Chapter 698

The scale of Hidden Wolf Forest was much larger than Lu Ran had imagined; it was located on an unremarkable hilltop, hidden within the lush mountain forest.

Lu Ran was invisible, flying slowly in the air, looking around.

He had been to Wolf Flower Stronghold and Wolf Bone Stronghold; both strongholds were extremely luxurious from the inside out, fully displaying the nature of the Greedy Wolf.

And this stronghold under his feet, just looking at the architectural appearance, was not inferior!

Unexpectedly, Lu Ran did not see any groups of servants.

He had been roaming the Holy Lingshan Realm for nearly two years; who were the high-and-mighty rulers, who were the ruling class, and who were the lower-class servants, Lu Ran could distinguish at a glance.

However, he only saw the fierce Greedy Wolf disciples.

Let alone the timid servants, it seemed there were not even believers from other sects.

Was the "bloodline" of Hidden Wolf Forest so pure?

Were they all wolf cubs of the same kind?

"Hmm?" Just as Lu Ran was surprised, his gaze locked onto the back mountain.

A wisp of light smoke suddenly drifted out, slowly swirling upward, then dissipating with the wind, like curling cooking smoke.

Were this group of greedy wolf cubs satisfying their cravings again?

Lu Ran snorted coldly in his heart and flew alone toward the back mountain.

Before long, Lu Ran's expression changed!

He had thought the Greedy Wolf disciples were roasting meat here, but the large pit in the mountain forest, with several human corpses thrown in it haphazardly, made Lu Ran's hair stand on end!

What were these wolf cubs roasting?

Lu Ran was both shocked and angry!

There were demons everywhere in the Mountain Realm; pork, beef, horse meat, what didn't they have? Was it necessary to be like this?

Damn it!

Lu Ran looked over and saw a small-to-medium-sized house; the wisps of light smoke were coming from the skylight on the roof.

He immediately flew over.

And when Lu Ran looked into the house through the skylight, he was stunned again.

An alchemy furnace?

The cyan-gold alchemy furnace was quite large and semi-transparent, with cyan-gold flames jumping inside, and faint mist swirling within, dreamlike and illusory.

The curling cyan smoke emitted a strange fragrance, making one's mouth water uncontrollably.

Alchemist Divine Technique, Cyan-Gold Alchemy Furnace?

"This?" Lu Ran was shocked.

He could never have imagined that in this Holy Lingshan, he would actually see disciples of the Alchemist faction.

The god Alchemist ranks ninth!

The weakest among the weak gods!

In the Great Xia divine sequence, there was only one god who dabbled in alchemy, and that was the Ninth-Rank God, the Alchemist.

99% of people would never eat a single pill in their entire lives.

Because there were very few believers in this faction, and the conditions for refining pills were extremely harsh, requiring Alchemist believers to advance to the River Estuary Realm.

This was a contradiction in itself!

The disciples under the Ninth-Rank God Alchemist generally didn't have high aptitude; how many could truly advance to the River Estuary Realm?

But then again, his younger sister, Xiao Yuanxi, had actually received a pill!

Capital University was worthy of being the top institution in Great Xia; at that time, Xiao Yuanxi was still at the Jiang Jing Fourth Stage, and the final exam reward for their four-person team was a Barrier-Breaking Pill.

The pill was as its name suggested, capable of helping people break through cultivation bottlenecks.

The Alchemist faction had other pill recipes.

The most famous pill among them was the Drunken Life Pill!

After consuming this pill, people could fall into an incomparably real and extremely beautiful illusion.

Compared to the Ghost Moon Fox evil technique, the Pupil of Chasing the Moon, it was even better!

You would truly be reborn and live again in that world!

Everything you wanted, the deepest desires in your heart, could all be realized with the help of this "Drunken Life Pill."

In the human world of Great Xia, the Drunken Life Pill was worth more than gold!

Precisely because the real world was too oppressive and cruel, people needed spiritual food even more.

And a Drunken Life Pill could let people know what the highest level of enjoyment in the human world was.

Lu Ran had self-awareness.

If he were to take a Drunken Life Pill, he would probably slaughter all the gods and demons in another world... right?

"Gulp." Lu Ran swallowed his saliva.

The light smoke rising from the alchemy furnace truly made one's mouth water.

He sized up the house carefully and saw an old woman draped in a cyan-gold robe in front of the large alchemy furnace.

Her hair was gray, her hands were spread open, and divine power was surging in her palms; she was clearly casting a spell.

And near the doorway, Lu Ran saw several crooked figures.

Four men and women were all wearing dark brocade clothes, quite magnificent, seemingly having high status in the stronghold.

They were not dead.

But were lost in a drunken dream.

Those dull, foolishly smiling faces indicated that these four were immersed in a beautiful world, unable to extricate themselves.

"Clatter~ clatter~"

The alchemy furnace lid suddenly shook, emitting a series of crisp sounds.

"Whoosh!!"

In the old woman's raised hands, divine power was surging violently.

The cyan-gold alchemy furnace, composed of pure energy, was constantly shrinking and compressing toward the center.

Until finally, the cyan-gold alchemy furnace, the fire within, and the alchemy materials inside all condensed into a pill the size of a thumb.

It was cyan-gold in color, emitting a strange luster.

The alluring medicinal fragrance made Lu Ran's index finger twitch.

"Tap!"

The strange pill fell to the ground, and the old woman stood up and walked over tremblingly.

After picking up the pill, she came to a wooden table deep in the house and put the pill into a jar.

Afterward, she walked toward the outside of the house.

When she passed the doorway and saw the four "drunken dream" Greedy Wolf disciples, the old woman couldn't help but shake her head and sigh: "Sigh..."

Lu Ran raised his eyebrows slightly, watching the old woman walk out of the building.

With the four Greedy Wolf disciples in that state, how could they manage the Alchemist disciple?

Or perhaps, they never intended to manage her at all.

Could a mere Alchemist disciple escape Hidden Wolf Forest?

Lu Ran flew up slowly, watching the old woman walk into the forest and step by step to the large pit.

He saw her walk down the dirt slope, drag a skeleton out, and walk back to the building.

Lu Ran's brows furrowed tightly!

Were these pills refined using people's skeletons as materials?

That's not right!

Although Lu Ran couldn't be considered a top student, he knew very well that the pills of the Alchemist faction were refined from plants produced in the Demon Caves.

This...?

Lu Ran felt a chill all over his body and no longer had any desire to taste it!

"Crack."

The old woman pushed the door open and entered, came to the center of the house, summoned a cyan-gold alchemy furnace again, and threw the corpse inside.

It was at this moment that her movements paused slightly.

After a moment, she said respectfully in a low voice: "The Drunken Life Pill is in the jar on the table; you can take it yourself. This old woman will not say anything more, please don't make things difficult for this old woman..."

Before she could finish her sentence, the old woman's body stiffened.

An ancient bronze mirror appeared abruptly in front of her, and it rapidly transformed into a floor mirror.

The old woman's body was out of her control, pulled by several red silk threads, and sent into the mirror.

She felt a blur before her eyes, and standing directly in front of her was actually a tall, spirited horse wrapped in flames!

Demon, Black Fire Colt?!

The old woman subconsciously retreated, but her limbs didn't listen to her at all; her turbid eyes were suddenly filled with despair.

However, the expected sea of fire did not rush toward her.

The old woman was stunned for a long time before she realized that there was a human figure on the majestic warhorse.

"Neigh..."

The black, spirited horse snorted, its hooves stepping on flames, and turned to the side.

A noble woman draped in a bright red phoenix robe lowered her head and looked down at the old woman expressionlessly.

"Thump! Thump..."

One by one, the men and women lost in drunken dreams were thrown out of the floor mirror like piles of mud.

As the floor mirror closed, the old woman finally regained her freedom.

She was placed on the ground and immediately knelt down, lowering her head and not daring to look at the woman in the phoenix robe: "My lord, spare my life. This old woman is an Alchemist disciple and poses no threat to you; I can refine pills for you."

Alchemist disciple?

Jiang Ruyi was also quite surprised; were there actually Ninth-Rank God disciples in Holy Lingshan?

Although surprised, Jiang Ruyi immediately looked at Lu Ran and asked: "Who are these four?"

The old woman misunderstood her meaning and immediately replied: "They are the personal guards of the Hidden Wolf Stronghold Leader, sent by the Stronghold Leader to monitor this old woman refining pills."

Jiang Ruyi looked at the exquisitely dressed old woman and asked: "Are you a slave of Hidden Wolf Forest?"

The old woman nodded immediately: "This old woman survived by luck relying on the art of alchemy."

Lu Ran transmitted to Jiang Ruyi: 【Ask where the slaves of Hidden Wolf Forest are and how many there are.】

Goddess Jiang was wearing the Phoenix Ceremony Nine Heavens Robe; in front of her, no one could tell a lie.

Jiang Ruyi immediately asked, and the old woman's response left everyone dumbfounded.

Hidden Wolf Forest didn't have many slaves; all believers from other sects would be killed by Greedy Wolf believers, thrown into the forest next to the alchemy room, and wait to be refined into Drunken Life Pills.

In Holy Lingshan, disciples from different sects were originally at daggers drawn.

Ever since Hidden Wolf Forest captured an Alchemist disciple and tasted the Drunken Life Pill, which they had never tasted in the human world, they searched for people entering the mountains even more desperately.

Lu Ran couldn't help but ask: "Aren't the pills of the Alchemist faction refined from Demon Cave plants as raw materials?"

"Yes, that is the case in the human world; my faction's disciples would never dare, nor would it be possible, to use humans to refine pills."

The old woman responded tremblingly: "But here... this old woman was also forced. The pills refined from the corpses of River Estuary Realm humans can reach the River Estuary Grade..."

Lu Ran's expression was extremely ugly, and he thought of another faction—Thousand Bones!

When Thousand Bones believers activate the Divine Technique, Thousand Bones Altar, they also need to sacrifice human lives.

The more living people sacrificed and the higher their strength realm, the stronger the effect of the Thousand Bones Altar!

In the human world, Thousand Bones disciples would absolutely never activate such a ruthless technique; after coming to Holy Lingshan, they truly acted recklessly.

"This... this old woman is deeply sinful!" The old woman knocked her head heavily on the ground.

She had already realized that the young man behind her was very angry, unlike the group of people in Hidden Wolf Forest who were overjoyed when they first caught her.

After all, who wouldn't want to taste a delicacy that would cost one's entire fortune in the human world?

Although, whether this Alchemist disciple existed or not, the humans in Holy Lingshan were killing each other, and the bloodshed was endless.

But with an Alchemist disciple, Hidden Wolf Forest undoubtedly had more motivation for slaughter.

"Are you sure there are no other slaves in Hidden Wolf Forest?" Lu Ran asked in a deep voice.

"This old woman is sure; the quantity of Drunken Life Pills consumed by Hidden Wolf Forest every day is very large..."

Lu Ran looked at Jiang Ruyi, only to see her nod gently, indicating that what the old woman said was the truth.

"Mad Xian!" Lu Ran pointed at the four piles of mud, "Appetizer, keep the commotion small."

"Thump!" Si Xianxian immediately swung the Mad Hammer and jumped off the horse.

The Mad Xian Guardian smashed the head of one Greedy Wolf disciple with one hammer; even so, the other three were still immersed in an incomparably beautiful world, with no reaction to anything in the outside world.

Lu Ran turned his head and looked in the direction of Hidden Wolf Forest, his expression gloomy: "In a while, make as much commotion as you can for me!"

Si Xianxian carried the Mad Hammer, executed them one by one, and squeezed a sentence through her teeth:

"Yes!"

(End of chapter)