Zhu Geming was a straightforward person, so after a moment, he asked anxiously, “Yang Kai, what kind of Spirit Pill did you prepare just now?”
Yang Kai respectfully replied, “Reporting to Grandmaster Zhuge, the Spirit Pill this Disciple wishes to refine is called Expelling Black Ink Pill!”
“What pill?” Zhou Fang suddenly raised his voice.
“Expelling Black Ink Pill!” Yang Kai emphasized each word.
Zhu Geming and Zhou Fang glanced at each other. In this world, most Spirit Pills uses can be seen in their name, so the name of this Spirit Pill sounded somewhat unusual.
Zhu Geming frowned, “The use of this Expelling Black Ink Pill, could it be…”
Yang Kai nodded, “Just as Grandmaster Zhuge thought, the purpose of this Expelling Black Ink Pill is to expel the corrosive Ink Force.”
Zhu Geming and Zhou Fang both sucked in a breath of cold air, while Tang Qun, who was standing next to them, gaped in disbelief.
Yang Kai calmly said, “In ancient times, there was once a Human Race Great Expert who fought against the Black Ink Clan in the Ink Battlefield. In ancient times, the wisdom of the predecessor was astonishing, and they had once developed a Spirit Pill like the Expelling Black Ink Pill to resist the erosion of the Ink Force. However, it was too long ago, and this pill recipe had long since been lost. This time, Junior was lucky enough to find a tattered note left behind by an Ancient Alchemist in a Secret Realm. The note recorded the pill recipe for the Expelling Black Ink Pill, but because it was damaged, the pill recipe wasn’t complete. These past few days, Disciple has been working hard to complete this pill recipe, but was unable to complete it.”
Zhu Geming hurriedly asked, “A note left behind by an Ancient Alchemist? Where is it?”
Zhou Fang also looked at Yang Kai earnestly.
Although the two of them were already the world’s top Alchemy Grandmasters, the path to the Great Dao was never-ending, and the stone of another mountain could be used to attack jade. Naturally, they were extremely curious about the note from Ancient Alchemist mentioned by Yang Kai. If they could study it, it might be of great help to them.
Yang Kai took out the letter from his storage ring.
Zhu Geming’s eyes were sharp and he was the first to receive it, pouring his Divine Sense into it to examine it. Zhou Fang didn’t manage to grab it and was extremely anxious, occasionally glaring at Zhu Geming, as if he wanted to kill him.
Initially, he thought that Old Man Zhuge would look at it for a long time, but after a moment, Zhu Geming’s face became speechless, “I don’t understand!”
“Ignorant fools are incompetent!” Zhou Fang immediately sneered and snatched the tattered note from Zhu Geming’s hand, immersing himself in examining it.
Zhu Geming cast a sidelong glance at him, “If you understand, this old master’s name will be written backwards!”
Zhou Fang’s mind was immersed in the note, his expression solemn and his expression extremely focused. After a long time, he finally managed to collect his thoughts and said with a bitter expression, “The predecessor's wisdom is truly profound…”
Zhu Geming immediately snorted. Many of the words recorded in this letter were extremely ancient characters that the two of them didn’t even recognize. There were also some words they recognized, but when they were arranged together, they didn’t seem to have any meaning. Obviously, in ancient times, the language used was very different from what it was now.
[Hoogsway: Actually, it's pretty impressive how everyone talk the same language despite having so many great domain and universe worlds. LOL]
Such a note was absolutely priceless, but if one didn’t understand its meaning, it would be useless.
“You understand?” Zhou Fang ignored Zhu Geming’s ridicule and asked Yang Kai.
Zhu Geming also became excited. Previously, when he observed Yang Kai refining pills, he had made excellent progress in the early stages, only failing at a critical point. Obviously, Yang Kai had understood the first half of the Expelling Black Ink Pill recipe.
Yang Kai replied, “Basic understanding.”
There were many words in the letter that he didn’t recognize, but because he had refined the many Alchemy Dao marks left behind by the ancient alchemist, even if he didn’t recognize these ancient characters, he could understand them when he read them.
Zhu Geming and Zhou Fang’s spirits were immediately lifted as the former hurriedly said, “Let’s hear the recipe for the Expelling Black Ink Pill, maybe we two old men can help.”
Zhou Fang nodded vigorously from the side. The two of them had always been at odds with each other and both felt that their Alchemy skills were superior to the other party’s, so they rarely had the same opinion. Now, for the sake of this Expelling Black Ink Pill’s pill recipe, they no longer cared about opposing each other.
Yang Kai nodded in agreement.
As such, he began to explain in detail to Zhu Geming and Zhou Fang what he knew about the pill recipe.
A pill recipe took half an hour to describe before Yang Kai sighed and said, “This note has existed for far too long and is already damaged. The most valuable part of its contents is this Expelling Black Ink Pill, but because of the damage to this note, this pill recipe is also missing some things. Disciple has tried many times to refine it, but every time it progresses to a critical point, it will fail. Disciple speculates that the missing parts of this pill recipe should contain one or several crucial herbs. If this pill can be completely repaired, this pill will be able to reappear!”
Hearing this, Zhu Geming nodded, “Your speculations should be correct, it’s just that we don’t have a clue as to what we’re missing… No, it’s not that we don’t have a clue. The first half of this pill recipe and the second half are both very complete, only the middle part is missing. We can completely infer this missing information from the latter half.”
Zhou Fang’s expression became solemn, “Even so, it’s not a simple matter. What’s missing is a certain amount of herbs, a certain amount of heat, and so on. If this pill recipe is replicated, the amount of herbs needed will not be small.”
Zhu Geming said, “For countless years, in order to develop this Expelling Black Ink Pill, the various Passes have consumed a lot of herbs, right? Now that more than half of the pill recipe have been completed, all we need to do is perfect the key points and we’ll succeed. How can we not do such a good thing?”
Zhou Fang nodded, “That’s true.”
Listening from the side, Yang Kai couldn’t help asking, “The various Passes have previously developed Expelling Black Ink Pills?”
Zhu Geming nodded, “Yes, every human race mountain pass has been developing it before. The corrosion of the Ink Force cannot be resolved. On the battlefield, once a Human Race soldier is invaded by the Ink Force, they will have to cut off their wrist and cut off their own cultivation path. As such, us Alchemists once wondered if we could refine a Spirit Pill to resist the Ink Force. Coincidentally, we also named it the Expelling Black Ink Pill.”
Zhou Fang continued, “Unfortunately… after spending countless years and countless resources, we still haven’t made any progress. As a result, we managed to refine quite a few strange pills, but none of them were able to dispel the Ink Force.”
“In fact, before you came to Blue Sky Pass, this old man and I had some free time to study the refinement of the Expelling Black Ink Pill. When you arrived at Blue Sky Pass and obtained the Purification Light, the two of us completely gave up on this pill.”
Zhou Fang suddenly said, “That’s right, with your Purification Light, is there any meaning in refining this Expelling Black Ink Pill?”
Zhu Geming also suddenly thought of this and quickly looked towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai replied solemnly, “Yes! Although the Purification Light is effective against the Ink Force, activating this technique requires the consumption of precious materials, and since those materials are special, sooner or later they will be completely exhausted. At that time, without the Purification Light, the Expelling Black Ink Pill will be the guarantee of the safety of the Human Race’s soldiers! Moreover, the Purification Light is currently sealed in the Expelling Black Ink Battleship of every army. On the battlefield, if the Human Race’s soldiers are corroded by the Ink Force, they will have to return to the Expelling Black Ink Battleship. If they are not too far away from the Expelling Black Ink Battleship it's fine, but what if they are too far away to return? At that time, the Expelling Black Ink Pill will be more useful than the Purification Light.”
“You’re right,” Zhu Geming nodded and turned to look at Zhou Fang, “Then we two old fogies should do our best? If we can really deduce the Expelling Black Ink Pill, perhaps we’ll be able to make a name for ourselves.”
Zhou Fang’s eyes lit up, “Of course I’ll do my best!”
“Since that’s the case, I’ll leave it to the two Seniors!”
Yang Kai had already finished explaining most of the pill recipe for the Expelling Black Ink Pill, and he also talked about the various failures he had made in recent days, helping Zhu Geming and Zhou Fang remove some unnecessary attempts.
There was no need for him to worry about the rest. The deduction of the Expelling Black Ink Pill recipe could be left to the Pill Hall.
He could have handed everything over to the Pill Hall from the start, but he spent a month personally refining pills in order to familiarize himself with the recipe and verify its feasibility.
However, even though it was confirmed that the Expelling Black Ink Pill could be refined and the pill recipe was more than half complete, it would still take a long time to deduce the complete recipe.
Before bidding farewell, Yang Kai said to Tang Qun, “Tell the Medicine Garden to cultivate more Lightless Grass and Azure Feather Profound Vine. If the two Grandmasters can really deduce the recipe for the Expelling Black Ink Pill, the demand for these two things will increase dramatically.”
Tang Qun nodded, “Senior Brother is right.”
He had also heard the conversation between Yang Kai, Zhu Geming, and Zhou Fang just now, so he naturally knew that this matter was of great importance. The main ingredients for the Expelling Black Ink Pill were Lightless Grass and Azure Feather Profound Vine. Once it was refined, the herbs planted in the Medicine Garden would not be enough.
Leaving the Pill Hall, Yang Kai was in no hurry to return and instead went to War Preparation Palace.
After travelling outside for so many days, the inside of the pass had become peaceful, and there were no Black Ink Clan ambushes outside the pass. It was a good time to rest and cultivate. When the next time the Black Ink Clan’s army attacked, they wouldn’t have so much free time.
In fact, he was also a newly-advanced Seventh Order, so he really needed to improve his cultivation.
After all, after reaching the Open Heaven Stage, one’s cultivation would slowly accumulate over time.
War Preparation Palace was always busy, with people constantly entering and exiting.
Arriving at a window in the War Preparation Palace, Yang Kai handed over his identity token. Behind the window, a delicate-looking woman took it and examined it before asking Yang Kai in surprise, “Are you that Senior Brother Yang Kai?”
In Blue Sky Pass, many people had seen Yang Kai before, but most of them had only heard his name, which was why this woman had asked.
Yang Kai said, “If there’s no other Yang Kai in the pass, it’s me.”
The woman pursed her lips and smiled, “It really is Senior Brother Yang. What kind of material does Senior Brother want to exchange for?”
TO BE CONTINUED...
Martial Peak