Can "Pills" Protect You? (Please Follow)

Without overthinking it, Zhu Yu stepped down the stairs.

Entering the living room, he waved his hand and drew the small water vat in the corner before him. Lifting it for a look, he found that compared to seven days ago, the medicinal liquid had decreased by nearly half—only enough to cultivate the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed another three or four times.

And the culprit behind it all—

was Little Jade, hovering over the rim of the vat, buzzing without pause.

Though Little Jade had consumed nearly half a vat of medicinal liquid and had not broken through to the middle grade, his aura was clearly much stronger than before.

"All right, all right, here you go..."

Zhu Yu reached out and tapped Little Jade's tiny head. He drew out a ball of medicinal liquid for him to hold up and consume with Spiritual Power, then carried the water vat out the door.

Little Black, who had been lying at the entrance, immediately darted over and obediently sprawled on the ground. Yet it was not Zhu Yu he welcomed, but Little Jade, who was greedily drinking the medicinal liquid. Once Little Jade landed on him, he shot off like smoke toward the Corpse Field.

"What a shameless flatterer..."

Zhu Yu shook his head helplessly and followed after him with the water vat.

After several days, Little Black and Little Jade had grown familiar with each other. Who knew which screw in his head had gone loose, or whether all his intelligence had been invested in currying favor? He was extraordinarily attentive toward Little Jade.

Not only did he ferry Little Jade back and forth from the Corpse Field, but after learning that Little Jade liked live insects, he would circle the earthen mounds from time to time. Whenever he caught an insect, he would happily deliver it over.

He was practically an insect-beast bootlicker...

Upon reaching the Corpse Field—

Zhu Yu swept his gaze over the Corpse Taro that had been growing for nearly a month. With Little Jade watching over them, not a single plant had been gnawed by insects, and they had grown lush and thriving.

Retracting his gaze, he walked to the center of one mu of Corpse Field and crouched down. Pressing a hand onto the grave mound, he stared intently.

[Unranked: 39%]

Seven days had passed.

The Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed's cultivation had risen by a full six points.

Together with the one point gained when he had first watered it with the cultivation spirit liquid, its progress was practically increasing at a rate of one point per day.

"The effect is actually this good..."

Zhu Yu's expression immediately lit up with delight.

At this rate of cultivation, in another two months, the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed would be able to draw Yin Baleful Spirit Qi into its body and advance into a Living Corpse.

When that time came, he would gain another powerful helping hand!

"Drink more. Strive to transform as soon as possible..."

Zhu Yu smiled, dismissed the panel information, and lifted the water vat. Tilting his arm, he poured out streams of crimson medicinal liquid. The moment it landed on the grave mound, it seeped in at a visible speed.

Once a faint dark red spread across the grains of earth in the mound—

Zhu Yu stopped pouring. Looking at the remaining medicinal liquid in the vat, he thought, Just in time to buy some demon tiger blood from that Senior Brother...

After inspecting the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed once more and confirming that nothing was wrong, he carried the water vat out of the Corpse Field and returned to the wooden house.

Before long—

Zhu Yu left the courtyard with all his savings tucked away. With a thought, he summoned Little Black and Little Jade, who had been patrolling around the Corpse Field, to his side. He stepped onto Little Black's shell, sat cross-legged, and instructed:

"Let's go, Little Black..."

Squeak, squeak...

Little Black raised his head and let out a cry. Spiritual light surged around his body as his six legs moved, carrying him down the earthen mound like the wind.

Once they reached the path, his speed became even faster.

At that moment—

On a nearby earthen mound—

A round, plump young man in a black robe was walking down the mound with a coffin on his back, his face full of worry. He had not gone far when he suddenly saw a turtle-like demon beast racing down the path ahead.

He froze for a moment. After coming back to himself, he turned to look at the coffin on his back, his expression growing even more miserable as he gritted his teeth and said:

"That damned insect, don't let me run into you again..."

Just thinking of it made Bai Meng's stomach burn with rage. A few days ago, he had been applying corpse oil to maintain the Living Corpse he was cultivating.

Out of nowhere, a demon insect had suddenly leaped out and directly sliced off the head of the Corpse Puppet he had cultivated for over a year, one of superb quality.

By the time he came to his senses, that demon insect had actually... run away!

It had angered him so much that he had not slept for several days. He had waited for the demon insect to return, but after waiting so many days, he had not caught even a glimpse of it.

Fortunately, he was not the only unlucky one. Several neighboring residents seemed to have suffered losses as well...

"Ah, buying a mount will have to be pushed back again..."

Bai Meng let out a deep sigh and slowly walked toward the path with the coffin on his back.

Market.

One man and two insects walked through the archway and turned onto a side street. Before long, a two-story pavilion came into view.

Outside the pavilion—

One plump figure and one thin figure were chatting idly.

"Senior Brother Xiang has finally come out of seclusion!"

When Zhu Yu saw one of the handsome faces, his eyes immediately brightened. He quickened his pace and walked over.

Hearing the footsteps, Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan both turned their heads. Upon seeing Zhu Yu, smiles spread across their faces as they stepped forward to greet him.

"Junior Brother Zhu."

"Senior Brother Xiang, Senior Brother Liang."

Zhu Yu cupped his hands in greeting, his blazing gaze fixed on Xiang Sui.

"Ha..."

Xiang Sui knew what he meant. He gave a dry laugh, took out a pill bottle the size of an adult's fist from his sleeve, and handed it over. Seeing Zhu Yu's puzzled look, he coughed lightly and forced himself to remain composed.

"This is a Meditation Pill I refined by improving upon the ancient formula for Meditation Fluid. As for its effects... they're ten times that of Meditation Fluid..."

"Ten times?"

Zhu Yu was initially puzzled, but then his expression brightened with delight.

Xiang Sui had no reason to deceive him. If he said it was ten times as effective as Meditation Fluid, then it was surely ten times as effective.

"It's just..." Xiang Sui scratched his head and said awkwardly, "its side effects are also ten times those of Meditation Fluid."

After saying that, he turned and ran back to the front of the wooden house. Hugging a jade jar nearly as large as a water vat, he returned and handed it to Zhu Yu.

"This is the Meditation Fluid I refined over the past few days. Its effect is probably twice as strong as the previous Meditation Fluid, while its side effects are about the same as before."

"Mm, and it would be best if you didn't take that Meditation Pill..."

As though he had thought of something, his face went pale for an instant.

Liang Kuan, standing beside him, wore a strange expression and nodded in agreement. "Junior Brother can keep this Meditation Pill for self-defense. When necessary, grind it into powder and scatter it out. It may produce remarkable results."

Xiang Sui's face turned even paler upon hearing that, and he shot Liang Kuan a fierce glare.

"Self-defense?..."

Zhu Yu looked at the two of them in confusion. Wasn't the "Meditation Pill" a pill? It could be used for self-defense too?

But when he thought of Meditation Fluid's side effects, he immediately understood what they meant by self-defense.

"Senior Brother is amazing!"

Zhu Yu put away the pill bottle and gave him a thumbs-up.

One could imagine that if someone inhaled Meditation Pill powder whose side effects were ten times stronger than those of Meditation Fluid, the outcome would certainly be too horrifying to look at!

"Ha... it's nothing, it's nothing..."

Xiang Sui waved his hand awkwardly. Seemingly afraid of discussing the subject any further, he turned sideways and pointed at the two-story pavilion, hurriedly saying, "Junior Brother should teach first. We can chat later..."

"All right."

Zhu Yu nodded slightly and headed toward the wooden house with the two of them.

Not long after—

Three shichen passed in the blink of an eye.

"Take care, Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters."

After seeing off the students whose heads had been stuffed full of knowledge and dividing up the Spirit Stones, Zhu Yu suddenly had a thought. Looking at Xiang Sui, who was preparing to leave, he asked:

"Senior Brother, do you know about Starry Wood and Divine Radiance?"

"Hmm?"

Seeing that he was not asking about the Meditation Pill, Xiang Sui withdrew the foot he had stepped out with and asked in surprise, "Why is Junior Brother asking about that?"

"I just heard Mu Ruo mention it before, saying it involved a second-order existence..." Zhu Yu casually came up with an excuse.

Xiang Sui frowned and carefully looked Zhu Yu up and down, his expression grave. Then he suddenly asked, "Junior Brother Zhu, you haven't drawn Divine Radiance into your body, have you?"