"It might even have been the work of that Dao-Inscribing Immortal!
"After all, each True Immortal seal character corresponds to a law of the Immortal Realm. And to superimpose and fuse countless characters within it so effortlessly..."
With a solemn expression, Li Fan drew the immortal domain chess piece through the air into his hand.
All its earlier sacred aura had vanished when the unfolding halted. The chess piece now seemed like a mundane object, resting quietly in Li Fan's hand.
He tried to activate it again, but the piece showed no reaction whatsoever to external stimuli.
"As expected, it still requires the Medicine King Sect's Everlasting Green Force.
"Moreover, unfolding the chess piece itself consumes a certain kind of energy. The failed attempt just now means it will need to accumulate power again for some time."
Li Fan turned the smooth, cold chess piece in his hand, pondering inwardly.
Far away, at the center of the Star Sea, the sea of black mist stirred up by the aura of the immortal domain did not settle down just because the unfolding had ceased.
Instead, as if an acceleration button had been pressed, the billowing black mist continued to spread outward irreversibly.
It seemed poised to swallow the Star Sea in one fell swoop.
Li Fan furrowed his brow. After a moment's contemplation, he cast the Taijia Divine Technique here.
Because of its frequent use on the Xuan Celestial Vessel's side, the Star Sea consciousness had lost interest in responding to Li Fan's communications.
Yet from what limited perception he could glean...
The core will of the Star Sea was completely unaware of the black tide running rampant at its very center!
This sightless response sent a shiver down Li Fan's spine.
It was as though a body was being gnawed on by countless black insects, yet the owner remained entirely oblivious.
Such an eerie phenomenon could only mean that the true nature of the black mist far surpassed the core will of the Star Sea!
And what Li Fan perceived as black mist was by no means its true essence—it was merely an outward manifestation.
"A harbinger of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation...
"The time left to me is likely running short."
A flicker of wariness crossed Li Fan's eyes. Bringing along the people of the Medicine King Sect, who were sheltered beneath the phantom of the wooden sword at the edge of the sea of black mist, he returned to the Xuanhuang Realm.
"Senior, just now..." Sect Master Liu Ruchen of the Medicine King Sect hesitated, words catching in his throat.
Shrouded the entire time by the illusion of the wooden sword's phantom, the people of the Medicine King Sect had no idea that in such a short span of time, they had made a trip to the center of the Star Sea and back.
From their perspective, an anomaly had merely occurred during the fusion of the immortal chess pieces, culminating in the chess piece tearing through the firmament and soaring away into the void.
Li Fan replied with a composed expression, "No need to worry. I intercepted the immortal domain chess piece and retrieved it..."
Hearing this, Liu Ruchen breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Fan sighed softly. "We took things a bit too much for granted. The immortal domain chess piece left behind by Sun Piaomiao will not re-emerge into the world so easily. The backlash from the failure just now nearly cost us our lives on the spot. Fortunately, I managed to hold it at bay."
Though Liu Ruchen and the others could not see the billowing sea of black mist, they had all felt the looming, catastrophic sense of crisis, as if the heavens themselves were collapsing.
They all nodded in agreement. "Thank you for saving our lives, Senior."
Li Fan waved his hand. "A trivial matter. What matters is how to successfully unfold the immortal domain chess piece. Back then, Sun Piaomiao must have secretly left behind clues.
"Unfortunately, later generations failed to pay them heed, causing the crucial information to be lost."
The members of the Medicine King Sect all looked ashamed.
Ever since learning of their ancestor's staggering powers and undertakings, they had been continuously scouring their records for any previously overlooked information regarding Sun Piaomiao, trying to find other valuable clues.
Yet too much time had passed. Aside from that travelogue, the founder of the Medicine King Sect existed only in oral teachings passed down through the generations, yielding nothing of real use.
"Senior, I think that if there really is any other hidden information we've missed, it ought to be in the Medicine King Sect's former grounds!" Liu Ruchen suddenly spoke up.
"Back then, we left in a hurry. To avoid detection by the Ten Sects, I only took what was useful from the sect. Everything else was left behind..."
Liu Ruchen's suggestion drew agreement from the rest of the Medicine King Sect.
"The old grounds of the Medicine King Sect, you say..." Li Fan pondered for a moment, then whisked several Medicine King Dao Integration elders to their destination in an instant.
Across the desolate land lay a jumble of scattered rubble overgrown with weeds, offering no hint that ten thousand years ago, this had been the site of the illustrious Medicine King Sect.
Li Fan had previously obtained the exact location of the Medicine King Sect from Jiao Xiuyuan.
"Here was the Main Sect Hall... the Pill Refinement Workshop, the Weapon Forging Peak..."
After repeated scrutiny, the Medicine King Sect members finally identified traces of the past among the surviving structures, their voices thick with nostalgia and sorrow.
"Though not a single statue of the founder can be found in the entire Medicine King Sect, I seem to recall Master mentioning a place within the sect connected to him..." Liu Ruchen murmured, furrowing his brow in thought.
He looked around, trying to dredge up his childhood memories.
Li Fan had once searched Liu Ruchen's soul. With a brief thought, he knew what Liu Ruchen meant: "Are you referring to the place where Sun Piaomiao once refined medicine?"
"Ah, yes! Exactly!" Liu Ruchen realized, nodding repeatedly.
"When I first refined medicine all those years ago, I succeeded on my first try and even produced a high-grade pill, which made me rather full of myself. But Master reprimanded me, saying that in the past, whenever Ancestor Piaomiao completed a batch of pills, celestial phenomena would descend, and the pill fragrance would drift ten thousand li. Just catching a single breath of it would grant the subtle effects of having ingested it. Legends even told of pills gaining spirituality and developing minds of their own. The gap between Ancestor Piaomiao and me could not even be measured. Hearing that, all my arrogance vanished in an instant...
"Ancestor refined countless tens of thousands of medicines, yet kept not a single pill for himself. He distributed them all to those in need across the world—the true embodiment of practicing medicine to save the world and bestowing grace upon all living beings.
"Yet as for the place where Ancestor regularly refined medicine, out of respect for him, we juniors never occupied or repurposed it even after he disappeared. This custom became an unwritten rule, so much so that over time, the disciples forgot where the rule had come from, only knowing it was a forbidden ground of the sect..."
Liu Ruchen explained to everyone while searching for his target.
"Ah, found it! It's here." Liu Ruchen's aura surged, unearthing the architectural ruins buried deep underground.
Even after more than ten thousand years, Li Fan could still vaguely discern what this structure had once looked like.
It was, remarkably, an enormous rectangular stone.
"It is said that when Ancestor refined pills, he had no need for an alchemical furnace. He used spiritual power as fire and the heavens and earth as his furnace. But when refining pills, he liked to sit cross-legged upon this massive stone.
"Over time, this stone absorbed an indelible pill aroma. Later, our Medicine King Sect constructed a building around the stone to shelter and preserve it.
"However, patriarchs throughout the generations all inspected it; this stone is truly just an ordinary block of rock."
Liu Ruchen sniffed with his nose and broke into a smile. "Take a scent—even after ten thousand years, you can still catch that faint, delicate fragrance."
Li Fan enveloped the rectangular boulder with his divine sense, inspecting it thoroughly.
He smelled that subtle, ethereal scent as well.
Yet unlike Sun Piaomiao's other relics, this stone was not some wondrous object concealed by inscrutable methods.
It was nothing more than an utterly ordinary rock.
Naturally, the way to test it was simple.
A sword glow flared at his fingertips and slammed into the rectangular boulder.
Instantly, the stone dissolved into myriad specks of dust.
Liu Ruchen, who had been talking non-stop, choked on his words.
Yet facing the impassive Li Fan, he dared not say a word of complaint.
Watching the powdered boulder drift through the air and settle onto the ground, the ever-cautious Li Fan inspected it carefully once more; indeed, it was nothing more than ordinary debris and dust.
The faint fragrance also originated from the fragments themselves.
Trueness showed no reaction whatsoever either.
"You guessed wrong. There is nothing special about this stone. Think of something else," Li Fan said indifferently.
Liu Ruchen nodded sheepishly.
An awkward look flashed in the eyes of the other elders as well, and they resumed searching the ruins of the Medicine King Sect for other possible clues.
Except for one person.
Instead of shifting his attention away from the drifting stone dust following Li Fan's conclusion, the curiosity in his eyes only grew stronger.
"Senior..." he began.
Li Fan looked at him with intrigue, the relevant information surfacing in his mind.
One of the Medicine King Sect's Dao Integration cultivators, Ruan Tianxiao.
Unlike the other elders who used spirit plants for medicine, Ruan Tianxiao was accustomed to using animals, monster beasts, and human body parts as medicinal ingredients.
Although the effects were indeed extraordinary, the bloody, murderous aura was far too heavy, and it leaned toward the scandalous and macabre.
Thus, Ruan Tianxiao's "flesh pills" were not widely accepted.
"Speak your mind," Li Fan encouraged.
"The founder's rectangular boulder, after shattering, actually resembles a medicinal pill.
"In its stone form, it was still in the middle of being refined. Only when the stone is pulverized does the pill truly complete its refinement in that instant..." Ruan Tianxiao said, choosing his words carefully.
"Elder Ruan, how can you speak such nonsense before Senior?"
"Indeed. By your logic, why would the pill fragrance weaken after the boulder shattered?"
"Where is this pill of yours?" After observing for a moment, the Medicine King Sect's Dao Integration elders voiced their objections one after another.
Ruan Tianxiao did not argue. Instead, he smiled slightly. "To verify whether these shattered stones truly are a pill...
"We need only ingest them!
"Senior, I am willing to test the medicine on myself!"
The Medicine King Sect crowd instantly fell silent.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, studying Ruan Tianxiao. He extended his right hand, and an invisible whirlwind swept past, gathering all the powdered boulder dust and sweeping it together into a sphere of stone.
Tossing it lightly in his hand, Li Fan sensed it one last time. "Still just stone.
"Are you certain this is a pill?"
Ruan Tianxiao's gaze remained fixed on the stone pill in Li Fan's hand as he nodded. "I have tested medicines on myself for years. Over countless ages, my body has developed an uncanny intuition for pills that offer benefit.
"In my eyes, the fragrant aura of this stone pill surpasses any pill I have ever seen in my life by thousands of times!"
Ruan Tianxiao spoke with absolute conviction.
Li Fan, however, fell into deep thought.
He suddenly thought of Mo Rubin, who had tried every method before the fishing pond yet remained utterly incapable of discovering its secrets.
Without the perspective of an angler, one could not perceive the fishing pond.
Similarly, without the perspective of an alchemist, one could not discover the secret of this stone pill.
"Intriguing."
Chapter 1372