The moon hung atop the branches.
From Xue Jing’s unusually solemn and grave expression, Tang Xiaobao sensed the severity of the matter.
"You want to reform your Xuan Dan?"
Xue Jing drew a sharp, quiet breath.
He studied his junior disciple’s expression carefully and realized Li Mo was dead serious—even more so than when he had declared he would leap into the alchemy furnace.
This idea was even more outrageous than the last one.
"Little Mo, shattering your core and rebuilding it to become stronger—that’s all just nonsense from storybooks. Those writers make it all up. You mustn’t believe it."
Old Xue suspected Li Mo had been reading too many tales.
After all, those stories always featured protagonists who lost all their cultivation, only to rebuild and emerge even mightier.
Li Mo was still young, and his master, Shang Wu, likely hadn’t provided much guidance in martial arts, leaving him to figure things out on his own.
That was why he was prone to believing such far-fetched ideas.
Li Mo blinked in confusion.
"I’m not planning to shatter my core and rebuild it."
"Then what do you intend?"
"I’m going to condense four additional Xuan Dans and store them all in my dantian."
The five-patterned elixir Xue Jing had just taken slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground, forgotten.
His face twisted in dismay.
"Oh no, Xiaobao. I don’t even know if your second senior sister can fix this one."
"Elder Xue, I’m not sick. Last time, Xiaobao and I went into the furnace together, and we succeeded in the end, didn’t we?"
Li Mo gave a wry smile.
"The one who drooled after being ‘cured’ also claimed they weren’t sick."
Xue Jing’s cheek twitched as he recalled the scene of the two achieving their Xuan Dans.
"Not every wild idea can be realized so easily. Last time was pure luck."
"Leaving that aside—can your dantian even hold four Xuan Dans?"
"See, that’s what I—"
Xue Jing’s words cut off mid-sentence as he prepared to persuade Li Mo to abandon this folly. His eyes widened in shock.
Before him, Li Mo had already summoned three Xuan Dans into the air.
One was of extreme yang, one of extreme yin, and the last was a sword pellet.
The three orbs moved in an unfathomably profound pattern, never interfering with each other. Though dizzying to watch, their harmony was unmistakable.
There wasn’t the slightest hint of conflict between them.
"That looks like fun!"
Tang Xiaobao’s eyes sparkled.
His small body shimmered with golden light, transforming into a dragon-tiger golden core—one with nine orifices, eight of which were open—and joined the three Xuan Dans in their dance.
Tang Xiaobao bounced around gleefully.
"Senior Brother Xiaobao, be careful not to crash into the sword pellet. It may look round, but it’s razor-sharp."
Even with Tang Xiaobao’s addition, the four orbs continued swirling without the slightest hitch.
He couldn’t fathom how this was possible.
No wonder Xiaobao had said Li Mo’s dantian was enormous.
Just what kind of physique did this kid have?
Even Little Bing'er’s dantian couldn’t possibly be this vast...
Clearing his throat, he pressed on.
"If you want to condense additional Xuan Dans, you can’t repeat the same type. That means you’ll have to master different cultivation techniques for each one."
"That’s far too time-consuming and laborious. The payoff isn’t worth it. You’d be better off focusing on advancing your divine sense."
While effortlessly controlling Tang Xiaobao and the three Xuan Dans, Li Mo chuckled.
"Don’t worry, Elder Xue. I have a bit of a talent for cultivation techniques."
Xue Jing hesitated. "Even if you’re talented—"
Li Mo added, "I’m somewhat gifted in mastering techniques. Learning three to five a day isn’t an issue."
Provided he had enough martial insights, of course.
Thanks to recent feedback from Princess Little Jiang and his investments in Hengyun Sword City, his depleted reserves had been replenished.
Old Xue wasn’t convinced.
But after the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he began to doubt his doubts.
He produced two top-tier cultivation manuals on the spot, and Li Mo mastered both within minutes.
Truthfully... Li Mo had held back, worried about giving the old man a heart attack.
He had deliberately pretended to take longer to comprehend them.
And so, only one final piece remained to complete Li Mo’s vision.
Xue Jing’s hand trembled slightly as he stroked his beard.
"But my external elixir method is incomplete. The Xuan Dans you condense yourself won’t be the same as Xiaobao’s."
"I’ve already considered that."
Li Mo pulled out a transcribed copy of the Taiqing Golden Elixir Scripture from his robes and spread it on the table.
"By chance, I came across this ancient text, and it gave me a... slightly unrefined idea."
"With Senior Brother Xiaobao’s assistance, the success rate of this plan would be... one hundred percent!"
"A scripture on elixirs? Let me see what this is about..."
As he flipped through the text, Old Xue’s expression shifted from grave to stunned, then to sudden enlightenment.
Finally... it settled into one of profound wisdom.
In the end, Xue Jing began the alchemical process with an indescribably complicated expression.
Inside the furnace, Li Mo and Tang Xiaobao took their positions, just as before.
"Senior Brother Xiaobao, everything’s the same as last time, except you’ll need to circulate the medicinal energy according to my meridian pathways."
Li Mo’s plan was to follow the external elixir method from the Taiqing Golden Elixir Scripture to avoid the awkwardness of searching blindly for the right path.
With Tang Xiaobao’s elixir power acting as an accelerator, the process would be swift.
Tang Xiaobao brimmed with confidence.
With all preparations complete—
The next moment, the dragon-tiger furnace erupted with flames, filling the chamber like a volcanic explosion.
Li Mo was no longer the same as before. The hellfire fueled by his true essence was leagues beyond its previous quality.
With his enhanced spiritual sense, his control over the flames had grown exquisitely precise.
Tang Xiaobao sounded delighted.
He sensed vast amounts of rare materials dissolving into pure medicinal energy in no time.
Watching the duo inside the furnace, Xue Jing’s expression was more than just complicated—there was a flicker of excitement in his heart.
The key to Tang Xiaobao’s nine orifices reaching perfection lay with his junior disciple.
He had once believed he would never live to see Xiaobao’s completion, leaving it to future generations of Dan Ding Peak.
But now, he saw a glimmer of hope.
With a swift hand seal, Xue Jing guided the process.
With Li Mo leading, Tang Xiaobao and Xue Jing supporting, the method from the Taiqing Golden Elixir Scripture began to reveal its wonders.
The refined materials coalesced into the shape of an elixir.
But this was only the beginning.
Back then, Old Xue had only reached this stage.
That was why his external elixirs never lasted beyond the next day.
Now, Tang Xiaobao had reverted to his true form, resonating subtly as Li Mo circulated the Eight Treasures Gold Devouring Art.
The nascent Xuan Dan also began to resonate, its interior forming intricate pathways—as if carved by nature itself.
Slowly but surely... it was evolving into a true Xuan Dan.