Chapter 322: Green Pupil and the Black Blood Fruit

When Duan Rong returned to his cave, the sky was already completely dark.

In the pitch-black sky, one could still faintly see the deep mist in the valley slowly rolling...

Duan Rong stood at the edge of the cliff by the cave entrance, watching the vast mountains where the mist rolled, his gaze flickering.

Everything around him also seemed to be shrouded in a dense fog.

To Duan Rong, the rolling mist in the valley was like a symbol, hinting that in those invisible places, some danger might be lurking...

This had also always been a faint feeling in his heart.

Whether it was Shang Xiangyu or Pan Yong and the others, they were all indescribably grotesque.

Duan Rong sighed; all he could do now was seize the time to cultivate and improve his own strength as quickly as possible.

If his strength were one point stronger, once a real crisis arrived, his chance of surviving would also be one point higher.

Duan Rong walked into the depths of the pitch-black cave, sat cross-legged on the stone bed, and without wasting even a moment, he threw himself into the dull cultivation.

Duan Rong cultivated bitterly all night and only slept when it was bright.

Duan Rong had only just fallen asleep for a short while when, in his dream, he heard a distant, ethereal voice calling him...

Duan Rong woke up abruptly and jumped off the stone bed, because that voice was right outside the cave.

Duan Rong walked out of the cave, and his face suddenly turned dark.

He saw that Yin Cong was calling him from outside the cave.

The sound of Yin Cong calling Duan Rong echoed through the valley, the layers of echoes overlapping and coming from the vast white mist, like a call from a dream...

Seeing Duan Rong walk out of the cave, Yin Cong stopped, chuckled, turned around, and said with a comical expression: "Disciple, what time is it, and you're still sleeping?"

Duan Rong said: "Senior Brother Yin coming so early must have some instruction."

Yin Cong said: "Junior Brother Duan, isn't it because Master Shang is going to refine medicine again? You come with me to the Medicine Pavilion to exchange for some herbs and materials."

Duan Rong's gaze shifted, and only then did he notice that Yin Cong had a fairly large empty bag tied to his waist.

Duan Rong said: "Naturally, I can. I am new here, and in many places, I still need to rely on Senior Brother's guidance."

Yin Cong chuckled and said: "I knew you were easy to get along with. Let's go then."

As Yin Cong spoke, he turned to leave, but Duan Rong suddenly said: "Senior Brother, wait a moment."

Yin Cong turned his head and looked at Duan Rong with a strange expression, thinking Duan Rong was going to change his mind.

Duan Rong said: "Senior Brother, I went to feed the Black Blood Vine last night and discovered that one fruit has ripened. Please wait here for a moment, Senior Brother; after I inform Senior Brother Pan Yong of this matter, I will go to the Medicine Pavilion with you."

Hearing this, Yin Cong smiled and said: "No need. That fellow Chen Hu already told Pan Yong about this yesterday afternoon. Otherwise, why would I be arranged to go to the Medicine Pavilion so early in the morning?"

Duan Rong's heart skipped a beat.

Judging by Yin Cong's words, it seemed that Shang Xiangyu's medicine refinement this time was related to the ripening of that Black Blood Vine fruit.

"Let's go," Yin Cong said, then walked forward along the edge of the cliff, and Duan Rong followed immediately.

The two figures gradually submerged into the pervasive white mist; just then, a figure emerged from the corner of Duan Rong's cave, watching the place where the two figures disappeared.

The person who turned the corner was none other than the grim-faced Pan Yong.

Pan Yong's gaze shifted, and he walked into Duan Rong's cave, took out a fire folder, lit a candle lamp, and began to inspect the surroundings.

"This kid stays holed up in the cave every day; I wonder what he's doing? I've never seen him light a lamp at night..."

Pan Yong inspected the inside of the cave carefully and found that, apart from a few changes of clothes and some simple daily utensils, there was nothing else in the cave.

Being able to participate in medicine refinement as soon as he arrived made Pan Yong curious about Duan Rong's identity.

He wanted to take advantage of Duan Rong being out to inspect the cave for clues, hoping he might gain something and uncover Duan Rong's background.

Yin Cong and Duan Rong, one after the other, slid along the iron cables, shuttling through the clouds and mist.

The mountain mist was thick and the water vapor was dense; before long, both of their clothes were more than half soaked, and water dripped continuously from their cheeks.

When the two finished sliding down the iron cables and jumped onto the mountain peak where the Medicine Pavilion was located, they were already soaked through.

While wringing out his sleeves, Yin Cong cursed: "I hate this early spring season on Changliu Mountain the most. Thick fog every day, damp and clammy... damn it, how unlucky!"

Duan Rong, however, had a calm expression; to him, this bit of discomfort was nothing at all.

The two wrung out their sleeves and walked toward the Medicine Pavilion; just as they were about to reach it, Yin Cong suddenly took out a Star Disk to show Duan Rong.

Duan Rong glanced at it, and his eyes went wide.

He saw that the face of the Star Disk actually displayed a four-digit number, with an eight at the very front.

Duan Rong said in surprise: "Over eight thousand points?! Senior Brother Yin Cong, how do you have so many Contribution Points?!"

The way Duan Rong looked at Yin Cong changed.

This was too extravagant!

Yin Cong curled his lips and said: "How could I possibly have so many? This is Master Shang's Star Disk. Master Shang earns Contribution Points every time he refines medicine; over the years, naturally, there are many."

Duan Rong understood immediately; they couldn't possibly use their own Star Disks to exchange for herbs and materials at the Medicine Pavilion—what could the few Contribution Points they had as Registered Disciples exchange for?

Looking at the Star Disk in Yin Cong's hand, Duan Rong's eyelids suddenly twitched.

He remembered an important matter.

He had spent two hours in the Medicine Pavilion last time, but in reality, most of that time was spent looking at the medicine exchange catalog, not the pill exchange catalog.

Because he was due to cultivate the fourth level of the Womb Treasury Sutra. And the auxiliary medicine for cultivating the fourth level of the Womb Treasury Sutra was something called Green Pupil.

The text of the Womb Treasury Sutra only mentioned the name of this medicinal ingredient, and used "one" to describe the dosage, but did not specify what exactly Green Pupil was.

A few days ago, Duan Rong had wandered in the room with the medicines for a long time, just wanting to see if he could find this thing called Green Pupil in the exchange catalog.

But he had flipped through the entire exchange catalog and found nothing. At that time, when he walked out of the Medicine Pavilion, he felt very depressed.

At this moment, looking at the Star Disk in Yin Cong's hand, Duan Rong suddenly thought that since the Womb Treasury Sutra was the core cultivation art of the Taiyi Sect, the Medicine Pavilion must have the auxiliary medicine for the fourth level.

The fact that it wasn't in the exchange catalog he saw was likely because he, a Registered Disciple, did not have the authorization to exchange for it.

He didn't have the authorization, but Shang Xiangyu definitely did.

Shang Xiangyu was an Inner Sect Disciple and a Sect Pharmacist; he must have the authorization to exchange for it.

Duan Rong was suddenly very glad that Yin Cong had called him to come along today.

At the entrance of the Medicine Pavilion, the two of them showed their Sect Cloud Token and walked inside.

Yin Cong led Duan Rong, and sure enough, they did not go to the low building in the corner from last time, but instead walked straight along the center line and stopped in front of a tall pavilion.

That pavilion was a full three stories high, with gray walls and black tiles, simple and solid, without any gaudy decorations.

Upon entering the first floor of the pavilion, Yin Cong first showed Senior Brother Shang's Star Disk at a curved counter, and was then handed a Yellow Skin Booklet.

That Yellow Skin Booklet was a full half-inch thick, and when opened, it was filled with dense, tiny script.

Yin Cong handed the booklet directly to Duan Rong and said, "This work used to be done by me and that fellow Chen Hu. He was responsible for finding, and I just followed behind him to act as a porter. Now that it's the two of us, the work of searching in the future will be left to you."

Duan Rong looked at Yin Cong in astonishment and said, "Senior Brother, you are far too comfortable being a hands-off Manager!"

Yin Cong chuckled and said, "I am destined to be a wealthy idler, Senior Brother."

In fact, Yin Cong letting Duan Rong do the searching played right into his hands, but he still feigned a pained expression and complained, "Senior Brother, you should at least teach me before you go back to being your idler..."

At this moment, Yin Cong actually leaned directly against a large pillar, sat on the ground, and yawned, saying, "What is there to teach about this stuff? You are so smart, Disciple, you'll learn it after one look."

Duan Rong grimaced and said, "Then... this... Two Geng-Shen Eight-Three... what does that mean?"

Duan Rong was already flipping through the booklet, and he saw that every type of medicine was followed by a string of codes.

Yin Cong leaned lazily against the pillar and said, "Isn't this very simple? The first 'two' means it is on the second floor of this pavilion. The 'Geng-Shen' in the middle is the shelf number. Each shelf is divided into eight sections. The final 'eight-three' refers to the third row of the eighth section."

With this explanation from Yin Cong, Duan Rong understood everything.

His eyes were bright, and he scanned the booklet in his hand, reading ten lines at a glance.

Very quickly, he saw the medicine called "Green Pupil" in the bottom few lines on the fifth page of the booklet.

Each medicine under every heading in the booklet had a simple annotation.

It read as follows.

Green Pupil: The third eye of an Origin Beast white wolf cub.

"Origin Beast cub? Third eye?"

Duan Rong stood there, his gaze flickering, his thoughts churning.

That day, when Pan Yong took him to the Guanglu Courtyard to collect his Star Disk, he told him that Registered Disciples could accept missions and earn Contribution Points at the plaza of the Guanglu Courtyard.

At that time, Duan Rong had seen a mission on the bulletin board to assist in capturing Origin Beast cubs, and the Contribution Points offered were quite high.

At that time, the three of them were just coming from the Guanglu Courtyard to the Medicine Pavilion, and Duan Rong had asked Pan Yong about these Origin Beast cubs on the way.

At the time, Pan Yong only pondered for a moment before telling Duan Rong.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the heaven and earth Qi of this world suddenly dried up.

Only within the God-Demon Relic left behind in this world, because the heavenly laws within were different from the outside world, was the heaven and earth Qi still dense.

Most God-Demon Relics were discovered deep underground.

And on the periphery of the God-Demon Relics, because two types of heavenly laws collided and wore each other down, a distorted underground space spanning hundreds of miles was formed.

The species within the distorted Underground World would all undergo various mutations, becoming vastly different from the creatures of the outside world.

Among them was a type of wild beast whose flesh and blood were rich in heaven and earth Qi, and it would not dissipate for a long time, so they were called Origin Beasts.

And deep underground at Changliu Mountain, there was a rather ancient God-Demon Relic remaining.

This was the true reason it could become the mountain gate for the Taiyi Sect.

At the time, just as Pan Yong finished explaining, Yin Cong chimed in, "Senior Brother Duan Rong, actually, you could learn all of this by spending one Contribution Point and wandering around the Scripture Repository for an afternoon. It's rare that Senior Brother Pan Yong was so patient to explain it to you bit by bit. However, this information cannot be spread in the secular world."

"Do you know why it cannot be spread in the secular world?" Yin Cong looked at Duan Rong, feigning cleverness at the time.

Duan Rong said, "Why?"

Yin Cong spoke in a profound tone, "This is also a way for the Sect to control the secular world; the Sect must be mysterious. Mystery usually breeds fear."

Duan Rong glanced at Yin Cong; he did not like Yin Cong's show-off style of feigning cleverness, but he had to admit that what Yin Cong said made sense.

At this moment, Duan Rong suddenly discovered that the "Green Pupil" was actually the third eye of an Origin Beast cub.

In other words, this item came from the distorted Underground World.

Duan Rong pondered slightly and immediately looked at the next line, seeing that the exchange cost for one Green Pupil was eighty points.

If Duan Rong did not understand what an Origin Beast was, he would definitely have cursed. After all, eighty points was four bottles of Zhengyang Pill!

But now, after Duan Rong understood the origin of this item, he felt that eighty points was not expensive at all, and was even quite cheap.

At that moment, he could no longer afford to exchange for it. Because, there were only seventy-five Contribution Points left in his Star Disk.

Thinking of the God-Demon Relic, Duan Rong thought of the solid-looking divine shadow he had seen in his Spirit Sea while practicing the Womb Treasury Sutra.

And the statues of the Five-Pass God that those people from the Filthy Blood Sect worshipped while practicing the Filthy Blood Divine Art.

Could it be that gods and demons truly exist?

In fact, the reason the exchange cost for this Green Pupil was only eighty points was because this item was very much a "chicken rib."

The flesh and blood of an Origin Beast were rich in dense heaven and earth Qi, and it would not dissipate for a long time, which was almost like a tonic for cultivation for a Martial Artist in the Qi Refining Realm.

But the eyes, claws, and teeth of an Origin Beast contained very little heaven and earth Qi.

And the third eye of a cub was just barely formed. Therefore, this item could be described as having a price but no market, and basically no one exchanged for it.

But this item happened to be an auxiliary medicine for practicing the fourth level of the Womb Treasury Sutra, only there were too few people in the Taiyi Sect qualified to practice the Womb Treasury Sutra.

Therefore, this item was basically ignored.

After Duan Rong looked at the Green Pupil, he continued to flip backward. Because he not only remembered that the auxiliary medicine for the fourth level of the Womb Treasury Sutra was a Green Pupil, he also remembered that the auxiliary medicine for the fifth level of the Womb Treasury Sutra was a Black Blood Fruit.

Duan Rong's gaze was focused as he scanned the dense, tiny characters on the booklet line by line.

After he flipped past two pages, he suddenly stopped, his eyes widening like copper bells.

"Sure enough, the Black Blood Fruit is the fruit of the Black Blood Vine. I knew that the similarity in names was definitely not a coincidence."

Duan Rong's gaze swept over the exchange cost of the Black Blood Fruit, and he cried out in pain.

One such fruit actually cost five hundred and twenty points.

Isn't this just robbery?

His eyes suddenly flickered; no wonder Shang Xiangyu wanted him to raise two Black Blood Vines.

At this price, even a landlord couldn't afford it!

Five hundred and twenty points?!

Even if he sold himself, it wouldn't be enough!

"However..." Duan Rong's eyes suddenly flashed with a look of intense confusion.

According to the notes in the booklet, this Black Blood Vine is also a species from within the twisted space. Why was Shang Xiangyu able to raise two Black Blood Vines deep in that cave, and even let you successfully fruit them?

"Could it be that the location of that cave is already not far from the twisted space?"

Thinking of this, Duan Rong suddenly shivered; he suddenly felt that perhaps Shang Xiangyu's place was even more terrifying than he had imagined.

Just as Duan Rong was lost in deep thought, Yin Cong suddenly walked over, his tone complaining as he said: "What are you doing? Standing there like a fool for so long. Disciple, you still haven't figured out that string of codes? I thought you were very clever, Disciple?"

"Senior Brother, I've figured it out."

Yin Cong glanced at Duan Rong and said: "Then start looking! Look for them one by one, and when you find them, hand them to me, and I'll put them in the bag."

Duan Rong spread his hands and said: "Look for what? What am I looking for?"

Yin Cong was suddenly stunned and said: "Oh, I forgot."

As he spoke, Yin Cong took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket, slapped it into Duan Rong's hand, and said: "Look for them according to what is written on here."

Duan Rong unfolded the paper and saw that it was filled with all kinds of medicinal ingredients, at least several dozen, maybe even nearly a hundred.

Duan Rong said in astonishment: "So many?"

Yin Cong said: "Refining medicine, what did you think? This paper was compiled by Pan Yong overnight last night. You better look carefully, be meticulous, and don't make any mistakes."

Duan Rong's face darkened, and he muttered: "How long is this going to take to find!"

Yin Cong immediately chuckled and said: "You thought this was some good job! Get to work quickly. It'll be good if we can get back by nightfall."

(End of this chapter)