The medicinal effect took hold quickly, and Noyce felt his spiritual energy rapidly recovering, which made him even more eager to invade the human realm as soon as possible.
Lost in his joy, Noyce didn't notice the strange glint in Ling Luoyi's eyes when she saw him take the pill. Nor did he notice that if the elders had truly wanted to stop him, they wouldn't have remained inactive.
After a few breaths, Noyce felt his consumed spiritual energy had fully recovered, faster than by devouring his own kin or other races. He yearned even more for the human realm's pills, impatiently wanting to rush in and plunder them.
Seeing this, Ling Luoyi smiled, "Your Majesty, you seem to have recovered your spiritual energy."
"War Saintess, your human realm's pills are indeed excellent."
"Naturally. The human realm not only has these pills for restoring spiritual energy but also ones for increasing cultivation, aiding in practice, and other functions. They are certainly much faster than your method of advancing by devouring your kin." Speaking of other functions, Ling Luoyi appraised Noyce with a hint of meaning.
"Other functions? What other functions?" Noyce's interest was piqued.
Ling Luoyi, however, played coy, "Your Majesty will know in a little while."
Noyce didn't pay it much mind, but the Domain Lord had a general idea.
"Alright, I'll wait a bit longer. By the way, War Saintess, please prepare the remaining five million pills. Once I have the pills, I will lead my army back to the city." Five million pills. By the time you prepare them, I will have already invaded the human realm. Then, the human realm will be mine, and I won't be considered to have broken the agreement.
However, Ling Luoyi, uncharacteristically, said, "There's no rush. Five million pills is a lot, and it can't be prepared in a short time."
"The War Saintess speaks the truth." Noyce didn't really expect Ling Luoyi to be able to produce five million pills. Moreover, he would soon be able to directly invade the human realm, and once he did, the pills would be his for the taking, so he didn't care about this slight delay.
Just as Noyce was feeling smug, Ling Luoyi glanced below. The spiritual energy of the Outer Realm Heavenly Demons was almost depleted. She then looked at Noyce and suddenly said, "Your Majesty, the time has come."
"What?" Noyce didn't understand, but he realized something was wrong with his spiritual energy. It had inexplicably decreased by thirty percent! This had never happened before!
Noyce panicked. He looked at the calm Ling Luoyi and pointed at her in disbelief, "You did this?!"
The elders expressed confusion, not knowing what was happening to Noyce.
The Domain Lord also looked at Ling Luoyi. He had no talent for alchemy and didn't understand what Ling Luoyi had done, nor could he recall the scent of any particular medicinal herb.
"Of course," Ling Luoyi smiled. As long as Noyce could be dealt with, Xia Ning City could be saved this time.
"What did you do? Why has my spiritual energy suddenly decreased by over thirty percent?" In this short time, Noyce found that he had lost a little more spiritual energy. Fortunately, his spiritual energy showed no signs of further decrease.
"Actually, I didn't do much. I just added something to the pill you took earlier. Your Majesty, your Outer Realm Heavenly Demon spiritual energy all comes from devouring. Spiritual energy obtained this way is yin in nature. Knowing this, I prepared some enhanced pills."
"What did you add?"
"Vermilion Bird blood. Vermilion Bird blood is extremely yang, which clashes with your yin spiritual energy. With the amount I added and your cultivation, you should have lost about thirty percent of your spiritual energy by now." Seeing Noyce's panic, Ling Luoyi kindly comforted him, "However, Your Majesty, you don't need to worry. The amount I added isn't much; thirty percent spiritual energy should be the limit."
Indeed, as Ling Luoyi said, Noyce found his spiritual energy had stopped disappearing. While pained, he also felt relieved, but his gaze towards Ling Luoyi was filled with undisguised killing intent.
"War Saintess, do you underestimate me too much? Even with thirty percent less, I am still in the Divine Realm. You still cannot defeat me."
Noyce was correct. The difference between the early stage of the Divine Realm and the late stage of the Immortal Realm was vast. Even with a thirty percent loss of spiritual energy, Noyce had merely dropped from the Divine Servant Realm to the Heaven-Piercing Realm, still within the Divine Realm. The barrier between the Divine Realm and the Immortal Realm could not be broken by sheer numbers. Earlier, Noyce had merely been toying with the Domain Lord and the elders; otherwise, they would have died long ago.
"I know," Ling Luoyi replied with a smile. "Your Majesty, have you forgotten what I said earlier? Human realm pills not only restore spiritual energy but also increase cultivation."
As she spoke, Ling Luoyi took out another medicine bottle. Before the Domain Lord could react and try to stop her, she opened the bottle and swallowed all three pills inside. To Noyce's astonishment, Ling Luoyi's cultivation began to rise again. In just a moment, she surpassed the Divine Realm, reaching the same cultivation level as Noyce. The wounds hidden beneath her clothes also began to spread outwards.
Ling Luoyi clenched her fist. The cultivation boosted by the pills could only last for a quarter of an hour. After a quarter of an hour, she would be unable to use spiritual energy for a month.
"Domain Lord, elders, please hurry." Seeing them all frozen in place, Ling Luoyi was the first to draw her sword and strike at Noyce.
Noyce was not foolish. He dodged swiftly and, with a raised hand, sent the attacking Domain Lord flying with a palm strike. Turning around, he grabbed Ling Luoyi's sword with one hand and struck her shoulder with a palm.
Seeing that she couldn't evade, Ling Luoyi formed her left hand into a fist and met Noyce's palm directly. Both were sent flying backward. Noyce, having been in the Divine Realm for many years, was still stronger than Ling Luoyi, whose cultivation was forcibly boosted by pills, even with thirty percent of his spiritual energy lost. Therefore, he flew back a much shorter distance than Ling Luoyi.
After stabilizing himself, Noyce attacked Ling Luoyi again. At this moment, all he wanted was to kill Ling Luoyi with his own hands!
Thirty percent spiritual energy might not sound like much, but it was something he had spent thousands of years and devoured many people to obtain. To lose it in an instant was unforgivable. Even knowing that Ling Luoyi was close to death, he had to kill her himself to quell his rage!
While the few people in the air were engaged in combat, the battlefield on the ground had already been decided.
The Outer Realm Heavenly Demons' attacks always favored overwhelming force and direct suppression. They also knew they couldn't sustain a prolonged battle, so they immediately unleashed their full firepower from the start, aiming to break into Xia Ning City quickly and use its pills to recover their spiritual energy, avoiding future depletion.
However, now, due to the Flaming Xilin Grass created by Ling Luoyi, the Outer Realm Heavenly Demons' firepower drastically decreased, leading them into a stalemate. Once in a stalemate, their defeat was sealed.
After killing the last Outer Realm Heavenly Demon, the human realm soldiers turned their attention to the few individuals fighting in the air.
"Isn't that figure... the War Saintess? Why is she involved in the battle between the Domain Lord and the Outer Realm Heavenly Demon King?!"
"Has anyone else noticed that the War Saintess's cultivation seems… off?"
"Divine Realm! The War Saintess's cultivation is the same as the Outer Realm Heavenly Demon King's, so she's in the Divine Realm!"
"How is that possible?! How old is the War Saintess? How could she be in the Divine Realm?!"
"No! It's not the Divine Realm! The War Saintess's aura is unstable; her cultivation must have been forcibly raised!"
"Even so, to be able to raise her cultivation to the Divine Realm, the War Saintess's strength shouldn't be weak!"
"A genius! Truly a genius!"