The Pill Was Complete

An icy, sinister chill stabbed at Chen Lin's brow like a needle.

Only then did he see it clearly. The Black Glimmer was actually a tiny flying sword, pitch-black from tip to hilt and gleaming with a terrifying light.

"I told you not to try to leave the courtyard, or things would turn unpleasant. This is your first warning. Next time, there'll be a hole in your head too!"

Yu Yuehai's icy voice rang out. The flying sword shuddered, turned into a streak of Black Glimmer, and vanished before Chen Lin's eyes.

Such deadly methods, such a high-grade magical tool-they left Chen Lin with a profound sense of helplessness.

If the man wanted his life, he could take it anytime, anywhere.

"I only wanted to bury her. We can't just leave her here to rot."

Chen Lin turned back, hoping to make another attempt to persuade him.

But the man merely snorted coldly, walked up to him, and took the corpse from him.

A faint light flashed from the Storage Bag at his waist, and the corpse disappeared.

Then Yu Yuehai raised a hand. Several Water Arrows shot toward the window where the Sallow-Faced Female Cultivator had died, washing away the bloodstains.

"You don't have much time left. I advise you to keep your head down and refine the pill. Don't force me to resort to drastic measures!"

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

Several times, Chen Lin wanted to launch a sneak attack from behind, but he restrained himself each time.

He no longer had a magical tool. Even if he unleashed every Fireball Talisman he had, he would not be able to harm the man.

His expression shifted for a while before he could only lower his head and return silently to his room.

At his doorway, Yu Yuehai sneered again, took out a chair, and sat down by the entrance.

The woman from Shuiyue Pavilion also came out and stood behind Yu Yuehai.

Neither spoke, nor did either show the slightest discomfort, as though what they had just killed had not been a person, but an insect.

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

He was not surprised.

He had long since guessed that those two were working together.

Everything he had thought he was doing in secret had actually followed the path they had laid out for him. Looking back on it now, it was truly laughable.

He withdrew his gaze, sat in a daze for a while, then settled before the Pill Cauldron and resumed refining pills.

However, he did not focus entirely on Pill Refining. While refining pills, he also sorted through the materials for making Thunderbolt Beads.

Once a batch of pills failed, he took the opportunity to begin making a Thunderbolt Bead.

The method for making Thunderbolt Beads was not complicated in the first place. The main difficulty lay in mastering the balance between several materials, but he ignored that entirely, simply brute-forcing his way through repeated attempts.

In less than a quarter of an hour, he produced an egg-sized black sphere.

Judging by the color of its Array Patterns, it had already reached the perfect quality described in the text.

He had no way to test it at the moment, but since it was something produced through his innate talent, there should be no problem with it.

He carefully put away the Thunderbolt Bead, then resumed Pill Refining.

Once again, he sorted materials while refining pills. In the interval after finishing his second batch, he made another Thunderbolt Bead.

Midnight.

The bell rang.

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

Chen Lin rose and went to the window, looking up at the sky before glancing toward Yu Yuehai's quarters.

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

The woman from Shuiyue Pavilion, however, was gone. He did not know whether she had returned to her room to rest or had already left for Shuiyue Pavilion in the Inner City.

Yu Yuehai noticed Chen Lin peering out, but merely gave a cold smile and did nothing else.

Chen Lin desperately wanted to ask how the man could see those red lines, how he could keep them from controlling him and making him cast sidelong glances with a cold sneer, and what exactly his method for escaping this city was.

But he knew the man would never tell him.

At least, not before he finished refining the Blood Demon Pill.

There was also the method for resolving the Enlightenment Pill's lingering side effects. He did not know whether he would be able to obtain that either.

The man had not lied. Just before the bell rang, his head had hurt again, even though he had not taken an Enlightenment Pill.

That meant the man had told the truth. Even if he never took that modified Enlightenment Pill again, the lingering headaches would remain. He simply did not know whether they would grow worse or fade.

After standing there for a while, he set aside his tangled thoughts and lay down fully clothed.

A dead pig had no fear of scalding water anyway, and someone was even keeping watch for him. He slept soundly.

He did not get up until late the next morning.

After washing up, he began eating. Once he finished, he truly could not find anything else to do, so he resumed Pill Refining.

Over the course of the morning, no matter how slowly he worked, he still finished two batches.

He had now refined seven batches in total. Three more, and the Blood Demon Pill would be complete.

He checked the materials. There were still plenty left, enough for another dozen or more batches.

He stood and looked out the window.

The entire courtyard was silent. Yu Yuehai was gone, and the woman from Shuiyue Pavilion had taken his place, sitting guard at the doorway.

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

Although Yu Yuehai allowed him to refine pills alone, the surveillance was tight. Having two formidable Qi Condensation late-stage experts watch a small fry in the middle stage of Artifact Refining certainly gave him plenty of face.

He could neither resist nor escape. The managers from the Five Major Families he had hoped would come to collect rent or inspect the situation had not appeared either. Chen Lin knew he had no choice left.

He could only refine the Blood Demon Pill.

More than half of the three-day deadline had passed. If he failed to produce it, Yu Yuehai would certainly kill him in his crushing disappointment. He might even torture him to death.

After all, the Blood Demon Pill determined whether the man could escape this bizarre place.

In truth, if the man had shown a little more integrity and kindness, Chen Lin would have been more than willing to cooperate. He wanted to leave this place just as much.

But the man was ruthless and treated human lives like worthless weeds. Chen Lin could not trust him.

After stalling for another while without any change in the situation, Chen Lin gathered his thoughts and began refining pills.

This time, he did not drag things out. Instead, he refined three consecutive batches in one sustained effort.

A dark-red pill, exuding a thick, bloody aura, appeared in his hand.

He examined the Blood Demon Pill carefully but could find nothing special about it. Yet this single pill could create a Foundation Establishment expert.

Even a short-lived Foundation Establishment cultivator was still a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

He glanced outside. The woman from Shuiyue Pavilion was still keeping watch.

She seemed to know nothing about Pill Refining and had not noticed that the energy fluctuations from this successful batch differed from those of the previous batches.

Chen Lin's eyes flickered. He took out a Pill Bottle and quickly put the pill inside.

He did not dare hide it on his person. Instead, he placed it in the concealed compartment in the corner where he kept his important belongings.

Once that was done, he calmed his nerves and resumed Pill Refining.

This time, he refined normally, without the slightest intention of stalling. In fact, he picked up the pace.

Of course, he still had to keep making Thunderbolt Beads.

But he soon exhausted the materials for them, having produced ten in total.

That was a fair number.

If their power truly matched what the text described, then even a Qi Condensation late-stage cultivator probably could not withstand all ten detonating at once.

Unfortunately, they were rather large. Throwing two or three at once was already his limit. To launch all ten together, he would need another pair of hands.

Moreover, he could not ensure that all ten would detonate at the same instant and in the same spot. He did not have that level of precision.

Thus, threatening a Qi Condensation late-stage cultivator was only theoretically possible. His chances of blowing Yu Yuehai to death with these things were slim, especially since there were two of them.