Within the swirling elixir field, a cyclone of blue-green light spun faster and faster, each revolution squeezing the essence tighter until the hue deepened from pale jade to storm-dark emerald.

Again and again, that condensed tide hammered the invisible shell lining the elixir field wall. Hairline cracks spidered across the stubborn barrier with every strike.

Days passed by inside the tower. Beyond its door, only two dawns passed, yet two hundred days burned away beneath the accelerated clock within.

During that borrowed season, Yuliana’s wounds mended completely-Detoxification Pills and rich spiritual energy weaving flesh and spirit back together until not a scar remained. Riding the same current, she climbed to Earthly Immortal Realm Level Nine, one breath away from the Human Immortal Realm threshold.

Often she sat beneath the Enlightenment Tea Tree, gaze drifting to Jared nearby. Whenever memory replayed the moment his lips drew poison from her, her thighs pressed involuntarily together, an aftershock of heat flickering through her composure.

Around Jared’s frame hovered a corona of deep turquoise light, tiny arcs of lightning skittering across its surface and echoing the runes carved into the tower walls. Before him, the pile of celestial gems had already sunk by half a man’s height, its brilliance drained to feed his relentless cultivation.

On the final day, as another torrent of energy surged through him, Jared’s eyes snapped open, shards of silver light spearing from his pupils.