Chapter 1869: Corrosive Immortal Pill
"Is that true, Qing Yuanzi?" The elderly man turned to Qing Yuanzi with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"I did indeed just exchange for Fellow Daoist Golden Flame's Divine Infernal River Elixir for some other items. Isn't this elixir completely ineffective for you at your cultivation base, Brother Voidspirit? On top of that, doesn't your Mayfly Race have a huge reserve of this elixir? Other people in your Mayfly Race may not have access to it, but wouldn't it be a simple matter for you to access those reserves?" Qing Yuanzi was also quite surprised.
"Firstly, I'm sourcing this elixir for a purpose other than my own consumption. Secondly, there's a lot of routine expenditure of Divine Infernal River Elixir in our Mayfly Race, so our reserves are nowhere near as abundant as you think. I've already used up all of the remaining elixir in our Mayfly Race. Otherwise, I wouldn't be turning to you and Golden Flame. I managed to secure some elixir from the others, but it's still not enough. Hence, I don't care what you need the elixir for; I'm willing to exchange for it using something worth twice its value," the elderly man said in a serious manner.
Qing Yuanzi's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he fell into deep thought.
Meanwhile, Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but his heart was thumping in his chest.
In contrast, Golden Flame Baron crossed his arms and appraised the unfolding situation with a smile, assured in the knowledge that this matter no longer concerned him.
"It wouldn't be right of me to turn down an offer like this, but unfortunately, I've already given the elixir to Fellow Daoist Han, so I can't offer it to you even if I wanted to," Qing Yuanzi finally sighed with a shake of his head.
"You gave it to him?" The elderly man furrowed his brows slightly in a display of displeasure.
"Indeed. I owe Fellow Daoist Han a big favor, and I promised him Divine Infernal River Elixir as compensation. If you want to forcibly take the elixir from Fellow Daoist Han, I'm afraid I'll have to step in," Qing Yuanzi said in a solemn manner.
"Oh? Looks like you really do owe this brat quite a big favor; it's very uncharacteristic of you to say something like this to me! I may have a short temper, but I wouldn't stoop to robbing juniors. However, if he's willing to hand over the elixir to me, you wouldn't intervene, would you?" the elderly man asked.
"Of course. As long as Fellow Daoist Han is willing to hand over the elixir, I naturally won't stick my nose into this matter," Qing Yuanzi replied in an affirmative manner.
"Good!" Thus, the elderly man nodded with a pleased expression before turning to Han Li with a smile.
Han Li's heart jolted at the sight of the smiling Voidspirit, and he hurriedly cupped his fist in a salute as he tried to offer an explanation. "Senior, the elixir..."
"There's no need to say anything! I do indeed have a domineering personality, but I won't bully juniors for my own gain. If I want your elixir, then I'll make it so that you'll willingly hand it over to me," the elderly man cut him off in a confident manner.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve over the table beside him, and a dozen or so jade vials of different sizes appeared amid a flash of black light.
"These are some pills that I've collected over the years that can enhance the cultivation of a Body Integration cultivator, and this quantity of pills exceeds the value of one vial of Divine Infernal River Elixir. How many vials of elixir do you have? I'll give you a corresponding amount of pills in return," the elderly man chuckled.
Even though Qing Yuanzi and Golden Flame Baron no longer had any use for these pills, they were still quite stunned by the sight of them.
Any single vial of these pills would be enough to start a war between Body Integration Stage beings in the outside world, and such a large quantity of these pills was definitely higher in value than a single vial of Divine Infernal River Elixir.
The elderly man had nonchalantly brought out several tens of vials of these pills at once, and both Qing Yuanzi and Golden Flame Baron couldn't help but turn toward Han Li to gauge his reaction.
Han Li also faltered momentarily at the sight of these pills, but instead of being elated by the sight of them, a rather peculiar look appeared on his face.
After a brief hesitation, he raised an arm before making a grabbing motion, and one of the small vials was drawn into his grasp. He removed the lid, then tipped out an azure pill and began to inspect it in a careful manner.
"This Azure Shadow Pill is considered to be the sacred pill of the Azure Sea Race. Just a single pill will produce an effect equivalent to around a month of arduous cultivation for you, and this pill is only slightly above average among all of the pills that I've brought out here," Voidspirit declared in a proud manner. It was quite clear that he was very confident in the pills he had to offer.
"These pills are indeed all extremely precious, but I'm afraid I can't offer my elixir in exchange for them," Han Li said with a wry smile.
The elderly man faltered slightly before immediately flying into a thunderous rage. "Why is that? Do you think I'm providing you with fake pills?"
Qing Yuanzi and Golden Flame Baron also exchanged a slightly bewildered glance.
"Of course not, Senior, it's just that I already have many pills that can enhance my cultivation base, so these pills aren't very useful to me," Han Li hurriedly explained.
"You already have some pills? What kind of pills are you using? Are you saying they're better than mine?" the elderly man asked in a skeptical manner.
Han Li could only heave a resigned internal sigh before continuing, "If you don't believe me, then I can only show you my pills, Senior."
He flipped a hand over as he spoke, and a small white jade vial appeared in his hand amid a flash of spiritual light. He tossed the vial toward the elderly man, who was still quite skeptical, but was beginning to believe Han Li judging from the calmness he was displaying.
He caught the vial before removing the lid, and a pleasant fragrance immediately wafted toward him. His expression changed slightly, and instead of immediately tipping a pill out of the vial, he brought the opening of the vial to his nose and inhaled deeply, following which a slightly bewildered look appeared on his face.
"Brother Voidspirit, you're an accomplished pill refinement master; what do you think of Fellow Daoist Han's pills?" Golden Flame Baron asked. He had no inhibitions as this had nothing to do with him anyway.
"There are no issues with the pills, but they have a rather peculiar fragrance." the elderly man tipped a thumb-sized pill out of the vial as he spoke.
The pill was of a fiery red color with golden patterns all over its surface, as well as spiritual light swirling all around it, making it resemble a living creature.
"This is a Corrosive Immortal Pill! There's no mistaking it; you managed to find Corrosive Poisonweed? That's an immortal plant that's long extinct in the Spirit Realm!" As expected of an old monster like Voidspirit; he was able to identify this pill after just a rough glance.
"What? This pill was refined using Corrosive Poisonweed?" Golden Flame Baron immediately rose to his feet with a stunned expression upon hearing this, and a hint of astonishment also flashed through Qing Yuanzi's eyes.
The elderly man didn't say anything further. After carefully inspecting the pill in his hand, he carefully placed it back into the vial, then tossed the vial back to Han Li.
"Corrosive Immortal Pills are indeed far more potent than the pills I have here, so you weren't lying. However, the fact that you were able to find Corrosive Poisonweed and refine these pills shows me that you're a man of great fortune. After all, Corrosive Poisonweed can be very useful even to Grand Ascension Stage beings," the elderly man said in a meaningful voice.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly, and he extended a respectful salute as he said, "I only knew that this plant could be used to refine Body Integration Stage pills; I didn't know that they could be useful to Grand Ascension Stage beings as well. Would you be able to enlighten me further on this subject, Senior?"
Voidspirit replied with a smile, "Sure, this isn't really a secret. If a Grand Ascension Stage being can extract the poison out of Corrosive Poisonweed, then directly consume this poison, they could use the stimulus to create a chance for themselves to break through a bottleneck. However, this is naturally extremely dangerous, and someone who pursues this method could easily be killed by the poison. On top of that, regardless of whether they succeed or not, their body would be severely ravaged, so it's a desperate self-mutilating bid at further advancement.
"Despite how perilous the method is, the chances of success are extremely slim, so there's a massive imbalance between risk and reward. As such, only someone who has no hope of breaking through a bottleneck through conventional means and won't be able to transcend their next major heavenly tribulation would attempt something like this. Furthermore, extracting the poison out of Corrosive Poisonweed is an extremely difficult process as well, and even back when the plant wasn't extinct in the Spirit Realm, very few people have managed to accomplish this."
Qing Yuanzi displayed no reaction to this, but there was an indecisive look of contemplation in Golden Flame Baron's eyes.
"Alright, seeing as you're not in need of pills, I'll offer you some treasures. You can pick any three treasures you like from this selection."
Voidspirit swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and spiritual light flashed erratically, following which his sleeve abruptly expanded to several times its original size.
A faint buzzing sound then rang out, and hundreds of treasures surged out of his sleeve in a frenzy. Some of them were releasing dazzling light, some of them were emitting sharp ringing sounds, and some were flickering in and out of existence as if they had been constructed from illusionary smoke...
The one common trait among this diverse smorgasbord of treasures was that all of them were giving off extremely powerful auras. All of them seemed to be top-grade spirit treasures, and there were even a few that were giving off spiritual pressure no less powerful than that of Han Li's silver ruler.
Han Li was naturally greatly astonished to see this, and he was at a loss for words.
Golden Flame Baron and Qing Yuanzi exchanged a smile upon seeing this, and the former suddenly chuckled, "Brother Voidspirit, Fellow Daoist Han is clearly a very wealthy individual, so perhaps he may even have a few treasures on the Chaotic Myriad Spirit Roll. If you want his elixir, then these treasures most likely won't be enough to tempt him. How about you bring out some good stuff so Brother Qing and I can broaden our horizons as well?"