Chapter 175: The Great Medicine – Life-Death Vine
Chapter 175: The Great Medicine – Life-Death Vine
Dawn broke, but no sun rose.
The sky remained covered by thick Blood Clouds, though the power of the Yunhua Law Seal would gradually disperse them over the next half to one full month.
The Scar-Faced Woman was gone. She had left Li Si with only a single Immortal Artifact crafted from Thunderstone. As for cleaning up the old Floating Cloud Sect’s mountain gate, she hadn’t even mentioned it.
Probably, in her view – with the Void Demon Corpse coming and the Mortal Realm facing annihilation – was there any point in bothering with this?
Li Si didn’t mind either. His initial goal had been to obtain Thunderstone. Getting an Immortal Artifact now actually felt like a huge win.
He sat cross-legged on a low hill, facing the ruins of the Floating Cloud Sect’s mountain gate across a deep, perfectly straight chasm – obviously cleaved apart by incredible violence in the past.
Holding the hairpin artifact, faint ripples of lightning shimmered over its surface like water. As he began cultivating the “Heaven-Turning Scripture,” the lightning pulses began to swell and recede like breath, resonating with the technique.
Sure enough, Old Zhao hadn’t been wrong. The core essence of her Heaven-Turning Scripture technique was fundamentally built upon thunder law. Before, not understanding this, he had forced his cultivation, resulting in an awkward, rushed effort.
Now, with this lightning fused within, the vitality of his Heaven-Turning Magic Power instantly increased by over 80%.
If he started cultivating immediately, his progress with the Heaven-Turning Scripture would soar at least twice as fast.
But Li Si didn’t do that. Instead, he carefully tried to merge the lightning’s power with his Heaven-Turning Magic Power, replacing it bit by bit, until all of his one million points of Heaven-Turning Magic Power carried a trace of thunder force.
Subsequently, when this thunder-infused Magic Power surged through his meridians and gathered into his Nascent Souls… that process became rather intense.
Despite Li Si controlling the amount carefully, an accidental surge still caused a massive flare of lightning. It blasted through him, leaving him feeling thoroughly toasted.
During this, his Prayer-Sky Nascent Soul, his Mending Heaven Nascent Soul, his Creation Nascent Soul, and his Spirit-Quintessence Nascent Soul all manifested. Some actively participated, some just spectated, others did both – all displaying great interest in the thunderous light.
The most heavily involved was actually the Mending Heaven Nascent Soul, the one used for alchemy, which bore roughly 20% of the thunder pressure for his Heaven-Turning Nascent Soul.
Next was the Prayer-Sky Nascent Soul, taking on about 15% of the pressure.
Then the Creation Nascent Soul, shouldering around 5%.
The least involved was the Spirit-Quintessence Nascent Soul, taking a mere 0.1% of the thunder pressure – truly a dedicated peanut gallery Nascent Soul.
If these four Nascent Souls were like supportive siblings sharing the burden, then Li Si’s soul was the instigating villain. His World Salvation soul was immensely powerful – too potent to display. This meant he clearly sensed every agonizing detail of the thunder’s baptism.
Other Cultivators would go numb after being struck by lightning repeatedly.
Li Si, however, grew sharper and more attentive the more the lightning struck.
Pain could be described in countless ways.
There was no pause, no end, just an extraordinarily long-lasting flavor of pain.
Eventually, even his five Nascent Souls formed a line, cracked metaphorical seeds, and watched his soul suffer. Tsk, such drama! What a show to watch.
What could Li Si do?
He had initially just wanted to temper his Heaven-Turning Nascent Soul with the lightning. But it escalated until he had to activate the “Lamp-Lighting Void-Crossing Scripture.” And even that wasn’t enough; he ended up popping Soul-Nourishing Pills like roasted chestnuts, crunching them one after another.
Consuming one hundred Soul-Nourishing Pills could light one Soul Lamp. But this Lamp was different from before; besides the flame, it now contained a swirling mass of miniature lightning bolts.
What could he do?
The door was welded shut now. Charge ahead.
One Lightning Soul Lamp after another merged into his World Salvation soul. The agony was excruciating, but the benefits were outstanding.
Originally, one Soul Lamp only improved his cultivation progress by 1%. After merging with the thunder, one Lamp now boosted it by 10%.
So, after consuming only 800 Soul-Nourishing Pills, Li Si’s World Salvation soul reached its its limit. Amidst churning Soul Fires and crackling golden lightning, it seemed calm. But if unleashed, it instantly became a thousand-mile lake of pure thunder.
Like now. With a single thought, his soul blazed forth like a miniature sun, arriving just inside the Hall of Fate. Here, countless black vines and roots barred the way, churning with terrifying dark fumes.
He didn’t need to act. Just advancing caused an overwhelming tide of Soul Fire to wildly scorch the vines and roots. The lake of Lightning calmly followed, ploughing through the space, obliterating everything without exception.
Instantly, the vines and roots writhed madly, transforming into weird creatures using various Divine Abilities. They didn’t even have time to flee.
The kill messages flooded like a cascade.
In barely a moment, Li Si cleared a three-thousand-mile area and gained one hundred thousand units of White Firewood.
Though he could earn grander Purple orders now, he still cherished every scrap of Fortune Fuel.
Gray, black, white—he refused none of it.
Though this method cost him Soul Power.
Upgraded again, his Soul Power ceiling was exactly one hundred million points.
Clearing just this area had consumed one-third of it.
So Li Si prepared to leave. He was just testing the waters, not here for a last stand. No need to risk it all.
Yet, the path back was engulfed in darkness.
“Little brat! Do you really take Jiuxuanzi for a fool? Come and go as you please? I couldn’t touch you in the Mortal Realm, but here in the Five-Tone Ruins? You think I’d ever let you leave?”
Jiuxuanzi’s voice crackled, thick with suppressed excitement.
He had been so desperate! With those three Veteran Deities and Demons watching, he dared not even approach the Mortal Realm.
Who could have guessed this reckless Li Si would plunge his very soul into the Illusory Realm and blunder straight into the Five-Tone Ruins?!
Jiuxuanzi had kept the Hall of Fate intact and left the World Guardian True Immortals untouched partly to prevent the world collapsing, but also undeniably hoping to lure Li Si.
And here he finally was.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
From beneath the massive ruins burst vast, mountain-sized demonic vines. Jiuxuanzi had unleashed the third Great Medicine from his Seven Emotions Medicine Field—the Life-Death Vine!
Others grew medicine to consume it. His medicine could eat, fight, chat, and… multiply. Utterly terrifying.
Now Li Si panicked. Then, his gaze fell upon the stoic Fate Forge… and the hairpin Immortal Artifact that was somehow tangled within his soul.
Almost forgot. I came to deliver Old Zhao’s present.
No more words needed. Charge ahead silently!
Oceans of Soul Fire spilled out like water, flooding thousands of miles. The Lake of Lightning followed, destroying countless Life-Death Vines. But more vines burst forth—thousands fell every second, yet tens of thousands instantly took their place.
Such boundless vitality! Fitting for a Great Medicine from the Seven Emotions Field.
But then—
“Purged Illusory Void Great Medicine Life-Death Vine Copy. Gained Life-Death Vine Remnant Exuviae +1. Gained Gray Firewood x1.”
This message filled his vision.
Thousands of them every second.
One detail stood out: the Life-Death Vine yielded very little Firewood. This meant one thing—it hadn’t been corrupted by Illusory Void energy, hence no Fortune Fuel.
Has Jiuxuanzi gone mad?
Li Si was baffled. Jiuxuanzi was attacking him with the purest Great Medicine. Why not fight himself? Let me test this Artifact’s sharpness and gift you half my Calamity Qi!
In moments, two-thirds of Li Si’s Soul Power evaporated. Bad! If Jiuxuanzi realized his Soul Power was near-infinite, he’d recall the Life-Death Vine immediately. That was precisely his plan!
Drain his Soul Power dry, making it easy for the Life-Death Vine to parasitize him so Jiuxuanzi could control him remotely—and avoid Calamity Qi!
Instantly, Li Si started diluting his reserves.
He was confident Jiuxuanzi wouldn’t dare divine his thoughts, hence wouldn’t know his true Soul Power reserves. Diluting by one million points per second—reasonable, right?
Tsk! An average of three thousand units of Life-Death Vine Remnant Exuviae per second. Glorious!
The stalemate lasted another half-minute. Li Si’s Soul Power seemed to dip critically. The Life-Death Vine assault became ferocious.
Victory was imminent. Just drain the brat’s reserves…
Another half-minute passed. Li Si teetered on the edge, frantic, barely defending as the coverage of his Soul Fire and Lightning Lake shrunk by one-third.
Still, he clung on. Burning his soul?
Perfect! He loved stubborn youths like this.
Double down!
The longer Li Si resisted, the easier the attachment afterwards.
One minute passed. Li Si hovered on the brink.
Another minute passed. Li Si was doomed.
Three more minutes passed. Li Si verged on defeat.
Another minute passed. Almost, just wait for it…
Jiuxuanzi finally realized the trap. He abruptly stopped the Life-Death Vine’s growth, heart aching as painfully as if he’d been cuckolded a hundred times.
This priceless, complete Great Medicine, brought back from the Land of Infinite Vastness… its medicinal potency had drained by seventy percent in mere moments! Yet he hadn’t subdued Li Si. Could one Li Si truly be so powerful?
No ghost would believe that!
“Who?! Who is playing tricks?!”
“I know! It’s you three ancient wretches! Declaring war on me?! You! You violated the rules! You dare swindle! Dare cheat! Have you no conscience?!”
“Always preaching non-interference—then what is THIS?! I have witnesses and proof! Come out! Face me!”
Jiuxuanzi’s voice echoed across the Illusory Realm, choking with tears, utterly heartbroken. He felt betrayed, deceived.
He knew of the three Veteran Deities and Demons, even the stupid dragon. Known, yet unafraid, precisely because he knew! They only watched, hoping the Mortal Realm would die so they could feast on its corpse. They wouldn’t interfere as long as it lingered.
And yet! AND YET!
Curse you all!
First the stupid dragon forcibly intervened. Then it secretly funneled resources. Now this interference.
Is Li Si your bastard son?!
“This isn’t over! Jiuxuanzi won’t let you have your way! Want to feast on a dying world?! I WON’T LET YOU!”
Jiuxuanzi’s fury exploded. Behind him, the phantom of a large Big Fly pinned him with a hateful stare. Provoked, his Inner Demon had silently grown immensely.
But that Big Fly Inner Demon didn’t realize that behind it floated countless pallid, vicious, despairing faces. Packed tight. Row upon row. Pile upon pile. Hundreds of billions deep.
And at the very back, stood the Mysterious Bride, Xia Xiaowan.
Beneath the red wedding veil, a vivid crimson lip curled into a brilliantly radiant smile.