Chu Yao, Tang Wan-er, and Ye Zhiqiu were still in seclusion. Their auras rumbled around them, and pillars of divine light shone down from the heavens, enveloping each of them.
The divine light illuminated their peerless beauty, making every one of them look like pure and holy fairies.
Their eyes were closed and they had their hands in a seal. Their manifestations were present behind them like masses of primal chaos. Within that primal chaos, light flowed around. Powerful pressure came from them.
“Fortunately, they weren’t disturbed this time. They’re all in a critical state. The consequences would have been disastrous.” Unbeknownst to Long Chen, Meng Qi had arrived, standing beside him.
“Meng Qi, why aren’t you resting? Your Yuan Spirit needs to recuperate,” said Long Chen.
To block Kun Pengzi’s killing blow against Cloud, Meng Qi had sacrificed the original true feather of the Blue Eye Peacock. That was a weapon that she had refined for a long time. Part of her Yuan Spirit adhered to it, so its destruction had injured her.
Meng Qi shook her head. “Perhaps the injury is making me jittery. I can’t calm down enough to recover. I want to go out for a walk.”
“Alright, I’ll accompany you for that walk.” Long Chen grew worried. An injury to the Yuan Spirit was complicated and would take a long time to heal. Holding Meng Qi’s hand, Long Chen began to walk with her.
Walking along a stone path, Meng Qi had her head down. “Long Chen, why am I so useless? Even after awakening a heavens’ soul manifestation, I’m still so weak. I can’t help you at all.”
Meng Qi had originally thought that with a heavens’ soul manifestation, she would be able to relieve some pressure off of Long Chen. However, she found that even with Cloud, she was unable to stop Kun Pengzi. She had suffered a grave blow to her confidence.
“Foolish wife, have you forgotten your profession? You are a Beast Tamer! What Beast Tamer fights directly unaccompanied?” Long Chen kissed Meng Qi on the forehead. “In truth, you are a marvel just like Yue Zifeng. Yue Zifeng’s Sword Dao is a different path than ours, but his power even frightens me. You can be even more frightening than Yue Zifeng. Your potential is greater than any of us.”
“Really?” Meng Qi looked up.
“Of course. You’re so smart, so how could I trick you? I’m not just saying this to comfort you. You’ve always been forced to fight using your weaknesses against your opponents’ strengths. That’s why I wanted you to go to the Wild World. The Magical Beasts there are all ancient species. If you pull them into the Myriad Spirit Diagram, you can turn them into your spirit beasts. You won’t even need to fight yourself. You can wave your hand, and Kun Pengzi will have his underpants beaten off of him by your army of spirit beasts,” said Long Chen.
Meng Qi finally laughed. “How could it be so exaggerated?”
Long Chen smiled. “It’s not exaggerated. You’re the one who has been forced to fight in a sullen way these past few years. You have the Myriad Spirit Diagram but no housepets. You’re too kind to directly capture some Xuan Beasts to be your housepets, so you’re unable to unleash the full potential of the Myriad Spirit Diagram or the power of a Beast Tamer. You’re fighting like an ordinary soul cultivator. Once you go to the Wild World, you can capture the Magical Beasts there as you wish. You just can’t catch the drake king. Once you’re done, you’ll have an army to fight for you, while you can eat and drink from the rear.”
The Wild World’s Magical Beasts had low intelligence. With the drake king’s help, those Magical Beasts wouldn’t dare to resist. Some of those Magical Beasts were not even the drake king’s subordinates. Some of them threatened its position so the drake king wanted to get rid of them.
Meng Qi was teased into laughter by Long Chen’s words. “Long Chen, thank you.” Meng Qi leaned her head against Long Chen’s shoulder warmly. The impact from this battle had been bitter for her, but Long Chen managed to lift her out of her gloom with just a few words.
“I should be the one thanking you. You’re my mental pillar, giving me the will to press forward,” said Long Chen. Whenever he felt lost or weary, seeing his hot-blooded brothers and gentle women made the mist and weariness vanish from his heart. “Meng Qi, I’ll help you recover. Once you’re fully recharged, you can help me refine some pills. Ah, first I should refine some Eight Bitters Soul Nourishing Elixir. Prepare yourself, that thing is really bitter.”
Long Chen pulled Meng Qi back into his room and directly started refining. In the Dongfang family’s auction, he had managed to buy an Infinite Eight Bitters Root that had almost been completely dead. Thanks to the primal chaos space, it had recovered, and Long Chen had planted it en masse.
The Infinite Eight Bitters Root was a special medicine from times forgotten. It was already extinct in the current world. Its greatest effect was raising a person’s comprehension.
However, other than that, it could be used as a supplementary ingredient in countless pill formulas.
The Eight Bitters Soul Nourishing Elixir was actually something that Long Chen had thought of himself. It wasn’t a pill, so refining it was very easy and he quickly finished. There were eight colors gathered together, and a strong fragrance came from it.
However, upon entering her mouth, the intense bitterness made Meng Qi almost spit it out. She barely managed to swallow it. “It really is bitter.”
“This isn’t the true bitterness of it. The bitter realm inside its essence was destroyed by my Pill Flame. If it wasn’t, that bitterness would make a person want to die. It’s not something an ordinary person can endure,” Long Chen chortled. This Infinite Eight Bitters Root that he had was not some withered old root like the one he had bought. Its medicinal effect was intense. He had diluted it by a hundred times before allowing Meng Qi to consume it.
It was worthy of being a legendary existence. Meng Qi had just consumed it when nine lotus flowers appeared around her. The Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill connected to her soul was helping her absorb the medicinal energy to nourish her Yuan Spirit.
Looking at the nine lotuses, Meng Qi smiled once more. This pill was constantly improving her power.
Long Chen stood behind Meng Qi, sending his own Spiritual Strength into her body to help her recover.
Meng Qi’s Spiritual Strength had grown from a seed that originated from Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength. Back in the day, he had saved her from the Wind Soul Pavilion. Her soul root had been destroyed, and Long Chen had endured the pain of having his own soul torn in order to rebuild a soul seed for Meng Qi.
Their souls were connected. With Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength pouring into her body, Meng Qi’s Yuan Spirit was rapidly recovering.
Her Yuan Spirit appeared on her forehead. It was a miniature version of her that was currently a bit dim. But with Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength, the medicinal effect, and the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill, it was recovering.
A day and night later, Meng Qi’s Yuan Spirit finally recovered some of its original light. However, this was just enough to suppress her injury, preventing it from growing worse. In her current state, there was no way she could use Spiritual Strength to fight.
However, this was enough. Like this, her full recovery was just a matter of time. Now she could help him refine pills. That was because she only needed to maintain a steady output, not like in a fight where her Spiritual Strength would sometimes have to fluctuate violently and sometimes be gentle.
“What kind of fruit is that?” asked Meng Qi when Long Chen took out the Heavenly Underworld Vermillion Fruit. Even now, he was still excited just by looking at it.
“This is the main ingredient for condensing my sixth star, the Heavenly Underworld Vermillion Fruit. Damnit, I’m too excited. My hand’s trembling,” cursed Long Chen.
He had a sharp knife he used to cut open the fruit lightly. His movements were very slow, and his Spiritual Strength followed, locking in the juices.
Long Chen was being as careful as possible, so careful that Meng Qi was also getting nervous.
Black spots appeared inside the fruit as he cut it open. Those black spots were constantly transforming, giving off a strange feeling.
Seeing their transformation, Meng Qi turned pale, feeling faint.
“Don’t look at it. Your soul is still recovering. These death spots embody the Dao of Death,” said Long Chen quietly.
“The Dao of Death?!” Meng Qi jumped in shock.
“Yes. This Heavenly Underworld Vermillion Fruit is toxic. It grows in lands of absolute death and will only grow when nourished by endless death qi. It’s a very strange fruit. I would guess that this Heavenly Underworld Vermillion Fruit actually comes from the Corrupt God Cemetery. It is a priceless treasure to someone at the peak of the Life Star realm who has yet to comprehend life and death. Do you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because by eating it, you can die in peace.”
Meng Qi was speechless. Why bother going to the trouble of eating it to die? Why not just smash your head into a wall and make it faster?
“Hehe, it’s true. By eating it, you can die very quickly. But seven weeks later, you will come back to life. The fruit is toxic, but the core is a priceless treasure that can cure it. So after consuming it, you will first die, then come back to life. You can truly experience the feeling of death. It can give someone an almost one hundred percent chance of comprehending life and death, allowing them to attack the Netherpassage realm,” said Long Chen.
Just at this moment, Long Chen finished cutting it. A pearl-like object rolled out of the Heavenly Underworld Vermillion Fruit.
