Bad news from the cultivation world

Moved.

There was true kindness in the cultivation world. There was true love!

"Don't worry, Senior. I'll take care of myself."

Chen Zhuo nodded solemnly, then said, "Don't worry, Senior! I won't sell anyone else's medicine—only yours! In a few days, you can buy medicine cheap on the outside, and I'll sell it for you. We'll get on the same page, throw a one-two punch, and make a fortune!"

Go out and buy the medicine himself?

Too much trouble!

Better to leave it to Senior Sijing.

If the Immortal Estate launched some "special crackdown on counterfeit medicine," he would be an easy target for its iron fist if he was running around in the middle of it. They would brand him a "counterfeit medicine dealer."

Better to let Senior handle it. With the medicine passing through her hands, even if they arrested him, the best lawyer he could hire might shave years off his sentence—or even get him acquitted.

Besides, he wouldn't have handled the purchases or bought large quantities from different people. Without a complete chain of evidence, they could at most classify him as a buyer, not a "counterfeit medicine dealer"!

As long as no Nascent Soul True Lords or Golden Core True Persons stepped in to crush him, the Immortal Estate still followed the law!

Hearing Chen Zhuo's promise, Senior Sijing was moved too.

She nodded at once and looked at him with her bright Ming eyes. "A partnership of powerhouses!"

"A partnership of powerhouses!"

"..."

The WeChat business meeting of the One Heart Society, this illegal underground medicine-selling club, soon concluded successfully.

Senior Sijing and Chen Zhuo formally said goodbye.

Senior Sijing had a dinner engagement later, so she didn't say much more to him. Chen Zhuo had injections on his mind and naturally had no intention of staying for dinner. After saying goodbye, he returned to his Cave Abode.

"Ah, the Azure Dragon."

Looking at the blue-green medicine, Chen Zhuo was eager to try it.

But he wasn't reckless enough to inject it straight into a vein. He opened his Spirit Message Jade Slip first and found a popular blogger's video about injecting it.

He discovered that most of these bloggers were cultivators at the Qi Refinement Peak, injecting the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin.

All nine in one go.

Unbelievable.

He opened a random video, and comments immediately floated past: "Rest in peace," "Changing careers to Soul Cultivator," and "Signed the contract to sell his body to the Daluo Domain."

A quick search explained it.

The blogger had overdone the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin a few months earlier and died. "Uh..."

"Uh..."

Chen Zhuo didn't know what to say.

"Was the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin really that dangerous?"

He checked several more videos. Without exception, the bloggers had met the same fate.

Almost all were bloggers who had injected the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin within the past six months or so and died when their bodies burst apart.

The lucky ones had left intact corpses. They'd signed contracts with demonic enterprises in the Daluo Domain, selling their bodies for sects like the Corpse Puppet Sect to use.

The unlucky ones had exploded into clouds of blood.

The survival rate was abysmal.

"Surely it's not that bad."

Chen Zhuo muttered to himself, his heart thudding.

On closer inspection, though, these bloggers all had one thing in common.

They were at the Qi Refinement Peak.

They couldn't afford a Foundation Establishment Injection or Meridian-Protecting Medicine, and they hadn't bought a Foundation Establishment Spirit Object. All they could do was hope the immense Spiritual Qi from the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin would help them break through to Foundation Establishment.

But under those circumstances, their chance of success was less than five percent.

In other words, only one in twenty people who tried it would succeed.

That was terrifying.

"Isn't there a guide for beginners?"

Chen Zhuo searched with a headache for a while, then realized what was wrong. He immediately spent thirty Spirit Coins on a video-site membership.

The good content appeared in his recommendations at once.

"Damn capitalists. The bloggers uploaded these videos themselves, but they still won't let me watch without paying?"

Chen Zhuo felt weary, but he clicked on the most-viewed video anyway.

"Bad news from the cultivation world. Chang Youche, a prospective graduate of the Sparse Star Swordsmanship Vocational School in the Taiqing Domain and an eleventh-level Qi Refinement cultivator, overdosed on the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin. His meridians tragically ruptured. He was thirty-six..."

No one appeared on camera. The video simply recounted a case, almost like an investigative report.

After explaining the violent properties of the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin, it moved on to how to safely inject its first six medicines at a gentler pace.

In fact, all nine medicines of the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin were useful. Injected correctly, they caused no problems. The trouble was that they were relatively cheap. To many Late Qi Refinement cultivators and cultivators at the Qi Refinement Peak with no Immortal Dao Potential, they looked like a golden opportunity.

There was a little risk, but if their bodies burst apart, couldn't they just become Soul Cultivators? The Yuqing Domain and Daluo Domain had recently begun cooperating, and there were plenty of projects for Soul Cultivators to work on. Soul Cultivators could still reach the Foundation Establishment Realm.

It was just...

There were quite a few restrictions. No big deal.

And if they were the one in twenty who succeeded, they would become a bona fide Foundation Establishment Cultivator!

The difference in how they were treated would be like heaven and earth.

There had been even more of them over the past two or three centuries.

The reason was simple.

More than five hundred years ago, when the Immortal Estate was short on resources, anyone who wanted to break through—to Foundation Establishment or Core Formation, for example—had to prove themselves to the Immortal Estate. They needed, at minimum, a Foundation Establishment Certificate or Core Formation Certificate issued by it before they could advance.

Otherwise, it was unlicensed Foundation Establishment or unlicensed Core Formation!

But five hundred years ago, the Immortal Estate had discovered a new world within the Star Realm.

A great immortal war for possession of that world had begun.

The Immortal Estate had led the assault.

It had even fought its way into that world and plundered vast quantities of resources.

With resources plentiful, Foundation Establishment Certificates and Core Formation Certificates had been swept into history's dustbin, to be brought back only when resources grew scarce again.

And so, under these circumstances,

many cultivators died on the road to Foundation Establishment, their bodies bursting from the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin.

This was the best of times, after all. Without a Foundation Establishment Certificate holding them back, who wouldn't want to take a shot at Foundation Establishment?

"The Azure Dragon is the first dragon of the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin. This spiritual medicine is chiefly known for its gentle properties. You can take one slow-release tablet a day without worry. The injectable version poses little problem either. After injecting it, Late Qi Refinement cultivators need only circulate their cultivation normally."

"Middle Qi Refinement cultivators will feel a burning sensation in their meridians. Don't worry. The Spiritual Qi is too strong for them to adjust to immediately. They need to harmonize the Spiritual Qi inside and outside their bodies, preferably by renting a Spirit-Gathering Room..."

The video continued to play as Chen Zhuo studied intently.

Once he had thoroughly learned every point, Chen Zhuo deftly activated the World-Breaking Pearl. Black light flashed, and he arrived at his Cave Abode in Cloudford Market City.

The moment he arrived in Cloudford Market City, Chen Zhuo couldn't help drawing a long breath.

"Ah, that's good!"

Every visit felt like finding a toilet when he had diarrhea.

The Spiritual Qi here was so abundant that he never wanted to leave.

After taking a moment to savor it, Chen Zhuo rolled up his sleeve without hesitation and tied off his arm with the tube supplied with the medicine.

The setup looked strikingly familiar. Chen Zhuo went through the motions with practiced ease.

He lined the Needle up with a vein in his arm and jabbed it in.

The Needle pierced his skin!

Chen Zhuo slowly pressed the plunger, sending the blue-green medicine into his body bit by bit.

At first, nothing happened. He felt only a cool sensation.

Then a wave of scorching heat swept through him.

"Yahoo!"

Chen Zhuo couldn't help whooping. His eyes were slightly bloodshot. "This stuff is pure. What a kick!"

After that burst of excitement, Chen Zhuo knew exactly what to do. He sat cross-legged and circulated the Myriad Woods Bow to Origin Skill with all his might!

I've spent so much Immortal Dao Potential! Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, come to me!