This is a Divine Pill

With a flick of one hand, Su Hao summoned the longsword from the pill furnace. It was still green, but its sharpness had increased by who knew how many times. At a thought from Su Hao, the sword immediately transformed into an utterly inconspicuous bracelet, which slipped around his wrist and was hidden beneath his sleeve.

This way, he could strike without warning and catch his enemies completely off guard.

After finishing all this, Su Hao had also refined more than half the essence within his body. Through this round of artifact refining, his cultivation had risen by quite a bit as well.

Only after his aura had completely settled did he pick out several more spiritual herbs from the shelves. Under the flame in his palm, he simply fused them together, mixing in a drop of his own blood.

In truth, those herbs had no effect whatsoever. The thing that could truly detoxify was Su Hao's blood.

Su Hao did indeed possess a pill formula in his mind capable of removing pill toxins, but he was currently unable to refine it. He could only temporarily use his blood to ease Danyangzi's condition, thereby keeping him firmly under control as well.

With an alchemist backing him, he could avoid many troubles in the future. Besides, since he could not currently refine the pill formulas in his mind himself, he could fully rely on Danyangzi to obtain powerful medicinal pills.

Although Xiao Wuji was also an alchemist—and supposedly one who surpassed Danyangzi, hailed as the Spirit Creek Sect's number one alchemist—

that master of his was simply too unreliable. Besides, since Su Hao had acknowledged him as his master, he felt embarrassed to order him about like a servant. Danyangzi was clearly much more suitable.

"What are you doing?!"

Suddenly, a furious roar rang out, shaking the entire hall. Looking at the several shelves that had already been emptied clean, Danyangzi's eyes filled with incomparable heartache. Those missing herbs and materials were all his treasured collection.

They were worth more than three thousand spirit stones.

"You!"

He pointed at Su Hao, fire blazing in his eyes. His rage had reached its peak, and he wished he could slap Su Hao to death on the spot.

"What are you yelling for? I used those materials to refine a pill that can remove the pill toxins in your body," Su Hao said without so much as blushing.

"Bullshit! If you had that kind of ability, would you still need me to refine a Vein-Renewing Pill for your friend?! Do you take me, Danyangzi, for a three-year-old child?" Danyangzi said coldly, though inwardly he was extremely astonished. Those treasures had all been covered by formations; someone at the Qi Condensation Realm could never break through them. How had Su Hao taken them?

"Eat it, and your pill toxins will immediately be eased!"

Su Hao tossed the irregular blood-red "lump" in his hand to Danyangzi.

Danyangzi's expression turned even colder. His body trembled with fury, and he nearly burst into curses. This thing did not even have the most basic shape of a medicinal pill—how could it possibly resolve his pill toxins?

Danyangzi did not believe it in the slightest!

One had to know that he had once sought the aid of a fifth-grade alchemist within the Great Xia Dynasty. The result had been that it was incurable; he needed at least a sixth-grade pill for treatment.

Could this unremarkable lump before him be a sixth-grade pill?

His fury gradually surged, and Danyangzi truly felt that he had been deceived. He had the urge to smash Su Hao to pieces at once.

"This is a divine pill, refined by me through untold hardship. You'll know once you eat it," Su Hao said, still shamelessly boasting.

Danyangzi gritted his teeth and examined it, confirming that the lump contained no poisonous ingredients. He drew a deep breath and patiently said, "If this proves ineffective, you will not lose your life. But I will throw you into the pill furnace and burn you for a hundred years, making both body and soul suffer the agony of blazing flames."

As his voice fell, he tossed the lump directly into his mouth. Like eating chaff, he swallowed it down with difficulty. Not only was this "pill" ugly in appearance, its taste was bizarre as well, making it hard to swallow.

Danyangzi seemed to have already decided that it was useless. His magical power began to circulate, and an icy killing intent spread outward.

But!

Just as his magical power was about to erupt, the savage expression on Danyangzi's face suddenly eased. Then came shock, followed by wild joy—and finally, he nearly screamed.

The stubborn pill toxins that had seeped into his very marrow actually showed signs of dissolving.

Though only slight, it was real.

The ugly lump was actually effective!

"Tell me—how exactly is this made? What materials does it require, and what method?" After his excitement, Danyangzi immediately stepped forward, his eyes fixed firmly on Su Hao.

"You cannot refine this pill. Only I can succeed. Today was the first dose; one month from now, I will give you a second pill. Your pill toxins cannot be resolved in a single day. They must be treated step by step," Su Hao said. Naturally, he could not reveal the method of refining it. Otherwise, Danyangzi would immediately devour him alive.

Glancing at Danyangzi's flickering eyes, Su Hao added, "Don't entertain any crooked thoughts. Otherwise, you'll only shoot yourself in the foot. Not only will you fail to obtain the refining method, you'll also be left beyond the help of any medicine."

Danyangzi took a deep breath. "Fine. I know what you are after. As long as you can resolve my pill toxins, I can guarantee that you will come to no harm in the sect. You may even obtain abundant resources that others can only dream of but never attain."

"Do you think I lack such things? Bring me the pill. I'm waiting to save my brother. One month from now, come find me at the East Gate. I'll give you the second pill then."

Su Hao spoke calmly. Though young, he carried the deep composure of one weathered by countless storms.

"Fine."

Danyangzi had seen hope, and his attitude toward Su Hao changed somewhat. He handed a pale golden pill to Su Hao.

Su Hao gave it a few glances. It was a Vein-Renewing Pill. Though it bore that name, it was also highly effective in repairing the dantian. It had reached the high-grade level.

Nodding in satisfaction, Su Hao turned and left. Before departing, he took another emerald-green lotus seed from the wooden shelf.

Danyangzi's face twitched, as though a piece of flesh had been torn from his heart. That was a jade lotus seed, which could only form from a jade lotus flower five hundred years old. It had reached the rank of a ninth-grade spiritual herb, not far from becoming a treasure herb.

Magical treasures were divided into spirit artifacts, treasure artifacts, divine artifacts, sacred artifacts, and immortal artifacts.

Herbs were likewise divided into these five grades, with each grade further split into nine minor levels.

"Didn't you say you had no need for these things?!" Danyangzi roared, but Su Hao had already gone far away without looking back.

After leaving Danyang Hall, Su Hao made his way out through the North Gate. The disciples watching in secret all wore astonished expressions. Su Hao had offended Danyangzi, a fourth-grade alchemist, entered Danyang Hall, and yet had emerged safe and sound.

Moreover, he was actually smiling, and a faint radiance gleamed in his hand—it was a medicinal pill.

Not only had Su Hao received no punishment, he had even obtained a pill refined by Danyangzi.

After confirming this, several disciples observing in secret immediately departed to report to Elder Liu Dao.