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Chapter 194 - Chapter 195: High-Grade Solar Yang Pill

Chapter 195: High-Grade Solar Yang Pill

Faced with Gu Mo's order, the elder holding the pill showed a flicker of hesitation. Deep down, he was naturally unwilling to consume a pill of unknown origin.

But Gu Mo was now the acting sect master. In principle, all sect members were bound to follow the sect master's command.

"Fine. I'll try the pill myself."

In the end, the Core Formation elder gritted his teeth and swallowed the pill. After all, anyone who could become an elder of the sect had proven their loyalty. Those who secretly pledged themselves to the Demonic Sect couldn't escape the sect's many layers of scrutiny—only some mysterious demonic methods could avoid detection, which is how betrayal among elders occasionally occurred.

But even those traitorous elders once truly believed they were loyal to the sect.

Gu Mo silently watched as the elder consumed the pill, saying nothing. The results would be evident soon. Not just Gu Mo—several other elders and core disciples fixed their eyes firmly on the elder as well.

"Hmm?"

As soon as he swallowed the pill, the elder sensed something was off. A warm current flowed through his body, spreading to his limbs and bones, as if he were basking in gentle Solar Yang.

Bathed in this warmth, the demonic energy and hidden injuries in his body began to rapidly dissolve. Given the longstanding enmity between the Great Yan Sword Sect and the Demonic Sect, nearly all sect members had taken part in hunting demonic spies. In those battles, it was almost inevitable to be wounded by demonic cultivators.

And the most troublesome part of their attacks was the lingering demonic energy—it was notoriously difficult to dispel. This elder still had a significant amount of it left over from previous encounters.

These residual traces of demonic energy had long hindered his cultivation. Now, under the effect of this warm current, they dissolved completely, leaving the elder feeling an unprecedented sense of lightness.

At the same time, the bottleneck he'd faced suddenly loosened, and a fourth pattern appeared on his Core—signifying that he had advanced from Third-Turn Core Formation to Fourth-Turn, stepping into the mid-stage of Core Formation.

"What…"

Everyone around him felt the sudden surge in the elder's aura and widened their eyes in disbelief. One pill had directly broken through the bottleneck from early to mid-stage Core Formation. This wasn't just some ordinary-looking pill—it was a rare and invaluable breakthrough elixir.

"Oh?"

Gu Mo raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised at the pill's potency. The Solar Yang Pill was refined using Sun Essence and was known to help with cultivation, but it wasn't supposed to break bottlenecks. It seemed that this elder had already accumulated enough progress to advance, and the only thing blocking him had been the demonic energy.

The Solar Yang Pill had dissolved that obstacle, allowing for a smooth breakthrough. In any case, having such a clear success story would make what came next much easier.

Sure enough, when Gu Mo took out a second seemingly ordinary Solar Yang Pill, he immediately felt countless scorching gazes fall upon it.

No one dared to underestimate the pill now. As for its ordinary appearance? That was simply because their eyes weren't sharp enough to see through its true quality.

"Everyone, come and claim one," Gu Mo said calmly.

"Thank you, Sect Master!"

The crowd bowed immediately in unison.

Soon, each person received a Solar Yang Pill and consumed it right away. Gu Mo scanned the group closely and quickly identified two elders emitting thick waves of demonic energy. This wasn't just residual energy—clearly, these two had been tampered with by the Demonic Sect.

Fortunately, the Solar Yang Pill could dispel such corruption, meaning the Demonic Sect's methods were nullified. Among the core disciples, five also showed signs of similar interference.

Out of five elders, two had been infiltrated. Counting two previous cases, that meant four out of seven elders were compromised—clear evidence of how deeply the Demonic Sect had infiltrated the Great Yan Sword Sect.

As for the core disciples, five out of ten had been affected. Under such circumstances, it was a miracle the sect hadn't collapsed already.

But now, all those methods had been dismantled by Gu Mo. In the future, he planned to refine a batch of lower-grade Solar Yang Pills for the inner disciples to completely purge the sect.

"I had no idea the Demonic Sect left something inside me…" one elder murmured, staring at the dark energy seeping from his body, visibly shaken.

"My cultivation actually rose by a minor stage!" a Foundation Establishment core disciple exclaimed excitedly.

For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, a third-grade peak-quality Solar Yang Pill had an especially potent effect. For the five disciples who had been compromised, most of the pill's power was used to dispel the demonic energy, so their cultivation barely increased.

But for the remaining five, each had their strength boosted by one minor realm.

It was no exaggeration to say that from this moment on, both elders and core disciples looked at Gu Mo differently. A sect master who could elevate their strength—who wouldn't respect that?

"This must remain confidential. We can't let the Demonic Sect catch wind of it," Gu Mo warned, sweeping his gaze across them.

"Yes, sir!" they responded in unison.

"Go back and adjust your state," Gu Mo said with a wave.

Everyone had just experienced a cultivation boost—they needed time to stabilize their realms.

Shennong Valley

"I didn't expect Solar Yang Pills refined with Sun Essence to be this powerful," Gu Mo muttered to himself, stunned by the valuable experimental data.

He had refined Solar Yang Pills using ordinary solar energy before, as requested by the sect, but their effect couldn't compare to those made from Sun Essence.

After recording the experimental data, Gu Mo returned to tending his spiritual fields—specifically, the plot once used by Xiaohua, now growing a fourth-grade Solarflower.

His goal was to upgrade a second Solarflower to the fourth grade. Gu Mo's personal field spanned 1.3 acres—enough to cultivate 13 fourth-grade Solarflowers.

The higher the plant's grade, the more space it required. A single acre could host many first-grade plants, but as the grade increased, the quantity that could be grown decreased.

This was true not only for Solarflowers, but for all high-grade plants. However, Gu Mo wasn't currently in need of combat plants, so the entire area was devoted to Solarflowers.

Thirteen fourth-grade Solarflowers wasn't the limit. As the size of the field increased, so too could the number of flowers.

That meant Gu Mo's sect contribution points still had value, even after obtaining a fourth-grade plot. He could use them to acquire more land.

Aside from upgrading Solarflowers, Gu Mo hadn't neglected his own cultivation. Since most of the Sun Essence was used for his plants, he focused on refining techniques and secret arts.

This investment of time paid off. For example, he had achieved mastery in the Wind Escape Technique—once perfected, it even offered a chance to comprehend the mysteries of Metal Escape, which would be a significant upgrade for any sword cultivator's movement ability.

In the Great Yan Sword Canon, Gu Mo had also reached beginner level in the Storm Formation—though he couldn't control 24 swords for the full formation, he could use six for a beginner version, which he found impressively powerful during testing.

Of course, he hadn't forgotten his primary identity as a spiritual plant master. He had already mastered the secret versions of the five core spiritual planting techniques.

As for the arcane versions, Gu Mo planned to wait until he had thoroughly grasped the secret-level versions before advancing. The deeper his understanding of the earlier layers, the easier it would be to comprehend the advanced ones.

Still, there were exceptions—like the divine ability version of the Minor Cloud Rain Art, Cloudwalking Rain, and the divine version of the wood-element technique, Wood Escape.

These were the innate divine abilities of Xiaoli and Xiaohua, respectively. With their help, Gu Mo could begin researching them early.

Unfortunately, Xiaoli and Xiaohua only used their divine abilities instinctively—they didn't understand the principles behind them, so they couldn't teach Gu Mo directly. He could only study them by observing how they cast them.

The process was slow, but even a small breakthrough would be priceless.

For example, one would normally need to fully master the Wind Escape Technique before possibly gaining insight into Metal Escape. But by observing Xiaohua's Wood Escape, Gu Mo might bypass that and gain understanding straight from the source.

Awakened divine-beast-level companions like Xiaohua and Xiaoli were extremely rare—Gu Mo had two at his side, and he wasn't about to waste such a golden opportunity.

Time flew by amidst his cultivation.

While everything in Shennong Valley remained peaceful, a fierce battle erupted at the border between righteous and demonic forces. The combatants: Xuan Tianhen of the Great Yan Sword Sect and two Nascent Soul demonic cultivators.

The battle turned the skies dark. But in the end, Xuan Tianhen unleashed the Heaven and Earth Sword Formation, slaying both demonic Nascent Souls.

This feat shocked both sides. Killing Nascent Soul experts was notoriously difficult—usually, even if their bodies were destroyed, their souls could escape.

But Xuan Tianhen had sealed off the void with his formation, leaving them nowhere to flee, cutting them down entirely.

The demonic sects were furious. Yet despite their rage, they didn't retaliate immediately. Having lost two Nascent Souls already, they had no advantage in a full-on conflict.

Still, their hatred for the Great Yan Sword Sect had only grown. If not for its proximity to Shennong Valley and its position among the righteous sects, the demonic sects would've tried to wipe it out entirely.

Back at the Great Yan Sword Sect

The news of Xuan Tianhen's triumph inspired the entire sect. Morale had soared.

But few knew the price he'd paid. Defeating two opponents of equal rank came at a great cost. His injuries were severe.

"It's just a scratch," Xuan Tianhen said lightly, sensing Gu Mo's concern.

He had returned to the sect quietly—no one else knew. Xuan Tianhen still didn't know which elders might be spies. If word got out about his condition, demonic agents would surely seize the opportunity.

"Master, I have a pill that might cleanse the demonic energy in your body," Gu Mo said, having checked his injuries and determined that most of the damage was due to demonic curses.

Still, curses cast by Nascent Soul demonic cultivators weren't easy to cleanse, and Gu Mo wasn't sure a third-grade peak-quality Solar Yang Pill would be enough.

"What pill?" Xuan Tianhen asked, intrigued. The curses those two had left behind were powerful, and suppressing them with sword intent was only a temporary measure.

"Please try this, Master."

Gu Mo handed him a disguised Solar Yang Pill. Xuan Tianhen didn't hesitate—he swallowed it at once.

"Huh?"

As soon as it entered his body, Xuan Tianhen felt a faint trace of the demonic energy dissipate. Though the effect was limited, the fact that it could counteract Nascent Soul-level demonic energy was already astonishing.

"This is a Solar Yang Pill!"

Xuan Tianhen quickly realized what it was. As a Nascent Soul sword master, his knowledge far exceeded that of the other elders or disciples.

"Yes," Gu Mo nodded. He could tell the third-grade peak pill had an effect, though it was too weak. Truly cleansing Xuan Tianhen would require a fourth-grade Solar Yang Pill.

But such a pill didn't exist—because SunlightGlazed Flower, the core ingredient, was only a third-grade spiritual plant.

Unless someone could cultivate a fourth-grade version of the flower and refine a new pill recipe, it simply wasn't possible.

Gu Mo was the only one who had even managed to grow the third-grade version—other plant masters lacked the Sun Essence needed to nurture it, let alone upgrade it.

Still, Gu Mo did possess fourth-grade Sun Essence, and he was already a peak third-grade alchemist. If he upgraded his Firetorch Stump to fourth grade, it might just be possible to attempt refining a fourth-grade Solar Yang Pill.

"Master, I have a friend who can refine a higher-grade version of the Solar Yang Pill to cleanse your demonic energy," Gu Mo said after a moment of thought.

Xuan Tianhen's situation couldn't be delayed. If the curse ever erupted, it would be fatal.

"Impressive. You've made connections with such a capable person?" Xuan Tianhen was stunned. To refine a stronger version of the pill meant great talent—and great resources.

Still, he was gratified that his disciple had formed such valuable relationships. It would only make Gu Mo's path smoother in the future.

"Allow me to contact him now," Gu Mo said, pretending to pull out a messaging jade and send a signal to his "friend"—who was, of course, himself.

"Master, my friend agreed. But… his conditions are a bit steep." Gu Mo said a moment later, putting the jade away.

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