The lightning bolt, having pierced the massive defensive array shielding the cave residence's exterior, blasted a large hole in the outer rock wall of the alchemy chamber, only to be momentarily checked by a small formation within before finally dissipating.
The earth shook violently.
Ye Qin’s expression flickered, but he quickly regained his composure.
With rapid movements of his hands, he executed fire-controlling mudras, extinguishing the raging flames in the furnace, preparing to dismantle the auxiliary formations surrounding the cauldron and retrieve the spiritual pills within.
Inside the cauldron, a bead of fiery light, the size of a longan, had just solidified, spinning furiously. Its speed was terrifyingly swift, whirling like a tornado, and in the intense friction, faint flashes of fiery lightning could be seen.
He hadn't yet managed to open the furnace to take the pills.
“Boom—!”
Just then, another wave of astonishing might and aura descended from the clouds overhead.
This destructive aura was almost unstoppable.
Ye Qin’s divine sense probed in horror: outside the cave residence, a pillar-thick, crimson fire lightning bolt descended from the dark clouds. Even though Huangfu Bing'er was desperately trying to block it with several top-tier flying swords, she could not diminish its power.
This fire lightning bolt crashed down, striking directly through the hole previously blasted open, instantly tearing apart a minor defensive formation within the alchemy chamber. With a sharp "snap," the defensive formation was breached, and the formation flags shattered, losing their luster and spiritual energy.
“Bang!”
The fire lightning bolt struck the alchemy cauldron directly.
The cauldron buckled, and its lid was violently blown open, launching outward with a burst of residual force before crashing down heavily.
The pill tribulation fire lightning, whose power nearly equaled a full-strength strike from a Nascent Soul cultivator, managed to chip a corner off this eleventh-tier alchemy cauldron before its thunderous fire and lightning energy was completely exhausted, vanishing without a trace.
Intense spiritual energy suddenly erupted from the cauldron, accompanied by a deafening roar like a tiger’s howl and a dragon’s cry. A brilliant stream of fiery light shot out, hurtling toward the collapsed opening of the alchemy chamber.
An indescribably rich, swirling spiritual fragrance of medicinal essence overflowed from the alchemy furnace, saturating the entire chamber and rapidly spreading outward.
Inside the alchemy chamber, stones rained down, and dust billowed everywhere.
Ye Qin reacted instantly, activating his protective shield the moment the fire lightning entered, saving himself from being covered in dirt and debris.
Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw a reddish sphere, the size of a fist, soaring from the cauldron, trailing a vigorous medicinal fragrance, attempting to escape through the ruptured ceiling of the alchemy chamber.
Ye Qin’s expression drastically changed. Ignoring the painful loss of his defensive formation flags and artifacts, and even the damage to the alchemy furnace, he pinched a hand seal without hesitation, his figure shooting forward like an arrow toward the red streak of light, trying desperately to intercept it.
However, he was still a fraction too slow.
The fiery streak of light zipped through the collapsed opening of the alchemy chamber and shot out beyond the cave residence.
“This Fire-attributed Spiritual Root Potential Pill actually possesses such potent spirituality! Its escape velocity is astonishing!”
Ye Qin was shocked.
The spiritual pill’s escape speed was too fast, even exceeding the speed of a late-stage Golden Core cultivator.
But there was no way he would let the spiritual root potential pill, which he had refined at such a tremendous cost, escape just like that. He quickly checked the cauldron; finding no medicine spirit inside, he instantly flashed forward, closely following the damaged opening of the cave residence and rushing out.
As soon as Ye Qin emerged, his gaze swept over the surrounding peaks, his expression changing dramatically.
Dozens of fragments of destroyed high-grade artifacts were scattered on the ground, along with the ashes of some high-grade talismans. Huangfu Bing'er had even taken out the artifacts she prepared for tribulation crossing from her storage bag to mitigate the power of the thunder tribulation, but even that failed to stop the fierce fire lightning pill tribulation, allowing the fire lightning to shatter the cave residence’s defensive array.
The fiery spiritual pill was now a streak of light, speeding away towards the edge of the spirit island, dodging the bombardment of the sky's fire lightning as it fled.
The inky black clouds in the sky were gradually dispersing. The most intense phase of the fire lightning had passed, with only sporadic strikes falling now. However, these final bolts were visibly weakening and failed to hit the fiery spiritual pill.
Finally, the dark clouds above the island completely vanished, and the turbulent waves on the sea surface subsided. All became calm and still, a stark contrast to the raging tempest just moments before.
Huangfu Bing'er, who had been guarding outside the cave residence, saw the spiritual pill escape and immediately mounted her sword to pursue. Her speed on the sword could barely keep up with the pill’s escape velocity, but capturing the darting pill would still require some effort.
Bai Xiuer, clutching her cyan ancient halberd, ran wildly on the ground, looking somewhat frustrated; unable to fly, she found it difficult to keep pace.
Seeing that they had given chase, Ye Qin felt a slight easing of his worry.
Yet, as he scanned the hundreds of miles surrounding the island, a deeper concern appeared on his face.
The intense medicinal fragrance, escaping from the collapsed alchemy chamber, was spreading rapidly.
Wherever the Spiritual Root Potential Pill flew, the rich medicinal fragrance followed.
Sometime during the chaos, hundreds of low-to-mid-tier sea beasts had already appeared around the island, churning the waves and forming a small tide of beasts.
After the dark clouds dispersed, large numbers of low-tier sea beasts from the nearby waters, attracted by the strange aroma, were surging in, gathering around the island's perimeter, restless and eager. Among them, a few Golden Core stage sea beasts were even sighted within this small beast tide.
Ye Qin paused for a moment, threw out the Cloud Obscuring Screen, brought Bai Xiuer—who was running on the ground—along with him, and immediately gave chase after the fiery streak of light.
...
On the island, far away in the mountain peaks, the Earth Clan members of the Wu Tribe, who had emerged from the depths of their caves, were already stunned speechless by the terrifying power of the preceding fire lightning.
The old tribal chief, more than a dozen Wu Tribe elders, along with a large number of mid-to-high-tier Earth Clan warriors and ordinary shamans, all left their caves and watched the situation on the distant peaks from afar, daring not to approach.
At this moment, the Spiritual Root Potential Pill had already flown off the island and was darting rapidly across the sea surface.
Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er pursued closely.
The tide of sea beasts gathered around the island was also chasing in the direction the fiery spiritual pill had fled.
The previous celestial phenomenon, coupled with the strange fragrance gradually carried by the wind, told even a fool that a peerless spiritual treasure had manifested.
However, they harbored no thoughts of covetousness. Even without the presence of the two Golden Core stage immortals, Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er, the peerless spiritual pill, which shot across the sky like a streak of light, was not something the Earth Clan warriors, who could not even fly, could covet.
“The spiritual treasure was born on this island; I wonder if it is a blessing or a curse!”
The old chief sighed softly, his gaze falling upon the sea beasts gathering outside the island, his expression quickly turning solemn. “Give the order: immediately summon all high-tier warriors and shamans of the tribe to guard all the cave entrances, lest the beast tide surges onto the island! Also, recall all tribesmen currently outside.”
“Yes, Chief!”
These astonishing numbers of low and mid-tier sea beasts were drawn by the strange aroma of the newly born spiritual treasure, making them nearly frenzied on the sea surface.
These surging groups of sea beasts were not of the same species and could barely coexist. Now, competing for the spiritual treasure, some stronger groups of sea beasts immediately began a slaughter, preying on the lower-tier ones, trying to carve out a path to pursue the tantalizing spiritual pill.
As conflicts erupted between the sea beast groups, the sea surface instantly descended into wild chaos, dyeing the water red with blood. Provoked by the thick scent of blood, more sea beasts went mad, becoming entangled in the fighting, tearing at their surrounding brethren.
In an instant, the sea beasts roared, and the entire sea area around the island turned crimson with blood.
Some aquatic demonic beasts capable of terrestrial movement even rushed onto the island's shores, heading toward the peak where Ye Qin’s cave residence was located.
The residual, potent medicinal fragrance in the alchemy chamber attracted them to investigate.
The beast tide surging onto the island impacted the Wu Tribe dwelling there, posing an immediate threat of discovering the caves built by the Earth Clan. These bloodthirsty sea beasts, upon finding the Earth Clan members, would show no restraint.
“Not good, the beast tide is here! Quickly, block the cave entrances.”
“Retreat into the caves!”
The Earth Clan members cried out in alarm, those outside quickly fleeing back into the mountain caves, while the high-tier Earth Clan warriors and shamans hurried to the forefront of the cave openings, preparing to resist the attacking beast tide.
...
Hundreds of miles away, a mass of silver mist was drifting unhurriedly over the sea, silent save for the whistling sea wind.
Within this dense silver frost mist, a silver silhouette occasionally appeared and vanished.
At this moment, the thick mist suddenly contracted, being absorbed entirely into the silhouette, revealing a tall figure.
This figure stood nearly ten feet tall, clad in a silver, one-piece leather armor, giving an impression of cold, murderous intent.
Its face was somewhat thin and long, its complexion slightly pale, faintly shimmering with a silvery light. Most astonishingly, several neat, corresponding lines resembling shark gills remained on both cheeks, trembling slightly, seemingly breathing the air.
This figure, clearly not human, suddenly stood up, its short, pointed nose sniffing the air, a look of ecstatic joy on its face.
Its sense of smell was incredibly keen; it could detect a spiritual fragrance even from hundreds or thousands of miles away.
“What is this strange aroma? It’s so potent... Could a peerless spiritual object be emerging? I never expected that just as I completed my transformation after tribulation and went out for a patrol, I would encounter the manifestation of such a supreme spiritual item. Heaven truly aids me!”
It let out a sharp cry, transforming into a silver rainbow, shrouded in swirling water vapor and mist, soaring toward the direction from which the oceanic fragrance emanated at an astonishing speed.
Its terrifying velocity tore the sky, stirring up a series of sonic booms, utterly horrifying.
...
Only half an incense stick’s time after this silver water mist flew past, three even stronger silver lights appeared subsequently in the same sea area.
Conversations could be heard emanating from within the silver lights.
“The Second Prince is truly reckless, relying on the Demon King’s favor to dare leave the Demon Sea and venture alone into the dangerous Blood Sea to hunt the Blood Sea cultivators here. It forces us to waste effort following and protecting him. If any harm befell him, and the Demon King blamed us, we would have to bear the consequences. Truly unlucky!”
“What’s there to fear? High-level cultivators rarely appear in this sea region. Nascent Soul cultivators might not even encounter one or two. With the Second Prince’s early stage transformation cultivation, this area is quite safe. Besides, with us guarding him, who would dare touch him!”