Chapter 605: Another World?

Beneath the eternal night, brilliant flashes of pure white light crisscrossed before vanishing.

When the light dissipated, the Sand-tailed Scorpions, which had seemed frozen in place, all abruptly shattered into pieces like statues, regardless of whether they were Tier One or Tier Two.

Amidst the boundless Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide, a clearing several hundred yards in radius briefly appeared with Chu Mu at its center.

But this clearing, much like the fleeting flash of his blade, vanished in the blink of an eye, filled by the relentless Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide as it continued its charge toward Chu Mu.

Chu Mu’s face was now pale.

For him at his peak, an outburst of this magnitude would be nothing worth mentioning.

But here, after days of continuous slaughter, even with Elixirs to aid his recovery, the aid was just a drop in the bucket against the strain of constant battle.

That instantaneous burst of power had completely drained what little Essence, Qi, and Spirit he had left.

An indescribable feeling of emptiness washed over him. Chu Mu could no longer afford to be frugal with his Elixirs. He swallowed a Pill Pattern Elixir he had been saving for a critical moment, attempting to use its potent Medicinal Power to recover his Combat Power as quickly as possible.

But as the Pill Pattern Elixir took effect, Chu Mu’s calm expression visibly gave way to astonishment. His look then changed rapidly.

From astonishment, to disbelief, and then to incredulous doubt…

All these changes occurred in a single, fleeting moment.

“How is this possible?”

Chu Mu swallowed dryly, unable to suppress his profound confusion.

He had been an Alchemist for many years. Thanks to his Spiritual Radiance Blessing, it hadn’t taken long for him to master his craft. Even back when he first started in Jade Emperor Valley, he was soon Refining the Pill Pattern Elixirs that countless Alchemists could only dream of.

Across the entire Cultivation Immortal Realm, when it came to understanding Pill Pattern Elixirs, there was likely no one who could compare to him.

But now, after taking a Tier Three, Two-Patterned Qingyun Pill, he found its Medicinal Power was no different from that of an ordinary Qingyun Pill!

If it were merely a lack of difference in Medicinal Power, that might have been explainable.

After all, the special quality of a Pill Pattern Elixir lay in its Pill Patterns, which were born from natural providence. They represented a transformation that occurred after an Elixir’s Medicinal Power reached perfection during the Refining process.

This transformation, this act of natural providence, was like a Bloodline Divine Technique—not entirely predictable.

Some transformations resulted in a multiplicative leap in the Elixir’s Medicinal Power. Others manifested in more peculiar and wondrous ways, depending on the Elixir’s original effects.

Take, for example, Elixirs that restore Magical Power. In the Cultivation Immortal Realm, common recovery Elixirs worked by being consumed, allowing the cultivator to restore their Magical Power by refining the Medicinal Power within.

His Qingyun Pills, however, were tailored to him, accelerating the refinement process to restore as much Magical Power as possible in the shortest amount of time.

If he Refined a Pill Pattern version of the Qingyun Pill, the patterns’ effect might be to amplify the Medicinal Power, or it could be to convert that power into Magical Power even faster.

But without exception, this transformation was contained within the Pill Patterns born from natural providence. Upon consuming a Pill Pattern Medicine, regardless of how the final transformation manifested, that wondrous quality originating from the world itself would be unmistakably clear.

He had tried to study this natural wonder before, but no matter the method—even using a Celestial Trace Stone as a medium—he had been unable to record the slightest trace of it.

But one thing was certain: any Cultivator, even one who had never encountered a Pill Pattern Elixir before, would feel a burst of its wondrous, natural quality upon consumption—whether it was a One-Patterned, Two-Patterned, or Three-Patterned Elixir.

This natural wonder was imperceptible to outsiders, impossible to investigate, and even harder to record.

But to the person who consumed the Elixir, it was exceptionally clear—a profound, mystical feeling that could be understood but never expressed in words.

And just now, when he took this Two-Patterned Qingyun Pill, not the slightest trace of that natural wonder had manifested. It was as if he had swallowed nothing more than an ordinary Qingyun Pill…

His shock and doubt lasted only an instant. Without hesitation, Chu Mu raised his blade and, with a few slashes, cut down dozens of the swarming Sand-tailed Scorpions.

Then, he leaped into the air. With a sweep of his hand, another Two-Patterned Qingyun Pill materialized before him.

This time, the Pill Pattern Elixir was not only clear in his vision but also perfectly distinct to his senses.

‘The Pill Patterns… are ineffective?’

Chu Mu was stunned.

In his perception, the two Pill Patterns on this Qingyun Pill were lifelike, but… that was all. They were merely lifelike.

He couldn’t sense the slightest trace of that profound mystery born of natural providence.

It was as if an artist had gilded the lily by adding two patterns to this Flawless Pill. It had the form, but lacked the spirit!

In that instant, countless thoughts flashed through Chu Mu’s mind.

‘This world… it’s not a space attached to the Cultivation Immortal Realm?’

‘Is it a truly independent world?’

‘Or… is it attached to some other world?’

Chu Mu racked his brain. It seemed to be the only possibility.

After all, the Pill Patterns on a Pill Pattern Elixir originated from the world’s natural providence.

If he was no longer in the world that created this providence, then it stood to reason that this power would vanish.

But the problem was, if that was the case…

This world…

Chu Mu couldn’t hide his shock, the calm expression on his face completely gone.

But he quickly calmed himself.

Verifying this possibility would be simple enough.

All he had to do was refine a batch of Elixirs. If even one Pill Pattern Elixir emerged, he could determine whether this world was truly independent or perhaps belonged to another realm entirely.

After all, the providence of Pill Patterns came from the world itself, and there were bound to be discernible differences between different worlds.

If there truly was a difference, it would mean his speculation was fact.

‘If there’s no difference, or if the Pill Patterns still don’t work…’

Chu Mu’s eyes narrowed as more speculations swirled in his mind.

But right now, he clearly had no time to dwell on it.

The overwhelming Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide was the immediate problem, the root of all his current troubles that he could not ignore.

If he couldn’t solve this fundamental problem, then all these other questions were meaningless.

With a sweep of his hand, Chu Mu swallowed the now-ineffective Pill Pattern Qingyun Pill. He leaped through the air, his blade moving in a fluid, impenetrable defense, deflecting the cold glint of every attacking Sand-tailed Scorpion stinger.

Continuing along the path of blood that already stretched for thousands of miles, he pressed on without rest, heading once more into the difficult and unpredictable unknown…