Staring at the corpse of the peak rank 5 'red-furred bear' in front of him, Shun Long's lips curved up as he waved his hand a second time, taking out a dozen medicinal herbs and an alchemy cauldron from his herb garden.
''Even though I spent 2 years with Mei'er in the 'Ten thousand beasts mountain range', I still didn't manage to gather all the medicinal herbs that I needed to refine the 'Barrier-piercing pill' back then. Thankfully, the pill shops in the Holy city had more than enough rank 5 medicinal herbs for sale.'' Shun Long mumbled to himself as he stared at the dozen rank 5 medicinal herbs in front of him.
Indeed, the pill that he was planning to refine this time was precisely the rank 5 'Barrier-piercing pill' that Bai Longtian, Xie Xingyi, and Jiang Chen, had all received from their masters after they were accepted by them as personal disciples.
Shun Long had actually been planning on refining this pill for a while, but even though he had spent 2 years in the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range' with Liu Mei, he still hadn't managed to find all the medicinal herbs that he needed.
It was only after he had taken a walk around the alchemy shops in the Holy city that he had found the rest of the medicinal herbs that he needed.
However, Shun Long's version of the rank 5 'Barrier-piercing pill' was vastly different from the Holy sect's.
Normally, the Holy sect's version of the pill would only allow a middle-stage Nascent Soul cultivator to advance a minor tier upon consuming the pill, up to the peak of rank 6 in the Nascent Soul, but Shun Long's 'Barrier-piercing pill' could allow even late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators to advance an entire minor tier instead.
The difference between the middle and the late stages of the Nascent Soul was simply enormous, making Shun Long's 'Barrier-piercing pill' many times more valuable than the Holy sect's.
If a single high-grade 'Barrier-piercing pill' was being sold for 5000 sect points in the Golden Treasures hall, then Shun Long believed that his own pills could easily be sold for 20.000 sect points for every pill.
Additionally, it was common knowledge that a Nascent Soul stage cultivator could only consume a single 'Barrier-piercing pill', while a second one wouldn't have any effects, but Shun Long knew that his 'Barrier-piercing pills' would allow Jiang Chen, Bai Longtian, and Xingyi, to breakthrough once again after consuming it!
Of course, the effect of the pill wouldn't allow them to advance an entire minor tier after consuming it for the second time, but Shun Long knew that it was going to be more than enough for them to breakthrough past the barrier of the late stages of the Nascent Soul and enter the early or even the middle of rank 7 in the Nascent Soul, if they consumed the pill once they reached the peak of rank 6 in the Nascent Soul.
Closing his eyes, Shun Long first conjured some of his qi into qi flames and started to warm his cauldron, before he placed the medicinal herbs inside it one by one. Spreading his soul sense to fully envelop the cauldron, Shun Long then started to extract the essence from the medicinal herbs inside it.
In just 15 minutes, more than a dozen rank 4 and a handful of rank 5 medicinal herbs had their essence extracted, turning into a colorful liquid that swirled inside the cauldron.
Turning his attention towards the corpse of the 'red-furred bear' next to him, Shun Long's eyes instantly turned serious as he raised his right hand and plunged it inside the bear's chest.
An illusionary, purple-colored blade appeared on his hand, before it collided with the bear's hide the next moment.
Surprisingly, even Shun Long's spatial blade was having difficulty cutting through the hide of the 'red-furred bear' even though the bear had already died long ago, but Shun Long gritted his teeth as he kept cutting the hide with his right hand, while his left hand maintained the qi flames that kept heating the cauldron.
After all, although the 'red-furred bear' was a peak rank 5 magic beast with extremely weak mental defenses, which was why it had died so easily to the poison from the 'Soul poisoning hell grass', in terms of its physical strength and the strength of its body, it was actually among the strongest peak rank 5 magic beasts! Even after its death, even late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators would find it hard to cut through its body and obtain its beast core and its heart essence.
A few moments later, Shun Long cut through the bear's hide and finally reached its heart, as he then grabbed the bear's heart with his right hand and poured its blood essence into the cauldron.
The moment that the blood essence from a peak rank 5 magic beast met with the medicinal essence inside the cauldron, a sizzling sound resounded in the air.
10 minutes later, the sizzling sound finally died down, while at the same time, an deep, fragrant scent started to waft from the cauldron, as it slowly filled the air inside the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time'.
Opening the lid of the cauldron, Shun Long saw the 5 green-colored pills inside it and heaved out a sigh of relief, as he mumbled to himself
''All 5 of them have reached the top-grade. If it wasn't for the blood essence of the 'red-furred bear' being so potent, at most, only 3 of them would have reached the top-grade!''
Compared to the time when Shun Long had refined the 'Dragonblood tempering pills', refining the 'Barrier-piercing pills' was truly much easier, but it was still a complicated process nevertheless.
With a smile on his face, Shun Long placed the 5 'Barrier-piercing pills' inside a pill bottle and stored it in his herb garden, before he turned his gaze towards the 'Heaven Swallowing vine'.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Shun Long then waved his hand, causing a mountain of spirit stones to appear around him, as he fed them all to the enormous vine by his side.
The Heaven Swallowing vine instantly consumed the middle-grade spirit stones, as it started to fill the air around Shun Long with its extremely pure qi.
...
Like this, 10 days quickly passed in the outside world, as the day of the faction war finally arrived.