Immortal Cultivation: Starting from a Pharmacy Apprentice

Chapter 305: Chapter 305: Pill Ghost

The search for opportunities in the Alchemy Dao was in full swing.

「Three days later.」

After a fierce battle, Junior Brother Jin was collecting his spoils and joking with his fellow sect members when the last of the flesh on his body suddenly sloughed off.

Before everyone’s eyes, he seemed not to notice. He hadn’t even finished his sentence before he collapsed into a pile of scattered bones on the ground.

The soft glow of a Jade Talisman flared, and the scattered bones vanished, leaving behind only a few specks of dark blood.

The expressions on Qin Zheng and the others varied, but a sense of urgency rose in their hearts.

"I’m afraid our days are numbered, too."

Yin Zhen, who had witnessed the entire event, stopped wiping his longsword and set the silk cloth aside.

The longsword had been stained by some foreign substance in the previous fight, but thankfully, it hadn’t been damaged.

He spoke calmly.

"How many days do you all have left?"

Qin Zheng thought for a moment.

"We took the pill on the same day as Junior Brother Jin. But he was always the first to charge into battle, so he consumed far more of his vitality and blood."

He seemed uncertain.

"Maybe half a month."

Yin Zhen frowned.

At their current pace, exploring a few more decoy tombs would take more than a mere half a month.

Qin Zheng guessed what he was thinking and quickly tried to reassure him.

"Based on the clues we have, we’re likely looking for the tomb of a great master of the Alchemy Dao. There might even be other figures from the Alchemy Dao buried with him."

"The decoy tombs are arranged in the pattern of the Big Dipper. They have a strange power that misleads us into thinking they’re real."

"But there can be seven at most. We’ve already cleared five, so we’re not far from the real one."

Over the past few days, he had come to understand that Yin Zhen’s collaboration with Bai Mo was not his primary purpose for being here.

Yin Zhen had his own business to attend to; he was a cultivator with lofty ambitions.

"When we find the place, I hope Brother Yin won’t hold back!"

"Of course."

Yin Zhen nodded. His thoughts churned slightly, knowing he only had another half a month of being tied down like this.

’But before that, there’s probably another grueling battle waiting in the true tomb.’

’These people in front of me might not be able to handle it.’

Junior Brother Jin returned to the outside world in a daze. The continuous fighting of the past days had ingrained in him a subconscious reaction.

As he fell out of the Secret Realm’s portal, he twisted his body, regained his balance, and landed safely.

TAP!

"Huh!?"

The jarring pain that shot up from the soles of his feet snapped him back to his senses.

The feeling of pain, of flesh and blood, felt almost unreal to him.

"Whew! I’m back!"

Junior Brother Jin let out a breath. Just as he was getting his bearings, he saw someone walking briskly toward him from a distance.

It was An Caiwei, the one who had brought them all together.

"Junior Sister An, I have not failed my mission."

Junior Brother Jin leaped gracefully and landed in front of An Caiwei.

An Caiwei shot him a sideways glance. He certainly didn’t have such a nimble body technique when he first entered the Secret Realm.

"You haven’t even found what we’re looking for. How dare you say that?"

Junior Brother Jin just smiled.

"Didn’t you see how we were tearing through everything? We’ll get it sooner or later."

But An Caiwei held out her hand to him.

"You can keep the other things, but you’ll hand over anything related to the Alchemy Dao."

She had seen him pick up quite a few manuscripts while collecting the spoils.

’Junior Brother Bai will probably be very interested.’

「In the valley.」

Bai Mo had emerged from the Stone Lodge to take a breather and deliver twenty pills.

A disciple walked over, paid the remaining balance, and collected the pills.

"I haven’t asked you yet, Junior Brother, what is the name of this pill?"

"Life Burning Tribulation Pill."

Bai Mo stated the pill’s name.

’This batch of pills is probably even stronger than the last one.’

’I’m still making improvements.’

The disciple who took the pills repeated the name twice and nodded slightly.

"It’s quite fitting."

After a brief exchange, the disciple left.

Bai Mo stood in the valley, reviewing his thought process, searching for areas of improvement.

’The power gained at the cost of a cultivator’s flesh and potential is already this terrifying. Wouldn’t it be even better if I could add a little something extra?’

An Caiwei arrived in a hurry.

When she saw the Stone Lodge’s main door open and Bai Mo standing nearby with a distant look in his eyes, she immediately paused.

"Junior Brother, what are you thinking about?"

Bai Mo blinked, pulling his thoughts back to the present.

"Nothing. What’s wrong?"

"One of our people brought something out of the Secret Realm."

Bai Mo stiffened slightly.

"Come inside and talk."

The two entered the Stone Lodge, where Bai Mo pushed aside the clutter on a large wooden table the size of a millstone.

"Take them out."

An Caiwei was still wondering why there was a wooden table inside when she noticed chopping marks on its side.

’Right, this is probably used as an ingredient for alchemy.’

She carefully took out a pile of bamboo slips and silk scrolls. They were ancient and showed signs of decay.

Bai Mo’s gaze fixed on a fresh tear on one of the silk scrolls.

Fortunately, it didn’t damage any of the writing.

’The Secret Realm is not a peaceful place. These things were hard to come by, so I can’t be too picky.’

"Who brought these out?"

"It was that senior brother named Jin. He sustained too many injuries and died, so he was sent back."

An Caiwei added, "The sect took him away, probably afraid that his state would affect his mind."

Whenever the Jade Plate Secret Realm opens, the Xuandao Sect always has Daoist physicians on standby.

This is to prevent anyone from having their disposition twisted or even developing a Heart Demon due to what they saw and heard in the Secret Realm.

If they were careless and ended up creating a few demonic masters, they would truly become a laughingstock.

’It seems all the cultivators who took the Life Burning Tribulation Pill have become persons of interest.’

Bai Mo nodded silently, no longer paying attention to such trivial matters. His focus returned to the silk scrolls and bamboo slips.

The script on the bamboo slips was different from that of the present day; Bai Mo even had to guess the meaning of some characters.

The calligraphy was fluid and powerful, a testament to the writer’s extraordinary presence and non-mortal status.

An Caiwei could understand about half of the characters, but once they were combined into the terminology of the Alchemy Dao, she became completely lost.

Stealing a glance at Bai Mo’s focused expression, she found herself holding her breath.

Nearly a quarter of an hour passed before Bai Mo finally let out a long breath, his tense expression relaxing.

An Caiwei quickly asked:

"What’s written on them?"

She was still curious about these ancient records.

Bai Mo rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"The bamboo slips mostly contain the speculations and miscellaneous notes of an early Alchemy Cultivator."

The ideas within were wild and imaginative, so much so that even the writer seemed uncertain about them.

So they would be of little use to the cultivators of today, whose Alchemy Dao theories have changed countless times.

But they still have some value.

"As for the silk scrolls, they’re much more formal. They record the process of a high-level cultivator assigning subordinate cultivators to excavate and construct the tomb."

Bai Mo said softly.

"Brother Yin and the others are probably about to run into trouble."

"Ah, what is it?"

"A Pill Ghost."

Bai Mo pointed at the silk scroll.

"It’s recorded here that an ancient Alchemy Cultivator created a Pill Ghost to guard the tomb. This creature can live for a thousand years, and it can be reborn after death."

"To create such a being... the one who made it must have been a celestial!"

A thousand years without dying, and it can even be reborn.

An Caiwei was stunned.

She had always thought Alchemy Cultivators were just a group of people who fussed over pills; she never imagined they had the ability to create life.

That ability to traverse life and death... who knows how many Nascent Soul grand cultivators would drool with envy over it.

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