Killing Intent from a Beautiful Inner Sect Senior Sister

Lu Chen returned to the small building, carrying the jade box the senior sister in purple had given him.

He placed the jade box on the table.

Should he open it?

Lu Chen was very curious.

After all, these were discarded pills sent by an inner sect senior sister.

Several times, he wanted to reach out and open the jade box.

But he held himself back.

He picked up the jade box and headed deep into the valley along the gravel path.

Not a blade of grass grew anywhere in Waste-Pill Valley.

Everywhere he looked was bare, rocky ground.

Lu Chen could not help but be alarmed.

The pill poison here was simply too formidable.

He hastily swallowed a Detoxification Pill.

Yet even after taking the Detoxification Pill, he could still sense the pill poison in the surrounding air boring straight into his pores.

Manager Pang and the others had not been wrong. Qi Refining, First Layer, menial disciples simply could not survive more than half a month in Waste-Pill Valley, where the Waste Pill Repository stood.

Only menial disciples at Qi Refining, Third Level or above, relying on their abundant vital energy and strong physiques, could barely remain here for half a year with the aid of Detoxification Pills.

Lu Chen immediately circulated his vital energy to resist the pill poison.

However, as he gradually ventured deeper into the valley, the concentration of pill poison in the surrounding air soared rapidly.

By the time he stood before Number Eighteen Waste-Pill Room, the pill poison had become visible to the naked eye. Strands of black mist coiled around the pill room.

Clusters of pitch-black clouds had gathered in the sky above.

Those were no ordinary dark clouds, but poisonous fumes condensed from pill poison.

From afar, black vapors shot into the heavens, and the sky was dark and gloomy—a truly frightening sight.

Holding the jade box, Lu Chen carefully examined the Waste Pill Repository before him.

The entire repository was shrouded in a faint layer of black mist.

Moreover, the whole Waste Pill Repository had been built from jade stone, its surface carved with countless runes.

These were the formation runes of the Spirit-Locking Formation.

Yet even so, they still could not completely contain the pill poison inside the Waste Pill Repository.

"What will happen if I open this Waste Pill Repository?"

Lu Chen hesitated.

This was the innermost of the eighteen Waste Pill Repositories.

When he had come here before to collect discarded pills, he had opened only Number One Waste-Pill Room. Even then, pill poison had surged out the instant the door opened.

Had the Yin-Yang Cauldron within him not protected him, he would have fallen victim long ago.

One could figure it out with their toes: the discarded pills stored in this Waste Pill Repository had to be the highest-grade discarded pills in the Joyful Union Sect.

The higher the grade of a discarded pill, the more potent its pill poison.

The Joyful Union Sect was a sect with an Alchemical Grandmaster in residence.

Alchemical cultivators could be divided into apprentices, pill adepts, alchemists, Alchemical Masters, Pill Kings, Pill Sages, and Pill Immortals.

An Alchemical Master was someone capable of refining high-grade pills.

After hesitating for a moment, Lu Chen still took out the key and inserted it into the keyhole.

Then, cautiously, he opened the door just a crack.

To Lu Chen's surprise, no pill poison poured out from behind the door.

Only then did he slowly push the door open with care.

A Blazing Sun Pearl was embedded in the ceiling of the Waste Pill Repository.

The light shining from the Blazing Sun Pearl illuminated the entire Waste Pill Repository.

The enormous repository was utterly empty.

"No way!"

Lu Chen cautiously entered the Waste Pill Repository.

"So that's it!"

Only then did he discover that the walls of the Waste Pill Repository contained rows of wall cabinets sealed with talismans.

No wonder no pill poison had surged out when he opened this Waste Pill Repository.

So the high-grade discarded pills had all been sealed inside the wall cabinets.

Lu Chen opened an empty wall cabinet.

Inside lay a jade talisman.

This jade talisman was used to seal the wall cabinet.

As long as the cabinet was closed and the jade talisman embedded into the indentation on it, the formation would activate and seal the cabinet.

Opening the cabinet was simple as well.

Remove the jade talisman, and the sealing formation would fail. Then one could open the cabinet and retrieve the discarded pills inside.

Lu Chen was about to place the jade box in his hand into the wall cabinet.

But he looked at the jade box in his hand.

Driven by curiosity, he gritted his teeth and carefully lifted the lid.

The jade box had only opened a narrow crack when the Spirit-Locking Talisman on it immediately failed.

Boom!

A sudden change erupted. The pill poison sealed within the box violently blasted open the lid and exploded from the jade box.

Pitch-black pill poison instantly engulfed Lu Chen and swallowed the entire Waste Pill Repository.

Lu Chen was greatly alarmed. Taking the brunt of it, he felt as though a thousand-pound hammer had smashed into him. He was sent flying backward, slammed heavily into the wall, then fell to the ground on one knee as his blood and qi churned violently inside him.

At that moment, the jade box fell to the ground with a crisp clatter, and the discarded pill inside rolled out.

The violent pill poison rushed straight out of the Waste Pill Repository.

Black vapors immediately surged into the sky where the Waste Pill Repository stood, and the winds and clouds changed color.

Formation patterns appeared one after another high in the sky. The Spirit-Locking Grand Formation activated, blocking the black pill-poison vapors that had burst forth.

"So he really couldn't resist opening the jade box... Lu Chen, Lu Chen, you brought this death upon yourself. Who can you blame?"

Jiang Yurou, the purple-clad young woman, stood on a mountain ridge outside the valley. When she saw the pill poison erupting from deep within the valley, her expression was somewhat complicated.

"This pill poison is something even Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators cannot withstand, much less Lu Chen at Qi Refining, First Layer. That fellow has finally died. Mm, I should return and tell Eldest Senior Sister the news, then have Pang Yong collect the corpse tomorrow morning."

As she spoke, the purple-clad young woman turned and left.

At this moment, the erupted pill poison filled every inch of space within Number Eighteen Waste-Pill Room.

Even the light of the Blazing Sun Pearl atop the Waste Pill Repository was obscured by the black poisonous fog.

The repository was pitch-black, so dark one could not see their hand before their face.

Lu Chen hurriedly held his breath.

But it was useless.

The pill poison was unimaginably potent, and it actually burrowed into his body through his pores.

The sensation was like countless red-hot silver needles stabbing simultaneously into every pore of his body.

In merely an instant, Lu Chen's skin turned black, while black pill-poison vapors seeped from his seven orifices.

The pill poison rapidly spread through his body, swiftly eroding his life force.

He could feel his life draining away at a frightening pace.

"Am I going to die...?"

Lu Chen was horrified. He was unwilling to accept it!

He had only just become a menial disciple assigned to guard the Waste Pill Repository, yet he was about to die.

His consciousness began to grow hazy.

Even in his dreams, Lu Chen could never have imagined that the discarded pill in the jade box would be so terrifying.

Curiosity really did kill the cat.

Who would have thought that on his very first day at the Waste Pill Repository, he would be driven into a desperate situation?

He did not want to die!

He regretted it so deeply his intestines turned green.

That inner sect senior sister had clearly warned him not to open the box.

Yet he had refused to listen.

He desperately tried to stay conscious, but his awareness still gradually sank into endless darkness.

Just as he felt he was about to die, his dantian suddenly grew hot.

A powerful suction force erupted from his dantian.

The terrifying pill poison that had invaded his body was unexpectedly drawn into his dantian in an unending stream by Devouring.

"It's the Yin-Yang Creation Cauldron..."

Lu Chen was overjoyed.

Struggling, he sat cross-legged on the ground.

Very quickly, all the pill poison in his body was drawn into the Yin-Yang Creation Cauldron, then refined into spiritual energy and fed back into his flesh.

"This..."

Lu Chen was both shocked and delighted. He had never imagined that the Yin-Yang Creation Cauldron possessed such a miraculous ability.

It could turn pill poison into spiritual energy, and it did not even consume Yin-Yang Essence.

This felt incredible!

He hastily circulated the Five-Element Qi Refining Art and began cultivating.

His body transformed into a bottomless black hole, endlessly Devouring the pill poison around him.

To him, this Waste Pill Repository was practically a blessed land and heavenly grotto.

More than half an hour later.

The pill poison within the Waste Pill Repository had actually been consumed by him almost completely through Devouring.

His body suddenly shook, as though something inside him had shattered. An immense power surged forth from within him.

Qi Refining, Fourth Level, which he had been unable to break through even after consuming a top-grade ninth-rank Spirit-Gathering Pill, had unexpectedly broken through at this moment.

His flesh, blood, tendons, and bones were further strengthened.

The vital energy within him was several times denser than before.

Within the Mud-Pill Palace between his brows, something seemed to be sprouting.

Lu Chen was overjoyed.

This was the key to his breakthrough into Qi Refining, Fifth Level.

Qi Refining, Fifth Level was a watershed. Cultivators who broke through to Qi Refining, Fifth Level could condense divine sense within the Mud-Pill Palace.

Using divine sense to draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth toward themselves would multiply the speed at which they refined spiritual energy, and their cultivation speed would multiply as well.

At this moment, Spirit-Concentrating Pills would play a crucial role.

He had Spirit-Concentrating Pills in his possession—three in total: one top-grade ninth-rank pill and two lower-grade ninth-rank pills.

But if he wanted to condense divine sense and break through to Qi Refining, Fifth Level, this little medicine would be nowhere near enough.

There was no rushing it!

He abruptly opened his eyes. It was as though two bolts of lightning flashed through the void; his gaze blazed like torches, and his senses of the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth grew even sharper.

He rose from the ground.

The pill poison around him had become very thin.

The jade box lay on the ground, and beside it rested a discarded pill wreathed in black vapor.

The discarded pill still contained an incomparably massive amount of pill poison.

"What a formidable discarded pill!"

Looking at the discarded pill on the ground, Lu Chen still felt lingering fear.

Without the Yin-Yang Creation Cauldron, he would have perished just now.

Wait!

Since the Yin-Yang Creation Cauldron could refine pill poison into spiritual energy, could it also refine demonic qi, death qi, demon qi, death qi, and all manner of negative vital energies into spiritual energy that could be refined and absorbed?

At this thought, Lu Chen's eyes immediately lit up.

The Yin-Yang Creation Cauldron truly seized the creations of heaven and earth.

Well, would he not know after finding a chance to test it?

At that thought, he could hardly wait to descend the mountain at once.

He stepped forward, picked up the jade box, carefully stored the discarded pill inside it, then placed it in the wall cabinet and sealed the cabinet with the jade talisman.

He was very curious what kind of pill this was.

Only by obtaining Yin-Yang Essence and reconstructing this pill could he learn what kind of pill it was.

"Down the mountain!"

Without hesitation, he walked out of the Waste Pill Repository, locked its main doors, turned, and left.

Night had already fallen.

No one would come to the Waste Pill Repository again.

Lu Chen returned to the small building. He needed to bring nothing with him; taking only his storage pouch, he quietly left the valley where the Waste Pill Repository stood.

Half an hour later, Lu Chen stood before the House of Ten Thousand Beauties wearing a bronze mask bought from a roadside stall.

At this moment, the great hall of the House of Ten Thousand Beauties was packed with people.

An auction was underway inside.

A Human-Demon Hybrid auction!