Chapter 84

The Yunshuitian Palace ruins are vast beyond measure. Even in the previous life, after over a decade of continuous exploration by the Congyunhai cultivators, they still failed to fully uncover its entirety.

Now, the entire Yunshuitian Palace is shrouded in thick mist.

The cultivators who awoke at the Qin Tang statue quickly split into several different camps.

Some felt that the Yunshuitian Palace was extremely dangerous. Surviving under Qin Tang's control was already a stroke of luck. If they continued to explore, it would surely mean certain death.

They believed they had already memorized several cultivation techniques. This time, as long as they could return alive, they would have made a huge profit. Therefore, they decisively chose to leave the Yunshuitian Palace.

The majority chose to leave, while the remaining few believed that if a single statue at the entrance of the ruins could offer such a great opportunity, what kind of fortune would the alchemy rooms, transmission halls, and treasure vaults, which were essential to the ancient sects, hold within the Yunshuitian Palace?

Once the greed arose, it rapidly expanded in their hearts, becoming uncontrollable.

Thus, these people, as if possessed, one after another disappeared into the mist.

So, when Li Fan caught up from behind, he found that the traces of all the cultivators had vanished. If it weren't for the fact that Wuxiang Shaji had already locked onto Sima Yi and Baili Chen, he might have lost them.

However, what was strange was that Sima Yi and Baili Chen seemed to be extremely familiar with the layout of the Yunshuitian Palace.

They always managed to find a way through the seemingly dead-end gaps in the mist, with a clear goal in mind, constantly bypassing buildings shrouded in mist and delving deeper inside.

Was this the reason why Sima Yi was able to obtain the "Yunshui Tulu" in the previous life?

He knew the secrets of the Yunshuitian Palace because of the simulation experience from the previous life.

But how did Sima Yi know?

Li Fan's interest was immediately piqued.

At the same time, he became even more cautious. These two clearly had significant secrets!

His figure and aura became even more concealed as Li Fan closely followed them.

Suddenly, their movements stopped.

After a moment, Sima Yi and Baili Chen split up, each dashing in opposite directions.

"Is this a divide and conquer strategy? Have they discovered me?" Li Fan's eyes narrowed, hesitated for a moment, and then decided to chase after Sima Yi.

Delving deeper into the mist, he arrived at a tower-like structure.

Sima Yi suddenly stopped at the base of the tower, turned around, and gave a challenging smile in Li Fan's direction.

Then he plunged into the tower.

"Interesting, does he intend to use the perilous areas of the Yunshuitian Palace to kill me?" Li Fan looked at the tower, which was faintly visible in the white mist, exuding an eerie aura. Memories from his previous life surfaced in his mind.

The Demon Refining Tower, one of the most dangerous areas in the Yunshuitian Palace.

In the first ten years after the Yunshuitian Palace opened, no cultivator ever returned alive from the Demon Refining Tower. Therefore, it was once considered an absolute no-go zone by the Congyunhai cultivators, who advised against exploring it.

In the end, it was only in the 21st year that a great alchemy master risked his life to enter and finally unraveled the bizarre rules within.

"If this is your plan, you will be disappointed." Li Fan sneered and followed into the Demon Refining Tower.

Upon entering, he felt a cold wind, and a putrid and foul smell hit him.

The bottom floor of the tower was a series of cells.

However, time had passed, and the cells contained only piles of strangely shaped demonic bones.

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

He finally reached the top of the tower.

From a distance, he heard a continuous mumbling.

"My senior brothers and sisters are fighting on the front lines, but I can't help them at all."

"I must refine more pills to increase their strength as much as possible."

"The more pills I refine, the greater the chances of my senior brothers surviving."

"But all the demons in the Demon Refining Tower are dead, leaving no materials for refining pills. What should I do?"

A man with messy hair, wearing a loose blue robe, was sighing and looking helpless.

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

One of them was Sima Yi.

The other two were also cultivators who entered the Yunshuitian Palace this time, but it was unclear why they were here.

These two had pale faces, their lips moving continuously, but it was unclear what they were saying.

Before Li Fan could make any move, he felt his hands and feet suddenly bound, unable to move.

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

Having anticipated this, Li Fan did not panic.

At this moment, he finally heard the mumbling of the two.

"How could this happen? I clearly chose to leave directly. Why did I end up bound here...?"

"My life is over, my life is over. I was already out of the Yunshuitian Palace, but I was brought back..."

...

"Oh, it's time to refine pills!" The man in the robe suddenly snapped out of his mumbling.

"Refine pills, refine pills..." He reached into his loose robe, moving his hand around, and soon pulled out two black pills.

"The pills are refined, but I don't know how effective they are." The man scratched his head, looking troubled.

Then he slapped his thigh: "Right, I just caught a few bugs. I'll use them to test the pills!"

He looked at Li Fan and the others, who were bound in the air, his gaze moving: "Which bug should I choose?"

Feeling a chill from the man's gaze, they dared not move, holding their breath in silence.

"I'll choose this one." The man in the robe looked at one of them for a while and then reached out.

Seeing this, the person could no longer remain calm.

But his struggles were in vain, and he could no longer make a sound.

His body flew toward the man in the robe, gradually shrinking.

In the end, he turned into a small flying insect, landing in the man's hand.

The insect's head vaguely resembled a human face, with an extremely terrified expression.

Held lightly by the man, the insect buzzed its wings.

But it was all in vain. The man held the insect in one hand and a black pill in the other.

The pill was much larger than the insect but was forcefully shoved inside.

The insect struggled in pain, swallowing the pill.

Its belly swelled to several times its size, becoming a large sphere.

The insect's aura gradually weakened, but its suffering had just begun.

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

Suddenly, a buzzing sound like a swarm of mosquitoes rang out.

The insect's body began to convulse uncontrollably.

Small black dots emerged from its belly, one after another.

Upon closer inspection, these black dots were clearly newly born insects.

The insects did not fly around but stopped on the human-faced insect, greedily devouring it.

Soon, the human-faced insect was completely devoured, leaving no trace.

The man in the robe shook his head, looking regretful.

"It seems the test failed. The pill's effect was too strong."

He opened his mouth and sucked the black mist into his stomach.

Even though he had heard about the events in the Demon Refining Tower and was mentally prepared, Li Fan's eyelids still twitched.

This scene was truly horrifying.

The man in the robe looked at the remaining pill in his hand, seeming troubled.

"Should I test this one too?"

He glanced at Li Fan and the others.

The three of them held their breath.

After a long moment, the man sighed: "Forget it, they were from the same batch, so they should be similar."

He opened his mouth and casually threw the black pill in.

Swallowing the pill, the man in the robe seemed unaffected.

He became delusional again, mumbling about the lack of refining materials, completely ignoring the three bound in the air.

Among the survivors, Li Fan remained silent.

Sima Yi had a blank expression.

The remaining person was already in a state of collapse.

"I wish I had died at the hands of Qin Tang. At least it would have been a quick death."

...

Time seemed to lose its meaning in the Demon Refining Tower.

The fate of everyone depended on the actions of the man in the robe.

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

He pulled out two green pills from his loose robe.

"Which bug should I choose to test the pill?"

The man hesitated for a moment, his gaze falling on Sima Yi.

"I'll choose this one!"

Li Fan immediately became alert, curious to see what Sima Yi relied on to dare to lead him into this perilous place.

To Li Fan's surprise, Sima Yi did not use any resistance.

After turning into an insect and being forced to swallow the green pill, he directly turned into a puddle of green liquid.

Sima Yi, dead!

"What happened? What went wrong? Could it be that in this life, my tracking has changed the course of events from the previous life?"

"No, Sima Yi clearly lured me into the Demon Refining Tower. How could he die so easily?"

"Did he know this was a perilous place and lead me here just to trade his life for mine?"

...

As Li Fan was lost in endless doubt, he suddenly sensed something and looked up.

Outside the Demon Refining Tower, Baili Chen, locked onto by Wuxiang Shaji, was slowly approaching.

Beside him, Li Fan sensed that Wuxiang Shaji had reacquired its target: Sima Yi.

Sima Yi, who was clearly dead, reappeared outside the Demon Refining Tower.

"Puppet? Body outside the body? Neither seems right..."

Li Fan stared at the puddle of green liquid on the ground and couldn't help but laugh.

"It seems these two have even more secrets than I imagined."

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

In Li Fan's perception, Sima Yi and Baili Chen continued to delve deeper into the Yunshuitian Palace.

"With Wuxiang Shaji locked onto them, I don't have to worry about them escaping. I just need to get out of this Demon Refining Tower as soon as possible."

But the man in the robe had his own routine, and Li Fan could not control it, so he could only choose to wait patiently.

Soon, the third round of testing arrived.

This time, Li Fan was not chosen, which made him somewhat amused, unsure if it was luck or misfortune.

The man in the robe pulled out two pink pills and fed them to the human-faced insect.

The insect exploded with a loud bang, turning into a pink mist.

In the mist, numerous pained human faces appeared.

As the pink mist drifted, the faces were distorted and twisted, becoming even more terrifying.

Li Fan, watching this, felt a chill run down his spine.

In the end, the man in the robe, mumbling, inhaled the mist, ending the eternal suffering.

The man in the robe fell back into his mumbling.

The fourth round of testing finally arrived.

At this point, only Li Fan remained in the Demon Refining Tower.

Just as the man in the robe was about to test Li Fan, Li Fan suddenly spoke.

"Junior Brother Chong, I heard you don't have enough materials to refine pills?"

Chong, the man in the robe, stopped his hand mid-reach and nodded subconsciously: "Yes, I don't have enough materials to refine pills."

He said guiltily: "I haven't been able to refine new pills for a long time..."

Chong paused, staring at Li Fan for a moment, and then, seeing the clothes he was wearing, became flustered: "It's Senior Brother! I thought you were a bug!"

"Senior Brother, I'm really sorry! I'll let you down right away."

As Chong spoke, Li Fan felt the bindings on his body loosen, regaining control.

Chong covered his head, looking down, seemingly ashamed to face this senior brother.

He said self-reproachfully: "I've messed things up again. It's always like this. I can't refine pills well, and my cultivation progress is always slow, holding everyone back..."

Li Fan stepped forward, placing a hand on Chong's shoulder, speaking gently: "Don't say that, Junior Brother Chong. The pills you refine are very effective, and everyone likes them."

Chong's eyes widened with surprise: "Really, Senior Brother? Everyone likes the pills I refine?"

"Do you not believe what your senior brother says?" Li Fan put on a stern face.

Chong quickly shook his head: "Of course I believe what Senior Brother says."

Then he said dejectedly: "But I don't have any more refining materials. I can't refine the pills everyone likes anymore."

Li Fan patted Chong's head and said softly: "It's okay, I'm still here."

"Refine me into a pill, so everyone can have pills to eat."

"Senior Brother, you..." Chong seemed shocked by Li Fan's words, staring at him with wide eyes.

Li Fan sighed and continued: "Although I entered early, my talent is not enough, and my cultivation has always been low. My senior brothers and sisters are fighting on the front lines, but I can't help them."

"Every time I think about this, I feel immense pain and hate my own incompetence."

"So, refine me into a pill. This way, I can still be of some help."

Li Fan grabbed Chong's hand, speaking with excitement.

Chong stared at Li Fan, deeply moved.

"Senior Brother, you're just like me."

"But you are much greater than me, willing to sacrifice yourself to help the senior brothers and sisters on the front lines."

"And I, I just hide in this tower, running away."

Chong painfully tugged at his hair.

"No, I can't let Senior Brother sacrifice himself."

He suddenly had an idea and excitedly said to Li Fan: "Senior Brother, I can refine pills for you! If you eat the pills I refine, your strength won't be low anymore, and you can help on the front lines!"

Chong found a new goal: "Refine pills, I must refine pills!"

He reached into his loose robe, moving his hand around.

After a short while, he pulled out two golden pills.

"Senior Brother, here are your pills."

Chong held them out with both hands, smiling, presenting the pills to Li Fan.

Li Fan did not take the pills but instead undid Chong's robe.

Under the loose robe, there was only an empty skeleton.

The skeleton had only a few barely visible traces of flesh.

Chong, the man in the robe, was using his own flesh and blood to refine the pills.