Chapter 333: Pill Hall Encounter with an Immortal Child

Stepping out from the light curtain of the chaotic gray passage, his vision suddenly opened up, yet it also carried an indescribable heaviness and decay.

Wang Ping discovered he was inside a vast, magnificent yet utterly ruined great hall.

The hall's ceiling was extremely high, constructed from an unknown dark-gold metal mixed with some translucent crystal; even after countless ages, its former splendor could still be seen.

Countless star and sun-moon motifs were carved upon it; though dim, one could still imagine the former scene of flowing immortal light and starlight pouring down.

The hall was immensely vast, spanning several thousand zhang at a glance; yet now it lay in utter ruin, a scene of devastation.

On both sides of the hall, hundreds of pill furnaces of various sizes and shapes stood in neat rows; their materials were extraordinary—mostly copper, iron, jade, gold, and some were cast from strange metals or crystals Wang Ping had never seen before.

They were engraved with patterns of dragons, tigers, phoenixes, tortoises, sun, moon, stars, and the Eight Trigrams, each displaying their former extraordinariness.

But now, the vast majority of these furnaces have toppled and cracked, their bodies covered in web-like fissures, even twisted and deformed—some flattened by immense force, some pierced; their interiors piled thick with dust and unknown ash, their spirituality lost, long since turned into ordinary iron and rotting wood.

On the floor lay countless shards of pill furnaces, broken jade bottles, overturned medicine racks, and remnants of various pills that had turned to stone or dust.

The air was filled with a complex odor: the faint, aged remnant fragrance of pills, mixed with the stench of decay, metal rust, and a barely perceptible hint of burnt scent.

The entire Pill Hall seemed to have suffered a devastating blow in the distant past, then been completely forgotten, lying silent to this day.

Wang Ping's heart tightened. This must be the Pill Hall, the crucial alchemy site of the Suppress Void Immortal Palace.

Judging by its scale and remaining traces, the alchemical activity here must have been extraordinarily prosperous; the pills produced were likely at least spirit pills that Nascent Soul cultivators dreamed of, and there were no shortage of true immortal pills! Alas, all that prosperity has vanished like smoke.

He cautiously unfolded his Chaos Domain, keeping its range minimal, and walked slowly into the hall. Scanning with his divine sense, he sensed no valuable spiritual fluctuations in the damaged furnaces or medicine dregs.

Unwilling to give up, he inspected each furnace that appeared relatively intact or made of special material, hoping to find one or two that still retained some spirituality, or perhaps some pills left inside.

However, the result was disappointing. The interiors of most furnaces were ruined; even when occasionally intact, they were empty, or held only a pinch of lifeless medicine ash.

Those scattered jade bottles had mostly rotted stoppers and shattered bodies; even if they once held famous pills, they had long since turned to flying ash.

Just as Wang Ping was about to give up, preparing to seek an exit from the Pill Hall, his gaze was drawn to a pill furnace standing at the deepest, central part of the great hall.

Unlike the other toppled and broken furnaces, this one stood tall and firm, steady as a rock.

It was a massive pill furnace over two zhang tall, its entire body a deep purple-gold hue.

Its body was spherical, divided into upper and lower three layers, each cast with ancient, heavy Eight Trigram symbols; these symbols were not flat-carved but slightly raised, as if naturally grown, and even covered in dust, a faint dark-gold light could be seen slowly flowing within them.

Upon its body were also raised reliefs of cloud dragons, immortal cranes, lingzhi fungi, and auspicious beasts, lifelike.

The furnace's lid was a crouching, lifelike kirin, its mouth slightly open, as if once serving as a vent for pill vapors or an inlet for medicinal ingredients; the furnace stood on three legs like a tripod, its legs entwined with coiling dragon patterns.

Most astonishingly, at the base of this giant pill furnace named the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace, where the opening that connects to earthly fire (or heavenly fire) lies, there remained a trace of extremely weak, almost invisible purple flame, flickering ever so slowly!

This flame resembled a candle in the wind, seeming about to extinguish at any moment, yet it truly existed, emitting a barely perceptible yet exquisitely pure warmth… and spirituality!

"There's still undying pill fire in this furnace?!?" Wang Ping's heart trembled, and he hurried forward.

The closer he drew, the clearer the faint pill fragrance became; this fragrance did not emanate from the furnace fire itself, but seeped out through tiny gaps in the lid.

Although extremely dilute, it carried a strange power that refreshed the mind and cleansed the spirit, lifting Wang Ping's spirits and dispelling much of the fatigue from his temporal-spatial labyrinth and prior battle.

He circled the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace for a close inspection. Though its surface was covered in dust, there were no obvious cracks, and the Eight Trigram symbols and auspicious reliefs remained intact.

The purple flame at the furnace's base was not ordinary or true fire; its color was pure, its aura restrained yet noble, bearing the unique connotation of "nurturing" and "transformation" inherent to alchemical fire; even so faint, it still made Wang Ping feel extraordinary.

"This furnace is certainly not ordinary! It likely still seals an unfinished pill within, or… the pill may already be complete, merely sealed by some restriction, with this weak pill fire preserving its spirituality, awaiting a destined one?"

Wang Ping guessed thus, his eyes shining with eagerness.

He tried to extend his divine sense toward the furnace, but was immediately blocked by an intangible yet tenacious restriction.

This restriction was not a protective array added later; it resembled a natural "field" formed by the furnace's own material and some inner existence, having endured countless ages—though now extremely weak, it still could not be forcibly pierced by his current divine sense.

"Forcing it could damage what's inside," Wang Ping mused.

He recalled that when he obtained the Chaos Immortal Classic in the Scripture Pavilion, he had opened the stone slab's hidden compartment by infusing chaos spiritual power. Perhaps the restriction field of this Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace also required a specific kind of power to activate or open?

He extended his palm, lightly pressing it against the icy purple-gold furnace wall, feeling no repulsion.

Immediately, he carefully mobilized the chaos Nascent Soul within his dantian, sending a single strand of the purest, most harmonious chaos spiritual power slowly into the furnace.

The chaos spiritual power seeped into the furnace like a trickling stream. At first, there was no response. But as Wang Ping continued to infuse it, adjusting the frequency of the spiritual power's fluctuations to match his understanding of "alchemy," "nurturing," and "balance," the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace finally changed!

Om—

A low, distant hum, as if from ancient times, sounded from within the furnace. The Eight Trigram symbols on its body, which had lain dormant for untold eons, awoke from a long slumber, each flickering to life with an extremely faint yet genuine light!

The light flowed along the tracings of the symbols, slowly moving, as if examining the nature of the infused power.

At the same time, the faint purple flame at the furnace's base, as if receiving fuel, jerked suddenly, its light brightening slightly and its warmth increasing a bit.

At the lid, the kirin sculpture's tightly shut mouth seemed to loosen a fraction, and the seeping pill fragrance grew noticeably richer!

"It works!" Wang Ping felt a surge of joy, focusing more intently on maintaining the output of chaos spiritual power, and striving to immerse his mind in it, conveying a gentle, inclusive, and pure intention to explore the Way of Pills.

He was neither greedy nor demanding, but like a devout seeker of the Dao, he gently knocked on the door of this ancient pill furnace.

Time passed bit by bit. Beads of fine sweat appeared on Wang Ping's forehead; sustaining such a fine output of chaos spiritual power was no easy task.

Yet he could feel that the furnace's "acceptance" of him was slowly increasing, that intangible restriction field beginning to produce a peculiar "resonance" with his chaos spiritual power.

Finally, when Wang Ping was about to expend nearly half of his own spiritual power——

"Crack——"

A soft sound, the kirin lid lifted slightly, opening a narrow gap! Though not fully opened, it was enough for the interior's breath to leak out more.

In an instant, an indescribable fragrance erupted from the gap—combining hundreds of rare medicinal properties into a harmonious whole, as if containing the very source of life, surging forth like a tide! Wherever it passed, the putrid stench in the air was swept away entirely, and even the dust on the shattered furnace remnants seemed purified.

Wang Ping inhaled a single breath and felt his limbs utterly at ease, his spirit clear; the accumulated aches and hidden pains of recent days seemed to be soothed considerably.

Even more shocking to him, the chaos Nascent Soul and the Divine Tree Seed within his dantian both transmitted intense longing and delight!

Immediately thereafter, a soft yet brilliant nine-colored rosy light shot up from the lid's gap, illuminating the entire dim Pill Hall in an instant!

Within that light, a faintly visible pill phantom the size of a longan eye appeared—perfectly round and flawless, its surface bearing nine clear Dao patterns that flowed like living things, drifting up and down within the furnace.

"Nine pill patterns… the rosy light arising on its own… this, this is the phenomenon said to accompany the legendary 'Nine-turn Immortal Pill'!" Wang Ping's heart surged.

He had seen a similar description in the Immortal Realm Spirit Medicine Compendium: the Nine-turn Immortal Pill is the pinnacle of pill Dao, seizing heaven and earth's creation, probing the mysteries of sun and moon; it cannot be achieved without great opportunity, great magical power, and great wisdom!

Each transformation requires enduring a 'pill tribulation'; after nine turns, the pill gains sentience, nearing the Dao! Judging by its fragrance and phenomenon, this one is very likely the supreme treasure among healing holy medicines—the Nine-turn Soul-Returning Immortal Pill!

It possesses the supreme power to raise the dead, rebuild immortal bodies, and stabilize souls; even a gravely wounded true immortal could be saved by it!

However, just as Wang Ping was stunned by the sight of this immortal pill manifesting, the nine-colored rosy light and the phantom of the pill inside the furnace suddenly retracted inward, gathering entirely into the pill's substance. Immediately, the silently hovering Nine-turn Reversion Immortal Pill began to spin round and round, the nine pill patterns on its surface blazing forth, and the pill's substance started to slowly deform and elongate.

Under Wang Ping's astonished gaze, this Supreme Immortal Pill ultimately transformed into a palm-sized child, its whole body like jade, delicately carved like jade and pearl.

The child looks about three or four years old, wearing a tiny dudou naturally condensed from nine-colored pill rosy clouds, with two cute hair buns on his head. His skin is crystal clear and translucent, like the finest spiritual jade, his eyes jet black like ink dots, pure without a speck of dust, yet extraordinarily lively, full of curiosity about the world.

He emanates a warm, auspicious immortal spirit aura and pure medicinal fragrance; merely by existing, he makes people feel their minds tranquil and all things flourish.

The little child seemed to have just 'woken up', he stretched, rubbed his eyes, then curiously surveyed the world outside the furnace, and finally his gaze fell upon the dumbfounded Wang Ping.

"Huh?" the little child tilted his head, his voice young and clear like a jade bead falling onto a plate, "Who are you? The scent on you…… feels so familiar, so comfortable! It's a bit like the scent of that white-bearded old grandpa who always came to see me, though the old grandpa's scent is stronger and more formidable."

Wang Ping came to his senses, countless thoughts flashing through his mind instantly. A pill gaining sentience and becoming a living spirit—this is no legend! Yet a Nine-turn Immortal Pill gaining sentience, with such clear consciousness, is simply unheard of!

The "white-bearded old grandpa" mentioned by this pill-spirit child is likely the Chaos Immortal King who refined this immortal pill back then! Since I cultivate the Chaos Dao and our spiritual power shares the same source, he perceives it as a "familiar scent."

"My name is Wang Ping," Wang Ping suppressed his excitement, trying to keep his voice gentle and harmless, "I am a cultivator who mistakenly entered this place. You…… are the pill spirit formed from the immortal pill in this furnace?"

"A pill spirit? Hmm… seems like it." The little child blinked his big eyes, as if trying to recall, "I remember I was originally a pill, I slept for a very long time, then gradually I could sense the outside, and after that…… I could move!"

"The white-bearded old grandpa called me 'Jiu Er', saying I am the spirit formed from a Nine-turn Reversion Pill. But the old grandpa hasn't come for a long time, so I kept sleeping, until just now I felt that familiar, comforting scent and woke up."

Indeed! Wang Ping confirmed in his heart. This pill-spirit child is exactly the Nine-turn Reversion Immortal Pill transformed, named 'Jiu Er'. His spiritual awareness has just awakened, his thoughts pure, like a blank sheet.

"Hello, Jiu Er." Wang Ping smiled, "You're alone here, aren't you lonely?"

Hearing this, Jiu Er slightly pouted his little mouth and nodded: "Yeah, I'm lonely. The furnace is dark and dingy, with only a tiny flame keeping me company. Before, the old grandpa would talk to me, teach me to recognize medicinal ingredients, tell stories, but later…… later there was only me left." As he spoke, a faint glimmer of tears appeared in his pure big eyes.

Wang Ping couldn't help but feel a pang of pity. Though this pill spirit is transformed from a Supreme Immortal Pill, its nature is like a child's, trapped in this Extinction Pill Hall for who knows how many hundred thousands of years; its loneliness is easy to imagine.

"Jiu Er, would you like to leave this place with me? To see the outside world?" Wang Ping probed, "I am also an alchemist, though not as formidable as that old grandpa, but we can study pill dao together and identify herbs. Moreover, I can bring you to find more interesting things and meet new friends."

"Leave this place?" Jiu Er's eyes lit up, but then he immediately showed a fearful expression: "But… the old grandpa said the outside has bad people, it's very dangerous, telling me to stay obediently in the furnace and wait for him to return……"

"That old grandpa may not be able to return for the time being." Wang Ping said softly, without concealment.

"Great changes have occurred here; the Immortal Palace has been shattered. If you keep staying here, you'll be very lonely, and…… the furnace fire will eventually go out completely."

Hearing this, Jiu Er's little face showed bewilderment and sorrow. Although his spiritual awareness has just awakened, he also vaguely knows that the white-bearded old grandpa may truly not return.

He glanced at Wang Ping, then sensed the Chaos qi on Wang Ping that made him feel extraordinarily intimate and comfortable (though far less pure and vast than the old grandpa's, yet sharing the same essence), hesitated a moment, and asked softly:

"Then… will you also protect Jiu Er like the old grandpa did? Won't you let bad people eat Jiu Er?"

Wang Ping solemnly nodded: "I swear by my Dao heart that I will spare no effort to protect you, regard you as a fellow Daoist, and absolutely allow no one to harm you."

Seeming to feel Wang Ping's sincerity, the hesitation on Jiu Er's face gradually faded, replaced by trust and anticipation. He floated lightly out of the pill cauldron and landed on Wang Ping's outstretched palm, only palm-sized, weightless.

"Then… Jiu Er will follow you from now on, Master!" Jiu Er lifted his little face, beaming a pure and innocent smile. He actively used his own spirituality to establish a thread of mind‑spirit connection with Wang Ping.

Wang Ping's heart leapt with joy. This is not only because he obtained the allegiance of a pill spirit transformed from a Supreme Immortal Pill, but also because Jiu Er himself represents the inheritance of pill dao and possibly knows the secrets of the Immortal Palace.

As Jiu Er acknowledged him as master, the bond between the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Cauldron and Wang Ping suddenly deepened. With a thought, he felt he could preliminarily control this cauldron. Although the cauldron's body has suffered erosion over the ages and its origin is somewhat damaged, the core "Purple Ultimate Pill Fire" seed is not extinguished, the cauldron's restrictions remain; with a little sacrificial refinement and nurturing, it will surely become an excellent aid for his alchemy in the future!

He tried to shrink the cauldron; the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Cauldron hummed, rapidly contracted to fist size, and flew into Wang Ping's palm, the wisp of purple flame at its base still jumping stubbornly. Wang Ping carefully stored it in his dantian, letting his Chaos Nascent Soul nurture it slowly with Chaos spiritual power.

"Master, Master!" Jiu Er bounced on Wang Ping's shoulder, delighted, "This cauldron is awesome! The old grandpa used it to refine countless immortal pills before! But now it's a bit 'hungry', needing lots and lots of spiritual energy and good fire to recover."

"Hmm, I know, I'll gradually let it recover." Wang Ping nodded, then asked, "Jiu Er, do you still remember that old grandpa, or anything else about this Immortal Palace? For example, which places are relatively safe, which might be dangerous? Or, are there any particularly important locations?"

Jiu Er tilted his little head, straining to recall, his brows furrowing: "Hmm… Jiu Er doesn't remember much, a lot is vague. The old grandpa seems to be called…… 'Chaos Immortal King'? This place is where he lived together with many powerful immortals, called the 'Suppress Void Immortal Palace'. The old grandpa's greatest skill is pill refining and…… uh, fighting? I can't recall.

"The Immortal Palace is huge, huge, divided into many areas. This place is the 'Creation Pill Hall', where the old grandpa specially refined pills. Behind it apparently connect the 'Hundred Herbs Garden' and the 'Chaos Palace', where the old grandpa lived and cultivated medicinal herbs.

However, the Hundred Herbs Garden seems to have been destroyed, the Chaos Palace……" Jiu Er's little face showed confusion, "The Chaos Palace seems to have been sealed off by the old grandpa; Jiu Er can't enter either. The old grandpa said there's something very important inside, and no one should touch it casually."

"Oh right!" Jiu Er suddenly recalled, "The old grandpa also said that deep in the Immortal Palace there is a 'Suppress Void Terrace', which is the most important and also the most dangerous place of the whole Immortal Palace! He told me no matter what, I must not approach it, saying that it seals…… a truly wicked, truly wicked huge monster that devours everything!"

When Jiu Er mentioned the "huge monster", his little face showed obvious fear, and he shrank back against Wang Ping's neck.

Wang Ping's heart tightened. This matches the "Great Terror" seal he heard from the refugee Yun Hao. It seems the depths of the Immortal Palace indeed suppress some extremely terrifying existence.

"Then besides these, do you know how to get from here to other places? For example, how to leave the Pill Hall?" Wang Ping continued to ask.

"I know!" Jiu Er pointed to a side wall of the Pill Hall, "There's a hidden teleportation array on that wall, set up by the old grandpa for convenience in fetching herbs and going to the Hundred Herbs Garden.

"But… I don't know if it still works now. Also, besides the main hall's front gate, there seems to be a road leading to other halls of the Immortal Palace, but Jiu Er hasn't gone there; the aura feels chaotic and unpleasant, not good."

Wang Ping looked in the direction Jiu Er pointed; that wall appears ordinary, covered in dust and cracks. But under the perception of his Chaos Nascent Soul, he could indeed detect a faint residual spatial fluctuation.

"Let's first check that teleportation array." Wang Ping decided. Compared to the front gate that might lead into unknown chaotic regions, first going to the relatively familiar Hundred Herbs Garden or Chaos Palace to have a look might be steadier, and perhaps yield some gains.

Following Jiu Er's guidance, Wang Ping arrived at that wall. Originally there should have been a huge relief of 'Shennong Tasting Hundred Herbs' on it, but now it's mottled and mostly peeled off.

Jiu Er had Wang Ping inject Chaos spiritual power into the relief's remaining key nodes in a specific order—a stalk of reishi mushroom, a bundle of rice stalks, a gourd, a cloud of auspicious clouds.

As the spiritual power flowed in, those nodes glowed faintly, and a slight mechanical turning sound came from inside the wall. Immediately, the wall slid inward soundlessly, revealing a narrow passage only one person could wide, extending downward; the inner walls were inlaid with glowing fluorescent stones, lighting the way ahead.

"This is it! Below is the secret passage to the Hundred Herbs Garden and the Chaos Palace!" Jiu Er exclaimed excitedly.

Wang Ping glanced back at the silent, ruined Pill Hall, no longer hesitated, took Jiu Er, and stepped into the secret passage; the wall behind them quietly closed, sealing off the outside world.

The trip to the Pill Hall yielded far more than expected. Not only did he obtain the allegiance of the pill-spirit child 'Jiu Er' transformed from the Nine-turn Reversion Immortal Pill, he also gained the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Cauldron, and from Jiu Er's mouth learned much fragmentary information about the Immortal Palace's layout and the Chaos Immortal King.

What opportunities or challenges await him next in the Hundred Herbs Garden and the Chaos Palace? What exactly is hidden inside the Chaos Palace sealed personally by the Chaos Immortal King?

With anticipation and vigilance, Wang Ping's figure vanished into the shadows of the secret passage. Meanwhile, the pill-spirit child on his shoulder, emitting nine‑colored faint light, widened his curious big eyes, observing this world that is both familiar and strange to him.