverend Jiu Yang was the one who produced it!"

"Exactly! Since the creator is gone, we can't let Mu Yu go, too!" concurred Elder Leng, jumping into the fray.

Daoist Yun Dan dawdled for a little longer before summoning a golden flag and transformed it into a golden spiritual net to trap the lightning. Elder Leng used shape shifting to turn his walking stick into a golden sword. Alchemist Yao and Shi Dengtian unleashed a blast of their own, albeit the latter helping begrudgingly just to save his name.

"This doesn't seem to be an eighth rank lightning tribulation," commented Elder Leng.

"There's no more?" remarked Daoist Yun Dan.

"Isn't that better? Why would you want more?" asked Mu Yu, clinging to the reversal pill.

"Mind your manners!" reprimanded Elder Leng.

"I wouldn't even give you time of the day if Gramps suffers any harm!"

"So, the reversal p-."

"Is for my shifu."

"Hold it right there. You don't have any right to choose what to do with it," contended Shi Dengtian, dragging Mu Yu back.