As soon as the bandit boss’s words fell, the third in command immediately unleashed his Beast Soul Power. A ferocious dog materialized above his head.
This was a Mortal Beast Soul: the Pug. Yet, the pug vanished into thin air the moment it appeared.
Ye Xuan had already closed the distance to the third boss. The Spirit-tier Treasure Sword in his hand sliced right through the man’s neck, sending his head falling to the ground.
The third boss was killed instantly!
"Oh no, this kid is a tough opponent! Everyone, attack him with me!" the bandit leader roared again. The look in his eyes as he stared at Ye Xuan was no longer as composed as before.
As his voice faded, a large green snake appeared above his head. An initial-stage Wild Beast Soul: the Cyan Bamboo Snake.
Following his lead, the remaining three men also unleashed their Beast Soul Power, their eyes shooting vicious glares.
"Die, brat!"
"Third Boss, we’ll avenge you right now!"
The bandits charged at Ye Xuan. They unleashed various Martial Techniques one after another, seemingly intent on blasting Ye Xuan’s body to pieces.
Suddenly, a massive Golden Snake appeared in the air. Compared to the Golden Snake, their Beast Souls were far too small—they looked like mere prey.
"What kind of Beast Soul is this?!"
"My legs... they’re actually trembling."
Every single one of the ruthless bandits was struck with terror.
RUMBLE.
A violent explosion echoed out immediately after. Billowing smoke and dust rolled across the main road, twisting like a horned dragon.
It took quite a while for the dust to settle. Ye Xuan stood before several corpses; all the highwaymen who had blocked his path were dead. The strongest among them was only at the 9th Layer of the Super Spirit Realm. None had even reached the Demon Spirit Realm. Meanwhile, Ye Xuan was invincible among those of the same realm. Killing these men was as easy as flipping his hand.
"You served yourselves up on a silver platter. Don’t blame me," Ye Xuan grinned and bent down to collect their Qiankun Bags. Since this group of robbers voluntarily delivered their belongings to him, it would be a shame to refuse.
After gathering the Qiankun Bags, he lit a fire and burned the bodies to destroy the evidence.
Ten minutes later, a Beast Vehicle slowly departed.
Inside the Beast Vehicle, Ye Xuan began inspecting the men’s Qiankun Bags, paying special attention to the leader’s. Upon checking it, Ye Xuan was somewhat pleasantly surprised.
To his surprise, there were three stalks of Smiling Flower inside. Aside from the Smiling Flower, there was also a single black herb. The patterns on the herb, combined with its black color, resembled the night sky. This was the Starry Night Grass.
The Starry Night Grass could also directly increase one’s cultivation level. Its tier was higher than that of the Smiling Flower. The Smiling Flower was only low-grade Spirit-tier, while this was mid-grade Spirit-tier. The energy contained within this entire medicinal herb was ten times that of the Smiling Flower.
Aside from the Spirit Medicine, the Storage Ring also contained a significant amount of gold, silver, jewelry, and swords, guns, and sticks. Inside, there were also fifty sets of high-grade Profound Level armor. Even an ordinary person wearing this armor could withstand an attack from a Cultivator at the 9th Layer of the Frenzy Spirit Realm. Fully crafted armors were incredibly precious. He could save them perfectly for the Ye Family.
"These bandits really came just to deliver resources to me," Ye Xuan smiled, though his brow soon furrowed.
While these items were good, it didn’t seem like there were any true treasures among them. He wondered why those two middle-aged men had been relentlessly hunting down this group of bandits. Were they really just petty and vindictive?
Just as Ye Xuan was feeling puzzled, the Dragon Capturing Cauldron within his Sea of Consciousness emitted a faint light. Although the glow wasn’t strong, Ye Xuan’s eyes lit up.
There was a treasure.
Soon, Ye Xuan’s gaze landed on a black notebook. This notebook was only the size of a palm, and the Dragon Capturing Cauldron was glowing precisely because of it.
He thought, "Could this be a treasure?"
Ye Xuan picked up the black notebook and opened it, frowning slightly. There wasn’t a single word written in it. He projected his Divine Sense onto it, but there was still no reaction. However, he knew this had to be something good; otherwise, the Dragon Capturing Cauldron wouldn’t have reacted to it.
After pondering for a moment, Ye Xuan stored the black notebook in his Storage Ring.
Time passed. After daybreak, at the Ye Family estate.
Ye Xuan had returned. The moment he arrived, he began performing Alchemy to refine the Vessel Continuation Pill. The refinement process of the Vessel Continuation Pill was more complicated than that of other Elixirs because its tier was level five.
THUMP!
A muffled sound rang out. Ye Xuan began the Nascent Soul Formation.
Soon, a pile of waste dregs tumbled out of the Pill Furnace. Yes, waste dregs, not an Elixir. To his surprise, his first attempt at Alchemy had failed.
"How could it fail? There were no mistakes in the process, and the temperatures were exactly as written in the Pill Book. There were no oversights. How could I have failed!" Ye Xuan furrowed his brows, entirely baffled.
Failing at Alchemy was a considerable blow to him. He wondered if his current cultivation level was still insufficient to handle a level-five Elixir.
But that shouldn’t be the case! His mental strength might not be overwhelmingly powerful, but it was steady as a rock. He was certain he had maintained his focus the entire time without making a single error.
To prevent any accidents, he had even deliberately slowed down the Alchemy process. For this batch of Elixirs, just the process from melting the ingredients to fusing them took him ten hours—nearly a full day. Of course, this was also related to the high tier of the Elixir. How could the ingredients for a level-five Elixir be so easily melted? In the future, the higher the tier of the Elixir, the stricter the requirements would be for an Alchemy Master.
"Hm? A crack."
Suddenly, Ye Xuan noticed a crack near the bottom of the Pill Furnace. This crack was so small it was almost invisible to the naked eye. At this moment, Ye Xuan finally understood why the Elixir had been ruined despite his carefulness.
It wasn’t that he was incapable of refining a level-five Elixir; rather, the pressure inside the Pill Furnace was too great for an ordinary furnace to withstand. The Pill Furnace Ye Xuan currently possessed could at best handle the refinement of level-four Elixirs. He needed a higher-quality Pill Furnace.
However, a One-Star Main Town couldn’t provide a high-quality Pill Furnace. This meant he had to make a trip to a Three-Star Main Town.
Actually, after the Ye Family was elevated to a main town, they learned the location of the nearest Two-Star Main Town. But Ye Xuan felt that if he was going to search for resources, a Three-Star Main Town would be the most suitable place. A Two-Star Main Town wasn’t worthy of his attention.
It just so happened that Patriarch Zhang was supposed to come deliver the tribute personally. He could ask him about it when the time came.
"I still have a few sets of ingredients for the Vessel Continuation Pill. Let’s find a new Pill Furnace and try again. If it still doesn’t work out, I’ll go to the main town, buy a high-quality Pill Furnace, and then refine the Vessel Continuation Pill for Hua."
Ye Xuan found another new Pill Furnace. This time, as he melted the ingredients, he kept a close eye on the body of the furnace, afraid that it might buckle under the pressure again.
Fortunately, things went much smoother this time. Right up until the Nascent Soul Formation, the Pill Furnace did not shatter.
"Condense!"
Following the execution of the Pill Condensation Technique, a few Elixirs rolled out of the Pill Furnace.
Ye Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. His forehead was covered in sweat. Refining a level-five Elixir had drained a significant amount of his mental strength. Thank goodness it was a success; otherwise, he wouldn’t have had the energy to attempt a third refinement.
After safely storing the Vessel Continuation Pill, Ye Xuan left the cultivation room and found Hua.
"Hua, take this Elixir," Ye Xuan got straight to the point, handing the Vessel Continuation Pill directly to Hua.
Hua’s eyes lit up, and she was visibly thrilled. On the Beast Soul Continent, there wasn’t a single person who didn’t wish to become a Cultivator. She immediately consumed the Vessel Continuation Pill.
Not long after, her body began to emit a radiant glow. Her destroyed meridians were completely repaired, and the aura of the Frenzy Spirit Realm was unleashed from her body.