After sensing Gu Han’s unusual behavior, Murong Yan and the others also came over. “What’s wrong?”

They barely glanced at it and gasped. “What exactly are these pills?!”

The wooden shelf held more than just the Marrow-Draining Pill. Each of the other pills was even more heaven-defying than the last, with side effects more terrifying than the previous.

Violent Blood Pill: for those below the Transcendent realm. Increases defense tenfold for twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, vital qi and blood dry up.

Scorching Soul Pill: for those below the Transcendent realm. Increases soul power tenfold for twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, the soul withers.

Soul-Devouring Pill: for those below the Transcendent realm. Increases combat power tenfold for twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, the meridians are incinerated.

The more they looked, the more shocked they became.

Murong Yan’s face turned pale. “How could there possibly be pills like this here?”

Shen Xuan sighed. “If these pills were eaten, could anyone survive?”

In just a few short hours, they had nearly swept the outer palaces clean. As such, they had seen a wide variety of pills. Healing, cultivation, soul, and body tempering encompassed almost every kind of pill they could imagine. However, the pills here were beyond their wildest imagination.

Murong Yan swallowed her saliva. “Would anyone really eat these pills?”

Yang Ying was silent for a moment. “Yes. Those who are trapped in a desperate situation, with no hope in sight.”

Murong Yan was extremely puzzled. “But you’ll die after eating this stuff once. Where’s the chance for a second consumption? How come there are so many here? Did a whole group collectively decide to fight to the death? Is it necessary to go to this extent?”

Having searched so many places, they had already discovered the pattern behind these pills. They weren’t made on a whim. Instead, they were uniformly batch-refined, according to some strict standard. All their effects and classifications were also marked with startling clarity. Though things like the Violent Blood Pill were much fewer in quantity than the other pills, they were definitely mass-produced.

After thinking of this, they fell silent. There were so many of these life-threatening pills... Who exactly were they for? The simple phrase of “fighting to the death” could no longer explain it.

Meanwhile, Gu Han hadn’t spoken at all. Instead, he once again cooperated with the humanoid figure to open the restriction on the wooden shelf. He didn’t look at the others and simply took the bottle of Marrow-Draining Pill.

In truth, compared to those other pills with overbearing effects, the medicinal properties of the Marrow-Draining Pill could be considered extremely mild.

He sighed and poured the pill out. “Brother Yang, is this the one?”

The pill was thumb-sized, with a black uneven surface. It had a pungent fishy smell and was unbearably foul. Yet strangely, in less than two breaths, that odor transformed into an exotic fragrance. Just smelling it lifted one’s spirits, and even their cultivation seemed to rise along with it.

Feeling complicated, Yang Ying’s gaze dimmed. “Yes. It’s just that the one back then was far less potent than this pill. If it had been this one...”

When he had stumbled in here by mistake, he was only at the Essence Gathering realm and couldn’t open the restriction. The one he obtained was nearly useless, incomparable to this one.

Gu Han understood what he meant. Due to its insufficient medicinal power, Yang Ying’s pill only carried him to the peak of the Divine Connection realm. Hence why he said he couldn’t reach the Soaring realm. Had he taken this one, he could at least have reached the Heavenly Tribulation realm within ten years.

Murong Yan’s attention was drawn over. “Marrow-Draining Pill? Could it be... Yang Guy, you ate this kind of pill?”

Yang Ying didn’t reply, but he didn’t deny it either.

Murong Yan exclaimed in shock, “Are you crazy?”

It dawned on her that Yang Ying’s earlier abnormality was most likely caused by the side effects of the Marrow-Draining Pill.

Shen Xuan sighed. “Junior Brother Yang, why did you have to...?”

He couldn’t go on. Yang Ying was born with a mere mortal physique. Without this kind of pill, how was he supposed to enter the Qingyun Pavilion? How could he have kept pace with the prodigies within the Yuqing Sect? How could he have protected his family for several years? Everything was simply because he had no choice.

Hesitating for a moment, Murong Yan unexpectedly said a few words of comfort, “Yang Guy, don’t worry. Maybe there’s still a way.”

Shen Xuan nodded. “Right. There must be a way!”

Over the past few months, they had already forged a deep friendship. They couldn’t bear to see Yang Ying end up with the miserable fate of being unable to advance his cultivation further.

Yang Ying had already made peace with it. “It’s fine. This was my choice, I don’t regret it. For me, this outcome is already pretty good.”

Gu Han shook his head. “No. I don’t think so! It’s not like there’s no way!”

“You don’t have to comfort me...”

“It’s not comfort!”

With the black shadow around, Gu Han understood the Marrow-Draining Pill better than the others. “Although this pill extracts a person’s foundation and potential, the one you took held only a fraction of its medicinal power! It’s far inferior to the complete one. That’s also why your cultivation progress is far slower than what’s recorded on the pill bottle. So, solving your problem isn’t difficult.”

Murong Yan’s heart stirred. “Brother Gu, you mean—”

Gu Han nodded. “Exactly! Pills, spirit herbs, no matter what, as long as you replenish that foundation and potential you consumed, you can solve your problem!”

The others fell silent. Though hard to come by, they had seen spirit herbs that enhanced the soul. Foundation and potential were essentially just aptitude. Enhancing the soul was equivalent to improving a person’s aptitude, turning a mediocre individual into a genius. Hence why, the effects of said spirit herb could almost be called heaven-defying. They were things that only existed in legends for them.

After all, aptitude was something one was born with. If such spirit herbs were common, prodigies would be everywhere, and heavenly prides would be as common as stray dogs. There would be no reason for something like Marrow-Draining Pill to exist.

However, Gu Han had full confidence. “Did you forget what place this is? What about that Soul-Nourishing Lotus?”

Shen Xuan’s eyes lit up. “Right! Chu Kuang said the lotus was once a type of saint herb. Besides, this pavilion is shrouded in mystery! I’m sure there are other saint herbs! There might even be a great medicine that enhances foundation and potential!”

Murong Yan frowned. “But after coming all the way here, aside from the Soul-Nourishing Lotus, we haven’t even seen pills for the Transcendent realm...”

Gu Han shook his head. “It’s not that there aren’t any. It’s more likely that it’s just not here.”

So far, they had only explored the outer palaces. The palace at the very center and the mysterious giant tower remained unexplored, and that was the core area of the pavilion.

Murong Yan facepalmed. “Right! Why didn’t I think of that?!”

Shen Xuan wanted to say, “It would be a miracle if you did.” However, he didn’t out of a sense of self-preservation.

Yang Ying understood their intentions. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t touched. “Actually, even if that kind of medicine really exists, using it on me would just be a waste.”

If such a great medicine were used on Murong Yan or Shen Xuan, the results would be far more certain. As for him, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a waste.

Gu Han seemed disappointed. “Brother Yang, you saying that is getting boring!”

Murong Yan glared at Yang Ying. “Exactly! It’s been this long, and this attitude of yours hasn’t changed a bit!”

Shen Xuan said cheerfully, “Regardless, having made the Dao Bell ring five times, I’m somewhat of a genius. That kind of medicine is neither here nor there for me!”

Yang Ying said nothing.

Shen Xuan seemed to think of something. “By the way, the restrictions at the core of the pavilion must be extraordinary. We—”

Just as he said half of it, he couldn’t go on. It seemed like they had forgotten something.

Gu Han pointed at the humanoid figure behind him. “With my friend here, which restriction could stop him? Is there any place we can’t go?”

Murong Yan was taken aback. “Are we still going to take the whole prize away?”

Gu Han boldly waved his hand grandly. “Actually, we should let them taste the leftovers!”

Murong Yan was in a great mood. “Right! The more they taste, the more they’ll crave. Let them crave to death! Let’s go get our prize!”

Before leaving, Gu Han and Yang Ying swept all the pills from the wooden shelf into their storage rings, as if connected by heart.

Shen Xuan was stunned. “What are you taking these things for?”

Gu Han said like he was stating the obvious, “To make money. Someone will definitely need these things. Let’s take them out and sell them!”

Yang Ying agreed wholeheartedly. “Right! They’ll definitely be worth a lot!”

Shen Xuan and the others were speechless. Sure enough, they were friends for a reason.

***

While Gu Han and his group were raking in the wealth, Chu Kuang’s group, Zhao Mengyou’s, and Di Kan’s coincidentally ran into one another and began arguing.

“Move aside!”

“You should be the ones moving aside!”

“We discovered this place first!”

“Heh, you say so, and that makes it so?”

It wasn’t really a coincidence. After searching for a while, they discovered that among the relatively well-preserved palaces, any pills that still retained a trace of medicinal power had been swept clean.

After a bitter search, they found this palace. Since it might as well be the last place that still held pills, none of them were willing to give in.

Although Chu Kuang’s side had the numbers, they were left in disarray after Gu Han’s attack. Moreover, the three with the highest cultivations were all seriously injured. Their advantage in strength wasn’t great enough to challenge the other families recklessly. For this reason, they hesitated to make a move. Of course, leaving wasn’t an option.

After seeing the other side unwilling to concede, Di Kan flared up. “You two families, don’t be too greedy! You’ve taken all the benefits from so many palaces here! Now there’s only this little bit left, and you still won’t give in? Don’t be too greedy in life. You’ve had your fill, won’t you even let me have some leftovers?”

Zhao Mengyou exuded the coldness of winter, having assumed the posture of the Divine Maiden. “Although opportunity goes to whoever seizes it, one must still leave some leeway for others! Eating alone is not a very good habit.”

Chu Kuang said lightly, “Both of you, we’re all smart people, stop pretending. You two families have probably taken all the pills here, right? Not making you hand them over is already being very generous. If you won’t even leave us this last bit, then don’t blame us for being rude.”

Di Kan was furious as he was struck in a sore spot. “Bullshit! Since I came in, I’ve only found one palace!”

The others were stunned, sensing something was off. One?

Wu Han looked at Zhao Mengyou. “Mengyou, how many did you find?”

“Two.”

Wu Han said nothing. He believed Zhao Mengyou’s words. Why would she lie about such a thing?

Qi Jun frowned deeply. “Being honest with you, even with the three of us working together, we only managed to find three.”

Di Kan was so frustrated he nearly vomited blood. Sure enough, he was the unluckiest one!

“Three families, six palaces. That’s less than one-fifth of the opportunity preserved here. So who took the rest? Could they have flown away—” Halfway, someone flashed across Zhao Mengyou’s mind. “Could it be... him?”

Obviously, what she could think of, others could too.

Chu Kuang squinted. “It’s definitely him!”

Di Kan was enraged. “Him?! I will definitely... definitely...”

He stammered for a long time, simply not having the courage to say any words of revenge.

***

At that very moment, the talk of the town had arrived before the main hall at the very center.