Chapter 87: Deadlock

The Lingyun Hall's attitude naturally left the several great cultivators dissatisfied.

Thus, the highest-cultivation True Monarch Chixia decided to personally make a trip to Lingyun Hall to drink tea and discuss the Dao with True Monarch Mingyi, exchanging insights on cultivation.

True Monarch Chixia and True Monarch Mingyi were both great cultivators of the True Spirit Realm, representing the pinnacle of the cultivation worlds of the Song and Ming nations; therefore, regardless of the outcome of their discussion, it would be the final result.

After waiting another two days, True Monarch Chixia sent back word that he would remain at Lingyun Hall for some time longer, so Danchenzi and the others knew this matter must already have a lead, and there was no need to discuss anything until True Monarch Chixia returned, so they dispersed.

Before Danchenzi returned, he visited several other mid-sized Immortal Sects, inviting the prominent Sect Leaders and Elders of the Danyuan Realm to come to Taiyuan Sect on the fifteenth of next month to drink tea, and so on; this delayed him a few more days, and when he returned, it was exactly the moment Xu Chen had been buried in Black Wind Ridge.

However, the situation at Black Wind Ridge was too bizarre and complex, and Danchenzi had internal injuries, so he was naturally unwilling to take risks lightly; since this matter involved the grievances between two great Immortal Sects, he decided to pull in True Monarch Baiyun as well.

As for whether Xu Chen could actually be rescued, Danchenzi was in fact completely uncertain.

True Person Baiyun, having received the Flying Sword message, was also quite helpless, because Lan You was the grand-disciple of True Monarch Yuyang; after some consideration, he pulled in True Monarch Yuyang, and they decided to come together to explore Black Wind Ridge.

Thus, after waiting one day, the two great cultivators from Yuqing Hall arrived together, and after meeting up with Danchenzi, they came to Black Wind Ridge once more.

Black Wind Ridge was not much different from the day before, only there was no longer any movement.

After the three great cultivators cleared away the rubble at the entrance of the fissure, they went deep inside until they found the area with the most severe collapse; after using their powerful Divine Sense to carefully search the ruins, they discovered that the interior was completely filled without any passages or gaps, and naturally, they found no trace of either person's aura, so they all concluded that Xu Chen and Lan You had already met with disaster and had no possibility of survival; thus, they withdrew from Black Wind Ridge and joined forces to set up a Jinfeng Great Array around the perimeter before leaving.

Of course, the three True Monarchs did not return empty-handed from this trip; they harvested many Soul Beasts within the fissure and obtained many Soul Beads.

And upon learning of the Soul Beads' strange and marvelous uses, True Monarch Baiyun and True Monarch Yuyang became exceptionally enthusiastic; they took these Soul Beads and the disciple Xu Wen, who had come to deliver a formal invitation, and returned to Yuqing Hall to find a way to save True Person Yulong.

After seeing off the two True Monarchs from Yuqing Hall, Danchenzi pondered for a long time while holding a Soul Bead, then summoned True Person Xuanhe and the Third Elder, saying:

"Chen'er has already met with disaster, and I am also quite saddened. Baiyunzi is going back to research the method of incorporating Soul Beads into pills; if he succeeds, it can be considered a great contribution by Chen'er to the fellow practitioners of the Immortal World, and this is also a matter that brings honor to our Taiyuan Sect. Therefore, at next month's Spirit Transformation Ceremony, I will request that Yuqing Hall name this pill formula the Yuanchen Pill and publish the formula to the world."

The Third Elder sighed bitterly and said, "That would be fine, but it is a pity that this was originally the honor of our Taiyuan Sect, yet it benefits Yuqing Hall instead."

Danchenzi asked in confusion, "Why does Junior Brother say that?"

The Third Elder said, "Actually, Chen'er had already completed the method of incorporating Soul Beads into pills himself and had even successfully refined one, but after you came out of seclusion, Senior Brother, you went out to visit friends, and there was no time to report this matter."

"Truly?" Danchenzi's face was full of astonishment.

"It is indeed so; I still have one pill here that Chen'er successfully refined to prove it!"

As the Third Elder spoke, he lightly flicked his hand, and a pill bottle floated before Danchenzi.

Danchenzi opened the pill bottle in disbelief and poured out a cyan pill; his Divine Sense swept over it and he was initially somewhat disappointed, but his expression quickly turned solemn, and after observing it carefully for a long time, he said:

"The ingredients seem to be only those of a Small Yuan Pill, but the Spirit Qi fluctuation is at least that of a first-grade Spirit Pill. Furthermore, the luster and appearance are vastly different from ordinary Spirit Pills; it actually has white cloud patterns, and it even has some characteristics of a top-tier third-grade or even fourth-grade Spirit Pill. And there is truly a trace of a faint, mysterious aura that even makes my Nascent Soul feel slightly excited. What kind of pill is this? It is truly marvelous beyond compare."

The Third Elder then recounted in great detail how Xu Chen had used Soul Beads as an ingredient when refining the Small Yuan Pill.

After finishing, the Third Elder let out a long sigh and said, "This matter is too inconceivable. I also tried to refine pills using Soul Beads according to Chen'er's method, but I failed several times in succession. I had intended to wait for you to return, Senior Brother, to take Chen'er into the Danyuan to be properly nurtured so he could become a master alchemist for our Taiyuan Sect in the future, but I never expected Chen'er to suddenly meet with disaster. Sigh, if not for Yuqing Hall bullying us, why would Chen'er have suffered this calamity?"

True Person Xuanhe had kept his eyelids lowered the entire time without speaking.

His heart was naturally even more saddened than his two fellow disciples.

Initially, taking in Xu Chen was just a whim; he never thought that this disciple with a weak Spirit Root would be able to achieve anything in cultivation, just hoping for one more person in the sect and a few more helpers in daily life.

But he never expected that this disciple, who should have been the most hopeless, would repeatedly display miraculous traits.

Whether it was bringing back the Blood God Grass from his training down the mountain, or protecting the sect and severely wounding Qingyunzi, or even this seemingly playful alchemy, it all made people repeatedly sigh with surprise.

It is just a pity his life was short.

From the moment he became tainted by the Blood God Grass, his predestined calamity had already appeared.

Of the three disciples involved in this matter, one was now dead and one injured, and there was still the ninth disciple Lu Yuan, who was also a fellow with mediocre aptitude and an unstable Dao heart; he likely would not go very far in the future either.

When all was said and done, besides Danchenzi, the one who benefited the most from this was likely Yuqing Hall, while the person who truly put in the effort gained nothing, and he himself had even nearly lost the possibility of breaking through to the Danyuan Realm.

Originally, if Xu Chen had not died and could have continued to study the incorporation of Soul Beads into pills, such a pill would surely have caused a sensation in the Immortal World in the future, and he would still have had a chance to use this kind of pill to repair his body and nourish his Soul, allowing him to attempt a breakthrough to the Danyuan Realm again in a short time.

"Sigh, this calamity was predestined for him; it is not something human power can resist. Senior Brother and Junior Brother need not be overly saddened. I am a bit tired; I will go back to rest first!"

True Person Xuanhe gave his horsetail whisk a light flick and rose to walk out of the hall, his aged back adding a touch of loneliness and desolation.

Danchenzi could only let out a long sigh in the end and said, "Things have reached this point; there is no use in saying more. I also need to go into seclusion to stabilize my Nascent Soul. Junior Brother, please take care of the sect's affairs. Also, restrain the disciples from provoking Yuqing Hall; after all, the big picture is what matters."

"I will strictly follow Senior Brother's decree!" The Third Elder sighed inwardly, rose, and took his leave.

This was originally a golden opportunity for the Taiyuan Sect to rise vigorously, but it was cut short by Xu Chen's sudden death; for the three Elders, this was indeed very hard to accept, but they could only resign themselves to fate.

The entire Taiyuan Sect became very low-spirited because of this matter; all the disciples were listless, especially the ninth disciple and Zhao Xuan, who were incomparably saddened. They stood silently in front of the small wooden hut where Xu Chen lived, and in the end, could only look up to the sky and sigh at the impermanence of the world.

Inside the belly of Black Wind Ridge, at an unknown depth within the cavern.

A mass of red light churned like magma, swirling and rotating within Black Mist as thick as ink. This mass of red light seemed to hang suspended out of thin air in the endless, gloomy darkness, vibrating violently. From time to time, thick black shadows like giant pythons would roll and churn within it, occasionally emitting low, thunder-like hisses; it was as if a peerless fierce demon were hidden inside.

And within the red light, the phantom of a deep blue treasure bottle flickered in and out of existence, emitting a faint blue light, resisting the impact of the surging red light.

A massive tentacle tightly coiled around the blue light treasure bottle, constantly constricting, seemingly wanting to crush the bottle. However, no matter how it rolled and exerted force, although the bottle kept trembling and shaking, squeezing out large swaths of Blue Starlight, it remained as stable as before, without the slightest sign of shattering.

The red light, the tentacle, and the treasure bottle remained in a stalemate deep in the sunless cavern.

Inside the phantom of the treasure bottle, Xu Chen sat cross-legged, floating up and down, with a woman in black strapped to his back; both of them had their eyes closed and were motionless.

After being dragged into the depths of the cavern by this terrifying giant beast, Xu Chen had already lost his sense of time and had no idea how long had passed.

The woman in black on his back remained unconscious, her Soul aura extremely weak, and her vital energy had almost no fluctuations.

After experiencing the initial panic, Xu Chen's emotions slowly stabilized.

Although he could not escape for the moment, he would not die immediately either.

At least in his perception, the blue light treasure bottle was still extremely sturdy; as long as the tentacles coiled around the outside could not break the bottle, he would not die for the time being.

But there was no food or water here; even if he could persist in fasting for ten days or half a month, he would eventually starve to death.

Furthermore, carrying a woman in an even worse condition made Xu Chen's mood even worse.

If the woman in black died, it would be creepy to carry her every day, but it was even more impossible to discard her. The phantom of the treasure bottle was almost pressed against their bodies to provide defense; even if he wanted to untie the woman, he could not. His body was imprisoned within the blue light, almost unable to move; at most, he could only move his hands, feet, and head within a small range. Their faces had been pressed together from start to finish.

Therefore, he had to find a way to escape as soon as possible.

However, he was currently at a complete loss because the Blue Jade Bead he was most familiar with had actually disappeared. While resisting the black tentacles, it had completely exploded and vanished, seemingly having merged entirely with the blue light treasure bottle.

Without the Blue Jade Bead, he had lost control over the treasure bottle and could not even get a single response of consciousness.

And if he wanted to break this life-and-death trap, which was even more terrifying than the time he faced the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus, he would ultimately have to find a way to control the jade bottle.

He believed that as long as he could control the Jade Bottle, he would certainly still have a great chance to escape and ascend to safety.

Thus, he could only tirelessly use his Divine Sense to repeatedly search and probe the entire interior of the Jade Bottle over and over, making contact and sensing it inch by inch, hoping to receive a response.

But his Qi was exhausted time and time again, and he consumed Great Origin Pill after Great Origin Pill; until the bottle of Great Origin Pills hit the bottom, he still had gained nothing.

He only had three bottles of Great Origin Pills on his person in total, one of which had been exchanged for Spirit Stones and Spirit Medicine in Wild Wolf Valley.

Therefore, he did not dare to consume them all, so he could only dejectedly give up on communicating with the treasure bottle and think of other methods, beginning to sink his Divine Sense into his body to slowly repair his damaged Meridians while also starting to search for a way to break the deadlock by exploring his own body.

(End of this chapter)