The Cloud Water Heavenly Palace ruins were immense beyond measure. Even in his previous life, after more than a decade of ceaseless exploration, the cultivators of the Congyun Sea had still been unable to map their full extent.
Now, shrouded everywhere in dense fog, the palace was even more inscrutable.
The cultivators who had awakened before Qin Tang's stone statue quickly split into several different camps.
Some felt that the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace was simply far too perilous. Surviving Qin Tang had already been a stroke of sheer fortune; pressing further into the ruins would be nothing short of suicidal.
Believing they had already committed several cultivation techniques to memory, they figured that merely making it back alive would be an enormous windfall. Thus, they decisively chose to leave the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace altogether.
Those who chose to leave made up the majority. The remainder reasoned that if a mere stone statue at the entrance could offer such good fortune, what immense providences might await inside the alchemy chambers, Dharma Transmission Pavilion, and sect treasury that every legendary ancient sect was said to possess?
Once greed took root, it swelled uncontrollably within their hearts.
And so, as if possessed, they vanished one after another into the thick mist.
Thus, by the time Li Fan caught up from behind, all traces of the cultivators were already gone. Had his Formless Killing Intent not locked onto Sikong Yi and his companion in advance, he likely would have lost them.
Strangely, however, Sikong Yi and Baili Chen seemed exceptionally familiar with the layout of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace.
Time and again, they discovered paths through gaps in the mist that appeared to be dead ends. Moving with clear purpose, they skirted one mist-cloaked structure after another, pushing deeper inside.
Was this how Sikong Yi had managed to obtain the Cloud Water Chart and Talismans in the previous life?
Li Fan only knew various secrets of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace because of his simulated experiences in the previous life.
How had Sikong Yi come to know them?
Li Fan felt a surge of keen curiosity.
At the same time, his vigilance sharpened. These two clearly harbored considerable secrets!
Concealing his presence and aura even further, Li Fan stayed locked onto their trail.
Suddenly, the two halted.
After a brief pause, Sikong Yi and Baili Chen split up, speeding away in opposite directions.
*A divide-and-divert tactic? Did they notice me?* Li Fan narrowed his eyes. After a moment's hesitation, he pursued the direction Sikong Yi had taken.
Plunging through the mist, he eventually arrived before a tall, tower-like structure.
At the base of the tower, Sikong Yi abruptly stopped, glanced back in Li Fan's direction, and flashed a provocative smile.
Then he ducked straight inside.
*Interesting. Trying to use one of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace's deathtraps to kill me?* Looking at the looming tower, which drifted in and out of the white fog while radiating an eerie, demonic aura, memories from Li Fan's previous life surfaced in his mind.
The Demon Refining Tower—one of the most perilous areas in the entire Cloud Water Heavenly Palace.
During the first ten years after the ruins opened, not a single cultivator had returned alive from the Demon Refining Tower. For a time, the cultivators of the Congyun Sea regarded it as a forbidden deathtrap, strictly warning against exploring it.
It was not until Year 21 of the Anchor in his past life that a master of alchemy had risked his life to enter, finally deciphering the bizarre rules within.
"If that is what you are planning, I'm afraid you will be sorely disappointed," Li Fan sneered and followed him into the Demon Refining Tower.
Stepping inside, he was met by gusts of chilling, sinister wind and a foul stench of decay.
The ground floor consisted of rows of prison cells.
Yet so much time seemed to have passed that nothing remained inside the cells except heaps of grotesque demon bones.
Li Fan continued upward; the second level was the same.
He ascended all the way to the top of the tower.
From a distance, muttering and rambling reached his ears.
"Senior brothers and sisters are fighting on the front lines, and I'm the only one who can't help."
"I have to refine more pills... only then can I boost their strength as much as possible."
"With every extra pill I make, the chances of the senior brothers surviving will grow."
"But all the demons in this Demon Refining Tower are dead... Without any ingredients, what am I supposed to do..."
A man with disheveled hair, clad in an oversized blue Daoist robe, was sighing in utter despair.
Suspended in the air beside him were three figures bound by invisible ropes.
One of them was Sikong Yi.
The other two were also cultivators who had entered the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace this time, though why they had ended up here was anyone's guess.
Both were pale as sheets, their lips opening and closing rapidly, though what they were saying could not be heard.
Before Li Fan could make a move, he felt his hands and feet bound by invisible bindings, rendering him completely immobile.
Immediately, he was hoisted into midair and held in place, just like the other three.
Having anticipated this encounter long ago, Li Fan did not panic.
Only now could he hear the murmurs of the other two:
"How can this be? I clearly chose to leave... How did my vision blur, only for me to end up tied up here..."
"I'm doomed, I'm doomed! I was clearly already outside the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, so why was I dragged back..."
***
"Oh no, it's time to refine pills!" Right then, the robed man suddenly snapped out of his rambling.
"Refining pills, refining pills..." The man reached inside his voluminous Daoist robe. His hand shifted and squirmed, and before long, he pulled out two black pills.
"The pills are ready, but I don't know how potent they are this time." The man scratched his head, appearing troubled.
Then, he slapped his thigh. "Right! Didn't I just catch a few bugs? I can use them to test the medicine!"
With that, he looked toward Li Fan and the others suspended in the air, his gaze flitting back and forth. "Which bug should I pick?"
Being stared at by him sent an uncanny chill through the air.
None dared to stir, holding their breath in terrified silence.
"This one, then." After watching for a moment, the robed man's gaze settled on one of them, and he reached out to snatch him.
Seeing this, the man lost all composure.
Yet his struggles were futile; no sound could leave his throat.
His body flew toward the robed man, shrinking continuously as it drew near.
In the end, he truly turned into a tiny flying insect and fell into the robed man's palm.
The insect's head still vaguely retained the contours of a human face, frozen in sheer terror.
Pinched lightly between the man's fingers, the human-faced insect buzzed its wings frantically.
It was all in vain. With one hand pinching the insect and the other holding a black pill, the robed man made his move.
The pill was several times larger than the insect, yet it was forcibly crammed inside.
The human-faced insect writhed in agony as it was forced to swallow the pill into its abdomen.
Its belly swelled to many times its original size, turning into a gigantic orb.
The insect's aura steadily withered, but the nightmare had only just begun.
Once inside the belly, the pill seemed to digest, shrinking in size.
Yet a droning buzz, like a swarm of mosquitoes, suddenly erupted.
The human-faced insect's body began to convulse uncontrollably.
Tiny black specks burrowed out of its abdomen one after another in a frantic rush.
A closer look revealed that every single black speck was a newly hatched flying insect.
After bursting out, the insects did not scatter, but instead swarmed over the human-faced insect, devouring it voraciously.
Before long, the human-faced insect was eaten clean—not a trace remained.
The robed man shook his head, looking thoroughly disappointed.
"Looks like the trial failed. The medicinal strength was probably too overwhelming."
With that, he opened his mouth and sucked the black swarm of insects straight into his belly.
Even though Li Fan had heard about what happened inside the Demon Refining Tower and was mentally prepared, his eyelids still twitched involuntarily.
The scene was simply too horrifying.
The robed man looked at the remaining pill in his hand, seemingly distressed.
"Should I test this one too?"
He glanced back at Li Fan and the remaining two.
All three held their breath, their hearts in their throats.
After a long while, the robed man sighed. "Forget it. They came from the same cauldron; it should be about the same."
With that, he opened his mouth and casually tossed the black pill inside.
Having swallowed the pill, he seemed completely unaffected.
He merely slipped back into his deranged state.
He resumed muttering to himself about having insufficient pill ingredients, entirely ignoring the three suspended in the air.
Among the three survivors, Li Fan remained silent.
Sikong Yi was expressionless.
The remaining cultivator had already broken down in tears.
"If I had known, I would rather have died at Qin Tang's hands... at least that would have been a quick death."
***
Time seemed to lose all meaning within the Demon Refining Tower.
Their survival depended entirely on the robed man's whims.
After an unknown span, the man snapped out of his trance once more.
Once again, he produced two pills from beneath his voluminous robe, though this time they were an eerie shade of green.
"Which bug should I pick to test the medicine?"
The man hesitated for a moment, but his gaze fell upon Sikong Yi.
"This one, then!"
Li Fan immediately focused his attention. He wanted to see just what reliance Sikong Yi had to dare lure him into this deathtrap.
To Li Fan's astonishment, Sikong Yi put up no resistance whatsoever.
After being turned into an insect and forced to swallow the green pill, he dissolved directly into a pool of green liquid.
Sikong Yi was dead!
*What happened? Where did things go wrong? Could my pursuit in this life have caused events to diverge from the previous one?*
*No, Sikong Yi clearly lured me to this Demon Refining Tower. How could he die so easily?*
*He knew this was a deathtrap. Did he lure me here just to trade his life for mine?*
***
Just as Li Fan was plunged into endless doubts, he suddenly sensed something and looked up.
Outside the Demon Refining Tower, Baili Chen, who was locked onto by the Formless Killing Intent, was slowly approaching.
And beside him, Li Fan felt the Formless Killing Intent—which had lost its target—latch onto Sikong Yi once again.
Sikong Yi, who had clearly just perished, had reappeared outside the Demon Refining Tower.
*A puppet? An external incarnation? Neither feels quite right...*
Staring at the puddle of green liquid on the floor, Li Fan couldn't help but smile.
*It seems the secrets these two hold are even greater than I imagined.*
*However, once I set my sights on something, a secret ceases to be a secret.*
In Li Fan's perception, Sikong Yi and Baili Chen continued to venture deeper into the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace.
*With the Formless Killing Intent locked onto them, I don't have to worry about them getting away. But I need to extract myself from this Demon Refining Tower as soon as possible.*
Yet the robed man operated according to his own bizarre rules, which Li Fan could not control. For now, he could only wait patiently.
Before long, the third round of testing arrived.
Once again, Li Fan was not chosen. This left him torn between laughter and tears, uncertain whether it was a blessing or a curse.
The robed man produced two pink pills and fed one to the human-faced insect.
With a bang, the insect exploded into a cloud of pink smoke.
Within the haze, agonizing human faces surfaced one after another.
As the pink mist drifted, the faces stretched and twisted, looking all the more hideous and terrifying.
Watching from the side, even Li Fan broke out in goosebumps.
In the end, it was the robed man who inhaled the mist amid muttered grumbles, putting an end to the eternal torment.
The robed man lapsed into incoherent mumbling once more.
At last, the fourth round of testing arrived.
By this time, Li Fan was the only one left in the Demon Refining Tower.
Just as the robed man was about to test the medicine on Li Fan, Li Fan spoke up.
"Junior Brother Chong, I heard you've run out of ingredients for your pills?"
Hearing this, Daoist Chong abruptly halted his outstretched hand and nodded subconsciously. "Yes, I don't have enough ingredients."
He said with a hint of guilt, "It's been so long since I made any new pills..."
Daoist Chong paused. He stared at Li Fan for a moment, taking in the robes he wore, and suddenly grew flustered. "It's Senior Brother! I thought you were a bug!"
"Senior Brother, I'm so sorry! I'll let you down right away."
With Daoist Chong's words, Li Fan felt the bindings around him loosen, and he regained control of his body.
Daoist Chong clutched his head and hung his head, looking too ashamed to face this senior brother.
He muttered in self-reproach, "I've messed up again. It's always like this. I can't refine pills properly, my cultivation progress is agonizingly slow, and I'm always holding everyone back..."
Li Fan stepped forward, placed a hand on Daoist Chong's shoulder, and said gently, "Don't say that, Junior Brother Chong. The pills you refine are very effective; everyone loves taking them."
Daoist Chong jerked his head up, his eyes alight with pleasant surprise. "Really, Senior Brother? Everyone really loves taking the pills I refine?"
"What, you don't believe your senior brother?" Li Fan straightened his face.
Daoist Chong shook his head frantically. "Of course I believe Senior Brother!"
Then he grew dejected again. "But I don't have any ingredients left. I can't make the pills everyone loves anymore."
Li Fan patted Daoist Chong's head and said softly, "It's all right. Am I not still here?"
"Refine me into pills. That way, everyone will have pills to take again."
"Senior Brother, you..." Daoist Chong seemed stunned by Li Fan's words, staring wide-eyed at him.
Li Fan merely let out a long sigh and continued, "Though I entered the sect early, I lack talent, and my cultivation has always remained meager. Our senior brothers and sisters are fighting on the front lines, and I'm the only one who can't help."
"Whenever I think of that, my heart aches terribly, and I loathe my own uselessness."
"So refine me into pills. At least that way, I can still be of some use."
Li Fan grasped Daoist Chong's hand and spoke with impassioned fervor.
Daoist Chong gazed blankly at Li Fan, visibly shaken.
"So Senior Brother is just like me..."
"Yet Senior Brother is far nobler than I am, willing to sacrifice himself to help our brothers and sisters on the front lines."
"While I... all I know how to do is run away. All I can do is hide inside this tower."
Daoist Chong clutched his hair in agony.
"No, I cannot stand by and watch Senior Brother sacrifice himself!"
As if struck by an epiphany, he excitedly said to Li Fan, "Senior Brother, I can refine pills for you! As long as you take the pills I make, you won't be weak anymore! Then you can go to the front lines and help!"
Daoist Chong seemed to have found a newfound purpose. "Refining pills... I must refine pills!"
He thrust his hand into his voluminous robe, squirming and shifting.
Before long, he pulled out two golden pills.
"Senior Brother, here are the pills for you."
Holding them in both hands with a beaming smile, Daoist Chong presented the pills to Li Fan.
Li Fan did not take the pills. Instead, he untied Daoist Chong's robe.
And there...
Beneath the loose Daoist robe remained nothing but a hollow skeleton.
Upon those bones clung only traces of barely discernible flesh.
Daoist Chong had been using his own flesh and blood...
to refine the pills all along.
Chapter 84