Chapter 499: Xu Xiaoshou I Want to Refine Pills

“Whoosh, whoosh.”

Two figures plummeted straight downward.

Xu Xiaoshou had no idea how long he had been flying.

He felt as if he was on the verge of losing all sense of time and direction.

Then, it was like suddenly passing through an invisible barrier.

The darkness vanished in an instant.

A blazing inferno erupted around them.

At the same time, an overwhelming heat, intense enough to suffocate, rushed toward them.

“Cough, cough.”

Mu Zixi was caught off guard and started coughing repeatedly from the scorching steam.

“We’re here?”

She asked in surprise.

Before she could say more, she felt her clothes starting to ignite, so she quickly increased the intensity of her protective Ling Yuan.

“Patter, patter.”

Just then, faint sounds emerged.

Xu Xiaoshou turned his head alertly.

“Watch out.”

He opened his mouth and sucked in a breath, instantly drawing away the Jin Zhao Tian Yan flames from Mu Zixi’s Ling Yuan.

The two exchanged a silent glance, and the young girl patted her parched chest, finally recovering from her lingering fear.

“Th-thank you.”

“Gratitude received, passive value +1.”

“Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.”

Towering flames blazed brilliantly before their eyes.

After descending from the pit above, they found themselves in an enormous underground magma pool.

The magma was milky white, bubbling and gurgling.

If not for sensing the familiar Jin Zhao Tian Yan power in this space, Xu Xiaoshou would have found it hard to believe.

Jin Zhao Tian Yan, a flame in its essence, could actually solidify into such a liquid form!

“We’re here.”

“But this place…”

Xu Xiaoshou felt his scalp tingling.

This far exceeded the power of a “Jin Zhao Great Fire Seed”!

His earlier judgment that there was treasure here was spot on.

But he never imagined the energy here had reached such a terrifying level.

“Huff.”

He exhaled forcefully, expelling the high-intensity Jin Zhao Tian Yan power from his body and inhaling fresh energy, which made him feel a bit better.

Even though the power came from the same source.

Even with his Zongshi body.

Just standing there, he already felt overwhelmed, on the verge of being melted away.

“What dreadful heat…”

Xu Xiaoshou murmured, turning to look at Mu Zixi.

“The invisible barrier we just broke through must be a great heavenly array.”

“It has no defensive power; it’s just to keep the temperature from escaping.”

“So…”

He paused, once again clearing the reignited white flames from himself and his junior sister, and frowned. “You should leave first. Wood element here is completely suppressed.”

“Okay.”

Mu Zixi was uncharacteristically obedient.

She didn’t dare take it lightly.

Though she wanted to explore with Xu Xiaoshou, the situation made her abandon that idea instantly.

Without further hesitation, she turned and flew back toward the pit above.

“I’ll go outside and set up some arrangements. If anyone approaches, I’ll notify you right away.”

“Here, take this.”

A tree seed shot down from the sky, and Mu Zixi’s figure vanished in an instant.

Xu Xiaoshou caught the tree seed.

In that brief flight time, it had already been burned down to two-thirds of its original size.

But as soon as it touched Xu Xiaoshou’s body, it seeped right in.

Relying on the endless vitality of “Sheng Sheng Bu Xi,” it restored itself in the blink of an eye.

Finally, it transformed into a tree seed mark, remaining in the palm of his hand.

“Parasitic…”

Xu Xiaoshou sensed the power in his palm, a slight change flickering in his eyes.

His junior sister’s abilities seemed to have evolved again.

With the defense of his Zongshi body, plus multiple passive skills.

Yet, under this tree seed, it could penetrate directly without his permission?

He didn’t dwell on it.

This wasn’t the time to ponder such details.

Xu Xiaoshou turned back, gazing at the magma pool below.

“Gurgle, gurgle…”

The magma bubbles burst and reformed, then burst again.

The boiling sounds seemed to warn intruders of its unimaginable heat.

“Should I go down?”

Xu Xiaoshou hesitated.

His intuition told him…

Well, even without intuition, just by looking.

The only place for treasure here was this magma pool.

He had thought the depths would just have a treasure sitting alone.

But reality proved him wrong.

The treasure was there, all right, but the residual heat had formed this terrifying white magma.

If he dove in, his Zongshi body might get burned away—what then?

But if he didn’t try…

He glanced back silently.

Because of another heavenly array, he couldn’t hear any outside sounds.

Still, he knew A Jie couldn’t hold off that determined brute for long.

He didn’t have much time left!

“Down!”

Gritting his teeth, Xu Xiaoshou plunged in like he was heading to his death.

But once he reached the magma surface, he suddenly stopped.

Carefully, he leaned down and dipped his finger into the magma to test the temperature.

“Sizzle.”

“Attacked, passive value +1.”

In an instant, Xu Xiaoshou yanked his hand back from the burn.

Staring at his finger, now reduced to half its length, he froze in shock.

“What the hell… Forget it!”

“Sheng Sheng Bu Xi” kicked in frantically.

An unbearable itching, like ants gnawing, spread from the severed spot.

Xu Xiaoshou endured it until the finger fully regenerated.

He let out a deep sigh.

“Not much time left…”

He looked up.

Clearly, the white skeleton had been here before and modified the place.

The cave was vast and tall, over thirty zhang high.

With that height and width, even the “Kuang Bao Ju Ren” could move freely!

“So…”

“Charge!”

Xu Xiaoshou gripped the bronze fragment tightly.

Terrifying demonic energy invaded his mind, instantly shattering his clear consciousness.

Deep in his soul, that primal violent desire was also instantly stirred and pulled forth.

“Roar!”

The roar echoed everywhere, stirring up several zhang of white magma.

In the fiery underground cave, a golden light burst forth.

In the next second, the god-like Kuang Bao Ju Ren appeared with a thunderous boom.

“Bang!”

One foot stamped down.

White magma splashed outward.

“Attacked, passive value +1.”

“Attacked, passive value +1.”

Intense pain struck.

Xu Xiaoshou finally found the balance point between the demonic energy and violent desire, and a spark of sanity returned to his blood-red eyes.

“Holy crap…”

Once his consciousness recovered, the majestic Kuang Bao Ju Ren, several zhang tall, suddenly recoiled in pain, hopping up and hugging his foot while hissing.

“Damn it, damn it.”

“As expected, activating ‘Kuang Bao Ju Ren’ is risky; I can’t instantly regain control.”

Xu Xiaoshou blew on his glowing golden foot.

After the Yuan Fu training with Xin Gu Gu, he could barely control “Kuang Bao Ju Ren” now.

But this “barely” was truly just barely.

Sometimes, if he was lucky, the demonic energy and internal violent desire would align perfectly, and he wouldn’t lose consciousness at all.

But when luck was bad…

This was what happened.

If either energy was off-balance, he needed time to stabilize it.

So, using this skill really required top-notch skill and a huge dose of luck.

“Hah.”

Blowing on it, Xu Xiaoshou managed to withstand the remaining pain in his sole.

He looked at the magma pool below and fell into thought again.

“After ‘Kuang Bao Ju Ren,’ this stuff doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

“Even if some of my body burns away on contact, ‘Sheng Sheng Bu Xi’ can slowly regenerate it.”

“But…”

Glancing at his golden foot, which took several breaths to fully heal, Xu Xiaoshou frowned.

“‘Sheng Sheng Bu Xi’ regenerates slower than the magma destroys.”

“That means, if I dive in, I can only stay for a limited time.”

“And besides…”

“Pain!”

Xu Xiaoshou’s thoughts halted.

The real issue was the agony of his flesh being incinerated by the magma—it wasn’t something ordinary people could endure.

He had suffered through the “Jin Zhao Fire Seed” torment for ages.

Yet, compared to this, that pain was less than a thousandth of what he felt here.

“Maybe I should just give up?”

The idea of retreating crossed his mind.

But if he backed out now, after coming all this way, wouldn’t it be a total waste of time and effort?

“Damn it!”

“This crappy magma…”

A sudden flash of inspiration hit Xu Xiaoshou as he hovered in the air.

“Right, Yuan Fu!”

“Everything within my spiritual sense range can be moved to Yuan Fu.”

“The space ring can’t handle this magma’s power, but Yuan Fu definitely can.”

“Just transfer it all into the chaotic mist—perfect solution!”

Xu Xiaoshou slapped his thigh, impressed by his own cleverness.

However, when he tried to touch the magma pool with his spiritual sense, an even more intense, unbearable pain exploded in his mind, nearly making him black out and fall into the magma.

“Pfft!”

A mouthful of golden blood sprayed out.

Xu Xiaoshou felt liquid trickling down his face.

Wiping it, he realized the mental shock had made him bleed from all seven orifices.

“Whoa…”

He cautiously burned away the bloodstains, still shaken.

His spiritual power lacked the double protection of his Zongshi body and “Kuang Bao Ju Ren.”

Touching the magma directly with spiritual sense was basically suicide.

“Perception!”

After two failures, Xu Xiaoshou’s stubbornness kicked in.

While spiritual sense couldn’t probe it, “Gan Zhi” might not have the same issue.

Sure enough, when he narrowed his perception into a beam and directed it straight into the depths of the magma pool, Xu Xiaoshou felt no discomfort at all.

“Great, passive skills are awesome.”

“Let’s see how deep it goes…”

The perception beam swept horizontally—surrounded by white magma.

Xu Xiaoshou skipped the futile scanning and plunged it downward.

Ten zhang.

A hundred zhang.

Three hundred zhang!

Only after reaching over five hundred zhang did he perceive the bottom of the magma pool.

Following the curved bottom to the center.

As expected, a milky-white fire seed lay quietly there.

“What the hell…”

Xu Xiaoshou despaired.

Five hundred zhang!

Are you kidding?

Just flying that distance would take ages, let alone diving with magma attacking from all sides.

If he could submerge a few dozen zhang without dying and stay conscious through the pain, that’d be impressive.

Five hundred zhang…

“Crap!”

After three failures, Xu Xiaoshou grew anxious.

His plans were falling short.

How was he supposed to pull this off?

This was basically hell mode—what’s the point?

“Stay calm, stay calm, there has to be a way.”

Xu Xiaoshou forced himself to calm down.

The treasure was right there.

Getting it required not just strength, but brains.

“Right, that big guy has been here before.”

“It lives here, so it must have noticed this treasure.”

“So, how did it get it?”

Xu Xiaoshou tried to put himself in the white skeleton’s shoes, imagining himself as a massive, over a hundred meters tall being with a throne body and terrifying white flames.

But after thinking for a moment, he despaired again.

“What a joke.”

“If that big guy could get it, it wouldn’t be so weak now!”

“And that thing…”

Xu Xiaoshou withdrew his “Gan Zhi.”

If the white skeleton could brute-force it, that milky-white fire seed wouldn’t still be lying there quietly.

It would’ve been swallowed long ago!

“Damn it…”

“No.”

“There must be another way!”

Xu Xiaoshou motivated himself, pounding his fists and thinking in a new direction.

Racking his brain through his skills, his eyes suddenly lit up.

“One Step to Heaven?”

“That’s right, it’s a passive skill, not related to spiritual sense.”

“As long as it’s within ‘Gan Zhi’s range, I can reach it in an instant.”

“Now that the magma can’t affect my ‘Gan Zhi’ passive, I just need to endure the heat for the split second it takes to grab it and teleport back…”

“Perfect!”

Xu Xiaoshou almost applauded his own genius.

He decided to act on it immediately.

Subconsciously, he checked his Qi Sea.

It was nearly full.

But then, a sense of crisis hit.

“Wait.”

“No…”

“Would the temperature at the five-hundred-zhang-deep bottom of the magma pool be the same as the surface?”

Thinking about it, Xu Xiaoshou felt a chill down his spine.

With that fire seed there, it definitely wouldn’t be the same!

The surface magma could already burn away parts of “Kuang Bao Ju Ren.”

If he teleported straight to the bottom to grab it, he might vaporize before even touching it.

“Oh man, that was close.”

Xu Xiaoshou broke out in a cold sweat.

He quickly dismissed that risky idea.

But after pondering, aside from this slightly dangerous plan, he had no other way to get the item below.

“Damn it…”

For the first time, Xu Xiaoshou felt his brain wasn’t up to the task.

The treasure was right in front of him, with pursuers on his tail, and he was stuck.

“Bang!”

He smacked his head hard.

Since the straightforward path wasn’t working, he let his mind wander into wild territory.

Soon, he came up with a ridiculous idea.

“If I can’t go down, what if I make it come up on its own?”

Like a madman, Xu Xiaoshou, hovering in mid-air, started debating with himself absentmindedly.

“Heh, it has no consciousness—how would it come up for you?”

“Hehe, it won’t come up by itself, but can’t you find a way to make it?”

“A way? You make it sound easy—what way?”

“Yeah, what way…”

Xu Xiaoshou murmured with his eyes closed.

He forced his thoughts to keep diverging, refusing to pull back.

Soon, glancing at the magma pool below and the sealed cave around him, with only the pit above, his eyes locked onto the milky-white fire seed at the bottom.

“So familiar…”

“It’s like…”

“What’s it like?”

Even Xu Xiaoshou didn’t realize that his own Tianji Dao Yun had completely merged with the surrounding world at that moment.

It was as if a thousand years flashed by in an instant, yet also like just a blink.

Suddenly, Xu Xiaoshou’s pupils contracted, and he excitedly shouted.

“That’s it!”

“Refining pills!”

“This cave is the cauldron!”

“The pit above is the cauldron’s mouth!”

“And this magma… it’s the medicinal liquid!”

“Following this logic, at the bottom of the magma pool, that’s the pill about to form!”

Xu Xiaoshou had an epiphany.

He didn’t know why such an absurd yet vivid idea came to him.

But once it did, a line echoed in his mind.

“The heavens and earth are the furnace, creation the craftsman; yin and yang the fuel, all things the copper…”

When this profound phrase surfaced in his mind, Xu Xiaoshou instantly understood why he had this thought.

Back when “Chu Yi Jing Tong” first appeared, he was pulled into an illusion.

In that illusion, the heavens and earth were used as a furnace, creating a scene where everything could be consumed.

However, he had only ever used “Chu Yi Jing Tong” for controlling heat.

So, he had completely forgotten that this mastery passive was meant for forging the heavens and earth!

“Good one, I get it.”

“I get it!”

Xu Xiaoshou muttered in a trance-like state.

Staring at the milky-white fire seed below, he fully comprehended.

“Refining pills.”

That was the only way to summon the underground fire seed.

If he didn’t know Jin Zhao Explosion—wait, Jin Zhao Condensation Pill Technique—he might not have thought of using pill refining to blast it out.

But with “Chu Yi Jing Tong,” endless creativity, and that condensation technique from Sang Lao.

Xu Xiaoshou was confident that, even without ever trying to refine pills with the heavens and earth, he could succeed!

And if he failed…

“That would be even better!”

“Failing to refine a pill always risks an explosion!”

Whoosh.

Xu Xiaoshou deactivated “Kuang Bao Ju Ren” and returned to his human form.

In a flash, he broke through the heavenly array with no defenses and rushed out of the underground cave.

“Xu Xiaoshou?”

Mu Zixi turned back in surprise.

She was busy planting tree seeds around.

Though these seeds weren’t strong enough to harm the white skeleton, in large numbers…

If thousands exploded at once, they could definitely blast that big guy away, giving her time to summon Xu Xiaoshou.

Then, once he was out, she’d have nothing to fear.

But now…

Xu Xiaoshou was out?

“Did you get the treasure?”

Mu Zixi excitedly jumped to her senior brother’s side, as if she had gotten it herself.

“Didn’t get it.”

“Then why are you out?”

The young girl widened her eyes.

Then, seeing Xu Xiaoshou’s urgency, she suddenly understood.

A warmth stirred in her heart, and she lowered her head, saying softly, “You don’t need to worry about me. I can hold out outside—just go get the treasure.”

“I already have a way to get the treasure.”

“Huh?”

Mu Zixi sensed something off about her senior brother’s state.

She looked at him.

The young man’s eyes were incredibly calm.

But she, who knew Xu Xiaoshou well, spotted the intense madness deep in his gaze!

“Surprise received, passive value +1.”

Mu Zixi cautiously stepped back, her lips twitching. “Wh-what way?”

“Refining pills.”

Xu Xiaoshou said firmly.

“Refining pills?”

Mu Zixi’s voice shot up several octaves, her face turning pale. “Are you crazy? You want to refine pills here?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you even know how small this place is?” Mu Zixi gestured behind her to the narrow pit.

“I know.”

“You, you, you…”

The young girl trembled, speechless.

Refining pills?

Xu Xiaoshou wanted to refine pills here?

He wanted to cause an explosion here?

The white skeleton hadn’t even arrived, the pit wasn’t destroyed yet, and he was going to bury himself?

Want me to go down with you? No need to be this extreme…

Why the sudden impulse?

“I, I, I… um, do I need to leave first?” Mu Zixi asked timidly.

“Why leave?”

Xu Xiaoshou’s eyes burned with unhidden excitement as he turned back to the cave entrance, clenching his right fist resolutely. “I have confidence!”

“Thud.”

Mu Zixi backed straight into the pit wall.

Her legs went weak, and tears welled up in her eyes.

“I’m still young, I’m so small, I haven’t grown up yet, I don’t want to die…”

“Doubt received, passive value +1.”

“Resistance received, passive value +1.”

“Curse received, passive value +1, +1, +1, +1…”

“No!”

As Xu Xiaoshou placed his hands in the air, about to start refining, Mu Zixi couldn’t bear the mounting fear in her mind and cried out.

“Xu Xiaoshou, I want to leave—wait a minute!”

“Where are you going?” Xu Xiaoshou turned back.

“I…”

Mu Zixi glanced upward.

The explosion would go up…

Could she outrun it?

Definitely not!

“Right, Yuan Fu!”

An idea struck the young girl. “Xu Xiaoshou, I want to go into your Yuan Fu!”

“You don’t believe in me?”

Xu Xiaoshou’s gaze darkened.

He saw it—his junior sister didn’t trust his refining skills.

“I’m a ninth-grade refiner!”

He declared firmly.

Mu Zixi’s face turned purple.

You, Xu Xiaoshou, claiming to be a ninth-grade refiner?

Didn’t you snatch that ninth-grade refiner badge from me?

“Xu Xiaoshou, if you don’t let me into your Yuan Fu, you’re not refining anything today.”

Mu Zixi leaped onto Xu Xiaoshou’s back in a flash, her hands turning into vines that wrapped around his, and her feet into wooden spikes that pierced into his kidneys.

Xu Xiaoshou: “…”

“Let go.”

“No!”

“Let go.”

“Never!”

Whoosh!

Xu Xiaoshou directly pulled the clingy thing into his Yuan Fu.

“You don’t believe in me…”

“Hah!”

“I’m someone with Zongshi-level ‘Chu Yi Jing Tong.’ I’m just blasting that fire seed out of the magma pool, not blowing up the whole place, you fool.”

“Such a fuss.”

After muttering to himself, Xu Xiaoshou snapped back to reality and immersed himself in his earlier insight once more.

“The heavens and earth are the furnace, creation the craftsman.”

“The fire seed is the pill—explosion will make it work!”