Chapter 1541 - 635: Tan Zhu vs Yue Qingshan (3)
Chapter 1541: Chapter 635: Tan Zhu vs Yue Qingshan (3)
Nine Snakes in the Sky!
The Earth Cloud hovered above, with nine stone mountain snakes lowering their bodies, swimming towards Tan Zhu from all directions.
They didn’t attack directly but coiled, interlocked, and tightened in mid-air, like a living stone formation.
"It has arrived." The cultivators of the Territorial Expansion Alliance showed slight changes in expression, all carrying an air of anticipation.
This method was specially designed for Tan Zhu!
The snake bodies emphasized entanglement, snake tongues prioritized eradication, and stone scales could wear down poisonous smoke. Each long snake’s abdomen lit up with a faint clear poison pattern.
Yue Qingshan had clearly changed his tactics this time, no longer relying on large-scale mud-stone suppression, but rather using Earth Cloud’s shaping to have mountain stone snakes seek gaps in Tan Zhu’s poisonous smoke.
The nine snakes pounced together!
The rubbing of stone scales produced a heart-palpitating rustling sound. The snake mouths opened wide, stone tongues thrust swiftly, like nine long green and black blades, stabbed from mid-air at Tan Zhu.
Tan Zhu remained standing on the spot.
His gaze seemed cloud-like, with the mountain stone snakes bringing him not pressure, but rather a memory from the past.
He had not been long in the sect, studying alchemy at Danxia Peak, where he acquired a new name, Zhong Limei.
Zhong Limei was not a genius.
He was slow to recognize herbs, slow to control fire, and even slow to memorize elixir recipes. The medicinal properties others could memorize in three days took him seven, and the fire control that others could discern at a glance, he could only distinguish after staring at the furnace flame until his eyes were sore, accumulating much experience, and barely making out.
Danxia Peak was full of geniuses, and he stood among them like the dirt under the clouds.
He was as steady as a mountain stone.
Before dawn every day, he would go to the pill room to sweep ashes from the furnace. He would copy medicinal notes neatly page by page. He used old pill furnaces that others discarded and collected bit by bit the incomplete medicinal materials that others disregarded.
Once, he was responsible for handling a batch of snake materials.
These were auxiliary materials for refining the "Rejuvenating Pill," crucial for a very important furnace of Treasure Pills. The materials included snake gallbladder, snake tendons, snake shedding, snake saliva, and an extremely precious green-striped snake bone.
Snake materials feared excessive processing; too much fire would imbue the pills with venomous taint, too little fire would prevent the spiritual nature from emerging.
Zhong Limei was cautious to the utmost.
But his innate talent was limited; he was slow by one breath in judging the stickiness of snake saliva. After adding snake saliva into the furnace, it clashed with the bitterness of the snake gallbladder, causing the pill liquid to suddenly reverse. The furnace fire was supposed to be suppressed, yet his fear of destroying the green-striped snake bone made him hesitate.
It was that one breath.
The pill furnace exploded!
The furnace lid flew up, fire waves hit the roof beam, and snake venom medicinal smoke filled the pill room. A furnace piece grazed his arm, causing unstoppable bleeding. He fell into a brief coma.
When he awoke, his first glance was at the pill furnace.
The pill furnace was cracked!
"It’s over, how much does the pill furnace cost? I can’t afford to compensate." His face was pale, his expression desperate.
He couldn’t afford it.
He really couldn’t afford it.
A senior rushed in, seeing the exploded pill furnace and Zhong Limei’s singed robe, with eyebrows scorched off halfway.
The senior immediately rushed to Zhong Limei’s side: "Can you still see? Can your hands still move?"
Zhong Limei was stunned.
His arm was still bleeding, his lips trembling, tearfully saying, "Senior, the furnace..."
The senior snorted coldly in anger: "Furnace my foot! A broken pill furnace can be repaired, but if a person is harmed, that’s trouble!"
After checking him over, the senior sighed in relief: "You’re lucky, it’s only a minor injury."
Zhong Limei’s eyes were bloodshot, staring blankly at the shattered pill furnace: "Senior, the furnace."
The senior sighed, patting his back: "This is my responsibility, arranging you to handle this batch of materials. You don’t need to worry, Xiao Zhong, I’ll take care of this matter!"
Later, the senior took on all the pill furnace’s losses for him.
Not only did he sell his protective Magic Artifact, but he also took on two years of the sect’s hard labor.