199: Shadow erosion
Zhang Sheng used the Kun Yuan Dragon Capturing Hand to destroy his Physical Body while running the "Nine Tribulations Secret Codex - Divine Breath Chapter" to reconstruct it, absorbing earth-element spiritual energy to temper his Physical Body in the process.
The tribulation of earth-element spiritual energy was safely passed!
Thus, the tribulations of the Five Elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—had all been safely passed.
Afterward, Zhang Sheng continued to Cultivate the Spell "Nether Erosion."
As time passed,
Three days later, the Spell "Nether Erosion" finally reached the Perfected State, allowing it to be cast instantly at will.
Not only did the power of the Spell increase greatly, but the consumption of Qi also significantly decreased.
With this Spell, passing the dark-element spiritual energy tribulation would no longer be a problem.
Next, Zhang Sheng temporarily stopped Cultivating Spells and instead prepared to refine essence pills.
As the consumption of Mental Energy accelerated, his Physical Body needed to constantly nourish his Mental Energy, causing Zhang Sheng's consumption of blood essence pills to reach an alarming rate.
Zhang Sheng took out the cyan rock fire copper furnace.
He began refining according to the Pill Formula.
Three hours later,
Before the refining process was even halfway through, the medicinal Materials in the Pill Furnace were already destroyed.
"These essence pills are truly difficult to refine. I didn't expect that with my Alchemy techniques and several pill-refining arts at the Perfected State, I wouldn't be able to succeed in one go!"
A line of text appeared on the talent panel:
"Learning skill—Refining essence pill, progress: 25%"
Thus, Zhang Sheng began refining the second batch, progress: 45%;
Third batch, progress: 70%;
Fourth batch, progress: 72%;
The fourth batch still failed, but Zhang Sheng frowned.
"Why is this? The content emerging in my mind is already different from the original Pill Formula, even prompting me to not only adjust my techniques but also add new Spiritual Plants!"
The prompts from the talent panel definitely had their reasons, guiding Zhang Sheng toward making better choices.
"Unless the original Pill Formula is incomplete, problematic, or has been modified! But why would the Ten Thousand Treasures Hall do this? Or rather, why would the person who provided the Pill Formula Jade Slip do this?"
"Perhaps the person who originally provided the formula hid something. So, who exactly holds the most complete Pill Formula?"
"And why would the person holding the complete formula do this? After all, it's just a Medicinal Pill to replenish blood Qi and essence."
Zhang Sheng refined another batch of essence pills. This time, he deliberately followed the steps on the Pill Formula instead of the prompts flowing into his Sea of Consciousness.
As a result, new content appeared on the talent panel.
"Learning skill—Refining essence pill (Simplified Version), progress: 99%"
Zhang Sheng then refined another batch, and nine Low Grade simplified essence pills appeared in the Pill Furnace.
"Skill: Refining essence pill (Simplified Version) (Beginner: 11%)"
Zhang Sheng thought to himself, "There's no Rank prompt, which means essence pills, like the Soul-Startling Thorn, were both obtained from ancient Jade Slips."
Compared to the simplified version of the essence pill, Zhang Sheng was more interested in the original Pill Formula. According to the prompts in his Sea of Consciousness, the missing Spiritual Plants weren't rare herbs and could be bought at the Ten Thousand Treasures Hall.
Zhang Sheng walked out of his residence, left the Qinglan Academy, and headed toward the Qinglan Prefecture district.
He first went to the Youyuan Chamber of Commerce to buy the missing Spiritual Plants and then looked for a palace to rent nearby.
The rental business for the nearby palaces was managed by a power called Tianfu Tower, which itself had deep connections with both the Qinglan Academy and the Imperial Dynasty.
Seeing Zhang Sheng's three-star qinglan token, a manager hurriedly said respectfully, "Sir, what level of residence do you need? I can give you a twenty percent discount!"
"Earth-Grade palaces have all kinds of defensive Formations and cover an area of eight hundred square meters, with a daily rent of three thousand spirit crystals;"},{