Archfiend

Chapter 120: Forming the Pill (3)

A pill spirit with the same cultivation as the Ancestral Daofather Zhang Daoling! He was not a true immortal, but was still a half immortal!

“What on earth is this creature? Where did it come from?” Pondering for ages, Xu Yangyi decided not to care for it. Only when he concocted pills in the future would he have to find someone for protective magics. The only thing he was sure of was that a pill spirit’s cultivation wouldn’t surmount the alchemist’s cultivation. 

As for protective magics, was it a problem? He dared to bet that as soon as he sounded out a few matters later on, he only had to open his mouth and many people would be willing to cast protective magics! 

Calming his mood, Xu Yangyi began to understand that which he had just gained from the pill spirit. The effect… couldn’t be considered common, but it also couldn’t be regarded as outrageous. It was to never forget with a passing of the eyes, an eidetic memory! No matter the number of times he looked at something, starting from now, he would no longer forget with a single glance. Regardless of how many times something was said, he only needed to recall it and it would be absolutely remembered. 

This was the special effect beared by the pill spirit of moments ago.

“It’s similar to a lottery, huh.” Xu Yangyi laughed and looked towards the medicinal pill in his hand. Black and round as a ball, the three-mark Minister pill was like a blaze as it laid quietly in his hand. For Qi Condensation cultivators, the Spirit Strengthening Pill didn’t offer too great of a restriction in advancement. It was Foundation Establishment that was a difficult single-log bridge that all men struggled to cross. However, even like so, there were also many people before a minor boundary that couldn’t cross the opposing bodily limiter. The Spirit Strengthening Pill reinforced their spiritual sense to smash the crux of the bodily limiter. 

Nonetheless, he had no use for the medicinal pill. Right now, his qi was approximately around 30% of the middle-stage Qi Condensation realm. The distance from his next advancement was still at least seven to eight years.

Silent for a brief moment, he called out in his spiritual sense: “Li Zongyuan, Mao Ba’er, come in.”

Less than ten minutes later, Mao Ba’er and Li Zongyuan walked in, mean-mugging each other. Just as he entered, Mao Ba’er shouted oddly: “My sweet ancestor!!!”

The Soundsink stone had been chaotically swept everywhere in the cultivation room. There was also a tremendous scar with a radius of ten meters on the wall! As for the high-grade Spirit Focusing Formation… it had long since been interrupted on the wall it was carved on. Repairing it would hefty expensive. 

“Honey! Can’t you not think of me when you’re wrecking things?! Do you want me to bend over and wear myself out for you until my dying day?!” Mao Ba’er slapped Xu Yangyi’s chest with his paw, his tone proper and his words stern: “What the hell are you doing?! You say you’re gonna do something, so you’re just gonna do it?! Were you banging on the wall for fun?! Tell me, which shameless wench was it that seduced you?! This Dao Master will go waste him straightaway!”

“Dao Master?” Li Zongyuan disdained: “Are you dreaming?” 

“Even if I’m not one now, I’ll certainly be a Dao master later on!” Mao Ba’er coldy snorted: “Who’s like you? An emotionless peon without aspiration or pursuit. Who gave you the courage to speak with This Dao Master? To stand at my side to only set off This Dao Master is your supreme glory, yet you still don’t fall back?”

Li Zongyuan evidently wasn’t an opponent for this crude canine in the struggle of tongues. After rolling his eyes, he walked in front of Xu Yangyi, yet just as he was about to open his mouth, a paw obstructed him.

“You actually dare to strive for favor with This Palace… Huan Huan, you are becoming more and more unsightly in speech.” [1]

Who?! Who is Huan Huan?! Li Zongyuan fumed in burning rage and clenched his pearly teeth so hard that they seemed to crack. Nonetheless… he had truly come to see struggle for favor...

“Okay.” Xu Yangyi’s mood was already settled, and he laughed: “Mao Ba’er, what realm are you at right now?

“The initial stage of Qi Condensation.” Mao Ba’er rolled his eyes at Xu Yangyi: “Not caring about other people one bit and not even the teensiest considerate. Where did that cute little kid from the past go?” 

Xu Yangyi listened as if he hadn’t heard Mao Ba’er and nodded, looking towards Li Zongyuan: “And you?”

“Congratulations on leaving seclusion, master.” Li Zongyuan didn’t care for the surroundings and bowed: “I have already reached the bottleneck of the initial stage.”

Xu Yangyi oh’d in understanding. After Li Zongyuan had evolved, what breed he was likewise couldn’t be made out. Only the space inside his stomach had increased by a fold.

“Take this.” Xu Yangyi stretched his hand and flicked, and a black object flew out: “Eat this here, and you’ll immediately break through to the middle stage afterwards.”

“Yes.” Li Zongyuan received it customarily and brushed an eye over it. He bowed habitually and laughed: “Many thanks, mas…” His words were left unfinished. No way, that can’t be right! 

The recent object was a bit familiar to the eye! He seemed to have witnessed it many times in ancient cultivation video recordings, educational films, and other assorted materials on the internet! The second half of master had been unspoken. Li zongyuan seemed to have been struck by a paralysis technique. His head was cracking like a machine, and he twisted the top of his hand, only glancing, but no longer capable moving his gaze away. 

This shape… This spiritual force fluctuation… This medicinal aroma… Don’t tell me… Could it be…? I-impossible… Master has to be playing a joke on me. Oh, that’s right, he said he was pill concocting. This surely isn’t the refined pill… Is this a jelly bean? An M&M? That’s definitely how it is, hehehe… I’m really smart, there’s no way I’m mistaken...

But… that’s also wrong… How could an M&M give off a medicinal aroma? If it’s not chocolate...

“M-M-M-Master…” As Li Zongyuan raised his head, his complexion was already deathly white. His hands were madly trembling, and he couldn’t even string together words. He only looked at Xu Yangyi, dumb as a wooden chicken. He wondered whether his tongue had been tied into a knot. 

Mao Ba’er unexpectedly didn’t say anything, as well. Instead, he looked at center of Li Zongyuan’s hand in shock, and then towards Xu Yangyi, and then at the black object again, and then at Xu Yangyi once more… A boundless looping.

“This is… T-this is, this is a p-p-pill…” Li Zongyuan’s face flushed red and white. Tremendous happiness smashed his thoughts into fine mush like a meteor, but he dared not to be too excited because he was afraid once excitement went over his head, the despair would be so great he wouldn’t be able to bear it. 

“I just refined it. It just so happens that you can use the Spirit Strengthening Pill to break through.” Xu Yangyi laughed, paying no mind. Eat this pill. I don’t even need a week to pop out another one. What’s the big deal?

The beginning of anything was difficult. It could even be said that Xu Yangyi had restored the Eternal Alchemy Canon step by step, all by himself. All procedures and essentials were in his brain. All parts of it were damaged, and didn’t it have to be said it was for the second time? [2]

The Spirit Strengthening pill! These three words were sketched in light shade, deemphasized, yet  heavy! 

“T-this is r-really a p-pill?” Li Zongyuan finally spoke what seemed to be a complete sentence. Merely, he hadn’t detected that as he spoke these words, his eyes were bloodshot. 

“It’s not pill elixir?!” Mao Ba’er was no longer of mind to be crass and lowly, and he immediately barked.

“Do you think…” Xu Yangyi comfortably stretched out his body: “You need a sip of water to bite it down?”

“Master!!!” Unexpectedly, in the next second, Li Zongyuan promptly kneeled, his head touching the floor: “I-I’m ready to give my life and everything for you!”

There was no need to choose. There was essentially no need for hesitation. The Dao of Pills… had appeared in the world! It had truly surfaced in the world! Moreover, it was grasped in his hand!

Li Zongyuan understood… He knew everything. Back then, Xu Yangyi had indeed been concocting pills with the medicinal ingredients he had bought! Furthermore, it wasn’t pill elixirs, but genuine pills! The Dao of Pills! 

The future days of a demon familiar living at the side of a pill master truly wouldn’t be too ample! In this instant, Li Zongyuan had been thoroughly converted in heart. He dared not to hold an inkling of a minor devious thought.

“Spud!” Mao Ba’er’s eyes were erupting with fire: “It really is a pill! You were really messing with Pill Dao?!”

“Of course.” Xu Yangyi laughed: “Later on, there’ll be many places where I’ll have to use cash. You can order dessert.”

“Use your goddamn %@$#!!!” After Mao Ba’er obtained confirmation again, he shortly began to jump around and shriek: “Fuck me! Fuck me!!! This really fucking is the most fantastic story of the century!”

“The Dao of Pills! Pill Dao! The fucking Dao of Pills! Lost for almost two hundred years! Two centuries! You were actually able to do it!”

“What’s cash? Hot damn! Me order dessert?! I’ll order a damn dessert! As long as you fucking open your mouth, the cash is going to pour straight into your pocket!!!” Mao Ba’er swiftly fell into incoherent rambling, his mouth filled with crude words. However, this indicated how abnormally excited he already was! [3]

“Master! In this entire world, you alone possess this item! You alone!” Li Zongyuan stood up as well. Because of excessive shock and excitement, his voice was crowing: “Sir, whatever price you state is the price that’ll be! I dare to bet you’ll certainly become a genuine big shot! An apex cultivator!”

“The specific operations can be put off until later.” Xu Yangyi waved: “Are you still not taking it? This is the first medicinal pill in two hundred years.”

“Y-yes! YES!!!” Li Zongyuan faltering took the medicinal pill. His gaze obsessed, even as he placed it at the side of his mouth, he was so slow that he dared not to swallow it. 

“What?” Xu Yangyi furrowed his brows. 

“Master..” Li Zongyuan’s chest rapidly heaved up and down: “T-this item is too precious. I-I-I can’t part with it… You! What the heck are you doing?! I ain’t done with you! WIND EDGE TECHNIQUE!!!!!”

A half-meter long wind edge—evidently, Li Zongyuan had employed his maximum power in an instant—wildly shot towards a swiftly fleeing husky who was standing up like a human and cupping a medicinal pill in his two paws.

“Let go of it!!!” Li Zongyuan’s eyes flushed red, threatening to split wide. The loud-voiced Xu Yangyi scooped clean his ears, but the him of this very moment was already unable to deal with much and charged towards Mao Ba’er like he was insane. Just now, taking advantage of his inattentiveness, this lowly dog had robbed the medicinal pill and ran off without even saying a word! 

Mao Ba’er didn’t utter a noise, scurrying towards the entrance at a lightning speed. From what could be seen of the speed of his wagging tail, his present mood was very cheerful. 

But in any case, Li Zongyuan was of heart to kill Mao Ba’er! This was a medicinal pill! Not a pill elixir! The Dao of Pills that once again been born into the world after two centuries! The first medicinal pill! It was also compatible with his own boundary! One that his master even bestowed upon him! It had actually been robbed from under his eyelids by this stupid dog!

“Gurk!” A tongue suddenly flew out from his tongue, launched swiftly at Mao Ba’er. Mao Ba’er heard the sound of the wind and skipped in fright: “Are you fucking playin’ for real?!”

“No shit!” Li Zongyuan clenched his teeth so hard that they seemed to crack: “Return it!!! Otherwise, I won’t rest until your dead!!!”

“Enough.” Xu Yangyi opened his mouth in the end, and Mao Ba’er froze in step. Li Zongyuan’s expression struggled extremely, yet he also came to a halt. He was debating whether to truly kill this dog.

“Give it to him.” Xu Yangyi knitted his brows: “Anyways, its not like you won’t get it later. What’re you in a rush for? You’re not even at a bottleneck.”

“How can you be so calm?!” As soon as Mao Ba’er heard this, his hairs stood on edge: “I braved a life-or-death crisis here to steal this thing! Why does it seem like its none of your business?!”

“Do you know what this is? Do you know of its commemoration value?! Do you know…”

“What you stole is mine.” Xu Yangyi laughed: “I’ll give you a week. Propose a complete medicinal pill promotion project. If you don’t accomplish it, I’m going to switch managers. Besides, I need three months to refine twelve medicinal pills. I can give it to you for advertisement.” 

“No need!” Mao Ba’er and Li Zongyuan began to screech almost at the same time: “Media hype?! Unnecessary!”

“Auction! An auction sale! It has to be auctioned!!!” Mao Ba’er’s eyes emitted the brilliance of money: “I fucking guarantee that the entire cultivation world is going to go wild because of this!!!”

[1] Huan Huan is the name of a main character from a Chinese drama called “The Empresses in the Palace”. Huan Huan is supposed to be kind of a lonesome but lovely young woman who seeks the emperor’s favor. Apparently, Mao Ba’er really likes this show.

[2] I think what Xu Yangyi is referring to here is that he gained the Eternal Alchemy Canon for the first time from the Burning Heavens Revelation (which was a ruined partial off-shoot) and then the Eternal Alchemy Canon is so ancient that it doesn’t translate well into modern speech (seconds versus breaths), so it is a “second time”.

[3] As ever, Mao Ba’er is one for eloquence. Few things about his speech. The word “damn” here is Chinese slang for “p*n*s”. In Chinese this is stylized as J8, since the word for p*n*s is the pinyin “ji1ba1” The 8 in chinese is ba, so this is why this slang is formed like this. In case its not obvious, when Xu Yangyi tells Mao Ba’er to order dessert, its him telling Mao Ba’er to screw himself because dogs and chocolate are a no-go. I guess I’ll add another thing here. Whenever you see me censor something as %#@^, it’s not really me censoring, but more of a “fill in the blank” of how awful something is. The most literal thing that is being said in such circumstance is “your mother’s v*g*n*”. Not exactly easy to localize and sound good. “Hot damn” in Chinese is literally “That’s a prostitute/hooker”. Has the connotation of “Holy sh*t/F*cking Hell”