Immortality Cultivation

Chapter 209: Forced into a Gamble

Watching the Chaos-colored medicinal liquid in the Pill Furnace become increasingly stable, and with the Medicinal Pill on the verge of completion, the small flame of hope in Fang Hao’s heart had just flared up when a bucket of ice water was poured over his head, chilling him to the core!

"Nine Nether Profound Evil Qi"! That thing actually erupted at this critical juncture!

Fang Hao only felt a cold, bone-chilling, filthy aura that seemed capable of freezing the Divine Soul. Like a cold, venomous snake, it followed his Divine Sense connection and zipped straight into his head!

Immediately after, he "saw" a dense, tangible mass of constantly churning and twisting pitch-black Evil Qi. Like a living creature, it surged out from Princess Mu Yijing’s body; one part continued to erode her, while the other part, like a shark that had caught the scent of blood, lunged fiercely toward the bronze Pill Furnace in front of him!

"Damn it! Get lost!" Fang Hao’s eyes turned red, and he cursed loudly!

If this Evil Qi were to strike the Pill Furnace, the Yin and Yang medicinal power inside would be disrupted, instantly causing an imbalance and leading to an immediate furnace explosion! Not only would all his previous efforts and suffering be in vain, but he and Princess Mu Yijing would likely be blown to smithereens!

Without a second thought, he instantly activated the black tortoise spirit shield he had been holding in his left hand! Hum! The shield flashed with a black light, transforming into a massive phantom of a tortoise shell that blocked the front of the Pill Furnace!

At the same time, he split off a wisp of his focus to urge the Earth Core Flame Fire, setting up a pale purple flame barrier around the exterior of the Pill Furnace!

Ssh, ssh, ssh—! The pitch-black Evil Qi slammed into the tortoise shell phantom, producing a violent corrosive sound. The black light flickered intensely, and the tortoise shell phantom visibly faded!

The other part of the Evil Qi hit the flame barrier and was also burnt with a sizzling sound, emitting bursts of black smoke. However, the extreme Yang power of the Earth Core Flame Fire had a suppressing effect on this extreme Yin Evil Qi, allowing him to barely hold it back for the moment.

But Fang Hao was having a hard time too! He was already exerting all his effort to maintain the Alchemy, and both his Divine Sense and spiritual power were near exhaustion. Now, by forcibly dividing his attention to activate the spirit shield and the pill fire, he immediately felt his brain "hum," as if it were about to split open. Stars danced before his eyes, bleeding from his seven orifices worsened, and his body swayed, nearly causing him to collapse!

The Chaos-colored medicinal liquid inside the furnace also began to fluctuate violently, on the verge of collapsing!

"No! I can’t hold out like this!" Fang Hao felt as if his heart were burning with anxiety.

There was too much Evil Qi, and it was too ferocious! No matter how powerful the black tortoise spirit shield was, it wouldn’t last long, and he simply couldn’t spare much spiritual power to maintain it! Once the shield broke and the Pill Furnace was exposed to the Evil Qi, it would immediately mean the destruction of the pill and death!

What to do? What to do?! His mind raced. Use the minor teleportation talisman to take the Pill Furnace and run? No, the spatial fluctuations during teleportation would absolutely cause the medicinal power inside the Pill Furnace to collapse!

Abandon the Pill Furnace and run away on his own? Then Princess Mu Yijing would surely die, and the matter of Hundred Flowers Valley... would likely no longer be concealable. When the time came for the imperial family’s rage, could he really run to the ends of the earth?

Just at this critical, life-or-death moment, Fang Hao caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of Princess Mu Yijing on the stone platform. She seemed to have used her last ounce of strength to laboriously raise her hand, pointing toward the Pill Furnace, her lips moving as if saying something.

"Guide... into... furnace..." Fang Hao’s Clear Spring Spirit Eyes captured her lip movements, barely identifying these three words.

"Guide into the furnace?" Fang Hao was stunned, then an extremely bold, or even crazy, idea flashed through his mind like lightning! He instantly understood Princess Mu Yijing’s meaning!

This "Nine Nether Profound Evil Qi" was an extremely Yin and evil substance, and the core of the "yin yang harmony pill" was to harmonize Yin and Yang!

If... if he could take this extreme Yin Evil Qi, under controllable conditions, and treat it as an "Yin" attribute "medicinal ingredient," guide it into the Pill Furnace, and fuse it with the "Yin" attribute medicinal power inside that had evolved from the "snow soul lotus," then utilize the "Yang" power of the "crimson phoenix feather," the vitality of the "Earth Core Flame Fire," and the harmonizing power of his Chaos Derivation Art to refine it all together and integrate it into the Medicinal Pill... Perhaps, not only could he resolve the Evil Qi crisis, but he could also take the medicinal power of this "yin yang harmony pill" to the next level! It might even have a miraculous effect on repairing Princess Mu Yijing’s Dao foundation, which had been eroded by the Evil Qi!

But this idea was too crazy! It was simply pulling chestnuts from the fire, dancing on the tip of a knife! If he failed to control it even slightly and the Evil Qi erupted fully inside the Pill Furnace, he would instantly be blown to bits, not even leaving a residue!

"Damn it! Death is death! Wealth is sought in danger! I’ll risk it!" A flash of crazy determination crossed Fang Hao’s eyes! Either way, he was going to die, so he might as well gamble! He believed Princess Mu Yijing wouldn’t be shooting blindly; this woman was proud and arrogant, and she wouldn’t joke about her own life!

"Open—for me!" Fang Hao let out a hoarse roar. He no longer urged the black tortoise spirit shield to block the Evil Qi, but instead actively withdrew the outer flame barrier, maintaining only the core Earth Core Flame Fire inside the Pill Furnace!

At the same time, his hands moved as fast as phantoms, casting an extremely complex "Spirit Guiding Art," specifically used to guide special energy into medicine, and imprinted it onto the Pill Furnace!

Hum—! The Pill Furnace shook, and the furnace lid slightly opened a crack! The Chaos-colored medicinal liquid inside the furnace instantly erupted with a powerful suction force!

That pitch-black Evil Qi had already been charging crazily. Having lost its obstruction and being attracted by the same source of "Yin" power inside the Pill Furnace, it immediately found a vent and scrambled to squeeze into the crack in the furnace lid!

"Argh—!" The moment the Evil Qi entered the furnace, Fang Hao let out a shrill scream!

He felt as if his Divine Sense had been pierced by countless cold steel needles simultaneously, and as if he had been thrown into the Nine Nether Cold Pool, his Soul trembling from the freezing cold!

A violent, cold, and malicious intent, filled with deathly stillness, surged frantically along his Divine Sense into his Sea of Consciousness, wanting to pollute his Divine Soul and devour his consciousness!

Meanwhile, inside the Pill Furnace, it had completely exploded into Chaos! The newly added, violent "Nine Nether Profound Evil Qi" was frantically clashing, devouring, and fusing with the already extremely unstable Yin and Yang medicinal liquid!

The Earth Core Flame Fire inside the furnace swayed violently, its color beginning to dim! The entire bronze Pill Furnace "hummed" and shook wildly. The ancient runes on the surface of the furnace lit up one by one, then quickly dimmed, and fine cracks even began to appear on it! A destructive aura emanated from inside the furnace!

"Steady! Hold steady for me!" Fang Hao’s eyes were bloodshot, and blood was seeping from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. He looked miserable, but the madness and determination in his eyes had reached their peak!

While desperately operating the Chaos Derivation Art and the Ethereal Art to protect his Sea of Consciousness and resist the erosion of the Evil Qi, he poured all his remaining Divine Sense and spiritual power into the Pill Furnace without reservation. He used the Earth Core Flame Fire to tightly wrap around that chaotic energy and used the Chaos Qi to frantically harmonize and sort it out!

This was a test of will, a life-or-death gamble! Either he would refine the Evil Qi and create a supreme Spirit Pill, or he would be backlashed by the Evil Qi, the Pill Furnace would explode, and he would die, his Dao dissipating!

Time seemed to freeze at this moment. Under the alternating impact of cold and scorching heat, Fang Hao’s consciousness gradually blurred, leaving only one thought—refine it! Refine it.