Pokémon: I picked up a reborn Eevee at the start of the game.

This guy had Gu Leton take him to the airport in Glass Bottle City and then said goodbye to Xia Chen. Before parting, he gave Xia Chen the "Book of Zhu Zi," which recorded many secrets of the Padia Boulder pit.

"This contains many absurd rumors, which are difficult to verify, but hopefully they will be of some help to you."

Xia Chen accepted the old and heavy book and sincerely thanked him: "Thank you for your gift."

He didn't take this for granted as payment for Piper; their cooperation was based on an earlier agreement between them regarding the Poké Balls for Guleton.

In other words, the two had already settled their differences long ago.

By accepting this precious and unique book of cinnabar and purple, he felt he owed Papa a favor.

With this help etched in their hearts, Xia Chen and Pai Pa waved goodbye.

"By the way, if you have time, go see your parents. They must be thinking of you."

Piper paused for a moment as he headed toward the airport passage, but without turning around, he simply raised his hand and waved twice.

"I see."

After seeing Piper off as he rushed back to Tabletop City, Xia Chen returned to his residence in Bottle City.

Although he had collected all five seasonings and his journey in the Padiya region could now come to an end, he still had some matters to attend to.

For example, the development progress of the secret seasoning-related spirit items, and a very important matter that has been delayed for a long time.

Go to Milton and use its essence to resurrect Doronmesia, who is still in a soul state.

The former is easier to handle, with the support of money and the Padiya League champion, and the research institute dedicated to studying the secret seasoning is progressing smoothly.

According to Jiang Qian, who has been living in the Padiya region with her son, the first batch of fruits from the salty secret plant found will be harvested after the New Year.

Using this as a raw material, "special spirit salt" can be mass-produced.

The derivative spirit items of those secret plants can catch up with this progress in a short time.

…………

The first task proceeded smoothly, but the second task stalled.

There are two major questions that need to be addressed—where is Millerton?

And, can they beat Milnerton?

The person most qualified to speak on this matter is undoubtedly Guleton.

"If that guy wasn't wandering around aimlessly, we should be able to find it in Zone Zero. As for whether we can beat it, I can't say for sure, because I don't know how well it has recovered its strength."

Xia Chen nodded in understanding, and after thinking it over, decided to temporarily refrain from causing trouble for Millerton.

Firstly, Guleton has just consumed the two secret seasonings of bitterness and sourness, and it will take time to digest the healing factors they bring and restore his strength.

Millerton doesn't have any secret plants to restore his strength, so he needs to maximize the use of the resources at hand.

Secondly, he also has things to do at this stage. Putting aside the "long-term task" of building Yuanling Island, he also needs to put his promise to Daigo to visit his home and admire his stone collection back on the agenda.

Furthermore, Doromecia is still alive and kicking in Zoroark, so there's no rush to revive her.

Even if Dragapult is resurrected, it won't be able to evolve into Dragapult for a while, so it's better to wait until all the time is right before going to meet Milerton.

Therefore, Xia Chen decided to rest in Boping City for two days before returning to Donghuang.

As for what he did during those two days of rest, it was naturally to study the book of cinnabar and purple that Papa had given him.

Strictly speaking, the Book of Zhu Zi is divided into two parts.

These are the "Book of Vermilion," which records paradoxical spirits from the ancient world, and the "Book of Purple," which records paradoxical spirits from the future world.

Actually, both books are observation logs from the explorer Hezer in the Padia pit two hundred years ago, but they were later manually divided into two parts by Dr. Orin and Dr. Fortu, who respectively studied the ancient and the future.

These were all things that Pipa, who secretly brought the book out of the research institute, told Xia Chen.

Having understood all this, Xia Chen began to peruse the thick book.

…………

Although "The Book of Zhu Zi" looks thick, its content is far less rich than it appears.

Firstly, most of them are paintings, some depicting deep pit environments, and others featuring paradoxical spirits.

Another reason is that it contains a lot of crazy, rambling graffiti, like something drawn after seeing something that lowered sanity.

Xia Chen couldn't determine whether the graffiti was meaningless, so he looked at it very slowly and was very tired.

If there were any parts that were ambiguous or unclear to him, he would ask Gullardon for clarification, but Gullardon's explanations only made him more confused.

What troubled Xia Chen the most was this passage in the book—

When they finally reached the deepest point, Haizhe became separated from the other observation team members and was found unconscious on the ground.

He claimed that he spoke to someone he didn't know while he was unconscious and wrote a lot of notes without his knowledge.

At the same time, he even discovered a mysterious object at the deepest part of the giant pit that he could not possibly identify as an elf.

The object is disc-shaped and has a crystalline structure; however, almost all information about the object is obscured in the book by markings with "■".

Lost, unconscious, amnesia, notes, and that disc-shaped spirit.

"So, this disc-shaped spirit is the greater being you mentioned, isn't it?"

Xia Chen asked Gu Leton with absolute certainty, even nine-tenths certainty.

Having learned from his previous experience communicating with Xia Chen, Leighton didn't remain silent. Instead, he yawned and said ambiguously, "I don't know, maybe?"

Xia Chen nodded, "Yes, I believe you, that's it."

Therefore, Leighton: "."

Yes, yes, you know best.

Since you have your own judgment, why are you asking me?

Xia Chen stroked his chin and continued, "Why do you think it told Hai Zhe so much about the Paradoxical Spirit?"

Therefore, Leighton shook his head expressionlessly. "I don't know."

Now you can't imagine anything anymore, right?

Xia Chen curled his lip; what a boring guy.

…………

While Xia Chen was busy studying the "Book of Crimson and Purple," Tan Xiaoshi was also researching his own foundation-building plan.

This is his third lifetime of memories, so he naturally understands the importance of Foundation Establishment the most.

A tall building rises from the ground; if the foundation is not solid, the earth will shake. These folk sayings illustrate the importance of laying a solid foundation.

However, the foundation of Tan Xiaoshi's body is hardly solid.

Despite being nearly two years older than its actual age, its strength is only at the amateur level, which is only an acceptable achievement among wild Pokémon.

Such physical conditions will inevitably affect the upper limit of future growth.

He wanted to fill in these holes for his future self while his "medicine dust" consciousness had not completely dissipated.

While we haven't officially started cultivating the Burning Technique yet, there's still a chance to make amends.

This opportunity is a medicinal bath.

Medicinal baths are a different method of utilizing medicinal materials than pills. They don't require the same high level of expertise as pill refining, making them the most suitable option for someone in their early stages.

Although the foundation-building medicinal bath formula from that world cannot be used in this world, this difficulty certainly won't stop Tan Xiaoshi.

Once the pharmacology of medicinal materials is understood, finding alternatives or low- or high-quality formulations becomes easy.

These past few days, Xia Chen has been studying the "Book of Zhu Zi," and Tan Xiaoshi has also taken the time to obtain various tree fruits commonly found in the market and medicinal herbs from this world to make various attempts.

The method for trying it is very simple: taste it.

Alchemists are most sensitive to their own bodies; they can know the effects of different fruits and herbs just by letting them circulate in their stomachs.

The initial stage of medicinal bathing requires a relatively mild effect, using some common materials supplemented with a precious main medicinal herb.

The most crucial main ingredient was the sour-smelling secret plant that he had obtained from Xia Chen.

Through my own tasting and preliminary research, I have found that this plant contains a very special active substance that can greatly promote the body's comprehensive absorption of energy, making it perfect for a foundation-building medicinal bath.

After selecting the medicinal herbs, the next step is to prepare the materials for the medicinal bath. A medicinal bath is not like a regular bath, where you simply sprinkle the herbs in like rose petals and call it a day.

If that's the case, then medicinal baths wouldn't be worthy of being an important course for alchemists.

However, with the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, refining a bucket of medicinal bath water for basic training is extremely simple.

These aren't the problems. The problem is that I'm just too short, making many movements difficult to perform.

Looking at the stove, which was much taller than his own men, Tan Xiaoshi fell into deep thought.

…………

Meanwhile, Tanjiro's "seniors" were also secretly discussing this seemingly unconventional new partner.

"Strange? (Don't you guys think this new companion is weird? He's always eating all sorts of strange things.)"

The most curious of them all, Doronchi, was the first to initiate the group.

Zoroark glanced at him and replied, "Zoroark (as if you're not surprised yourself. I think Tanjiro is pretty normal compared to you.)"

It's an open secret that everyone has their own secrets, and guessing what the "secret" of a new Pokémon is when it joins the team has gradually become a tradition among the older members.

Sai Fuhao, who joined the team on the penultimate night, guessed: "Thump—(I think it might be something like 'the more you eat, the stronger you become' or something.)"

This guess fits Tan Xiaoshi's behavior very well.

Xianbu shook his head and said, "Buyi—(This guy can't be that simple. Didn't you notice the look in his eyes that sometimes unconsciously appear? He's just like Senior Guleton.)"

As a fellow reborn individual, Xianbu's keen senses allowed him to vaguely grasp the truth.

Sticky Mei also crawled out of her snail shell to express her opinion, "Sticky—(Yes, I secretly observed him from inside the shell, and his eyes are very much like those of a very experienced old man.)"

Clearly, Tan Xiaoshi's age contradicts this absurd conjecture.

"Sanai? (Perhaps he has some special experience or memory?)"

Gardevoir made additional conjectures based on its simulator.

The elves discussed the matter amongst themselves, and were almost at the point of understanding the truth.

However, probably no one could have imagined that beneath the small, two-year-old body of Tanjiro existed such a peculiar soul.