C1178 The Limitation of the Way of Heaven
Yu Yuan quickly made a new discovery.
Following the Tranquilherb, he stumbled upon Sunfire Bloom, Ghost Hands Vine, and Skyfire Crystals, among other rare spirit herbs and stones in the dense forests nearby.
The Sunfire Bloom and Ghost Hands Vine, like the Tranquilherb, were native to the Everlands.
Seeing them in Zekrica meant only one thing—they must have been deliberately transplanted by the Otherkin.
Skyfire Crystals were different; they could form in any Domain with sunlight, making them universally sought-after treasures.
In the Everlands, a single Skyfire Crystal, equivalent in size, could trade for five Psicrystals.
Yet, in the Upper Continent of Zekrica, a modestly sized mine brimmed with these crystals.
Yu Yuan watched as Fire Lizard clansmen emerged from the mine's caves, hauling out Skyfire Crystals and stacking them haphazardly—treating these gems, so precious in the Everlands, with casual disregard.
He resisted the urge to loot and, after watching from the shadows for some time, he slipped away unnoticed.
For Yu Yuan at this moment, the Skyfire Crystals held little value compared to the rare spirit herbs.
Moreover, he was reluctant to squander his hard-earned spiritual energy on the Fire Lizard folk.
Retreating back into the forest, he roamed once more, harvesting numerous spirit herbs not native to the Everlands but whose medicinal sap was ideal for concocting pills.
"It seems someone in the Upper Continent of Zekrica has a penchant for cultivating medicinal herbs," he mused.
He was convinced that an Otherkin with a keen interest in botany must be present in this small active world; otherwise, the Everlands' herbs wouldn't be found growing so abundantly here.
After some time, having gathered a variety of herbs, he began experimenting with pill refinement using Serpentflame.
In a cave glittering like it was dusted with gold, Yu Yuan watched the furnace's Serpentflame cool down. He felt the herb juices thicken and solidify, inhaling the slowly fading scent of the medicinal herbs. A smile of satisfaction spread across his face.
The Soul Essence Pill in the furnace was nearing completion.
With his expertise in pill refinement, he anticipated no surprises. All that remained was for the pill to harden, and upon consuming it, his depleted Soul Power would be swiftly replenished.
In the Everlands, cultivators like him only needed to meditate day and night, or even sleep, to refine Soul Power and fill their Mindscape.
Zekrica was different. Here, psionic power was scarce, and the energy that could enhance Soul Power was even scarcer.
Without relying on external items, persistent cultivation and meditation in this realm meant that the replenishment of Soul Power was exceedingly slow.
That's why he had been gathering medicinal herbs capable of refining into pills.
Puff!
The moment the Soul Essence Pill took shape, it suddenly burst, transforming into a dark brown liquid with a richer medicinal scent.
Yu Yuan's face darkened as he exclaimed in disbelief, "Impossible!"
He had refined countless Seventh Level Earthly Soul Essence Pills in his past and current lives. There was no way the pill would explode without any warning signs!
"Did I miss a step? How could I be wrong?"
After a moment of self-reflection, he lapsed into a lengthy silence.
Determined, he once again attempted to refine the Soul Essence Pill using the same herbs and the Serpentflame furnace before him.
Yet, the same anomaly occurred.
The Soul Essence Pill exploded into liquid at the moment of formation!
Yu Yuan's expression soured. He had meticulously rehearsed the process in his mind; there couldn't have been a mistake the second time around.
Still, the Soul Essence Pill failed to materialize and exploded once more.
"Could the Soul Awakening Elixir be insufficient?"
After much deliberation, he decided to test his skills by attempting to refine the most basic pills.
The Channel Opening Pill, a third-level common pill, and the Seed of Life, a seventh-level common pill, were so simple for him that he could make them blindfolded. Since his days as Hong Qi in his previous life, he had never encountered any issues.
Yet, the unthinkable happened again. Both of the lowest-grade pills exploded upon formation!
Yu Yuan sat down slowly beside the Serpentflame furnace, his mind swirling with immense confusion and perplexity.
"It can't be, it just can't be..."
He murmured to himself, restlessly running his fingers through his hair, unable to come to terms with the situation.
After what felt like an eternity, a message suddenly emerged from his heaven soul, now merged with the Altar of Rebirth.
This revelation wasn't related to the great Demon God Grec's resurrection through the blood crystal. Instead, it was a drop of ninth-level lifeblood that Yu Yuan had acquired from Mia, an elder of the Shadowkin, within the Moonfall Sanctuary. It contained a strand of perplexity—a conundrum that had troubled Mia for years: Why were there herbalists only in the Everlands?
Yu Yuan's expression shifted subtly as he abruptly rose to his feet, pondering aloud, "Why do only the Everlands have herbalists? Is it that only the human cultivators of the Everlands can refine solid pills? Or is it that one can only successfully form a core within the vast world of the Everlands?"
His thoughts drifted to something his master had mentioned in his past life. The Otherkin from the extraterrestrial Star River were far ahead of the Everlands in their refinement and construction of equipment, particularly the colossal warships capable of traversing the various Astral Domains. Intelligent lifeforms such as the Shura, Dawnbringers, Starborn, and Shadowkin could all craft according to their racial traits.
Yet, when it came to pill refining, it seemed to be a universal weakness among the races, none able to match the prowess of the Everlands' herbalists. The Shadowkin had their own potion masters, and other races had their specialists in herbal medicine capable of healing, but these Otherkin were unable to successfully refine pills.
It was as if a deity had bestowed upon the humans of the Everlands this exclusive magical craft.
"A restriction of the Way of Heaven?!" Yu Yuan mused, feeling as though he was beginning to unravel the intricacies. Perhaps in worlds like Zekrica, inhabited by Otherkin, the law of pill refinement simply didn't exist.
It was highly probable that this enigmatic law of the Cosmic Order was exclusive to humans, confined to certain unique worlds. Take Ionodios, for instance, which had been covertly transformed by the Boulderdawn and the Skyreach Consortium. Could Wen Lu, Luo Yue, and his own success in core formation there be attributed to an additional law introduced by President Lyi and the Boulderdawn?
With these numerous thoughts cascading through his mind, Yu Yuan lingered in the cave for an extended period. Ultimately, he abandoned the idea of defying the Cosmic Order of Zekrica to attempt pill refining, chuckling at himself, "It seems I'm destined to become a genuine Shadowkin Pharmacist here."
He began to improve the concoction, sparing no expense in the evaporation of some of the medicinal liquid, and combined it with an abundance of spiritual herbs to create what is known as "Essence Brew."
After consuming a bottle of Essence Brew, he furrowed his brow, contemplating the taste for a moment before sighing, "It seems this is as good as it gets."
In comparison to pills, Essence Brew couldn't be solidified. A significant amount of its medicinal potency had already evaporated, and without a special container, it would continue to dissipate.
"This will have to suffice for now."
In the days that followed, he remained within the cave, immediately ingesting the Essence Brew as soon as it was prepared.
Time flew by, its passage unmarked and uncounted.
Occasionally, he could hear the distant activities of Otherkin outside the cave.
Peering through the foliage that veiled the cave's entrance, he could spot members of the Fire Lizard and Silverscale Tribes seemingly in search of something.
He paid them no mind, uninterested in the affairs of these lower-level Otherkin.
Unbeknownst to him, his extensive harvesting of herbs had enraged the nearby leader of the Silverscale Tribe, who furiously pursued the "guest" from the Lower Continent.
Not only Pellet and his fellow Moonlit Wanderers suffered, but other Otherkin who had ventured from the Lower Continent for exploration also fell victim to this wrath.
One day, Yu Yuan was roused from his deep meditation.
Within his acupoint, the long-dormant Dragon Slaying Stage seemed to detect a disturbance in the fabric of space.
With a creased brow, Yu Yuan brushed aside the entrance's overgrowth and gazed into the distance. After a short wait, he observed an unusual spatial fluctuation shimmering through the woods.
"The bloodline of this Voidweaver is quite primitive."
He swiftly surmised that a Voidweaver of the same lineage as Benin and Noeyr was fleeing through the forest, its bloodline resonating with the spatial energies and triggering the peculiar disturbance.
After watching for a while longer, he spotted a male Voidweaver leading Pellet and Guoli, both drenched in blood, into view.
