Immortals of the End Times

Chapter 39: The Art of Consumption, Top-Grade Elixir
"Oh? A surprise?"

Zhao Wuji stared at Xiaoyue, who had her hands hidden behind her back, with surprise. He sniffed the air and said unexpectedly, "I smell the fragrance of Moon Dew Grass. You actually got your hands on Moon Dew Grass? Did the herb gatherers from Zhicao Hall collect it?"

"Sir, what kind of nose do you have?"

Xiao Yue was surprised, then realized she had spoken out of turn and stuck out her tongue. She took out a jade box from behind her and smiled radiantly. "It really is Moon Dew Grass. Yue'er was also very surprised. The manager of Zhicaotang just delivered it personally."

It is said that a herb gatherer was lucky enough to find some Moon Dew Grass and quickly delivered it to your residence—three stalks in particular, all very well preserved!

"What a coincidence!"

Zhao Wuji was also in a good mood, but he also felt a little strange.

Just a few days ago we were saying that no one dared to go up the mountain to gather herbs anymore, so how come another capable person has appeared who has managed to gather herbs?

Zhao Wuji said, "You can ask who that herb gatherer is. Perhaps you can hire him to gather herbs for a hefty sum another day."

"Yue'er asked, but Manager Liu said he didn't recognize her. She was a thin, unfamiliar, deaf-mute woman. She shook her head three times when asked. After taking the money for the medicine, she left. Manager Liu is still in the front hall."

"A deaf-mute woman. A woman?"

Zhao Wuji seemed to be deep in thought, and a figure involuntarily popped into his mind—Nan Zhixia.

The half-stalk of moon dew grass that was given to me last time was from Nan Zhixia. Could it be the same this time?
Counting the time, it's been ten days since Zhixia last contacted him.

Last time I asked for his blood to inquire about his 'marriage' situation.

The cold wind was like a knife, the twilight was deep, and the wonton stall on the street corner had already closed up shop.

Nan Zhixia's graceful figure had shrunk to a thin and frail appearance. She was wrapped in a gray coat with patches upon patches and huddled under the eaves of a building across the street from the official residence.

She had a layer of soot under her eyes, making her look exactly like a poor woman with a sallow complexion and thin body. Her disheveled sideburns covered her eyes, but she stared at the direction of the official residence across the street through the gaps in her hair.

When the vermilion gate opened and a warm yellow light shone from inside, the young apprentice Xiaoyue, carrying a lantern, escorted the manager of Zhicaotang out.

A slight smile escaped her lips as she turned away, satisfied, her coarse cloth shoes crunching over the frozen sewage as she went.

Inside the official residence.

After examining the three Moon Dew Grass plants, whose roots still had some soil attached, Zhao Wuji became even more certain of his conjecture.

To be able to collect such a complete Moon Dew Grass in a place like the Rime Cave is no easy feat for an ordinary herb gatherer.

Regardless, now that we have the Moon Dew Grass and the sunflower component separated from the dregs, everything is ready, and we can finally refine the Golden Jade Pill.

Zhao Wuji instructed his maid Chunhua to prepare a fragrant bath for him, as he intended to bathe, burn incense, and calm his mind before starting his alchemy process.

Meanwhile, inside the Imperial Observatory of the Imperial City.

Within the dome-shaped ceiling of the Twenty-Eight Constellations, twenty-eight source crystals shimmered with spiritual light, causing a scene outlined by ethereal starlight to appear at the center of the ceiling, slowly revealing a faint human figure.

But then the figure flashed past, his movements incredibly skillful. As he approached a certain spot, he suddenly pulled out a strangely shaped magical artifact that looked like a palm-sized key.

The magical artifact flashed with spiritual light, and the light of the Twenty-Eight Constellations trembled in unison.

The figure disappeared into the doorway, and soon after, it darted out again, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The image outlined by starlight disintegrated and disappeared.

The source crystals inlaid in the twenty-eight constellations of the dome immediately dimmed a bit.

Such resource depletion caused Xia Wenhe, the supervisor standing in the hall, to have a gloomy and unpleasant expression, while Liu Jianzheng, who stood respectfully behind him, dared not even breathe loudly.

"Hmph! The movement technique of 'Stepping on Shadows Startles the Wind and Whispers' and 'Plucking Light to Break the Jade Ring' must have been passed down from the former Thief Saint Feng Ying. This person is the new generation Thief Saint Bi Yuxiang."

Xia Wenhe flicked his sleeve and snorted coldly, his eyes icy.

Liu Jian was furious and filled with hatred. He said, "Sir, it is said that the Thief Saint Feng Ying is already dead, yet his successor still dares to explore the Imperial Observatory! His crime is simply unforgivable!"

Xia Wenhe coldly said, "The Thief Saint once stole from all over the world, but he never broke into the Imperial Palace. He dared not go to the Imperial Palace, so he chose our Imperial Observatory to steal ancient books, hoping to find the method of cultivating immortality."

But he failed, and he was bound to be unwilling to accept it. When choosing a successor before his death, he would definitely let Bi Yuxiang inherit his will.

I had thought of this before, but even the legendary thief couldn't break into the treasure vault, so I didn't take these ordinary mortals too seriously.

Unexpectedly, this new master thief, Bi Yuxiang, somehow obtained this strange magical artifact, which could open the treasure vault door without triggering the strangulation of the great formation.

This magical artifact may be the work of the legendary thief Feng Ying.

Liu Jianzheng said regretfully, "If I hadn't left the prison on the day of the Penglai Immortal Gathering, I wouldn't have been taken advantage of by this new master thief."

"Alright." Xia Wenhe shook his head and waved his sleeve. "He's very clever. He took advantage of the great opportunity that His Majesty convened for the Penglai Immortal Gathering, and that we were all going to attend."

What made him even more clever was that he didn't steal any ancient books from the treasure vault, which is why we only discovered the clue today through the slight differences between the pages.

But he had succeeded; his mind had taken the contents of the ancient texts.

Supervisor Liu sighed, "This is impossible to guard against. It's not the theft itself that's worrisome, but the fact that thieves have their eyes on us. Sir, why don't we apply to the Emperor to summon a few more experts to guard this place?"

"This is impossible."

Xia Wenhe's eyes turned cold, and his old face fell as he said, "Little Liu, have you forgotten the rules? You and I are both menial servants who came from the cave heaven, which is why the emperor trusted us and arranged us to guard this position."

No one else, not even the high-ranking eunuchs and chief stewards serving the emperor and empress, could possibly have access to the core secrets of the Imperial Observatory.

"Yes! Your subordinate understands." Supervisor Liu's face was tense as he bowed his head and accepted the order. "Now that the Imperial Preceptor is not in court, I must personally meet with the Emperor to report this matter."

Xia Wenhe said in a deep voice, "Issue a Xuan-level wanted notice to hunt down Bi Yuxiang, the Thief Saint. We must find out the origin of the magic weapon in his possession and destroy it."

The following day, at the break of dawn, as purple clouds rose from the east, the cauldron in Zhao Wuji's alchemy room suddenly trembled.

The molten gold inside the furnace surged and churned, like melting gold and falling jade, each drop wrapped in tiny fragments of rosy light, floating and sinking between the bluish-purple flames.

Sensing that the time was right, Zhao Wuji immediately made a hand gesture, forming a magic seal to manipulate the elixir in the cauldron into a pill.

"Wow!——"

The elixir inside the cauldron suddenly contracted, transforming into four golden and jade-like pills.

"open!"

He raised his hand and lightly patted from a distance, his transformed internal force like a giant hand lifting the scorching roof.

Immediately, wisps of cinnabar fragrance seeped out.

The initial aroma is like the crisp, refreshing scent of pine needles after a snowfall, but upon closer tasting, it reveals a rich, sweet aroma reminiscent of honey.

Even a tiny wisp of it overflowing caused Zhao Wuji to feel fluctuations in the spiritual energy within his body.

"It smells like honey, this is a top-quality product!"

Zhao Wuji was thrilled. He used the Pill Manipulation Technique to control the pills and send them flying. After absorbing the surrounding fragrance of pills, he saw that each Golden Jade Pill had naturally raised cloud patterns on its surface, and the core point of red light was pulsating like a living thing, which was extraordinary.

Looking again at the residue at the bottom of the alchemy furnace, it has solidified into a glassy, ​​bluish-black crystal.

It was the poison in the pills that he forced out during his all-night pill refining process using the "Pill-Making Technique" that made his first attempt at refining the Golden Jade Pill a top-grade pill.

"Fortunately, I have the skill of manipulating balls to help me."

Zhao Wuji manipulated the pills to spin, admiring the four golden jade pills with great joy.

This yield rate is already quite good.

Moreover, the aroma of the pills makes one feel the spiritual energy within their body stirring; if one were to take them, the effects would undoubtedly be exceptional.

At the same time, the second set of tadpole-like characters on the first Yang Pearl in his sea of ​​consciousness was finally completely deciphered.

Various messages and incantations related to the ingestion of the Earthly Fiend Technique flooded into my mind.

Abilities such as identifying medicines and communicating with spirits, being immune to all poisons, turning poison into nourishment, seizing essence to prolong life, and consuming dew and celestial beings all emerged in his mind.

The first Yang Pearl displayed a message: "Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Techniques: Ingestion (Beginner 0/100)"

Zhao Wuji opened his eyes, looked at the four golden jade pills, and then picked one up and put it in his mouth.

The moment the Golden Jade Pill entered his mouth, he felt as if he had swallowed a red-hot iron ball.

If an ordinary person dared to force themselves to swallow it, they would likely end up with their intestines ruptured and their stomach torn apart.

These pills, made from metals, minerals, lead, and mercury, were not intended for ordinary people; they required magical techniques to refine and absorb them.

"Inhale the wind to form a thread, swallow the moon to make a pill—swallow!"

Zhao Wuji made a hand seal to perform the ingestion technique, and a rainbow light flashed in his throat.

The hard, iron-like golden elixir seemed to transform into a fine nectar in an instant, flowing through the meridians throughout the body. At the same time, golden light shone from all 720 acupoints, like a galaxy hanging upside down.

It truly is like a golden pill entering the abdomen, with countless points of spiritual light gathering in the dantian.

Zhao Wuji felt that, with the aid of the ingestion technique, the medicinal power of the Golden Jade Pill was rapidly absorbed throughout his body, most of which was catalyzed into spiritual power, strengthening the spiritual power in his dantian.

A small number of them strengthened their physique and blood, causing their internal strength to surge at an astonishing rate.

He tried again to perform the hand seals and guide the energy.

It better guides the body's energy and medicinal power to be absorbed by the body and dantian, without any leakage.

Within his dantian, wisps of spiritual energy condensed and emerged.

He then used hand seals to perform a pill-making technique, condensing his energy into a pill.

Strands of spiritual energy gathered into a ball, forming the shape of a nascent elixir, which slowly rotated within the dantian, the alchemical furnace.

Within the dantian, the technique of manipulating qi to form a pill is used, while the guiding technique circulates qi throughout the body.

The combination of these three techniques surprisingly aligns with the fundamental principles of alchemy: "gathering herbs, refining elixirs, and creating elixirs."

Zhao Wuji's cultivation was like alchemy, and he gained many insights. His illusory core seemed to lock in the rate at which spirituality and energy were lost.

After refining a Golden Jade Pill, it actually enhanced his spiritual power by eight strands, and his martial arts cultivation increased by 25 points.

More importantly, he can cultivate by taking pills without depleting his accumulated Yin and Yang energy; he only needs to collect resources such as herbs.

"Taking elixirs is indeed a very good way to assist cultivation in this Dharma-ending Age."

Zhao Wuji looked solemn, picked up the second Golden Jade Pill, pondered for a moment, and then put it in his mouth.
Seeking monthly ticket
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(End of this chapter)