Cautiously Cultivating Immortality in a Strange World

Chapter 17: Thunderbolt Bead

As soon as Chen Lin left, an old man with a hunched back emerged from the back of the house.

When the woman saw the old man come out, she immediately spoke with a strange tone, "Just as you said, this person has come back to ask about Enlightenment Pill information. Could it be that he really refined the pill according to your alchemy formula? This is unlikely, isn't it?"

The old man smiled.

He calmly said, "There's nothing impossible. Not only did he refine it, but he also refined more than one."

"What!"

The woman was shocked.

"Isn't your recipe a simplified version of Elder He's improved recipe? It's only theoretically possible, and even you can't refine it, but he, a loose cultivator, did it. Could it be that he's a hidden alchemy master?"

"Alchemy master?"

The old man let out a cold laugh.

"Even the alchemy master cannot refine the pill formula of the uniquely created Qi Cultivation Pill Refinement Method improved by Elder He. To successfully concoct it, one must possess tremendous fortuitous destiny and great karmic luck!"

The woman's eyebrows furrowed, "Great luck? How much luck a loose cultivator who has only reached the fourth stage of Qi Refining at the age of forty have?"

The old man's mouth twitched, and he shook his head, "In the past, this person was indeed a down-and-out loose cultivator, but recently, he's changed a lot, like he's become a different person."

"You're saying he's been possessed?"

The woman exclaimed.

"I don't know if he's been possessed, but there's definitely been a change. This person is very cautious, and if I hadn't used the Initial Yuan Pill alchemy formula to test Zhao Zhengyuan and it was then re-sold to him, and I happened to discover it while monitoring Zhao Zhengyuan.I wouldn’t have believed that this person refined the Initial Yuan Pill.”

After a pause, he affirmed, "Both alchemy formulas were created by Elder He, and whether they can be refined depends on luck. If he refined one successfully, it could be considered a coincidence, but refining two types of pills successfully, and not just once, that's not a coincidence."

The woman nodded.

"So, your intention is to let him try?"

"Yes."

The old man also nodded.

"That thing will soon take shape. If we can't cut off the red thread and escape from this place, everything will be lost, and we can't wait any longer."

The woman was still a little hesitant and frowned, “Can we really cut off the red line by entering the Foundation Establishment Stage? Once the Blood Demon Pill is used, there's no turning back, right?"

The old man let out a bitter laugh, "Where's the turning back? It's just that our luck is bad, and we've encountered such a powerful anomaly. Fortunately, it hasn't taken shape yet."

The woman heard this and immediately apologized, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't asked my senior brother to help me investigate the traitor's whereabouts, we wouldn't be trapped here."

The old man smiled, "What's the point of saying that? I should be grateful to this anomaly. If it weren't for this thing, I wouldn't have had the chance to be alone with you."

Next, he straightened his expression and said, "After Foundation Establishment, we'll definitely be able to cut off the red thread. I've already grasped the method. The heads of the Zhang and Han families used this secret technique, and they're already preparing to leave the city with their core disciples."

The woman was stunned.

"Really? No wonder the people from those two families aren't panicking. It turns out the two family heads didn't disappear, but found a way to leave."

The old man nodded, "Yes, not only them, but the other three major families might also be preparing to leave. However, to avoid attracting the anomaly's attention, they probably won't dare to bring too many people."

After saying this, he sighed and said, "Unfortunately, the five major families are too exclusive, and we're from the Black Demon Sect. Otherwise, we could have gotten two leaving slots from them, and it wouldn't be so troublesome. Now, it depends on whether this fellow Chen can give me a surprise!"

…

Chen Lin removed his disguise and returned to his residence, holding a rabbit cage in his hand.

Before entering the house, he took a look at Zhao Zhengyuan's residence, hesitated for a moment, and walked over.

He knocked on the door, but there was no response.

"Brother Zhao, I'm making rabbit stew tonight. Want to come over and have a drink?"

He pulled his neck and let out a loud shout.

Still, there was no response.

Chen Lin furrowed his brow, as it had been a long time since he last saw the other person. He didn't know if it was because the other person was in closed-door cultivation and hadn't encountered him, or if they simply hadn't returned.

Just then, the window opposite him was pushed open, and the yellow-faced female cultivator's head poked out.

"No need to shout, that guy hasn't come back for half a month. Want me to keep you company for a drink?"

Haven't been back for more than half a month?

Chen Lin couldn't help but feel a bad premonition.

Could it be that something dangerous had happened during the recent demonic beast disturbance?

Unfortunately, even if something had happened, he couldn't do anything to help, and could only silently pray for the other person's safety.

He ignored the female cultivator and directly returned to his own room, earning another round of curses from her.

He treated it as background noise.

After putting the rabbit cage in order, he eagerly took out the box containing the pills, carefully scraped off some powder from the surface, and mixed it with water to feed the rabbit.

Next, he quietly observed.

While observing, he took out the Weapon Refining manual and began to read.

The entire manual was already worn out, with only a few pages in the middle still barely legible.

There were a total of six pages, recording the manufacturing methods of two spiritual treasures.

They weren't ordinary flying swords or shields, but two very unusual items.

One was called the Purple Light Bottle, which was used to store a special liquid called Purple Golden Luminous Liquid, according to the records.

Chen Lin had never heard of Purple Golden Luminous Liquid, so he naturally wouldn't refine it.

What caught his eye was the other item.

The Thunderbolt Bead!

He flipped to the page with the Thunderbolt Bead's manufacturing method, repeatedly studying it, and took out his brush to fill in the missing characters according to his understanding.

After a long time, he finally nodded in satisfaction.

The manufacturing method had few missing characters, and they were all unimportant parts. With his supplementation, it should be fine.

The effect of this item was similar to explosives from his previous life, requiring no spiritual activation, and would directly explode when thrown.

The downside was that its power wasn't impressive.

The explosion principle of this item was vastly different from that of explosives from his previous life, using several mutually repulsive and internally unstable materials to create it.

During manufacturing, an array would maintain the balance of the materials, and when activated, the array's balance would break, producing an explosion.

According to the manual's records, Chen Lin felt that its power should be similar to that of a hand grenade.

The actual effect still needed to be tested.

But even if it reached the level of a hand grenade, its deterrent effect on cultivators wouldn't be too strong.

It could deal with Qi Refining initial-stage cultivators, but once they reached the middle stage, not only would their physical bodies be strengthened, but they could also cast protective techniques, easily neutralizing the explosive's killing power.

Not every cultivator was like him, struggling to cultivate techniques.

So, why did he still want to refine it?

Mainly because the manual mentioned that refining this item was relatively difficult, with a low success rate. He currently liked all items with low success rates, as only refining such items could demonstrate the importance of his innate abilities.

It gave him a sense of accomplishment.

Additionally, the raw materials were very cheap.

Even if it took ten attempts to refine one, it wouldn't cost more than two spirit stones.

And if one wasn't enough, what about ten?

What about a hundred?

So, it couldn't be said to be completely useless.

Currently, he had no means of attack, and having this item would add to his self-defense capabilities.