Elder Shaw hadn’t expected Evan Yang to answer so honestly. Evan figured the elder wasn’t some scheming villain—otherwise, he would’ve already told everyone that Evan was unaffected by the pill. So Evan decided to gamble and see how Elder Shaw would react.
"Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell them?" Elder Shaw said with a smile.
"If you wanted to say something, you would’ve done it already, right?" Evan Yang replied, smiling.
Elder Shaw stared at Evan Yang, and Evan stared right back. After a moment, Elder Shaw laughed. "You’re right. If I wanted to say something, I’d have said it already. The reason I kept quiet is because I wanted to know why the pill didn’t work on you—but it seems you don’t know either."
"Then, would you be willing to share the recipe with me, Senior?" Evan Yang asked, smiling.
"I could, but you’ll have to do something for me first," Elder Shaw replied with a grin.
"What is it?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"Help me test the medicine," Elder Shaw answered.
"Test the medicine?" Evan asked, confused.
"Yes. I recently got a new recipe and refined a few pills, but I don’t know how powerful they really are. I need someone else to try them out. You know Fiend Palace’s rules—we can’t just kill our own people. If the test fails..." Elder Shaw explained his reasoning.
"No way—you want to use me as a test subject?" Evan Yang exclaimed.
"I’m just asking. If you’re not willing, that’s fine—I won’t force you," Elder Shaw clarified. As long as Evan was willing to test the medicine, the Mind-Veil Pill recipe would be his. Whether Evan agreed was entirely up to him.
It wasn’t that Evan was unwilling, but any medicine he took would be nullified inside his body. How was he supposed to test it?
"I’m just saying, seeing what you think. No pressure," Elder Shaw said, noticing Evan’s expression.
Evan knew Elder Shaw wouldn’t push him, but the medicine-testing was indeed tricky—not because he refused, but because his body was special.
"Senior, I’d like to ask: is this pill a poison, or is it an auxiliary medicine?" Evan Yang asked.
"Of course it’s an auxiliary medicine—how could it be poison? If it were poison, I wouldn’t need you. I’d just find someone to poison and be done with it," Elder Shaw said, laughing.
"What kind of auxiliary medicine?" Evan asked.
"An amplification pill. If you take it, your attack power should double—at least, that’s my initial estimate. The real effect, though, only comes out after testing," Elder Shaw replied.
"An immortal-grade pill recipe?" Evan asked, surprised.
"That’s right. I stumbled across it by chance. I managed to refine some, but haven’t tried them yet," Elder Shaw answered.
"I don’t know if Senior trusts me, but if you give me one pill, I can tell you exactly how it works," Evan said after thinking it over.
"Alright, I hope you get good results," Elder Shaw said, stunned for a moment before smiling.
Evan nodded, so Elder Shaw handed him an unknown pill. "Once you’ve tested it, let me know the results and I’ll give you the Mind-Veil Pill recipe," he said.
"Thank you, Senior." Evan accepted the pill and left the room. Watching Evan’s departing figure, Elder Shaw muttered, "The Mind-Veil Pill has never failed—how come it’s useless on him?"
After Evan left the room with the pill, he found the Mysterious Martial Aunt waiting at the door.
Seeing Evan awake, the Mysterious Martial Aunt smiled, "How are you feeling?"
"I’m alright, just a little tired. I think I’ll head back to my room and sleep. I’ll leave the Purple Cloud Winery in your hands for now," Evan said awkwardly, smiling.
"Are you sure you’re okay?" The Mysterious Martial Aunt asked, curious as Evan looked exhausted.
"I’m fine," Evan nodded.
Seeing Evan was fine, the woman escorted him back to his room, then hurried off to the winery to handle the business there.
After resting in his room for a while, Evan quietly left Fiend Palace, found a secluded spot, entered his Sky-Piercing Tower, and sought out Derek.
“Master, what do you need me to do?” Derek asked curiously.
“Take this and tell me how you feel,” Evan said with a smile.
Seeing the pill in Evan’s hand, Derek didn’t hesitate—he swallowed it at once, while Evan watched closely for any changes, ready to treat him if anything went wrong.
Derek’s complexion gradually changed, finally turning bright red—but his physical condition remained stable.
“How do you feel?” Evan asked, curious.
“I feel full of strength,” Derek replied.
“See if there’s any difference from usual,” Evan said.
Following Evan’s instructions, Derek tried a few punches and kicks, then laughed, “It seems my strength has doubled compared to usual.”
“That’s it, then.” Evan smiled at the result, though it still couldn’t compare to his own Starheart Arts.
To see how long the effect lasted, Evan waited there. Only after a quarter hour did Derek’s complexion return to normal and his strength settle.
“You’re fine now—keep cultivating,” Evan said with a smile, then left the tower.
“Master, what’s going on?” Derek grumbled. Meanwhile, Night Chen and the others kept practicing their Illusory Quad-Change technique.
After leaving the tower, Evan headed back toward Fiend Palace.
Half an hour later, Elder Shaw saw Evan return and asked curiously, “Why are you back?”
“To trade for the recipe,” Evan said, smiling.
“You tried it?” Elder Shaw was overjoyed to see Evan unharmed.
Evan nodded and described the effects to Elder Shaw. Hearing Evan’s report matched his expectations, Elder Shaw’s face flushed with delight. “Good, good, it finally worked!”
“Congratulations, Senior,” Evan said, smiling.
“Here, this is the Mind-Veil Pill recipe,” Elder Shaw said, smiling.
Evan accepted the recipe, which had already been recorded onto a wooden slip. Sweeping it with his spiritual sense, Evan could clearly see the formula inside.
“Senior, does Hundred Remedies Hall have any rare medicinal materials?” Evan needed a batch of precious herbs—the rarer, the better. Only then could he strengthen the Heaven-Cold Seed and suppress his blood, further increasing his power.
“Rare herbs? What kind of rare are you talking about?” Elder Shaw asked, curious.
“The kind used for refining immortal-grade pills,” Evan replied, knowing Elder Shaw would be familiar with rare herbs after successfully refining them.
“You mean you want me to give you some?” Elder Shaw asked, embarrassed.
“Yes,” Evan nodded.
Elder Shaw laughed, “Those herbs are extremely rare. It took me thousands of years to find just two portions, and even then I could only refine a few pills—not many.”
“That hard to find?” Evan muttered after hearing how rare the herbs were.
“Yes,” Elder Shaw replied.
“Do you know anywhere with rare herbs, Senior?” Evan asked.
“I’ve been everywhere in the Fiend Realm that can be reached. As for the Human World, I haven’t been much, but I’ve heard there’s an Alchemy Sacred Mountain there that gathers many rare herbs,” Elder Shaw said, smiling.
Alchemy Sacred Mountain? Evan felt the name was familiar. After thinking for a while, he finally remembered where he’d heard it, so he smiled, “Thank you, Senior.”
“You really need rare herbs?” Elder Shaw asked, suspicious.
“Yes,” Evan said, smiling.
“Let me see… It’ll be about a year. I’ll be taking some of Fiend Palace’s alchemy experts to the Human World. If you’re willing, you can come along—maybe you’ll find what you need there,” Elder Shaw replied after thinking it over.
“What are you going to the Human World for?” Evan asked, puzzled.
“Our Fiend Realm and the Human World have exchanges—every thousand years. This time, the Alchemy Sacred Mountain will represent the Human World’s alchemy circle, and our Fiend Palace and its top alchemy experts will represent the Fiend Realm,” Elder Shaw explained.
“I see. So what are they competing in?” Evan asked, understanding now.
“It’s a contest of pill arts—who can refine more pills, and whose pills are harder to make,” Elder Shaw said, smiling.
“Oh? Really? How long has this been going on?” Evan hadn’t expected the two realms to exchange in alchemy.
“Many years—at least ten times. The winner changes every time, and before each contest, both sides wager rare items, usually herbs and pills. We have pills and herbs the Human World doesn’t, and vice versa. So both sides give it their all,” Elder Shaw said, smiling.
“I see. So why are you asking me to go, Senior?” Evan didn’t understand why Elder Shaw wanted him to come along.
“No special reason—just bringing you to see it,” Elder Shaw said, smiling.
“That simple?” Evan was puzzled. Why bring him, not someone else? After all, he was only a fourth-tier general in Elder Shaw’s eyes—not someone deserving such treatment.
Seeing Evan’s expression, Elder Shaw laughed, “Don’t overthink it. The main reason I’m bringing you is because you’re not afraid of the Mind-Veil Pill.”
“What does not fearing the Mind-Veil Pill have to do with going there?” Evan asked, confused.
“The Mind-Veil Pill is refined in both the Human World and Fiend Realm. It’s a high-grade pill, so it’s considered a must-refine for both sides,” Elder Shaw said, smiling.
“I still don’t get it,” Evan said. What did refining the Mind-Veil Pill have to do with him?
“When refining the Mind-Veil Pill, the alchemist will briefly lose consciousness as the pill is about to form, so the purity of the pill is usually not very high,” Elder Shaw said, smiling.
“So you want me to refine it, Senior?” Evan finally understood.
“Exactly. You’re very clever,” Elder Shaw said, smiling.
“But I don’t know how to refine pills,” Evan said, embarrassed.
“That’s fine. As long as you can refine the Mind-Veil Pill, that’s enough,” Elder Shaw replied.
“How can I refine the Mind-Veil Pill if I don’t know alchemy?” Evan was confused by Elder Shaw’s logic.
“Here, take this,” Elder Shaw said, handing over another wooden slip.
Evan glanced at it and found it detailed every step of refining the Mind-Veil Pill.
“Even if you don’t know how to refine pills, as long as you memorize this process and follow it exactly, you’ll be able to refine the Mind-Veil Pill,” Elder Shaw said confidently.
“Is that really all it takes?” Evan finally understood—he just needed to memorize the process, not learn alchemy.
“That’s right. Once you learn it, you can represent Fiend Palace. If you succeed, half of the rare herbs and pills you win will be yours,” Elder Shaw said, knowing Evan wasn’t affected by the Mind-Veil Pill.