Chapter 13: The Bottomless Pit

  After a long while, Nie Xingyun and Lian Tianxin finally withdrew their palms, both of their faces looking somewhat unsightly.

  They wandered through Nie Kong's body several times with their spiritual power, and finally felt a strange power in the gap between his "Ling Shen San Que". No matter how hard they tried, they could hardly touch that deeply hidden power, let alone understand its origin. It was clearly there, but they couldn't touch it or feel it, which made Nie Xingyun and Lian Tianxin frown.

  From the time their spiritual energy lingered near the cave entrance, Nie Kong knew that the two masters had sensed the dark green blood that he had trapped inside the Jade Pool Cave.

  The power hidden in the blood has always been dormant, but it has never disappeared. It's like a bomb buried inside Ne Kong's body, and once something goes wrong, it may explode even more violently, sending him back to his original form, or even putting his life at risk.

  Nie Kong had never figured out what it was all about. Now that Nie Xingyun and Lian Tianxin have discovered it, maybe they can come up with something.

  As for the small tender shoots floating inside Yaochi Cave, Nie Kong didn't worry at all. Currently, this little guy hasn't shown any power, nor has it revealed any aura. Except for Nie Kong, who inherited the ancestral nine major hidden cave theories, outsiders wouldn't be able to detect its existence. Even if it showed some weakness, it could be covered up by that strange dark green blood.

  Nie Kong...

  Nie Xingyun fell into deep thought for a moment, his expression revealing a rare seriousness. He looked at Lian Tianxin, who had a similarly solemn face, and asked, "Do you know where that power came from?"

  "Master, it seems to have been there since birth. It's because of its existence that I've been plagued by illness and my cultivation has been stuck at the Gathering Spirit stage for ten years. Recently, for some reason, it suddenly retreated into the Three Spiritual Apertures, which finally lifted the obstacle to my cultivation, and my progress has been rapid. However, it doesn't behave itself, requiring constant suppression with medicinal power to keep it from coming out and causing trouble."

  Nie Xingyun and Lian Tianxin exchanged a look, both feeling quite embarrassed.

  If I could touch that power, maybe I could find a way to bring it out, but now I can't even touch it, let alone drive it away.

  As for Nie Kong's interpretation, they were deeply convinced of it.

  Nie Kong had been ill for eighteen years and had been cultivating for ten years without making any progress. Now, in the Nie family, it was common knowledge that Nie Kong would seize every opportunity to stuff medicinal herbs into his mouth. This was something that both of them had witnessed with their own eyes. Many of the medicinal herbs that Nie Kong had eaten were used to refine third and fourth grade spiritual medicine, and there were even a few that could be used to refine fifth grade spiritual medicine. At the time, it had been very painful for them. A spiritual cultivator suddenly eating so many medicinal herbs would likely damage their spiritual senses, but Nie Kong was fine.

  The questions that once puzzled Nie Xingyun and Lian Tianxin had all been answered due to the existence of that strange power between the acupoints.

  "Disciple, don't worry too much. Your illness, Master will discuss with Old Man Nie. As for the herbs, don't worry about it either. You can eat as many of these herbs in this secret room as you want, but those used to refine 5th and 6th grade spiritual medicine, we have to leave them for the Nie family."

  Nie Xingyun scolded somewhat angrily: "This kid of yours is really something, such an important matter and you didn't even tell us clearly earlier, do you still consider us your masters? If we had known about your illness, would Hong Mao have been so heartbroken over the few herbs he ate for you that he was blowing his nose and staring wide-eyed?"

  In front of these words, Lian Tianxin was still nodding in agreement, but as soon as Nie Xingyun said his last sentence, Lian Tianxin became anxious: "Nie Laowu, it seemed like you were the one who was heartbroken back then? Blowing your nose and glaring with your eyes? I'm not that petty, I even spared a few stalks of medicinal herbs for refining fifth-grade spiritual medicine!"

  "Huh? Who was so angry that day that they didn't eat all day..."

  “……”

  For the alchemist of the Nie family, medicines like Xiang Si Liu Li Gen and Bing Pan Shui have always been readily available. Perhaps for refining three or more high-grade spiritual medicines, the medicine would be allocated according to the situation. Take Nie Kong for example, with his current cultivation level, if he weren't a disciple of two fifth-grade spiritual medicine masters, he wouldn't even be able to enter this secret room, let alone come into contact with so many precious medicinal herbs, not to mention ingesting them.

  Nie Xingyun and Lian Tianxin quarreled again until their faces turned red and their necks thickened, Nie Kong felt grateful but also a bit ashamed.

  He had originally just wanted to sneak a few herbs in the secret room, and at the same time test them out to see if they would agree to take out some of the spiritual medicine he would refine in the future and exchange it for herbs outside. After all, every family has its own rules, cultivating a spiritual medicine master requires huge expenses, if the spiritual medicine master relies on the family's power to become successful and then sells the refined spiritual medicine instead of supplying it to the family, it's not very righteous.

  However, Nie Kong did not expect that before he could even finish speaking those probing words, the two masters would offer him almost all of the medicinal herbs in this secret room. This kind of treatment was something that even the four Spirit Medicine Masters from the Nie family had never received.

  In the future, help Nie's family refine some spiritual medicine as compensation! Nie Kong thought secretly.

  ……

  Nie Kong soon left the secret room with the medicine cauldron and enough herbs to refine fifty "Zi Yue Dan" pills. Along with him, he also carried a large bag of herbs used for refining third- and fourth-grade spiritual medicines, which weighed at least fifty kilograms after rough estimation.

  Nie Kong's figure disappeared, and Nie Xingyun and Lian Tianxin, who had been as fierce as fighting cocks, sat down with a sigh. Nie Xingyun smiled wryly: "This little guy, fifty or so catties of medicinal herbs, actually said that they could barely last half a month. Even if it were rice, one person couldn't eat fifty catties in half a month."

  "Indeed, it seems that heaven is jealous of exceptional talents? A spirit medicine master with such excellent qualifications, yet hiding such a huge hidden danger within. If he hadn't spoken up, even we two old men wouldn't have noticed, and would have thought his illness had been thoroughly eradicated!"

  "We must think of a way to cure his illness." Nie Xingyun said anxiously, "This little guy has just started cultivating and already needs so many medicinal herbs. If he reaches the stage of fusing spirits, I'm afraid we'll need a large quantity of 'Biluo Flower', a herb that can refine fourth-grade spiritual medicine, to suppress his condition. If he reaches the stage of transforming spirits, I estimate we'll have to use 'Electric Light Vine' or higher-level herbs to be effective... If his cultivation reaches the level of controlling spirits, then..."

  In the end, Nie Xingyun and Lian Tian were dumbfounded. This little guy was simply a bottomless pit. The higher his cultivation, the more precious the herbs he needed would be. Not to mention the later stages of Yu Ling and Dan Ling, even if Nie Kong only grew up to Yu Ling, it's estimated that the entire Nie family wouldn't be able to afford him.

  It is obviously unrealistic and impossible for the whole family to support one person. Perhaps when Nie Kong reaches the Fusion Spirit Realm, he will have to rely on himself.

  After a long while, Lian Tianxin finally swallowed his saliva with great difficulty and said: "No matter what, when the time comes, we'll tell the clan leader and the elders. We two old guys will risk our lives to refine fifth-grade spiritual medicine and exchange it for herbs outside. We can't let this little guy get into trouble. He's our only disciple!"

  He paused, and Lian Tianxin said helplessly: "Nie Laowu, you say you've been practicing for a long time, how can't you think of ways to improve your medicine fusion degree? Other spiritual masters can basically refine sixth-grade spiritual medicine, or even seventh-grade spiritual medicine. You're still at fifth grade, and the fusion degree is so low, even apprentices are much stronger than you. In the future, if you tell others that you're Nie Kong's master, who will believe it?"

  "Do you think I, Lao Fu, don't want to become a Sixth-Rank Spiritual Medicine Master?" Nie Xingyun's face turned red with rage, and he growled in a low voice, his anger and frustration reaching a boiling point...

  ……