Chapter 383: Elixir and Poison Are Inseparable

"So, have I mastered it?"

"Well, what you've learned..." Immortal Fairy struggled with her limited vocabulary, finding it difficult to answer Lu Yang's question. "It's sort of a 'Universe in the Palm,' but the size is a bit off."

Immortal Fairy gestured. "It's only as big as a village. Your move should be called 'Village in the Palm.'"

Lu Yang glanced at the small space in his palm; it was indeed not large.

"Village in the Palm" sounded terrible, he argued vehemently. "How can it be called a village? Even if the space is small, it's still a cosmos! Look, there are even stars revolving. It should be called 'Small Cosmos in the Palm'!"

Immortal Fairy scoffed at Lu Yang's words. "Oh, please. A pile of sand spinning around pretending to be stars." She blew a puff of air at Lu Yang's palm, and the starry specks scattered and disappeared.

Seeing he couldn't fool her, Lu Yang gave in. "Fine, 'Village in the Palm' it is. At least it's still a spatial spell."

Lu Yang quickly dismissed the name of the spell from his mind, focusing instead on how to cast "Village in the Palm."

"'Universe in the Palm' can crush an entire world, making it irresistible. So 'Village in the Palm' should be able to too!" Lu Yang imitated Immortal Fairy, pressing his right hand downwards.

"Village in the Palm!"

*Boom!* A gigantic hand descended from the sky, the size of a village, exuding immense pressure. The mental shock was even greater than the physical one! However, before the hand could fully descend, it gradually faded and vanished.

"Gasp, gasp—" Lu Yang panted, mouth agape, greedily drawing in spiritual energy, like a drowning person rescued from the water, desperately gasping for air. He hadn't deliberately dispelled the "Village in the Palm" just now; rather, his own spiritual energy couldn't sustain its state. That single attack had completely drained his spiritual energy.

"This move is still too difficult for you at your current stage," Immortal Fairy shook her head. Even a 'Universe in the Palm' of a nascent form wasn't something a mid-Core Formation cultivator could cast. However, she added, if he could fully unleash this move, no one at the Core Formation stage would be able to resist it! Not even the most peerless genius at the Core Formation stage could hope to block it!

Lu Yang quickly found a solution: "Perhaps I can consume elixirs while casting 'Village in the Palm.'" He sat cross-legged and spent a quarter of an hour recovering his state and adjusting his mood to try again.

He pulled out his medicine gourd, filled with Great Reversion Pills, which he had been consuming since childhood and was most familiar with. Lu Yang poured out a Great Reversion Pill from the gourd, held it in his mouth, and once again cast "Village in the Palm." Still, before the hand could fully descend, it faded and vanished. Lu Yang, exhausted, slumped to the ground.

"No, one Great Reversion Pill isn't enough."

Another quarter of an hour passed. Lu Yang swallowed three Great Reversion Pills and cast "Village in the Palm." The large hand again faded and disappeared in mid-air. "Three aren't enough either?" Lu Yang grimaced. Just how many Great Reversion Pills would it take to succeed?

Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten… Ultimately, Lu Yang concluded that he would need to stuff his mouth full of Great Reversion Pills. This, however, led to another problem: if his mouth was full, he couldn't swallow, and if he swallowed them one by one, his spiritual energy wouldn't recover fast enough.

"Right, I can ask Seventh Elder for help!" Seventh Elder was the foremost alchemy master on the Central Continent; he would surely be able to concoct pills that rapidly restored spiritual energy! Moreover, because Lu Yang had given Seventh Elder an intelligent Shepherd's Heaven Grass, the elder had offered to help Lu Yang refine elixirs three times!

Without further ado, Lu Yang went to find Seventh Elder. Seventh Elder was opening his furnace, refining pills. The aroma of the elixirs was potent, and one could tell at a sniff that it wasn't poisonous.

"Hahaha, my meticulously refined Boundary-Breaking Pills are finally complete!" Seventh Elder burst into hearty laughter. Creating an unprecedented elixir filled him with an immense sense of accomplishment.

"Congratulations, Seventh Elder!" Upon seeing this, Lu Yang raised a hand in congratulation. He had been standing nearby, not wishing to disturb the elder's alchemy, and only approached once the refining was complete.

"Ah, Lu Yang. It's a shame you're already at the Core Formation stage; you can't try my newly refined Boundary-Breaking Pill. This is an unprecedented elixir!"

Lu Yang hesitated slightly. From Seventh Elder's words, it seemed this pill was meant to elevate a cultivator to the Core Formation stage upon consumption. However, as far as he knew, such pills had existed for a long time.

Seventh Elder waved his hand dismissively: "How can the pills refined by those common alchemists compare to mine? The Boundary-Breaking Pills from the outside world are crudely made and utterly lacking in aesthetic appeal."

Lu Yang asked cautiously, "So, the pills you've refined…"

"The Boundary-Breaking Pills refined externally merely allow Foundation Establishment cultivators to advance to the Core Formation stage; their effect is too ordinary!" Seventh Elder declared with pride. "These Boundary-Breaking Pills I've refined, they don't just elevate Foundation Establishment cultivators to Core Formation; they can even *demote* Nascent Soul cultivators back to the Core Formation stage!"

Lu Yang: "..." He felt there was a good reason why Seventh Elder had such a poor reputation in the outside world.

While it was said that alchemy and poison were inseparable, and alchemists more or less understood toxicology, it was rare to find someone like Seventh Elder, who had achieved such a balanced mastery of both. Lu Yang still remembered the first time he came to Alchemy Peak, when he was nearly poisoned by the overwhelming aroma of elixirs. Under Seventh Elder's guidance, all the senior and junior disciples at Alchemy Peak were highly proficient in toxicology; their skill in poison was no less than their skill in alchemy. Of course, even when they refined elixirs, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't contain poison, perfectly embodying the philosophy that alchemy and poison were inseparable.

"Since we've met, consider it fate. Here, have one." Seventh Elder flicked his middle finger, and a blue-veined pill landed in Lu Yang's embrace. "What do you need me for?"

"It's like this: I've just learned a spell that consumes an enormous amount of spiritual energy. My energy runs out halfway through casting, forcing me to stop. I've tried using Great Reversion Pills while casting, but their recovery speed still can't keep up with my consumption. I was hoping you could refine a pill that would allow me to rapidly restore my spiritual energy."

"Hmm, your situation isn't unprecedented, and it shouldn't be difficult to refine. Come, let me check your meridians."

Seventh Elder grasped Lu Yang's wrist and was slightly surprised: "When I was at your cultivation stage, I certainly didn't have such a vast reserve of spiritual energy. This isn't right. With your spiritual energy reserves, you shouldn't be running out, no matter what spell you cast."

"Oh, it's fine if you don't want to say what spell it is. It's perfectly normal for cultivators to have secrets. For example, Old Ninth has an ancient fierce beast sealed within him, and Old Fourth used to hide a pile of erotic paintings under his bed when he was a child."

Lu Yang felt these secrets might not be exclusive to cultivators.

"It's not that I don't want to say, it's just a bit troublesome to explain. I'll just show you once."

Lu Yang wasn't afraid of exposing Immortal Fairy's existence; everyone would just assume his senior sister had taught him.

Lu Yang moved to an open area, pressed his palm down, and a gigantic hand descended from the sky, blocking the sunlight and enveloping the mountaintop. The pressure from the hand was astonishing, flattening the green grass. The large hand vanished in mid-air.

Seventh Elder's pupils constricted as he witnessed this, clearly moved. He had never seen such a move. Judging by the sheer power just displayed, this spell should not have been cast by a Core Formation cultivator at all. For Lu Yang to be able to use it already defied common sense.

"What an incredibly powerful spell! What is the name of this spell?!"

Lu Yang earnestly replied, "An ancient supreme art, an immortal's legacy, a peerless divine ability: Village in the Palm."

Seventh Elder turned his head, looking at Lu Yang in surprise. He couldn't shake the feeling that the spell's name didn't quite live up to its impressive prefix.