Imperial God Emperor

The mist entered into his body along with his breathing, transforming into pure energy that followed the twenty illusory Snow Dragons as they traversed a cycle throughout his body and bones. After every great cycle, it would turn into Ye Qingyu's inner yuan power, like the rivers returning to the ocean, entering into the desert world of his dantian.

This type of growth in his inner yuan, far, far exceeded the effect of any of his previous trainings.

As he breathed in and out, his inner yuan grew stronger every minute and second.

The Origin crystal also gradually floated, hanging half a meter away from his face.

Countless clustered strands of silver mist, like the tentacles of an octopus, unendingly emitted and diverged from the Origin crystal. With Ye Qingyu's breathing, they entered into his body. Very quickly, this Origin crystal began constantly shrinking at a visible speed, as if it was a piece of ice under the scorching sun, being melted drop by drop.

In a time just under fifteen minutes.

Boom!

An invisible energy fluctuation came from Ye Qingyu's body.

Twenty-one Snow Dragon figures slowly appeared around Ye Qingyu.

There was the faint roars of dragons.

Twenty-one Spirit springs.

When the twenty-first Snow Dragon illusions first appeared, it was somewhat pale and unreal. But as Ye Qingyu breathed in and out and the power of the Origin crystal constantly entered into his body, this Snow Dragon became more and more solid and translucent. It became more and more nimble and lifelike, as if it had gained life and also began to emit a faint draconic pressure.

Another fifteen minutes passed.

The twenty-second Snow Dragon figure appeared.

Another fifteen minutes.

Twenty-third…

After another two hours…

The Snow Dragon illusions around Ye Qingyu had already grown to twenty-five.

Every Snow Dragon illusion was like a true dragon. Dancing, flying and coiling, they protected Ye Qingyu within. They entered through his apertures, nose, mouth, and eyes, cycling around his body, their speed like the flow of light. When they had reached their extreme speeds, they turned into a silver ring of light that emitted a true draconic pressure, protecting Ye Qingyu within.

At this time, there was an evident red that appeared on Ye Qingyu's face.

The Origin crystal floating in front of him was only a quarter of its original size.

Slowly breathing out a mouthful of murky air, Ye Qingyu stopped practicing the nameless breathing technique, opening his eyes.

This Origin crystal landed on his hands.

Ye Qingyu was in deep thought.

"No wonder it is the special material for the cultivation of Bitter Sea experts. In such a small piece of Origin crystal, there is such a vast amount of energy within. It has only been a couple of hours, but it also already allowed me to excavate five Spirit springs, comparable to months of bitter training. My normal cultivation speed is already extremely rapid, if it were any normal martial artist, this little piece of Origin crystal is equivalent to one or two years of their cultivation.“

In truth, for his cultivation to grow at such a rapid pace made Ye Qingyu also feel somewhat shocked.

Ever since practicing martial arts, his greatest increase in strength came after the [Pill King of Azure Phoenix] Chen Moyun had captured him and stuffed him in the [Cloud Top Cauldron] to refine him into a human pill. As a consequence, he had absorbed the [Hundred Grass Divine Liquid], realizing the strength of his potential and ultimately killing Chen Moyun.

The piece of Origin crystal just now was about double the size of the Origin crystal that Chen Moyun had placed within the [Cloud Top Cauldron].

"Even though the Origin crystal is great, I cannot not absorb it without limit. My strength can absolutely be counted as number one among the martial artist at the same realm as me. But after continuously absorbing the power of the Origin crystal for several hours, with the energy passing through my meridians, I can already feel that the meridians are unbearably swollen. Evidently, the increase in energy has exceeded the limits of what I can normally bear. I need to slowly adjust before I can begin absorbing for the second time!“

Ye Qingyu understood in his heart.

The reason as to why he had halted his cultivation was that after the power of the Origin crystal had unendingly entered into his body, his meridians already felt somewhat bruised and swollen ever since opening the twenty-fifth Spirit spring. It was like someone's stomach bursting at the seams after eating too much. If he continued cultivating in such a way, it would damage the meridians in his body, becoming imperfect.

"No wonder the Origin crystal is the culmination of the yuan qi of Heaven and Earth. For Bitter Sea experts to fight over this, it really is a great treasure.“

Ye Qingyu was exceedingly satisfied towards the results of his cultivation today.

Stowing away the little Origin crystal piece into the [Cloud Top Cauldron] for preservation, Ye Qingyu was somewhat anxious.

"If I had the support of enough Origin crystals, I can absolutely enter into the Bitter Sea stage within two or three years, leaping into the realm of top level experts in one go. At that time, I will have the status and power to aid Xiaojun, and can also preemptively think of a method to enter into the altar of the Imperial family of Snow Empire and solve the mystery my father left before he died."

Ye Qingyu was incomparably expectant.

But the problem was, the Origin crystal treasure was really far too rare.

For the entire Snow Empire, this was a strategical class resource of the Empire. The Origin crystal mines had already been divided cleanly between all the major forces in Snow Empire. The large majority was held by the Empire, with only the Imperial family of the Empire able to use it. Ye Qingyu was bestowed with the title of Marquis but he was only given an unprecedented tiny piece. Even if it was a great figure like the [War God of Youyan Pass] Lu Zhaoge, he would not be supplied with an unlimited supply, not to mention Ye Qingyu.

Just what should he do?

The Ye Qingyu who had experienced the sweet taste of the Origin crystal, wanted even more of it.

But no matter how he thought, there were not any methods for him to obtain a suitable amount of Origin crystal.

If he was not able to obtain Origin crystal, then could he not consider obtaining some sort of substitute? Just what kind of material could replicate the cultivation effects of the Origin crystal? Even if the effects were a little worse, was it still passable?

Wait a moment?

Substitute?

Ye Qingyu's eyes suddenly brightened, thinking of the pill formula the old doctor Li Shizen had left behind.

The contents of the pill formula had already been firmly engraved within Ye Qingyu's consciousness. The contents of this pill formula, was it not namely a pill that could aid a martial artist in increasing his inner yuan?

Damn it.

Arriving in Youyan Pass for so long, he had been kept busy by various matters, not stopping to think and consider at all. Ye Qingyu had nearly completely forgotten this matter.

He carefully recalled the contents of the pill formula.

"The characters of this pill formula are unquestionably the characters of the God and Devil Age. The names of the ingredients, some I have heard before, but there are some that I have never ever encountered the name…" Ye Qingyu thought over it carefully. He had some sort of knowledge towards refining pills and the like, because he had carefully paid attention when he was within White Deer Academy and research. But compared to true pill masters, the distance was far, far too great. He could only be said to have taken in knowledge without even understanding half of it.”

But this could not obstruct the determination for Ye Qingyu to refine and produce this pill.

Instead of relying on the Heavens, on the Earth, on other people, he should rely on himself.

Ye Qingyu thought it over, then took out the [Pill Mantra] he had found on the corpse of Chen Moyun. there were marginal notes of the [Pill King of Azure Phoenix] Chen Moyun held within. It could absolutely be counted as the dictionary of the Pill path that many normal pill masters dreamt about. Ye Qingyu decided to use this [Pill Mantra] as his foundation, and slowly begin to experiment and practice.

Opening the first page of the [Pill Mantra], there were columns of cinnabar red character written on it.

"There are three main classes of the Dao of the Pill. The first is the Medicine Pill, the second is the Spirit Pill and the third is the Dao Pill. The Medicine Pill is the foundation; such pills must have medicinal attributes. This is the most common pill; for such an ordinary pill, ingesting it can cure hundreds of poisons and illnesses, formed from the essences of herbs and plants. For the Spirit Pill, the Pill has a soul and spirit, and it is not a simple Pill. There are many profoundness with such a pill, with the ability to transform the lives of lifeforms. And as for the Dao Pill, is known as the greatest among Pills. It could transform the nature of Heaven and Earth, from the high Nine Heavens, to the yellow springs below. It is the function of the great Dao, it is between the sun and the moon, within the stars in the sky. It is immortal and everlasting!”

This was the opening paragraph of the Pill Mantra.

Ye Qingyu mulled it over, comprehending the meaning held within.

In other words,according to the division of classes, pills could be split into Medicine Pills, Spirit Pills and Dao Pills. The medicine pills could be used to treat illnesses, Spirit Pills could be used to treat life threatening issues. And the Dao Pill was the incarnation of the laws of Heaven and Earth, with endless profoundness, containing the understanding of Heaven and Earth within.

He continued to read on.

What continued on was a very extensive explanation of all sorts of pills and medicines. Starting from the very basic and most foundational medicinal properties, this was the section for the Medicine Pills.

The first obstacle of this Pill section was to memories the list of herbs, and familiarise yourself with the medicinal properties, attributes and effects of all sorts of Spirit herbs and medicines. There were tens of thousands of voluminous words, along with clear and simple instruction. Within, there were also the notes of Chen Moyun, so it could be easily understood.

Ye Qingyu had an eidetic memory. As long as he read it over once or twice, he would firmly recall it.

Reaching this pil section, there was a explanation and reflection left behind Chen Moyun, containing all sorts of information.

But the large meaning behind this explanation was that he had been bitterly researching this [Pill Mantra] for countless years. He thought that he had an extremely deep knowledge about refining pills and could be ranked in the top three of the Azure Phoenix region. But even he could only refine Medicine Pills. After countless tries and effort, he could only manage to refine Spirit Pills at an incomplete state, and this was by pure coincidence and luck. After thinking it over, he could not make head or tails of this himself. As for the legendary Dao Pills, it was something he would not even dare to think about.

"So Chen Moyun could only refine Medicine Pills…"

Ye Qingyu was slightly shocked, and obtained an even greater understanding of the classifications between the pills.

He continued to read on.

The next sections regarding the Spirit Pills as well as the Dao Pills were extremely simple and basic. It just roughly described what Spirit Pills were, what Dao Pills were, nearly repeating the opening paragraph of the [Pill Mantra]. It also roughly sketched out and gave examples of those legendary Spirit Pills and Dao Pills, but these were extremely rare instances. There was no value to knowing it.

Apart from feeling slightly disappointed, Ye Qingyu also felt that this was within the bounds of reason.

If in this [Pill Mantra] there were clear instructions regarding the method to refine Spirit Pills and Dao Pills, then the skill of the [Pill King of Azure Phoenix] Chen Moyun, would not only stop at the stage of being able to make Medicine Pills. He would also not make a transaction with Liu Yuancheng with such an important manual.

"Then I wonder, the pill formula the old man Li Shizen gave me, is it a pill formula for a Medicinal Pill? Or is it the pill formula for a Spirit Pill?"

Ye Qingyu smiled slightly.

He continued to carefully read over three or four times the [Pill mantra]. Confirming that he had firmly fixated the contents within it into his mind, after a slight thought, a surge of ice energy surged out from between his fingers. Then his hand clenched, crushing the pill book into miniscule powder, scattering through the air.

This [Pill Mantra] was, after all, something belonging to Chen Moyun.

Right now, the death of Chen Moyun should have already become a mystery. If the Azure Phoenix Academy pursed the whereabouts of the killer of Chen Moyun, and it was discovered he had a [Pill Mantra] on his body, it would most likely draw unnecessary trouble.

After arranging everything, there was already the faint white of dawn on the boundaries of the horizon.

One night had passed just like that.

Ye Qingyu rose, stretching his waist and yawning. He was about to lie down and rest, when suddenly the center of his right palm began burning with an acute pain.