A day later, Zhu Ziyang awoke from his rest, exhaling a mouthful of turbid air, his face filled with a relaxed expression.
"Alright, now it's time for the main course!" he muttered, then stood up and walked to the now-cooled pill furnace.
Without any hesitation, he directly opened the lid of the pill furnace.
"Whoosh~" A rich aroma immediately filled the room, once again saturating the air, which had previously thinned, with the vital energy of heaven and earth.
Zhu Ziyang didn't pay attention to the pill fragrance lingering around him; he eagerly took out the Source Golden Pills from the furnace—one, two, three… Soon, nine Source Golden Pills were removed by Zhu Ziyang and placed into jade bottles he had prepared earlier.
Looking at these perfectly round, flawless golden pills, a hint of pride and infatuation appeared in Zhu Ziyang's eyes.
These nine pills were all inestimable treasures.
"Let's see what the effect is like first!" Zhu Ziyang's face showed anticipation.
With a wave of his hand, only one of the nine Source Golden Pills remained before him; the other eight were naturally stored in his star flame ring.
How to distribute them, he didn't want to think about for now; the most important thing at the moment was to first figure out the potency of this one Source Golden Pill.
He poured the Source Golden Pill into his palm, then held it up to his eyes, examining it carefully.
The pill's delicate fragrance was like a small hand, constantly tickling his senses, making him irresistibly want to swallow it.
With Zhu Ziyang's current strength, he no longer had any cravings for food, yet this pill could stir his appetite, which showed how miraculous it was.
Without hesitation, Zhu Ziyang directly put it into his mouth and swallowed it.
Immediately, he sat cross-legged on the ground and began to circulate his spirit power to refine this Source Golden Pill.
As the saying goes, once a golden pill is swallowed, my fate is mine, not heaven's.
After the Source Golden Pill was swallowed by Zhu Ziyang, its immense medicinal power was immediately released.
An immeasurable amount of the vital energy of heaven and earth instantly filled Zhu Ziyang's internal organs, limbs, and meridians, causing Zhu Ziyang's body to swell instantly, turning him into a Fatty who looked at least two hundred pounds.
A hint of surprise appeared on Zhu Ziyang's face, but more than that, there was pain and helplessness.
He really hadn't expected the Source Golden Pill's medicinal power to be so violent, so violent that he was only a step too slow and its power took control of his body.
Fortunately, this medicinal power was only violent; although it made him very uncomfortable, it didn't pose much harm.
In fact, Zhu Ziyang could easily resolve the abnormality in his body; he only needed to expel the excess medicinal power of the Source Golden Pill, and all problems would be solved.
However, this would inevitably waste a lot of the Source Golden Pill's medicinal power, so Zhu Ziyang didn't plan to do so.
A flash of determination and ruthlessness appeared in his eyes.
With a thought, the Pacifying Life-Reaping Scythe and the Heavenly Frost White Dragon King Spirit simultaneously possessed him.
This was his first time summoning two great Spirits at once, and he hadn't expected it to be for cultivation rather than combat, which was somewhat ironic.
However, Zhu Ziyang couldn't care less about that now.
With the two great Spirits possessing him, he felt much more relaxed, but it was still far from enough.
He summoned his Spirits not to share the pressure, but to refine this Source Golden Pill.
Yes, Zhu Ziyang intended to completely refine this Source Golden Pill.
How could Zhu Ziyang let something that had already entered his mouth escape?
That didn't align with his way of doing things!
He closed his eyes, and the Great Bright Art operated at full power.
The two great Spirits flickered continuously, and the eighteen spirit rings behind him rotated incessantly, like high-speed engines.
At Zhu Ziyang's glabella, heart, and lower abdomen, three rhomboid crystals shimmered faintly, as if about to burst out of his body.
Zhu Ziyang's body, with a cultivation level of 97, entered such a complete and frantic operation for the first time.
The vital energy of heaven and earth contained within a single Source Golden Pill was indeed incomparably overbearing!
Zhu Ziyang, giving his all, fell into a deep meditation, oblivious to the passage of time.
His body unceasingly refined the Source Golden Pill, and his consciousness underwent transformation in the primordial void.
—
Sun Moon Empire, Mingdu.
Now, three months have passed since the Mingdu Incident.
With the Moon Lineage of the Royal Family taking over the Imperial Palace, Mingdu quickly restored its former stability and prosperity.
Although there were still many cities within the Empire resisting Mingdu's rule under the name of the Sun Lineage, the people of the new Mingdu believed that their revered Princess, the future Empress of the Empire, would eventually quell all disputes.
Sun Moon Imperial Palace, a seemingly ordinary pavilion, was heavily guarded, with almost a sentry every ten steps and a post every five steps.
Every guard was at least a Spirit King, fully armed with various spirit tools.
Such a display primarily served to show the importance of the place; as for the actual level of security, that was a matter of opinion.
After all, the lowest-ranking person who could enter this pavilion was a Spirit Douluo.
At this moment, a regular meeting was being held inside this pavilion.
Every person present was a renowned figure on the Douluo Continent.
At the head of a long table sat Princess Xu Tianxuan, also known as Zhang Lexuan, who was the nominal and actual leader of the Sun Moon Royal Family's Moon Lineage, and the de facto ruler of the Sun Moon Empire.
The current Zhang Lexuan was completely different from the Zhang Lexuan of the past; her temperament had changed too much.
Even though she had only been in power for two or three months, she had already begun to exhibit the qualities of a monarch.
She sat there, poised, magnanimous, dignified, and domineering, commanding the land and directing affairs.
In short, every image you could imagine of an Empress could be found in her.
This couldn't help but make those familiar with Zhang Lexuan sigh with emotion: she truly was a born leader!
Seated to Zhang Lexuan's left, led by Old Song, the Divine Eagle Douluo, were in order: Xian Lin'er, the Martial God Douluo; Qian Duoduo, the Black Dragon Douluo; and Old Zhu, the Moon Devouring Douluo.
They represented Shrek Academy's support for Zhang Lexuan and were also Zhang Lexuan's most relied-upon trump cards.
To Zhang Lexuan's right, the leader was a somewhat unfamiliar white-haired elder.
The former princess of the Moon Lineage, Xu Jianwei, could only sit behind him, which showed his extraordinary status and position.
Indeed, the elder's name was Kong Deming, a Level 95 Super Douluo with the title Silver Moon.
He was the true master of Mingde Hall.
Of course, none of that was important; what was important was that he had recently become a Level 10 Soul Engineer!
This identity alone was enough to grant him the qualifications for equal dialogue with Shrek Academy.
Behind Kong Deming was naturally Xu Jianwei, followed by Jing Hongchen, the Hall Master of Mingde Hall and patriarch of the Hongchen family.
This person, who held significant influence in the Sun Moon Empire, had sworn to die rather than surrender after being captured by Zhang Lexuan and others.
However, when he saw his idol, Kong Deming, acknowledge Zhang Lexuan's identity as the ruler of the Moon Lineage, he decisively made the correct choice.
Behind Jing Hongchen was Xu Qianxuan, the commander of the Imperial Moon Soul Engineer Legion, and Zhang Lexuan's most loyal subordinate among those present.
Today's regular meeting had no content worth repeating, because the only matter before Zhang Lexuan and the others was to quell all opposition within the Empire, and then Zhang Lexuan would ascend the throne and become Empress.
If this could not be accomplished, then everything else was nonsense.
Therefore, at this meeting, Zhang Lexuan didn't say much; instead, those present consciously assigned themselves tasks.
They all set a deadline: within half a year, they would eliminate all enemies, staking the dignity of their Titled Douluos!
Zhang Lexuan naturally had no objections.
Although she was the leader of the group, almost everyone present was her elder.
She couldn't truly boss them around; at most, she would complain a few words, saying they didn't empathize with a pregnant woman or something similar.
The meeting ended smoothly.
Under everyone's gaze, Zhang Lexuan stood up first, her lower abdomen slightly bulging, and behind her, a beautiful woman in a black dress with purple hair instantly appeared.
Everyone was accustomed to this suddenly appearing woman.
If there was a greatest trump card for their team, it was definitely not Kong Deming, who wielded a Level 10 Soul Guidance Device, but this black-dressed woman.
With her protecting Zhang Lexuan, they dared to leave Mingdu with confidence to quell the rebellions throughout the Empire.
—
The affairs of the Sun Moon Empire could not be hidden from the Tianhun Empire and the Star Luo Empire, which had been constantly monitoring it.
The two Empires did not understand, nor were they interested in understanding, Xu Tianxuan, who might become the new ruler of the Sun Moon Empire.
They only knew that the Sun Moon Empire was currently embroiled in widespread rebellion, which aligned with their interests.
Therefore, at this very moment, they were busily preparing for war.
According to their thinking, the more chaotic the Sun Moon Empire became, the better; only in this way could they gain as advantageous a position as possible in future wars!