Chapter 502 - There Are Benefits in Having a Long Lifespan (1/2)

News about Ning Fan successfully opening the divine chests spread across the Pill Island very quickly.

Well, it could not be helped. The self-detonation of the ancient living creature had created too much noise which shocked a lot of experts on the island. After a series of investigations, everyone understood the entire incident.

News of that had left every expert on the Pill Island flabbergasted.

It was not really a secret that Venerated Pill possessed divine chests since he also invited many other Void Refinement Realm experts to help him open the chests in the past. However, not a single one of them succeeded.

Today, however, the divine chests that no one could open for so many years were successfully unlocked by Ning Fan. This, without a doubt, proved how great Ning Fan’s abilities were.

Outside the Purple Qi Palace, those who at first did not believe that Ning Fan could open the divine chests were so stunned that they momentarily lost their ability to speak.

As for the treasures inside the divine chests, they certainly were not something that common people had the right to ask.

In order to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding, Venerated Pill directly told everyone the reason why he was injured. When he mentioned the part where he was attacked by an ancient living creature, the faces of many cultivators of the Pill Island turned pale.

Who could imagine that a Void Inquiry Stage ancient living creature was actually preserved inside one of the divine chests? This was just too frightening… Opening the divine chests indeed had its risks. If one was not careful enough, they might just lose their lives!

When they heard that Ning Fan had managed to kill that ancient living creature, saving Venerated Pill in the process, they were all filled with profound respect for him.

There were those cultivators who had a lingering fear of that incident. If it was not for Ning Fan who had great strength, perhaps the entire Pill Island would be slaughtered and annihilated by that ancient living creature.

As Ning Fan’s disciple, Yang Gu’s status in the Pill Island also rose due to his master’s great deed. Everyone also became more respectful toward him.

Venerated Pill’s complexion still looked rather pale and weak. The injuries he got inflicted with during the clash with the ancient creature were quite severe. Even though he had taken some pills to suppress his injuries in time, he would still need several days to completely recover.

The attack of the ancient living creature really was an unexpected disaster.

Fortunately, he still obtained two magic treasures which he wanted in the end. At least, he did not feel like he got injured for nothing.

“Fellow Daoist has helped me open the divine chests and even saved my life. I can never repay this debt of gratitude I owe you. If you have anything that will need my help in the future, I will certainly do my best to help you regardless of its difficulty and will never decline it even if I have to die ten thousand times!”

Venerated Pill said solemnly.

“Fellow Daoist Dan is being too serious. However, since you have already said so, if I encounter troubles in the future, I will certainly ask for your help.” Ning Fan replied with a faint smile.

After the incident with the divine chests, the relationship between Ning Fan and Venerated Pill was strengthened.

Venerated Pill had no other option but to immediately go into seclusion to treat his wounds. The mission of unsealing the Soul Washing Pond was fully delegated to Huang Tingzi, Yang Gu and the other elders of the Pill Island.

Before he went into seclusion, he also left Ning Fan an extremely detailed insight about pill refinement. It was the insights he had obtained throughout his life as a Sixth Revolution Pill Refinement Master.

Ning Fan kept the jade slip and returned to the Primordial Heaven Palace on his own. In the palace, all the servants there were dismissed.

Ming Que and Su Yan were the ones who dismissed the servants. In a side chamber of the Primordial Heaven Palace, Ming Que was using her magic power to purify piles upon piles of defective Fifth Revolution Pills. This naturally could not be seen by any outsider.

Su Yan who was beside Ming Que was placing the purified pills into pill bottles. Her apricot eyes were filled with amazement.

She finally understood why Ning Fan asked for defective pills from the Pill Island.

“Little Que Er, I didn’t expect for you to actually have the ability to turn defective pills into regular pills… Your ability is truly amazing…” Su Yan clicked her tongue and praised her.

“Hehe. Is Elder Sister Su shocked? I still have many other abilities.” Ming Que said with a playful smile, feeling pleased with herself.

“Yes. I’m shocked. I’m truly shocked. You really are incredible… Mm? Master has returned.”

Upon sensing Ning Fan’s return, the two ladies immediately put aside what they were doing and stood up to welcome him.

Doubtlessly, they also received the news about Ning Fan opening the divine chests. Su Yan could not help but feel worried for him after hearing that he battled against an ancient living creature in the process.

However, when she saw Ning Fan come back unscathed, she secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

Ming Que, on the other hand, had great confidence in Ning Fan. She did not worry about him getting injured at all. Instead, she was concerned about what kind of secret treasures Ning Fan had obtained from the divine chests.

“Brother Biscuit, what excellent items did you get from the divine chests? Let me have a bite, okay?!” Ming Que’s small face wore a pleading look. She truly was a genuine foodie.

“All you think about is food…” Ning Fan laughed and patted his storage pouch. He took out twelve jade boxes and placed them on the table.

Each of these jade boxes contained a Sixth Revolution Pill. The unique pill fragrance that wafted out from them made Ming Que’s mouth water.

“These are… Sixth Revolution Pills! You actually have twelve of them. This is a lot!” Even though Su Yan was a Void Inquiry Stage expert and a former leader of a great devil clan, she rarely had the chance to see so many Sixth Revolution Pills at once.

Of these twelve Sixth Revolution Pills, five of them were at the low grade, five others were at the intermediate grade while the remaining two were at the high grade. Moreover, all of them were vulnerary pills.

Although vulnerary pills were precious and expensive, they were unnecessary to Ning Fan who had mastered the Black Star Technique. Thus, he would rather let Ming Que have them to increase her cultivation base.

“Little girl, I need one favor from you. If you can accomplish it, you can have all twelve Sixth Revolution Pills.”

“For real?!” Ming Que was already drooling.

“Of course, it’s real. I have some spiritual herbs here which I need your help to purify. You must not eat them as you wish. I have my plans for them.”

When Ning Fan took out a pile of one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs, the little girl was literally overwhelmed with bliss.

“So many medicine babies! Are they all for me to eat?!” She selectively forgot about Ning Fan’s reminder. They were obviously not for her.

“So many one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs!” Su Yan was surprised once again. She realized that ever since she had followed Ning Fan, she would always experience surprises after surprises.

Even though these spiritual herbs were contaminated by devil qi, she had never seen so many one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs in her entire life.

“I’ve already said it. They are not for you to eat… Fine. It doesn’t matter if you want to eat them. But you should answer me first. Can you purify these spiritual herbs…?”

Ning Fan shook his head speechlessly. Once that little foodie set her eyes on this batch of spiritual herbs, there was no way he could keep them.

Anyway, Ning Fan’s pill refinement realm had yet to attain the Seventh Revolution. Aside from saving Luo You, he currently could not use these one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs for other purposes. Thus, it was fine to let Ming Que eat the rest of them.

Moreover, he still could not be sure whether or not Ming Que could purify these spiritual herbs. She was a pill devil. It was still reasonable that she could purify pills, but as for purifying medicinal ingredients…

“I can purify these medicine babies! Trust me. I really can do it! I will need three days at most. No. Two days! Within two days, I can definitely purify all of these medicine babies!” Ming Que confidently said.

“Alright then. After you finish purifying them, keep fifteen tufts for me. I need them to save someone…”

Ning Fan affectionately patted Ming Que’s tiny head. Faced with this naïve and innocent little foodie, all he could do was compromise.

After all, if it wasn’t for Ming Que, he would not even be able to use a single tuft of one hundred thousand years old spiritual herb. Thus, it was fair for him to give this little girl a reward, right?

Besides, with Ming Que’s current cultivation base which was at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm, if she eats all of the Sixth Revolution Pills and the rest of the one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs, she would probably gain enough power to truly advance to the Void Refinement Realm…

This little girl’s pill devil physique sure is heaven-defying.

Sometimes, Ning Fan could not help but think about making a ‘Ming Que Development Plan’.

Ming Que’s physique was really incredible. If she had enough pills and spiritual herbs, just a few tens of years would be enough to cultivate her into a Void Fragmentation Realm expert…

Moreover, she had obtained Si Cang’s memories which equipped her with a strong combat strength. Once she attains the Void Fragmentation Realm…

“A development plan, huh…” All of a sudden, Ning Fan was eager to see what Ming Que would develop into…

Ming Que began to get busy with the spiritual herbs. While purifying the one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs, she kept swallowing her saliva with anticipation.

Ning Fan then went inside the Profound Yin World.

If everything goes smoothly, he could prepare to wake Luo You after Ming Que purifies fifteen tufts of spiritual herbs.

He walked into the thatched cottage and carefully brushed away the dust on the white-robed lady’s body as a preparation for waking her up from her sleep.

Afterwards, he went out of the cottage and studied the other items he obtained from the divine chests.

A nameplate made out of sandalwood, pill recipes, ancient scriptures and a bronze key… The urn of bone ash was not among them.

Ning Fan took Wei Yang’s ashes as well as his nameplate. Before parting ways with Venerated Pill, he buried the ashes at a quiet and secluded area of the Pill Island and made a small tomb.

There was an erect tombstone on that grave. A few words were written on it – Seeing A Gentleman Off to Death.

Many cultivators of the Pill Island could not understand his actions. They could not understand why Ning Fan would be so kind to an ancient cultivator who had already been dead for countless years.

Only Venerated Pill was able to understand the meaning behind his actions and it filled him with more respect for him.

It was an expression of open-mindedness. Letting go of all of one’s lifelong grudges and resentment after the end of their life, just like the saying: dust to dust and ashes to ashes.

It was an expression of hope that by burying someone today, you are hoping that in return, someone will bury you and set up a grave for your remains in the future.

It was also an expression of helplessness. In the life of a cultivator, fights and conflicts were inevitable. No one knows when you would die in a foreign place without anyone to keep your corpses…

“Shedding Orchid Sect, Wei Yang…”

In the Profound Yin World, Ning Fan’s eyes gradually turned pensive as he looked at the wooden nameplate.

When he saw this nameplate for the first time, he did not pay too much attention to it.

However, that ancient living creature mentioned the ‘Shedding Orchid Key’…

Ning Fan had already inspected that key. It was quite extraordinary. The metal used in forging it was actually the Jade Swimming Tear Gold which was even rarer than the Immemorial Star Iron.

This kind of metal was not as tough as the Immemorial Star Iron. Thus, it was not suitable to forge armaments. However, it served another purpose.

In ancient times, some capable experts usually used Jade Swimming Tear Gold to create keys for secret places.

Keys made out of this metal were always more than one.

And all the keys shared a common trait – if the full set of keys are not gathered together, the door of the secret place can never be unlocked.

If even a single one of those keys is destroyed, the secret place would be locked forever.

Without a doubt, this Shedding Orchid Key was a key to a secret place of the Shedding Orchid Sect.

Countless thoughts ran across Ning Fan’s mind.

There was a myth about the Immortal Burning Valley of the Western Flame Country. The valley was said to be the historical remains of an ancient sect after its destruction. As for what sect it was, none of the ancient books mentioned it.

Since Wei Yang’s ashes were found there, could that unidentified ancient sect that was destroyed in the past be the Shedding Orchid Sect?

Would I be able to get any benefits from the Shedding Orchid Sect using this single Shedding Orchid Key?