Chapter 392: Astonishing Power

"Just consider it a spell of my own creation," Lu Yang offered without much elaboration, primarily because it defied easy explanation anyway.

The Seventh Elder did not dwell on the matter; having witnessed Lu Yang cast the spell once, he could easily calculate the precise proportions for the pill he was to refine.

Counting on his fingers, he nodded. "Wait a moment, the pills will be ready shortly."

Holding a woven basket, the Seventh Elder picked various herbs from the medicine cabinet at random without a second thought, not even needing to weigh them.

He merely took a single stroll around the cabinet, and the basket was piled high with ingredients, which he divided into five portions according to the refining sequence.

Then, with a stomp of his foot, flames erupted one after another, weaving together into a sheet of fire that resembled a lotus in full bloom!

"Are these all True Fires?" Lu Yang was astonished, recalling the wall full of True Fires collected by the Fifth Elder.

Lu Yang thought to himself, "The Fifth Elder said he traveled far and wide, exhausting all his means to collect those True Fires. The Seventh Elder must have done the same. Could it be a tradition for disciples of our Seeking Dao Sect to roam the world?"

Seeing Lu Yang staring blankly, the Seventh Elder casually explained, "I snatched all these True Fires from the Fifth Elder."

Lu Yang: "..."

The Seventh Elder kindled the furnace, and three wisps of flame floated out, settling beneath the three-legged cauldron to ignite a raging fire; the bottom of the cauldron glowed a stark red, and even from afar, Lu Yang could feel the heat waves rolling from the three True Fires.

The five portions of herbs were cast into the cauldron sequentially according to their medicinal properties, turning into a thick liquid in the blink of an eye, from which drifted bursts of pill fragrance so pure that a single breath felt like ascension.

Apart from the medicinal liquid, a small blob of black fluid floated within; as more herbs were continually poured in, the black fluid gradually expanded, its color shifting from black to cyan, likewise emitting a fragrant aroma.

The Seventh Elder clapped his hands together, and the furnace door shut with a loud clang, cutting off Lu Yang's view of the liquid's transformation, leaving only the increasingly rich fragrance in the air.

"Such exquisite refinement technique, even the superfluous dregs of the herbs can be refined into another pill of no low quality," the Immortal Fairy remarked with slight surprise; among the Integration Stage cultivators she had seen, none could match the proficiency of the Seventh Elder.

"Open!"

With a great shout from the Seventh Elder, the cauldron burst open, and pills enveloped in pill clouds flew out, landing in a pre-arranged golden dish with a crisp, melodious clinking.

"This is a recipe I improvised based on your physical traits and the way you cast your spell. I call it the Spring-Restoring Yang-Returning Pill. I don't know how effective it is, so try one and see," the Seventh Elder said, flicking a pill to Lu Yang.

Lu Yang stepped outside, popped the pill into his mouth, circulated his spiritual energy, and unleashed the Village within the Palm.

The sky above plunged into sudden darkness as a hand as vast as a village descended from the heavens, completely draining his spiritual energy; usually, he would fail at this exact step, but this time was different—the pill dissolved into a warm current, replenishing his spent energy just in time to allow the massive hand to continue its descent.

Boom—

The great hand slammed down heavily, whipping up a violent gale and sending dust flying, so intense that Lu Yang himself was nearly knocked over by the shockwave!

And this was merely the residual impact!

Lu Yang could hardly imagine what kind of devastation one would suffer standing directly beneath the center of that palm!

The ground caved in, and as the great hand gradually dissipated, it left a colossal handprint crater in the earth.

The soil of Dan Ding Peak possessed its own innate spirituality; the depression slowly rebounded, restoring itself to its original state.

Lu Yang was parched and exhausted, yet a wide smile graced his face.

He had finally executed it fully for once, and the power of this move was even greater than he had imagined.

Observing from the side, the Seventh Elder was highly satisfied with his creation: "Just as I expected, the spiritual energy contained in one pill is exactly enough for you to strike once. Any more energy, and your body wouldn't be able to bear it."

"The power of this strike is something even I probably couldn't have blocked back when I was in the Golden Core Stage."

The Seventh Elder packed the remaining pills into a medicine gourd, and fearing he might mix it up with others, he slapped a label on it before tossing it to Lu Yang.

Picking up the two remaining cyan pills in the golden dish, the Seventh Elder said, "There were some unneeded components in the herbs, so I refined them into these two pills. If ingested, they will rot your intestines and dissolve your soul within seven days. Do you want them?"

Lu Yang shook his head vigorously, terrified that a delayed refusal might be taken as acceptance.

He returned to Tian Men Peak and counted the remaining Spring-Restoring Yang-Returning Pills.

"Seven pills, plus the one I just took makes eight in total. Excellent stuff, I'll be relying on this to use the Village within the Palm!"

"Actually, the Village within the Palm isn't just an offensive technique," the Immortal Fairy chimed in to remind him.

"How so?"

"The Village within the Palm is a spatial spell. Since it contains a village inside, it can be used for storage or to hold living people."

The Universe within the Palm didn't simply mean the hand could grow to the size of the heavens and earth; it truly contained a miniature universe with infinite space.

"Is that true?" Lu Yang was astonished. Storage was easy enough, as any storage ring could manage it, but holding people was difficult, requiring specialized rings usually only coveted by cultivators who trained beast-taming.

"Let's try the storage function first."

Lu Yang drew the Qingfeng Sword and the Mingyue Sword from his identity jade token, and with a pull of his palm, the two peerless swords vanished without a trace.

Lu Yang opened his hand; his palm had become its own independent space, where the two precious swords had shrunk to a near-invisible size, stored safely within his hand.

"To store items, I need to keep the Village within the Palm active, but this method of maintenance consumes very little energy. Even without taking a Great Restoration Pill, I can sustain it for a quarter of an hour continuously!" Feeling the rate of energy consumption, Lu Yang found it to be slower than anticipated.

Lu Yang wandered around Tian Men Peak; seeing a large boulder, he drew it in; seeing a tree branch, he drew it in; seeing a piece of fruit, he drew it in.

Any object his hand touched was sucked into his palm, and he played with it to his heart's content.

"How should I test the human-carrying function?"

Lu Yang looked around; Tian Men Peak had everything except people.

He could hardly go down the mountain and randomly snatch a senior brother or sister to suck into his hand.

"I know!"

Lu Yang descended the mountain, went to the Baixiang Restaurant, and purchased a duck from the back kitchen.

"Let's try putting a duck inside."

Lu Yang directed the suction toward the duck; the duck pecked his finger once before vanishing, entering the spatial palm.

Watching the duck flitting about vigorously inside the space, Lu Yang pondered: "Since a duck fits, it means a human fits too... wait, can it fit myself?"

Lu Yang looked at his own palm, felt an irrepressible urge, and could not suppress his desire to try it out.

"The path to immortality is fraught with hardships; we cultivators must dare to try, how can we shrink back in fear!"

Just as the Immortal Fairy was about to voice her objection, she watched Lu Yang deliver a fierce slap right to his own forehead.

Having finished listening to the life story of the Heavenly Calamity Venerable, Yun Zhi departed from the Prisoner Peak.

She had been away for half a month, and she wondered if her little junior brother had been practicing diligently.

A grand era was approaching, and various factions were growing restless; raising one's cultivation as quickly as possible was the utmost priority.

Her little junior brother was obedient and sensible, knowing what was urgent and important, so he should be training hard.

Returning to Tian Men Peak, she found Lu Yang entirely gone, leaving behind only half an arm.

The severed end of the arm was being swallowed by the hand; the hand tried to continue swallowing the arm, but due to anatomical constraints, it repeatedly failed to succeed.

The hand and the arm formed a closed loop, spinning at high speed in midair.

Yun Zhi: "?"

What kind of cultivation method is this?

(End of chapter)