Chapter 35: Late Stage of Golden Elixir

To the east of the Lu Donghai Ocean, there lies a vast oceanic trench stretching for thousands of miles, with earthquake and volcanic zones on either side.
At that moment, on the surface of the Lu Donghai Ocean, there was a horse with a dragon’s head, crossing the waves as it traveled across the sea—this was Wu Yuan.
Having reached the early stage of Yuan Ying, Wu Yuan could fly at a much faster speed than Qu Yi by spreading its wings. Thus, Qu Yi let Wu Yuan fly while the Dimensional Ball attached itself to its dragon ear, and together they headed east.
Ten days later, Wu Yuan finally arrived above the earthquake and volcanic zone.
“Woooh, we’re here!” Wu Yuan called out as it stopped in midair.
Soon, Qu Yi, Qing Wugui, and Bai Man emerged from the Dimensional Ball and looked down at the entire sea surface.
On the sea, there was a dark line hundreds of meters wide, with the water on either side returning to its blue color.
“This trench actually affects the sea surface itself—just showing how deep it is,” Qu Yi said in amazement.
The trench was so deep that it absorbed most of the sunlight, creating a dark line on the sea surface that stretched for thousands of miles—a truly stunning sight.
After a while, Qu Yi, Qing Wugui, Bai Man, and Wu Yuan jumped into the sea and reached the seabed. They followed the trench, searching for the lair of the Sea-Burning Fire Ape.
…
“We found it!” Qu Yi suddenly shouted.
After a month of searching, the Artifact God finally sensed the surrounding terrain, which matched the memories of the Sea-Burning Fire Ape, and immediately alerted Qu Yi.
Hearing this, Qing Wugui was extremely excited. Once they found the Flaming Fire Lotus, he could rid himself of the deadly poison in his body and regain his strength from the early stage of Yuan Ying.
In front of them was a circular underwater volcanic crater, hundreds of meters wide, currently spewing magma, with streams of heat spreading in all directions.
As planned, Qu Yi and the others entered the Dimensional Ball, which then descended into the magma and sank deeper into the volcano.
The Dimensional Ball’s magical level was so high that it paid no attention to the scorching magma, falling rapidly—about a thousand meters—before reaching the bottom of the volcano.
There, there was an underground river of magma, with streams of bright red liquid flowing continuously.
On one bank of this red stream grew a stunningly beautiful lotus flower.
The lotus was only a foot tall, entirely red, with its roots, leaves, and stem emitting a faint white flame, enveloping the entire flower in a nearly transparent flame.
Qu Yi and Qing Wugui stepped out of the Dimensional Ball and landed beside the Flaming Fire Lotus. Watching the faint white flames constantly bursting forth, they were somewhat at a loss.

“Ah, Qu Yi, you fool—again, you’re not using your brain. Let me do it. Give me your Divine Formula card,” the Artifact God suddenly spoke up.
Upon hearing this, Qu Yi immediately understood what the Artifact God intended to do—was it the same as retrieving the Sea Eye Mystic Crystal?
Then, the Dimensional Sphere flew out of Qu Yi’s soul and landed beside the Flaming Fire Lotus. The Divine Formula card spun rapidly before suddenly sweeping under the base of the Flaming Fire Lotus, toppling it entirely.
At the same time, the Dimensional Sphere instantly sucked in the Flaming Fire Lotus, which was about to fall to the ground.
“Hurry back into the Dimensional Sphere! Do you want the Flaming Fire Lotus to lose its effect?” the Artifact God shouted immediately.
It turned out that the Flaming Fire Lotus grew by absorbing heat from its surroundings. Once separated from this heat source, it would gradually lose its internal heat and thus its power.
Qu Yi smiled awkwardly and quickly grabbed Qing Wu Gui, entering the Dimensional Sphere.
“Qing Wu Gui, swallow it right away. Use the heat from the Flaming Fire Lotus to burn away the poison in your body,” the Artifact God instructed. Then, the Flaming Fire Lotus flew over to Qing Wu Gui.
Without hesitation, Qing Wu Gui wrapped the Flaming Fire Lotus in his vital energy before putting it in his mouth.
Naturally, inside the Dimensional Sphere, Qing Wu Gui began to refine the Flaming Fire Lotus to expel the poison from his body.
Qu Yi watched Qing Wu Gui and, seeing no sign of pain on his face, grew somewhat impressed by the “Asura Demon Scripture” he practiced. The Flaming Fire Lotus could help a Fire Ape in the early Yuan Ying stage advance to the middle stage, showing its immense heat power. Yet it still didn’t cause Qing Wu Gui any pain, indicating that he had already achieved some success in the Asura path.
However, after thinking it over, Qu Yi understood. Qing Wu Gui was already in the early Yuan Ying stage, and with the Asura path, he could directly harness the heat from those fire lotuses, turning all that intense heat to his own use.
“Qu Yi, you don’t need to worry about Qing Wu Gui anymore. Now you can swallow the Golden Pill and strive for the later stage of it,” the Artifact God reminded him once again.
Water Element had gathered ten Fiend Pills, while Earth, Wood, Fire, and Metal Elements each found an early Yuan Ying stage being—equivalent to ten Fiend Pills. Thus, Qu Yi now had all the elemental energies needed to advance to the later stage of the Golden Pill. Naturally, he could now begin that pursuit.

As for the Yuan Shen realm, Qu Yi was even more powerful. Through the formations taught by the Scanner God, his understanding of energy was likely on par with that of the early Yuan Ying stage. Naturally, when striving for the late Jin Dan stage, he didn’t have to worry about his Yuan Shen losing control of the energy.

“Good, I’ll start right away,” Qu Yi replied casually.

Soon after, Qu Yi sat down and entered a meditative state, adjusting his body to its optimal condition.

……

On the jade platform ahead, there were ten demon pills at the late Water Element Jin Dan stage: Yong Shan’s Metal Element Yuan Ying, Cheng Chang’s Earth Element Yuan Ying, Qing Jing Dao Ji’s Wood Element Yuan Ying, and Fen Hai Huo Yuan’s Fire Element Yuan Ying.

Suddenly, Qu Yi opened his eyes wide, emitting a terrifying brightness. He had already adjusted his body to its best state.

“I’ll swallow the five elements’ energy!”

Qu Yi shouted loudly, then opened his mouth wide. The demon pills and Yuan Yings flew straight into his mouth and were instantly sent to his dantian.

The energy from the demon pills and Yuan Yings was immediately mixed with the Jin Dan and broken down into the five elements’ energies, which were then forcefully sent into his internal organs. His heart absorbed the Fire Element energy, his liver the Wood Element energy, his spleen the Earth Element energy, his lungs the Metal Element energy, and his kidneys the Water Element energy. Instantly, the Jin Dan within his internal organs began to gather and refine the incoming energy continuously.

At the same time, the five cultivation techniques—“Golden Splendor,” “Revival of All Plants,” “One Color of Water and Sky,” “Spreading Starfire,” and “Vast Imperial Land”—increased their operation speed once again. If the speed of these five techniques at the mid-Jin Dan stage was considered 1, their current speed was 10. Due to the explosive release of energy, it was necessary to speed up the cultivation techniques to process and absorb the energy. Moreover, to maintain balance, all five techniques improved at the same rate, preventing energy imbalance in the body; otherwise, the consequences would be severe.

Inside the Cun Jie Ball, Qing Wu Gui was also refining the Flaming Fire Lotus, while Bai Man and Wu Yuan watched Qu Yi anxiously.

Qu Yi’s body would sometimes emit bursts of flame, sometimes release clouds of white mist, sometimes shine with intense light, sometimes be surrounded by layers of yellow sand, and sometimes be filled with a delicate fragrance—very peculiar.

Bai Man gritted her teeth, holding back tears, watching Qu Yi with great concern.

After taking a few glances, Wu Yuan lost patience and simply lay down to sleep quietly.

……

“Huh!”

Qing Wu Gui suddenly took a deep breath, then opened his eyes. His spirit was completely different—apparently, he had regained the strength of the early Yuan Ying stage.

Bai Man simply nodded at Qing Wu Gui, then turned her attention back to Qu Yi.
Wu Yuan quickly jumped up and rushed to Qing Wu Gui’s side. The dragon head sniffed him, seemingly trying to figure out something.
“Wu Yuan, what are you doing?” Qing Wu Gui immediately stepped back, fearing that this strange beast might bite him and drain his life force.
It turned out that Wu Yuan, sensing Qing Wu Gui’s regained strength, wanted to smell the scent of his life force. If it could be useful to him, he planned to discuss with Qing Wu Gui the idea of sucking a bit to taste it.
“Ugh, your life force is filled with a murderous aura. I don’t like it. Don’t let me suck your life force,” Wu Yuan cried in frustration before lying down lazily again.
Qing Wu Gui’s cold expression twisted as he realized Wu Yuan was indeed as he had guessed—wanting to drink his blood after all.
At that moment, Qu Yi suddenly spat out a stream of black blood and lay down stiffly.
“Qu Yi!” Bai Man immediately started crying.
Qing Wu Gui rushed to Qu Yi’s side, his face full of concern, yet utterly at a loss. Wu Yuan jumped up, sniffed the blood Qu Yi had spat out, then lay down indifferently to continue sleeping.
“Bai Man, don’t worry. Qu Yi just expelled the turbid blood in his body. He has now successfully refined the Five Elements energy; he’s just tired. He’ll wake up soon,” the Artifact God appeared and said with a smile.
Upon seeing the rosy-cheeked Artifact God, Bai Man stopped crying. Hearing these reassuring words, she wanted to hug the Artifact God and pinch his delicate cheeks.
“Artifact God, let me hug you,” Bai Man rushed at him.
The infant-like figure showed an embarrassed expression and disappeared immediately, leaving behind a message: “How absurd. I’m the Artifact God—how can you just hug me randomly? You really treat me like a baby.”
Bai Man pouted.
Qing Wu Gui, watching the Artifact God vanish suddenly, felt dazed. He wondered what kind of being this Artifact God was—there was no energy fluctuation throughout his body, and his spiritual sense couldn’t detect its presence, yet it could be seen with the eyes. It was truly incomprehensible.
After a while, with a whoosh, Qu Yi woke up.
“Qu Yi, you’ve finally woken up,” Bai Man immediately smiled at him.
“Congratulations!” Qing Wu Gui smiled faintly.
Qu Yi stood up, waved his hands a few times, and laughed loudly, “Hehe, I’ve finally reached the later stage of the Golden Pill realm.”
Wu Yuan struggled to lift his eyelids. The dragon eyes glanced at Qu Yi, then with a “ugh,” he fell back into sleep.

Qu Yi felt annoyed and walked over to kick Wu Yuan in the stomach, shouting, “Wu Yuan, if you sleep again, I won’t let you drink the essence blood of monsters anymore.”
Whoosh!
Wu Yuan immediately stood up energized, looking at Qu Yi with eager eyes, trying to please him.