Jiang Yushan looked at Xu Bai.
His handsome appearance did not stir the slightest ripple in her heart.
However, the face of "Liu Yihang" suddenly surfaced in her thoughts, causing her to hesitate for a moment.
From Liu San, she had learned that "Xu Bai" was an avatar refined by Liu Yihang. With Liu Ruchen fallen, Liu Yihang was now the Sect Master of the Medicine King Sect.
Her expression softened slightly, and after a moment of indecision, Jiang Yushan finally gave a slight nod.
"Since the Sect Master says so, let us try it first."
"However, I lived in the Indeterminate Prison in my early years and became tainted with overwhelming fiend qi that cannot be purged. Will there really be no issue?"
She frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled.
"Judging by how desperate the cultivators of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals are for Longevity Pills nowadays, even if there are slight side effects, they should fall well within an acceptable range. After all, one option is dying when one's lifespan expires, while the other is merely sustaining a bit of bodily harm. They will know which matters more," Xu Bai said confidently.
At the same time, he briefly briefed Jiang Yushan on the background of the Essence-Devouring White Mist and the Alliance's current policies encouraging cultivators to explore it.
"While flying outside just now, I noticed those walls of white mist piercing straight through heaven and earth. Devouring lifespan, cleaving heaven and earth apart..."
"Over the past millennia, such tremendous upheavals have come to pass," Jiang Yushan sighed, her voice barely audible.
"Right now is when Longevity Pills sell best; demand far outstrips supply. Elder Liu alone cannot meet the demand. I hope Elder Jiang can lend a hand," Xu Bai said softly.
"Concocting pills, is it... Let us try it first," Jiang Yushan agreed with a nod.
A hint of joy appeared on Liu San's face.
Right then, in the pill room of the Valley of Longevity, they summoned ninety-nine Golden Core disciples and laid down the World-Saving Longevity Array.
Liu San and Jiang Yushan sat cross-legged at the center of the formation, channeling their Azure Longevity Force into the Medicine King Cauldron at the array's core.
The moment the two streams of power emerged, Xu Bai keenly perceived the difference between them.
If Liu San's Azure Longevity Force was like spring, overflowing with vitality, then Jiang Yushan's carried a trace of chilling desolation amidst its life force.
Moreover...
Xu Bai felt an indistinct familiarity with this fiend qi.
Squinting slightly, Xu Bai kept his composure for the time being, waiting for the batch of Longevity Pills to finish refining.
With Jiang Yushan's assistance, the formation operated more than three times faster than before. Coupled with Liu San's practiced mastery in presiding over the array, before long, the first batch of Longevity Pills was produced.
Three pills took form. Yet atop the round, celestial-blue elixir pills, an incongruous wisp of black cloud clung to the surface. It looked exceedingly unsightly.
Even the natural herbal fragrance typical of longevity-extending medicines was suppressed.
Even holding the pills in hand, one felt no urgent desire to swallow them.
"Sect Master, will pills like this do?" Jiang Yushan frowned slightly.
Xu Bai did not answer immediately. Instead, he tossed one of them into his mouth and closed his eyes to perceive it.
He did not care about the added lifespan; rather, he felt the fiend qi that accompanied the Azure Longevity Force after the pill melted inside him, wreaking wanton havoc on his physical body.
*Indeed...*
*Heaven Fiend qi...*
Xu Bai felt a weight settle on his heart.
"Elder Jiang, could you explain in detail what this fiend qi is all about?" Spiritual energy circulated within his body, slowly repairing the damage wrought by the fiend qi. Xu Bai opened his eyes and asked.
Jiang Yushan was taken aback for a moment, but then began to explain.
"In ancient times, cultivators crossed heavenly tribulations to ascend. These heavenly tribulations were both trials and opportunities. Though there was a risk of perishing, if one passed successfully, immortal spiritual qi would pour into the body, transforming one into an immortal."
"Later, however, the path to immortality was severed, and heavenly tribulations ceased to appear. Yet the killing intent of heaven and earth still required an outlet, and thus fiend qi descended into the world."
"This was the original source of the fiend qi in the Indeterminate Prison. But later on, many vicious and wicked fiends were imprisoned within, adding the boundless killing intent of men."
"As heaven and mankind resonated with each other, this fiend qi grew increasingly bizarre and intractable. Even though I left it decades ago and have continuously cleansed myself with the heart of a healer devoted to saving the world, I still cannot eradicate it," Jiang Yushan said slowly. "Accumulated over days and months, the damage fiend qi inflicts on a cultivator's body is irreversible. This somewhat distinctive voice of mine is its doing."
"Still, with such upheavals occurring in the Xuanhuang Realm, I wonder what state the Indeterminate Prison is in now." A look of daze flitted across Jiang Yushan's face.
"Heaven Fiend, heaven's slaughter..." Xu Bai wore a contemplative expression.
"Elder Jiang, have you ever seen this person, or a sword overflowing with fiend qi?" As he spoke, Xu Bai sketched the likeness of Yufu and the Sword of Heaven Fiend in the empty air.
Jiang Yushan stared at them for a while before shaking her head. "I have not seen them."
"Never mind then."
This outcome was well within Xu Bai's expectations. Waving his hand to disperse Yufu's image, he addressed Jiang Yushan and Liu San: "Neither of you need worry. Although the Longevity Pills refined through your combined efforts do cause damage to a cultivator's body, the flaw does not overshadow the virtue. As long as the lifespan-extending effect remains unchanged, I believe crowds will still scramble to buy them. At most, we can lower the price slightly."
Having dispelled their concerns, Xu Bai told them to focus on concocting the pills in peace.
"Roughly how many pills need to be refined? I am quite curious about this world thousands of years later and would like to go outside for a stroll," Jiang Yushan asked outright.
Xu Bai was momentarily rendered speechless.
He glanced at Liu San, only to see him staring dumbly at Jiang Yushan, obviously not about to object to her decision.
After pondering for a moment, Xu Bai said, "Just consume half of the raw materials for Longevity Pills stored in the Valley of Longevity. Leaving them piled up indefinitely would be a waste anyway."
Clearly having no quantitative grasp of just how vast the hoard of medicinal ingredients in the Valley of Longevity was, Jiang Yushan nodded and readily agreed.
"In that case, I will trouble you two."
Xu Bai smiled faintly and drifted away from the Valley of Longevity.
*For at least a year or half a year, she won't be coming out.*
*However...*
The figure of [Tianjue], Old Man Yufu, resurfaced in Xu Bai's mind.
The fiend qi clinging to Jiang Yushan was strikingly similar to the aura on Tianjue.
Yet it was also subtly different.
The distinction was difficult to articulate in words. But for Li Fan, who had come into contact with both, telling them apart was remarkably easy.
If one had to use an apt metaphor to explain it, then "two samples of seawater with different salt concentrations" could perhaps vividly illustrate the difference between the two.
Seemingly alike yet different, as though...
"They come from two different worlds."
A sharp gleam flickered in Xu Bai's eyes.
Jiang Yushan came from the Indeterminate Prison and the Medicine King Sect, both of which could still be faintly traced in historical records of the modern Xuanhuang Realm.
Then the conclusion was self-evident.
Long ago, a vague suspicion had already taken root in his heart.
The Heavenly Physician, Tianjue, Tianyu, and the group from the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace were very likely not native cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Instead, they were...
Outsiders.
Chapter 718