Chapter 316: Chapter 316: Jin Lin’s Rations

But Ye Xuan couldn’t outright say he’d obtained the Seven-Colored Lotus. The matter was simply too sensitive. Although there was now almost no one in the Thirteen Nations Alliance who could threaten him, Ye Xuan felt some things were better left unsaid.

Hearing Ye Xuan’s words, Dongfang Yanyu and Kuchen exchanged a look, a flicker of suspicion running through their minds.

’When they first obtained this Seven-Colored Lotus, they had thought that mink resembled Ye Xuan’s pet. Now that Ye Xuan was saying the lotus was useless to him, could it be that the Little Purple Mink that snatched four of them was truly his?’

If that were the case, it would explain everything—Ye Xuan’s meteoric rise in power within the Floating Light Secret Realm, and even his defeat of President Ge Lihui of Mu Zhen Country and President Tai Xin of Wushang Kingdom.

A single Seven-Colored Lotus was enough to raise one’s strength by an entire tier. The Little Purple Mink had taken four. If Ye Xuan had truly absorbed them all, it wouldn’t be too difficult for his strength to catch up to theirs.

What Dongfang Yanyu and the others didn’t know was that Ye Xuan had indeed consumed a Seven-Colored Lotus, but not before defeating Ge Lihui and the others. It was after he entered the forbidden land. If they knew this, they would likely be shocked speechless.

Since Ye Xuan had said as much, the two didn’t insist. And although they had their suspicions, they didn’t press the matter.

They knew Ye Xuan’s character well. If he said he didn’t need it, then he truly didn’t.

Soon, Ye Xuan’s Seven-Colored Lotus was delivered into Yun Aoxue’s hands.

For a time, all the Soul Refiners from the various kingdoms in the canyon were secretly improving their strength, desperately absorbing the gains they had made in the Floating Light Secret Realm.

However, even after everyone waited outside the canyon for several hours, Luan Hong and his group did not appear.

This greatly surprised the waiting Zhu Tianlan and his companions. Logically, if Luan Hong and his people were smart, they absolutely wouldn’t have been killed by that Demon King. After all, in their view, the Demon King’s temper, while somewhat capricious, was not brutal.

But based on the time that had passed, Luan Hong’s group should have emerged by now, no matter what.

’Did Luan Hong’s group have another way to leave? Or did some accident befall them inside?’

Zhu Tianlan and the others speculated endlessly. After all, Luan Hong’s group was from the powerful Profound Mystery Sect; perhaps they really did have some other means of escape.

After waiting for another day, Zhu Tianlan’s group finally concluded that Luan Hong and his people were not coming out.

For the next two days, everyone focused on improving their strength as quickly as possible.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

On the final day before their departure, powerful auras of Profound Power erupted from the Liuyun Kingdom’s area as people broke through one after another.

Master Dongfang Yanyu broke through directly to the Tier Five Third Layer. Kuchen and He Zhen also stepped into the Tier Five Martial Sect Realm. As for Yun Aoxue, she reached the Tier Four Triple Peak, just one step away from a Tier Five Martial Sect.

It seemed the Liuyun Kingdom had reaped the greatest rewards from the Floating Light Secret Realm this time.

The people from the other kingdoms watched on, sighing with emotion. Some, like Zhu Tianlan, vaguely guessed that Dongfang Yanyu’s group had experienced so many breakthroughs because they must have consumed the Seven-Colored Lotuses. Although they didn’t know why the Demon King hadn’t taken the lotuses, Zhu Tianlan felt no jealousy.

During this trip to the Floating Light Secret Realm, he had advanced to the realm of a Fifth Grade Soul Refiner, becoming the first in the Thirteen Nations Alliance in several hundred years. His strength had also broken through to the Tier Five Peak. For Zhu Tianlan, there was nothing left to regret.

His current worry was what to do now that the Profound Mystery Sect had its eyes on the Floating Light Secret Realm. After all, even though he had become a Fifth Grade Soul Refiner, the Thirteen Nations Alliance was still too weak to compare to the Profound Mystery Sect.

While Dongfang Yanyu and the others cultivated, Ye Xuan hadn’t stayed in the canyon. Instead, he had left the valley and found a hidden place to refine pills.

At the same time, he also ordered Jin Lin to have his subordinates search for any trace of Zhou Liang.

As the king of this entire region, Jin Lin commanded countless Demon Beasts and Profound Beasts. Perhaps he could find a clue to Zhou Liang’s whereabouts.

Jin Lin didn’t dare to show the slightest hesitation in carrying out Ye Xuan’s order and immediately made the arrangements. When he discovered that Ye Xuan could actually refine pills, he was astonished beyond words.

’Pill refining has always been a human specialty. Since when could we Profound Beasts do it?’

This made Jin Lin admire Ye Xuan’s incredible abilities even more.

In his previous life, Ye Xuan had possessed the Earth Fire Heart Marrow Flame, so he was naturally very familiar with the properties of flames. Thus, even though the Endless Molten Flame was a Celestial Fire, Ye Xuan had already figured out its characteristics during this time and integrated it directly into his refining process.

With the help of the Endless Molten Flame, a Celestial Fire, Ye Xuan’s refining speed was extremely fast. In no time, he had refined over a hundred pills.

Each of these pills was Fifth Grade or higher, exuding a rich, fragrant aroma.

As if smelling the fragrance of the pills, the Little Purple Mink appeared before Ye Xuan with a WHOOSH. It snatched a handful of pills and began to CRUNCH, CRUNCH on them with a look of pure bliss.

’This little guy is back for another raid.’

Ye Xuan gave the Little Purple Mink’s ear a harsh tug, but the mink completely ignored him, leaving Ye Xuan both exasperated and helpless.

However, Ye Xuan knew the Little Purple Mink understood its limits. Although it wanted a piece of every treasure, it would never take everything. Plus, there wasn’t much Ye Xuan could do about it, so he could only let it be.

Hugging a pile of pills, the Little Purple Mink quickly retreated back into the Storage Ring.

Seeing Ye Xuan tugging the Little Purple Mink’s ear, Jin Lin broke out in a cold sweat. It was only after the mink disappeared into the Storage Ring that he calmed down. He looked at the pills Ye Xuan had refined, licked his lips, and asked cautiously, "Your Highness, could I... have some of those pills to eat?"

Ye Xuan gave Jin Lin a puzzled look. The pills he had refined were all Fifth Grade; they would have no effect on a Demon King like Jin Lin. But since Jin Lin wanted to eat them, Ye Xuan didn’t mind and casually handed him a handful.

Jin Lin had been very envious when he saw the Little Purple Mink eating the pills so blissfully. Now that Ye Xuan had given him a handful, he immediately picked one up and ate it carefully. The flavor of the pill spread through his mouth, and his eyes instantly narrowed into slits of pleasure.

’Delicious! So delicious!’

Jin Lin had never eaten anything so delicious. No wonder the Little Purple Mink had been in such a state of bliss. It turned out the pills His Highness refined were this tasty.

He ate the pills one by one. Before long, the dozen or so pills Ye Xuan had given him were all in his stomach.

"Your Highness, I finished them all."

Jin Lin timidly pressed his fingers together, his eyes glued to the pills beside Ye Xuan.

"You finished them that quickly?" Ye Xuan asked, surprised.

"Um... they were too delicious. I finished them before I knew it," Jin Lin said timidly, like a child who had done something wrong.

Ye Xuan broke out in a cold sweat, speechless. ’So Jin Lin is just eating these pills like they’re candy beans.’

"Here, have some more. Try to make them last this time."

Ye Xuan gave Jin Lin another handful of pills, several dozen in total.

"Okay. From now on, I’ll only eat ten a day," Jin Lin said, as if making a difficult resolution. He carefully hid the handful of pills.

Ye Xuan shook his head. ’Poor guy. A few pills have him this desperate.’

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Ye Xuan. An excited glint appeared in his eyes as he thought of something. He said with a wide grin, "Jin Lin, you really like eating these, don’t you?"

Jin Lin nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, it’s not impossible for you to have more. As you can see, refining these pills requires a lot of Spirit Medicine. If you have enough Spirit Medicine, I could give you more. How about this: one Tier Five or higher Spirit Medicine in exchange for one pill. What do you think?"

Ye Xuan’s smile was like that of a demon luring a child.

’Jin Lin has lived in the Floating Light Secret Realm for years; he must have a lot of Spirit Medicine. One Spirit Medicine for one pill... it’s an absolutely foolproof deal.’

"Your Highness, are you serious?" Jin Lin’s eyes lit up like two lanterns. "Wait right here..."

Jin Lin left quickly.

Several hours later, Jin Lin returned, panting, with a huge pile of Spirit Medicine. He messily dropped over a hundred stalks of Tier Five or higher Spirit Medicine in front of Ye Xuan.

"Your Highness, this is what my subordinates just gathered. Dammit, I used to just snack on this stuff! It tastes way worse than the pills you refine. I must have eaten at least ten thousand stalks over the years. This is all I could find on short notice, but don’t worry, Your Highness! I’ve already sent my subordinates to look for more. They’ll definitely find them."

Jin Lin looked at Ye Xuan with an expectant expression.

"Truefall Grass, Mengxin Flowers, Luotian Root Leaves, Purple-Heart Gastrodia..."

Seeing the massive pile of Tier Five Spirit Medicines—and even many Tier Six ones—tossed about so casually, Ye Xuan’s heart ached.

’What a colossal waste! Out in the world, every single one of these Spirit Medicines is incredibly rare, but here, Jin Lin has just been eating them like snacks. It makes me want to beat him up.’

After exchanging an equal number of pills with Jin Lin, he became even more motivated in the days that followed.

In the final three days, Ye Xuan received over a thousand stalks of Tier Five or higher Spirit Medicine.

The only thing Ye Xuan regretted was that, in the end, Zhou Liang was never found. He guessed that the man had likely used one of the Seven-Colored Transmission Arrays in the secret realm to leave early.

「Three days later.」

All the Soul Refiners who had not left the Floating Light Secret Realm early gathered together in the valley.

When the time came for the secret realm to close, rainbow-colored beams of light suddenly descended from the sky, enveloping the hundred or so Soul Refiners in the valley. The next moment, everyone had vanished from the Floating Light Secret Realm.

Meanwhile, outside the Floating Light Secret Realm, the figures of Ye Xuan and the others slowly materialized before the crowd that was waiting for them.

On a hillside dozens of miles from the valley, several experts from the Profound Mystery Sect watched everything with cold eyes, their lips curling into sinister smiles.

"Elder Gale, those guys from the Thirteen Nations Alliance are finally out."

A faintly mocking smile bloomed at the corners of their eyes—the smile of a hunter spotting its prey.