Chapter 42

Chapter 42: The Nine Li Poison Scripture, The Secret Record of Human Puppetry

Linghai Pill?

Upon hearing these three words, Luo Mu’s breathing became heavy.

The Linghai Pill is a Tier 3 treasure pill! It’s one tier higher than the Breaking Yuan Pill and the Marrow Pill! Its purpose is to increase the success rate of True Aperture Realm warriors in breaking through to the Spirit Sea Realm. It can increase the success rate by at least 30%!

Thirty  percent.

It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s already incredibly high!

In the outside world, one Linghai Pill could fetch an unimaginable price. Even in the academy, it would cost around four to five hundred thousand contribution points to exchange for one!

“I almost forgot about this.”

Luo Mu took a deep breath to calm himself, and a smile appeared on his face.

To encourage students to cultivate, the academy naturally has many reward systems. For example, simply being listed on various leaderboards comes with rewards. He hadn’t expected that the reward for just making it onto the Hidden Dragon List would be so generous—a direct reward of a Tier 3 Linghai Pill!

Of course, this might have something to do with his high ranking, after all, he ranked 17th.

At this moment, Luo Mu also understood why the deacon had suddenly raised his head when Luo Mu mentioned his name earlier.

It was entirely because of the Hidden Dragon List.

With the Myriad Phenomena Pavilion present, news of leaderboard changes always spread quickly, and the academy had already received the information.

“A few days ago, I went looking for you, but you weren’t at your residence,” the deacon said with a smile.

“I was out, just returned today,” Luo Mu replied as he put away the three jade boxes.

“Keep up the hard work in your cultivation. The grand ceremony is approaching, and the Outer Palace is counting on you all,” the deacon encouraged.

“I will do my best,” Luo Mu smiled and then turned to leave.

“Deacon, who is he? Why was he given a Linghai Pill? Isn’t that reserved for those ranked in the top twenty on the Hidden Dragon List?” a disciple from the Treasure Pavilion asked, puzzled. “And those who make it into the top twenty are usually Inner Palace disciples.”

The deacon glanced at him and said, “You’ll know in a few days.”

He had only just received the news himself, so it hadn’t yet spread throughout the Outer Palace. But it wouldn’t take long.

The Outer Palace had finally produced a genius who had achieved martial momentum while still in the True Aperture Realm. How could they pass up the opportunity to promote this?

“With this kid, we at least have more confidence for the grand ceremony,” the deacon thought to himself.

The Outer Palace had been in decline for far too long. In recent years, fewer and fewer students had made it into the top 100, and they were close to falling below two digits. This year, the Inner Palace had produced many prodigies, and there was real concern that the Outer Palace might not even keep a two-digit representation, dropping to just one—the worst situation possible.

The Outer Palace students were mostly commoners, and their cultivation resources couldn’t compare to the noble heirs of the Inner Palace. If their performance was too poor, the resources allocated to the Outer Palace in the future would inevitably be reduced. This was a worrying trend.

Returning to his residence, Luo Mu found it in disarray.

It wasn’t that anyone had broken in, but rather that it had been left this way before he left. The mess was the result of his intense training.

Luo Mu only cared about efficiency and cultivation, so naturally, he didn’t pay attention to cleanliness or tidiness.

He opened a window to air out the room and then sat cross-legged on the bed.

He didn’t immediately open the items he had exchanged from the Treasure Pavilion. Instead, he took out the storage ring he had obtained from the demon cult elder.

When a person dies, the spiritual imprint in their storage ring disappears with them, turning it into an ownerless item.

Luo Mu dripped a drop of blood on it to claim ownership, and then his consciousness entered the ring.

His eyebrows immediately raised slightly.

As expected of a storage ring belonging to a Spirit Sea Realm expert, it contained quite a lot of items.

Though he didn’t know how valuable they were.

“Yuan Stones, huh?”

In a corner of the storage ring, Luo Mu saw a pile of grayish-white stones.

Yuan Stones!

These stones contain the energy of heaven and earth!

When human warriors open their nine apertures and unite them, they can absorb the energy of heaven and earth into their bodies. This energy, along with their blood essence, gathers in their dantian, opening the Spirit Sea and producing—True Qi!

The quality of True Qi is far superior to that of blood essence. Martial arts driven by True Qi are vastly different in power compared to those driven by blood essence. The gap between the two is enormous.

Thus, unless there is an absolute advantage in other areas, a True Aperture Realm warrior cannot possibly defeat a Spirit Sea Realm expert!

Luo Mu, of course, was one of the rare exceptions!

“Not bad, thirty pieces.”

Luo Mu nodded in satisfaction.

With these, once he stepped into the Spirit Sea Realm, he wouldn’t be lacking in cultivation resources for a while.

He continued inspecting the other items.

There were quite a few medicine bottles, but most of them were empty, their contents already used up. The only ones that weren’t empty seemed to be filled with poison.

Luo Mu didn’t open them, fearing that he might fall victim to the poison.

“The Nine Li Poison Scripture (Initial Chapter), The Secret Record of Human Puppetry, The Seven Fiends Nether Palm.”

Luo Mu found three manuals.

He casually flipped through them, and his interest was piqued. Searᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“The Nine Li Poison Scripture,” as the name suggests, contained a vast collection of poisons, most of which Luo Mu had never even heard of.

“No wonder the demonic path is so adept at using poison. They’ve even created a dedicated poison scripture!”

“And this is just the initial chapter. I wonder what’s in the middle and final chapters? Could it be the methods for creating these poisons?”

Luo Mu thought about it and decided that he would study it thoroughly when he had the time, memorizing it all. He would undoubtedly encounter more demonic path experts in the future. Knowing the enemy is the key to winning a hundred battles!

“The Secret Record of Human Puppetry,” as the name suggests, was a secret technique for creating human puppets. However, the materials used were not common metals or minerals, but humans!

This technique was cruel and difficult for anyone outside the demonic path to accept. Moreover, the success rate was rather low.

But once a human puppet was successfully created, not only could it perfectly retain its original strength, but it would even become slightly stronger than before.

Luo Mu rubbed his chin.

Although it was brutal and bloody, it wasn’t something he couldn’t accept. Better to keep it—who knows when it might come in handy?

Lastly, “The Seven Fiends Nether Palm” wasn’t anything special—just a low-tier Xuan-class demonic martial art. There was no need to cultivate it. It wasn’t even worth selling.

After sorting through the storage ring, Luo Mu withdrew his consciousness.

Now, it was time to start cultivating seriously! He needed to increase his cultivation as quickly as possible, aiming to break through to the Spirit Sea Realm in one go!