Inside the Star Emperor Grand Hotel.
Xiao Jinchen sat cross-legged on the bed, holding the box he had snatched from Wang Yan.
The moment Xiao Jinchen opened the box, a wave of baleful aura and resentment surged out.
Ice Empress, who was lying beside him, was startled too and sat up at once.
"What a dense baleful aura." Ice Empress stared at the Spirit Devouring Carving Knife in the box, her voice tinged with doubt. "Jinchen, how does this look anything like a knife brimming with life force?"
"At the auction, Qingya said the carving knife had been cursed." Flames rose from Xiao Jinchen's right palm as he replied with keen interest, "Let's see whether the curse is fiercer—or my Emperor Flame!"
Xiao Jinchen used his Soul Power to suspend the Spirit Devouring Carving Knife in midair. Then he pointed a finger, and Emperor Flame swallowed it in an instant.
Under Emperor Flame's scorching heat, the carving knife shuddered violently. A piercing demonic sound gnawed at him like a bone-deep parasite, while an intensely frigid aura, carrying terrifying murderous intent, shot straight into his Sea of Consciousness.
Yet Xiao Jinchen remained impassive, not sparing even a trace of mental strength to defend himself. Ever since he had devoured the Ice-Fire Dragon Kings' dragon souls, his mental strength had already reached the realm of a Limit Douluo. A mere curse dared show off its meager skills before him? It was overestimating itself!
As the temperature of Emperor Flame continued to climb, the black aura on the carving knife's surface faded at a visible rate.
About ten minutes later, the last wisp of black aura on its surface vanished completely. Its dusky blue light became as clear as a pool of autumn water, without a trace of impurity.
The knife, once pitch-black, had transformed into translucent blue crystal. It felt warm and smooth to the touch, its power restrained and serene, and its murderous aura had disappeared without a trace.
"It worked!" Xiao Jinchen looked at the carving knife floating before him and smiled. Its blade gleamed like clear blue crystal, beautiful to behold.
"Th-this is what the knife really looks like?" Feeling the powerful life force radiating from the Spirit Devouring Carving Knife, Ice Empress couldn't help reaching out to touch it.
"Mm. This is what the carving knife looks like after its curse has been removed." Xiao Jinchen nodded. "Now it should be called Life Gold. That's its real name."
"Life Gold?" Ice Empress gazed at the purified carving knife, a flicker of surprise passing through her orange-gold eyes. "So it was Life Gold! No wonder it seemed familiar. I just couldn't remember what it was for a moment."
"Hm?" Xiao Jinchen looked surprised. "Bing'er, you actually know about Life Gold?"
According to the original story, Ice Empress shouldn't have known about Life Gold.
"Of course I know." Ice Empress gave a small nod and explained, "When we were in the Far North Lands, Xue'er told me about it. Life Gold is essentially life force refined into a solid form. On the surface, it looks like a metal, but in reality, it's formed by pure life force gathering and solidifying."
"But for such a treasure as Life Gold to appear in the human world..." Ice Empress said, somewhat surprised, "By rights, it should only be produced by the Lake of Life beneath the Star Dou Forest."
"Who cares how it ended up in the human world?" Xiao Jinchen chuckled. "I'm planning to refine this Life Gold into a pill."
That's right. Xiao Jinchen had no intention of fusing the Life Gold like Huo Yuhao had in the original story. He didn't care one bit about the extra mental strength and life force he would gain from fusing it. He planned to refine the Life Gold directly into a pill—a pill that could bring the dead back to life, a Sixth-Grade Pill: the Resurrection Pill!
Don't underestimate the Resurrection Pill just because it was only a Sixth-Grade Pill. It could bring the dead back to life! As long as you still had a breath left, taking it would heal you instantly.
Imagine fighting an evenly matched opponent, on the brink of death, only to suddenly pull out a pill like this and return to full strength. What kind of face would your opponent make?
They'd probably curse on the spot: "I'll be damned! The other side's cheating! This fight's impossible! What the hell am I even fighting for?!"
Refining Life Gold into a pill would bring far greater benefits than fusing it directly into the Sea of Consciousness. After all, turning it into a pill was the equivalent of gaining an extra life.
"Refine it into a pill? Jinchen, you can refine Life Gold into a pill?" Ice Empress asked in surprise.
"Of course." Xiao Jinchen smiled. "I just need to extract the life force from the Life Gold, then combine it with other rare treasures from heaven and earth."
As he spoke, Xiao Jinchen willed Green Lotus Core Flame to separate from Emperor Flame. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a medicine cauldron and floated in midair.
Xiao Jinchen activated his sixth Soul Skill once more—Mental Field! It enveloped the entire Star Emperor Grand Hotel, then he sent out a strand of mental strength to seal off the room.
Though a Sixth-Grade Pill didn't summon Pill Lightning like a Seventh-Grade Pill, its formation would still make the energy of heaven and earth around it surge violently, sending fierce ripples in every direction.
Xiao Jinchen had activated his Mental Field in advance precisely to confuse the outside world. The invisible barrier would muddle the senses of anyone drawn by the strange phenomenon, making it impossible for them to pinpoint the pill's location.
Xiao Jinchen flicked his finger. Emperor Flame surged into the medicine cauldron, and a scorching heat swept out from within.
Then he beckoned with his hand, and the Life Gold flew straight into the cauldron.
"Whoosh!"
The moment the Life Gold dropped into the cauldron, Emperor Flame's terrifying blaze swallowed it whole.
Once the Life Gold was inside the cauldron, Emperor Flame and mental strength jointly suppressed it, quickly subduing its pure fluctuations of life force.
"Sizzle!"
As seven-colored Emperor Flame swirled, the Life Gold didn't turn red-hot. Instead, a rich green glow rose from it. With a series of soft hisses, the layer of metal on its surface instantly turned to smoke.
On the surface, Life Gold was a kind of metal, but in reality, it was formed from solidified life force. Xiao Jinchen meant to burn it down into life force in its purest form.
In just a few breaths, the Life Gold melted like snow, turning into a mass of emerald-green liquid.
Xiao Jinchen used his mental strength to hold it steady in the heart of the flames. It rolled slowly like a mass of liquid jade, and an intense aura of life swept from the cauldron, so potent that merely breathing it in made every limb and bone feel utterly at ease.
"That should do it." Xiao Jinchen murmured and lightly tapped his Storage Ring. One by one, rare treasures brimming with life force floated into the air.
"Glazed Heart-Cleansing Lotus..."
"Withered Wood Spring Vine..."
"Jade Marrow Evergreen Vine..."
"Dew-Condensing Green Spirit Flower..."
"Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Grass..."
Looking at the rare treasures he'd plundered from the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well, Xiao Jinchen couldn't help smacking his lips.
With a thought from Xiao Jinchen, the Glazed Heart-Cleansing Lotus, Withered Wood Spring Vine, and the other three rare treasures dropped into the cauldron one after another.
Emperor Flame instantly enveloped them. In the blink of an eye, its fierce blaze refined all five rare treasures into five crystalline pools of medicinal liquid.
Under the control of his mental strength, those five pools of medicinal liquid merged with the emerald-green liquid from the Life Gold, forming an even more brilliant mass of green light.
As the mass of liquid slowly shrank and solidified, about half an hour later, its surface began to harden. The rough, uneven outline of a pill slowly took shape...
As the last trace of impurity burned away, an intense aura of life spread out, making everyone who sensed it tremble to their core.
A pill gleaming with a lustrous sheen quietly took shape and came to rest at the bottom of the cauldron, as if it held an inexhaustible wellspring of life.
At the instant the Resurrection Pill was successfully refined, waves of extraordinarily powerful energy rapidly formed, spreading out from the room before surging straight into the sky.