Chapter One Hundred: Time of Harvest

Over the past period, the ghostly wails gradually faded away. Li Mu carefully packed away the sandstorm formation and stepped out of the cave.

The murderous aura had already dissipated. After the spirit was devoured by its master, it had expended all its energy and ceased to exist in the world.

Ahead in the hollow, a large circle several dozen meters in diameter suddenly appeared. Everything within it—plants and other objects alike—had turned pitch black, utterly devoid of any vitality. Even the soil within lacked any sign of life force. No trace of spiritual energy emerged inside this circle, as if it were a separate space from its surroundings.

Inside the circle lay a person, or what could be called a person.

Li Mu glanced briefly and then gathered the pitiful body, discarding it far away from the hollow.

Upon returning, he held a storage ring and a jet-black spear in his hands.

Creating a ghostly weapon was extremely difficult. He intended to keep the Spirit Spear, but he would not seek out the spirit seals of that immortal cultivator. Such matters of the dark arts were not his concern. However, he had heard that spirit pets and demons could also be sealed into ghostly weapons. When the opportunity arose, he might give it a try.

As for the ring, it was indeed a storage ring.

Though common, it was at least a fourth-grade treasure, containing a space several meters in diameter, ample enough for storing items.

Li Mu took out the contents, then concealed some items and tossed the ring to Shen Bingxue.

“Giving this to me?” Shen Bingxue looked somewhat doubtful.

“When you refine medicine, it will help store the spiritual materials inside. Don’t come looking for me then. Turn all those into pills, and consider that as payment,” Li Mu said with a smile, offering no further explanation.

He didn’t dwell on it. Shen Bingxue indeed needed a storage ring right now. Whether for fighting or other reasons, the utility of a storage ring was irreplaceable. His younger sister, the progenitor of the Wolf Origin, might not have such a ring. There was no need to rush everything.

“Do you think I’m your only pharmacist?” Shen Bingxue glared, but a proud smile crept onto her lips.

After a moment, worry appeared on her face. “If someone is chasing you this far, can we escape?”

Li Mu’s expression grew solemn as he shook his head. “Wait a little over a month until they establish their spirit. If we seek out spiritual energy veins now, our cultivation will be brutally interrupted. This time it was my fault. I’ll be more cautious in the future. The progenitor of the Wolf Origin isn’t a single faction; it seems there’s no way they communicate. Don’t worry too much.”

Shen Bingxue nodded. “That’s good. Ying’er is currently cultivating; it can’t be interrupted. We’ll be careful.”

Li Mu glanced into the cave. Inside, Li Ying sat cross-legged atop a spiritual energy vein, motionless. She had taken the Pill of Stabilization and was unaware of events outside. She had reached the middle stage of the Qi Condensation realm and could establish her spirit within a month at most.

Sun Qi and Sun Sanjiu were the same. Both were in the late Qi Condensation stage and diligently cultivating.

“Pharmacist Shen, how is the restoration pill coming along?”

Shen Bingxue looked troubled. “It’s difficult now. I’ve tried a hundred times, but only identified one effective herb. So far, we have three main herbs confirmed and one auxiliary herb. There are two other auxiliary herbs uncertain, maybe we don’t have them.”

“Three main herbs all confirmed? No mistakes?” Li Mu sighed inwardly.

“Don’t underestimate me, ha!” Shen Bingxue’s voice carried a hint of anger. “No mistakes. I started attempting to refine the restoration pill when I was at the Flower Grove Gate. I doubt anyone in the Yunshan realm understands it better than me.”

Li Mu inhaled. “Alright, tell me the ones you’re sure about.”

He knew that by using those three main herbs and one auxiliary herb in the Spirit Tower repeatedly, they could confirm the herbs and refine the pills.

As long as they could produce restoration pills of this third-grade quality to restore true energy, his power would significantly increase.

“So you want me to use that strange alchemy technique?” Shen Bingxue whispered. “Longyang Flower, Yunze Silk, Xiangyun Flower, and the auxiliary herb is Wind-Stopping Herb... Once you finish experimenting, don’t tell me. I want to refine it myself.”

Li Mu smiled and nodded.

Among those four herbs, only Yunze Silk was rare; the others were common. He had many stocked in his supplies.

Li Mu stepped into the cave, but Shen Bingxue did not follow. Her stubbornness as a pharmacist made her refuse to watch Li Mu’s tests. She wanted to rely on her own strength to research the matter.

By the spirit pool, Li Mu did not start refining medicine but instead examined the items obtained from the body of such a notorious dark cultivator.

This was the true accumulation of an evil cultivator who had ruled a realm for decades. The treasures were abundant.

At least there were many materials—numerous rare third-grade and fourth-grade materials.

Among them was a fourth-grade medium-class Thunderstone, extremely rare. It contained dense thunder energy; if refined into a Thunder Bead, even cultivators in the Refining Vein stage couldn’t resist its power.

Three pieces of Fire Crystal Iron, high-grade third-grade materials, felt like pure white flames in his hand. Normally unremarkable, but if thrown into water, they instantly transformed into a pure white fire zone. The unique property of burning water made them essential for refining many treasures.

Similar materials included Yellow Spider Teeth, Liuyu Branches, and more.

It was a pity that such a collection from this dark cultivator contained only a few mediocre second-grade treasures, and no third-grade treasures. Perhaps he didn’t know how to refine treasures, and the Wolf Realm lacked skilled treasure refiners. With so many materials, he had to find experts elsewhere.

But in Li Mu’s hands, things were different.

What he needed now was precisely these materials. Many of them were essential for refining formulas.

“If there is enough spiritual crystal and refining time, one can easily create a third or fourth-grade treasure.”

The third- and fourth-grade refining formulas required five superior materials. If all materials were transformed, each attempt would cost a hundred tower points, meaning a hundred spirit crystals, and even hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of lower-grade spirit crystals wouldn’t suffice. Thus, these materials were adapted to formula needs to save countless spirit crystals.

Among these materials, at least twenty kinds were useful.

They were just materials, yet among them were jade slips—large and small—dozens in total.

Excluding two jade slips related to forbidden arts, the rest contained techniques from the Spirit Establishment and Refining Vein stages, some ordinary, some extraordinary. Li Mu wondered why such a dark cultivator collected so many techniques. To him, it was a treasure trove, sure to be useful later. Even if some were unused, storing them somewhere pleased him greatly.

Among the jade slips was a particularly large circular one. It wasn’t a cultivation method but a record of materials, documenting information on first- to fourth-grade materials. This excited Li Mu greatly. With it, he wouldn’t blindly fumble when transforming materials.

What surprised Li Mu most was a paper talisman formation.

Even cultivators at the Refining Vein stage could be briefly trapped within it.

The Flowing Color Seal rained down dazzling hues, spreading across the sky. When activated, the entire sky was awash with brilliant colors like a brocade. This formation not only altered what cultivators saw but also restricted their spiritual perception. Even Refining Vein cultivators needed time to stabilize and restore their sensing. But those at the Spirit Establishment stage trapped inside would find escape impossible.

Gazing at this talisman formation, Li Mu’s heart overflowed with joy.