Refining Eight Mysterious Heavenly Snake Paste (Please Vote, Invest, and Keep Reading)

Watching the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron spontaneously ignite, Mo Yun truly wanted to reach out and touch it.

But judging by the vigilant stances of the chieftains, the cauldron seemed far from ordinary. Or rather, the flames were no ordinary beast fire. Mo Yun did not dare act rashly for the moment.

When Mo Yun and Hua She Er arrived at Medusa Palace, the chieftains merely glanced at them before no longer paying much attention to their side. Instead, they watched the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron at the center of the hall with rapt attention.

Around the great cauldron, an elder of the Snake-People Tribe sat stationed in each direction.

They formed strange hand seals, seemingly able to resonate with the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron and establish a subtle connection with it.

Through that connection, they were able to channel the Dou Qi within their bodies into the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron.

After absorbing that Dou Qi, the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron seemed to have been refueled. Not only did its flames burn more fiercely, they also gradually became more enduring.

The Four Great Elders could likewise regulate the intensity of the beast fire by controlling the amount of Dou Qi they fed into it.

The beast fire around the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron roiled fiercely. Under its scorching heat, black and brown liquid flowed down the grooves in the cauldron's patterns from its once rust-speckled outer surface.

Those were impurities that had adhered to the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron's surface after it had gone unused for so long. Under the beast fire's intense heat, they had completely melted into droplets, gathered together, and streamed down.

When they dripped onto the beast fire, they let out sizzling sounds.

Only after the final drop of impurity fell did the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron become much more verdant, even flawless as green jade beneath the beast fire's blaze.

"The time is about right. Mo Bas, we'll start with your Mo Snake Tribe!" The Great Elder still held the special hand seal as she continuously channeled Dou Qi, turning to instruct Mo Bas, leader of the Mo Snake Tribe.

Although Mo Bas did not hesitate much in word or deed, he was still somewhat awkward as he took a small box from the Storage Ring on his left hand. Carefully opening it, he revealed a lump of pitch-black material inside.

Mo Bas gripped the black substance with both hands. His arms suddenly swelled, as though he were exerting tremendous force, before he finally broke off a small piece from the large black mass and steadily tossed it into the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron.

The instant the black substance fell into the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron, the beast fire around it flared explosively. The flames completely engulfed the cauldron, yet wisps of black smoke rose from within.

"What is that?" Mo Yun asked Hua She Er.

When Mo Bas took the item out, Mo Yun had tried probing it with his Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils. It seemed to possess neither Dou Qi fluctuations nor the energy fluctuations of medicinal ingredients.

Hua She Er answered naturally, "That is one of the Mo Snake Tribe's precious materials—the essence of the ancient magical beast, the Black Spirit Mysterious Snake!"

"Black Spirit Mysterious Snake?"

Hua She Er continued, "The Black Spirit Mysterious Snake was an ancient magical beast that no longer exists. It is said that these serpent magical beasts were incredibly powerful. Once they reached adulthood, they could possess might comparable to a Dou Saint. The Mo Snake Tribe took that beast as the ancestor of their tribe."

"And they were still able to preserve the essence of the Black Spirit Mysterious Snake? Is that essence its magic core?" Mo Yun continued.

"No. Because the Black Spirit Mysterious Snake is extinct, its essence can only be used up and never replenished. The same applies to the other major tribes; such resources cannot be reproduced. As for the Black Spirit Mysterious Snake's essence, it does not refer to its magic core. It refers to its excrement—its shit!" Hua She Er's expression remained calm, as though she had long since grown accustomed to it.

"Damn, they treat that stuff like some kind of treasure... Wait, is this Eight Mysterious Heavenly Snake Paste for external application or internal consumption?" Mo Yun urgently asked.

"External application!"

Hearing that, Mo Yun finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After the Black Spirit Mysterious Snake's essence had entered the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron and baked in the beast fire for roughly ten minutes, the wisps of black smoke finally ceased. The Great Elder spoke again.

"Yue Mei, it is time for your Charm Snake Tribe!"

Unlike Mo Bas, Yue Mei was not the least bit awkward. She directly took out a thin object and threw it in.

As it fell into the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron, the flames that had gradually subsided surged back up to their previous height, and wisps of black smoke rose again.

Seeing Mo Yun's questioning look, Hua She Er took the initiative to explain, "This is a scale from the Red Horn Pink Python, the ancestor of the Charm Snake Tribe. The Red Horn Pink Python holds no lesser status than the Black Spirit Mysterious Snake. It is said that both serpent races were affiliated with the ancient sacred serpent race, the Devouring Sky Python clan."

After the Red Horn Pink Python's scale entered the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron, it lasted roughly another ten minutes, just like the Black Spirit Mysterious Snake's essence. Then the Great Elder instructed Yin Shi, leader of the Yin Snake Tribe.

Yin Shi was the most natural of them all. He took out a portion and tossed it into the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron, causing the beast fire within to surge again.

After Yin Shi, the chieftains of the Flame Snake Tribe, Poison Snake Tribe, Bai Snake Tribe, Cang Snake Tribe, and Di Snake Tribe were called out one after another by the Great Elder. Without exception, they all took items from their Storage Rings, removed a portion, and tossed them into the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron.

The ingredients used to refine the Eight Mysterious Heavenly Snake Paste were equally bizarre. Aside from the shit at the beginning, they included venom sacs, snake skins, venomous fangs, eyes, and more...

In short, there were no magic cores.

When the final item—the Earth King Rock Snake's eye from the Di Snake Tribe—was tossed into the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron by its chieftain, Di Mo, all eight ingredients had been added to the cauldron.

The Four Great Elders exchanged glances, then simultaneously increased the heat without prior agreement, accelerating the fusion of the materials.

As the refinement continued, the Four Great Elders finally began to show signs of exhaustion. The Great Elder's breathing had grown heavier as she spoke again. "Add the final ingredient..."

"Add more?" the Second Elder asked doubtfully. "The ingredients are already complete. What else needs to be added?"

The Great Elder did not say it aloud. Upon sensing unusual Dou Qi fluctuations in the air, Mo Yun knew that the old woman was using voice transmission to speak to the others.

"The previous Heavenly Snake Paste was indeed refined using only eight ingredients, but that was mainly because the final ingredient could never be found. Now that we have obtained it, there is naturally no need to leave that gap unfilled."

With that, the Great Elder took out a blue jade bottle. As she gently opened its mouth, a faint fragrance drifted out.

Mo Yun's nose twitched slightly. "Why does this smell the same as the Seven-Colored Scales and Devouring Sky Head?"

The Great Elder slowly poured out the liquid stored in the jade bottle. It was a single drop of liquid that glimmered with faint light...

"This is... the Seven-Colored Scales and Devouring Sky Head's blood essence?" The other three elders exclaimed through voice transmission.

As that drop of blood fell into the Ten Thousand Snake Cauldron, the cauldron, which had been sitting steadily in place, suddenly began to shake violently. It was as if the contents inside were rejecting it, clanging and rattling without end.