Chapter 23: The Pill is Formed

The freezing, sinister aura pierced Chen Lin's brow like a needle prick.

Only then did he see clearly that the streak of black light was actually a small, exquisite flying sword, pitch-black in color and shimmering with a terrifying radiance.

"I told you not to try leaving the courtyard, otherwise, things would get unpleasant. This is the first time; next time, there will be a hole in your head!"

Yu Yuehai's cold voice rang out. The flying sword trembled as a streak of black light and vanished before Chen Lin's eyes.

Such ruthless methods and such a high-grade magical tool left Chen Lin with a profound sense of powerlessness.

If the other party wanted his life, they could take it at any time, anywhere.

"I just wanted to bury her. I can't just leave her here to rot forever," Chen Lin turned back, attempting to negotiate once more.

However, the other man merely let out a cold snort, walked up to him, and snatched the corpse away.

With a faint shimmer from the storage bag at his waist, the corpse vanished.

Then, Yu Yuehai raised a hand, and several water arrows shot toward the window where the sallow-faced female cultivator had died, cleaning away the bloodstains there.

"You don't have much time left. I advise you to focus on refining the pills and not force me to use extreme measures!"

Yu Yuehai threatened Chen Lin once more, then walked toward his own room with his hands behind his back.

Chen Lin had considered several sneak attacks from behind, but he suppressed every impulse.

He no longer possessed any magical tools; even if he exhausted all the Fireball Talismans on his person, he would be unable to harm the man.

After his expression shifted through several shades, he could only silently lower his head and return to his room.

As he reached the door, Yu Yuehai let out another cold sneer, pulled out a chair, and sat right at the entrance.

The woman from the Shuiyue Pavilion also stepped out, standing behind Yu Yuehai.

The two did not speak, nor did they show any sign of discomfort, as if the person they had just killed was nothing more than an insect.

Through the window, Chen Lin saw the woman from the Shuiyue Pavilion.

He wasn't surprised.

He had long suspected that these two were in league together.

The actions he had previously thought were discreet were actually just him following a path they had already laid out for him; looking back, it was truly laughable.

Withdrawing his gaze, he dazed for a moment before sitting before the alchemy furnace to continue refining pills.

However, he did not focus entirely on alchemy; instead, he organized the materials for refining Thunderbolt Beads while he worked.

Once a batch of pills failed, he would take the opportunity to refine a Thunderbolt Bead.

The method for refining Thunderbolt Beads was not inherently complicated; the main difficulty lay in mastering the balance between several materials. He ignored that entirely, opting for a simple and crude method of brute-forcing attempts.

In less than fifteen minutes, a black sphere the size of an egg was produced.

Based on the color of the array patterns on its surface, it had reached the level of perfection recorded in the ancient texts.

He lacked the conditions to test it at this moment, but since it was something produced by his own talent, it was bound to be functional.

Carefully stowing the Thunderbolt Bead away, he resumed his alchemy.

He continued to organize materials while refining, and during the interval after finishing the second batch of pills, he refined another Thunderbolt Bead.

Midnight.

The bell rang.

Though the sound was faint, it certainly could not escape Yu Yuehai's perception.

Chen Lin rose and went to the window, looking at the sky and then at Yu Yuehai's residence.

There was nothing unusual in the sky, and Yu Yuehai was still sitting there.

However, the woman from the Shuiyue Pavilion was gone; he didn't know if she had gone back to her room to rest or if she had already left to return to the inner city's Shuiyue Pavilion.

Yu Yuehai noticed Chen Lin's spying, but he merely gave a cold smile without taking any further action.

Chen Lin desperately wanted to ask how the man could see those red lines, how he managed to sneer coldly without being controlled by them, and what the method to escape this city was.

But he knew the man would never tell him.

At the very least, he wouldn't say anything until the Blood Demon Pill was completed.

Furthermore, he wondered if he would ever learn the method to resolve the side effects of the Enlightenment Pill.

The man had not lied; just before the bell rang, his head had throbbed again, even though he hadn't used an Enlightenment Pill.

This proved the man was telling the truth: even if he never used that modified version of the Enlightenment Pill again, the headache side effect would persist. He just didn't know if it would grow heavier or lighter.

After standing for a while, he cleared his chaotic thoughts and lay down in his clothes.

Since he was already in a "dead pig not afraid of boiling water" situation, and someone was keeping watch for him, he slept quite soundly.

He woke up very late the next day.

After washing up and eating, he found nothing else to do, so he continued refining pills.

Throughout the morning, even with slow movements, he completed two batches.

He had refined seven batches in total; with three more to go, the Blood Demon Pill would be complete.

He checked his materials; there was plenty left, enough to refine over a dozen more batches without issue.

He stood up and looked out the window.

The entire courtyard was silent. Yu Yuehai was gone, replaced by the woman from the Shuiyue Pavilion, who sat guarding the door.

This woman's cultivation was also quite high, so Chen Lin did not act impulsively.

Although Yu Yuehai allowed him to refine pills alone, the surveillance was extremely tight. Having two late-stage Qi Refinement experts watching over a single mid-stage Qi Refinement "small fry" was quite a display of "respect."

He could not resist, nor could he escape. The event he had hoped for—managers from the five great families coming to collect rent or inspect the situation—had not happened. Chen Lin knew he had no choices left.

He could only refine the Blood Demon Pill.

Half of the three-day deadline had passed. If he failed to produce it, Yu Yuehai would undoubtedly kill him out of immense disappointment, or perhaps even torture him to death.

After all, the Blood Demon Pill was tied to whether the man could leave this eerie place.

In truth, if the man had been more upright and kind, Chen Lin would have been very willing to cooperate, as he also wanted to leave.

But the man was ruthless and treated human life like grass, making it impossible for Chen Lin to trust him.

After another period of delay with no change in his condition, Chen Lin set aside his distractions and began refining.

This time, he did not dawdle; he worked with a burst of energy to refine three batches in succession.

A dark red pill, carrying a thick scent of blood, appeared in his hand.

He studied the Blood Demon Pill carefully but found nothing particularly unusual. Yet, this single pill could give rise to a Foundation Establishment expert.

A short-lived Foundation Establishment expert was still a Foundation Establishment expert.

He scanned out the window; the woman from the Shuiyue Pavilion was still guarding.

She seemed to know nothing of alchemy, as she failed to sense that the energy fluctuations of this successful batch were different from the previous ones.

Chen Lin's eyes flickered. He took out a pill bottle and quickly packed the pill away.

He didn't dare hide it on his person, instead placing it in a secret compartment in the corner of the wall used for storing important items.

Having finished, he calmed his nervous emotions and continued refining.

This time, he refined normally without any intention of delaying; instead, he increased his speed.

Of course, he continued to refine Thunderbolt Beads as well.

Soon, the materials for the Thunderbolt Beads ran out; he had refined ten in total.

It was a significant amount.

If their power was truly as great as recorded in the ancient texts, the force of ten being detonated simultaneously would likely be more than even a late-stage Qi Refinement expert could withstand.

Unfortunately, these things were not small; throwing two or three at once was the limit. To fire ten at once, he would need two more hands.

Furthermore, he could not guarantee that all ten could be detonated at the same time at the same point; he lacked that level of precision.

Thus, while threatening a late-stage Qi Refinement expert was theoretically possible, the hope of using them to blow Yu Yuehai to pieces was slim—especially since the man had two others with him.

(End of Chapter)