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Translator: Silavin & Jon
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Zhu Ge Ming was never a patient man, so after waiting for a bit, he hurriedly asked, “Yang Kai, what Spirit Pill were you trying to make?”
Yang Kai replied respectfully, “Grandmaster Zhu Ge, the Spirit Pill I was trying to refine is called the Purifying Black Ink Pill.”
“What?” Zhou Fang raised his voice.
“Purifying Black Ink Pill,” Yang Kai enunciated every word.
Zhu Ge Ming and Zhou Fang exchanged glances. Most of the time, the uses of Spirit Pills would be obvious from their names, and the name of this Spirit Pill was quite thought-provoking indeed.
Zhu Ge Ming frowned, “Could the use of this Purifying Black Ink Pill be…”
Yang Kai nodded, “Grandmaster Zhu Ge, it is as you think, Purifying Black Ink Pills are used to purify Black Ink Strength that has invaded Humans.”
Upon hearing that, Zhu Ge Ming and Zhou Fang gasped at the same time. Tang Qun, who was standing beside them, widened his mouth and sported a look of disbelief.
Yang Kai explained slowly, “In ancient times, there were already Human Masters who fought against the Black Ink Clan on the Black Ink Battlefield. The Seniors of ancient times were truly ingenious and seemed to have developed these Purifying Black Ink Pills that could be used to resist Black Ink Strength. However, this pill recipe had been lost with the passage of time. Recently, I happened to find a tattered handwritten record left behind by a Senior Alchemist in a Sealed World. I found the pill recipe for the Purifying Black Ink Pill in that handwritten record. Unfortunately, the pill recipe is incomplete as the handwritten record was in poor condition. I’ve been trying to complete the pill recipe during this period of time, but I’ve yet to succeed.”
Zhu Ge Ming hurriedly said, “A handwritten record left behind by a Senior Alchemist? Where is it?”
Zhou Fang also looked fervently at Yang Kai.
Although they were already among the best Alchemy Grandmasters alive, there was no end to the pursuit of knowledge in this Grand Dao. They reckoned that the insights and knowledge of a Senior from ancient times could help them improve their skills; therefore, they were deathly curious about the handwritten record that Yang Kai had mentioned. It would be of great help to them if they could have a look at it.
Yang Kai didn’t intend to keep this treasure to himself, so he promptly fished out the record.
An agile Zhu Ge Ming took the handwritten record and infused his Divine Sense into it. Zhou Fang, who didn’t manage to get his hands on it, was clearly anxious and kept glaring at Zhu Ge Ming, as though he was trying to kill the latter with his gaze.
He initially thought that it would take Zhu Ge Ming a long time to read it, but just a moment later, the latter appeared speechless, “I don’t understand it at all.”
“Incapable and ignorant fool!” Zhou Fang snorted as he rudely took the tattered handwritten record from Zhu Ge Ming and infused his Divine Sense into it.
Zhu Ge Ming shot him a glance and snapped, “I’ll write my name backwards from now on if you can understand it!”
Zhou Fang sported a solemn expression as he focused on going through the handwritten record. A while later, he retracted his Divine Sense and appeared dejected, “This Senior’s intelligence is indeed unrivalled…”
Upon hearing that, Zhu Ge Ming snorted. Many of the characters found in this handwritten record were from ancient times and were completely unrecognisable. They could identify some of the words, but they couldn’t understand the meaning behind them when they tried to piece them together. Apparently, the language used in ancient times was different from the present.
Such a handwritten record was definitely invaluable; however, it wouldn’t be of much use if it couldn’t be comprehended.
Ignoring Zhu Ge Ming’s mockery, Zhou Fang turned to Yang Kai and asked, “You can understand it?”
Zhu Ge Ming became energised as well. When he observed Yang Kai practise Alchemy just now, he realised that the latter had made some excellent progress in the early steps, but failed as the process went on. It was obvious that Yang Kai had comprehended the first part of the pill recipe of these Purifying Black Ink Pills.
Yang Kai replied, “I can understand most of it.”
In fact, he was also unable to recognise most of the words in the handwritten record; however, after he refined the Alchemic Dao Essence left behind by the Senior Alchemist, he could intuit the meaning of those words despite not being able to identify them.
Zhu Ge Ming and Zhou Fang were elated upon hearing that with the former saying nervously, “Tell us about the Purifying Black Ink Pill’s recipe. Perhaps we’ll be able to help.”
Zhou Fang nodded repeatedly. The two of them had always been on bad terms as each believed that they were better than the other when it came to their skills in Alchemy. They rarely saw eye to eye, but in order to have a detailed explanation of the pill recipe of the Purifying Black Ink Pill now, they decided to put their grudges aside at least temporarily.
It had always been Yang Kai’s intention to seek help from the Grandmasters in the Pill Hall, so he wasn’t the least bit upset.
He then explained to them everything he knew about the pill recipe in detail while Zhu Ge Ming and Zhou Fang listened attentively.
It took Yang Kai an hour to finish explaining what he knew. After that, he let out a sigh, “The handwritten record has been in existence for far too long, which is why it’s so tattered. The most valuable information in it is the Purifying Black Ink Pill recipe; however, even that is incomplete. I’ve repeatedly tried different methods to complete it. Everything went well in the initial stage, but it wouldn’t be long after that I’d fail. I imagine that one or more key herbs were recorded in the missing part of the pill recipe. If we can figure out the missing part, the pill recipe will be complete once again.”
Zhu Ge Ming nodded, “Your speculation is likely correct; however, we have no idea about what’s missing from the pill recipe… Well, it’s not like we’re completely clueless. The first part and much of the latter section of the pill recipe are complete, we’re only missing a piece from the middle. We can figure out the missing part by making some deductions based on the first and last parts of the recipe.”
There was a solemn expression on Zhou Fang’s face, “Despite that, it won’t be an easy feat. Is it one herb or several herbs that are missing? What is the appropriate amount? When is the best time to add the herbs to the furnace? There are a lot of variables involved. A lot of herbs will be consumed if we want to complete this recipe.”
Zhu Ge Ming countered, “The Humans from all the Great Passes have spent countless herbs trying to create something like this Purifying Black Ink Pill over the years. Now that we already have a half-complete pill recipe though, we just have to figure out the missing part. Why would we shy away from this relatively easier task?”
Zhou Fang nodded, “You have a point.”
Upon hearing that, Yang Kai couldn’t help but ask, “The Humans from the different Great Passes have tried to refine a Purifying Black Ink Pill before?”
Zhu Ge Ming nodded, “Of course, we’ve all tried making such a pill before. The invasion of Black Ink Strength has been an unsolvable problem for millennia. Once a Human was invaded by Black Ink Strength on the battlefield, they had no choice but to give up a part of their Small Universe, thus putting an end to their Martial Dao. Therefore, Alchemists like us thought that perhaps we could create a kind of Spirit Pill that could resist or purify Black Ink Strength. Coincidentally, we also named such pills ‘Purifying Black Ink Pills’, though they were never successfully created.”
Zhou Fang said, “We spent countless years and resources on this project, but unfortunately, no progress was ever made. Even though a lot of strange pills had been created during the process, they were unable to resist the Black Ink Strength in the end. In fact, before your arrival in Blue Sky Pass, this old fart and I would study how to refine Purifying Black Ink Pills in our spare time. However, after you came to Blue Sky Pass and brought with you Purifying Light, we decided to give up on making such pills.”
Suddenly thinking of something, Zhou Fang said, “By the way, since there’s alright Purifying Light, would Purifying Black Ink Pills still be useful even if they’re created?”
Zhu Ge Ming quickly turned to Yang Kai as he also realised it.
Yang Kai replied solemnly, “They’ll still be useful. Even though Purifying Light is able to cleanse Black Ink Strength, casting it requires valuable resources. There will come a day when these unique resources are depleted. By then, without Purifying Light to rely on, we’ll have to make use of Purifying Black Ink Pills to ensure our safety. On top of that, Purifying Light is currently sealed within the Purifying Black Ink Battleship of each Human Army. On the battlefield, if a Human soldier is invaded by Black Ink Strength, they have to retreat to a Purifying Black Ink Battleship. That is fine if the Battleship is nearby, but what if the vessel is too far away for one to return promptly? In that case, Purifying Black Ink Pills will be more useful than Purifying Light.”
“You have a point.” Zhu Ge Ming nodded, then turned to Zhou Fang, “We’ll do our best, then. If we can really create working Purifying Black Ink Pills, perhaps our names will be remembered by the future generations.”
Zhou Fang was excited at that, “We’ll definitely do our best.”
“I’ll leave it to you then, Seniors.”
Yang Kai had explained most of the Purifying Black Ink Pill recipe to them and he also shared with them his failures during this period of time so that they wouldn’t make the same mistakes again.
Now, he wouldn’t have to worry about the rest of the matter. He would just let those from the Pill Hall figure out the complete pill recipe of the Purifying Black Ink Pills.
In fact, Yang Kai could have passed everything to the Pill Hall right from the start. The reason he had spent a month practising Alchemy was that he wanted to familiarise himself with the recipe and verify its feasibility first.
Even though it was proven that it was possible to create Purifying Black Ink Pills, and the pill recipe was only half-complete, it would still take them a long time to figure out the missing parts.
Before Yang Kai left, he said to Tang Qun, “You should tell those in the medicine garden to begin nurturing large quantities of Obsidian Grass and Green Feather Rattan. If the Grandmasters can really complete the pill recipe, those two ingredients will see a huge increase in demand.”
Tang Qun nodded, “Leave it to me.”
He had listened to the conversation between Yang Kai, Zhu Ge Ming, and Zhou Fang, so he was aware of the importance of this matter. The main ingredients for refining Purifying Black Ink Pills were Obsidian Grass and Green Feather Rattan. If the pills were successfully created, the amount currently grown in the medicine garden wouldn’t be anywhere near sufficient.
After leaving the Pill Hall, Yang Kai wasn’t in a rush to return home; instead, he headed to the War Materials Hall.
Now that it was somewhat peaceful in the Inner Sanctum, and that there was no harassment from the Black Ink Clan, it was the best chance for Yang Kai to get some rest and cultivate. When the Black Ink Clan struck again, he wouldn’t have any free time.
Strictly speaking, he was a new Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, so he needed a lot of time to strengthen his cultivation; after all, accumulation was key to the cultivation of an Open Heaven Realm Master.
The War Materials Hall was always bustling with noise as people were constantly coming and going.
Yang Kai stood in front of a counter and held out his Identity Token. Behind the counter was a beautiful woman who took the token. After looking into it, she gazed at Yang Kai in shock, “Are you Yang Kai?”
A lot of people in Blue Sky Pass had met Yang Kai before, but there were even more people who had never seen him. Most of them had only heard of his name, which was why this woman asked this question.
Yang Kai replied, “If there’s not another Yang Kai in the Inner Sanctum, I’m the one.”
The woman smiled, “It’s really you, Senior Brother Yang. Do you need anything?”
One wonders how the ancient humans ever lost and died out if they where so much stronger than the current humans and even had access to those pills, lol.
It’s reasonable to assume the black ink clan had even more of a dog in them during that era as well.
Hello!
Many thanks for the chapter, as always.