Chapter 144: Chapter 143: Taking the Pill (Congratulations to Elvin2016 Silver Alliance!)_1
Southern Wilderness Cultivation Realm.
A desolate land where the ground, like gravel, bore no hint of green.
Within a hundred miles, there was no trace of human existence, let alone activity from Cultivators.
Fang Xi was measuring the land with his Divine Consciousness, burying Array Flags and other array setup tools at regular intervals.
This was the site he had specifically chosen to slay Demon Beasts.
In the Cultivation World, arrays can indeed be activated without the support of a Spiritual Vein, it just consumes a large amount of Spirit Stones.
But to Fang Xi, using dozens or hundreds of Spirit Stones in exchange for a Demon Pill was undoubtedly a worthwhile trade.
His method was too shocking and unconventional, so maintaining secrecy was a priority; wasting a few Spirit Stones didn’t matter...
As a top-tier first-level Array Master, he now laid out the ’Yi Wood Divine Thunder Formation’ with ease, needing only two days to set up this mid-tier second-level Great Array.
"Activate!"
After stuffing the Array Disks and Array Eyes with enough Spirit Stones, Fang Xi sent a Magic Spell into the prohibition token.
Boom!
The next moment, streaks of azure spiritual light emerged from atop the Array Flags, swirling intensely and releasing dazzling electric light!
Huge amounts of electric light converged within a few hundred meters, forming layers of dark clouds, flickering with Thunder Light and exuding an air of bursting vitality!
"This is too conspicuous... I better set up a few more concealment arrays in the vicinity..."
While adjusting the array, Fang Xi’s eyes twitched involuntarily.
He felt that he had been duped by Ouyang Zhen.
The array wasn’t slightly incomplete, but apart from the Death Gate, the rest was full of flaws!
Even after repairs, it was a drop in the bucket!
"Once one steps out of the Death Gate, this array can hardly trap a second-level Monster beasts; even a Cultivator with complete Qi Refining could break out, if they have studied arrays. Its effective range is probably only within a hundred meters... of course, this assumes it is unattended."
Fang Xi, who had studied the intricacies of all arrays and was an Array Master himself, could ensure that within the range of the Death Gate, a second-level Monster beasts could not escape and had to fully endure the Great Array’s power!
"Overall, others got a bad deal, but for me, it’s barely acceptable..."
He felt somewhat frustrated; given the characteristics of this array, only fools would charge into the Death Gate.
...
Over the next three days, Fang Xi tirelessly set up several first-level arrays outside the Great Array to reduce the commotion and avoid drawing attention.
Then, he sat quietly to recuperate, restoring his Magic Power to its peak and activating the entire Great Array.
After completing all his preparatory work, Fang Xi entered the Death Gate and suddenly vanished from sight!
A short while later.
When he reappeared, he was accompanied by a Golden Fur Demon Ape standing three meters tall!
The Vajra Ape King!
"Squeak, squeak!"
The Monster King had just teleported and was thoroughly bewildered, but soon it began to roar and beat its chest violently!
In the void, spiritual energy mysteriously converged, forming a vortex!
It was advancing!
Indeed, both Demon Beasts and Cultivators usually advance best atop a Spiritual Vein.
But Fang Xi surely wouldn’t provide such conditions to his adversary; at most, he would embed some Spirit Stones to create an environment with an abundance of spiritual energy.
Despite that, this Monster King from the Da Liang World indeed had a profound accumulation of power and exceptional talent.
Once it teleported and was no longer suppressed by the Da Liang World, it immediately began to advance!
"Squeak, squeak!"
The Vajra Ape King continued hitting its chest, with traces of blood seeping through its pores.
Its bones swelled massively, and suddenly its body grew...
In the blink of an eye, its size doubled, transforming into a massive Demon Ape over six meters tall!
Not only that, the aura of the Demon Ape soared as well, with the golden fur on its chest converging to form a vague pattern; its sharp teeth jutted from its face, and its eyes turned a murderous red, looking at Fang Xi, its ’former master’, with a trace of ruthlessness!
"As expected, once a Demon Beast reaches the second level, my original Divine Consciousness imprint is somewhat insufficient to control it... Thinking of backstabbing me, your master? Heh..."
Feeling that the Vajra Ape King’s aura had indeed broken through the second level, Fang Xi sneered viciously and, with a sudden hand gesture, detonated the Divine Consciousness prohibition: "Die!"
"Squeak, squeak!"
The second-level ape shrieked, clutching its head as blood streamed from its nostrils!
Furthermore, at various points on its body, the methods Fang Xi had embedded erupted!
Although some were directly destroyed by the powerful Demon energy during its advancement, others remained, making the Demon Ape scream continuously and weakening its aura dramatically.
Meanwhile, Fang Xi, who had already retreated a good distance, waved a small azure flag forcefully: "Yi Wood Divine Thunder Formation... activate!"
Boom!
In the sky, dark clouds gathered suddenly, and a massive azure lightning bolt struck down, hitting the Demon Ape squarely!
"Squeak, squeak!"
With that single strike, the second-level Demon Ape was severely wounded!
The Ape King screamed in agony as the pattern on its chest flashed, and amidst a burst of earth-yellow light, it grabbed soil from the ground, turning it into a huge rock to smash fiercely at Fang Xi!
Bang!
Fang Xi didn’t dodge or flee, the huge rock was stopped mid-air by a wall of colorful prohibition light.
Perhaps in other parts of the Great Array, this attack might have broken through, but within the Death Gate, all prohibitions were intact!
"Again!"
His expression calm, he continued to wave the array flags, allowing the second thunderbolt, the third thunderbolt, to fall...
Moments later, the Great Array dispersed, and only the massive corpse of a demon ape remained on the ground.
Its fur was charred all over, yet it still maintained the posture of howling at the sky as if it were still alive, if it weren’t for the fact that its vitality had already dissipated!
"Second tier demon ape’s fur, bones...all good stuff."
With a wave of his hand, Fang Xi’s sleeves extended tendrils into the demon ape’s body like tentacles.
Moments later, his expression brightened; he took out the Gold Dragon Scissors and opened a bloody hole in the abdomen of the demon ape.
A single tendril reached inside, and it wasn’t long before a walnut-sized, earthy yellow crystal with speckles of gold was extracted.
"A Demon Pill?!"
Fang Xi was overjoyed, "It was worth it to specifically choose the most talented one, indeed yielded a product on the first attempt!"
He sealed the demon pill, coveted even by Foundation Establishment cultivators, into a jade box and affixed a talisman to it before turning his gaze back to the corpse of the demon ape.
He thought for a moment, then took out a seed of the Monster Tree and planted it.
Crackle and pop...
After a teeth-grinding noise, the Diamond Ape King stood up again, awkwardly motioning a few movements.
"Mm... Although it has lost its agility, both its defensive power and offensive power are at the second-tier level... it can barely be considered a quasi-second-tier puppet!"
A look of delight crossed Fang Xi’s face, "With this quasi-second-tier puppet’s assistance, the risk for what comes next has lessened even further..."
...
One year later.
Inside the Yimu God Thunder Formation.
Countless green thunderbolts gathered, like a ferocious green flood dragon crashing down on the horned second-tier pythons.
The python, its body pitch black and split in two, struggled on the ground but ultimately began to slowly lose its signs of life.
Before long, a gigantic golden ape with stiff movements entered the array, rummaging ruthlessly inside the split body of the python.
"Not even one?!"
Outside the array, Fang Xi sighed.
At this moment, he looked much more weathered than a year ago, having reached the age of fifty-seven.
His cyan bamboo robe was also tattered, but his every move carried an indescribable and inexplicable evil qi!
Thinking back on the madness of this period, even Fang Xi couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.
Over the past year, he continually lured Monster Kings from Great Liang into the array, waited for their second-tier breakthrough, and then he’d slay them for their demon pills.
After many attempts, Fang Xi also realized that not all monsters, no matter how talented or powerful their bloodlines, would certainly produce a demon pill.
Like the python in the array, which had activated a shred of Flood Dragon bloodline comparable to the previous snake dragon, yet still no product.
Conversely, he once slaughtered a demon beast that was a white flesh lump similar to Taisui, covered in countless eyes and quite weak, felled by a single Yi Wood Divine Thunder strike, and yet a grayish white inner core was extracted from its belly!
And throughout these numerous demon-slaying attempts, there were times when Fang Xi nearly lost everything.
Like once, a second-tier demon insect awoke an extremely strange talent for monster skills, specifically disguise and feigning death.
Even Fang Xi was deceived by it. Once inside the array, it suddenly revived and attacked!
He sustained a deep, bone-exposing wound on his chest during the incident. Had he not been as physically formidable as a Martial God, he might have died on the spot!
After that, Fang Xi became even more cautious, delegating tasks like extracting demon pills to his puppets.
"Now that I think about it, all the named Monster Kings of Great Liang have been wiped out by me, it’s time to wrap this up..."
Fang Xi touched the Storage Bag, inside which were ten jade boxes filled with demon pills!
This was a fortune even the Mysterious Heaven Sect would go mad for!
He didn’t dare entrust them to any alchemy master for processing.
"Looks like I’m going to have to work hard myself..."
With a melancholic sigh, Fang Xi collected the corpse of the second-tier python and ordered the Diamond Ape and other puppets to pull out the Yimu God Thunder Formation’s array flags one by one.
Once the array was fully retracted, he made another sweep for any traces and then left without hesitation, traveling by means of a flying tool.
...
In the Southern Sky City.
This city was a famous metropolis in Yue Country, bustling with commerce, countless inns, and taverns.
Fang Xi plunged into the midst of it, disguising himself as a rich young master to rest and recuperate for three months, only then crawling out of the comfort to head to the outskirts of the city.
Immortal Cultivators often kept away from the mundane world, purportedly to avoid muddying their Dao Hearts.
After all, human emotions and worldly affairs could potentially hinder one’s Taoist Path.
Fang Xi didn’t quite agree with this view.
But the fact that Immortal Cultivators seldom visited the mundane world was his opportunity.
He found a picturesque spot just outside Southern Sky City and set up an Illusion Array to keep mortals out, and then established a Dongfu, setting up a defensive Yimu God Thunder Formation.
After accomplishing all this, Fang Xi also installed a Flame Control Array in the Dongfu, made a few adjustments until he was satisfied, and then started poring over the Pill Recipe for Foundation Establishment Pills recorded on a jade slip.
He had mulled over this pill recipe countless times, ensuring its accuracy by even purchasing another version in Baize Immortal City for comparison and simulating the alchemy process many times, confident there were few issues left to face.
Of course, the real challenges could only be encountered and overcome during the actual alchemy.
For many alchemists, making Foundation Establishment Pills often left little room for trial and error.
But Fang Xi had that opportunity!