Chapter 1285: Battling Skill

“The supplemental grandmasters of the Supplemental Dao Alliance created the Eight Treasures Return Pill. If they say it requires the crystal core of an arcane beast king, then it naturally does.” Lu Yun nodded.

“Perverse heresy!” snorted the Luminous King. “Do you seek to bestir trouble between the arcane beast kings and the Supplemental Dao Alliance now?”

Lu Yun ignored him and materialized a pill with a flip of his hand. “Everyone, what is this to you?”

The pill was pale gold in color and etched with eight deep purple veins that intersected with each other.

“The Eight Treasures Return Pill, that’s the Eight Treasures Return Pill!” someone gasped in the crowd.

The Supplemental Dao Alliance priced the pill at five million premium purple crystals, and one might not even be able to buy it even with sufficient crystals. However, the same pill went for five hundred thousand in the Immortal Pagoda.

“Indeed, this is an Eight Treasures Return Pill as sold by the Immortal Pagoda. Prehistoric King, please taste this pill to see if there’s the crystal core of an arcane bast king within.” He tossed it to the king in question.

The Prehistoric King paused when he caught it and took a gentle sniff. Sure enough, there was no presence of an arcane beast king coming from it.

“The one invented by the alliance uses a king’s crystal core as a main ingredient, so it will certainly contain the resentment of the arcane beast king in its final struggles for life. This kind of resentment will inescapably linger in the pill, and any cultivator that takes it will suffer backlash from the malice.

“Their tribulation will be one of inner demons, with a lighter tribulation resulting in a cultivation deviation and possession by resentment, and a heavier one seeing the shattering and doom of one’s soul!” Lu Yun waxed eloquent with his hands behind his back.

“But the one as invented by my Immortal Pagoda uses eighty-one spirit grasses to replace the crystal core, so there is no resentment in the pills we create. There are no side effects and it’s much milder. There will be no aftereffects from consuming one of ours.”historical

This was indeed one of the drawbacks of the Eight Treasures Return Pill. Lu Yun had discovered it the first time he refined it, but since he was using the core of the Meteorite King, that king wouldn’t dare feel an ounce of resentment toward Lu Yun.

Upon establishing the Immortal Pagoda, he’d initially used the crystal cores that Hopeless Major sent over. After he utilized formula dao, he was able to concoct a recipe that didn’t require an arcane beast king’s core.

Not only did that vastly reduce his expenses, but it also avoided some unnecessary trouble—like what was happening now.

....

“There is no arcane beast presence to be found in this Eight Treasures Return Pill, it’s not refined from the core of a king.” The Prehistoric King shook his head after carefully examining the pill. “But I don’t know if this is the legendary Eight Treasures Return Pill.”

He was no fool; he naturally possessed a keen mind if he was here to demand an explanation from the Immortal Pagoda. He wouldn’t be used by anyone else, and he also wouldn’t be deterred with just a few words.

“You, come here, eat this pill.” With a random grab at the air, Prehistoric snatched a common realm cultivator watching the show several thousand kilometers away. He didn’t wait for an answer before shoving the pill into the cultivator’s mouth.

Gurgle!

Strange gurgling churned from the cultivator’s body in the next moment. He shook as all of his muscles, tendons, and bones began to expand at a rapid pace. A great force blossomed from his body after a few breaths while tribulation clouds gathered and thunder boomed overhead.

Prehistoric jumped with shock, he hadn’t thought that the cultivator would break through in a few short breaths and summon a heavenly tribulation!

Bolts of silver lightning smote downward before he could react. Attracted by a strange power the moment they landed on the ground, they instantly vanished without a trace.

“Prehistoric King, now can you be certain that this is the Eight Treasures Return Pill?” Lu Yun chuckled.

Instead of responding, the king brought the terrified cultivator up to his eyes for a look. After close examination, he nodded wordlessly and sent away the man who’d almost peed his pants.

“That is indeed the pill in question. Fascinating! That common realm cultivator had just ascended and his cultivation was yet to stabilize. That pill was able to instantly propel him into the superior realm and consolidate his cultivation!” Prehistoric sighed with amazement.

“Hmph!” snorted the Luminous King. “The Eight Treasures Return Pill? The Immortal Pagoda boasts of another Six Paths Reincarnation Pill with the same effect! Who knows if the Immortal King pulled the wool over your eyes with that pill instead?”

“Luminous King!” snarled Prehistoric. “Do you think that I’m not able to tell the difference between these two pills?!”

Luminous’ heart skipped a beat, he’d said a word too many. While arcane beasts didn’t wield supplemental dao, that didn’t mean they lacked knowledge. His last words had been obliquely jeering at the arcane beast king for being ignorant.

He’d put his foot in his mouth and made it so that even if Lu Yun had brought out the Six Paths Reincarnation Pill, Prehistoric would still say it was the other pill no matter what. He would never waver out of consideration for his dignity, and Luminous suddenly had the feeling that he’d picked up a rock to smash his own foot.

These arcane beasts thought nothing of him. “The Luminous King of Virtue and Integrity” and the Moral Emperor of the Hongmeng were unfunny jokes in their eyes. Arcane beasts respected pure strength, not empty titles or honors.

Luminous flushed beet red, but didn’t dare say anything else.

“The Prehistoric King’s words may be in error!” The Alchemist King suddenly walked through the air and landed gently in front of Immortal Pagoda. He leveled a cold smirk at Lu Yun. “The Immortal King is a supplemental king acknowledged by the Hongmeng Tower and his grasp of the supplemental arts have reached insurmountable heights of perfection! He can turn the falsehood into reality and deceive even strong supplemental grandmasters, to say nothing of the Prehistoric King!”

“Oh?” Prehistoric blinked, much appeased by the Alchemist King’s comparison of him to strong supplemental grandmasters. “Verily, is that so?” he responded in similar flowery language.

“That Immortal King knows full well what kind of business he’s running and that arcane beast kings would beat down his door one day. That’s why he used a Six Paths Reincarnation Pill wrapped in an Eight Treasures Return Pill to fool the Prehistoric King.

“What a pity that despite all his scheming, he overlooked one thing. The cultivator who just broke through is a disciple of the Elysium Atelier. He entered the common realm because he ate an Eight Treasures Return Pill!

“You, come here!” With a wave of Alchemist’s hand, the cultivator from earlier reappeared in front of everyone. “Speak! How did you become a common realm cultivator!”

“In response to Your Eminence Alchemist!” The cultivator who’d just broken through and fully stabilized his cultivation level took a deep breath and forced down his apprehension. He answered with unease, “My name is Chen Zhong, but I’m not a disciple of the Elysium Atelier, my father is. He used his life savings of five hundred thousand premium crystals to buy an Eight Treasures Return Pill for me, which is how I broke through to the common realm!

“And many thanks to this eminence for bestowing me another pill to help me to superior realm!” He kowtowed respectfully to the Prehistoric King.

Blinking, Prehistoric inclined his head and thought nothing more of the gesture. Viciousness flashed through his eyes when he looked at Lu Yun again.

Lu Yun frowned faintly. If he didn’t handle this well today, the Immortal Pagoda wouldn’t recover from this misfortune. If the arcane beast kings issued a joint proclamation that whoever dared take an Eight Treasures Return Pill from the Immortal Pagoda would be making enemies out of them all, that would be a devastating outcome for the pagoda.

All he wanted to do now was to make money. He didn’t want any of this unnecessary trouble, but neither did that mean that he wouldn’t return blow for blow. The enemy was at the gates, so he would absolutely stand his ground.

“This Chen Zhong’s being controlled by an illusory art. His current actions aren’t representative of his true thoughts or the Elysium Atelier.” The little fox’s voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

The Elysium Atelier was one of the heavyweights of Multitude City. These developments were plainly pushing Lu Yun and the atelier to oppose each other, which was why she’d spoken up in warning.

Lu Yun nodded gently.

“That’s not it!” Chen Zhong shuddered and shrieked, “My dad’s a half step king of the atelier, alright, but he bought a Six Paths Reincarnation Pill for me, not an Eight Treasures Return Pill! Someone was controlling my mind just now!”

The little fox had made her move.

etvolare's Thoughts

Oh this is pretty damn devious...