I Have Medicine

Chapter 622 - (Successive Harvests) Continuous Breakthroughs in Cultivation Realm

Gu Zuo thought to himself: ‘Here it comes!’

He immediately lunged forward without calling for his Big Brother or Duan Yunbeng.

Now that he had absorbed a portion of the heterogeneous flame’s energy, subduing it further would depend entirely on his own capability. Others wouldn’t be able to help much—besides, the heterogeneous flame’s attacks would surely be focused solely on him.

As he expected, the surging torrent aimed its strike directly at Gu Zuo, not even “glancing” at the other two.

Seeing this, Gongyi Tianheng and Duan Yunbeng retreated to the sides in unison, not interfering with Gu Zuo’s clash with the flame.

Gu Zuo’s hands rapidly moved, tracing countless profound hand seals that seemed to weave a dense silken net in front of him, unfolding a defense. With a flick of his fingertips, slender lines of fire erupted, instantly igniting the entire structure and transforming the silken mesh into a fiery net woven from flames.

The heterogeneous flame attacked fast, but Gu Zuo’s defense was faster, completing just before the flame closed in. When the heterogeneous flame arrived, it blundered straight into it and was instantly snared by the net.

In an instant, the flame’s momentum ground to a halt.

The heterogeneous flame let out a series of “roars,” sounding truly like the bellows of a living creature.

However, such roaring was useless. The invisible net wrapped in flames was actually a technique Gu Zuo formed using his fire-control manual; as long as the heterogeneous flame touched even a wisp of his fire, that wisp would lead the heterogeneous flame to be brought under the control of the same manual!

Indeed, the lines of fire Gu Zuo released were of the same origin as the heterogeneous flame. It was precisely because of this shared power that he could instantaneously draw the heterogeneous flame in and make the net effective.

Otherwise, if he had used any other type of fire, it wouldn’t be a fusion of flames but a confrontation between two different heterogeneous fires, which would be far more troublesome. This was the most important reason why Gu Zuo had insisted on absorbing a portion of the flame earlier; weakening its strength by ten percent was merely a secondary benefit.

The heterogeneous flame, having fallen for the trap, was unconsciously ensnared. Initially, it was beyond furious, but when it realized its power was being continuously drained, it was struck with terror and reacted immediately.

With several successive lunges, its flames surged and transformed into a fierce tiger!

This tiger was different from the two normal-sized ones from before; it was over two zhang high and five or six zhang long—a literal giant tiger. The character for “King” on its forehead was crimson like blood, looking exceptionally ferocious and terrifying.

The heterogeneous flame transforming into this Tiger King was actually its specialized mimicry. It intended to use its massive physical form to scatter the fire net and then charge for the kill!

However, Gu Zuo had anticipated its plan.

Moving both arms simultaneously, he used “multi-tasking” to manifest even more invisible force, continuing to weave nets incessantly. Within a few short breaths, just as the Tiger King seemed about to break free from the net in front of it, identical fire nets pounced from every other direction—swarming in from all sides!

No matter how powerful the Tiger King was, under the siege of so many fire nets, it could only let out agonizing roars. Its form grew smaller and smaller until, just like the two tigers it had manifested earlier, it was thoroughly and completely absorbed.

Immediately after, Gu Zuo’s mind stirred as he felt another lotus seed sprout upon the lotus platform.

This seed was a mottled red and white; this wisp of heterogeneous flame was the Tiger Soul Fire.

After subduing the flame, Gu Zuo took a deep breath and immediately sat down to meditate and adjust his breathing.

The last time he subdued the Azure Silk Flame, he had broken through several minor realms in a row. Now that he had subdued another, he wondered if he would break through again…

At this moment, within his sea of qi, his aura was indeed surging and his sea of qi was expanding, appearing as if he were about to charge straight into the Ascendant Realm. However, for some reason, Gu Zuo felt this aura was somewhat superficial. If he allowed his realm to break through now, it might be detrimental to his foundation.

Therefore, Gu Zuo simply circulated his manual again and death-gripped his inner qi to suppress it. Thus, his realm did not break through this time, remaining at the peak of the Atomic Realm, just a sliver away from advancing.

If he had the luck to subdue another heterogeneous flame later, breaking through then would ensure his aura wasn’t hollow.

With these thoughts, Gu Zuo opened his eyes. Within his pupils, several wisps of heterogeneous flames seemed to dance. He immediately reined in his inner qi and soothed the agitation of the flames; the strange change in his eyes went unnoticed by Duan Yunbeng, sensed only by Gongyi Tianheng, whose attention was perpetually fixed on Gu Zuo.

Gu Zuo stood up and smiled at the two: “Big Brother, Senior Brother Duan, the place where a heterogeneous flame resides is bound to produce many companion items. I’ll take the medicinal herbs, but Senior Brother Duan and Big Brother can make use of the rest.”

This was only fair, and Duan Yunbeng did not stand on ceremony, saying, “Very well.”

Gongyi Tianheng also smiled, reaching out to rub the top of Gu Zuo’s head before standing by his side.

Duan Yunbeng glanced at the pair and was the first to walk into the cavern.

This grotto truly lived up to being a place that could birth a heterogeneous flame capable of independent mimicry. The medicinal herbs inside were of great age and brimming with fire energy; many could serve as primary ingredients for Earth-level pills or even auxiliary ingredients for Heaven-level pills. Gu Zuo was delighted at the sight and couldn’t help but begin harvesting them one by one.

In addition to the previous finds, the mountain cavern itself had actually been hewn from a mineral vein where Fire Element Crystals and Treasure Crystals intertwined. Fire Element Crystals are a type of Treasure Crystal containing fire-attributed energy—essentially a mutated variant—while Treasure Crystals are imbued with primordial qi, making them a common necessity for experts ranging from the Celestial Realm to the Royal Realm.

The reserves of this mineral vein were quite large; otherwise, it would have been impossible to nurture a heterogeneous flame to such a mature state. Gongyi Tianheng and Duan Yunbeng wasted no time in formalities; they quickly agreed on a split and began excavating. In the end, they divided the finished product evenly between them.

At the same time, there were some smaller companion mineral veins. The two took what they needed; if one wanted a specific companion mineral, the other would compensate by taking more of a different kind. By the end, the harvest was bountiful, and everyone was satisfied.

Gu Zuo was also extremely pleased. This was only one mountain cavern, and yet it yielded so much. If they went deeper, who knew how many more good things they would find?

He grew impatient with anticipation. The more heterogeneous flames he could subdue, the stronger his power would become. Sooner or later, he would ascend to become a true Pill King! And that day was already within sight.

Gongyi Tianheng understood Gu Zuo’s thoughts. Once they had finished divvying up the spoils, he suggested to Duan Yunbeng that they continue forward.

Duan Yunbeng had witnessed Gu Zuo’s methods for subduing heterogeneous flames. He felt that even if he acted himself, he wouldn’t be able to do it as cleanly. In fact, because he wasn’t a “professional,” he might not even be able to fight his way into the caverns, or it might cost him an immense amount of energy. Naturally, he was willing to go deeper with them to accumulate more resources.

Thus, the trio followed the trail of increasingly dense fire energy and began searching one location after another.

However, not every cavern within this Fire Grotto contained a heterogeneous flame. For instance, the second and third spots they entered were empty. Although the medicinal herbs they gathered there were of great age, they were much weaker in terms of energy purity. On the other hand, because no heterogeneous flame had been nurtured there, the small mineral veins inside had even larger reserves; since no energy had been diverted to sustain a flame’s mimicry, more could be stored. Consequently, Tianheng and Duan Yunbeng’s gains remained significant.

After visiting four or five caverns without seeing a single heterogeneous flame, Gu Zuo felt a twinge of disappointment, but he didn’t dwell on it. The caverns here were densely packed, and there were other fire caves, dwellings, and ruined halls to explore; if they looked hard enough, they were bound to find more. Besides, heterogeneous flames were rare treasures; it was only because this Fire Grotto was ancient that several could exist. Normally, finding even one cluster in such a vast area would be lucky. If finding them was a bit difficult now, what was there to complain about?

As Gu Zuo expected, upon reaching the seventh cavern, they had just arrived at the entrance when over ten manifested Fire Pythons came charging out. Compared to the two tigers from before, these were much harder to deal with.

However, this also indicated that the heterogeneous flame that birthed these pythons was surely more powerful than the previous Tiger Soul Fire. Subduing it would bring even greater benefits to Gu Zuo.

This time, Tianheng and Duan Yunbeng again drew away several pythons each to keep them occupied, while Gu Zuo absorbed the energy to form a lotus seed phantom in his sea of qi.

Once all the pythons were absorbed and they ventured deeper into the cave, they encountered a hundred-foot-long Great Fire Python King, as thick as a water barrel and incomparably ferocious.

Dealing with this Python King was much more difficult for Gu Zuo than the Tiger King had been. He didn’t dare be careless, spreading out over ten fire nets around himself from the very start. The moment the Python King appeared, the nets scattered and latched onto various parts of its body, causing the king to twitch and struggle, making movement difficult. Gu Zuo then released even more fire nets to forcefully constrict it. The python’s body shrank inch by inch, though the speed of this reduction was much slower than when he had first subdued the Tiger King.

The entire process took Gu Zuo a full six to eight hours before he thoroughly absorbed it.

That wisp of heterogeneous flame instantly transformed into a lotus seed on the platform, which now boasted six full petals beside it. This flame was called the Demon Python Fire. It might be slightly lacking for pill refining, but its offensive power was violent. If used in combat under Gu Zuo’s control, its might would be substantial.

Gu Zuo breathed a sigh of relief and immediately sat down to circulate his energy.

This time, there was no need to deliberately compress his power. His realm broke through rapidly, reaching the early stage of the Ascendant Realm. The remaining energy pushed him even further, only coming to a stop when he was infinitely close to the sub-minor stage.

Such rapid progress made even Duan Yunbeng, who was used to seeing geniuses, click his tongue in wonder.

However, there are countless people with miraculous encounters in this world. While he found it extraordinary, he didn’t harbor any ulterior motives. Instead, seeing Gu Zuo’s swift progress gave him even more confidence in the youth’s future as a true Pill King.

Afterward, Duan Yunbeng and Gongyi Tianheng once again divided the treasures within the cave.

With two successful experiences under his belt, Gu Zuo spent the next two days searching and harvesting in rapid succession. By the end of it, he had collected another seven or eight clusters of heterogeneous flames. Gu Zuo’s inner qi soared, and solely by relying on these flames, he actually reached the Great Completion stage of the Ascendant Realm!