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Chapter 331: Beast Pills
Chapter 331: Beast Pills
The interior of the palace was vast, with traces of restrictions and talismans remaining everywhere, indicating the intense battles that the first cultivators to enter had endured.
Lu Chen moved through the palace like a wisp of green smoke, swiftly and silently.
Soon, he came to a halt at the entrance of a spacious pill chamber.
Scanning the room with his spiritual sense, he found nothing amiss and entered lightly.
Just as he was about to begin a thorough search, a gentle female cultivator suddenly followed close behind and barged in.
Seeing Lu Chen, she paused momentarily, her expression relaxing as recognition dawned on her.
"It's Fellow Daoist Lu."
"Fellow Daoist Qi, what a coincidence to meet you here in the palace." Lu Chen replied.
He vaguely remembered the gentle female cultivator from an auction organized by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce. She had been together with another early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, and they had formed a couple, living a reclusive life on a small island.
According to Shi Zhong, this female cultivator was quite skilled in pill refining.
"You and your husband are usually inseparable. Where is Fellow Daoist Zhang? Why are you alone?" Lu Chen asked, a hint of wariness in his eyes. The couple was known for their adeptness in combination techniques, and their deep bond made them rarely part ways.
"My husband has gone to another part of the palace. If Fellow Daoist Lu wishes to meet him, I can call for him," the gentle female cultivator said with a smile. She had lost contact with her husband while traversing the strange stone array, and they had been separated upon entering the palace due to various circumstances.
However, she dared not show any weakness in front of Lu Chen, lest he harbor ill intentions.
"Hahaha, that won't be necessary. This isn't a place for friendly chats anyway," Lu Chen said ambiguously, glancing at the grayish-white eyeball in his hand.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, why don't we make peace and search our own areas of this pill chamber?" the female cultivator suggested.
"Very well, Fellow Daoist Qi. Let's do that," Lu Chen agreed amicably. He was not one to kill indiscriminately, and he readily accepted her proposal given her cooperative attitude.
Both of them held their artifacts and talismans, maintaining a cautious eye on each other as they chose separate areas to examine carefully.
A faint hint of medicinal fragrance lingered in the pill chamber, and more than ten pill furnaces were arranged in the central area, each secured by restrictions. Lu Chen assessed their quality to be mediocre, so he dismissed the idea of breaking the restrictions and taking the furnaces.
On each side of the walls were tall wooden racks, with some residual spirit herbs on them. However, they had all withered and dried up, their medicinal properties completely lost. A slight touch was enough to turn them into various powders.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, have you found anything?" The female cultivator searched her designated area thoroughly but found nothing of value. She approached Lu Chen, unable to hide her curiosity.
"Nothing much, just some withered herbs and a few ordinary pill furnaces," Lu Chen replied nonchalantly.
"The same here," she sighed softly and returned for another round of meticulous searching.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, I won't waste any more time here. Farewell." Soon, she bid him farewell from a distance and left the pill chamber.
Lu Chen nodded slightly, his brows furrowed in thought.
Something about this place didn't sit right with him.
"The pill furnaces are empty, and I've checked the bottom and inner walls of each one thoroughly. There are no pill formulas to be found, and all the spirit herbs on the racks have withered. Then where did that faint trace of medicinal fragrance come from when we first entered?" he mused.
With his advancement to the Foundation Establishment realm, Lu Chen's physical senses had reached an incredibly powerful level.
"It seems there's something hidden here," Lu Chen murmured.
A layer of misty substance appeared over his pupils, and with the enhancement of his Eye Technique, he noticed several faint wisps of spiritual light floating erratically within the chamber.
Even with Lu Chen's current Mid-stage Foundation Establishment spiritual sense, he found it challenging to perceive their existence.
"However, merely discovering the spiritual light is not enough. These lights are too elusive and unpredictable. I must find a way to make them manifest," Lu Chen mused.
As he pondered, a sudden idea struck him, and he retrieved a second-grade Yunling Pill from his storage bag.
"Since this is a pill chamber, perhaps a pill can help unravel the current situation."
He manipulated his spiritual power to levitate the Yunling Pill in the air within the chamber.
Under the influence of his Eye Technique, the wisp-like spiritual lights gravitated towards the pill, gathering around it.
"As expected, it works!" Lu Chen rejoiced inwardly.
He concentrated his mental power on the pill, and suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
Yaochi, a fourth-grade mystical insect in its larval stage, is nearly invisible and colorless. It feeds on the Pill Toxin, a byproduct found in pill furnaces and pills during the pill refining process. It can automatically clean and maintain pill furnaces, ensuring their quality and slightly enhancing the quality of pills. It considers the Pill Toxin, a deadly poison to others, to be its sweet nectar.
What a delicious treat! Life is truly worth living!
"Yaochi... so that's what this is," Lu Chen thought, finding the creature's thoughts, as conveyed through the spiritual light, amusing.
"You consider the toxin within pill furnaces and pills to be your ambrosia, a poison to others but your sweet delight."
All pills had a degree of toxicity, a side effect of their miraculous abilities to enhance and restore spiritual power and heal injuries. Lower-quality pills tended to have higher levels of toxicity.
Over time, the accumulated pill toxins could negatively affect a cultivator's cultivation and impede their progress in breaking through bottlenecks.
The toxins in pill furnaces were even more potent.
Yet, this Yaochi insect could devour and eliminate the toxins, maintaining the quality of pill furnaces and improving the quality of pills, making it an invaluable assistant to pill refiners.
"It's still in its larval stage. I should capture it and raise it," Lu Chen decided, his interest in the Yaochi larva piqued.
However, the challenge before him was how to capture the elusive creature.
Although he had roughly determined its location, the Yaochi itself was intangible and formless. If he wasn't careful, he might startle it.
Thus, he had to make sure his capture attempt was precise and successful on the first try.
Lu Chen retrieved a fourth-grade Xuanyin Pill from his storage bag, increasing the allure of his trap.
The Xuanyin Pill, derived from the luminous orb reward of the Guimian Stone Mushroom, was a great tonic for ghost cultivators and yin beasts, two grades higher than the Yunling Pill. Naturally, it would be even more tempting to the Yaochi.
Using his Eye Technique, Lu Chen noticed the spiritual lights hovering closer to the Xuanyin Pill, appearing slightly brighter.
Silently, he took out the White Bone Devil Puppet and threw it towards the pill floating in mid-air.
"Go, White Bone Ball!"
The eerie ball of white bones transformed into a giant net as it neared the Xuanyin Pill, capturing the pill and the nearby Yaochi in one fell swoop.
Before the Yaochi could react, numerous net holes swiftly sealed themselves with a thin layer of bone membrane, ensuring the giant net was completely sealed.
Then, under Lu Chen's spiritual sense control, the net began to contract, compressing the Yaochi's range of movement.
(End of Chapter)
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