Chapter 8: The Pill Fire Burning Heart Tribulation
As the bronze rust on the surface of the qingmu spirit pearl faded, Lu Qingyang smelled the acrid scent of burnt flesh.
The Taiyi Pavilion brand on Su Li's waist completely peeled off, revealing a dark golden snake-shaped totem underneath, a pattern identical to the Nuwa Clan emblem on the Ancient Tomb murals.
The Three-Legged Golden Toad Cauldron bobbed in the lava, and the chi Dragon relief on its ears suddenly opened amber vertical pupils, spitting out Pill Fire that evaporated the underground river into a vast sea of white mist.
“Nuwa Bloodline…” Lu Qingyang whispered, twirling a strand of Su Li’s fallen hair, his thumb caressing the newly emerged tadpole script on the qingmu spirit pearl.
The hourglass illusion in the pearl’s medicinal field cracked with a spiderweb pattern, and the Dragon Scale Grass, irrigated by the Three-Headed Flood Dragon’s essence blood, withered at a visible rate—this ancient Spiritual Plant was actually feeding back into the pearl’s cracks.
A dull thud of dragging chains echoed from the cave's dome, and twelve bronze hanging coffins materialized from the misty sea.
The taotie pattern on the coffin surfaces pulsed with an eerie blue phosphorescence, and when Lu Qingyang’s fingertip touched the outermost coffin, its lid suddenly exploded into dust.
Foul black water, carrying a headless corpse, gushed out; the body wore a cloud-patterned Daoist robe, a style from Taiyi Pavilion three hundred years ago, and a jade pendant at its waist was engraved with “Law Enforcement Hall Ye Lingfeng.”
“Ye Wuchen’s ancestor?” Lu Qingyang pried open the Jade Slip clutched in the corpse’s hand, his pupils constricting as his Divine Sense swept over it.
The Jade Slip recorded a secret of Taiyi Pavilion: successive Enforcement Elders were all afflicted with the “Devouring Spirit Gu,” requiring regular consumption of same-source Bloodline to maintain their cultivation.
He suddenly recalled the “Ye” token the Old Drunkard had given him before his death; the tooth marks on the edge of the bronze token perfectly matched the corpse’s finger bones.
The pill cauldron suddenly hummed like a bell, and the qingmu spirit pearl in Lu Qingyang’s arms flew uncontrollably towards the cauldron’s mouth.
The chi Dragon relief on the Three-Legged Golden Toad Cauldron seemed to come alive, swimming around, and the Pill Fire it spewed turned from crimson to ghastly white.
The cracks in the pearl slowly mended under the high-temperature scorching, at the cost of thirty century-old Spiritual Plants in the medicinal field instantly turning to ash.
“So, I have to sacrifice Spiritual Plants to repair the Spirit Pearl…” Lu Qingyang gritted his teeth and inverted his Storage Pouch, low-grade medicinal herbs accumulated over the years pouring out like a waterfall.
When the last Purple Cloud Ginseng disappeared into the Pill Fire, the hourglass inside the pearl exploded, transforming into a sky full of starlight that merged into his Meridians.
The Qi Condensation ninth-layer Bottleneck loosened at this moment, but the Spiritual Qi vortex condensed in his Dantian suddenly went out of control.
A Dragon roar came from the depths of the underground river, and the twelve hanging coffins exploded in response.
Seventy-two bronze nails flew out from the scattered corpses and broken bones; the inscriptions on the nails shared the same origin as Taiyi Pavilion’s Soul-Chasing Mark.
Lu Qingyang flipped onto the pill cauldron, and the green light emanating from the qingmu spirit pearl condensed into a barrier; the crisp sound of the bronze nails striking the light screen was like heavy rain hitting glazed tiles.
“Fellow Daoist Lu certainly knows how to pick a spot.” Ye Wuchen’s voice drifted from the depths of the mist, as he leisurely appeared, stepping on a floating coffin, the compass needle in his palm pointing directly at the boiling cauldron belly, “Using my Ye family ancestors’ Hanging Corpse Array for Artifact Refining, this courage is three points stronger than the Old Drunkard’s.”
Lu Qingyang wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, secretly mixing bone-corroding powder into his sleeve: “If True Disciple Ye is willing to part with these twelve Yin Puppets, Mr. Lu is willing to share thirty percent of the Pill Fire.”
“I want one hundred percent.” Ye Wuchen flicked away the incoming bronze nails with a finger, and nine blood talismans flew out from his sleeve, forming a trapping array, “And that pearl in your pants.”
The pill cauldron suddenly vibrated violently, and the chi Dragon relief detached from the cauldron body, pouncing towards Ye Wuchen.
Lu Qingyang seized the Opportunity to crush the last three Spirit Stones, Spiritual Power injecting into his legs as he kicked towards a crack in the rock wall.
The killing array formed by the bronze nails grazed his ankle, plowing a three-foot gully into the basalt.
The qingmu spirit pearl continuously fed back Spiritual Power during his escape, but Lu Qingyang’s Meridians felt a tearing pain.
When he fell into an underground river tributary, he found a greasy substance floating on the water—it was precisely the “Earth Vein Marrow Milk” needed to refine foundation establishment pills.
The medicinal field within the pearl sensed the marrow milk’s aura and spontaneously cultivated a Ghost-Faced Dark Orchid.
“Heaven does not cut me off…” Lu Qingyang cupped the marrow milk and applied it to his wound, but his Divine Sense suddenly pricked.
In a grotto three hundred feet away, Su Li was being cornered by five Black-Robed Cultivators.
The bronze box in her arms cracked open, and the overflowing green light resonated with Lu Qingyang’s Spirit Pearl.
The Black-Robed Cultivator leader’s bone staff touched the Earth Vein Marrow Milk, solidifying into an ice crystal cage: “Hand over the Nuwa Mirror fragments, and we will leave your corpse intact.”
“The mirror fragments were eaten by Taiyi Pavilion’s dogs long ago.” Su Li suddenly tore open her clothes, and the snake-shaped totem over her heart glowed with blood, “But as for you Yinkui Sect dogs, would you like to taste the Nuwa Sacrificial Dance?”
Lu Qingyang, from the shadows, crushed the Ghost-Faced Dark Orchid’s bud, and the poisonous mist mixed with the marrow milk steam permeated the grotto.
By the time the Black-Robed Cultivators noticed their Spiritual Power stagnating, he had already appeared, disguised as a Taiyi Pavilion Law Enforcement Emissary: “True Disciple Ye is currently clearing out the Yinkui remnants; surrender now, and you can avoid the pain of soul-searching.”
“Foundation Establishment pressure?” The Black-Robed Cultivator leader retreated in surprise, but his bone staff suddenly changed direction, “No! It’s an Illusion Talisman!”
The moment the Nine-Ringed Saber shattered the illusion, Lu Qingyang’s true body burst out from behind a stalactite.
The poisoned short blade slit the throats of two Cultivators, and he seized the bone staff, thrusting it into the marrow milk riverbed.
The soul threads that Yinkui Sect Cultivators relied on to control corpse puppets dissolved upon contact with water, and the remaining three immediately suffered backlash, bleeding from all seven orifices.
Su Li seized the Opportunity to throw out the bronze box fragment, and the qingmu spirit pearl in Lu Qingyang’s arms flew autonomously towards the box.
The moment the two fused, a star map appeared on the grotto ceiling; a star marked “Burial Dragon Abyss” coincided with the tortoise shell map in his hand.
The hourglass above the medicinal field in the pearl re-condensed, and the flow of time surged to twenty times its original speed.
“Fellow Daoist Lu, do you know that possessing a treasure makes one a target?” Su Li wiped the blood from her dagger, the snake-shaped totem on her collarbone now extending to her neck, “Taiyi Pavilion slaughtered seventeen Loose Cultivator markets in the Eastern Barrens within three days, just to find your pearl.”
Lu Qingyang took out a Yinkui Sect token from a corpse’s waist, sneering: “Isn’t Su Gu Niang also looking for the Nuwa Mirror?”
He pressed the token into the gap in the bronze box; the intaglio runes perfectly matched the patterns on the box’s surface, “How about we make a new deal—you help me deal with Ye Wuchen, and I’ll help you collect the mirror fragments.”
The grotto suddenly shook violently, and the remnant soul of a chi Dragon broke through the rock layers, diving down.
Ye Wuchen’s Flying Sword followed closely, and crimson lava surged from the fissures opened by the sword light.
Lu Qingyang dragged Su Li into the marrow milk underground river; the qingmu spirit pearl precipitated emerald-colored droplets in the high temperature—precisely the “Wood Marrow Essence,” the main ingredient missing from the foundation establishment pill.
“It seems Mr. Lu’s Foundation Establishment Opportunity will depend on this Burial Dragon Abyss.” He tilted his head back and swallowed the Wood Marrow Essence; the Spiritual Qi vortex in his Dantian suddenly collapsed.
As the first wisp of Dao Foundation Spiritual Light appeared, a Dragon roar like ten thousand galloping horses came from the end of the underground river.