Chapter 2187.2: Jade Ice Lake

“Those spirit beasts show friendly faces to you instead of attacking, don’t they?” Lu Yun chuckled.

Though Long Aotian was surprised, he nodded. “This humble one depended on the lake for survival before I met the young master. But while the spirit beasts do not harm me, the waters are so terrifying that I can only venture in several dozen meters at most. The Purplestar Silver was a gift from the beasts in the waters. Please show mercy, young master, and don’t hurt them.” As simple and honest as Long Aotian seemed, he was also exceedingly prudent. While he was able to communicate with the spirit beasts in the lake and form a relationship with them, he didn’t tell anyone else about it.

It would be a catastrophic disaster for someone as weak as him if it became widely known.

“In that case, you’ll come down with me.” Lu Yun nodded with a smile.

Long Aotian started, then indicated his agreement. The young man grabbed his shoulder and the two dived into the lake.

Humm!

Lu Yun grabbed a handful of connate kui water origin from the north and used it to part the waters. The lake’s waters quickly shifted to the side when it encountered water origin energy, like a grandson meeting their grandfather.

The black spirit beasts went on alert when they detected an intrusion. Crimson eyes blinked open in the depths and scanned the trespassers. But when they saw that it was Long Aotian, their proud heads dipped in slight acknowledgment. Thanks to his proximity to Long Aotian, Lu Yun was overlooked by the beasts.

Their passage was free of obstacles and they easily made it twenty-five kilometers beneath the surface. The temperature here was much cooler than in the shallows. Even Lu Yun found it incredibly cold. If Long Aotian hadn’t been protected by Lu Yun’s Hongmeng qi, he would’ve frozen to death long ago.

Lu Yun also noted that the black spirit beasts at this depth had purer bloodlines than those above. He subconsciously glanced beneath him and found that he was still unable to see to the bottom.

“If Jade Ice Lake is five thousand kilometers deep, there might be pureblood jiao at the bottom,” he murmured to himself.

“Here it is.” Crimson light flashed from his hand and bit into the rock wall.

Schick!

A piece of wall sixty meters long disengaged from the rest. There was a minor Purplestar Silver vein inside, interspersed with numerous Starnet Stone.

This immediately drew the displeasure of the nearby spirit beasts. They raised their heads and howled with protest, but refrained from attacking Lu Yun because of Long Aotian next to him.

“The Black Tortoises are probably still looking for me above ground, which makes it a bit inconvenient to refine the Dragon Transformation Grass. I might as well try to do it here!”

Immortals Forbidden flashed forward again and created a massive hole two dozen meters across. Lu Yun cast a boundary at its entrance, blocking the lake waters outside. He then took out a few night pearls and embedded them into the wall.

“Sir, what are..” Long Aotian asked as he didn’t understand Lu Yun’s actions.

“It’s not safe up on shore, so I’m going to refine the grass for you here.” Lu Yun looked solemnly at Long Aotian. “You need to think carefully about this. Once you take the Dragon Transformation Grass and activate your dragon bloodline, you will no longer be human! You will also have to serve me.”

“Long Aotian’s life was this young master’s long ago!” Long Aotian snapped to seriousness, saying nothing about taking dragon form. He’d doubted Lu Yun’s words at first, but had thought things through by now. The spirit beasts in Jade Ice Lake were extraordinarily vicious and often attacked cultivators in the area. They treated only him differently, likely due to the dragon bloodline in his body.

“Meditate off to the side first and don’t make a sound,” Lu Yun nodded.

Long Aotian turned around and sat down on the other side of the cavern, closing his eyes in meditation.

“While the Dragon Transformation Grass is ranked last among the thirty-six earthly treasures, it is superior to any immortal grass. I hope I succeed in one try!” Lu Yun exhaled sharply.

In the lifetime he spent as a pill master, he’d done so as a cultivator, not immortal. He’d used the most run-of-the-mill spirit herbs to replicate the attributes of the Shennong Grass—number nine of the ten heavenly ingredients in the world of immortals. Compared to the ten, the thirty-six earthly treasures were much easier to handle. Not to mention, he could use the energy of the connate elements however he’d like now. The tools in his arsenal now were much stronger than before.

The Dragon Transformation Grass was useful only for dragons or those with draconic bloodline. There was a hint of barely detectable draconic bloodline in the inner core of the blackwater snake.

Lu Yun summoned a ball of connate li fire, then took out one hundred ingredients from his storage ring. He tossed them into the fire one after another.

Now that his memories of three thousand lifetimes were one, much of his disassociated knowledge was streamlined together. Although he’d never refined this grass before, he’d studied it when he was the High Lord of the Northern Sky. Combined with his memories as a pill master, it meant his mind swiftly flew through the calculations for refining the Dragon Transformation Grass.

“Chemistry..” The word suddenly flashed through his mind. “...what is chemistry?”

He cocked his head and thought for a long time before realizing it came from his sealed memories. Sighing, he put it out of his mind.

The basic theory of recreating medicinal attributes was to trace each attribute back to its origin. Once a foundation was set, one could create a brand new set of attributes through various combinations of proportion and shape.

While the ten heavenly ingredients and thirty-six earthly treasures were undeniably precious and rare, they were the combination of some of the most fundamental particles at the end of the day. He would be able to recreate their attributes if he located the particles that formed these ingredients and reassemble them according to the proper sequence.

As for why spirit herbs were stronger the older they were, it was because their basic matter accumulated in vaster quantities as time went on, thereby enhancing their effects. That meant that the legendary Chaos Purple Lotus at the head of the ten, even one that was one hundred million years old, was the same fundamental makeup as a tiny blade of grass by the side of the road.

It was a similar theory to the structure of formations. No matter how formations shifted, their fundamental principle was the relationship between the five elements. Even formations of whirlwinds or thunder and lightning that were beyond the five elements arose because of the five.

The methods used may vary, but the nature remained the same.

Everything would be so much easier with formula dao—the thought suddenly bloomed in Lu Yun’s mind. From dao came one, and one begat two, two gave birth to three, and from three resulted all living things!

Boom!

An explosion went off in Lu Yun’s mind as Hongmeng qi surged into motion and circulated through his body. He broke through to mid golden core as a natural development of things. Goodwill stored in the Seal of the Multitude burst forth and melded into his Hongmeng qi, pushing his cultivation to peak mid golden core.

However, that exhausted the reserves in the seal.

Long Aotian’s jaw dropped. What was this? Could one break through while refining a pill? While he couldn’t see through Lu Yun’s cultivation, the disturbance raised by the young man’s breakthrough didn’t go unnoticed.

Most mind-boggling of all was that despite his ascension, Lu Yun continued to busy himself with the fire and spirit herbs in his hands. He didn’t pause to operate his cultivation methods and consolidate his new level, as if cultivation had nothing to do with him.

Wasn’t the kid worried about a cultivation deviation??

Little did Long Aotian know that the true meaning of the Nine Chapters of Dao was to allow things to develop as they would. Lu Yun’s methods would operate even if he ate and slept, so a cultivation deviation was never a possibility.

He’d isolated three hundred and ninety-five spirit herbs; it was time for the inner core of the blackwater snake. He threw it into the flame and split out the strand of dragon bloodline.

“Combine!” he shouted and pulled several hundred balls of medicinal liquid together. They assimilated in a series of pops and crackles. Hand seals flew rapidly as the connate five elements changed swiftly, attempting to perfectly meld all of them together.

While they were the building blocks of the Dragon Transformation Grass, many of them conflicted with each other. There couldn’t be the slightest mistake in process or procedure. If anything went wrong, then the entire attempt was a failure.

Lu Yun entered a marvelous state as he unknowingly opened the Eye of Nullification, scanning every single particle with almost a meter of golden light. His swift hand seals continuously broke the liquid apart and reassembled them into brand new properties.

Glyphs flew out of his hands, ensuring that the newly formed properties could coexist harmoniously. A vast and bleak presence emanated from the ball of liquid.

Long Aotian shuddered as deep desire rose from his heart. He stared fixedly at the congealing liquid in Lu Yun’s hands. It was a pill with the properties of Dragon Transformation Grass!