Chapter 85: Swallowing the Restoration Pill

Che Wuyou stared at Bai Hansong, whose face was full of disdain and faint mockery, and suddenly performed an act of madness. He actually opened his mouth and tossed both the Deficiency Supplement Pill and the Silver Sealed Box into it.

"What? He actually swallowed it?" The surrounding masters all clicked their tongues in amazement, but none of them seemed particularly worried. No matter where he swallowed it, as long as the Silver Sealed Box was intact, the Deficiency Supplement Pill would suffer no harm. Even if they doubted the sealing power of the Silver Sealed Box, they trusted the Craft Pavilion, known as the Little Sacred Land.

"You little thief, you do have some nerve. But so what if you swallowed it? At most, you’ll suffer more when we extract the pill. For us of the Tianshan Sword Sect, it’s no loss at all... Hmph, hmph!" Bai Hansong snorted coldly, utterly contemptuous of Che Wuyou’s antics. Not even their hands could damage the Silver Sealed Box—did he think swallowing it would help?

Paying no heed to Bai Hansong’s ridicule, Che Wuyou kept trying to crush the Silver Sealed Box with his teeth. After all, the force of the jaw is the greatest in the body. If even his teeth couldn’t break the box, then he truly had no other option.

The idea was hopeful, but the result was disappointing. No matter how hard Che Wuyou bit down, even breaking two steel teeth in the process, the Silver Sealed Box remained completely unscathed. Was this fate? He had obtained the Deficiency Supplement Pill, for which countless cultivators would go mad, yet he couldn’t even consume it, nor did he have the power to destroy it.

Che Wuyou tried a few more times, and when failure became certain, he angrily swallowed the Silver Sealed Box into his stomach. It would do no good, but at least it might disgust the Tianshan Sword Sect. After all, when they eventually retrieved the pill, they would inevitably remember that it had come from his belly…

But just as the Silver Sealed Box entered his body, the green medicinal energy that had calmed within his dantian suddenly roared to life like a raging sea. Sensing a foreign threat, it surged along Che Wuyou’s meridians, racing toward the invading box.

With this abrupt upheaval, Che Wuyou felt as if his meridians were being scalded by fire—an unbearable, tearing pain. He panicked. Ever since the green medicinal power had entered his dantian, it had never acted so violently. What was it doing? Was it going to tear him apart?

Though Che Wuyou had moments where he wished to perish alongside the Deficiency Supplement Pill, to spite everyone vying for it, now that the threat of a violent death was imminent, he wasn’t willing to give in. Instinctively, he sought the best possible response.

“Running the Hundred Herbs Manual won’t solve this crisis. Lanzhi once said that the Canon of Qihuang is one of the greatest treasures of the Southern Continent. I’ll have to try that.” With this thought, Che Wuyou sat cross-legged upon the ground, in full view of all, and began to circulate the cultivation method of the Canon of Qihuang.

Eyes closed, Che Wuyou felt the situation within his body: surges of green medicinal power, as if confronting a deadly foe, spun rapidly around the Silver Sealed Box, trying to strangle it. As this power raged, the rest of the green energy in his dantian seemed drawn to the vortex, gathering in a torrent.

Within Che Wuyou, a green tornado raged around the Silver Sealed Box. With each rotation, the green energy grew wilder and more forceful. Had its fury not been focused on the box, it would surely have torn him limb from limb.

Suddenly, from deep inside Che Wuyou, came a faint crack—a subtle “kacha.” Even the Silver Sealed Box could not withstand such enormous pressure; in that instant, the green vortex managed to etch a tiny fracture onto its surface.

---

“Amitabha. This is the aura—I sensed it from afar, a most wicked energy. I tracked it here, only to lose it again. So it was emanating from this young benefactor all along… I wonder, what has he consumed to produce such a sinister aura?” Elder Monk Huichan seemed able to see directly into Che Wuyou’s body, his brow furrowed in contemplation.

“The Demonic Heaven Pill! So this boy consumed a Demonic Heaven Pill. In the Demon Sect, that pill is the stuff of legend. How did this brat obtain it and take it?” Li Ruohan’s eyes gleamed with a wicked light. Earlier, in his attempt to divine the pill’s whereabouts, he had suffered a grievous injury from a bolt of demonic lightning. Now, having found its scent, how could he let it slip away?

“No matter. This Demonic Heaven Pill is too important to me. I must have it.” Li Ruohan shot toward Che Wuyou like a thunderbolt. “Even if you’ve taken it, I’ll find a way to extract it from your body. If not, I’ll refine you into a pill and take it that way. For the Demonic Heaven Pill, for the chance at Immortal Inquiry, any act is justified!”

“Demon Li… How dare you?” The six of the Tianshan Sword Sect rushed to intercept Li Ruohan. Meanwhile, the leader of the Qingchi Sword Sect, Li Muchou, had arrived nearby—he could not let this demon ruin all.

“Out of my way… All of you, out of my way!” Li Ruohan, frenzied and heedless of his wounds, unleashed his full power, striking at the six masters of the Tianshan Sword Sect.

“What? That’s the Vajra Great Hand Seal! Judging by his mastery, he’s nearly perfected it. They say that if anyone in the Demon Sect fully masters the Vajra Great Hand Seal, they immediately become the Vajra King of the Eight Branches. But, for years, no one has ever achieved perfection.” The nearby masters paled as the massive black energy hand flew toward the six.

“Beware his Great Hand Seal! Demon Li has gone mad for the Deficiency Supplement Pill…” Xie Changfeng cried. He hadn’t expected Li Ruohan’s opening move to be the Demon Sect’s peerless technique, and with such desperation.

Was the pill worth such madness? Since Li Ruohan was fighting to the death, how could the six of the Tianshan Sword Sect retreat before so many peers?

“Phantasmal Sword Formation—form up!” The six swords of the Tianshan Sword Sect leapt into the air, merging into a giant sword wheel that spun, scattering endless sword light and meeting the black energy hand head-on.

With a thunderous boom, the shockwave rolled out. The six were sent flying, and Li Ruohan was shaken into spitting blood. Some unlucky bystanders were swept up and hurled away by the aftershock.

Staggering back several steps, Li Ruohan had endured the blow head-on. Without pausing to check his wounds, he lunged again for the little beggar. This child must be his—no matter the risk or pain, the Demonic Heaven Pill was worth it.

Just then, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky—a sword shadow, faster than the eye could follow, shot from miles away, locking directly onto Li Ruohan. The sword shadow carried an unstoppable sharpness and a tyrannical, world-rending aura, descending like Death’s own scythe.

Even before its arrival, the killing intent was so tangible it seemed to shroud the heavens.

---

“Li Muchou, you dare ambush me…” Li Ruohan’s eyes glinted with malice as he watched the sword shadow focus on him, weaving through bizarre footwork to evade. Now that Li Muchou was here, taking the beggar away would be impossible. But should he kill the beggar, snuffing out the Qingchi Sword Sect’s hope, since it would be easily done?

“How did a mere beggar at the Qi Refining stage manage to survive consuming the Demonic Heaven Pill? How did he do it?” Li Ruohan studied Che Wuyou with fascination. “If the beggar didn’t have some method to suppress the pill, then he must have had some other unimaginable stroke of fortune… And now he’s taken the Deficiency Supplement Pill as well. How interesting. The collision of these two earth-grade pills—no matter what means he has, he’ll likely be torn apart.”

“Well then, I needn’t dirty my own hands. A pity for such a prodigious demonic talent, to die in so strange and extravagant a manner. Is he the luckiest of men, or the most cursed?”

Li Ruohan glanced at the approaching host from the Qingchi Sword Sect and felt a surge of reluctance. With their arrival, he could accomplish nothing here and might even face a joint attack.

“Li Muchou, someday when I’m healed, I’ll repay this day’s humiliation! For now, farewell.” Li Ruohan gave Che Wuyou a long, lingering look, and a brief, unreadable glance at the silent Elder Monk Huichan, then shot into the sky and fled toward the distant horizon.

...

“What a shame Demon Li escaped,” Xie Changfeng said, leading the Tianshan Sword Sect to greet Li Muchou’s group. “If you’d arrived a moment sooner, Chief Li, that demon would’ve perished here.”

“Brother Xie, Demon Li can wait. But where is the Deficiency Supplement Pill now? Could Demon Li have taken it?” Li Muchou, still in the air with the Qingchi masters, asked before even landing. Xie Changfeng had sent word that the pill had fallen into a little beggar’s hands, yet with one glance, Li Muchou saw only a beggar with two shabby books—no sign of any pill.

“Chief Li, the pill is on that beggar,” Xie Changfeng replied, noting Li Muchou’s anxious look and pointing directly at Che Wuyou.