Chapter 515: Wasted Pill?

After about two cups of tea’s time, Ye Feng and his group finally reached the summit. Without Bai Yiyi guiding them, it would have taken three to four days to get there.
At the top of the mountain, they realized it was an enormous volcano and got a full view of the Danquan Sect. A huge floating rock hung above the crater, with the sect’s main gate located on top of it.
The floating rock swayed gently in the mountain wind, yet not a sound came from within the Danquan Sect. Instead, faint rumbling could be heard from inside the crater.
“There are no arrays or restrictions up there.” Ye Feng looked up and said to Long Tian and the others.
“Then let’s go up! Find the treasures and leave quickly.” Shi Tuo seemed annoyed—there had been no fights along the way. Even if there had been, he wouldn’t have been able to fight them, which made him even more eager to leave.
Without any arrays or restrictions blocking them, they easily jumped onto the floating rock.
The main gate of the Danquan Sect was tightly closed, but the restrictions on it had already been broken. Judging from the speed at which the restrictions could be restored, the damage must have occurred about one cup of tea ago.
“It seems someone got there first…” Ye Feng raised his eyebrows.
“It seems they took a shortcut too,” Long Tian nodded.
“Just grab what they want—who cares if they got there first?” Shi Tuo swung his stick, looking arrogant.
“Yes, anyway, if we die here, no one will know,” Bai Yiyi said with a dark smile. She was even more ruthless—she wanted not only to steal but also to kill.
Ye Feng rolled his eyes helplessly. “Let’s go in and take a look first!”
Pushing open the gate, they found nothing inside the hall except for a bronze statue and eight stone pillars.
“This is just the front hall,” Jin scanned the area before slowly saying, “I guess everything here has already been looted. There’s nothing valuable anyway. Let’s go further in.”
Ye Feng observed the statue briefly and found nothing special before leaving.
Beyond the front hall was a huge courtyard surrounded by four side halls.
“Let’s split into four groups and enter those four halls separately. Keep in touch if anything happens,” Ye Feng said to the others. “Long Ge, Xiao Bai, Jin, you three choose which hall to go to. Shi Tuo, will you follow me or the others?”
“I’ll follow you, boss!” Shi Tuo replied without even looking at the others.

“Well, everyone, disperse. Contact me if anything comes up.” After saying that, Ye Feng led Shi Tou toward one of the side halls at full speed.
When they reached the entrance of the side hall, Ye Feng noticed there was a formation at the door. At that moment, Bai Yiyi also sent a message: “There’s a formation; we can’t get in.”
“Then wait at the door for now, or just stroll around. I’ll come over as soon as I’m done here!” Ye Feng replied.
Jin He and Long Tian could surely figure out a way to deal with the two formations on their end. Only Bai Yiyi, who had never learned formations, was blocked outside.
After observing briefly, Ye Feng immediately understood the situation. The formation in front of them was a small composite formation, consisting of a killing formation and a trapping formation. Without hesitation, he called for Shi Tou to follow and stepped inside.
The formation wasn’t very sophisticated. Although it was a type Ye Feng had never seen before, for someone who already understood the essence of formations, deciphering it completely would take some time. But since they just needed to move through it, no effort was required.
Shi Tou was an Ancient Demon Ape, the most skilled imitator among magical beasts. Naturally, he could keep up with Ye Feng’s steps without any mistake, and Ye Feng had never worried about that.
In just a few breaths, the two of them passed through the range covered by the formation.
When they pushed open the door of the side hall, Ye Feng smelled a strong medicinal scent.
Upon closer inspection, he realized there wasn’t just one scent but countless different ones—various pill scents mixed together, which made Ye Feng frown.
“This smell is strange. It’s not the sweet fragrance of pills; instead, it’s somewhat nauseating. And with so many scents mixed together, normally, the smells of pills shouldn’t interfere with each other.” Shi Tou’s nose was more sensitive than Ye Feng’s, and he quickly detected something wrong.
What surprised Ye Feng even more was that the pills in this side hall were stored haphazardly. Against the wall opposite the door, piles of pills were stacked densely—there must have been tens of thousands of bottles.
“Why hasn’t anyone taken these pills?” Ye Feng wondered right away.
Shi Tou walked over directly, picked up one of the bottles, removed the cap, and poured out a pill.
Ye Feng glanced at it. The shape of the pill was rather odd. Normally, pills should be perfectly round, but the one in Shi Tou’s hand had a strange shape, resembling a gourd.

“Let me see!” Ye Feng took the pill and the medicine bottle from Shi Tou, sniffed the pill carefully—it wasn’t the kind of pill he was familiar with. Earlier, he hadn’t been able to identify it by its color or shape, but after smelling it, Ye Feng was sure this pill was different from any he had encountered before.

He poured out another pill from the jade bottle, which had a slightly different shape—this one was oval, not perfectly so, with a slightly different color as well. Ye Feng brought it to his nose and sniffed it again; it was similar to the gourd-shaped pill earlier. Then he handed both pills to Shi Tou, “Smell them. Do they have the same scent?”

Shi Tou took the two pills and sniffed them carefully before saying helplessly, “The scents are similar, but not exactly the same. I think they’re the same kind of pill. Maybe the refining time or the person who refined them was different, that’s why there’s a difference in scent and shape.”

“If they’re in the same bottle, they must be the same kind of pill. Because if different kinds of pills were in the same bottle, their effects might change—Danquan Sect surely knows this.” Ye Feng picked up another bottle, poured out two pills, and then nodded. “It seems my guess is correct. All these pills here are useless. That’s why no one took any of the tens of thousands of bottles.”

“Useless pills? The guys from Danquan Sect really know how to deceive people. They even have a separate hall to store useless pills—do they really think those pills can be eaten?” Shi Tou became angry at once, grabbing his stick ready to act. “I’ll smash all their pills and stop them from deceiving people!”

“Don’t rush,” Ye Feng quickly stopped him. He already had an idea. “Maybe I can refine these useless pills again and turn them into good pills.”

“Is that possible?” Shi Tou was skeptical. He had never heard of such a thing, as he hadn’t interacted with humans for a long time and knew little about the human world. Otherwise, he would have realized that Ye Feng’s claim was completely unfounded. Useless pills were so called because of issues like improper refining techniques, substandard materials, or other problems that led to failed production. Once a pill became useless, it remained useless, and there was no way to refine it again.

However, for Ye Feng, it wasn’t impossible. He had a cauldron of the Pseudo-Empty Treasure level—a cauldron that was truly a product of harnessing the forces of nature. Even useless pills could be reduced to their most basic plant essences, making it easy to refine them again.