The Baleful Pill

Chapter 334: The Baleful Pill

Han Li’s eyes swept over the spoils and immediately locked onto the five “Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pills.” Ecstasy surged through him.

Without a moment’s delay, he retrieved them from the beast puppet’s maw and began a meticulous inspection.

The immense spiritual power contained within the pills confirmed their authenticity. Satisfied, he took a fine jade box from his storage pouch and carefully stored the five pills away.

Though he did not know the precise effects of the Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pill, the fact that the Yue Emperor had valued them so highly—and that the young master of the Xin Estate had claimed they were useful for Core Formation—meant the rumor was very likely true. The thought sent a thrill of excitement through him.

His gaze then moved to the remaining items: a jet-black alms bowl, a blood-red awl no larger than a finger, and a jade slip that emanated a strange gray-white aura.

Han Li’s skin prickled at the sight.

These objects were clearly magical tools meant for demonic and heretical cultivators. There was no telling what seals or curses might still be attached to them. He did not reach for them right away. Instead, he took a deep breath, and a faint, thin layer of azure light enveloped his hands.

Only then did he cautiously pick up the jade slip and examine it.

Aside from its somewhat eerie aura, the jade slip appeared to carry no traps or restrictions. Relieved, Han Li slowly extended his spiritual sense into it.

The moment his spiritual sense entered the jade slip, he stood frozen, his expression cycling rapidly through surprise, elation, deep disappointment, and finally, extreme caution—tinged with a hint of fear he rarely displayed.

A full quarter-hour later, he withdrew his spiritual sense and stood there, dazed.

The contents of the jade slip were both as he had expected and far beyond what he had imagined.

It recorded the cultivation techniques of the Black Fiend Cult’s members. The young prince’s “Black Fiend Asura Art,” the Four Blood Servants’ “Baleful Demon Art,” and the Yue Emperor’s own “Blood-Refining Divine Light”—all were included.

But what shocked Han Li was that every single technique seemed to originate from something called the “Mysterious Yin Scripture.” This discovery stirred his curiosity greatly.

Yet no matter how thoroughly he searched the jade slip, he could find no mention of where the scripture itself was kept.

Helpless, Han Li gave up and turned his attention to the various secret arts recorded alongside the main techniques.

Several of them immediately caught his interest. Not only did they answer questions that had long puzzled him, but they also revealed the true purpose of the Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pill.

He steadied himself and read carefully.

The Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pill was a product of the Baleful Demon Art. Only cultivators who practiced that art could condense a pill-like core within their bodies—something akin to a demon beast’s inner core. This was, in fact, the very purpose for which the Baleful Demon Art had been created.

This was also why the Four Blood Servants could transform into baleful demons and reach Foundation Establishment without taking a single Foundation Establishment Pill. They had done so by forming this pill.

However, according to the Baleful Demon Art’s own description, even without using Blood Sacrifice techniques, the art’s accelerated cultivation made it impossible to ever form a true core. Foundation Establishment was its highest possible realm.

In truth, the same fatal flaw applied to nearly all the other techniques recorded here. Every single one of them was structurally incapable of Core Formation.

Of course, their speed of cultivation—augmented by Blood Sacrifice—was correspondingly astonishing.

The Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pill, it seemed, was created precisely to remedy this defect.

This brought Han Li to a secret art within the jade slip called the “Baleful Pill Art.”

According to this art, even the most mediocre late-Foundation Establishment cultivator—as long as he followed the procedure and consumed a Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pill—stood a one-in-three chance of forming a “Baleful Pill,” a false golden core that mimicked a true Core Formation cultivator’s golden core.

The Baleful Pill, upon formation, was slightly inferior to a true golden core in raw power, but not by much. It also granted the same life-extension benefits.

Han Li’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

A one-in-three chance at Core Formation? Wasn’t the Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pill simply too heaven-defying?

For a moment, he almost snatched up the five pills and swallowed one on the spot.

But the drawbacks of the Baleful Pill, outlined later in the same art, made him freeze.

Because the Baleful Pill was a man-made golden core, it could never grow larger once formed. This meant that the cultivator’s cultivation would never advance another step beyond the early Core Formation stage.

If that were the only flaw, Han Li might still have accepted the shortcut.

The Three Revolutions Heavy Origin Art required three cycles of dispersion and re-condensation—a method so arduous and uncertain that even Han Li felt no confidence in it. After all, the technique was nothing more than a supposition by the original creator of the Azure Origin Sword Art. No one had ever truly cultivated it.

The Baleful Pill Art was different. The tone of the description suggested that it had been used before.

A one-in-three chance was a temptation Han Li found excruciatingly hard to resist.

As for the fact that a Baleful Pill would forever prevent him from reaching the Nascent Soul stage, he dismissed that as a concern too distant to matter. Nascent Soul was something he only allowed himself to dream about at night.

For now, Core Formation was his highest goal. Whether he would still covet the Nascent Soul stage after reaching it could be decided later.

But then the Baleful Pill Art continued, and Han Li’s face fell.

Once a Baleful Pill was formed inside a cultivator’s body, it would continuously release baleful energy. Over time, this energy would gradually erode the cultivator’s mind.

The erosion would not lead to a complete loss of sanity or the inability to recognize loved ones. However, it would inevitably dull the mind, making the cultivator slower and stupider over time.

A chill ran down Han Li’s spine.

His own sharpness of mind was something he had always relied upon. It was his greatest asset in navigating the treacherous world of cultivation.

Upon reading this, Han Li hesitated only briefly before abandoning any thought of using the Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pill himself.

Disappointment washed over him. After all the effort he had expended, the Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pill had become a chicken rib—useless if consumed, but too valuable to discard.

Yet a moment’s thought told him something was off.

If the Baleful Pill were truly so flawed, why had the Yue Emperor gone to such lengths to cultivate it?

Given how cunning and calculating the man was, he surely would not have intended to consume it himself.

Han Li’s thoughts circled back to the other secret arts, and his attention settled on one that had intensely interested him from the start: the “External Incarnation” art.

This was a legendary top-tier demonic secret art. Han Li had heard of it long ago.

Though the specific methods and effects of External Incarnation arts varied wildly, every single one of them was treated as a lifeblood secret by demonic cultivators. They were among the highest secrets of any sect or school.

The Seven Great Sects of Yue had once spent a fortune trying to collect such techniques, but in the end, they had found nothing.

When Han Li finished reading the External Incarnation art at a glance, a wave of ecstasy washed over him.

He had finally found a use for the Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pill.

If his guess was correct, the Yue Emperor had likely made the same calculation. That was why he had spared no expense in cultivating the Four Blood Servants, all to refine the Blood Coagulation Five Elements Pill.

And the blue-robed figure—the one who had willingly let his cultivation be drained and then died under the Heaven Thunder Seed—must have been the incarnation the Yue Emperor was refining.

That was the only explanation for why he had submitted so willingly.

Suppressing the flood of thoughts in his mind, Han Li hurriedly scanned the remaining secret arts.

The “Marrow-Refining Pill” and the Blood Sacrifice techniques held no interest for him. He had never practiced demonic arts.

Only the last technique, the “Blood Spirit Drill,” caught his attention. He made a mental note of it.

Withdrawing his consciousness, Han Li took a moment to digest everything he had learned before turning his gaze to the two remaining physical objects.

The blood-red awl he had recovered was the solidified form of the Blood Spirit Drill after it had left its user’s body. It could probably be used as a magic tool.

As for the jet-black alms bowl, it was a rare magical tool called a “Soul-Gathering Bowl,” designed to contain cultivators’ souls and primordial spirits. Once trapped inside, all souls and spirits would gradually lose their spiritual nature, becoming ordinary wandering ghosts, available for heretical cultivators to command and refine.

Han Li only examined the Soul-Gathering Bowl briefly before a chill forced him to withdraw his hands. He quickly stored it away in his pouch.

He knew full well that without cultivating a yin-type art, he would be unable to use this tool.

Given the bowl’s intense yin aura, who knew how many cultivators’ souls had perished within it?

Prolonged contact would only invite a serious illness.