CHAPTER 542: CHAPTER 542. THE INHERITANCE PILL

Amon spent the rest of the week resting inside his mansion. Thanks to the Inheritance Aether from the ancient ascension trial, his cultivation had increased by leaps and bounds, but such a sudden improvement also burdened his body. He had been feeling uncomfortable ever since the improvement. He was now meditating to stabilize the flow of aether in his body. The discomfort he felt slowly diminished.

One thing he felt pity about was that the Inheritance Aether only improved his normal energy core. None of the Inheritance Aether entered his black energy core.

The Inheritance Aether might not have improved his infernal cultivation directly, but it still did indirectly. With his normal energy core being much larger than his black energy core, it again acted as a magnet, driving its black counterpart to expand. While resting inside his mansion, Amon’s infernal cultivation broke through into the Beginning Diabolic Stage.

Amon also used the Nine Moon Restorative Mantra to speed up the recovery of his right arm, which was destroyed by Da Niu. He looked at the healing arm. The regrowth pill was working, but the healing was not yet completed. His right arm was deformed and smaller than it should be. He didn’t worry, though. With the aid of his recovery art, he estimated his arm would be as good as new on Huang San’s coronation day.

While meditating, he visited the world inside his black space ring. Lin Li was happy to be back inside. She was in her fox form and was happily swimming inside the lake. When Amon visited, she emerged from the lake with a big fish in her mouth.

Amon patted her head and told her not to mind him. He observed his surroundings. This place had become much more vibrant compared to how it used to be. It even looked like a proper world now. The only thing it lacked was some animals to make it like a real natural world.

A score of battle puppets worked the field following Lin Li’s instruction. She didn’t need to do much work at this point. His plantation was growing. As the plants matured, they produced seeds to grow more plants. By now, the plantation had already taken up a quarter of the world inside the black space ring.

He would need to add more fertile soil if he wanted his plantation to expand further. There was no urgency for that yet. The plants he prioritized were those that produced special ingredients for his drugs, which were not available in the outside world. With the current output, it was more than enough to cover his current production needs.

He moved his eyes to the island in the middle of the lake. The aetherium tree was there, but beside it, a sapling was growing. This sapling was grown from a longevity fruit.

Amon gained twelve longevity fruits when he visited Basou Forest in Farghous. One was given by Daimu for passing his entry test. Eleven he snatched from the Longevity Tree, ten using his wood vine tentacles, while the last one was using the Xian Cloth.

Out of those twelve, ten were given to the Xei Clan in exchange for the Zillium. He had two fruits remaining in his possession. One he planted next to the Aetherium Tree, in the same setup as the original Longevity Tree. He wasn’t sure if it would grow. He planned to keep the last fruit in case it failed. He would try planting it again once he found a book that described a method of growing this tree.

Fortunately, he did not need to go through the hassle. A sapling grew from the fruit. It would still take many years for it to grow until it could bear fruit. He didn’t mind. He had no urgent need for the fruit yet. Maybe when he reached the end of his age and was stuck in his cultivation, he could use the fruit to prolong his life. That time was still far away.

He looked at the last Longevity Fruit in his hand and thought about what to do with it. After some thought, he decided to present it to King Huang Ti after he was promoted to Prime Minister. This should grant him great favor from both Huang San and the old king. The king was, after all, in need of the means to prolong his life.

Amon looked back at Lin Li, who was enjoying the fish. Her eighth tail remained short. It didn’t seem to grow. He was rather disappointed by this. He thought his rapid improvement into the Spirit Stage would push her evolution. It didn’t seem to be the case, or maybe the push was not strong enough. He didn’t worry too much. They still had the Primordial Blue Lotus. She would eventually evolve.

He turned his attention to his second tamed beast. He looked up. Two suns appeared to be up there. One was the artificial sun he gained from the Pyramid Legacy. The other one was the Sun Hawk. It was in that condition because a fiery cocoon had formed around it.

Amon understood this cocoon was the Sun Hawk’s evolution process. Once it emerged from the cocoon, it would become a lower mythical beast.

From the information he could find about the beast, the process was described to take days or even weeks. Lin Li informed Amon that the Sun Hawk entered that condition a few days ago. It was still hard to predict when the process would end.

---------------

While Amon rested, the others from his team did the same. They let their bodies adjust to the massive jump in cultivation level. Everyone rested and did nothing except for Huang San.

Huang San was in a secret cave under Echos Palace. The lower half of his body was submerged in the Spring of Life. His visible upper body was glowing. Steam continued to seep out of him.

Behind him, Huang Ti placed both hands on his back. The old king was helping him stabilize the rampant aether within his body. This rampant aether was from a pill he had consumed a week earlier. The pill was a valuable treasure that the Huang Clan kept in reserve.

The pill was obtained by their ancestors from the same pocket world where they conducted the Ancient Ascension Trial. It was called the Inheritance Pill and was made using the same technique the ancients used to produce the inheritance aether. The pill was capable not only of allowing someone’s cultivation to increase rapidly but also of bypassing the chokepoint that prevented a cultivator from breaking through to the next stage.

Unfortunately for Huang Ti, this pill only affected those of the Spirit Stage and below. Otherwise, he would have used it to increase his cultivation.

Because of its limited quantity, Huang Clan’s ancestors made a rule that this pill should only be given to a descendant who was to be crowned a king. Only three such pills were left after the Huang Clan’s long rule. Huang San took one of these three, leaving only two for future successors.

The pill was considered inferior to the Inheritance Aether. After Amon and the others absorbed the inheritance aether, they did feel slight discomfort in their bodies, but they could still function properly. If someone consumed this inheritance pill, the aether circulation inside them would run amok as their bodies tried to adjust to the change. That’s why Huang San needed to be in seclusion for one week after consuming the pill. If he didn’t control this chaotic energy properly, it would instead ruin his cultivation and may probably destroy his energy core, rendering him an invalid.

While consuming the pill posed a risk, the Huang Clan had used these pills for generations and thus developed a way to mitigate the risk. Huang Ti was currently helping Huang San. With his Beginning Lord Stage cultivation and his experience of consuming the pill himself in the past, he had no trouble stabilizing the chaotic energy inside his son’s body.

"Hah...!" Huang San heaved. A shockwave radiated from him, and it caused ripples in the water of the Spring of Life.

Huang Ti let go of his hands from Huang San’s back. The process had been completed. Huang San had fully absorbed the condensed aether from the Inheritance Pill.

"Incredible...," Huang San uttered. He was now a Peak Spirit Stage. For someone who was a Beginning Mystic Stage not long ago, becoming a Peak Spirit Stage was like transforming into a different person. He felt a great sense of surrealism about himself.

"I now entrust these remaining two Inheritance Pills to you," Huang Ti said as he handed those pills. "Remember. No matter what, these pills are only allowed to be bestowed on our descendants who are chosen to be the next king. There are only two left. We cannot get more."

"Have we tried studying these pills to be replicated?" Huang San asked.

"An ancestor did, ruining one pill in the process. Since then, no attempt was made," Huang Ti answered. "Our experts couldn’t tell for sure, but they estimated the grade of these pills to be low-tier ancient pills."

"Low-tier ancient?" Huang San uttered with surprise.

Huang Ti nodded. "I understand your surprise. No ancient grade items had ever been publicly known to exist, but I suppose some do in secret, like these pills. That’s why they are extremely valuable. You must keep them safe and not use them carelessly."

"I will remember father’s advice," Huang San said as he stored the pills inside his space ring.

"Your coronation will take place two days from now. Everything has been prepared," Huang Ti said. "Come, I will now impart to you all the duties you need to perform as a king."