A number of hand seals were formed in succession, sending out spiritual aura, which almost became corporeal, towards the pill furnace. Inside the furnace, the spiritual panacea started to change violently.

　　With her eyes closed, Mo Tiange used her divine sense to observe the status of the medicinal liquid inside the furnace.

　　Several dozens of materials dissolved, mixing together… Due to the hand seals she formed, these changes became increasingly more violent.

　　This was the solvent-elixir stage; this stage would take a very long time, and when the changes stopped, the pills would be formed. Therefore, in the next few days, they’d have to continue waiting like this and occasionally form hand seals to encourage the fusion of materials and extract the impurities from the concoction.

　　Time gradually passed by. Elder Qingmiao and Ender Qingxi switched turns once every six hours, while Elder Qingyi remained on guard on the doorstep. Xia Qing was monitoring the procedure and studying Mo Tiange’s seal-forming technique, and Wei Haolan was at standby, ready to provide Mo Tiange with her assistance.

　　One day, two days, three days… The materials inside the furnace finally integrated with each other smoothly.

　　Mo Tiange wiped the sweat off her forehead and sighed. However, she quickly returned to focus, once again forming several hand seals to incite the formation of the pills.

　　This was already the last day. Whether the pill-concocting ended in success or failure depended on this very moment.

　　The medicinal liquid inside the pill furnace started to slowly coagulate and solidify…

　　“Who are you?!” Elder Qingyi’s shout rang out along with a wave of a strange spiritual aura fluctuation.

　　The expressions of the five people inside the concocting room all changed. Now was the key moment in forming the pills—what was happening?

　　By the time the strange spiritual aura fluctuation became clearer, Mo Tiange’s expression changed greatly. She could already sense it; it was Ren Yufeng!

　　When she arrived in Linhai, Mo Tiange couldn’t detect Ren Yufeng’s whereabouts. After more than three months living safe and sound, Mo Tiange even almost thought he had been swept somewhere else by the waves. Unexpectedly, however, he actually appeared at such a crucial moment!

　　Nevertheless, Mo Tiange calmed down very quickly. With the three Core Formation cultivators present, Ren Yufeng wouldn’t be able to gain any benefit. Although Elder Qingxi almost exhausted her spiritual aura because she’d been emitting her Dantian Real Fire, both Elder Qingyi and Elder Qingmiao were still in good shape. With the two Core Formation elders there, Ren Yufeng, who achieved his cultivation level improperly, definitely couldn’t succeed.

　　Elder Qingmiao, who was just meditating to adjust her breath, wrinkled her brows then said heavily, “I’ll go and take a look. You guys hang in there.”

　　“Yes,” Wei Haolan and Xia Qing answered. The two of them then took the initiative to stand on the doorstep, ready for any eventualities.

　　Mo Tiange also calmed down and continued to focus on the concocting process.

　　A blood-curdling shriek rang out from outside and right afterward, they heard fighting noises.

　　“You’re a Devil Path’s cultivator?” Elder Qingyi asked loudly.

　　“Hmph!” Mo Tiange was just guessing earlier, but she was now completely sure after hearing that voice—this was Ren Yufeng alright.

　　“What do you mean by Devil Path’s cultivator? I’m the son of the divine dragon!” Ren Yufeng said arrogantly.

　　“The son of the divine dragon?” Elder Qingyi’s voice was filled with doubt.

　　“Senior Martial Sister!” Elder Qingmiao said as she walked out of the concocting room, “What divine dragon’s son? From what I saw, he’s just a Devil Path’s cultivator! He even injured our group’s disciple! No need to talk to him too much; we just need to kill him!”

　　“True,” Elder Qinyi said in agreement. “His whole body’s covered with devil aura, yet he still said he’s not a Devil Path’s cultivator and even dared to injure our disciple—we don’t have to be polite to him!”

　　“You—” Ren Yufeng was outraged. “You dare to slander me! I’m the son of the divine dragon, the son of the divine dragon!”

　　The spiritual aura fluctuations became more intense.

　　Mo Tiange understood that a fight was inevitable, so she said to Elder Qingxi, “Senior, let’s accelerate our speed and finish the concoction a bit quicker—please strengthen your Real Fire.”

　　Elder Qingxi, who’d also sensed the danger outside, nodded and said, “Alright. We’ll have to trouble Little Friend Ye.”

　　After she said that, she increased her spiritual aura output, causing her Dantian Real Fire to immediately become a bit fiercer.

　　Mo Tiange also formed hand seals quickly. Although she thought two Core Formation cultivators could certainly block Ren Yufeng’s path, it was always better to have more than one string on one’s bow, just in case.

　　The sudden increase in the temperature of the concocting fire impacted the medicinal liquid inside the furnace. Mo Tiange used hand seals to weaken the impact and at the same time, she also accelerated the solidification of the medicinal pills.

　　“Sect Head Wei, what’s the situation like outside?” Because she had to keep her attention on the solidification process inside the pill furnace, Mo Tiange couldn’t afford to spread her divine sense, so she had to ask Wei Haolan.

　　Wei Haolan was now standing at the doorstep. She stuck her head out to watch the situation outside. “This person… This devil cultivator’s ability in fights of magical power is very strong, but Fellow Daoist Ye can rest assured—the two elders can deal with him.”

　　“That’s good then…” Mo Tiange said, feeling a bit relieved. She also thought Ren Yufeng wouldn’t be able to defeat the two elders, but the space between her eyebrows continued to twitch; this wasn’t a good omen.

　　“Oh?” Wei Haolan cried out.

　　Mo Tiange turned her head towards her. “What’s wrong?”

　　“Senior Martial Brother Shangguan came,” Wei Haolan said, “He’s already in the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm. I hope he can help the two elders.”

　　What she said made Mo Tiange wrinkle her brows. Her intuition told her something was wrong…

　　“Master, Martial Uncle Qingmiao, I came to help you!” It was Fellow Daoist Shangguan’s voice.

　　“Yunhao, what are you doing here instead of staying in the Dao-Achieving Pagoda?” Elder Qingyi’s voice sounded rather severe.

　　Right. How could he just so happen to come here at the right moment?

　　Shangguan Yunhao answered, “I sensed a strange breath when I was in the Dao-Achieving Pagoda, so I followed it and came here.”

　　Since they were now facing a formidable opponent, Elder Qingyi couldn’t afford to blame him for anything. She only said, “Then come over quickly! The magical power of devil cultivators is extraordinary, so be careful!”

　　Although the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm was only separated from the Core Formation realm by a thin line, the difference in power between cultivators in each realm was huge. Elder Qingyi really did love this disciple of hers. She was immediately concerned about him upon his arrival, afraid he’d get injured.

　　“Senior Martial Sister Sect Head,” Xia Qing whispered, “Where did this devil cultivator come from? Could it be that there’s a hole somewhere in Bixuan Court’s great sect-protecting formation?”

　　A frown emerged on Wei Haolan’s brows. “You’re right. According to reason, we should’ve noticed this devil cultivator right when he entered our great sect-protecting formation—how could he have suddenly showed up at our concocting room now?”

　　Mo Tiange once heard Yi Liu and Yi Qiu explaining that the west side of Linhai was a branch region of the Demonic Mountain. Demonic Mountain had a towering main peak, but it also had many tangled and complicated branch mountains. The Devil Path’s devil cultivators dwelt among these mountain ranges.

　　In addition to being afraid of running into devil cultivators, the reason why the cultivators from Linhai didn’t dare to pass through the Demonic Mountain en route to Kunwu was because the topography of these mountain ranges was peculiar; they were simply impossible to pass through. This was also why devil cultivators hadn’t been able to reach Linhai for so many years.

　　“Sect Head Wei,” Mo Tiange suddenly said, “That person’s the enemy I talked to you about. He has a strange character, and he’s killed innocents before, so you have to be careful.”

　　Since Ren Yufeng already degenerated into a devil cultivator, his character certainly would’ve changed too. Within that one year, Mo Tiange personally witnessed his perverse and fickle character, so she knew he had really become a genuine devil cultivator.

　　Wei Haolan’s and Xia Qing’s expressions changed. Although they knew about this matter, there had been no trace of devil cultivators whatsoever in these past few months, so they hadn’t really taken this matter to heart. Unexpectedly, however, he actually came to their door for real!

　　“AH!” A scream suddenly rang out from outside. Based on the voice, it was actually Elder Qingyi!

　　Wei Haolan was frightened and hurriedly went to look at the situation outside. However, her expression immediately changed. “Senior Martial Brother Shangguan…”

　　She didn’t need to say anything further because they already heard Elder Qingmiao’s furious voice. “Shangguan Yunhao! What’re you doing?!”

　　“What am I doing?” Shangguan Yunhao’s voice sounded gloomy. “Of course I’m killing you guys!”

　　Inside the concocting room, everyone was stupefied. Elder Qingxi was so shocked that her hands trembled, causing her to vomit a mouthful of blood.

　　“Elder Qingxi!” Wei Haolan and Xia Qing exclaimed in surprise then hastily rushed over.

　　Mo Tiange heard a muffled bang from inside the furnace. She couldn’t help but sigh. At the final juncture, they failed to concoct the Clear Sky Pills.

　　Nevertheless, now wasn’t the time to mull over this matter. She took out a curative medicinal pill from inside her robes then passed it over to Wei Haolan. “Quickly give this to Senior Qingxi! Also, give her some Restorative Panaceas!”

　　Since those people managed to scheme against Elder Qingyi, they had to preserve Elder Qingxi’s strength as much as possible now.

　　“Shangguan Yunhao!” Elder Qingyi’s voice sounded rather weak but extremely cutting. “The three of us have always treated you well—why are you biting the hands that fed you?!”

　　“You’ve always treated me well?” Shangguan Yunhao’s tone earlier was polite and restrained, but now, it was full of ridicule. “If you guys have indeed treated me well, why have I not formed my Gold Core yet? I’m already a hundred and seventy?!”

　　“You know that Linhai’s short of supplies!” Elder Qingmiao said coldly, “But ever since we accepted you into our group, we’ve always let you have the first choice every time we get medicinal pills! When you just built your foundation, we already let you enter the Dao-Achieving Pagoda! When you reached the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm, we constantly sent disciples to Kunwu to look for Dustless Pills! Bixuan Court’s just a small cultivation group, but we’ve always treated you more than ten times better than we treated other disciples! What else are you dissatisfied about?”

　　“Dissatisfied? Of course I’m dissatisfied!” Shangguan Yunhao “hmphed,” clearly disagreeing with what Elder Qingmiao said. “True, when I first entered the group, you guys taught me; when I reached the tenth layer of the Aura Refining realm, you guys also immediately gave me Foundation-Building Pills. However, the reason you treated me so well was just because I had the best aptitude among the accepted Bixuan Court disciples within the last several hundred years! But what happened later? After I reached the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm, you were dawdling; you didn’t give me Dustless Pills, and you didn’t let me form my Gold Core—you made me stay trapped in the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm just like that for fifty years, fifty years!”

　　“Fifty years ago, I asked you to let me go to Kunwu, to let me look for Dustless Pills on my own or perhaps find some fated chances, but what did you do? You guys were more willing to send disciples who had no promising future to go to Kunwu instead of me! Didn’t you guys do that because you were afraid I wouldn’t come back once I got to Kunwu? Just because you were afraid you could no longer control me, you made me unable to form my Gold Core for fifty years!”

　　Wei Haolan’s expression once again changed upon hearing Shangguan Yunhao’s words. She then stood up and walked out of the concocting room. “Shangguan Yunhao! Where did your conscience go?! The elders never let you leave the group because they were worried about your safety! Us fellow martial sisters are always on the move, trying to find your Dustless Pills! Ever since you entered the group, have we ever told you to do anything? Never! Not only have we never done that, but we even provided you with everything you needed for cultivation! It’s fine if you don’t feel grateful to us, but you actually still dared to blame us!”

　　“For me?” Shangguan Yunhao sneered, “Wei Haolan, don’t you feel guilty when you say that? Forty years ago when the previous sect head resigned, I wanted to be the sect head, yet despite my qualifications and cultivation level, why did that position fall into your hands? Furthermore, you guys still didn’t allow me to take even a step out of the group—covertly imprisoning me!”

　　“Shangguan Yunhao!” Wei Haolan exploded in rage. “Our Bixuan Court is a cultivation group for female cultivators! Generations of sect heads have always been female cultivators—what would people say if we let you become the sect head?”

　　“Correct, this sentence!” Shangguan Yunhao said in a mocking tone, “Just because I’m a male cultivator, you guys are always on guard against me in every way! Don’t think I didn’t know about it—you guys actually obtained Dustless Pills a few years ago! You just didn’t want me to advance smoothly!”

　　“On guard against you?” Elder Qingyi finally spoke, but she broke into a coughing fit before she continued on: “True; I’m indeed on guard against you!”

　　“Elder Qingyi?” Wei Haolan called out in bewilderment.

　　“When you and Haolan vied for the sect head position, I already noticed that your mind wasn’t on the correct path! Because of that, I didn’t let you leave the group, and I also didn’t give you the Dustless Pills immediately. However, what do you think I did all that for? If you didn’t grind away your greed and didn’t cultivate your mental state, you’d fall when you face your Inner Demon during your core-forming!”