General Pill Cultivation, A Chapter Closes

Chapter 40: General Pill Cultivation Comes to an End

Swish swish!

Golden light surged from the earth, and two figures appeared in front of the previous post station.

Blackwater Village's boundary marker was still stuck askew in the black mist.

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt looked at Ning Xuan with confusion.

Ning Xuan said, "You think I'm a demon?"

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt shook her head and said, "General, you are much stronger than I imagined."

After speaking, she said lightly, "That demeanor of living in drunken dreams and indulging in pleasure was actually just a mask for the General, wasn't it?"

She felt that she had seen through the young man before her and finally breathed a sigh of relief. After all, even though she had taken a detour, she had not chosen the wrong partner in the end. Although the young General before her wore a mask of dissolute and unrestrained behavior, he was actually a decisive and heroic General, and he was quite reliable at critical moments.

She felt relieved and was no longer so angry.

Ning Xuan was stunned.

What was this talk of "living in drunken dreams and indulging in pleasure"?

He was enjoying life.

Besides, he was the one wearing a mask right now; he really disliked his current appearance.

However, seeing that Yaozhen Immortal Aunt's tone had softened, he had no intention of explaining. If there was a misunderstanding, let it be.

"Ah, yes, yes, you've seen through me."

Ning Xuan replied with a smile, thinking he was providing emotional value to the woman before him.

He found it very annoying that this woman always talked back and contradicted him at critical moments; she seemed uncomfortable if she didn't argue with him.

If a misunderstanding could solve this problem, then let it be a misunderstanding.

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt smiled faintly, with an air of "just as I expected, thank goodness," and then said, "The General has been enduring and accumulating strength, known in the countryside for his dissolute reputation. I imagine he only fears the undercurrents of power, which is why he has that mask.

However, General, you need not worry from now on. We are all His Majesty's people. With your potential, General, you will surely become one of the Twelve Divine Generals. General, you can take off the mask now."

Ning Xuan said, "That's not appropriate."

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt said, "Why is it not appropriate?"

Ning Xuan no longer dwelled on this and instead asked curiously, "Aren't you curious why I used the Golden Body?"

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt said, "Earlier, you asked me about Demon-Plague Warriors and how Generals cultivate. I put you off with evasive words, my only purpose being to observe you further. Because if you couldn't even pass this first mission, then there would be no point in discussing anything else.

But now, this mission has been passed with flying colors. Coupled with those mysterious giant frozen corpses just now, I feel there's no need to hide anything anymore."

Ning Xuan said, "So that's how it is. I misunderstood Immortal Aunt."

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt suddenly found Ning Xuan very pleasing to the eye.

It was a kind of flipped kind of pleasing.

Before slaying the Golden Body Bodhisattva, although she was fulfilling her duty, she found Ning Xuan problematic in every way. But now, she found him very comfortable to look at. Even when he spoke, she found it comfortable. She thought to herself, 'So this is his true self, so sensible and polite; so his true self is indeed a pillar of our dynasty's future.'

As the thought flashed through her mind, Yaozhen Immortal Aunt began to explain the cultivation method for Generals and Demon-Plague Warriors.

"This is actually a secret. Only veteran Generals know about it. Among Demon-Plague Warriors, anyone who knows about it is undoubtedly a true master.

This cultivation method is called Pill Cultivation.

This pill is a Demon Core.

But it's not taken randomly; it must follow the twelve words: 'Same category, same lineage, gradual progression, downward compatibility.'

Generals, to put it bluntly, are the lucky ones who can inherently use demonic power after coming into contact with demons. This inherent ability doesn't mean Generals are born different from others, but rather that they suddenly gain demonic power on a certain day after birth.

But Generals are still human, so even though they possess the talent to use demonic power, they still need postnatal training and improvement. The method of postnatal training is to consume Demon Cores."

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt paused slightly and continued, "'Same category, same lineage' means that each General actually has their own inherent category and lineage characteristics. In terms of category, most Generals are 'Life' category, with very few being 'Nature' category.

As for lineage, it varies widely, including tigers, leopards, cattle, and sheep.

The Demon Cores consumed by Generals are from demons and are then refined by Celestial Masters using Dragon Fire to minimize their toxicity.

Generals can only consume the pills of demons that share the same lineage and category as themselves."

Ning Xuan asked curiously, "How can one know what category they belong to?"

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt said, "There is a Demon-Viewing Mirror in the Imperial Capital. You'll know with one glance. Once the territory is stable, I will apply for a chance for you to use the mirror.

You asked why I wasn't curious about you using the Golden Body, because I already knew that all Generals possess demonic power.

The fact that you can use the Golden Body clearly shows you are excellent."

Ning Xuan was very curious about where the "Demon-Viewing Mirror" came from.

But as soon as he thought about how Great General Qin's mansion had already existed for eighty years, he found it unsurprising.

Demons had existed in this world for a long time, so there must be many powerful individuals and secrets in this world.

He would learn about them bit by bit.

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt continued, "'Gradual progression' refers to the method of Pill Cultivation."

The Celestial Masters are ranked starting from First Rank, and demons also have their own ranks.

It's obvious when a demon of a higher rank stands with a demon of a lower rank.

Let me put it this way: I am a Second-Rank Celestial Master, but even if I completely suppress a First-Rank demon, if a warrior hasn't reached the First-Rank level, then no matter how hard they try to hack and slash that demon a thousand or ten thousand times, even poking its eyes, they won't be able to harm it one bit.

Similarly, the difference between a Second-Rank demon and a First-Rank demon is also huge.

Currently, we cannot categorize the characteristics of each rank of demon because their characteristic is the lack of characteristics. We can only continuously gather information and report it through whisper chains to our colleagues in the Imperial Capital, who will then compile it. As soon as there's news, they'll inform us, and then all the Divine General seeds will know.

After this operation, your strength has definitely reached First-Rank, and you're an extremely rare First-Rank at that.

You haven't taken any pills yet, so your first pill should be a Demon Core comparable to your strength, the second one a rank higher, and so on. However, after each pill, you need to spend time digesting it, absorbing the demon's power to make it your own.

Ning Xuan asked, "What if I fail?"

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt replied, "For a General, failure depends on the situation. Usually, failing within three times won't cause any issues, but after three times, there will be problems.

Perhaps on the fourth failure, a General will directly become a Demon-Plague Warrior, or maybe on the fifth or sixth. No one has broken the record of six failures yet.

As for the failure of a Demon-Plague Warrior, they will become a Human-Demon, just once. As soon as a Demon-Plague Warrior fails, they become a completely insane Human-Demon."

Ning Xuan asked, "Does that count as a successful pill cultivation for a Human-Demon?"

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt said, "Yes, because they truly gain greater power. However, they also only have a very short period of lucidity each day. Their residences will only be special prisons or special cages."

Ning Xuan asked, "Have there been Demon-Plague Warriors who succeeded consecutively?"

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt said, "Yes, but very, very few. I don't have the qualifications to access their information yet."

After speaking, she added, "As for downward compatibility, it means that besides their species and class, demons also have a hierarchical classification. Higher-ranked beings can devour any pills condensed by lower-ranked beings. This even transcends being of the same class or species.

In other words, as long as you are higher up, you can devour any pills condensed by lower beings, whether they are tigers, leopards, cattle, or sheep, regardless of their Life attribute. And the success rate is not low.

The first division in this hierarchy is based on whether one can condense a Golden Body. We call this the Incense Merit Branch.

So, your current rank should be called an Incense Merit First-Rank General."

Ning Xuan narrowed his eyes.

Because he discovered that the description of the dynasty was exactly the same as the description on his panel.

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt said, "In the past, only we devoured demons and mastered their power. But just now... I sensed Dragon Qi from that giant ice corpse. Does that mean demons are also integrating with us, thereby gaining our power?"

As they spoke, both were rapidly recovering. After their conversation, they had recovered significantly, as neither had sustained serious injuries.

"Let's go again," Ning Xuan said.

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt didn't argue this time. She grabbed Ning Xuan and burrowed into the ground, reappearing on the cliff.

As the two emerged, rustling, eerie winds reappeared, and giant ice corpses began to crawl rapidly from deep within the rock walls.

Ning Xuan said, "Cover me."

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt nodded heavily and began observing their surroundings.

Ning Xuan stomped on the ground and leaped forward. His beast-slaying saber lifted in a half-moon arc, and with a whistling sound, the giant ice corpse was directly struck.

The saber passed through the ice corpse as if it were passing through air.

The saber's energy rose, exploding in mid-air, but... the giant ice corpse was completely unharmed.

Just as it was about to pounce on Ning Xuan, Yaozhen Immortal Aunt produced the Celestial Master Seal. With a shout, the giant ice corpse was struck as if by a heavy hammer, sent flying backward.

The two had developed some tacit understanding. They exchanged glances, reading each other's thoughts: this ice corpse is a soul, or rather... a ghost.

Demons and ghosts, now we have them all!

Just then, more rustling sounds came. Those were ice corpses, over a dozen of them. These ice corpses began to float faster, their direction not towards Ning Xuan, but towards Yaozhen Immortal Aunt.

From their increasingly rapid crawling speed, Ning Xuan sensed intense greed.

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt grabbed Ning Xuan and burrowed into the ground to escape.

The two reappeared in front of the post station and watched from a distance for a while.

Not a single ice corpse pursued them.

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt said, "It seems they cannot leave that area. This must be related to the previously non-existent Ice Mountain north of Ping'an Prefecture. Let's investigate further."

Ning Xuan said, "That Ice Mountain doesn't belong to Ping'an Prefecture. For now, we just need to establish a restricted zone around the perimeter, prohibiting anyone from approaching this area. Simultaneously, set up guards to patrol the borders, and then investigate how many Human Skin demons have infiltrated the Prefecture City, county towns, and villages, and resolve them one by one.

Also, report this intelligence to the Imperial Capital. Let everyone be aware of such Ice Mountains. As long as they don't get close, those human-head black smokes won't come out."

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt asked, "What about the Ice Mountain?"

Ning Xuan replied, "Go request reinforcements."

Yaozhen Immortal Aunt asked, "And you?"

Ning Xuan said, "I'll define the boundaries, then... hmm. Conserve energy, and await a good opportunity."

At the last moment, he forcefully rephrased "indulge in pleasure, have a good time, and wait for a marriage alliance."

It was evident that Yaozhen Immortal Aunt was quite satisfied.

Her indifferent eyes cast a deep glance into the distant darkness and said, "Alright, I'll listen to you."