Immortal Mortal

Zhen Shaoru happily spoke, "Isn’t the Five Elements Desolate Domain Pill Competition about to begin? There are so many pill refiners gathered here already. I heard that one of the pill refiners from the Heaven Seeking Palace started a pill refining interaction session, and all pill refiners are qualified to take part in it..."

Without waiting for Zhen Shaoru to finish, Mo Wuji interrupted out of excitement, "You’re asking me to join this interaction session?"

"Yes, will you go or not?"

Mo Wuji immediately agreed without a shred of hesitation, "I’ll go, of course I’ll go. Let’s leave right now," Even if it was not an interaction session initiated by the Heaven Seeking Palace, Mo Wuji would have went for it anyway. Now that the Heaven Seeking Palace came into the picture, he naturally wanted to take a look even more.

Out of Zhen Shaoke’s clothes, a green jade token emerged. He handed it to Mo Wuji, "Wuji, this is the token for participating in the pill competition. Without this token, Shaoru and you might not be able to enter."

...

When they arrived at the back of the Heaven Seeking Palace’s encampment, Mo Wuji finally understood why the Heaven Seeking Palace was the speaker of the Lost Continent.

While this square at the outskirts of the Five Elements Desolate Domain was gigantic, but the sects and people here were numerous too. In reality, every corner of the square was very jam packed. In this whole picture, the Heaven Seeking Palace not only took up the best position, but also the centremost position. On top of that, they occupied one of the largest land areas of all the sects.

This might have been a temporary location for encampments, but a display of power like this really showed how mightier they were compared to other sects around.

"So how is it? Let’s ask the Heaven Seeking Sect. If I can obtain a Flower of the True Gods in the Five Elements Desolate Domain, I’ll also stand a chance to enter the Heaven Seeking Palace," Zhen Shaoru exclaimed.

Mo Wuji thought to himself. This guy must really be quite carefree. Unless he’s completely sure that he can get a placing? Once he did not get one of the placings, based on the deal between Zhen Shaoke and the Second House Master, Zhen Shaoru would have no chance to enter the Five Elements Desolate Domain.

"Are the two of you here to take part in the Five Elements Desolate Domain Pill Refiner interaction session?" Right outside the outermost perimeter of the Heaven Seeking Palace, a service disciple stopped both of them from progressing any further.

By then, Mo Wuji was already very familiar with what kind of person Zhen Shaoru was, and he quickly produced the green jade token, "Yes, we are the people taking part from the Nine Moons Pill House..."

"Come in." The disciple just let them in, without looking at Mo Wuji’s jade token at all.

Zhen Shaoru replied joyfully, "You don’t need to hold back. He likely recognised that I’m the Young House Master of the Nine Moons Pill House, so he gave me some face," Hearing this, Mo Wuji became speechless. Zhen Shaoru must have feel quite good about himself. Those outer disciples probably don’t recognise them at all, much less Zhen Shaoru. The truth is that no checks were conducted at all, and anyone who was going to the pill refiner interaction session was let through. As such, it was obvious that the Heaven Seeking Palace was rather friendly towards pill refiners participating in the session.

After entering the door, there was a sign labelled "Pill Refiner Interaction Session" with an arrow pointing to the left. Mo Wuji and Zhen Shaoru walked for 30 over metres more, before reaching a broad and tall hall door.

Without any prompting, the doors opened before them. There were already hundred of people inside the hall.

Every corner of the hall had various types of fruits, and upon further scrutiny, Mo Wuji discovered that some of them were even Tier 1 spirit fruits. This truly reflected the extent of Heaven Seeking Palace’s wealth. Zhen Shaoru’s eyes lit up when he saw these spirit fruits, and he rushed over to start munching down on them.

"Not bad, not bad, these are spirit fruits. Moreover, they’re free. Wuji, why don’t you come eat a few?" With these freebies presented to them, it would have been a waste to not eat any. Zhen Shaoru held this belief, and called for Mo Wuji to join him, while he carried on with his eating spree.

A few looks of disdain went their way, but Mo Wuji acted as though he did not see them, and straight up grabbed a spirit fruit to eat. While he could afford to eat this sort of spirit fruit, it was a rare occasion. Other than those that he gave to Yan’Er, the majority of them were used to refine pills.

As for Zhen Shaoru, even if there were ten thousand people scornfully gazing upon him, he would just act like he’s blind. This guy did not know what a disdainful look was, and only cared about eating whatever he liked.

After Mo Wuji just finished his first spirit fruit, a great commotion rose in the centre of the hall. He went over to take a look out of curiosity. A young man was seemingly giving a lecture on drug theory, and the surrounding people broke into a round of applause.

Mo Wuji quickly told Zhen Shaoru, "I’ll go over to take a look, carry on eating without me," His reason for coming here was naturally to learn more drug theory, so since there was someone who voluntarily started sharing, he would not miss this opportunity.

Squeezing into the crowd, Mo Wuji finally had a clear view of the pill refiner giving the explanation. What puzzled him however, was that this pill refiner seemed to be about as old as him. He appeared at most 22 or 23 years old, with average looks. However, the man had striking red hair, and a cauldron shaped mark in the middle of his forehead, which left a deep impression in others.

This man was explaining the pros and cons of hand techniques, and their relationship with pill forming. While this was all fine and dandy, it wasn’t really useful for Mo Wuji who was already very well trained in hand and pill techniques. Moreover, his understanding towards how to use the hand and pill techniques was different from what this guy explained.

Seeing that the whole crowd encircled this pill refiner to listen to his lecture, all seemingly in a trance, Mo Wuji carefully tugged at the tubby pill refiner beside him to ask, "Who exactly is this pill refiner that’s giving everyone a lecture?"

The fatty pill refiner was infuriated, as Mo Wuji broke his concentration. But once he heard Mo Wuji’s question, the rage was replaced by shock. Eyes wide open, staring at Mo Wuji, he asked, "You’re kidding me, you don’t even know Cauldron Lord?"

Mo Wuji frantically gave the fatty a pat, before whispering, "Brother, I’m not involved in pill refining, so I don’t know as much as you do. Please do enlighten me."

Hearing that Mo Wuji was not a pill refiner, and also the tone of respect that he spoke with, the fatty was rather satisfied with the explanation, " Let me teach you, Cauldron Lord’s surname is Zhang..."

The nonsensical introduction by the fatty almost made Mo Wuji double up in laughter. Thankfully he knew that the fatty was just saying so out of respect for Cauldron Lord, hence he kept it in.

"...Because when he just arrived in this world, he had a cauldron shaped birthmark on his forehead, the number one pill sect in Tian Sheng Empire, the Heavenly Drug Sect, specially came to bring him away. At the same time, he was given the name Zhang Ding. At the age of 10, Cauldron Lord became a Tier 1 Mortal Pill Refiner. At the age of 11, he advanced to a Tier 2 Mortal Pill Refiner. At 13, he reached the level of a Tier 3 Mortal Pill Refiner. And by 14, he was a Tier 4 Earth Pill Refiner. As long as something is related to pill refining, he would pick it up after the most brief of experience. Hence in the pill refining world, everyone calls him Cauldron Lord..."

At least Mo Wuji finally understood this guy’s decorated background. Indeed he had shone brightly since birth.

After the fatty completed his brief introduction, he no longer bothered with Mo Wuji, and turned his attention back at Zhang Ding’s lecture on pill refining.

As someone who had a cauldron shaped birthmark, he made Mo Wuji very curious about his insights for pill refining.

"...And these are my insights to hand techniques for pill refining. Ordinary Tier 3 Mortal Spirit Pills can normally be concocted with hand techniques, and even higher quality pills can be produced. However, there’s one type of pill, no matter how high your cultivation is, that cannot be concocted with hand techniques..."

Zhang Ding’s words were very convincing, sucking even Mo Wuji in.

"Cauldron Lord, what kind of pill is that?" Someone immediately asked.

Zhang Ding nodded, "That’s a good question. It is the Spiritual Will pills. A pill that can condense and strengthen spiritual will."

"Isn’t spiritual will something that you can only train after forming the Spirit Yuan at the Nihility God Stage? Is this a Earth Spirit Pill?" Another person from the crowd followed up.

"What do you know? I heard that there’s a type of Tier 3 Mortal Spirit Pill called the Spiritual Will Pill, but its formula is incomplete at best."

Pressing his hands together Zhang Ding carried on, "What this guy just said is quite right, there’s indeed a Tier 3 Mortal Spirit Pill for spiritual will. It’s called the Spirit Strengthening Pill. Spirit Strengthening Pill’s incomplete formula can be found everywhere, but the complete formula has been lost. It is rumoured that this pill can allow those below the Nihility God Stage, and even those below the Yuan Dan Stage to condense spiritual will."

A wave of discussion broke out among the crowd, and Zhang Ding continued, "The Spirit Strengthening Pill can be considered one of the most valuable out of all Tier 3 Mortal Spirit Pills, possibly even one of the top three."

Mo Wuji thought to himself, who knew the Spirit Strengthening Pill and its formula was so valuable. Luckily he did not show others the Spirit Strengthening Pill formula, otherwise, he would be in a lot of danger.

Majority of the pill refiners were disappointed, but at this point, Zhang Ding added on, "The loss of the Spirit Strengthening Pill, not only restricts all mortal pill refiners, but also imposes a great limit on all cultivators below the Nihility God Stage. A cultivator with spiritual will and one who does not are on completely different levels. I’ve heard that in the Five Elements Desolate Domain of the past, cultivators below the Nihility God Stage could train their spiritual will. As we can see, if we were to compare cultivators from both areas, those of the Lost Continent are extremely far behind."

Following Zhang Ding’s words was a flurry of activity and discussions. Some people even agitatedly declared that they would find the Spirit Strengthening Pill and contribute to the Lost Continent. This went on for a while, then Zhang Ding used his hands to signal the crowd to quieten down, before raising his voice and declaring in a passionate tone, "To make up for the incomplete Spirit Strengthening Pill, I have finally created a pill that can strengthen your hidden spiritual will after many years of research. This pill might not be able to allow you to train spiritual will like the Spirit Strengthening Pill, but with long term use, you will be able to unknowingly raise the level of your hidden spiritual will..."

Clap Clap Clap Clap

A round of applause rang out throughout the hall, after which people began asking what the name of this pill was.

"Cauldron Lord, you are the most talented pill refiner of the younger generation in the Lost Continent, and also the young pill refiner that has made the most contributions to us cultivators."

"That’s right, if it weren’t for Cauldron Lord researching on this pill, he could have been a Tier 5 Earth Pill Refiner by now."

...

Wave after wave of noise was produced by the overly excited crowd, and various pill refiners were becoming more and more excited.

Zhang Ding gestured to the crowd to quieten down once again, "What a pity. If we are to discuss about the most talented pill refiner of the younger generation, I believe that it should be senior apprentice sister Muying from Heaven Seeking Palace. She’s the role model for my generation, someone who has made real contributions to all..."

"You’re still wrong, the pill refiner who has contributed the most is neither you nor me." A crisp and cold voice came from the door, interrupting Zhang Ding abruptly.