Chapter 242 - Discovering the Mastermind

Unfortunately, the jade token was severely damaged. Only the information at the beginning and the end remained.

“Great Profound calendar, 100,000 years. A peculiar person descended from the heavens, calling himself a divine servant. His appearance was bizarre, with three eyes and six arms. He claimed that a great calamity was about to fall, and only those who believed in the gods could avoid disaster. Except for a few with ill intentions, no one was willing to believe.

“Great Profound calendar, 100,100 years. Countless demonic creatures and evil spirits descended from the heavens. They were violent, cruel, and bloodthirsty. The living beings rose up to resist. However, with the divine servants stirring up trouble behind the scenes, the cultivators were powerless to resist.

“Great Profound calendar, 100,200 years. More than half of the realm’s mountains and rivers were gone. Cultivators suffered heavy casualties. Less than one in a hundred living beings survived.”

“Great Profound calendar, 100,250 years. A giant descended, calling himself a god. The strongest within the realm battled him greatly and disappeared beyond the heavens.”

“Great Profound calendar, 100,300 years. Most families and sects had been slaughtered by demonic creatures. My two brothers and I barely escaped. We joined the Profound Pill Camp, vowing to avenge this!”

“Great Profound calendar, 100,330 years. All my brothers and close friends have died. I am the only one left. I had already despaired, with no thought of revenge left, but he appeared! Like many others, I also saw hope, the hope of revenge! To avenge my wife and children, my brothers, and my close friends!”

“Today is the day of the decisive battle. I exhausted my remaining qi to refine one last furnace of pills for him. Can we win? Maybe I won’t get to see it, but I will keep waiting...”

Gu Han was silent for a long time. Unlike Dan Chen and Lin Shan, this person probably died not long after refining those pills. Maybe he didn’t even make it to the arrival of that unforeseen event.

Gu Han stared as the jade token disintegrated, slipping through his fingers. He finally found out who the mastermind was. The divine clan! The demonic creatures, the evil spirits, and even those divine servants didn’t matter.

The root cause of this war was because those so-called gods wanted to rule Dan Chen’s homeland. When they encountered resistance, they simply destroyed the world. They were the instigators!

Until now, his understanding of this species was limited to fragments from the black shadow and his own observations. He didn’t have much feeling towards them. However, after understanding the story of Dan Chen and the others, he had only one thought.

They deserve death!

He was disgusted at their blatant disregard of human lives, treating them like ants and slaughtering them at will.

His gaze swept across this pill chamber. “Your obsession is also here, isn’t it?”

He seemed to imagine the nameless cultivator. His qi was exhausted and he was on the verge of death, yet unwillingness and hatred still burned in his eyes.

“Actually, since that person said those words, he must have been confident of victory! He definitely won!”

Even after Gu Han had long since left the pill chamber, his last words still seemed to echo here without end.

***

Gu Han had no luck on the sixth and seventh levels. However, he wasn’t too disappointed. After all, so many years had passed. Even if everyone had left jade tokens behind back then, it was impossible for all of them to have been preserved until now. Besides, he had already understood the general truth of what happened back then. Obtaining a few more pieces would only slightly complete some details. It wasn’t too significant.

Soon, he arrived at the eighth level. It was much smaller compared to the first level, with only two pill chambers. One could take in the entire scene inside them at a glance.

“Hmm?”

Having originally held no expectations at all, he discovered more jade tokens in the pill chambers. Two of them, in fact, and extremely well-preserved! Unlike common jade tokens, they were traced with faint gold lines. Just looking at the material, one could tell they were extraordinary. No wonder they could be preserved for such a long time.

His heart stirred. “Could there be some particularly important message inside these jade talismans?”

Without hesitation, he used his spirit power to retrieve the jade tokens, then channeled his divine sense into them.

He froze after just one look. Pill formulas! There are only pill formulas inside!

Emerald Condensation Pill, Yi Wood Pill, Wondrous Clarity Pill, Green Wood Profound Spirit Pill, Soul-Devouring Profound Armor Pill, Wu Fire Profound Divine Pill...

Not only did they include the pills he had discovered before, but there were also formulas for pills above the Transcendent realm, above the Saint realm, and even higher levels—two or three dozen types in total.

Gu Han felt as if he had been stunned by a sudden heavenly opportunity. Deducing pill formulas from pills was almost impossible. Hence, although they discovered many pills, they were one-time consumables, and their medicinal power had already been depleted to varying degrees. With these pill formulas, it was another story.

Since too much time had passed, most of the spirit herbs required for the pill formulas had probably disappeared. Regardless, as long as he could refine a few types, he would be raking in wealth! He knew very well that only the absolute peak of alchemists could enter the pill tower. If even one of their pill formulas were to circulate outside, it could cause a huge commotion.

“Hmm?”

As he read further down, he discovered there was still a message at the very end of the jade tokens.

“These pill formulas are the painstaking efforts of countless alchemists within the pill tower. Even if we die, these pill formulas must be passed on! The outcome of this battle is hard to predict. If we win, there’s nothing more to say! But if we lose, we specially order Alchemist No. 45, Dan Chen, to take these pill formulas and escape to preserve a legacy for all us alchemists of the pill tower!”

Very slowly, Gu Han read all the forty-three alchemists’ names.

“Alchemist No. 2, Tu Yuan!”

“Alchemist No. 3, Pan Yan!”

“Alchemist No. 4, Wei Qi!”

“...”

“Alchemist No. 27, Lin Shan!”

“Alchemist No. 28, Bi Qing!”

“...”

“Alchemist No. 43, Zhang Qing.”

“Alchemist No. 44, Hong Tao!”

“...”

The joy of obtaining the pill formulas vanished, replaced by a touch of heaviness. He understood the intention of these people all too well.

At the critical moment of the decisive battle, these alchemists couldn’t bear to see Dan Chen die here. Worried that the young prodigy would refuse to escape alone, they entrusted such a heavy responsibility to him. Unfortunately, before the jade tokens could be delivered to Dan Chen, an unforeseen event happened. Based on the previous jade token, Dan Chen was obviously kept in the dark about this matter.

Gu Han sighed softly as he stared at the final level of the pill tower. Another person besides Dan Chen was missing from the list. It should be the alchemist surnamed Mo that was mentioned in Lin Shan’s jade talisman. He was most likely Dan Chen’s master, and also the number one alchemist within the tower.

Thinking of this, Gu Han stopped hesitating. With a flicker, he stepped onto the staircase, entering the final level.