As Yun Chuxue sat cross-legged in meditation, Mo Xian suggested, "Yun Chuxue, you can try cultivating the pills, formations, and refining techniques that Old Cleansing Water gave you."
"Hmm? Why?" Yun Chuxue asked.
"Firstly, these three skills are crucial on that continent. If you want to avenge Yushi, you must go there. Perhaps there are ways to resurrect Yushi and Yuzixi on that continent. Secondly, it can help you familiarize yourself with the capabilities of the Spirit Fire, giving you an extra ace in future battles."
"But we don't have the materials."
"I remember I have them in my spatial ring. You can try using them."
"Do we? Let me see."
Yun Chuxue used her spiritual sense to check and found a mountain of herbs and metals inside the spatial ring, countless in number.
"I don't remember having these before."
"That's because my soul power was weak before, unable to unlock the seals I set before."
"...."
"Let's start practicing. With your talent, I believe you'll progress quickly."
Yun Chuxue took out a pill cauldron from the spatial ring, heated the bottom with Spirit Fire, and then followed the instructions in the book to add the herbs.
"The first step, purification."
Yun Chuxue sequentially added the herbs into the cauldron and controlled the Spirit Fire to burn slowly.
Suddenly, Yun Chuxue smelled a burnt odor. Upon inspection, she found that the herbs had turned into charcoal.
Yun Chuxue smiled awkwardly, "Let's continue."
Through Yun Chuxue's relentless efforts, it took a month and tens of thousands of herbs before she could proficiently handle the purification process.
"Finally succeeded." Yun Chuxue felt a bit proud.
"You used tens of thousands of herbs just for the first step?"
"...It's already good enough."
"Continue."
After passing the purification stage, she had to start preserving the essence extracted and combine it with other herbs for further purification. Unfortunately, she wasted tens of thousands of herbs again in this step.
Mo Xian gave Yun Chuxue a cannibalistic look, "...Continue."
The most difficult step was refining the pills. It required precise control over the heat, or the cauldron might explode.
"Bang!"
Yun Chuxue's face was covered in soot from the explosion.
"Continue."
After several months of practice, Yun Chuxue finally mastered the process of refining pills.
Currently, Yun Chuxue's alchemy skills could only produce subpar pills at best, far from being considered excellent or top-tier.
Looking at the remaining tens of thousands of herbs, Yun Chuxue was determined to refine the purest pills.
A year later, Yun Chuxue had produced thousands of furnaces of pills, each purer and faster than the last.
Seeing the excellent results, Yun Chuxue felt quite pleased. "Mo Xian, look, this furnace of pills is definitely top-notch."
"Hmm, this one should be among the best of the third-grade pills. But... you used so many herbs just for third-grade pills?"
"Uh... seems like a lot."
"Next are formations and refining techniques. Formations involve carving runes, while refining techniques require controlling the heat."
Yun Chuxue opened the book, which outlined the process of refining, including purification, crafting the device embryo, and additional materials.
"Seems much simpler than alchemy."
"Is it? Try it yourself."
Yun Chuxue began by using Spirit Fire to refine metals but found the temperature too low, causing the metal to take longer to melt. When she increased the temperature, it consumed more spiritual power, leaving her feeling exhausted in no time.
"Yun Chuxue, hold on. This is beneficial for your cultivation."
"Okay."
After a month of effort, Yun Chuxue finally succeeded in purifying a type of metal.
She then proceeded to increase the resilience of weapons by purifying different metals. It took her a year to finally create a passable weapon.
"Your crafting skills are inferior to those apprentices in the Spirit Master Pavilion."
"..."
Yun Chuxue continued to increase the difficulty, often feeling dizzy due to insufficient spiritual power. Each time, she reminded herself not to give up.
Five years later...
Yun Chuxue crafted a sword comparable to the finest supreme artifacts on the continent.
"Not bad, Yun Chuxue. Your talent shines through."
"Mm."
Yun Chuxue spent the next five years studying formations, memorizing all the formations in the book and mastering their applications.
After flipping through the book, Yun Chuxue found many insights into alchemy and crafting. She memorized all the knowledge about alchemy and crafting. She then sat down cross-legged to meditate on the insights.
Yun Chuxue didn't have many herbs and metals left for practice, so she had to rely on her imagination.
As time passed second by second, fifty years flew by. In these fifty years, Yun Chuxue memorized all types of pills and their effects, as well as formations and all the crafting techniques.
Yun Chuxue's hair had grown long. What she didn't know was that her originally black hair had turned silver.
Yun Chuxue opened her eyes, her azure eyes bloodshot. It had been a long time since she last rested, and she finally couldn't hold on any longer, collapsing and falling asleep.
A month later, Yun Chuxue stretched lazily, taking a long breath.
"Finally finished. Mo Xian, how many years have we been in here?"
"Almost sixty-three years plus a bit."
"Sixty-three years?"
Yun Chuxue was somewhat surprised. She hadn't realized time had passed so quickly. She was eager to see how the Snow World Empire was faring. Just as she was about to leave, Mo Xian reminded her,
"Retrieve the surrounding fires and destroy this altar and formations completely."
"Okay."
Yun Chuxue summoned the Spirit Fire to retract the surrounding fires and then used the Moon Melody Dance to forever bury the entrance of this cave.
After coming out, Yun Chuxue asked,
"Mo Xian, what's the name of this Spirit Fire?"
"Zhuque."
"Zhuque? That sounds nice. Let's go and see the Snow World Empire."
"Mm."
Yun Chuxue flew towards the direction of the former Spirit Master Pavilion. Along the way, she saw many villages and towns scattered across the continent, where people lived and worked peacefully, without any signs of war.
The Qingyun Pass had been demolished. Yun Chuxue flew closer and found that the former Qingyun City was no longer there; instead, the current Qingyun City was ten times larger than before.
Yun Chuxue arrived over the central square of the city and saw a surprising sight.
A statue was erected in the central square, depicting herself. At the bottom, it read: Founder of the Snow World Empire, Yun Chuxue.
In the nearby plaza, shouts could be heard. Yun Chuxue went to investigate and found a large competition arena. The competition had just ended, and the host was awarding the first, second, and third prizes.
Suddenly, Yun Chuxue descended into the competition arena, attracting everyone's attention.
They looked at this silver-haired woman curiously. When they saw her appearance clearly, they couldn't stop praising her.
The organizer was the Snow World Empire, and the person in charge of the competition was the current elder of the Snow World Empire, Hu Yue. When Hu Yue noticed someone intruding, he immediately sent people to surround Yun Chuxue.
Yun Chuxue looked at the several people surrounding her disdainfully and said,
"A group of ants in the late stage of the Spiritual God Realm dares to stop me?"
Yun Chuxue immediately released her pressure, immobilizing them.
Yun Chuxue walked forward slowly and questioned Hu Yue, saying,
"Who are you?"
Seeing Yun Chuxue's strength, Hu Yue was already frightened. "I... I'm an elder of the Snow World Empire, Hu Yue. Who are you?"
"Guess."
The people below the stage held their breath, afraid to move, fearing that Yun Chuxue would attack them.
Hu Yue kept retreating, "I... I don't know."
"Stop."
Yun Chuxue heard a voice and saw a young man with a spear glaring at her.
"Oh? Who are you?"
"I am Xiao Ming, the champion of the Continental Elite Tournament held by the Yun Chuxue Academy."
"Where are you from?"
"The Yun Chuxue Academy."
Yun Chuxue smiled faintly, "So, it's the Yun Chuxue Academy."
At this moment, an old man in a golden robe descended from the sky, followed by four peak Spiritual God Realm experts.
This golden-robed old man was none other than the current emperor of the Snow World Empire, Yu Ke.
"Pay respects to Your Majesty."
Everyone present knelt down and paid their respects to Yu Ke.
Yun Chuxue effortlessly dispelled the pressure on those people and then said to Yu Ke,
"Yu Ke, it's been a long time. You've managed the empire well."
Upon hearing the familiar voice, tears filled Yu Ke's eyes horizontally. "Niece, is it you?"
"Niece? What's going on?" The people below began to discuss.
"It's me."
Yu Ke approached and took a closer look. Indeed, it was Yun Chuxue. Seeing Yun Chuxue's silver hair spreading down to her calves, he asked with concern,
"Niece, what happened to your hair?"
"It's nothing. I'm here today to see how the Snow World Empire is doing."
"Alright, come to the palace. I'll tell you everything."
Yu Ke led Yun Chuxue away, and someone in the audience shouted loudly,
"That's Yun Chuxue, our Goddess of Faith!"
"What? Yun Chuxue?"
"Goddess! Goddess! Goddess! Goddess!..."
Yun Chuxue smiled back at them before following Yu Ke.