Lin Mu's attention was pulled to the two pill bottles. Not only because they were the main point of interest in this room, but because one of them was emitting the foul smell that was assaulting his nose.
He approached the pill bottles and looked at them closely. The one that was emitting the pungent smell had its cap broken.
"So that's where it's leaking from…" Lin Mu understood and quickly stored the bottle in another container he took out of his ring.
~CLACK~
The container was closed tightly, and the pungent smell stopped after a few seconds.
"Oof! Even with it gone, the stink won't leave my nose." Lin Mu said while wrinkling his nose.
He took a look at the second bottle that was perfectly sealed and saw a single pill that laid in it quaintly. It was a faint white color, with some shades of blue and Grey mixed in that created a ripple pattern.
"Do these two bottles have the same pill?" Lin Mu wondered and looked into the sealed container.
Both the pill bottles had the same shape and form, but the contents were different. One of them had the pill intact while the other one had a sticky liquid in it.
"Seems like that pill decomposed and liquefied," Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu nodded his head and took out a pleasant smelling spirit herb from his ring. It was a small red flower and let out a floral smell that was far better than the stink in his nose right now.
Lin Mu crushed the small flower between his fingers and rubbed it below his nose.
~sniff~
"That's way better!" Lin Mu said, taking a literal breath of relief.
Lin Mu knew of the decomposition of pills. While some alchemical pills could be kept intact for a long time, they needed to be stored in special containers. It was these containers that decided their perishing rate.
If they were made from a high quality material and had formations that prevented them from deteriorating, the pills stored in them would last for many, many years. But even then, these containers had a certain limit to them.
Over time, they would still get weathered and damaged. After a certain point, they would be unable to work properly and the pill would start deterioration. Then there were some pills that can become corrosive due to deterioration and cause further damage to the container they were in.
The stinky bottle was an example of that situation in which the pill had corroded the cap. It would not have been this bad, but due to being enclosed in this room for an indefinite amount of time, the smell only got concentrated.
Perhaps if the room was open, the pill would have been completely gone by this time.
"What kind of a pill could smell this foul after decomposing?" Lin Mu wondered and checked the intact pill.
~Pop~
He opened its cap and rolled out the pill onto his hand. He lightly sniffed it and found it to have no smell.
"Can't tell anything from the smell." Lin Mu said before he probed the pill with his spirit sense.
Upon doing so, he could feel fine and condensed mass of different properties within the pill. They were very hard for him to identify, since he wasn't that proficient in alchemical arts or pill refinement.
Even with the vast number of records that he had read by now, identifying a random pill like this was close to impossible.
"Do you know what pill this is, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.
"No, it could be anything. But if you store it in the ring, I can take a closer look." Xukong answered.
"Alright," Lin Mu responded, and stored it in the ring.
About a minute later, Xukong spoke again.
"I think I have a guess about what this is. Though I might still be wrong." Xukong stated.
"Oh? What is it?" Lin Mu asked.
"It might be a Bone Enameling Pill. There are various versions of this that can have different target effects, though its main function is to make a change to the bones of a cultivator." Xukong replied.
"Change to the bones? Like strengthening them?" Lin Mu asked.
"For some versions, yes. Some are used as an adjutant to enhance the effects of other pills. For example, a Bone Enameling Pill can be used with the common Bone Melding Pill to speed up the process of healing.
Some version of it can even weaken bones, so that special hardening pills can penetrate deep into the bone and transform the bones into a stronger version." Xukong explained.
"Oh, that's rather useful. It'll probably come in use later. If not for me, for others." Lin Mu replied.
"Perhaps… though you can use it as a toxin too. You saw how the other pill ended up, right? It should be the same Bone Enameling pill, but seeing how it is now, it is likely to be a version that weakens the bones of a cultivator.
You can feed it to someone else and their defenses should be weaker." Xukong suggested.
Hearing this, Lin Mu raised his brows, but noted it in his mind. He knew how many enemies he had and how strong they were. He wouldn't be averse to using some underhanded means if it meant he would be able to save the world.
Done with this room, Lin Mu checked the next one. This one did not have a door either and was empty. Though it did not have a bed either, and simply had a stone table and a broken chair that was lying on the ground.
'The other two must have been bedrooms, while this is a study room.' Lin Mu thought as he saw six bookshelves in the room. The bookshelves were empty and only a thick layer of dust was left on them; the books have perished a long time ago.
Shaking his head, Lin Mu checked out ten more rooms, most of which were empty, and the ones that did have something were heavily damaged and useless. This included a lot of decomposed pills that Lin Mu sealed away in a separate container.
