Chapter 916

However, not everyone chose to retrace their steps.

Some Primordial Spirits and Heaven Humans keenly sensed this was a golden chance to curry favor with the Jiang clan chief.

Thus, they did not depart far, but instead remained nearby, voluntarily standing guard to intercept later cultivators and prevent them from disturbing the Jiang clan chief, who sat with eyes closed, resting.

Jiang Daoxuan smiled silently at all this, choosing not to stop them.

This suited his own wishes perfectly—allowing him peace and quiet.

Not long after.

The Alchemy Sage's Secret Realm.

Inside an ancient herb garden.

The crowd gazed at the dazzling array of treasure herbs before them, their eyes burning with desire.

Without exaggeration, any single treasure herb here, if brought to the outside world, would spark bloody chaos, stirring intense longing even among Heaven Human-level factions!

Clearly, the scale of this secret realm far exceeded their wildest expectations!

At this thought, Ning Zhengqi and Nie Wushuang exchanged glances, their eyes filled with complex emotions.

"This time, we've benefited from the blessings of our junior uncle ancestor..."

If our Heavenly Sword Sect had not taken Jiang Zhiwei as a disciple, how could we have ever linked ourselves to the Cangwu Jiang family?

And how could we have possibly gained the Jiang clan chief's permission to enter this secret realm and seize such fortune?

Not even the fortune itself matters—whether we could even survive the calamity brought by Wang Jizhou and Zhou Tianhan is uncertain.

More likely, our ancestral founder would perish, the Heavenly Sword Sect would be destroyed, and all of us would meet Huang Quan together.

At this thought, a faint sense of relief suddenly arose in their hearts.

Their gaze upon the treasure herbs no longer burned with fervor—it had cooled to calmness.

For them, entering this secret realm this time required no more than a taste of broth; even that would satisfy them fully.

At this moment, Jiang Yan scanned the crowd, searching relentlessly for his target.

Yet after scanning all around, he found nothing.

"Indeed, the Soul-Returning Grass is still not here..."

Jiang Yan felt disappointment, yet no surprise.

After all, Soul-Returning Grass grows only where vast quantities of corpses converge—this herb garden has nothing to do with such a place.

But fortunately, many of the treasure herbs here greatly benefit cultivation base, serving as excellent cultivation resources that could greatly aid the clan members; thus, Jiang Yan quickly recovered his composure and began pulling out the Cangwu Token to harvest these herbs.

At the same moment, Jiang Beixuan, hidden in a corner of the crowd, suddenly brightened—he had found his target.

It was a red flower resembling blazing flame, its petals shimmering with glowing firelight, extraordinarily divine!

A top-grade heavenly treasure herb: the Nirvana Flower!

Once consumed by a cultivator, it can reshape meridians, open acupoints, and strengthen the body!

And this particular Nirvana Flower was of the highest grade, just one step away from saint-grade!

"If placed in a place rich with spiritual energy, it would take at most five hundred years to evolve into lower-saint-grade..."

"But five hundred years is too long—I seek only to seize the moment!"

"Thus, it seems there is only one way to shorten the time."

"Phoenix Flame!"

Jiang Beixuan's eyes flickered, his fists clenching silently.

In his memory, if Phoenix Flame enveloped the Nirvana Flower and continuously refined it, the herb's potency could be maximized, triggering its evolution into lower-saint-grade!

Normally, phoenixes were hard to find.

Especially in this remote place, it was even more impossible.

He should not have entertained such an unrealistic idea.

But not long ago, he happened to discover that the newly appointed Guardian of the Spirit Beast Hall, Jiang Xiao, was in fact a phoenix in true form!

Precisely because of this, he had planned to use this method.

"Once my younger brother consumes this lower-saint-grade Nirvana Flower, his future path will be free of obstacles..."

Jiang Beixuan moved forward eagerly, carefully reaching out to pluck the flower and storing it within the Cangwu Token's space.

Time slowly passed.

The vast herb garden was gradually stripped bare by the crowd—not even a single weed remained!

For the crowd, the harvest was undeniably immense.

Besides numerous heavenly-grade treasure herbs, there were even four entire saint-grade treasure herbs!

But because saint-grade treasure herbs were of such immense value, everyone unanimously decided to hand them over to the clan chief for handling.

As for the heavenly-grade treasure herbs, each person could choose one.

All remaining heavenly-grade treasure herbs would be temporarily held by the elder Jiang Daoping, to be fully submitted to the clan treasury upon returning home!

Afterwards, as the crowd left the herb garden and continued deeper into the secret realm.

Just over a hundred steps ahead, they made a new discovery.

It was a massive octagonal stone platform.

Its surface was carved with dense patterns of flying birds and running beasts; at its center stood a stone statue.

It depicted a middle-aged man of refined bearing and wise eyes.

He clutched a medicinal scripture, his brow furrowed, gazing far into the distance—as if watching something specific.

Seeing this, the crowd grew solemn, silently speculating.

"Could this man be the Alchemy Sage who created this secret realm?"

At this moment, Jiang Yan's gaze fell upon the medicinal scripture in the statue's hand.

This book was entirely a white-jade color, with golden patterns branded across its surface, looking quite extraordinary.

"Pill Saint's inheritance?"

Jiang Yan's eyes flickered, and a sudden premonition welled up within him.

As if, in the unseen depths, a voice was telling him that the pill book before his eyes was the inheritance left behind by the Pill Saint!

Jiang Yan shook his head, temporarily suppressing the stirring in his heart.

He looked around and found that the expressions of everyone else had not changed at all.

Clearly, only he at the scene had noticed the extraordinary nature of the pill book.