“Boss, what’s this?”
“Good stuff. Eating it will increase your strength.”
Sword Hero didn’t explain much as he tossed the bottle to the subordinate who had asked.
Through his recent conversation with Xia Hui, he already knew that people in the sky were watching their every move.
As he had previously suspected, the so-called Demonic Path invasion was just a farce orchestrated by the Saint Sect itself.
While someone observant could see the truth at a glance, the young people who knew little about the Demonic Path couldn’t distinguish whether this was a real invasion or a fake one.
Even if they suspected something, they didn’t dare gamble their lives on a possibility that wasn’t one hundred percent certain. If they guessed wrong, the price would be their own lives.
“So, we eat it now?”
“Of course. Why else would I give it to you?”
The subordinate didn’t doubt him. He opened the bottle and popped the pill into his mouth.
The pill had a hint of sweetness, but the outer shell was quite hard. The subordinate tried to bite it and found that he couldn’t even make a dent.
“Boss, this is too hard.”
“Who told you to chew it? Swallow it directly. It will slowly release its medicinal power inside your body.”
“Oh, I see. Understood.”
The subordinate swallowed the pill and smacked his lips, feeling as though he hadn’t been strengthened much.
But based on Sword Hero’s explanation, it probably required a significant amount of time to take effect; it wasn’t something he would feel immediately.
“Distribute the rest of the medicine. Everyone takes one. They will be of great use later when we deal with… her.”
Hearing this, Sword Hero’s subordinates perked up. So, this was preparation for the backstab.
Then it was indeed necessary for everyone to take one. When the time came and Hua Jian wasn’t paying attention, they would all strike at once. It would definitely give her a massive surprise.
“Understood!”
He thumped his chest twice with his hand and took the pills to find their “loyal” comrades.
……
Although Hua Jian was on guard against Sword Hero making trouble, he hadn’t done anything other than distribute Alchemy Pills to his men, leaving her with no opening to act.
If Sword Hero had been distributing pills to people outside his group, she would have been more worried. In the current situation, it was fine.
As the night gradually faded, the massive Stone Pillar finally emerged completely from the ground.
A large number of cultivators surrounded the pillar, braving their exhaustion to begin drawing a new Array Formation.
Under the pressure of survival, the cultivators gave it their all, wishing they could finish and activate the array in a single breath.
However, such a thing couldn’t be accomplished overnight. The complexity of this array was extremely high.
Even if the candidates at the Spirit Master Rank drew without rest, it would still take them half a day to finish.
As the array gradually took shape, another problem appeared before everyone: they were running out of materials for the construction.
An array wasn’t something that could be made with just any materials.
The requirements for the one they were currently building were already quite low, but given its sheer scale, the cultivators ran out of raw materials once the drawing entered the latter half.
“The material gap is huge. If we don’t find substitutes quickly, the array won’t be able to form,” the cultivator leading the construction said to Hua Jian with deep concern.
He had already calculated the shortage, and it was a significant number.
Even if he used his entire personal stock, he couldn’t fill the void. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come to Hua Jian for help.
“What kind of materials do you need?”
“Ink containing Spiritual Power. Any kind of Spiritual Power will do. I have the recipe for the ink, but I don’t know where to find the raw materials.”
As he spoke, the cultivator took a卷 of an aged Ancient Book from his Storage Pouch. This was the method for crafting array ink.
Hua Jian took the book and flipped through a few pages, realizing she had some memory of its contents.
Wasn’t this the book she had read when she first learned how to create a basic Array of Bewilderment?
This thing could be found anywhere if one looked; it was essentially the introductory text provided by the Saint Sect to all cultivators in the world who aspired to follow the path of Array Formations.
However, the arrays Hua Jian usually used didn’t really require this sort of thing, so she didn’t know much about it.
Array Formations were divided into many types. Hua Jian typically used small-scale arrays, carrying a few array talismans that were “plug-and-play.”
The current array was a large-scale one, requiring various spiritual materials as a foundation to exert its proper effects.
The most critical part was the ink used to conduct Spiritual Power. Without those ink lines, the entire array couldn’t function.
Average cultivators who didn’t understand arrays wouldn’t carry large amounts of array ink into a Secret Realm.
Although the cultivator before Hua Jian intended to develop his skills in that path, the ink he carried was only enough for one person. He couldn’t support such a massive array on his own.
“Fine, I’ll think of something. I’ll help you solve the problem as quickly as possible,” Hua Jian nodded.
After seeing the cultivator off, Hua Jian’s expression immediately collapsed.
If she didn’t want others to see her “perfect” persona break, she would have rolled on the ground clutching her head and wailing.
What was she supposed to do? She wasn’t a deity. How could she just pull out that much array ink?
After thinking it over, the only option she could come up with was borrowing from other locations.
But when she used her Token to ask around, the results left her feeling helpless.
The other Forbidden Lands were also experiencing raw material shortages.
No one had expected such a turn of events in this Secret Realm, so how could they have brought so many materials?
Fortunately, the other areas had Saint Sect Disciples stationed there. By emptying their own inventories, they could barely manage to fill the gaps.
But Hua Jian didn’t have any stock. All her previous gains had been handed over to Linglong.
Right now, the only valuable things she had were in the Storage Pouch she had snatched from Zhao Ming.
But those Spirit Tools couldn’t be turned into ink; they were just there for show.
After rummaging through the Storage Pouch, the only raw materials Hua Jian could find were the Seven-colored Lotus Seeds she had obtained a long time ago and the Flower God Condensate she had gotten just yesterday.
Both of these could probably be used to make ink. However, if she used the latter, Hua Jian was worried that the ink would carry the effects of the Flower God Condensate.
If the cultivators were poisoned and died before the array was even finished, wouldn’t that be a disaster?
“But are the lotus seeds enough…”
Taking the lotus seeds from the Storage Pouch, Hua Jian looked at the mere few seeds in her hand and hesitated for a moment.
At that moment, Xia Hui’s voice sounded in her ear.
“Miss Hua Jian, you look very troubled. Have you run into a problem?”
“It’s Xia Hui… I have indeed run into a problem. There isn’t enough ink for the array, and I’m trying to figure out how to fill the gap.”
Xia Hui tapped her chin with her index finger. After thinking for a few seconds, she seemed to remember something and lightly clapped her palm.
“Didn’t I give Miss Hua Jian a portion of Flower God Condensate last night? You can use that to make ink. You can make a whole, whole lot of it at once.”
“Uh, if we use Flower God Condensate to make ink, won’t there be problems?”
Hearing Hua Jian’s concerns, Xia Hui quickly shook her head, indicating that as long as it was used properly, the ink wouldn’t harm the cultivators drawing the array.
If they wore gloves and masks and avoided long-term contact with the ink, it would be fine!
“Is it really that safe?” Hua Jian was a bit skeptical. This was something from Wanhuagu; could it really be that safe?
“At the end of the day, it’s something made for people to use. If it were truly super, super dangerous, wouldn’t it be extremely troublesome to handle?” Xia Hui gave a rather convincing reason.
Products were meant for use. While Wanhuagu certainly weren’t “good people,” there was no need to make certain things so dangerous.
For example, Flower God Condensate was only produced by Wanhuagu, and only Wanhuagu cultivators could utilize it most efficiently.
Although they claimed publicly that it would become a deadly poison if used by outsiders, few people knew the actual situation. It likely wouldn’t be that poisonous.
“If Miss Hua Jian is really worried, you can let Sword Hero’s side try it out first,” Xia Hui said with a sinister smile.
She knew what Hua Jian was worried about. Weren’t there a bunch of lovely little guinea pigs right here?
Even if they encountered danger, Hua Jian probably wouldn’t care too much, right?
“You’re so wicked!” Hua Jian gave Xia Hui a look, but her hands were honest enough to put the lotus seeds back.
She indeed wasn’t a saint, and the lotus seeds were safer than the Flower God Condensate with its unknown effects.
After weighing the options, she felt it was better to use the newly acquired Flower God Condensate for the ink. At worst, she would just use Sword Hero’s group as test subjects!
“I’ll help Miss Hua Jian!” Xia Hui began rolling up her sleeves.
“You know how to do this too?”
“I’ve learned a bit of the basics. I’m definitely not as skilled as Miss Hua Jian, but I can at least help out.”
‘This little assistant sure knows a lot,’ Hua Jian muttered to herself. She began following the steps in her memory to refine the spiritual ink.
Don’t let the small size of a single drop of Flower God Condensate fool you; its energy density was extremely high.
Such a small drop was enough to provide the spiritual attributes needed for all the ink.
As the Flower God Condensate was gradually transformed, a dizzying Flower Fragrance spread throughout the Forbidden Land.
The cultivators nearby felt a wave of lightheadedness. Only the few people around Sword Hero were unaffected; if anything, they seemed energized.
“Boss, this Flower Fragrance smells surprisingly refreshing!”
“If it smells good, then breathe in more. Come on, let’s go help.” Sword Hero snorted and made a gesture to the men behind him.
He could tell something was wrong with the fragrance immediately. Wasn’t this the Soul-Confusing Spiritual Fragrance of Wanhuagu?
This was not something you should breathe in too much. If you did, your soul would become clouded, and you’d turn into a puppet controlled by Wanhuagu.
The fact that his subordinates could remain clear-headed under the influence of the Soul-Confusing Spiritual Fragrance must be due to the effects of the pills from yesterday.
He had originally thought the pills Xia Hui gave him weren’t anything good, but now it seemed the result was different from what he expected.
However, out of caution toward Wanhuagu, he hadn’t taken the pills himself. So right now, he was relying purely on his will to resist the effects of the fragrance.
“Miss Hua Jian, is there anywhere we can help?” Walking to a distance about ten steps from Hua Jian, Sword Hero shouted loudly, “Your Flower Fragrance is about to knock everyone unconscious.”
These words left Hua Jian feeling helpless. She hadn’t expected refining the Flower God Condensate into ink would produce such an effect.
But right now, her full concentration was on refining the condensate, and she had no energy left to deal with the scent. She could only let Sword Hero play the part of the “good guy.”
“Construct an array to seal the area and keep the fragrance locked inside.”
“You got it!” Sword Hero called back loudly, signaling his subordinates to quickly form an array to envelop Hua Jian.
As Hua Jian was isolated from the outside, the fragrance in the Forbidden Land slowly dissipated, and everyone recovered from their dizziness.
Still in a somewhat dazed state, they looked toward Hua Jian and were surprised to find that she seemed to have changed.
The cute and charming girl had changed her clothes. Under a large, colorful skirt were jade-white bare feet, making her look like a demoness…
In the blink of an eye, Hua Jian returned to her original appearance.
But that image had already planted a seed in the hearts of those who saw it, making them wonder if it had been a hallucination.
If they were to compare notes, they might discover an even more surprising result: everyone had seen that girl in the colorful skirt with bare feet.
So, was it really a hallucination?
It wasn’t possible for everyone to have the exact same hallucination, right?
There were also people who hadn’t seen the hallucination: Sword Hero’s subordinates who were maintaining the array.
They were completely unaffected by the fragrance and actually grew more energetic the more they inhaled.
As the scent faded, they even felt a bit reluctant, wanting to take a few more breaths.
All the fragrance was concentrated in the tiny space sealed by the array.
The vapor, which should have been colorless, had become so concentrated that it took on a faint cherry-pink hue.
Sword Hero didn’t even want to imagine how dense the fragrance was inside.
He suspected that if he went in, his soul’s defenses would be pierced by that thick scent, turning him into a puppet ruled by the fragrance.
Yet Hua Jian and Xia Hui acted as if nothing were wrong. He could understand Xia Hui—after all, people from Wanhuagu couldn’t fall for their own tricks.
But why was Hua Jian also unaffected? She wasn’t from Wanhuagu, was she?
It was strange. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out the relationship between Wanhuagu and Hua Jian.
If they were on the same side, why did Xia Hui avoid Hua Jian to talk to him? If they weren’t, why were there so many traces of Wanhuagu on Hua Jian’s person?
It was too mysterious. He felt his imagination was simply not enough.
“Heavens, what kind of Treasure is Miss Hua Jian using to refine ink…” The array cultivator who had come looking for Hua Jian earlier also walked over.
Seeing Hua Jian surrounded by the array, he couldn’t help but let out a gasp of admiration.
Although the materials for ink could be varied, the materials Hua Jian was using were clearly extraordinary.
Ink made from such materials probably couldn’t be used directly.
It would need to be diluted with water; otherwise, if the ink’s effect was too strong, it would cause unpredictable changes in the array.