In the back room of the apothecary, Xu Qing sat cross-legged in meditation. At this moment, his mind had already merged with his Golden Crow Nascent Soul.
Right now, he was the Golden Crow.
As he rushed into the bead, a strange space appeared in Xu Qing's perception.
The surroundings here were hazy, filled with mist that continuously rolled and echoed with bursts of thunder. Amidst the booming echoes from all directions, the mist in front suddenly dispersed, revealing a gigantic face rapidly approaching him.
In the blink of an eye, this face appeared in front of Xu Qing. It was none other than Master Black Pupil.
His face was deep red, with madness gleaming in his eyes. Ever since being sealed here, he endured torment day by day, living a life worse than death. He thought that this would be his fate, but unexpectedly, the terrifying Soul Accumulation informed him that he was told that he could escape if he consumed the Golden Crow in the tenth fight.
He could only choose to believe it. After seeing Xu Qing, he didn't hesitate at all. The cultivation base in his body erupted and a complete secret repository directly manifested, descending.
"Die quickly, hurry to the tenth time!"
Master Black Pupil let out a shout and opened his mouth to devour Xu Qing.
Xu Qing quickly retreated. As the Golden Crow's body flickered, it emitted endless heavenly fire. However, in front of a Spirit Repository cultivator with a complete secret repository, this heavenly fire was of no use.
In the blink of an eye, as Master Black Pupil exhaled, the flames emitted by the Golden Crow actually rolled back. The face formed by Master Black Pupil expanded endlessly and finally replaced this space.
With his forehead touching the sky and his chin leaning on the ground, the mouth in the middle opened, swallowing Xu Qing like a black hole.
From afar, the Golden Crow that Xu Qing had transformed into was like a mortal bird. It didn't have any strength to resist at all. As his vision darkened, waves of intense pain rang out from his soul.
The Golden Crow collapsed and Xu Qing's consciousness became blurry. He could vaguely hear lingering sounds echoing in his ears.
"There are still nine more times…"
In the apothecary in reality, Xu Qing, who was sitting cross-legged and meditating, suddenly opened his eyes. His breathing was hurried.
"Just an instant!"
Xu Qing's expression was ugly. His Golden Crow was still there and hadn't really been devoured. However, his soul injury that had just recovered had worsened.
Xu Qing took out a healing pill and swallowed it. He then closed his eyes and meditated. Two hours later, his injuries had fully recovered. He lowered his head and looked at the bead in his hand. He now had a more direct experience of the might of a Spirit Repository expert.
"I can't continue like this!"
"In that case, how should my Golden Crow transform to avoid the devouring of that large mouth?"
Xu Qing quietly pondered. A while later, he closed his eyes and sank his mind into the Golden Crow Nascent Soul, trying to understand his Golden Crow.
"The Golden Crow can refine all living beings and transform into the sun…"
"The former can't work now, but the latter…" The image of the sun he saw appeared in Xu Qing's mind.
"In Fenghai County's Morning Glow Province, that was the first time I saw the sun at close range. Although it's only a fragmented corpse…"
"After that, in the Moon Worship Region, I saw four artificial suns. Little Dumpling was the first, the eternal power was the second, the ring was the third, and the ancient sphere was the fourth."
Xu Qing fell silent. A long time later, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
"There's another one. It's the youth I saw on the murals on the dragon carriage when I was comprehending the Golden Crow."
"If I change the appearance of the Golden Crow and make it transform into a sun that is close to its source…"
Xu Qing fell into deep thought. Under this tremendous pressure, he had no choice but to carefully ponder over the method to use the Golden Crow.
The night passed.
The next morning, though the outside sky was dim, it was slightly better than the night. With the opening of the shop, Xu Qing also began his second attempt.
His Golden Crow body rushed toward the bead.
The instant Xu Qing appeared in that strange space, he quickly retreated.
The mist in front of him suddenly churned and the face of Master Black Pupil charged toward him.
It rapidly enlarged like last time until it occupied the entire space. Its aura was monstrous and carried the power of extermination. It opened its mouth and swallowed Xu Qing.
However, this time, the instant he tried to devour Xu Qing, the Golden Crow that Xu Qing had transformed into let out a powerful cry before exploding into four pieces.
One of them distorted, forming the shape of a door frame. The illusionary spring inside rumbled up and down, forming flames that burned and transformed into the sun.
The second one moved in a circle and the gears inside spun rapidly.
The third piece of flesh gathered together and transformed into a meatball that burned as well.
These three suns were the three suns Xu Qing had seen on the shore of the Sacrificial Yin.
After they appeared, they headed straight for Master Black Pupil's mouth and self-destructed, releasing violent heat.
A rumbling sound spread in all directions and the face of Master Black Pupil finally paused for a moment. One could see that some parts of his face were about to burn but they returned to normal in the next instant.
However, no matter what, at this moment, Xu Qing finally dodged the situation where he was instantly devoured. As for the last piece of flesh, it squirmed as he rapidly retreated, forming the figure of a youth.
The youth had a jade-like face and wore an emperor's robe and crown. He emitted heavenly fire that formed a dragon carriage under him.
His momentum was extraordinary as he tried to make a move, but in the blink of an eye, the space collapsed with a thunderous roar. The surroundings rapidly compressed, as if the sky turned into an upper jaw and the earth into a lower jaw. At this moment, everything fell silent with a resounding darkness.
In the apothecary, Xu Qing abruptly opened his eyes and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"There are eight more times!"
Xu Qing's expression was gloomy. As he swallowed the medicinal pill, he recalled his previous failure.
"It's impossible for a third tribulation Nascent Soul cultivator to defeat the Spirit Repository. Even though the other party is restricted by being sealed in the bead, the huge difference between the two of them can't be crossed."
"However, the heir is right. I indeed haven't studied my nascent souls in detail. For example, after I transformed the Golden Crow into the sun, its might clearly increased by a lot."
Xu Qing took a deep breath. He could sense that his direction shouldn't be wrong.
"So, how do I dig deeper?"
"What exactly is the Golden Crow made of?"
"And, what's the essence of the emperor-level cultivation art?"
Xu Qing fell silent and his mind sank into the Golden Crow. Just as he was about to continue observing, Ling'er ran over excitedly and whispered.
"Brother Xu Qing, the day we release the pill is today."
When Xu Qing heard this, he opened his eyes. He had already forgotten about this matter. It was because of the heir's existence that his peaceful state had changed and his pace became much faster.
However, he had finished refining the pills a few days ago. Moreover, the effect was even better than he had imagined, reducing the curse even more.
Xu Qing nodded at Ling'er and took out the mirror. He then brought Ling'er into the Moon Rebel Hall.
At that moment, the Moon Rebel Hall was filled with voices.
After ten days of fermentation, the news that Master Pill Nine was going to release the curse-breaking pill had already spread throughout the entire Moon Rebel Hall. Moreover, Master Shengluo was also releasing his improved pill today. This completely ignited the emotions of everyone in the Moon Rebel Hall.
At that moment, tens of thousands of statues stood in the air above the Moon Rebel Hall, waiting for Xu Qing and Master Shengluo to arrive.
Their appearances were different but the light on their bodies was dense. From afar, they looked like gods and demons with majestic auras.
The sounds of discussion rose and fell, causing an uproar.
"I didn't expect it to be so lively today. I wonder how the two sides will end up."
"It's also because everyone's expectations for the curse-resolving pill and that so-called curse-breaking pill are too high. This is understandable. However, overall, I don't believe in Pill Nine."
Amidst the countless discussions, there were also some angry words from the supporters of both sides.
"Master Shengluo is highly respected, and many have benefited from his kindness. His alchemy skills are unparalleled. How can an upstart like Pill Nine shake his foundation?"
"Kindness? Stop talking nonsense. Every pill from Shengluo is extremely expensive. Back then, I spent the entire sect's resources for one!"
"Impudent! If you didn't have that medicinal pill, you would already be a skeleton now. How can you still spout nonsense here?"
"That's right. Master Shengluo is my benefactor. Whoever dares to deny him is my enemy!"
The voices were tumultuous, and the arguments were unceasing, but overall, nearly eighty percent were leaning toward Master Shengluo, and statements defending Pill Nine were drowned out by the sound waves.
However, among them were also two fervent followers of Master Pill Nine, their voices resonating loudly, and their presence formidable.
One of them was none other than Xu Qing's neighbor, the burly dude. He glared angrily at everyone and his voice was loud and clear.
"Master Shengluo may save a life, but he impoverishes people. We are already living difficult lives, struggling to survive, and now we have to endure such exploitation from our own kind!"
"Look at Master Pill Nine, compassionate and charitable. His curse-resolving pill only costs 100 drops of divine servant blood. Do you think he doesn't know the value of the curse-resolving pill?"
"He knows!"
"However, he couldn't bear to see us like this, so he offered the pill at such an almost giveaway price to relieve our pain!"
The burly neighbor's voice was filled with gratitude. As it echoed in all directions, a statue not far away let out a sharp cry.
"You bunch of fools, swindled by that Shengluo brat and losing everything, yet here you are still praising him. That Shengluo brat is swimming in wealth, you people are such filial children!"
The speaking statue had the appearance of a figure holding a precious vase, with a pitch-black complexion and a lean, six-eyed statue. All six of his eyes now revealed a mocking expression.
Especially the remark about being filial children infuriated those who heard it, and everyone around cast angry glares. His words were extremely malicious and sarcastic.
Seeing that everyone was glaring angrily and growling, Six Eyes seemed to be even more smug and continued to speak.
"Filial children, what are you talking about? Speak louder. Grandpa can't hear you. You brainless Little Nether."
His words caused everyone in the surroundings to glare even more intensely. Although they didn't know what Little Nether meant, it didn't sound good.
Hence, it caused an even greater rebuke.
Some of Master Pill Nine's followers and believers seemed to have found their backbone. They moved closer to the six-eyed statue and formed a small camp.
Even the burly neighbor looked at him with admiration in his eyes.
He knew the other party and knew that this person had only appeared frequently in the Master's temple during this period of time. However, he didn't expect the other party, who usually didn't say a word, to be so sharp and sinister.
Hence, the burly dude thought to himself that since this person was so like-minded, he had to make friends with him in the future.
At this moment, the entire Moon Rebel Hall suddenly trembled. The mountain trembled and all the temples rumbled. An astonishing pressure descended from the sky.
Everyone who was scolding and arguing stopped one after another and looked up.
