Chapter 84: The Demon Refining Insect Daoist

The Yunshui Heavenly Palace ruins were incredibly vast. Even in his previous life, the Cultivators of the Congyun Sea had not been able to fully explore its entirety even after more than ten years of continuous exploration.

This was even more true now, as all parts of the Yunshui Heavenly Palace were shrouded in thick White Mist.

The group of Cultivators who had awakened at the Qin Hall stone statue quickly split into several different camps.

Some felt that the Yunshui Heavenly Palace was far too dangerous. Being able to survive under Qin Hall's hand was already a stroke of extreme luck. If they continued to explore, it would surely be certain death.

Moreover, they believed they had already memorized several Cultivation Techniques. As long as they could return alive this time, it would be a massive gain. Thus, they decisively chose to leave the Yunshui Heavenly Palace.

The majority chose to leave. However, the remaining people believed that if just a single stone statue at the entrance of the ruins provided such an Opportunity, then what kind of great fortune would lie within the Pill Refining Room, Dharma Transmission Pavilion, and Sect Treasury that were legendary staples of ancient Sects?

Once greed arose, it quickly expanded within their hearts, becoming impossible to suppress.

Consequently, this group of people, as if possessed, vanished into the White Mist one after another.

So, when Li Fan caught up from behind, he found that he had already lost track of all the Cultivators. If it weren't for the Formless Killing Intent having already locked onto Si Kongyi and the other person in advance, he might have lost them just like that.

Strangely, however, Si Kongyi and Hundred Mile Chen seemed extremely familiar with the layout of the Yunshui Heavenly Palace.

Time and again, they were able to find a path through gaps in the White Mist that seemed like dead ends. Their goal was clear all the way, constantly bypassing buildings shrouded in White Mist as they headed deeper inside.

Was this the reason why Si Kongyi was able to seize the Cloud Water Diagram in the previous life?

He himself was able to know the various secrets within the Yunshui Heavenly Palace because of his simulation experiences from the previous life.

But how did this Si Kongyi know?

Li Fan's heart was suddenly filled with intense interest.

At the same time, he became increasingly vigilant. These two clearly held significant secrets!

Hiding his presence and aura even further, Li Fan followed closely behind them.

Suddenly, the two of them stopped.

After pausing for a moment, Si Kongyi and Hundred Mile Chen split up, speeding away in two opposite directions.

"A decoy tactic? Have they discovered me?" Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly. After hesitating for a moment, he still chased in the direction Si Kongyi had left.

Going deep into the White Mist, he reached a tower-like building.

Si Kongyi suddenly stopped at the base of the tower, turned back toward Li Fan's direction, and revealed a provocative smile.

Then, he plunged straight into the tower.

"Interesting. Is he trying to use a forbidden zone within the Yunshui Heavenly Palace to kill me?" Li Fan looked at the tower before him, which loomed in and out of the White Mist with a demonic aura. Memories from his previous life couldn't help but surface in his mind.

The Demon Refining Tower was one of the most dangerous areas in the Yunshui Heavenly Palace.

In the first ten years after the Yunshui Heavenly Palace opened, no Cultivator had ever returned alive from the Demon Refining Tower. Therefore, it was once considered a forbidden zone by the Cultivators of the Congyun Sea, a place that must never be explored.

In his previous life, it wasn't until Year 21 of the Anchor that an Alchemy Great Master risked his life to enter and finally cracked the bizarre rules within.

"If this is your plan, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed." Li Fan sneered and also entered the Demon Refining Tower.

Stepping inside, he felt gusts of cold wind, and a smell of decay and stench rushed toward him.

The bottom floor of the tower consisted of rows of cells.

However, it seemed too much time had passed, as only piles of strangely shaped demonic bones remained in the cells.

Li Fan continued upward, and the second floor of the tower was the same.

He went all the way to the top of the tower.

From a distance, he heard a muttering voice.

"Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters are all fighting and killing at the front line, yet I'm the only one who can't help with anything."

"I must refine more Medicinal Pills so that I can improve their strength as much as possible."

"The more Medicinal Pills I refine, the greater the chance my Senior Brothers have of surviving."

"But the demons in this Demon Refining Tower are all dead, and there are no more Materials for Alchemy. What should I do…"

A man with disheveled hair, wearing a loose blue Daoist robe, looked as if he were sighing in despair, completely at a loss.

In the air beside him, three figures were bound by invisible ropes.

One of them was precisely Si Kongyi.

The other two were also Cultivators who had entered the Yunshui Heavenly Palace this time, though it was unknown why they had appeared here.

These two were pale, their lips constantly moving. It was unclear what they were saying.

Before Li Fan could take any action, he felt as if his hands and feet were suddenly tied by ropes, rendering him unable to move.

He was then pulled into the air and fixed there, just like the other three.

Having already anticipated this encounter, Li Fan did not panic.

It was only then that he could clearly hear the mutterings of those two people.

"How can this be? I clearly chose to leave this place directly. How could I be bound here in the blink of an eye…"

"My life is over, my life is over. I had clearly already left the Yunshui Heavenly Palace, yet I was still caught and brought back…"

…

"Oh dear, it's time for Alchemy!" Just then, the man in the Daoist robe suddenly snapped out of his muttering.

"Alchemy, Alchemy…" The man reached his hand into his wide Daoist robe, moving it around. Before long, he pulled out two black Medicinal Pills.

"The pills are refined, but I don't know what the medicinal properties are like this time." The man scratched his hair, appearing somewhat troubled.

Then, he suddenly slapped his thigh: "Right, didn't I just catch a few insects? I'll use them to test the medicine!"

After saying that, he looked toward Li Fan and the others hanging in the air, his gaze shifting constantly: "Which insect should I choose?"

Being stared at by the man, they all felt an inexplicable chill.

None of them dared to move, holding their breath and remaining silent.

"Let's go with this one." After looking for a while, the Daoist robe man's gaze stopped on one of them, and he immediately reached out to grab them.

Seeing this, that person could no longer remain calm.

But his struggle was clearly futile, and he could no longer make a sound.

His body flew toward the Daoist robe man, and during the process, his form gradually shrank.

In the end, he truly turned into a tiny flying insect and fell into the palm of the Daoist robe man.

The head of the flying insect could still vaguely be seen to have a human face, and the expression on that face was one of extreme terror.

Gently pinched by the Daoist robe man, the Human-faced flying insect constantly made a buzzing sound with its vibrating wings.

But it was all in vain. The Daoist robe man pinched the flying insect with one hand and held a black Medicinal Pill in the other.

The Medicinal Pill was many times larger than the flying insect, but it was forced inside just like that.

The Human-faced flying insect struggled in pain, being forced to swallow the Medicinal Pill into its belly.

Its belly swelled many times over, becoming a giant sphere.

The flying insect's aura gradually faded, but the suffering had only just begun.

After the Medicinal Pill entered the belly, it seemed to be digested, and its size began to decrease.

However, a buzzing sound like a swarm of mosquitoes suddenly rang out.

The Human-faced flying insect's body suddenly began to twitch uncontrollably.

Tiny black dots crawled out of its abdomen one after another.

Looking closely, those black dots were clearly newborn flying insects.

After crawling out of the body, the flying insects didn't fly around randomly. Instead, they stayed on the Human-faced flying insect, greedily devouring it.

Soon, the Human-faced flying insect was devoured until not even a scrap remained.

The Daoist robe man shook his head with a look of regret.

"It seems the medicine test failed. The medicinal properties must have been too strong."

As he spoke, he opened his mouth and sucked the black mist of flying insects into his stomach.

Even though he had already heard about what happened in the Demon Refining Tower and was fully prepared psychologically, Li Fan still couldn't help but have his eyelids twitch at this moment.

This scene was truly too horrifying.

The Daoist robe man looked at the other remaining Medicinal Pill in his hand, appearing somewhat troubled.

"Should I try this one again?"

He glanced at Li Fan and the other two again.

The three of them all stopped breathing.

After a long while, the Daoist robe man sighed: "Forget it, they were refined in the same batch, so it should be about the same."

After saying that, the man opened his mouth and casually tossed the black Medicinal Pill inside.

After swallowing the Medicinal Pill, the Daoist robe man seemed completely unaffected.

He simply became obsessed and muttery again.

He began muttering again about the lack of Materials for Alchemy, completely ignoring the three people bound in the air.

Among the three survivors, Li Fan remained silent.

Si Kongyi was expressionless.

The remaining person was already on the verge of a breakdown.

"If I had known, it would have been better to die at the hands of that Qin Hall. At least I could have died quickly."

…

Time seemed to have no meaning in this Demon Refining Tower.

The life or death of everyone depended entirely on the actions of that Daoist robe man.

After an unknown amount of time, the man snapped out of his obsession again.

In the same way, he pulled out two Medicinal Pills from under his wide Daoist robe, only this time they were an eerie green.

"Which insect should I choose to test the medicine?"

The man hesitated for a moment this time, his gaze landing on Si Kongyi.

"Let's choose this one!"

Li Fan immediately perked up. He wanted to see exactly what kind of trump card Si Kongyi had that gave him the courage to lure him into this forbidden zone.

To Li Fan's sudden astonishment, Si Kongyi actually didn't use any means of resistance.

After turning into an insect and being forced to swallow the green Medicinal Pill, he directly turned into a pool of green water.

Si Kongyi was dead!

"What's going on? Where did things go wrong? Could it be that in this life, because of my tracking, the development of events has taken a different path from the previous life?"

"No, Si Kongyi clearly lured me to this Demon Refining Tower. How could he die so easily?"

"He knew this was a forbidden zone and lured me in just to trade his life for mine?"

…

Just as Li Fan was sinking into endless doubt, he suddenly sensed something and looked up.

Outside the Demon Refining Tower, Hundred Mile Chen, who was locked by Formless Killing Intent, slowly approached.

And beside him, Li Fan felt that the Formless Killing Intent, which had originally lost its locked target, had once again captured its target: Si Kongyi.

The Si Kongyi who had clearly died appeared outside the Demon Refining Tower just like that.

"A Puppet? An External Incarnation? It doesn't feel like either…"

Li Fan stared at the pool of green water on the ground and couldn't help but smile.

"It seems the secrets these two carry are even greater than I imagined."

"However, once I've set my sights on them, secrets will no longer be secrets."

In Li Fan's perception, Si Kongyi and Hundred Mile Chen continued to head deeper into the Yunshui Heavenly Palace.

"With the Formless Killing Intent locked on, I'm not afraid of them running away. However, I need to get out of this Demon Refining Tower as soon as possible."

But the Daoist robe man's actions followed their own rhythm, and Li Fan couldn't control them. For now, he could only choose to wait patiently.

Soon, the third round of medicine testing arrived.

This time, Li Fan was still not chosen. This made Li Fan feel a bit caught between laughter and tears, not knowing whether it was lucky or unlucky.

The Daoist robe man pulled out two pink Medicinal Pills and fed them to the Human-faced flying insect.

With a pop of an explosion, the flying insect turned into a cloud of pink smoke.

Within the smoke, painful human faces constantly emerged.

As the pink mist drifted, the human faces were stretched and distorted, appearing even more hideous and terrifying.

Watching this from the side, Li Fan also got a case of goosebumps.

In the end, it was only when the Daoist robe man, amidst his mutterings, sucked the smoke into his body that this eternal pain ended.

The Daoist robe man fell into muttering to himself once again.

The fourth round of medicine testing finally arrived.

At this point, Li Fan was the only one left in the Demon Refining Tower.

The Daoist robe man was about to use Li Fan to test the medicine when Li Fan suddenly spoke.

"Junior Brother Insect, I heard you're short on Materials for Alchemy?"

Hearing this, the Insect Daoist suddenly stopped his reaching hand and subconsciously nodded: "Yes, the Materials for Alchemy are not enough."

He said with some guilt: "It's been a long time since I've been able to refine any new Medicinal Pills…"

The Insect Daoist's words halted. He stared at Li Fan for a while, and after seeing the clothes he was wearing clearly, he suddenly became somewhat flustered: "So it's a Senior Brother! I thought it was an insect!"

"Senior Brother, I'm truly sorry! I'll let you down immediately."

Following the Insect Daoist's words, Li Fan only felt the constraints on his body loosen, and he regained control of his body.

The Insect Daoist clutched his head and lowered it, as if he didn't have the face to look at this Senior Brother.

He just said self-reproachfully: "I messed things up again. It's like this every time. I can't refine pills well, and my cultivation progress has always been very slow, holding everyone back…"

Li Fan stepped forward, pressed his hand on the Insect Daoist's shoulder, and said gently: "Don't say that, Junior Brother Insect. The Medicinal Pills you refine are very effective, and everyone likes eating them."

Hearing this, the Insect Daoist suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with surprise: "Really, Senior Brother? Everyone really likes eating the Medicinal Pills I refine?"

"What, you don't believe your Senior Brother's words?" Li Fan put on a stern face.

The Insect Daoist quickly shook his head: "Of course I believe what Senior Brother says."

Then he said dejectedly: "But I have no more Materials for Alchemy. I can't refine the Medicinal Pills that everyone loves anymore."

Li Fan patted the Insect Daoist's head and said softly: "It's okay, aren't I still here?"

"Refine your Senior Brother into a Medicinal Pill. That way, everyone will have pills to eat again."

"Senior Brother, you…" The Insect Daoist seemed shocked by Li Fan's words. He widened his eyes and looked at Li Fan.

Li Fan just sighed deeply and continued: "Although I entered the Sect early, my talent is insufficient, and my cultivation has always been very low. Our Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters are all fighting and killing at the front line, yet I'm the only one who can't help with anything."

"Every time I think of this, my heart aches intensely, and I hate my own incompetence."

"So, refine me into a Medicinal Pill. That way, I can still be of some help."

Li Fan grabbed the Insect Daoist's hand and said with an excited expression.

The Insect Daoist stared blankly at Li Fan, seemingly deeply moved.

"So Senior Brother is just like me."

"But Senior Brother is much greater than me, willing to sacrifice himself just to help the Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters at the front line."

"While I, I can only run away. I only know how to hide in this tower."

The Insect Daoist clutched his hair in pain.

"No, I absolutely cannot stand by and watch Senior Brother sacrifice himself."

He seemed to have suddenly thought of something and excitedly said to Li Fan: "Senior Brother, I can refine pills for you! As long as you eat the pills I refine, your strength certainly won't be low anymore, and then you can go to the front line to help!"

The Insect Daoist seemed to have found a goal to strive for: "Alchemy, I want to perform Alchemy!"

He reached his hand into his wide Daoist robe, moving it around.

Not long after, he pulled out two golden Medicinal Pills.

"Senior Brother, these pills are for you."

The Insect Daoist held them in both hands and, with a face full of smiles, handed the pills to Li Fan.

Li Fan didn't take the pills. Instead, he unfastened the Insect Daoist's robe.

He saw…

Beneath the wide Daoist robe, only a hollow skeleton remained.

On the skeleton, only a few barely visible bits of flesh were left.

The Insect Daoist was using his own flesh,

to refine the Medicinal Pills.