Medicine Slave turned around with a hint of surprise and came before Ye Tong. Spreading his hand, he said, "Young Master, those people were quite well-off. I actually found this among the things they left behind."
Silver Crystals? They actually had Silver Crystals?
Ye Tong's eyes suddenly lit up.
He had longed to obtain Silver Crystals, because absorbing the spiritual power contained within them could speed up his cultivation. Originally, Ye Tong had planned to venture deep into the Golden Phoenix Mountain Range, gather more rare treasures and exotic fruits, hunt more fierce beasts, then take them out and sell them for Silver Crystals. He had never expected that in such a laughable robbery, the robbers would deliver a Silver Crystal right to his door.
This was simply a timely gift in the snow!
Ye Tong snatched up the Silver Crystal. As the little vital energy remaining in his body began to circulate, he slowly drew out the spiritual power within it and guided it into the meridians inside his body.
Absorb, refine.
The process became slow, but the amount of vital energy in Ye Tong's body increased several times faster than before. The vital energy that had originally required most of a day to recover was restored to its original state in just over two hours after he absorbed the spiritual power in the Silver Crystal.
"Young Master, how was it?"
When Medicine Slave noticed Ye Tong awaken from cultivation, he immediately asked.
Ye Tong said with satisfaction, "Absorbing the spiritual power within Silver Crystals truly allows one to achieve twice the result with half the effort in cultivation. I'll use this Silver Crystal first. I'll buy some for you later."
Medicine Slave smiled. "Everything shall be as Young Master decides."
That night.
The two spent it beside the lake. Apart from several enormous beasts that came to harass them and were easily driven away by Medicine Slave, they encountered no further danger. After cultivating through the entire night, the vital energy within Ye Tong's body had increased considerably. Through his observations, he discovered that if he absorbed all the spiritual power in this Silver Crystal, the amount of vital energy in his body would roughly double.
"Half a month."
Ye Tong was confident that absorbing all the spiritual power within the Silver Crystal would take around half a month. By then, his cultivation would advance another step and break through to the Qi Refining Fourth Level.
Medicine Slave asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"
Ye Tong smiled faintly but did not answer that question. Instead, he asked, "Medicine Slave, you've taken pills that increase cultivation before, haven't you?"
Medicine Slave nodded. "Naturally. Although Master was best at refining poisons, he also refined some pills that increased cultivation. Oh, right, our Precious Medicine Workshop has pills that increase cultivation!"
"What? Our Precious Medicine Workshop has pills that increase cultivation?"
Ye Tong's eyes widened as he shouted, "Say that again!"
Medicine Slave said, "Our Precious Medicine Workshop has pills that increase cultivation. I didn't tell you before because I noticed that you didn't care much about cultivation realms. Nearly all your attention was focused on detoxification."
"I..."
A sense of dejection rose within Ye Tong. His former self truly was... muddleheaded. Ye Tong took a deep breath and asked, "How effective is each pill? And how many are there?"
Medicine Slave said, "With Young Master's current cultivation, the medicinal power contained in a single pill could burst your meridians. As for the quantity..."
"Very few?"
Seeing Medicine Slave hesitate, Ye Tong immediately asked.
"Very many."
Medicine Slave replied.
Hearing this, Ye Tong immediately said, "With so many pills that increase cultivation, why would we need to risk our lives in the depths of the Golden Phoenix Mountain Range? Pack up. We're going back."
Medicine Slave gave a bitter smile. "Young Master, we cannot go back."
Ye Tong asked, "Are you worried about the Tong Family?"
Medicine Slave shook his head. "In this old servant's eyes, the Tong Family is nothing more than a clown leaping on a stage. Even if we return now, the Tong Family's tribe members would not dare attack us openly. What I mean is that fire should already have destroyed those pills. Even if we return, there will be no pills left for us to use."
"Destroyed?"
Ye Tong's pitch abruptly rose several notches.
Medicine Slave nodded, his face full of bitterness. "Most likely. When I was clearing the ruins, I noticed obvious scorch marks on the porcelain bottles that held the pills. From that, we can judge that the pills inside were likely destroyed."
What a waste of Heaven's gifts!
Ye Tong nearly wanted to cry but had no tears. He wanted nothing more than to grab Medicine Slave and beat him up. Pills whose medicinal power could burst his meridians—one could imagine their value. Yet one fire had simply burned them all away?
His heart ached; even his flesh ached.
Ye Tong silently recited the Clear Heart Mantra more than ten times before easing that negative emotion. With a dark expression, he headed toward the Third Mountain. "Move. Into the mountains."
Medicine Slave gave an embarrassed dry laugh and silently followed behind him.
The peaks within the Golden Phoenix Mountain Range grew taller the farther inward one went, and became steeper and harder to climb. By the time the two crossed mountains and ridges, drove away wild beasts, passed through poisonous miasma, and traversed swamps to reach the middle of the Fifth Mountain, night had fallen once again.
A cool breeze blew gently, and the fragrance of flowers filled the air.
Though Medicine Slave's cultivation was powerful, Ye Tong did not relax his vigilance. Half a day ago, he had vaguely begun to feel uneasy, as though something was watching him. He divined and calculated, yet the result showed that he would not encounter any danger today.
"Young Master."
Medicine Slave took out a dry, hard meat cake and offered it to Ye Tong.
Ye Tong accepted it and asked, "Do you have a Sense of Danger? It seems there's something around us."
Medicine Slave said, "Someone has been following behind us. When we rested midway, this old servant went back to investigate, but found nothing. The other party should be an Innate Realm expert."
Someone was following them?
Thinking of his previous divination result, Ye Tong realized that the other party bore him no hostility. Still, being tailed like this left him somewhat displeased. Taking out four pieces of jade, he studied the terrain in the area and set up a trapping formation within a radius of several hundred meters.
Then.
Ye Tong carved a row of words into a tree and said in a deep voice, "We'll continue on our way. Stay alert. If you find that someone is still following us, remember to tell me."
"Alright!"
Medicine Slave nodded lightly.
A quarter of an hour later.
A beautiful figure appeared in this area. When she arrived beneath the large tree bearing those carved words, an expression somewhere between laughter and tears appeared on her breathtakingly beautiful face.
"Your Excellency has followed us all this way. You must be quite tired. Tonight, rest here!"
Rest my ass!
Mu Qianlan had previously agreed with Chang Wu, the manager of Warm Medicine Hall, to purchase that stalk of Iron Ring Grass within three days. But when she arrived, she learned that Ye Tong had already bought it.
She was very curious about where Ye Tong would settle after the Precious Medicine Workshop was burned down. While making inquiries, she encountered Tong Kaishan leading many household servants around in search of Ye Tong's whereabouts. Judging from their manner, they seemed intent on harming Ye Tong.
Later, Mu Qianlan found Tong Kaishan, severely injured and missing an arm after it had been severed. From him, she learned of Ye Tong's destination: the Golden Phoenix Mountain Range. She had come out to gain experience without any fixed destination, so Mu Qianlan made a swift decision, passed through Ten Mile Pavilion, and entered the mountain range.
What depressed Mu Qianlan was that not only had she failed to catch up with Ye Tong, she had instead encountered four exhibitionists. In broad daylight, they were completely naked and even tried to rob her. When she met those four pairs of eyes filled with lust, she did not hesitate in the slightest. Her longsword left its sheath, and she directly turned them into living eunuchs.
Unexpectedly, she learned news of Ye Tong from the four men, and also learned that the culprit behind their having not even half a strip of silk left on their bodies was Ye Tong and Medicine Slave.
Therefore.
Mu Qianlan continued pursuing them with a helpless smile. Half a day ago, she finally caught up with the pair and silently tailed them from behind, wanting to see what interesting things Ye Tong and Medicine Slave would encounter next.
"It should have been the old servant from the Precious Medicine Workshop."
Mu Qianlan believed she had been discovered. Only an Innate Realm expert could have done so, and the old servant beside Ye Tong was precisely an Innate Realm expert.
"Forget it!"
"Since I've been discovered, there's no need to hide my tracks any longer."
"Traveling together through the Golden Phoenix Mountain Range might be a good choice too."
After determining the direction, Mu Qianlan swiftly gave chase.
Yet after a quarter of an hour passed, her expression became extraordinarily vivid. Looking at the writing on the tree before her, she was completely dumbfounded. She was certain she had not lost her way. Following the traces left by Ye Tong and Medicine Slave, she had been confident that she would quickly catch up to them. But what was going on now?
Mu Qianlan refused to believe it and flashed away in pursuit once more.
Again and again, she left; again and again, she returned.
After five full attempts, she finally realized in disbelief that she had likely been trapped inside an array formation. This array formation possessed two effects: illusion and entrapment.
"Ye Tong..."
Mu Qianlan roared in fury. Having seen Ye Tong's ability at array formation, she could have guessed with the tip of her hair that the formation trapping her had come from Ye Tong's hand.
The sun rose and set; stars shifted and time turned.
On the fifth day after Ye Tong and Medicine Slave entered the Golden Phoenix Mountain Range, they finally crossed ten mountains and entered a forested valley.
The beauty of mountains.
Lay in their towering grandeur, their perilous uprightness, their cliffs and precipices, their overlapping peaks; lay in clouds veiling treetops, mist flowing through ravines, green forests stirring in the wind, white waters crashing through streams; lay in the lush greenery of grass and trees, fine birds singing among them, that faint glimmer in the dawn, and that streak of sunset glow at dusk.
Like a painted scroll, like a poem.
Ye Tong liked such an environment. The life force everywhere seemed able to cleanse his soul, and even the speed at which he absorbed the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth seemed to increase slightly.
Medicine Slave slowly removed the Dragon Head Cane from his back and listened closely, his expression becoming somewhat grave.
"Young Master."
Ye Tong asked, "What is it?"
Medicine Slave said, "Several miles away, cultivators are fighting. There are quite a few of them, and they are very powerful."
Since merging with his memories, Ye Tong had never seen cultivators engage in a mass slaughter. After considering it briefly, he said, "Let's quietly move closer and hide in the dark to observe. I'm very curious about battles between cultivators."
Medicine Slave hesitated. "If this old servant is not mistaken, nearly all the cultivators fighting are Innate Realm experts. Some may even be at a higher realm than I am. Rashly approaching them would make it easy for them to discover us, and easy for us to incur their hostility. Young Master, why not go around them and avoid stirring up trouble?"
Ye Tong shook his head. "When powerful experts fight, observing their combat styles and techniques will greatly help me. If we wish to become stronger in the future, we cannot avoid fighting enemies. Seeing it in advance will at least let us know what to expect later."
Before you continue