Chapter 458: A Visit

Half a month later, the moonlight was brilliant in the night sky.

A Pill Furnace rested at the foot of Mi Mountain. Ah Er sat before the door, back in its original form.

It held a cattail fan in its claws, listlessly fanning the flames.

It had already endured seven such nights. According to its master, the Pill in the furnace needed to be fully steeped in the moon’s radiance.

A Great Suanni had made its home on Mi Mountain, making the yang energy there exceptionally potent. As a result, there was no need to expose the furnace to the sun during the day.

As it was nodding off, Ah Er suddenly heard a CRACK.

Its ears twitched. It jolted awake and stared nervously at the furnace.

‘Did it break?’

The thought had barely formed when Bai Mo rushed over. ℴ

With a single wave of his sleeve, the flames beneath the furnace flickered violently and died out.

Heedless of the searing heat, Bai Mo lifted the furnace lid. After the first blast of hot air dissipated, he reached in and retrieved the Pill.

It was a brilliant golden Pill, its surface covered in cloud-like patterns.

At a glance, it looked exquisite, matching a mortal’s impression of an Immortal Pill.

The only imperfection was a series of cracks on its surface. Though difficult to see with the naked eye, they greatly diminished the Pill’s efficacy.

Bai Mo studied the cloud patterns on the Pill, pondering for a moment.

The cloud patterns were a sign of a successful refinement. The fact that they had appeared at all was proof that this Pill was a genuine success.

‘Slightly flawed. Was the ratio of herbs incorrect?’

Bai Mo scraped off a bit of powder with his fingernail and tipped it into his mouth.

The instant the golden powder touched his tongue, it dissolved, and a surge of vitality welled up from within him.

However, since Bai Mo had only ingested a tiny amount, the vitality couldn’t sustain itself and vanished in a flash.

‘A Pill that can reverse aging…’

‘Is the power of a Divine Being truly so miraculous?’

Ah Er heard Bai Mo sigh but didn’t understand why, and could only stare at him with wide, expectant eyes.

Bai Mo didn’t expect it to understand.

An effect like this didn’t come from the medicinal properties of the ingredients. The ability to reverse aging relied entirely on the divinity contained within.

After storing away the cloud-patterned Golden Core, Bai Mo instructed Ah Er,

“This Pill can restore one’s youthful appearance. Although the effect only lasts for two years at most, it can fetch a high price under the right circumstances.”

“You should keep an eye out and see if anyone is looking to buy.”

Upon hearing this, Ah Er’s eyes widened, and it thumped its chest to show it understood.

According to the records in Journey to the Divine Mountain, this Pill’s effects were not limited to the two years Bai Mo had mentioned; it had other miraculous properties.

The Commandery Princess whom the author of the travelogue met had been fortunate enough to win the favor of a Divine Being in the mountains, who had bestowed upon her a Pill.

Thereafter, though she remained perpetually young, the Pill’s power would fade every three to five years, and her features would begin to age again.

She would have to return to the Divine Mountain and stay for three days to restore her youthful appearance.

The author of the travelogue speculated that this fortuitous opportunity the Commandery Princess had obtained required the support of the Divine Being’s Divine Power from the mountain.

Otherwise, the effect could not be sustained, and she would still be subject to the natural laws of aging and decay.

It was true that the Divine Being had granted the Commandery Princess a beautiful face, but it had also used the Pill to tether her to its side.

In Bai Mo’s case, however, the Divine Kingdom had already collapsed, so there was naturally no way to replenish the Divine Power.

Thus, the Pill he held would only be effective for two years at most.

The night deepened. Back in his room,

Bai Mo took up his brush and wrote down the perfected Pill Formula.

When he was done, he glanced over to a corner of the room and saw Ah Er curled up, fast asleep and snoring softly.

He put away his brush and rested.

The next day, just as Bai Mo was about to further test the unique properties of divinity, he was interrupted by a disciple from the Foreign Affairs Hall.

“Junior Brother, are you proficient in the dao of Outer Pills?”

The disciple from the Foreign Affairs Hall stopped to talk with Bai Mo at his doorway.

He and Bai Mo had met several times before, and both were easygoing individuals.

Bai Mo thought for a moment before replying,

“I’ve only just begun to dabble in this dao. I’m far from proficient.”

“You’re too modest, Junior Brother.”

Yi Xiang said, his face wreathed in smiles.

“Your Spirit Beast was in the marketplace, in full view of everyone, shapeshifting back and forth despite its meager cultivation.”

“If it had reached the Core Formation realm, that would be one thing, but it clearly hasn’t.”

“It wasn’t until later that a disciple recognized it was due to the effects of an Outer Pill.”

He clicked his tongue in admiration as he spoke.

“With such an accomplishment in Outer Pills, how could you possibly claim not to be proficient?”

Bai Mo was a bit confused by his words.

The reason for this Brother Fang’s visit was supposedly official business, but from the way he was acting, it didn’t seem like it.

“Brother Fang, regarding this matter…”

“Oh!” Yi Xiang finally took out a fist-sized object.

“Junior Brother, take a look at this…”

Bai Mo paused, then took the object to examine it.

The object in his hand was an irregular mass, as if shattered metal had been mixed with other substances by some external force and kneaded together.

It was extremely heavy.

Bai Mo sniffed it gently and, to his surprise, detected a light, fresh fragrance.

If not for the black sludge mixed in with the metal, one might mistake it for some kind of rare, natural treasure.

“What is this?”

Yi Xiang replied, “It’s something we found on the other side of the Celestial Barrier Mountain range. It was scattered all over the ground in a valley.”

“A few days ago, early in the morning, all of us disciples in the Foreign Affairs Hall received an assignment to find someone who could figure out what this is.”

“And I immediately thought of you, Junior Brother…”

Bai Mo held the metallic object up to the sunlight for a closer look. Faintly, he could make out fine, dense patterns on its surface.

“I’m naturally willing to help you with your task, Senior Brother.”

“But am I truly capable enough for this?”

Yi Xiang quickly waved his hands, leaned in conspiratorially, and whispered,

“They say this is the Outer Pill refined by that great expert who fell on the other side of the mountain range…”

He gave Bai Mo a meaningful look.

“And this dao is precisely your specialty, Junior Brother.”

Bai Mo was startled, his mind racing back to what the other man had just said.

“Ancient texts do record that great experts of the past would often use entire mountains and river systems for Alchemy, creating Pills of immeasurable size.”

“Did the expert on the other side of the range also succeed in this dao?”

Yi Xiang nodded, sharing the private speculations of the Foreign Affairs Hall disciples.

“That must be it. That expert had ambitions of ascending to immortality; nothing they did would be surprising.”

But Bai Mo had a different thought.

‘But the method of the Outer Pill was a failure,’ he thought.

When he first encountered the school of Outer Pills, he had seen messages left by its predecessors, all saying that the dao had reached its end.

Combined with the fate of the great expert from across the mountains, it lent a heavy sense of confirmation to their words.

The expert’s ascension had failed at the final moment, and their Outer Pill had shattered, filling an entire valley.

To have ended up in such a desolate state… even if they weren’t dead, their vitality must have been grievously wounded.

Yi Xiang sighed as well, looking around furtively.

“Isn’t that the truth.”

“However, the sect elders aren’t looking for the refinement method of the Outer Pill. They want to know the reason it shattered.”

“One of the elders said that the Outer Pill shattered from the inside out, and only then did it begin to decay and produce toxins, preventing that great expert from repairing it even if they wanted to…”

Only then did Bai Mo understand the full import of the matter.

‘An Outer Pill of this magnitude is a world unto itself. What kind of power could possibly cause it to self-destruct?’

‘If I could unravel this mystery, perhaps I could catch a glimpse of the shackles that prevent ascension to immortality.’

The proposition was immense, and Bai Mo sighed internally.

‘It seems my study of divinity’s wonders will have to wait for another day.’

‘This Outer Pill fragment will require my full concentration.’

Seeing Bai Mo accept the fragment, a look of delight spread across Yi Xiang’s face.

“It’s good that you’re willing to take this on, Junior Brother. Don’t worry, the sect views this matter with great importance. You certainly won’t be poorly compensated…”