From Cocoon to Butterfly

"Preserved through tens of millions of years, from the Mythological Era to the present... this must be an Inherited Saint Weapon at the very least."

Seeing the furnace in the center of the hall, Lu Chen immediately knew it was a precious treasure. Only an Inherited Saint Weapon forged from rare divine materials could endure alongside the world, weathering the ages without decaying.

"But I can't even lift a sacred furnace this big." This left Lu Chen in a bind. He had yet to begin cultivating and had no magical power, so putting the sacred furnace away was utterly impossible.

"Forget it. I'll see whether there are any pills inside. This furnace must have been used for pill refining."

This section of the Heavenly Palace ruins had been devoted to refining pills and forging artifacts, and almost all the furnaces here had been used to refine pills and medicines.

Setting his backpack aside, Lu Chen gripped the furnace lid with both hands and tested its weight. Even the lid felt as though it weighed a thousand jin.

"Good thing it doesn't weigh over ten thousand jin like the Divine Mark Purple Gold, or I really would be helpless this time."

He drew a deep breath, heaved the lid up a little, then dragged it off the furnace.

Whoosh!

A nine-colored radiance surged out of the furnace, dazzling and brilliant, like a strand of divine splendor drawn from heaven and earth. An incomparably rich medicinal fragrance accompanied it. Just one whiff made Lu Chen feel as though he might shed his mortal form and soar into immortality.

"There really is a treasure pill!"

He stared fixedly at the furnace opening. A fist-sized pill slowly emerged, its shape peculiar, resembling a little person sitting with its knees drawn to its chest. Nine-colored divine clouds wreathed it, and its medicinal fragrance was even richer than that of the Sacred Fruit in the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.

"What kind of pill is this? Why is it human-shaped? Could it be a Nine-Turn Immortal Pill?"

As far as Lu Chen knew, the Nine-Turn Immortal Pill was made using the fruit of a human-shaped immortal herb as its principal ingredient, supplemented by countless divine substances, and finally refined through Emperor Zun's heaven-defying methods.

It could grant Ancient Emperors and Great Emperors another lifetime, even after they had already consumed medicine kings, Immortal Divine Medicine, and other divine life-extending substances.

In other words, possessing one Immortal Divine Medicine and one Nine-Turn Immortal Pill was enough to let someone live three lifetimes-even an Ancient Emperor or a Great Emperor.

Beyond that, even Supremes who had severed their own cultivation and were clinging to life in the forbidden zones could consume a Nine-Turn Immortal Pill, regain their peak condition, and live another two thousand years.

This was also the secret behind the legends of several emperors coexisting during the Mythological Era. Emperor Zun had used Nine-Turn Immortal Pills to extend several Forbidden Zone Supremes' lives by two thousand years, allowing them to remain at their imperial peak.

It was a precious pill of the Great Dao that Emperor Zun had refined specifically for emperor-level figures.

Aside from emperor-level experts, over tens of millions of years, only the Holy Emperor's son's future wife-the six-eared macaque who had grown up in Heavenly Venerable Lingbao's Life Spring-had ever eaten a complete Nine-Turn Immortal Pill.

Besides her, Mountain Phoenix, a Quasi-Emperor whom Tathagata had suppressed in the eighteen levels of hell, had also received such an opportunity.

He had originally been nothing more than an ordinary rooster, but after accidentally entering the ruins of a cave abode and finding a fragment of a Nine-Turn Immortal Pill, he had gained intelligence and embarked on the path of immortal cultivation. From there, he had soared straight into the azure clouds, becoming a Quasi-Emperor who could roam the universe unhindered.

Then there was Ye Fan's classmate Wang Ziwen, who had found fragments of a Nine-Turn Immortal Pill in the Heavenly Palace ruins outside the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land. With them, he had laid the foundation for his cultivation, married a Great Sage's daughter, and later reached the peak of the Great Sage realm himself.

Aside from them, the royal clans of the Eternal Star Domain, the Undying Heavenly Empress, and others had also obtained remnants of the immortal pills.

Looking at the nine-colored, human-shaped immortal pill hovering in the air, Lu Chen felt even more excited than when he had obtained the Divine Mark Purple Gold.

Judging by Mountain Phoenix's experience and those of the others, the Nine-Turn Immortal Pill truly was a heaven-defying treasure medicine. Even a rooster inferior to an ordinary human could become a Quasi-Emperor after eating it.

If the pill before Lu Chen really was a Nine-Turn Immortal Pill, consuming it would be enough to establish a supreme foundation in the Dao and give him the potential to rival an emperor's son. Proving his Dao and aspiring to immortality would no longer be a dream!

He seized the fist-sized, human-shaped treasure pill, and nine-colored light spread across his palm. Before he had even swallowed it, he felt every pore absorbing its medicinal essence, as though his entire body and soul were being elevated.

"It shines with nine-colored divine radiance, has a human form, and was found in the Ancient Heavenly Court. It's most likely a Nine-Turn Immortal Pill refined by Emperor Zun. Even if it isn't an immortal pill, it's still an unparalleled treasure medicine."

Drawing a deep breath, Lu Chen ate the nine-colored, human-shaped pill in a few bites. The next instant, it was as though a multicolored sun had appeared inside him, and every pore of his body began spraying nine-colored immortal light.

His body actually began to rise slowly from the ground, floating into the air as though he were about to ascend to immortality amid radiant clouds.

In just a few breaths, the nine-colored divine radiance reached its utmost brilliance and enveloped him completely. Then it solidified into a nine-colored cocoon of light, suspended in the center of the vast palace, as though nurturing an immortal spirit.

Time drifted on. The sun of the Big Dipper Ancient Star rose in the east and set in the west, day after day, repeating its cycle until a month had passed.

Ye Fan and the others, who had been brought to Big Dipper by the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin, had gone through a series of twists and turns before joining the Yan Kingdom's six great grotto-heavens and blessed lands, each setting out on their path toward immortality.

At Spirit Ruins Paradise, on a low hill with only a few thatched huts, Ye Fan and Pang Bo were undergoing a heart-tempering journey of vegetarian meals.

"Ye Fan, what do you think that Lu Chen's background was-the one who suddenly appeared on Mars? How did he disappear in the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land?" Pang Bo sat in front of a thatched hut and asked casually.

"No idea!" Ye Fan shook his head. "But I always felt there was something strange about his appearance. It wasn't as simple as he made it sound when he introduced himself."

"If he's still alive, perhaps we'll see him again someday. Maybe he knows something about why we crossed the starry sky," Pang Bo said.

"The way back to Earth..." Ye Fan's gaze grew hazy as he thought of his parents back home, who had lost their only son.

Outside the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land, within a vast palace in the Heavenly Court Ruins, the nine-colored cocoon of light that had remained solid for a month finally stirred.

Crack.

A faint cracking sound rang out, and fissures spread across the immortal cocoon's surface. Like shattering glass, it broke into countless tiny crystalline fragments, which turned to light and vanished within the palace.

After being nurtured within the luminous cocoon for a month, Lu Chen emerged like a butterfly from its chrysalis. From his flesh to his soul, he had undergone the ultimate transformation and been utterly reborn.

His figure was now tall and slender, his skin translucent as divine jade, and his eyes like stars. His face seemed a perfect masterpiece of heaven, peerlessly handsome, like an immortal spirit descending into the mortal world.

He slowly descended from the air. His once-short hair had grown long, drifting gently around him as he floated down.

"It really was a Nine-Turn Immortal Pill." Lu Chen felt an incomparable power within his body, as though a single punch could shatter the earth and tear apart space.

Of course, this was merely an illusion brought on by the explosive growth of his newfound strength after his complete transformation.

Yet his life essence had already grown unimaginably rich. With a suitable cultivation method, he could swiftly unleash his supreme potential and soar straight into the nine heavens.