Chapter 146: Returning to the Origin

"Brother Wuyou, as the few of us have journeyed all this way, why haven't we run into Yang Fengge and the others?" Yun Fan asked with a cheeky grin. "Which level do you think they are on? If they truly cross paths with us, do you think they'll try to rob us of our belongings...? Still, knowing how the arrogant little brat Yang Fengge acts, if he bumps into us, I'm afraid he'll make a move against us all the same."

As Yun Fan spoke, he even glanced up toward the top of Che Wuyou's head, where those large, purplish-red characters dazzlingly caught his eye. "Three hundred kilograms of medium-grade elemental stones"—it was truly a massive fortune. Yun Fan could not help but picture himself squandering such wealth in the future, his eyes sparkling with little stars. Coming to the Qingchi realm this time really wasn't a bad idea at all.

"Aren't you quite the fortune-teller? Why don't you divine where he actually is, on which level? And while you're at it, calculate whether he'll try to attack you and rob you of your treasures," Che Wuyou said coldly, looking down on Yun Fan as if he were utterly hopeless.

Che Wuyou held profound respect for Yun Fan's true combat prowess. By his estimation, this fellow could practically sweep through anyone below the Core Formation realm. Yet despite such formidable strength, he was scared to death of Yang Fengge. This made Che Wuyou deeply disdainful. Wasn't Yang Fengge merely human, just like anyone else? Didn't he lack a core as well? Why was this guy so apprehensive of him? It was truly incomprehensible.

"Ugh..." Yun Fan rolled his eyes and said, "You think divination is that easy? Besides, the human heart is the most unfathomable thing in existence; how am I supposed to divine something like that? However, my guess is that if Yang Fengge and the others aren't on the ninth level, they must be on the tenth. I can sense powerful treasures on both of those levels, so the top experts should all be gathered there."

"Then let's go. We can just take advantage of their presence to strip them of everything they have. That way, we won't have to waste time searching all over the place, and since these people are all undoubtedly wealthy, we can settle our fortunes once and for all." Thinking about this, Che Wuyou's tone toward Yun Fan seemed to lose its previous chill. If they could really loot that many treasures, then even if Yun Fan were stingy, he himself could still secure a very valuable share in the end.

"What?" Hearing Che Wuyou's words, Yun Fan nearly jumped in shock. Robbing all those people—only someone like Che Wuyou would dare to dream of such a thing. "Do you even know who those people are? They are all top-tier experts! If we run into them, there's no telling who will be robbing whom. Besides, Yang Fengge is up there as well, and when it comes to him, I haven't got the slightest bit of confidence."

"Heh, you really are terrified of Yang Fengge, aren't you? Fine then, even if we don't rob Yang Fengge, what about robbing everyone except him? That should be fine, right?"

"No way, absolutely not!" To Che Wuyou's surprise, Yun Fan shook his head with absolute determination. "Do you know Ye Xuan? She is a direct descendant of the Ye family! Do you know what the Ye family excels at the most...? Didn't think of that, did you? It's the 'Fallen Leaf Divine Palm'! Who knows what level Ye Xuan has reached with her Fallen Leaf Divine Palm? What if she catches me off guard and hits me with that? Wouldn't I be done for?"

"Well, aside from Yang Fengge and Ye Xuan, robbing the others should be fine, right?" This time, the question didn't come from Che Wuyou, but from Zhang Qing'er, who had silently followed behind the two of them all along, observing their behavior and rarely speaking up.

"Ugh..." Yun Fan and Che Wuyou turned to look at Zhang Qing'er simultaneously. Since when had this young maiden become so enthusiastic about pillaging? Seeing them both staring at her, Zhang Qing'er felt her pretty face flush slightly, but she immediately glared at Yun Fan and demanded, "What? Could it be that you're afraid of the rest of them too? What a coward."

"Er..." Yun Fan spread his hands helplessly. "It's not about being afraid or not afraid; it's just that the Qingchi Yang clan is immensely powerful, and Yang Shi and Yang Qi are the shining paragons of the younger generation within the family. If we dare to make a move against them, we won't even know how we died."

"Hmph, when all is said and throwing excuses around, you're still scared to death," Zhang Qing'er snorted.

Ignoring her, Yun Fan turned hastily to Che Wuyou and said, "Brother Wuyou, why don't we hurry up and boost our strength right now? Let's see how many herbs are left in the cosmos sack and what kind of pills we can refine from them. We should refine all the herbs into medicinal pills. Not only will this increase our personal strength, but if we happen to run into some ferocious character and they end up robbing our cosmos sack, it'll at least minimize our losses, won't it?"

Yun Fan spoke with smug satisfaction, completely oblivious to Che Wuyou's darkening expression. This fellow actually thought refining pills was that simple! To evade powerful enemies, he wanted to turn all their medicinal herbs into pills on the spot—it really took someone of Yun Fan's caliber to even think of such nonsense, let alone say it aloud.

"Do you have any idea how much mental energy refining pills requires? And the failure rate for continuous refining is extremely high! Do you know nothing about this? Besides, deciding which pills to refine requires careful advance planning, otherwise you'll just waste a ton of herbs and end up with pills you don't even need. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Yun Fan replied stubbornly, nodding repeatedly even as Che Wuyou fumed. "I understand everything you just said, so you can start planning right away and figure out which pills I need the most... Don't look at me like that, the worst that can happen is I'll offer you a bigger reward."

After talking himself hoarse, Che Wuyou realized he had been wasting his breath. Finally, under Yun Fan's repeated urgings and the promise of numerous benefits, Che Wuyou reluctantly agreed. However, given the current circumstances—lacking a pill cauldron and relying on substitute ingredients for many of the auxiliary components—the process would inevitably waste a significant amount of medicinal materials, which naturally pained Che Wuyou quite a bit.

Even so, Che Wuyou did not refine pills for Yun Fan first. Instead, he refined two Return to Void pills, keeping one for himself and giving the other to Zhang Qing'er. Ordinarily, the Return to Void pill was meant for cultivators at or above the Return to Origin realm. However, because of Che Wuyou's profound foundation and unique physique, taking the pill posed no danger to him. On the contrary, he successfully advanced into the Return to Origin realm by harnessing its potent medicinal power.

Watching the true qi within his purple mansion slowly condense into a tiny liquid droplet, Che Wuyou allowed a faint smile to touch his lips. Had he not absorbed the Essence of Earth Fire and refined his primordial essence to an extremely pure state, the Return to Origin realm might have been a formidable barrier, requiring a decade, two decades, or even longer to break through.

Apart from the purification of his true qi by the Earth Fire Essence, his purple mansion also seemed somewhat different from those of others. Although Che Wuyou had never witnessed anyone else's purple mansion, descriptions in texts suggested that his was significantly larger, which might be one of the reasons he was able to transition into the Return to Origin realm so smoothly.

Remembering that the expansion of his purple mansion was largely thanks to the Deficiency-Mending Pill and the Heavenly Demon Pill, Che Wuyou felt a wave of lingering anxiety in his heart. The Deficiency-Mending Pill was one thing, but the Heavenly Demon Pill remained a thorn in his side. Although days had passed without any abnormal occurrences from it, to Che Wuyou, it was forever a ticking time bomb that might detonate at any moment, tearing him apart completely.