Chapter Eighty-Four: Destroying the Elixir

The Qingchi Sword Sect’s chief instructor just sent word that they are now less than a thousand miles from here. Everyone, be careful. When he arrives, we must do everything in our power to hold back that demon, Li Ruohan. If he sees the situation turning against him, he may destroy the Spirit-Replenishing Pill. Do you all understand? Xie Changfeng secretly sent this warning to the people of the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect.

Understood. We will never let that fiend run wild.

Very well.

The members of the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect exchanged glances and gave slight nods. If the six great elders of Heavenly Mountain could gather together and still fail to stop the gravely wounded Li Ruohan, then not only would they have no explanation to give the people of the Qingchi Sword Sect, they would also have none to give to their own chief instructor, Bai Moya.

Che Wuyou stared with bloodshot eyes at the tense crowd around him. He knew that if anyone struck first, he would be the one to die first. Whether by the hands of the demonic sect or the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect, no one would spare him.

If death was inevitable either way, then why not do something magnificent before dying? If he destroyed the Spirit-Replenishing Pill that everyone treated like a priceless treasure, then no one would get it. Not only would that avenge him fiercely against both the demonic sect and the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect, it would also vent the fury in his heart.

Do you think I’m easy to bully? Do you think I’m meat on a chopping block, ready for you to trample as you please? Ha, ha, ha. You threaten me? You try to scare me? Che Wuyou spoke as he struck the silver box madly with his palm. You all want the Spirit-Replenishing Pill, don’t you? I’d rather smash it than let it benefit your band of thieves.

The people watching from all around were no ordinary crowd; they were a gathering of experts. When they saw the little beggar’s ferocious expression and his attempt to destroy the pill, even they changed color. Some could not help exclaiming aloud.

Little brother, no! That is a grade-one Spirit-Replenishing Pill!

Little brother, let us talk this over calmly. Don’t...

Brat, how dare you...

Che Wuyou slammed his palm down more than a dozen times in mad succession, but the small silver box, made of some unknown material, showed no sign of damage despite all his strength. A trace of green flashed through his eyes suffused with red. He looked in shock at the silver box in his hand. This... it can’t be destroyed?

The surrounding experts had all been startled by his frenzied behavior, but when they saw that after more than a dozen strikes he still had not damaged the Spirit-Replenishing Pill, they sighed in relief and then burst into laughter. Some even looked at him with open mockery.

What now, little brother? Have you changed your mind and grown reluctant to destroy the pill? Haw, haw, haw.

Utterly ridiculous. A mere ant in the Qi Refinement realm actually dreams of destroying the Spirit-Replenishing Pill? Truly ignorant of heaven’s height and earth’s depth.

Little beggar, go on and destroy it. We are bored anyway, so let us enjoy watching how you do it. If you truly succeed, it might even become a tale worth telling in the future.

A faint green sheen crossed Che Wuyou’s face. Damn it, what in the world is this cursed box? It can neither be opened nor destroyed. Under the mocking gazes of the crowd, he tried again and again, but the box that held a grade-one pill was not something he could possibly ruin.

This...

He had spoken so grandly before, ready to meet death with heroic defiance, but now he found himself utterly embarrassed. What was he to do? Was he truly destined only to watch helplessly as they seized the Spirit-Replenishing Pill, to watch them erase him so casually, and yet be unable to do anything at all?

Good little thief, you have quite the nerve, daring to destroy the Spirit-Replenishing Pill and even referring to yourself as me, myself, and I before us. Once this matter is settled, I will draw your soul out, bind it over true fire, and slowly burn it for a hundred days, so that you can neither live nor die. Xie Changfeng glared at Che Wuyou and spoke each word with icy fury. A mere ant actually dares provoke the authority of the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect; he will pay a price he cannot bear.

The people of the orthodox path are truly ruthless. But I like it. Ga, ga, ga. Li Ruohan also gave a sinister laugh. He hated the little beggar to the core. He had spoken at length, trying to persuade the beggar to hand over the pill, even pretending to promise that he would preserve the beggar’s life. Yet after all that wasted breath, the wretch still intended to destroy the Spirit-Replenishing Pill. Such an ant deserved death no matter how he died.

If I hand the Spirit-Replenishing Pill over to you, will you spare me? Che Wuyou sneered at Xie Changfeng. Since he could not escape, there was nothing left to fear. Your Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect claims to be one of the four great sword sects of the orthodox path. Dare you say you did not come here today with the intent to kill me? Dare you say that even if I gave you the Spirit-Replenishing Pill outright, you would not still silence me afterward?

Hmph. A creature no different from an ant dares to carry away the Spirit-Replenishing Pill. That alone is already a death sentence. And now you insult the dignity of the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect and even seek to destroy the pill. That is a sin added to sin. Even if you died a hundred times, it would not be enough to repay what you have done today. Xie Changfeng said coldly. If he had not been raging to the point of madness today, how could he have bothered to waste so many words on someone so insignificant?

Very well, then. A fine Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect. A fine sword gate of the orthodox path. Your Bai Hansong was chased about like a frightened chicken by the demons of the demonic sect. To save his own life, he threw the Spirit-Replenishing Pill to me without hesitation. He never cared whether I lived or died. He simply meant to use my life and the pill to draw off the demonic sect’s fiends.

But what he never expected was that the demons were highly suspicious. Even after he cast out the pill, that old devil Zhang Weida did not take the bait and still pursued him like a madman. In the end, I was lucky enough to escape back to Jizhou with the Spirit-Replenishing Pill. Yet your people from the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect actually came with such righteous confidence, claiming I deserved death. Ha, ha, ha. If I am already doomed to die, then why can I not destroy your Spirit-Replenishing Pill? It is only a pity... I am truly unwilling.

Nonsense, pure nonsense! Our Elder Bai Hansong of the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect saw that old devil Zhang Weida was about to casually kill you, and out of kindness he saved your life. Seeing that you were an honest and trustworthy person, he entrusted you with delivering the Spirit-Replenishing Pill to our Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect, and he even found a way to lure Zhang Weida away for you. Yet instead of assisting the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect in transporting the pill, you brazenly fled with it. How is that not a capital offense?

Xie Changfeng gave the crowd a cold look and continued, Moreover, you little thief do not know that when our Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect transports precious pills, we ordinarily use an Silver-Ban Box. This Silver-Ban Box is forged by the Treasure Pavilion of the Central Plains, one of the so-called Four Lesser Holy Lands. It not only seals the spiritual energy of the pill so it cannot leak, preserving it indefinitely, but is also extraordinarily sturdy.

Unless you possess the power of the Core Formation realm or above, you cannot open a Silver-Ban Box at all. With your puny cultivation in the Qi Refinement realm, you dared to covet a grade-one pill like the Spirit-Replenishing Pill. Not only did you flee with it, you even dreamed of destroying it in the end. That alone is enough for you to die a hundred times!

So it was a Silver-Ban Box forged by the Treasure Pavilion of the Four Lesser Holy Lands. No wonder, no wonder. The experts around them could not help whispering among themselves. With a box like that for holding pills, it was no wonder the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect had trusted this little beggar with the pill. Besides, even without the Silver-Ban Box, even if the little beggar somehow obtained the Spirit-Replenishing Pill, he would neither be able to subdue it nor consume it.

As a grade-one pill, the Spirit-Replenishing Pill had already developed spiritual awareness. If the box were opened, it would shoot away like lightning and vanish without a trace. Even a cultivator in the Core Formation realm might not be able to catch it.

And as for the immense spiritual power within the pill, ordinary cultivators had no right to consume it. Even great cultivators in the Divine Transformation realm faced a certain risk in taking it; one misstep could mean their bodies exploding and dying on the spot. Only a supreme expert in the Immortal-Querying realm could assist an ordinary cultivator in refining its medicinal power and safely consuming the Spirit-Replenishing Pill. Otherwise, to an ordinary cultivator, the pill was nothing less than deadly poison.

But how rare are great experts of the Immortal-Querying realm in this world? Even if one did encounter such a figure, they were lofty and untouchable, with no bond to you whatsoever. Why would they help you refine a Spirit-Replenishing Pill?

Good, good, good. Whatever I do is wrong, however I do it I am guilty, so then I will... In his fury, Che Wuyou could not even finish the sentence. The Spirit-Replenishing Pill was not something he could destroy at all, and with that he had lost the only leverage he held over the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect.

You little bastard, and what of it? Bai Hansong was already livid from the moment Che Wuyou exposed his shameful deed. He had not even gotten around to killing him and silencing him yet, and the boy had already blurted out his disgrace before so many experts. Even if Bai Hansong tortured him afterward in any way imaginable, he feared it would still be hard to seal the mouths of the crowd.

Now, seeing Che Wuyou still trying to use the Spirit-Replenishing Pill to threaten the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect, Bai Hansong sneered at him. What, do you intend to destroy the Spirit-Replenishing Pill again? If you have such a thought and such ability, then by all means do as you please. Our Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect will not stop you even a little.

You... Bai Hansong, fine, very well... Che Wuyou glared at him furiously. Though he had racked his brains for a way to make Bai Hansong regret it, to force him to pay some price for his actions, what could he do in the face of absolute strength? Even his one and only means of threat, destroying the Spirit-Replenishing Pill, was beyond him.

Was he really to give the Spirit-Replenishing Pill to the demonic sect? Yet from childhood onward he had never had any fondness for the demonic path. If his parents knew he had handed a grade-one Spirit-Replenishing Pill to the demonic sect, if Lan Zhi knew he had handed a grade-one Spirit-Replenishing Pill to the demonic sect...

He could not help shaking his head. However vile the people of the orthodox path might be, he could never bring himself to commit such an act of utter betrayal, nor do something so universally despised.