Blood Foundation Pill

Before noon, the Jingshen City, built by the Pingrong Shi Household, was eerily quiet. The once bustling city was now so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

A gray squirrel scurried out of the underground river, cautiously peeking its head out.

At first glance, the ground was covered in fresh meat!

It was overjoyed and had only stretched out half its body when suddenly it was darkened, and a cloud-patterned shoe gently descended from above.

With a "splat," the owner of the cloud-patterned shoes didn't care that the splash of liquid from his feet had stained his long trousers. He looked up at the scene in the city.

Half of the Shi Household family members in the city were dead, and most had fled. Only he remained, a withered old man, hunched over, standing in front of the city gate.

Before him was a large, boiling cauldron. The old man's eyes were silent. In his right hand, he held a leg bone of a young girl, refined to be as white as jade, and stirred it evenly in the viscous liquid in the cauldron.

The sound of water being stirred continuously reached his ears, sometimes unpleasant, sometimes pleasant.

He's 110 years old, about to die, and hasn't lived enough.

The deathly aura in his eyes suddenly lessened, and he looked down at the liquid in the cauldron, as if searching for something.

Here are his great-grandson who dares to grab his beard and laugh heartily, his two beautiful and refined daughters, his capable and responsible sons, and his cousins whom he has supported since childhood.

He tried to distinguish them one by one from the foul-smelling liquid, but how could he possibly do so?

The agonizing screams and incredulous gazes of his dying relatives flashed through his mind again. He quickly closed his eyes in fright, then suddenly opened them again. "What else do I have to fear?"

He looked at the Jingshen City again; it wasn't like this when she was a child, it was very dilapidated.

Back then, the filthy streets were littered with the corpses of the starving, and the sewage-filled drains were teeming with the bodies torn apart by rats.

Her former master was not from the Shi Household; he himself joined the Grass Witch Cult and led his people to take her back.

Over the past few decades, they have devoted themselves to building her into a prosperous city that surpasses even Pingrong County.

The Shi Household family could live in peace and prosperity here, multiplying and thriving. They could live a wealthy and comfortable life, and they revered themselves as gods.

Suddenly, he froze, his hand pausing as he stirred the liquid. Two turbid tears slid down his face, which was crisscrossed with ditch lines, and dripped onto the bone stick, leaving two water streaks before falling into the boiling cauldron.

They failed to create any ripples; after only a moment, the sound of churning water resumed.

Shi Li's eyes were slightly red, but he seemed to have regained some of his spirit. After a long while, he murmured, "Don't blame me, I just want to live."

The wind died down, making the old man seem even more lonely.

The sun sets, the moon shines brightly, and the stars are few.

A white-faced, long-bearded Daoist priest walked in through the city gate. His eyebrows were raised, and he bowed to Shi Li before rising and sighing softly, "Senior Brother Shi, you've gotten yourself into a very big mess."

"Ahem, Master, you've arrived. I knew you'd come." Shi Li's eyes seemed to brighten slightly upon hearing the voice behind him.

Shi Li gave a bitter laugh, coughed up blood, but continued working on his hands.

Even at this point, he didn't look up, his back to the person who came, his gaze never leaving the large cauldron in front of him, as if he wanted to stick his eyes to the vortex inside the cauldron.

Shi Li's two gray eyes swirled around in the vortex. The old man muttered something, and finally, as if he had finished counting, he took the leg bone and stirred it violently one last time.

After finishing all that, Shi Li finally turned around, and upon seeing the person who had come, the smile on his lips disappeared.

His voice became even more hoarse and unpleasant, but as soon as he spoke, the newcomer pricked up his ears, not wanting to miss a single word.

Shi Li scoffed, "Junior Brother Chen, your talent is indeed far superior to mine. You became the sect leader and reached the Qi Refinement Ninth Layer at fifty. But what good is the Qi Refinement Ninth Layer at fifty? You're still riddled with hidden injuries and will never be able to Foundation Establishment in this lifetime."

"Senior brother, don't make a mistake. Come with me to the governor to apologize. He should still consider the reputation of our Grass Witch Cult."

Unable to hear what he wanted to hear, Chen Ye had to suppress the excitement in his heart and then gently persuaded him.

"Junior brother, look at the scene before you. At this moment, let alone the governor, even if the governor of Shannan Circuit were to come in person, do you think there's anything I, your senior brother, would be afraid of?" Shi Li chuckled, drool involuntarily dripping from the corner of his mouth, his gaze becoming slightly manic.

He himself had almost wiped out his entire clan. What did the crime of exterminating his clan matter? Could the governor possibly bring his Shi Household family members back to life and kill them all again?

"Senior brother, the governor has ordered me to arrest you. You should stop now." Chen Ye took another step closer.

"Look, this is the tragedy of failing to reach the Foundation Establishment. If someone in our sect had reached the Foundation Establishment, how would Huo Bing, a piece of trash who has been lingering in the Foundation Establishment Early Stage over a hundred years, dare to show off in front of our sect?"

Shi Li sighed, no longer wanting to pay attention to Chen Ye, and turned his gaze back to the boiling, viscous liquid in the pot.

After looking at it for a while, a wry smile finally appeared on his face, "It's still lacking in some aspects."

First, they slaughtered all their direct descendants, including their sons, daughters, and grandchildren, and then used their blood, flesh, and marrow to refine precious medicines.

Halfway through the practice, he felt the medicinal power was insufficient, so he killed a collateral descendant from his younger brother's lineage and continued the practice, but the medicinal power was still somewhat lacking.

Shi Feng's ancestors were outsiders who changed their surname and were not accepted into medicine.

Shi Li had no choice but to select mortals from his clan with slightly less turbid energy to refine the medicine; originally, killing one or two thousand people would have been enough.

Unexpectedly, as he continued killing, a demon arose within him. "Why? Why am I about to die, while you... you have so much better life ahead of you?"

"Why? Why?! This entire Shi Household family has been under my protection for decades. Even if I wanted to kill you, you should have committed suicide by cutting your own throats. Why did you run away?! What right do you have to run away!"

Once they couldn't stop, a bloodbath ensued. The medicine in the cauldron was potent enough, but it had lost its purity and became too mixed.

If there were a fellow cultivator with higher cultivation level nearby, Shi Li could kill him and extract his Essence Blood from his heart, tongue, and nose, then there would be a 20% chance of successfully refining it.

Unfortunately, Shi Xiao never returned. They didn't even know if the good-for-nothing they'd sent out to deliver the message had made it to Zither Leaf Forest alive.

"I destroyed my family and clan, and yet I still couldn't succeed?"

Shi Li's magic spells changed several times, and a demonic pattern appeared in the center of the liquid vortex in the cauldron, swirling and releasing large amounts of steam. A strong stench began to permeate the entire city.

Several more breaths passed, and the liquid in the cauldron condensed into a dark pill, no bigger than a finger joint, emanating an eerie aura.

Shi Li seemed to have found a rare treasure, carefully holding and examining the pill filled with endless resentment in his hands.

"What a pity." Even Chen Ye, who had been watching intently the whole time, sighed.

"Master obtained the Blood Foundation Pill manuscript from a high-level cultivator's residence. Although it was merely a brilliant idea from that cultivator, and no one had ever successfully refined this pill to Foundation Establishment, according to the cultivator's calculations, if it were truly refined, there would be at least a 40% chance of Foundation Establishment, making it even stronger than the Foundation Establishment Pill. Master was just one step away back then, but unfortunately, my senior brother was also short of it."

"I can't do it, I can't. I'm too old, my Qi and Blood are utterly depleted. Even if I succeed in the refinement, the chance of successfully Foundation Establishment is probably only 50%. It's laughable that I would still resolutely destroy my entire Shi Household family for such a 50% chance."

Shi Li said this, but there was no sign of frustration on his face.

He had already considered the stakes before he turned against his Lineage. Yet he did it anyway, knowing full well that failure was almost certain.

This is the obsession with becoming an immortal; who can truly let go of it? At least Shi Li couldn't.

"Junior brother, you have clearly seen my technique for condensing the core, haven't you?"

Thank you to Brother Azu for the 100-point reward!

Thanks to the loving mother, I, you, and I, the two brothers, for giving me a monthly ticket.

(This chapter was a bit difficult to write; I'll post the second chapter as soon as possible.)

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