The news that Mu Hong was still alive caused quite a stir.
“That old monster of the Mu family is still alive! There should be no problem with Mu Xue’s quota.” Bai Yunxi said regretfully.
“There are many competitors with Mu Xue, and there are many without her. It’s no big deal.” Ye Fan lay on a chair, nibbling on spiritual fruit, and said nonchalantly.
Bai Yunxi took a deep breath and said, “That old monster of the Mu family is really powerful. It is said that as soon as this guy left seclusion, he went on a killing spree. Those sects don’t dare to do anything?”
“That old guy is amazing, but it won’t be for much longer. That guy is about to die. He went to retreat at the age of 450. He must have been trying to break through to Nascent Soul. Now he’s come out without forming a nascent soul, so it must have been a failure. It’s a pity!” Ye Fan said.
“Is it difficult to form a nascent soul?” Bai Yunxi asked.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Of course. Talent, resources, and luck are all indispensable to advance to Nascent Soul. Out of dozens of Golden Core cultivators, only one is likely to advance to Nascent Soul. It is best to start trying to form a nascent soul before the age of 400. The body of a 400-year-old Golden Core cultivator has already begun to decline, and the success rate of nascent soul formation will be much lower.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “Is that so? I feel that many forces seem to be afraid of that old monster from the Mu family.”
“Of course. This kind of cultivator who is about to die is the most difficult to deal with. He is about to die, and he doesn’t know when he will die. Seeing that the end of his life is approaching, it is easy to go to extremes.” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi said in confusion, “Going to extremes?”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yeah! The longer people live, the less they want to die, especially such an aloof old monster.”
“I heard there was once an old Golden Core monster who when he was about to die, ran to the position of a hostile sect and blew himself up, causing losses to both sides.” A Golden Core cultivator blew himself up, and the power was extraordinary.
“It’s good to say that a Golden Core cultivator is a monster. A Nascent Soul cultivator is even more terrifying. There was once an ancestor of the Nascent Soul period in Cangxuan Continent who was about to die. I don’t know where he got a book, talking about a life extension technique. This guy mobilized the entire sect to start the technique, and as a result, the life extension technique failed, and the people of this sect disappeared.”
Bai Yunxi’s scalp went numb. “So, that old monster from the Mu family is very dangerous now?”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Naturally. He’s already dying, so what should he worry about?! At this time, whoever messes with him will be unlucky. He’s going to die. Everyone just needs to wait.”
Bai Yunxi: “…”
“There is still half a year before the opening of the Heavenly Wood Secret Realm. All forces are making preparations. We should prepare well.” Bai Yunxi changed the topic.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “That’s right. I plan to refine some formation flags or something. At that time, I can arrange some formations with higher levels, but… there are no spirit stones.”
Bai Yunxi: “…”
Ye Fan sighed and said, “It’s too slow to make money just by selling talismans.”
Bai Yunxi frowned and said, “The Alchemists Association has Golden Core cultivators in charge. If you go there, it will be bad if you reveal any clues.”
Ye Fan sighed and said, “Okay.”
“Yunxi, did you know that there is a Pill Pagoda here?” Ye Fan asked.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “I know!”
The Pill Pagoda was the symbol of Pill Capital. It was said to be a spiritual weapon passed down from ancient times. Bai Yunxi had been here for so long, and his ears were almost numb from hearing all kinds of rumors about the Pill Pagoda.
It was said that Pill Capital was built here because of the Pill Pagoda.
…
The Pill Pagoda was actually a spiritual weapon, but it was ownerless.
To enter the Pill Pagoda, you needed to bribe the guard puppet at the door with spirit stones. The puppet swallowed the spirit stones and would send the alchemist into the Pill Pagoda. If you wanted to enter different floors, you needed to pay different fees.
There were many alchemy techniques in the Pill Pagoda. If you could fully understand the alchemy technique and activate the strange pill diagram on the wall, the Pill Pagoda would provide rewards.
There were a total of 12 floors in the Pill Pagoda. Activating the pill diagram on the first floor rewarded 10,000 spirit stones, the second floor rewarded 20,000 spirit stones, and the third floor rewarded 40,000 spirit stones.
Activating the pill diagram on the fourth floor of the Pill Pagoda rewarded 100,000 spirit stones, the fifth floor rewarded 200,000 spirit stones, and the sixth floor rewarded 400,000 spirit stones.
Activating the seventh floor’s pill diagram rewarded one million spirit stones, the eighth floor rewarded two million spirit stones, and the ninth floor rewarded four million spirit stones.
It was incredible to activate the pill diagram on the tenth floor, and the reward was 10 million spirit stones. No one had ever been to the eleventh and twelfth floors.
“I want to go take a look. As long as I activate the pill diagram on the 7th floor of the Pill Pagoda, there will be a million spirit stones. With so many spirit stones, we don’t have to work hard to make money.” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “Go if you want. Although we don’t have many spirit stones, there is still money to pay for admission.”
He heard that most alchemists lost money when they went there. Of course, there were exceptions. Mu Xue from Hundred Flames House had been to the seventh floor of the Pill Pagoda and received a reward of one million spirit stones.
“Speaking of which, this Pill Pagoda is a bit weird.” Ye Fan muttered while holding his chin.
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan in confusion and said, “What’s weird about the Pill Pagoda?”
“When I was in Cangxuan Continent, I heard about this Pill Pagoda.” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi was stunned for a moment and said, “You heard about it in Cangxuan Continent, but no one here seems to have heard of Cangxuan Continent.”
“When I was in Cangxuan Continent, I heard that the cultivation world is divided into five continents: east, west, south, north, and central. The Central Continent has the strongest spiritual energy and the most Nascent Soul cultivators. The Eastern Continent is the most barren and has the least Nascent Soul cultivators. The Southern Continent, to which the Cangxuan Continent belongs, is somewhere in between.”
“I heard that there is a sect called the Immortal Pill Sect in the Central Continent. This sect was established by a holy alchemist who entered the Dao with alchemy. After the holy alchemist ascended, he left behind a few spiritual weapons.”
“One of the spiritual weapons is the Pill Pagoda. Over time, the Immortal Pill Sect gradually declined. One year, two amazing and brilliant alchemists appeared in the Immortal Pill Sect to compete for the position of Sect Master. In the end, the senior brother accidentally lost. The senior brother was not reconciled, so he took the Pill Pagoda and left the Central Continent using a teleportation formation, and disappeared without a trace…”
Bai Yunxi blinked and said, “You mean the Pill Pagoda in Pill Capital is the one from the Immortal Pill Sect?”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yes, this Pill Pagoda in Pill Capital is very similar to the one from the Immortal Pill Sect.”
Bai Yunxi secretly thought: If this Pill Pagoda in Pill Capital was the one from the Central Continent, it meant that they were in the same cultivation world as Ye Fan’s parents, but they were in different continents and were separated by the Endless Sea. The danger in the sea was too great. If they wanted to cross the Endless Sea, they had to cultivate at least to Nascent Soul, which was too early for him and Ye Fan.
“According to the rumors I heard in Cangxuan Continent, the Pill Pagoda was left by the holy alchemist to select and train disciples. Whoever can activate the pill diagram on the 12th floor can become the Sect Master of the Immortal Pill Sect. This is the legacy left by the ascended holy alchemist.”
“However, as time went on, there were fewer and fewer people who could activate the pill diagrams. Many alchemists in the Immortal Pill Sect could only activate the pill diagrams below the ninth floor. The two martial brothers who competed for the position of Sect Master seemed to have activated the pill diagram on the tenth floor. Their level of alchemy was evenly matched, and the two later had other competitions to determine who would become Sect Master.”
“The senior brother who stole the Pill Pagoda probably also wanted to activate the pill diagram on the twelfth floor, and then go back and regain the position of Sect Master.”
Bai Yunxi said with some confusion, “Is this okay?”
Ye Fan shook his head and said, “I don’t know. It’s possible. But this Pill Pagoda has been in Pill Capital for nearly 10,000 years. I think that senior brother should have failed.”
Bai Yunxi asked curiously, “That holy alchemist was a cultivator of God Transformation?”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yes.”
Bai Yunxi took a deep breath and secretly thought: Nascent Soul cultivators were already powerful enough. The spiritual weapons left by God Transformation cultivators were definitely not ordinary.
…
Ye Fan spent a thousand spirit stones to enter the first floor of the Pill Pagoda. There were many alchemist apprentices gathered at the bottom of the Pill Pagoda.
Many cultivators wanted to enter an alchemy sect to learn the knowledge of alchemy and become a respected alchemist.
However, the requirements of alchemy sects to accept disciples were extremely high, and most people couldn’t enter.
In Pill Capital, if you wanted to become an alchemist, there was a shortcut, which was to activate the pill diagrams in the Pill Pagoda. History had proven that the cultivators who could activate the pill diagrams in the Pill Pagoda had good alchemy talent.
The last alchemist apprentice who activated a pill diagram walked out of the Pill Pagoda, and several alchemy sects threw olive branches to him.
Ye Fan walked into the Pill Pagoda in casual clothes. Several alchemist apprentices in the pagoda glanced at Ye Fan. Seeing that Ye Fan was not wearing an alchemist’s robe, they withdrew their gazes.
The Pill Pagoda was the symbol of Pill Capital. Many cultivators who did not have talent for alchemy would also spend a sum of spirit stones to enter the Pill Pagoda to visit. If they were lucky enough to activate the pill diagrams on the wall, they would be successful in the future.
It was said that there once was a weapon refiner who came in and activated a pill diagram. Under the pressure of an alchemy sect, he gave up weapon refining and turned to alchemy.
Later, this person really became a spiritual-level alchemist, which attracted many weapon refiners to follow suit. Ye Fan saw several weapon refiners at the bottom of the Pill Pagoda.
Ye Fan looked at the alchemy technique on the wall of the Pill Pagoda and found that there was a soul power alchemy technique on the wall.
Most of the alchemy techniques on the market used spiritual power to concoct pills, and soul power was only used as an assist. Soul power alchemy techniques used soul power to concoct pills and were assisted by spiritual power.
Ye Fan looked at the soul power alchemy technique on the wall, and he felt that he had really profited from this visit. He had only reached Foundation Establishment and had insufficient spiritual power, but his soul power was very abundant*.
Ye Fan looked at the alchemy technique for a while, and then activated the first pill diagram.
There were lines on the pill diagram, and the whole pill diagram shone with dazzling luster. The cultivators who saw this scene immediately looked at Ye Fan with envy.
Before the cultivators who saw this scene began to marvel, the Pill Pagoda began to clear the field. Except for Ye Fan, the rest of the cultivators in the Pill Pagoda were teleported out.
Bai Yunxi looked at the cultivators who were teleported out for no reason, and heard some cultivators sigh with excitement. Someone new had activated the pill diagram on the first floor.
Every time the pill diagram on the first floor of the Pill Pagoda was activated, it would exclude the rest of the cultivators. As long as a cultivator had activated the pill diagram once, the pill diagram would record the person’s soul power. While the pill diagram could be activated again, the second time there would be no such big movement, and there would be no reward.
It was easy for Ye Fan to activate the underlying pill diagram. After the light above the pill diagram dissipated, a treasure box fell out. There were exactly 10,000 spirit stones in the treasure box.
Ye Fan walked to the second floor of the Pill Pagoda. There was a puppet guarding the door of the second floor of the Pill Pagoda.
“Greetings, two thousand spirit stones!”
“Greetings, two thousand spirit stones!”
The guardian puppet on the second floor was a parrot, very chatty.
Ye Fan was depressed and paid the spirit stones and entered the second floor of the Pill Pagoda.
Outside the Pill Pagoda, the situation had already exploded.
“There is actually another cultivator lighting up the pill diagram. The cultivator who lit up the pill diagram last time seems to have been taken away by the Alchemy Herb Sect. This time, this person, I don’t know whose invitation he will accept.”
“How the hell did this pill diagram light up! I’ve been to the first floor of the Pill Pagoda dozens of times, but I still can’t find a way.”
“If you want to activate the pill diagram, you need luck. Some spiritual-level alchemists can’t even activate the pill diagram.”
…
Bai Yunxi was in the crowd, and he had a bad feeling in his heart.
The Taotie ghost said to Bai Yunxi, “Go, go. This guy Ye Fan is going to cause a big mess. You came with him, and you will be targeted soon.”
Bai Yunxi frowned, followed the advice of the Taotie ghost, and quickly left the area.
After Bai Yunxi left the area, he changed several places one after another and changed several sets of clothes.
There were many people who could activate the pill diagram on the first floor, so although Ye Fan activating the pill diagram attracted a lot of people’s attention, everyone didn’t take it too seriously. However, not long after Bai Yunxi left, Ye Fan had already activated the third floor’s pill diagram.
Fortunately, Bai Yunxi left early. Otherwise, he would have been targeted.
***
T/N: First time we’re getting confirmation that this is the same cultivation world as Ye Fan’s family, so some foreshadowing in this chapter.
Pill diagram can be translated as pill image/picture/map/chart in addition to diagram, but having read the entire story, I think diagram makes the most sense in terms of visualizing what is happening, so I went with that.
*A cultivator’s spiritual power and soul power are roughly equivalent to their level of cultivation – so those with higher cultivation can store more spiritual power and have greater soul power. Spiritual power is what is stored in the dantian from absorbing spiritual energy. Soul power is a different concept and relates to the power of the cultivator’s soul – it’s kind of like mental power. It’s generally harder to increase soul power than spiritual power. Spiritual power is analogous to qi/chi in cultivation novels or chakra in Naruto, so it can be replenished through pills. Soul power is more special and generally can’t be replenished through pills – when soul power is exhausted, it’s similar to mental exhaustion and the cultivator needs to rest to recover. There are some people born with special souls (remember, Ye Fan has a nine colored soul) or mutations (Mu Xue). Ye Fan has enormous soul power because of his special soul – his soul power is already equivalent to a god’s (I believe this was mentioned way back when he encountered the Taotie ghost for the first time).
