Chapter 85: Alchemical Dust

“How are you feeling now?” Bing Xiao asked, his tone still laced with worry despite Lin Yanghao’s improved appearance.

“I’m fine, really. By the way, where are we now?” Only then did Lin Yanghao turn his head to take in his surroundings, realizing he was inside a mountain cave.

“Well, it’s like this…” Bing Xiao proceeded to recount his journey to their current location, including, of course, their esteemed Master Danchen. However, he conveniently omitted his unique ability to sense spiritual herbs; if Lin Yanghao discovered this, Bing Xiao feared he’d be doomed to a miserable fate of endlessly seeking herbs for him. As for why Danchen wanted his help to find the Ice Lotus, Bing Xiao fabricated a casual excuse, and though Lin Yanghao was puzzled, he didn’t press further.

“What? Danchen? The Danchen?” Bing Xiao might not know, but Lin Yanghao certainly did—Danchen was a household name in almost the entire cultivation world. It wasn’t that Danchen’s power was particularly formidable; his cultivation was only just at the Nascent Soul stage. What truly made Danchen famous was his unparalleled talent in alchemy, earning him the title of the greatest alchemist in the Southern Domain.

The thought that the illustrious top alchemist of the Southern Domain had been interrogated by Bing Xiao struck Lin Yanghao as amusing—he couldn’t imagine what must have gone through Danchen’s mind at the time.

“What? You mean that old man is the number one alchemist in the Southern Domain?” Even Bing Xiao was incredulous; he had never expected that eccentric old man to be the foremost alchemist. Alchemists, whether in the Spirit Realm or the Immortal Realm, held high status, and Danchen, as the preeminent alchemist of the Southern Domain, possessed extraordinary prestige.

It turned out that, unlike in the Spirit Realm, beastfolk and humans in the Immortal Realm lived side by side. As a result, many spiritual pills beneficial to spirit beasts had been developed. Becoming a powerful alchemist required years of dedication, and high-level alchemists were exceedingly rare—hence, few pursued the discipline, making alchemists even more revered.

This explained Bing Xiao’s astonishment. There was an old saying in the Immortal Realm: “Better to offend a high-level immortal than an alchemist.”

Because commissioning an alchemist to refine pills always came at a price, and many would exhaust every means to curry favor with them, the fate of those who became an alchemist’s enemy was self-evident.

Outside the cave, Bing Xiao’s disrespectful remarks about Danchen had not escaped the master’s ears. Listening to Bing Xiao’s incessant complaints, Danchen finally lost patience and burst through the door.

As for the term “strange,” Danchen had meticulously examined Bing Xiao inside and out. By all appearances, Bing Xiao was just a high-level low-grade spirit beast, yet his intelligence was astonishing, and he could even speak. Anyone unfamiliar might mistake him for a top-grade spirit beast. Unable to make sense of it, Danchen chalked it up to some mutation.

“No, no, Master Danchen, you must have misheard! You are, after all, the greatest alchemist in the Southern Domain—how could I possibly speak ill of you?” Lin Yanghao, listening from the side, broke out in a cold sweat. He had never noticed Bing Xiao’s bootlicking tendencies before.

Of course, Bing Xiao had his own agenda. In the past, he would never have stooped to flattery; as a dignified celestial beast, how could he grovel before a cultivator of the Spirit Realm? But now, Bing Xiao hoped to persuade Danchen to refine a pill that could help him recover his strength.

“Lin Yanghao greets the elder,” Lin Yanghao said with a respectful bow.

“Hmph. Time’s almost up. Go find the Ice Lotus for me. I’ll take good care of this lad,” Danchen replied with a glance, turning to address Bing Xiao.

Lin Yanghao wasn’t offended; rumors had long circulated that Master Danchen was aloof and socially awkward, but no one dared disrespect him thanks to his alchemical prowess.

After bidding Lin Yanghao farewell, Bing Xiao quickly set off in search of the Ice Lotus. Lin Yanghao, meanwhile, continued recuperating in the cave. Suddenly, he remembered what the Holy Emperor Daoyuan had once told him: the Immortal Realm’s source was the wellspring of all things, with great healing properties—perhaps it could mend his damaged meridians.

He tried to activate the “Primordial Spirit Sutra” to draw out the source energy of the Immortal Realm, but repeated attempts proved fruitless.

“What the hell!” Lin Yanghao couldn’t help but curse. He still had one chance left to enter, and now not only was entry denied, he couldn’t even extract a trace of the source energy? Yet he could still access anything within the Chaos Ring at will, leaving his feelings tangled and complicated.

He racked his brain, retracing his recent experiences to uncover why the Chaos Ring might be malfunctioning.

“Could it be because of Bing Xiao?” The thought struck Lin Yanghao with certainty: each time his cultivation advanced, the Chaos Ring granted him one entry, and since Bing Xiao was a living being, it must have been Bing Xiao who consumed his last chance. That likely explained why he couldn’t draw out the source energy—he would have to wait until his next breakthrough, probably at the Core Formation stage. The realization left him disheartened.

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Elsewhere, Bing Xiao was carefully attuning himself to the Ice Lotus’s location, drawing ever closer. The nearer he felt its presence, the more cautious he became; as a beastfolk, he knew that rare treasures like the Ice Lotus were always guarded by powerful spirit beasts.

And with his current pitiful, high-level low-grade cultivation, he wouldn’t stand a chance against such a guardian. Danchen himself was probably no match for it either—so how was he supposed to face it?

Bing Xiao now found himself in a valley several hundred meters deep, snowflakes drifting thick and heavy both inside and outside. The entire valley was a world of ice and snow, and Bing Xiao couldn’t help but shiver.

“This Ice Lotus truly lives up to its name, able to alter the weather itself,” Bing Xiao thought, immediately recognizing that the unnatural climate here was entirely due to the Ice Lotus’s influence.