The art of the Soul Pill, although greatly beneficial for Core Formation, is not an easy feat to achieve; in fact, it could be said that it's as difficult as the Core Formation itself.

Condensing a Soul Pill requires an immense amount of Soul Power. In other words, only Soul Cultivators can attempt to master this secret technique. In the entire Cultivation World, Soul Cultivators are few and far between, and in many areas, their existence is even considered taboo.

Even for Soul Cultivators, success is not guaranteed.

According to the Jade Scroll, Xi Cangqiong succeeded in cultivating the Heart Cleansing Technique to a very high level and then used the Soul Suppressing Kettle to refine a significant amount of Soul Power, which led to his fortunate success.

Although Yuan Ming had cultivated the Moonlight Technique to the Fourth Level, his Divine Soul Power was still far from sufficient. Since he had embarked on the path of the Soul Cultivator, the Stealing Heaven Tripod had been of considerable help, mainly in restoring Soul Power. However, unlike the Soul Suppressing Kettle, it did not have the capability to refine others' Divine Souls and feed back into its own.

This meant that if he wanted to cultivate the Soul Pill, he would still need to find a way to enhance his own Divine Soul Power.

His complexion changed between cloudiness and clarity, and gradually calmed down.

No matter what, although he had poor inherent qualities, his talents as a Soul Cultivator were quite high. If he wished to successfully form a Golden Core in the future, using Soul Power to condense the core was not a bad method.

Yuan Ming's Divine Soul withdrew from the white Jade Scroll, which flickered with wisps of white light again, rehiding the content of the Soul Pill Secret Technique.

He placed the Jade Scroll back into the wooden box and began to plan his future cultivation.

Since he had decided to cultivate the Soul Pill Secret Technique, he needed to increase the cultivation time of the Moonlight Technique, refine a large amount of Soul Nourishing Incense, and wonder whether the Desire Power collected by the Stealing Heaven Tripod, which could fuse with Divine Sense, could be directly absorbed?

If so, the cultivation of the Moonlight Technique could be greatly accelerated.

With this thought, Yuan Ming instructed Lei Yu to continue heading north, while simultaneously taking out the Stealing Heaven Tripod and holding it in his arms as he began to operate the Moonlight Technique.

As soon as he operated the Moonlight Technique, he sensed the Desire Power converging around the Stealing Heaven Tripod more clearly.

Yuan Ming extended his Soul Power from his Sea of Consciousness, wrapping around a strand of Desire Power and attempted to bring it into his Sea of Consciousness.

The process went surprisingly smoothly.

Under the tug of Soul Power, the strand of Desire Power was smoothly pulled into his Sea of Consciousness.

Yuan Ming operated the Moonlight Technique, and a vortex of Soul Power appeared in his Sea of Consciousness, enveloping the Desire Power and beginning to refine it. It was quickly and completely absorbed, and his Divine Soul Power grew slightly.

He was pleasantly surprised, but then was immediately startled.

The absorbed strand of Desire Power surged with a strong and complex mix of emotions, including fear, restlessness, defeatism, and reverence.

Yuan Ming felt a throbbing pain between his eyebrows as various emotions swirled in his heart, lingering for a long time.

"Huh... Desire Power actually carries emotions? Well, obviously, since Desire Power is indeed the power of will, it naturally mixes with various emotions." After a long while, Yuan Ming recovered and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Unlike Desire Power from within the Stealing Heaven Tripod, which carried no emotions.

"It seems there is some secret inside the Stealing Heaven Tripod that can refine these Desire Powers," Yuan Ming guessed in his mind.

Although it's difficult to refine Desire Power from external sources at present, using this method to enhance Divine Soul Power is much faster than purely cultivating the Moonlight Technique.

Yuan Ming steadied his emotions and continued attempting to draw in and refine the Desire Power.

...

In the azure sky, the sun hung high.

The endless expanse of yellow sand covered the earth, and the undulating dunes resembled waves in the sea. From a distance, they seemed uncommonly smooth like a flawless mirror.

In the caravan, the dark-skinned Tara lifted his head and tightened the white cloth wrapped around it, his gaze climbing along the bright yellow sand. Seeing the blend of yellow and blue in the distance where the sky seemed to merge with the sand yet remained distinctly separate, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's push on while the weather's good. Try to make more headway to reach Xiansha City sooner!" he turned and shouted back to those behind him.

The other members of the caravan responded half-heartedly, their voices uneven, and their footsteps did not quicken.

Not encountering sandstorms was indeed cause for joy, but the sky was devoid of any clouds, and the harsh sunlight beaming down directly made it uncomfortable.

After nearly a day's travel, most in the caravan were already physically and mentally exhausted. Their feet burning from the scalding sand, as if walking on a hot iron plate, who had the energy to hurry?

After all, not everyone could ride on camels like Tara, the leader of the caravan.

However, riding camels wasn't just Tara's exclusive privilege, within the group there were four others sitting atop the lofty camel humps, their faces showing no signs of tiredness.

But for them, no one else in the caravan dared to feel discontent, knowing that these were lofty Immortal Masters. If not for their duty to escort the goods, they would have probably flown to Xiansha City on magic artifacts long ago, instead of wasting time with these mortals.

However, not absolutely everything followed this order. Among the caravan, there existed a handsome young man, clearly unweathered by hardships, who sized up the four cultivators on the camels and turned his head to ask softly:

"Hu Ji, you say we are but a mortal merchant caravan, then why are there cultivators with us?"

The man he addressed as Hu Ji, had a rough face full of stubble and a scar below his left eye.

Upon hearing this, Hu Ji recognized the newcomer as one recruited within the borders of Zhao Country, seemingly named Yuan Ming, and casually explained: "The Black Wind Desert is full of dangers; demon beasts could erupt from anywhere. Without Immortal Masters to protect us, which mortal would dare to venture carelessly?"

"But cultivators don't care for mortal gold and silver, how did the caravan leader hire them?" Yuan Ming asked curiously.

"Boy, remember, this place is different from the outside world. Without an Immortal Master's protection, mortals can hardly survive here. Thus, towns in the desert are built for these Immortal Masters, and we mortals are merely slaves serving them. The real master of this caravan is also an Immortal Master; he naturally has ways to hire other Immortal Masters." Hu Ji shook his head and admonished softly.

"Given such harsh conditions, why don't you leave this place and settle elsewhere?" Yuan Ming asked in surprise.

"Have you ever seen a master who allows his slaves to escape? And to tell you the truth, there are only three kinds of mortals living in this wretched place: those like you, lured here by high wages, those who are criminals or felons from Qin Country, Zhao Country, or the Northern Desert, and those who are captured or trafficked slaves. Once anyone enters the city, they get branded, and will be trapped in the Black Wind Desert like in a vast cage, completely losing their freedom. Even if you have descendants, they can't escape from here. And even if they somehow did, a look at the brand would have someone contacting the officials to throw you back here. Where could you escape to?" Hu Ji explained with a self-deprecating laugh.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming remained silent for a long while before he let out a deep sigh.

Hu Ji looked at him expecting to see regret and fear in his eyes, yet what flashed through was a touch of pity.

Hu Ji was taken aback for a moment and muttered to himself about the strange man before he stopped paying attention to Yuan Ming.

And Yuan Ming lost interest in continuing the conversation.

He had arrived at the border of Zhao Country not long ago and had disguised himself as a mortal to blend into the caravan and enter the Black Wind Desert.

Even using his real name and swaggering about, in this lawless land, hardly anyone cared, let alone Chang Chun Temple.

The sun gradually set, and the evening sky was painted with orange rouge, as the sandy ground completely blended into the sky. Standing atop a sand dune looking into the distance blurred the line between heaven and earth.

On the other side of the sand dunes, after a day of travel, the caravan members finally were able to set up camp and properly rest. Despite their previous exhaustion, they now had somewhat revitalized spirits.

Yuan Ming, gazing out over the rolling sand dunes, pondered for a moment and decided that since he had now ventured deep into the desert, he no longer needed to follow the mortal caravan. As long as he used an Illusion Technique to extract the location of Xiansha City from the caravan leader, he could leave on his own.

Determined, he walked down the sand dune, ready to find Tara, but unexpectedly ran into Hu Ji, whom he had spoken with during the day.

Hu Ji, holding two wooden boxes filled with food, approached Yuan Ming: "Where have you been? I had such a time finding you. Here, this is your meal; I helped you to a portion."

"No need, I'm not that hungry." Yuan Ming smiled and declined his offer.

Seeing this, Hu Ji sighed: "Ah, I know, what I said during the day made you uncomfortable, but as the saying goes, breed content in what comes, working with our caravan is already good enough."

Just as Yuan Ming was thinking about escaping using an Illusion Technique, he suddenly noticed that it had gotten dark around them, and someone nearby also cried out.

"It's bad! It's the Black Wind! The Black Wind is coming!"

He turned towards the shout and saw that the once clear blue sky was completely shrouded in dark clouds, the evening glow and the sun had vanished, replaced by a chilling cold breeze.

In the distance, the sand dunes appeared to come alive, wildly racing across the land. From afar, they resembled real roaring waves, one after another, crashing against invisible cliffs and shores.

The ground trembled incessantly, and the sand under Yuan Ming's feet vibrated, casting the faces in the caravan camp in a mix of terror and despair.

Just then, four streaks of light suddenly appeared in the camp, the four Qi Refining cultivators, who without hesitation took out their magic artifacts and flew away toward the distance.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming was also startled. Ignoring any potential exposure, he immediately summoned Lei Yu and mounted it.

Just as he was preparing to take off on Lei Yu, he suddenly caught sight of Hu Ji, who looked dazed standing nearby.

Without hesitating, he grabbed Hu Ji by the collar, pulled him onto the back of Lei Yu, and then directed Lei Yu to race toward the direction where the four Qi Refining cultivators had escaped.

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