Chapter 49: Refining pill (2)

He gathered his wood Qi in his palm and wrapped it around a lily petal.

Channeling his energy, he guided the Qi to extract the essence, grinding it into a dry, fine stardust powder while distilling all impurities.

The process proved that the lily petal was incredibly pure; there was almost no waste to throw away.

’No wonder the outside air was so toxic. This garden alone was devouring all the purity from the outside environment,’ he thought.

When he finally tore the petal into pieces and finished grinding, he was left with a flawless, fine stardust powder.

Under the moonlight, the stardust powder swirled in his palm, looking just like a cluster of tiny stars dancing in the night sky.

Moon did not touch it directly.

He carefully put the refined element away in a jade bowl he had taken from the witch’s cave.

Then, he took the other auxiliary elements one by one to distill them and remove their impurities.

Unlike the star lily, the auxiliary herbs were far more troublesome.

The feather leaves crashed into a wasteful, thick black matter multiple times, completely exhausting Moon’s energy reserves.

Who knew where these specific feather leaves had been collected from—they were incredibly stubborn and impure.

As dawn began to break in the sky, Moon was still fully immersed in his practice.

He finally finished all the extractions, and the fine powders and dew juices were all sitting neatly in their containers.

Moon took a brief rest, meditating to refine and gather his remaining energy to do the final step. Even if he failed the pill formation, he could still use these refined powders on Ugo.

It would still be ten times more effective than raw devouring.

Nox and Ugo sat at a distance, looking in his direction.

They didn’t come closer, fearing Moon would be distracted.

But their fingers were crackling under their own fierce, nervous rubbing.

"Ugo, tell me," Nox asked quietly. He had been back from his scouting run for a while.

"Will he really be a witch who can make a pill?"

"He is not a witch."

"How can you be so sure?" Nox asked, though his voice carried a note of approval.

"Nox," Ugo said, his fingers tracing the grass. "Moon might not be from this realm entirely. He came from another place."

Nox’s crackling fingers paused instantly. "Another place? You mean...?"

"Yes, that one. The one mother said existed on the other side."

"Shit! What do we do now? What if the High Priest finds out?"

"We must never disclose his origin," Ugo said firmly.

"But... but... didn’t the High Priest from the Palace of Fortune declare that an extraterritorial being will bring great calamity upon the Monalis Celestia?" Nox asked nervously.

Ugo’s eyelashes fluttered.

He picked up a blade of grass and rubbed its moist surface gently.

"That’s why we must keep him safe. The priest also sealed mother’s wolf spirit to keep this Monalis safe. Their safety doesn’t mean it’s our safety, Nox."

Ugo spoke calmly, his gaze drifting to the distance.

He saw an ethereal beauty sitting on a simple rock against the dying rays of the last moonlight.

The sun’s first rays were slowly crawling out from the distance, making the man’s figure look like he was sitting in an orange bowl while bathing in a silver light.

Moon’s hands were speeding up in a complex motion with each passing moment, creating a blur and a dizziness in the air.

The cauldron in front of him now held a tiny fire amber underneath, dancing slowly.

And the powder slowly rose from the plates one by one, meeting in the air before falling inside the cauldron.

From here, Ugo could only see that much. Nothing more.

.

.

.

And with a boom, the cauldron jumped up, and a dark cloud of smoke and a pungent smell spread through the air.

It was so bitter that even Ugo and Nox could smell it.

They both jumped to their feet to help Moon, but Moon was faster.

By the time the cauldron tilted and the black liquid spread, he was already far away from the rock.

Though his hair and face were shrouded with ashes and soot.

Ugo and Nox sat down again.

And so, for the next few hours, the brothers slowly became nonchalant about any booms or bursts.

They chewed the wild cherries Nox had picked up and looked into the distance like they were watching a great theater show on a festival night.

When the sun rose high and the theater became repetitive, the air suddenly wavered, filling with a sweet but not cloying scent.

It was so refreshing that they felt their insides clearing up, washing away any filth they had.

Ugo and Nox stood up.

Looking into the distance, three radiant, tiny, round, spark-like pills slowly rose up high.

So did Moon, who caught the pills and ran toward them with a wide, triumphant grin....

.

.

.

Oshan Dew’s POV

Somewhere in the distance, a man was crouched down behind a boulder, looking at the gathering gorge scavengers.

Their black, deformed bodies and skin sent a wave of nausea into his stomach. He had seen plenty of gore and was used to it, yet no matter how many times he saw these creatures, he couldn’t get used to them.

This was the partial reason why the guards and wolves didn’t want to infiltrate here.

Oshan Dew crept out and hid behind another boulder.

His hand held a tiny, little, needle-like pin that had a sharp red tip.

He had been here for two days already, yet he couldn’t pass the scavengers. There were just too many.

’These fucking beasts have no shame! Reproducing out of thin air,’ he muttered.

Just as he was about to throw his blood-poison shell, a sudden shadow engulfed him.

In a blink, a heavy body pressed him down, hurling him down a few meters downward from the high cliff in quick succession.

"Fuck! Who—?" He was about to curse, but his mouth was sealed tight.