Precious Medicine!
In a secluded mountain stream.
Zhu Ping frowned and flicked off the pieces of snake meat that were stuck to the corner of his clothes.
Using the four strange flags Formation Art, he successfully killed several more demonic snakes that were trying to ambush him.
He then picked a [Blood Fuluo].
"Four more to go." Zhu Ping breathed a slight sigh of relief and carefully put away the sixth Blood Fuluo.
This place is damp and stuffy; staying here even a moment longer makes you feel uncomfortable.
As he was complaining in his heart, his gaze was drawn to a dark cave, several tens of meters high, on the side of the mountain stream.
With a slight twitch of the nose, an extremely strong fragrance of [Blood Fuluo] was detected.
It was far more mellow and intense than any flower he had ever collected from the outside world.
"Is it another trap set by those beasts?" A doubt flashed through Zhu Ping's mind. Having experienced so many times, he had gained experience.
After a moment's thought, he did not rush in.
Instead, they followed the same method again, summoning the four dark flags and setting them up near the cave entrance to form Formation Art of light, just in case.
He then took a deep breath, made a hand Method Formula, and carefully stepped into the dim cave.
Upon entering the cave, a strange fragrance immediately hits you, so strong it's almost overwhelming.
It smells like a century-old wine, so strong that it can even make you feel dizzy after smelling it for a while.
The cave was much larger than I had imagined, and the light was dim, with only a few mosses emitting a faint glow.
After walking less than a few dozen meters, the scene before him made Zhu Ping stop in his tracks.
An ancient altar, constructed from piled-up stones and seemingly rough yet subtly embodying a certain natural philosophy, suddenly appeared in the center of the cave.
On the front of the altar, a bright red mark, identical in form to [Blood Fuluo], is clearly imprinted!
What made Zhu Ping's expression change slightly was the murals with simple lines and profound artistic conception imprinted on the stone walls on both sides of the altar.
The mural's content is coherent and clear: a monk dressed in ancient robes respectfully presents a blooming [Blood Fuluo].
Place it at the mark at the top of the altar.
The next moment, the runes on the altar lit up, and rays of spiritual light wrapped around the Blood Fuluo as if they were alive, slowly dissolving and refining it, eventually turning it into a crystal clear, crimson droplet containing a vast amount of life essence.
The cultivator then drank the essence, and his body immediately radiated Spiritual Qi, his cultivation level visibly improving!
"This—" Zhu Ping narrowed his eyes slightly, his heart filled with unease.
"It seems that there were once cultivators in this Fuluo Prefecture."
This [Blood Fuluo] is a magical herb they deliberately cultivated.
However, some unknown event occurred later, causing this secret realm to be abandoned, and it was eventually salvaged by our Holy Sect.
His eyes gleamed as he strode quickly toward the altar.
At the top of the altar, around the blood-red mark, there were indeed some dried dark red traces and scattered petal fragments.
It has clearly been used recently.
"Those demonic snakes?" Zhu Ping instantly realized.
"These beasts must have discovered the altar's wondrous use, obtaining its essence through the sacrifice of the Blood Fuluo, which allowed them to refine their transverse bones and awaken their intelligence."
With that thought in mind, Zhu Ping no longer hesitated.
He flipped his hand and took out a [Blood Fuluo] he had just collected, in perfect condition, and carefully placed it on the blood-red mark in the center of the altar, as shown in the mural.
The moment Blood Fuluo made contact with the mark.
Metaphor!
The entire altar trembled slightly, and the seemingly chaotic stone patterns on it suddenly glowed with a soft and ancient light.
Threads of ethereal light, as fine as silk, emerged from all parts of the altar, as if they possessed a life of their own, precisely wrapping around the Blood Fuluo.
Zzzzz-·
A soft sound, like ice and snow melting, rang out.
Under Zhu Ping's unwavering gaze, the delicate Blood Fuluo began to soften and decompose at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The immense medicinal power contained within was forcibly extracted and purified by the spiritual light, transforming into wisps of crimson nitrogen and argon gas that converged towards the center of the altar.
Within a few breaths, the entire Blood Fuluo vanished completely.
Where it originally stood, a droplet about the size of a fingernail, perfectly round, with a deep, blood-red color like a diamond, and seemingly alive flowing inside, was suspended.
A unique fragrance, more than ten times stronger than before, instantly filled the air. Just by inhaling it, Zhu Ping felt his True Qi become more active.
Precious medicine!
Zhu Ping raised his hand and gathered the crimson droplet, brimming with vitality and a rich, exotic fragrance, into his palm, examining it closely for a moment.
He flipped his hand and took out a slender, pale gold poison-detecting needle from his Storage Bag.
The disciples of the Holy Sect are naturally suspicious, especially when traveling outside.
Such drug testing materials are almost standard equipment; food must be tasted before consumption.
He slowly inserted the golden needle into the drop of exquisite Blood Fuluo essence, holding his breath and observing intently.
After a short while, the gold needle retained its original pale gold color, showing no signs of turning red or anything unusual.
Zhu Ping's last shred of hesitation vanished instantly, and he could no longer restrain himself. He immediately tilted his head back and swallowed the drop of essence in his palm!
The droplet entered my throat, but instead of dissolving immediately, it felt like a warm, smooth jade bead, sinking straight into my Dantian lower abdomen).
Boom!
The next moment, a pure and powerful medicinal force, far exceeding expectations, suddenly erupted, like a warm torrent instantly sweeping through the body.
Every acupoint and every meridian greedily absorbed this sudden surge of immense energy.
The True Qi originally required a lot of time and effort to accumulate and refine.
At this moment, it became fuller and more concentrated at a speed visible to the naked eye!
"Call-"
Zhu Ping exhaled a long breath of white vapor carrying a rich medicinal aroma.
Feeling his cultivation level had clearly increased and was almost touching the threshold of the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, he was overjoyed and could hardly contain himself.
"The potency of this precious medicine is so formidable; just one drop is enough to equal the effects of three months of arduous cultivation."
Having discovered the immense value of this altar, Zhu Ping no longer hesitated and quickly took out all the remaining Blood Fuluo from his body, placing them one by one on the altar for extraction.
The altar lit up with a soft light time and time again, transforming the Blood Fuluo into pure crimson droplets.
Zhu Ping swallowed the five drops of the newly acquired precious medicine without hesitation.
The massive medicinal power accumulated and surged within his body, causing his aura to rise uncontrollably, like a surging tide.
His eyes shone brightly, with a tiny glint of light leaping from their sockets.
Because it couldn't fully absorb the essence in time, wisps of pure energy leaked out from its seven orifices, making it appear extremely miraculous!
At this moment, everything, including every detail of the altar's operation, was "seen" by a tiny, almost invisible dried paper crane on the cave wall.
"So this Blood Fuluo needs to be extracted through this ancient altar to unleash its true power?" Having seen everything through the Thousand Paper Cranes' vision, a glimmer of understanding flashed in Qi Yun's eyes.
"I wondered why those demonic snakes were suddenly able to gain sentience."
If they were to simply ingest it, given their physical bodies and refining abilities, they wouldn't be able to absorb much of the medicinal power, let alone refine their transverse bones.
Now that he knew the Liaozheng usage, Qi Yun immediately set off, riding the skull futon, and flew straight to another cave not far away that he had discovered during his previous exploration, but whose purpose he could not identify due to the weathering of the murals.
Such extraction altars appear to be not isolated cases in Fuluo Prefecture.
Compared to the one Zhu Ping discovered, the one Qi Yun was facing was much older.
The murals on the surrounding stone walls have long been blurred and illegible due to erosion over time, making it difficult to discern their specific content.
However, the structure of the altar itself is exactly the same as the blood-red mark in the center.
Qi Yun arrived at the altar and, without any probing, directly waved his hand and took out more than ten delicate and vibrant Blood Fuluo.
Compared to Zhu Ping's meager reserves, his resources were considerably greater, having directly destroyed the Snake Swamp's lair.
Metaphor!
The altar was activated, ancient array patterns flowed, and spiritual light coiled upwards, simultaneously extracting the dozen or so Blood Fuluo.
The immense medicinal power was forcibly extracted and condensed, eventually transforming above the altar into a precious medicinal essence the size of a walnut, with a deep, blood-red color and flowing internal radiance.
The energy fluctuations it emitted far exceeded those of the single drop that Zhu Ping had consumed!
After taking the precious medicine, Qi Yun did not rush to consume it.
Instead, following custom, they first cautiously used the [Blood-Guided Profound Mysteries] technique to deduce the auspicious or inauspicious fortune of taking the medicine.
After confirming that the condition was stable, he reached out and took the heavy, precious medicine.
The precious medicine entered the mouth and slowly sank into the depths of the Dantian.
The next moment -
Boom!
It felt like a volcano erupting inside my body.
A torrent of medicinal power, far purer and more vast than what Zhu Ping had endured, surged through his meridians like a bursting dam.
The "Innate One Nothingness Heart Method" operates autonomously and frantically, efficiently guiding and refining this enormous energy.
Under the frenzied infusion of this power, Qi Yun clearly felt that the nascent "True Essence" in his dantian, which originally needed to be accumulated slowly, was beginning to condense and grow at an astonishing speed.
In a short while, a wisp of True Essence, extremely refined and shimmering with Innate luster, about the thickness of a chopstick, slowly formed and swirled within his Dantian.
The significant increase in his cultivation level caused Qi Yun's lips to unconsciously curl into a smile, which he then quickly suppressed.
Something's not right.
Unaffected by the joy of his improved cultivation, Qi Yun silently rubbed his fingertips as he reflected on everything since entering Fuluo Prefecture.
That's too easy.
Yes, it's just too easy.
Compared to the previous two examinations, this one was not only simpler and more straightforward in its content, but even the venue itself exuded a sense of laziness.
Although the number of demonic snakes here is enormous, if they were to be surrounded, it would still be easy for casualties to occur.
In reality, although the serpents here are intelligent, they are not very intelligent. Apart from setting some simple traps, they prefer to drive outsiders away rather than surround and kill them.
Given the Holy Sect's past practices, it shouldn't have set up such a simple test, "Unless the Holy Sect wanted to replenish its forces to deal with the counterattack from the three sects that had been tricked."
This examination was actually just an excuse to improve the strength of the Outer Mansion disciples.
On the surface, this could be seen as compensation for the Battle of Peach Garden.
He won over the hearts of the Outer Mansion retainers.
On the other hand, it also enhanced the strength of the Outer Mansion disciples, so they could be kept for future use.
Having vaguely guessed the shady dealings in this examination, Qi Yun slightly curled his lip.
The Holy Sect is indeed still the same Holy Sect.
Having just tricked outsiders, they immediately set their sights on their own disciples.