Chapter 636 - Taotie
Holy medicine!
Shi Hao’s mouth and tongue felt dry. His mind was completely blown. A random stalk he grabbed from the pill furnace was unexpectedly a holy medicine! This was inconceivable.
A rich medicinal fragrance wafted out. This was an entire sparkling purple plant. It was only a foot tall. Its leaves were small and translucent. Every single one looked like a purple crescent moon.
It was like a small tree that was curling with rich spiritual essence, producing a few purple crescent moons that flowed with hazy purple multicolored mists. It was extremely hazy and beautiful.
“Redbud Moons… it actually evolved into holy medicine.”
This was originally a type of spiritual medicine. Even though it was said to be able to evolve, it would only turn into a top grade spiritual medicine. However, this one actually became a holy medicine!
Shi Hao impatiently raised the fist sized pill furnace and looked inside. The gentle and sparkling bone precious furnace swirled with radiance and color inside. Several dozen types of precious medicines were surging with life force.
He grabbed another stalk that was red like blood. It was a swallow that grew roots, one that looked like it was carved from a blood diamond. A rich medicinal fragrance was wafting out from it too.
“A legendary blood sparrow that is about to become a holy medicine?!” Shi Hao’s mouth widened, feeling that this was a bit unbelievable.
It wasn’t a holy medicine, but it was close. Its effects weren’t much inferior either.
This pill furnace contained several dozen stalks of medicines. Could it be that they were all so heaven defying? He simply couldn't believe it. If they were all holy medicines or close to becoming holy medicines, it was enough to shock the higher realms. This ancient furnace was too extraordinary.
He was starting to become suspicious. Could this fist sized furnace really have been carved from the bones of a True Dragon?
The divine striking stone cried out strangely. This type of situation was difficult to make sense of. One had to understand that a single stalk of holy medicine could exchange the flesh and bones of a person between life and death. If one grasped one, then that was equivalent to having another life.
These types of precious medicines were extremely precious and rarely seen in the world. It was because after obtaining them, no one would exchange or sell them. They would all keep them to use for themselves.
Shi Hao took a deep breath. He grabbed towards the pill furnace again to see exactly what was inside. This pill furnace didn’t look bit, but it could contain mountains and rivers. The space within was extremely great.
He brought out the third stalk of medicine. This was a spiritual medicine and not a holy medicine. This allowed Shi Hao to release a pent up breath, but it also left him feeling a bit disappointed.
Fourth stalk, fifth stalk...
When he reached the thirty first stalk, brilliant multicolored light surged. An earthen-colored old ginseng appeared. It was almost a human shape. It released a tempting fragrance from its brilliant body. It was another holy medicine -- golden ginseng!
“This pill furnace’s master is formidable. If he wasn’t a divine medicinal master, then he is a great figure from an undying inheritance. His identity had to have been extraordinary!” The divine striking stone came to this conclusion.
Having two stalks of holy medicine and one stalk that is close to becoming holy medicine by his side was an extremely shocking thing.
The other medicines were all rare treasures as well and not the type that could be found anywhere. They could be called wondrous medicines, for example, the purple star grass, eternal flowing gold, and falling moonflower.
These types of wondrous medicines were extremely rare. If he used them for exchange, any one of them could be traded for many normal spiritual medicines.
This made Shi Hao extremely happy. Normal spiritual medicines were still obtainable, but these rare wondrous medicines were harder to find. Meanwhile, what Stone Clan’s pill recipes needed the most were precisely these things.
“This solves a great problem of mine.” The meaning behind this discovery was extremely great for Shi Hao.
After coming to the higher realms, he wanted to reconstruct the great cultivation realms to completion with this world’s natural laws. He also wanted to use Stone Country’s formulas to baptise his flesh.
He should be able to do this now. If things went smoothly, he could succeed in a short amount of time.
It was clear that the owner of this pill furnace didn’t care much about ordinary precious medicines. Everything he collected were top quality goods. This furnace surged with divine multicolored radiance. These precious medicines that surged with auspicious light were priceless!
“This truly is great natural luck, one that is inconceivable…” The divine striking stone said. Fishing up a pill furnace from the heavenly river actually produced such a great harvest.
At this moment, both of them began to seriously suspect whether this fist sized furnace cauldron’s material was truly terrifying or not. It might be truly carved from some supreme true bone.
Shi Hao gently stroked it, and then he placed the lid back on properly. The medicinal fragrance vanished. He sat down and began to treat his injuries.
This experience had been extremely dangerous. Even though he fished up an ancient magical artifact, he himself suffered heavy injuries as well. There were cracks on his body, and he was covered in blood. A few of his bones were even broken.
One could see how terrifying the heavenly river was. One has to understand how incomparably terrifying Shi Hao’s flesh was. It was as sturdy as diamond, but he was still injured to this extent.
“Fortunately, I didn’t try to fish up a divine corpse from the center of the later, or else even if a deity came, they would have still been killed!” Shi Hao said to himself.
His outer injuries still couldn’t be considered serious, but right now, the curse power was stirring within him, eroding his muscles and bones to destroy his dao foundation and core.
The good thing was that Shi Hao was still powerful enough himself, and he was quite experienced in dealing with curses. He sat down here, operating bone texts to neutralize the curse power.
Suddenly, right when he was overcoming this curse and completely focusing on treatment, a streak of purple light flew over, striking the back of his head in a fierce and ruthless manner.
This was a scale the size of a palm, one that was incomparably sharp and even distorted the space around it. If it hacked towards one’s head, it would definitely be a fatal strike.
Shi Hao opened his eyes. His body quickly shifted sideways, avoiding this deadly strike. His entire body swirled with lightning radiance to protect himself.
“Your reaction speed is quite great, youngster isn’t bad.”
An elder in gray clothes emerged from the river side. His body was stooped and he had a head full of white hair. His gaze was flickering with radiance.
Shi Hao felt a wave of anger inwardly. If his spiritual senses weren’t sharp enough, he definitely would have been killed right there. This elder was extremely powerful and not simple at all.
The divine striking stone felt ashamed. It was aiding in Shi Hao’s protection, yet in the end, this type of elder came out of nowhere. It immediately shouted, “Old thing, do you still have any face, to attack someone of the younger generation?”
The elder smiled and said, “This old one was just testing you guys a bit. You guys are extraordinary after all.”
Shi Hao didn’t say anything. He carefully observed the other party, and then he became more and more fearful. This old fellow’s face was covered in symbols. It was clear that this individual had already been deeply infected by the curse to the extent where it already endangered his life.
This was an expert that ignited his divine flame!
Shi Hao’s mind jumped, producing this conclusion. If it wasn’t because of the other party’s curse, leaving his body in such a terrible state, he would be much more powerful than he was right now.
“You already tested what you wished, so you can leave now.” Shi Hao said.
“Little friend, you saw something that belongs to my clan. Please return it.” The elder said with a smile.
“What thing?” Shi Hao asked.
“That earthen, fist sized pill furnace belongs to my martial uncle. Not long ago, he had the misfortune of dying in this heavenly river. Please return it,” said the elder. His smile was quite strong.
The divine striking stone immediately became angry after hearing this. “Do you not want any face? Is your martial uncle an ancient person? The hidden attack just now is said and done already, but you still want to scheme for the pill furnace. Why don’t you just get lost?!”
When Shi Hao fished up the pill furnace, lightning radiance rushed into the heavens, creating quite a commotion, startling this creature that had ignited its divine flame and allowing him to secretly notice it.
“Little friend, please be reasonable… this truly is my clan’s divine object. I ask you to please return it.” The elder said, walking forward. A bit of divine flame radiated around him.
He didn’t dare to act rashly, because he had been infected severely by the curse. If not for his secret treasure’s support, he would have died a long time ago.
“Shameless!” Shi Hao only had these two words for him. The other party was clearly lying to steal this mysterious pill furnace.
“Hand it over!” The elder reached out a hand, a cold smile appearing on his face, no longer concealing anything. He was going to take action.
“Do you think this grandpa is all air? I’ve had enough!” The divine striking stone shone, and then it turned into a streak of light. With a chi sound, it flew through the air and shouted loudly, “Lightning fist!”
It released hundreds to thousands of streaks of lightning, because after it devoured that strange rock, it now grasped lightning power. In addition, this power was quite powerful.
With a cry of alarm, the elder staggered backwards, revealing a look of disbelief. His cultivation was extremely great, and his reactions were fast, but he still couldn’t dodge it.
His head was given a firm strike, produce a huge blister there that trickled out blood. In addition, his hair began to stand up one after another, becoming a bit scorched. This was caused by the electricity.
One has to understand that this was a creature that ignited his divine flame! Even though he suffered from the power of the curse, making his strength drop greatly, he still found this result hard to accept.
"Legendary... divine striking stone, known to never miss!” Finally, he snapped back to reality, recognizing the divine striking stone’s origins. His eyes immediately shone.
“Leave them behind, do not let them leave.” Someone’s voice sounded from the distance. A purple-robed youth walked over. There were a few others who followed him, all of their faces covered in symbols after suffering heavily from the curse.
Shi Hao recognized them. This was precisely the conceited Taotie Clan youth he saw when they first emerged on Fiend Island. His cultivation was strong, and his goal had been to reach the immortal tomb.
He held a white jade bamboo in his hand that had thirteen divisions, but was only a meter in length. It was similar to the length of a finger, soft and shining. A pure white holy light was shining from it.
“Evil warding divine bamboo!” Shi Hao was shocked. This was one of the world’s most precious plants. It had the power to ward off evil spirits and known to not be infected by anything vile. It could fight curses.
This type of thing was extremely rare, with one stalk being found only after many years had passed. It couldn’t be grown, so one could only rely on the world to naturally produce it.
The evil warding divine bamboo was something that would only appear once every five hundred years. The Taotie Clan youth’s hands had one that had thirteen division. One shouldn’t look down on it because it was only a meter in length, because it had already grown for six thousand five hundred years.
The reason these people could reach this place was completely because of this pure white evil warding divine bamboo. Otherwise, they would have long died from being infected by the curse.
Despite this being the case, their faces were still covered in strange symbols. In addition, the bamboo was covered in cracks. The divine effects were weakening; it was going to break apart soon.
These people came before Shi Hao, walking in front of him to approach the immortal tomb. In the end, when they saw that the precious bamboo was damaged, they had no choice but to return. Along the way back, they just happened to see Shi Hao fish up the pill furnace.
“This pill furnace is quite mysterious and extremely unordinary.” An elder next to the purple robed youth said.
“You all are too overbearing.” Shi Hao coldly said.
“I don’t feel like wasting words on you. Hurry up and offer up the precious furnace, and then I might be able to leave you with your life.” The Taotie Clan youngster said coldly.
His mood was utterly terrible. He used one of his clan’s divine treasures, yet in the end, he couldn’t reach the divine tomb. It made him incomparably angry. Now that he saw this type of natural luck on the way back, he was naturally going to seize it.
“Do you not know that acting overbearing leads to death?!” The divine striking stone loudly berated. It was extremely angry.
“Kill him, and then bring the pill furnace and that stone back.” The purple robed Taotie youth said with a cold smile. They had two experts with their divine flames ignited here, and it was enough to deal with Shi Hao.
The elder from before smiled indifferently and said, “If little friend returned the pill furnace to my clan, we could have still talked everything through.
The other old servant also walked over. His face was covered in curse symbols, making the smile on his face appear extremely strange. “Do not overestimate yourself.”
“I never tried Taotie meat before. I wonder what it tastes like…” Shi Hao said to himself.
“You’re courting death!” The purple robed youth shouted loudly. He moved his hand, hinting for them to attack and kill Shi Hao as soon as possible. He didn’t want to waste any time here.
However, what was unexpected was that Shi Hao unexpectedly took the initiative, taking action first. However, he didn’t attack their group, but instead sent a fist towards the river.
“Not good!”
The two old servants that ignited their divine flames were so scared their souls shook. They both shouted loudly, and then they rushed backwards, quickly heading for the distance.
The purple robed youngster and the others were horrified. Their faces all turned pale.
“Did you go crazy?!”
Doing this was definitely looking for death. Even if they used supreme precious artifacts to defend against the lightning radiance, they still couldn’t protect themselves from the curse power. It would provoke a great disaster.
Shi Hao laughed coldly, not replying to them. He immediately lifted the cover of the pill furnace, and then he rushed inside with the divine striking stone. Then, he activated the precious furnace and ran.
Hong!
Lightning radiance blasted over in thousands to tens of thousands streaks, pouring down endlessly. Apart from this, there was also rich curse power that drowned out this place.
“Ah…” Miserable shrieks sounded from the distance. It was clear that the purple robed youth’s people immediately turned into ashes, dying there.
Meanwhile, Shi Hao was also shivered inwardly. The sea of lightning outside was endless, striking the pill furnace until it trembled intensely and rumbled with noise. The inside continuously shone with endless symbols.
You have to understand that he didn’t act too impulsively and only sent a fist towards the river, but such a terrifying result was still produced.
Even if deities came, they would still be killed. It was because this lightning contained a trace of immortal dao aura!
Fortunately, this pill furnace was incomparably mysterious, actually defending against everything. Shi Hao and the others hid inside and temporarily didn’t face any dangers.
Lightning radiance shone endlessly, continuing for several minutes before the lightning that covered the skies disappeared. Peace was restored to this place.
Shi Hao carefully opened the furnace’s lid and went outside. However, he staggered and fell onto the ground. Even though the lightning radiance was gone, the curse didn’t scatter, still binding around the precious furnace, waiting for him to come out.
Shi Hao immediately sat down, taking on all of the curse himself, using his body to defend against it. Blood continuously poured out from his mouth. He was about to faint several times, and his flame of life grew dim, almost going out.
Only after an entire day had passed did he release a breath of air and slowly recover a bit of spirit. It had been too dangerous. His body and dao almost scattered away here.
Then, he sat down again, using two days and nights’ time to treat his injuries, and only then did he gradually recover, his spirit taking a turn for the better. His flesh began to shine.
“Yi, you guys really are like roaches…” Shi Hao went to search for them, and then he noticed that the purple robed youth and the elder that plotted after the pill furnace before were still alive, each of them grabbing a piece of broken evil warding divine bamboo.
The others all turned into ashes under the lightning radiance, with some falling to the curse.
Apart from this, there were six or seven ancient magical artifacts that were all blasted to pieces. They were originally rare secret treasures, but they were broken.
“You…” The purple robed youth and that elder looked like they saw a ghost when Shi Hao walked over. They both felt despair.
The two used up all of their magical artifacts just to defend against the lightning radiance, but they were already serious wounded. In addition, they were infected quite heavily by the curse, making it hard to even move. They were carrying out their final struggle here.
Yet in the end, they saw that Shi Hao was perfectly unharmed!
Chi!
A streak of multicolored light shot out from Shi Hao’s finger, piercing through the elder’s brows and ending his life. Then, he raised the purple robed youth before saying, “I still haven’t eaten Taotie meat yet. I’ll get rid of your flesh in a bit and then have a taste. Of course, this is on the premise that hurry and show me your original form. Otherwise, I won’t be able to bring myself to eat you.”
Three days later, Shi Hao finally made his way into the depths of the heavenly river. He vaguely saw an enormous ancient grave. All of the river waters flowed in that direction!