11: Crimson patterns and thunderous roar! Elder Situ's "medicinal dregs" are no ordinary matter!

His gaze swept over the shattered earthen pot fragments on the ground, passed over the huge lava stone next to it that had been roasted until charred and was still stained with suspicious black-red smudges, and finally landed back on that thunder pattern qi nurturing pill lying quietly among the rubble.

The pure Spiritual Qi and the faint, elusive aura of thunder emitting from that Medicinal Pill were like a silent mockery, violently assaulting the Alchemy knowledge he had accumulated over hundreds of years!

A Yellow Rank Low Grade qi nurturing pill! The most basic Medicinal Pill! Even for him, Situ Wufeng, if he refined it with his eyes closed using his toes, it would be impossible to trigger a Pill Tribulation!

It was even more impossible to refine something like this, wrapped in thunder patterns, with Spiritual Qi so pure it was almost mutated!

This Menial Worker... what on earth did he do?!

Jiang Linfeng coughed "laboriously" twice, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, and forced a miserable "survivor's" smile onto his face: "Eld... Elder... This one... This one doesn't know either..."

He struggled to stand up, but his body swayed "weakly" and he leaned back against the cliff wall, his voice trembling with "lingering fear": "This one... This one just heard that this Waste Slag Pit was warm, and thought, thought about coming to roast a fire, and by the way... by the way, try to see if I could use these waste medicine dregs to boil some porridge to nourish Yaner's body."

He pointed at the scattered medicine dreg fragments on the ground, then pointed at that thunder pattern qi nurturing pill, his face full of "innocence" and "bewilderment".

"As a result... as a result, this broken earthen pot, it, it exploded on its own! Then lightning struck from the sky! And then... this thing... just popped out! This one, this one was almost struck to death!"

Elder Situ: "..."

He felt his temples throbbing!

Roasting a fire? Boiling porridge? The earthen pot exploded on its own? A divine lightning strike from the sky produced a mutated Medicinal Pill?

Is he trying to fool a ghost?!

He, Situ Wufeng, has traveled across the Tianyuan Continent for hundreds of years; what kind of storms and waves has he not seen?

What kind of strange and bizarre Alchemy methods has he not heard of? But the scene before him was simply more absurd than an extraterrestrial devil!

"Boiling porridge?" Elder Situ's voice was as cold as ice shards. "Boiling porridge can trigger a Pill Tribulation? Refine a thunder pattern pill? Jiang Linfeng, are you trying to fool this old man like a three-year-old child?!"

A terrifying pressure, like a tangible mountain, crashed down upon Jiang Linfeng!

That was the will belonging to a Peak Zhaoshen Realm expert! Even while heavily injured, it was enough to make an Innate Realm Cultivator's mind collapse!

Jiang Linfeng's body trembled violently, his face turned paper-white in a "flash," and bean-sized sweat beads instantly rolled down from his forehead!

He lowered his head in "terror," his voice filled with a crying tone: "Eld... Elder, please calm your anger! This one... This one dares not lie! This one... This one really was just messing around; this... this thunder... this Medicinal Pill... this one doesn't know what happened either! Maybe... maybe it's because the Heavens saw that this one was pitiful... and rewarded me?"

While "shivering," he quietly operated his Source Spirit Body to the extreme, resisting that terrifying pressure, while simultaneously frantically thinking of countermeasures.

Resist head-on? No! That would expose his strength! Continue playing dumb? This old fox clearly doesn't believe it!

Elder Situ stared fixedly at Jiang Linfeng, his gaze as sharp as a knife, as if he wanted to dissect him from the inside out to see clearly!

He had lived for so long, and this was the first time he had felt such a strong sense of dissonance and... unfathomable mystery from a "Quasi-Innate Realm" Menial Worker.

Was the golden light barrier at the medicine dreg field a coincidence?

Was the broken shovel handle and the broken devil claw a coincidence?

Now, this lightning-struck mutated Medicinal Pill... is that also a coincidence?!

Once is an accident, twice is luck, three or four times... that is a Prodigy!

"Hmph!" Elder Situ let out a cold snort, and the pressure suddenly retracted! He knew that continuing to interrogate would not yield anything. This kid was slippery as an eel, and his ability to play dumb was masterful!

His figure flickered, appearing in the pit like a ghost, ignoring the scorching ground and the pungent smell of sulfur, his withered left hand grabbing into the air!

Swish!

That thunder pattern qi nurturing pill, as if guided by an invisible thread, landed steadily in his palm!

The Medicinal Pill felt slightly heavy in his hand, warm and moist like jade. On the cyan-white pill body, several silver thunder patterns as thin as hair strands flowed slowly like living things, emitting incomparably pure vegetation Spiritual Qi and a trace of heart-palpitating thunder pressure!

Just by holding it in his hand, Elder Situ could feel the Spiritual Qi in his body, which had been sluggish due to his severe injuries, faintly showing signs of accelerating its flow!

Good stuff! Absolutely good stuff!

A hard-to-conceal brilliance erupted in Elder Situ's cloudy eyes! The purity of this Medicinal Pill's potency far exceeded an ordinary Yellow Rank High Grade qi nurturing pill!

That trace of thunder aura even contained a sliver of the power of Heaven and Earth Law, which had miraculous effects on tempering Meridians and solidifying the Foundation! For a Cultivator like him who had a high Realm but a damaged Foundation, it was simply a holy item for healing!

"This pill..." Elder Situ suppressed the shock in his heart, his voice still icy. "This old man is confiscating it! Consider it punishment for trespassing into the Sect's Forbidden Ground!"

Jiang Linfeng secretly cursed the old fox for being shameless, but his face wore an expression of "gratitude" and terror: "Yes, yes, yes! Elder, please take it! This one... This one doesn't dare to want it! This thing is too scary!"

Elder Situ glanced at him and said nothing more. He carefully put the thunder pattern qi nurturing pill into a jade bottle and hid it close to his body.

Then, his gaze swept over the scattered medicine dreg fragments on the ground and that piece of earth fire flame heart fragment that had been roasted until charred.

"These medicine dregs... did you bring them from the medicine dreg field?" Elder Situ asked seemingly casually, bending down to pick up a small piece of medicine dreg fragment mixed with blue-green and gray-brown colors, and sniffed it at the tip of his nose.

Jiang Linfeng's heart jolted, and he immediately nodded: "Ye... Yes, Elder. It's just... just the waste materials from the medicine dreg field that nobody wants..."

"Waste materials?" The corners of Elder Situ's mouth curved into a meaningful arc, and a flash of realization crossed his eyes. "No wonder... no wonder you were able to boil 'porridge'..."

He no longer paid attention to Jiang Linfeng, but instead carefully inspected the medicine dreg fragments on the ground, one by one.

His movements were very slow, his eyes terrifyingly focused, as if he were appreciating some rare treasure.

Especially those dreg blocks that were dark in color, hard in texture, and emitted a faint, special aura; he rubbed them repeatedly, even scraping off a bit of powder with his fingernail and tasting it on the tip of his tongue, making Jiang Linfeng's eyelids twitch.

"qi condensing grass... gathering origin flower... and... ice heart lotus? xuan yang fruit?!"

Elder Situ's voice became lower and lower, filled with unbelievable suspicion. This... how is this possible?!

These medicine dregs... are clearly waste materials from refining 'profound ice Pulse Tempering Pill' and 'blazing sun bone forging pill'!

"These two types of Medicinal Pills are at least Profound Rank Medium Grade! The Pill Formula has long been lost! Their main ingredients, ice heart lotus and xuan yang fruit, have been extinct for a hundred years! How could the medicine dreg field... have such waste materials?!"

He suddenly raised his head, his sharp gaze shooting toward Jiang Linfeng: "Speak! These medicine dregs! Where on earth did they come from?!"

Jiang Linfeng's heart skipped a beat! He cursed inwardly, thinking this was bad! He had only thought about utilizing waste, but forgot that the "origin" of these medicine dregs might be problematic! Waste materials from Profound Rank Medicinal Pills? And it involved lost Pill Formula and extinct medicinal herbs? He had really poked a hornet's nest!

"Thi... This one doesn't know!" Jiang Linfeng made a "mournful" face, his acting skills reaching their Peak. "This one just... just saw that these dreg blocks were darker in color... harder... thinking... thinking that the porridge boiled from them might be thicker... and more filling... so... so I picked them up..."

"Picked them up?!" Elder Situ laughed in extreme anger. "Mountains of waste materials piled up in the medicine dreg field! And you just happened to be able to 'pick up' dreg blocks containing the essence of the main ingredients of lost Medicinal Pills?!"

"And 'just happened' to be able to boil a mutated qi nurturing pill that triggered a Pill Tribulation?! Jiang Linfeng! Do you really take this old man for a fool?!"

Terrifying pressure permeated the air again! Even sharper than before! Killing Intent appeared in Elder Situ's eyes!

The secrets hidden on this kid were likely even more astonishing than he had imagined! Perhaps... it might even involve the Sect's lost Alchemy Legacy!

Just as the situation was on the verge of breaking out and the atmosphere was tense to the extreme—

"Cough, cough... Old Man Situ, it's the middle of the night; shouldn't you be in the Pill Room recovering from your injuries? Why are you running to this stinky Waste Slag Pit to bully a little Menial Worker? Aren't you ashamed of lowering yourself?"

A lazy voice, filled with heavy drowsiness, drifted slowly from above the Waste Slag Pit.

Only to see Old Man Zhong with a hunched back, carrying that small purple clay teapot, slowly strolling down along the cliff wall.

His cloudy eyes swept over the scene, paused for a moment on Jiang Linfeng, and then landed on the medicine dreg fragments in Elder Situ's hand, the corners of his mouth seeming to twitch ever so slightly.

"Old Ghost Zhong! Mind your own business!" Elder Situ's face was gloomy, but the Killing Intent on his body converged slightly. Old Man Zhong had an extremely high seniority, and although his cultivation was unknown (said to be very low), he had a special status in the Sect, and even he had to give him some face.

"This old man doesn't want to care either." Old Man Zhong took a sip of tea and said slowly, "But that thing in your hand... it looks a bit familiar to this old man."

He pointed to the Medicinal Pill residue fragments in Elder Situ's hand: "A few days ago, the Pill Room cleaned out an old warehouse that had been sealed for years. It seems they dug up a batch of Medicinal Pill residue from several hundred years ago and piled it in the innermost part of the Waste Slag Pit. The smell was incredibly pungent. I was even wondering, what kind of Medicinal Pill waste could last for hundreds of years without rotting away? Now it seems... tsk tsk, it turns out they are some 'old antiques'!"

Old Man Zhong's words exploded in Elder Situ's ears like a thunderclap!

Medicinal Pill residue from several hundred years ago?! An old warehouse from years past?!

Elder Situ's pupils contracted sharply! He remembered! The Qingyun Sect Pill Room indeed had an old warehouse that had been sealed for many years. It was said that it stored Medicinal Pill residue and discarded Pill Formula from when the Sect was in its prime.

Because of the long passage of time, the mixed medicinal properties, and the fact that most of it was unidentifiable, it had always been regarded as trash! After the recent outbreak of Devilish Qi, the Sect cleaned up and reorganized everywhere, and the Medicinal Pill residue from that old warehouse had indeed been dumped en masse into the depths of the Waste Slag Pit!

Could it be... that what this kid picked up... were those "old antiques" from several hundred years ago?!

This explanation... seems... barely plausible?!

Elder Situ stared fixedly at Old Man Zhong, then looked at the "old Medicinal Pill residue" in his hand, which contained pure medicinal properties, and finally looked at Jiang Linfeng, who had a "blank and innocent" face. His heart was in turmoil!

Coincidence? Another coincidence?!

This kid got lucky and picked up hundred-year-old Medicinal Pill residue containing the essence of lost Medicinal Pills? And then got lucky again and used a broken earthen pot to concoct a mutated pill that triggered a Pill Tribulation?!

This luck... isn't it a bit excessively Heaven-Defying?!

"Hmph!" Elder Situ snorted coldly and casually threw away the Medicinal Pill residue fragments in his hand, though he secretly hid a small piece, his expression shifting uncertainly.

Although Old Man Zhong's explanation was far-fetched, it at least provided a seemingly reasonable way out.

He couldn't just slice up a Menial Worker for research because his "luck was too good," could he? If word got out, where would he, Situ Wufeng, put his face?

"Consider yourself lucky, kid!" Elder Situ glared coldly at Jiang Linfeng, his tone grim. "Let today's matter rot in your stomach! If you dare to leak even half a word... hmph!" He didn't finish his sentence, but the cold Killing Intent made the surrounding air feel as if it had frozen.

"Yes, yes, yes! This one understands! This one saw nothing! This one knows nothing!" Jiang Linfeng, as if granted amnesty, nodded like a pounding garlic.

Elder Situ stopped looking at him and turned to Old Man Zhong. "Old Ghost Zhong, although the Devilish Qi here has been suppressed, the Seal is unstable and needs increased patrols. You... keep an eye on things!" He glanced meaningfully at Jiang Linfeng.

"This old man knows," Old Man Zhong responded lazily.

Elder Situ did not stay any longer. His figure flickered, transforming into a streak of cyan Sword Qi, and he vanished into the night instantly.

He needed to return immediately to study that thunder pattern qi nurturing pill and that piece of "old Medicinal Pill residue"! He would get to the bottom of the mysteries surrounding this little Menial Worker sooner or later!

Once Elder Situ left, the atmosphere at the Waste Slag Pit immediately relaxed.

Old Man Zhong slowly walked over to Jiang Linfeng, his turbid eyes looking him up and down, and tsked twice. "Kid, your life is quite tough, huh? Between the Devil Puppet and the heavenly lightning, neither managed to strike you dead?"

Jiang Linfeng smiled "weakly." "Thanks to... thanks to Old Man Zhong's blessing..."

"Blessing?" Old Man Zhong scoffed and kicked the dim earth fire flame heart fragment on the ground with his toe. "Old Man Situ's earth fire flame heart has been ruined by you; his 'blessing' is not easy to enjoy."

Jiang Linfeng's heart tightened, but his face showed an expression of "heartache." "This one... this one cannot afford to pay for it..."

"Pay?" Old Man Zhong rolled his eyes. "What would you use to pay? Even if you sold yourself, it wouldn't be worth a corner of this fragment!" He paused, his turbid gaze sweeping over Jiang Linfeng's pale face and the blood at the corner of his mouth, his voice lowering a few degrees. "Kid, this old man doesn't care what method you used to 'concoct' that pill... but remember, for some things, know when to stop while you're ahead! Don't play with fire and burn yourself! Old Man Situ... is not that easy to fool!"

After speaking, he ignored Jiang Linfeng, picked up his teapot, hunched his back, and slowly walked toward the depths of the Waste Slag Pit, his figure soon disappearing into the heat waves and sulfur smoke.

Jiang Linfeng watched the direction in which Old Man Zhong had disappeared, then looked down at the dim earth fire flame heart fragment and the scattered Medicinal Pill residue on the ground, his eyes deep.

Fool him? He naturally knew he couldn't fool him. Elder Situ's suspicion would only grow heavier.

But... so what?

He bent down and picked up the earth fire flame heart fragment. Although its light was dim, the core earth fire flame power had not completely dissipated; it just needed time to be nurtured and restored.

【Ding! Damaged "earth fire flame heart (fragment)" detected! The Source Spirit Body can slowly nourish and repair it! Estimated time: seven days.】

As long as it can be repaired, that's fine! Jiang Linfeng breathed a sigh of relief. This was a treasure for Alchemy!

He looked at the System prompts again:

【Pill Refining Art Rank: Proficient (450 / 1000)】

【Origin Spirit Power recovering (currently approx. 40%)】

【Realm: Innate 10th Layer Early Stage (recovering)】

Although his Realm had temporarily fallen and his Origin Spirit Power consumption was huge, the leap in his Pill Refining Art and the successful concoction of that mutated thunder pattern qi nurturing pill greatly boosted his confidence! This path of Alchemy using Medicinal Pill residue was completely feasible! And the upper limit was extremely high!

"Elder Situ... Old Man Zhong..." A cold arc curled at the corners of Jiang Linfeng's mouth. "Want to probe my bottom line? Then come!"

He did not stay any longer, carefully collecting the earth fire flame heart fragment and the scattered useful Medicinal Pill residue, cleaning up the traces at the scene (mainly Pockmarked Wang's remains), and then, dragging his "weak" body, he left the Waste Slag Pit silently.

The night was deep. In the Cold Plum Courtyard, inside Luo Yan's room. The young girl was not sleeping soundly, her brows slightly furrowed, as if she had dreamed of something terrible.

Jiang Linfeng walked to the bedside on tiptoe, activating his Source Spirit Body, and gentle Spiritual Qi, like a warm current, slowly flowed into her body.

Luo Yan's tightly furrowed brows gradually smoothed out, and her breathing became steady and long.

Jiang Linfeng sat by the bed, watching Luo Yan's peaceful sleeping face, feeling the steady rhythm of life deep within their Bloodline, his eyes becoming incomparably soft.

He opened his palm, and resting quietly in it was a pill the size of a dragon's eye, perfectly round, emitting a soft cyan-white halo—it was exactly that mutated thunder pattern qi nurturing pill!

What Elder Situ had taken was one of slightly inferior quality (with a fainter thunder pattern) that he had deliberately left behind; this most perfect one, he had kept hidden in the System space!

【Mutated · thunder pattern qi nurturing pill (Yellow Rank Medium Grade)】

【Effect: Significantly increases Spiritual Qi recovery speed, nourishes Meridians, and stabilizes Foundation. Adds a weak thunder Body Tempering effect (strengthens meridian resilience).】

"Yaner..." Jiang Linfeng whispered softly, carefully placing the pill by Luo Yan's pillow. "This pill... can help you and the child consolidate your Foundation and nourish your origin. Sleep well; your husband is here."

He leaned down and gently pressed a kiss onto Luo Yan's smooth forehead.

The night was quiet. Jiang Linfeng sat cross-legged on the footstool by the bed, closing his eyes to regulate his breath. His damaged Origin Spirit Power flowed slowly within his body, repairing his injuries, while simultaneously nurturing the dim earth fire flame heart fragment bit by bit.

The moonlight outside the window spilled in, illuminating his calm and determined profile. The path to becoming stronger was filled with thorns and prying eyes. But to protect the person in his embrace, for that unborn life, he was fearless.

Inside Elder Situ's meditation room. He sat cross-legged, the thunder pattern qi nurturing pill with the fainter pattern floating before him. A wisp of pure Sword Qi condensed at his fingertip, cautiously probing the internal structure and energy circulation of the Medicinal Pill.

"Pure... too pure! The Fusion of this medicinal power... is simply perfect! And this trace of thunder power... contains the Laws of Heaven and Earth... it is definitely not something human power can achieve!" Elder Situ's eyes shot out sharp light. "Medicinal Pill residue? Old Medicinal Pill residue? Hmph! How could this old man fully believe Old Ghost Zhong's ghost-fooling words!"

He suddenly opened his left palm, and resting quietly there was a small piece of dark-colored, hard-textured Medicinal Pill residue—it was exactly the "old antique" he had "picked up" from the Waste Slag Pit!

"It contains the essence of ice heart lotus and xuan yang fruit... the main ingredients of a lost Pill Formula..." Elder Situ's eyes became incomparably sharp. "A Menial Worker... can 'coincidentally' pick up such Medicinal Pill residue containing the essence of lost Medicinal Pills... and can also 'coincidentally' use a broken earthen pot to concoct a mutated pill that triggers a Pill Tribulation..."

"Coincidence? Luck?" A cold, inquisitive arc curled at the corners of Elder Situ's mouth. "Jiang Linfeng... this old man wants to see, behind this 'Heaven-Defying luck' of yours... what earth-shattering secret is hidden!"