Chapter 190 Images of the Sun-Shooting Bow

The soul network of senior alchemists was filled with noise. Any promising young alchemist would be mentioned and praised. Previously, Zhong Cai was praised the most, but now that Zhong Cai was focused on refining, Wu Shaogan was in the limelight and naturally became a topic of conversation for a while.

Sang Yunchu raised her eyebrows slightly, looking at the person beside her with a good mood.

Jiang Chongguang was standing there.

Noticing Sang Yunchu's gaze, Jiang Chongguang turned to look at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

Sang Yunchu chuckled and said, "Many fellow alchemists are praising Shao Gan."

Jiang Chongguang then laughed and said, "Young Master's performance at this moment is indeed not bad."

At that moment, someone from the large ship next to him came looking for him.

Sang Yunchu flashed over and stood to Yuan Yifei's right, teasing him with a smile: "What a lazy guy, he came to me himself but refused to move, insisting that I come over."

Yuan Yifei glanced to the side helplessly and shook his head slightly.

Not far away, Lu Yuning was refining pills. However, with his Suspended Illumination Realm cultivation being only at the third level of alchemy, it was likely that he wouldn't be able to ascend the Pill God Tree by the end of the entire Rejuvenation Day.

Sang Yunchu paused.

It was also a coincidence that Lu Yuning was currently producing pills, all of which were of medium grade. If he were an ordinary alchemist, this would be a good result, but since he was a disciple of a seventh-level alchemist and could consult with a seventh-level alchemist at any time, it seemed rather unremarkable.

Sang Yunchu didn't say much.

Over the years, the many troubles his friend's junior disciple had encountered... were truly unpredictable. For the sake of his disciple Lu Yuning, his friend even exchanged two puppets made by Canglong with him to "protect" Lu Yuning, keeping him by his side at all times to prevent any further mistakes.

Yuan Yifei glanced at Lu Yuning again.

Under such care, Lu Yuning is still diligently refining pills, but not only are the quality of his pills mediocre, but his success rate is also not high.

Yuan Yifei doesn't know how to teach this disciple right now, so he can only restrain his temperament for now and see how things go over time.

·

Sang Yunchu didn't dwell on the matter, but smiled and pointed in the direction of the Pill God Tree, saying, "I just saw Wanyue produce pills twice, and she received quite a few gifts." Then he suddenly added, "Ting'er has also produced a pill now."

Mentioning his two disciples improved Yuan Yifei's mood considerably, and he smiled and said, "Inspired by Cai'er, Wan Yue's alchemy skills are now several times better than before, and she has some of my former prowess. As her senior brother, Ting'er, I only hope that he won't be outdone by his junior sister."

The two senior alchemists then turned their attention to the Divine Pill Tree and the direction where Jiting was.

Kitting was completely focused on completing the final step.

Fortunately, nothing went wrong.

At this moment, although Jiting has not refined a full-strength pill, he has five pills, two of which are of superior quality!

Yuan Yifei feigned disdain and said, "The results aren't bad, but they're still far from Cai'er's level. We should put in ten times the effort."

Sang Yunchu raised his delicate eyebrows: "Brother Yifei, what you say is inappropriate. Ting'er and Cai'er are from different sects, which has some influence on them."

Yuan Yifei pointed at Sang Yunchu and laughed loudly, "You, you, all you do is pat yourself on the back. Cai'er becoming your disciple is such a huge advantage for you!"

Sang Yunchu chuckled softly: "Cai'er doesn't care about such a small gain."

Yuan Yifei laughed even harder, and his previous gloom gradually dissipated.

The two then saw that Jiting had fed all the elixirs to the Dan Shenmu tree and had also obtained some resources from the blue light.

Sang Yunchu recognized them: "Ten level-five Hunting Cloud Grasses and a pill recipe. The pill recipe is most likely related to Hunting Cloud Grass."

Yuan Yifei sighed softly, "I'm not very satisfied with Dan Shenmu."

This is not surprising, as the Dan Shenmu prefers to devour top-grade pills, and even high-grade pills can barely satisfy its appetite.

As for the lower and middle grades...

Then, Ji Ting picked up a low-grade level 5 pill from the ground beside him—it was the only low-grade pill from the previous batch.

Sang Yunchu said, "Sure enough, it's the same this time. The Pill God Tree never consumes low-grade pills. Not only Ting'er's fifth-grade low-grade pills, but even if any alchemist refines a sixth-grade low-grade pill, it will definitely not eat it."

Yuan Yifei smiled and said, "When Ting'er returns, have him learn this new prescription. It was given by Dan Shenmu, so it must be quite good."

At this moment, Jiang Chongguang had already silently appeared beside Sang Yunchu.

His purpose in coming here was naturally to protect the numerous alchemist disciples, but he also bore the responsibility of protecting Sang Yunchu. Sang Yunchu, as an eighth-level Pill Emperor, was extremely important. With Sang Yunchu, the Azure Dragon Academy would have the opportunity to produce more Nirvana Realm experts in the future. Even the Dean, who was currently in seclusion, had already received a considerable number of specially sent eighth-level pills and had already reaped many benefits.

Sang Yunchu absolutely cannot be allowed to get into trouble. If he encounters any danger, he will not hesitate to destroy himself or even one of his father's clones.

Therefore, even if Sang Yunchu is now on a familiar person's treasure ship, Jiang Chongguang will stay close by, leaving no room for suspicion.

While the two senior alchemists chatted, Jiang Chongguang and Yuan Bing also exchanged brief conversations from time to time.

More often than not, the two of them acted like bodyguards, serious and vigilant, without uttering a word.

Jiang Chongguang would occasionally glance at his disciple, analyzing his fighting strategy and searching for weaknesses. Once this Spring Return Day was over, he could then explain it to his disciple.

·

On the Dan Shen tree, Wu Shaogan killed far too quickly.

Zhong Cai had only just started to add a few medicinal herbs when Wu Shaogan had already carried out more than a dozen rounds of slaughter.

Each round of wooden beasts would appear and then disappear immediately, unable to get even a fraction of a distance from Zhong Cai.

Gradually, the wooden beast appeared less and less frequently.

From the moment one falls, another will surely appear within a few breaths. Suddenly, the pause in between becomes any moment within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. And each time a wooden beast appears, it is no longer just one, but two or three.

That's all.

Moreover, these wooden beasts will not let Zhong Cai go. They can scatter and appear from any direction, and attack Zhong Cai quickly!

Wu Shaogan's movements were extremely fast, as were those of the wooden beast.

If Wu Shaogan spends too much time on one of the wooden beasts, the other wooden beast will pounce on Zhong Cai!

Although Zhong Cai's martial arts skills were also quite good, these wooden beasts were all based on Wu Shaogan's strength.

That is, the peak of the fourth tier.

Even if Zhong Cai abandoned alchemy to deal with the wooden beast, he, a mid-stage Suspension Illumination cultivator, still couldn't defeat it—of course, this wasn't a big problem. He could abandon this batch of pills, temporarily deal with the wooden beast, and wait for Wu Shaogan to finish off the wooden beast over there before coming to help.

·

Since a batch of pills could be exchanged for something quite good, Zhong Cai naturally wouldn't give up.

Zhong Cai trusted his old man Wu completely, so he didn't pay any attention to the other conditions on the blades.

Whether the wooden beast was silent or roaring, or whether fierce claw-like winds were rushing towards him, Zhong Cai remained completely oblivious...

Wu Shaogan did not disappoint Zhong Cai.

When two wooden beasts appear, Wu Shaogan only needs to block one of them on the side and quickly draw his bow to shoot the other one, which is further away.

When the three wooden beasts appeared at the same time, Wu Shaogan released his avatar.

The avatar could easily deal with one of the wooden beasts, and Wu Shaogan simply used the same method to deal with the remaining two.

There were even two wooden beasts attacking together, but suddenly a third one appeared!

However, this was no secret to Wu Shaogan. With his keen sense of danger, he could quickly detect when the wooden beast appeared or from which corner, and quickly devise a battle plan!

Thus, the wooden beasts' attacks became more and more varied, posing an increasing challenge to Wu Shaogan. Yet, Wu Shaogan never failed, and every wooden beast that appeared was completely wiped out by him.

The area around Zhong Cai can be described as a pure land.

·

As time went on, more and more alchemists gradually ascended to the leaf.

Those who ascended in the early stages all succeeded in producing pills on their first batch. Their pill-making skills were often superior, and the martial arts cultivators protecting them were usually not too anxious, giving them more time to refine pills that would win the favor of the Pill God Tree.

The later the alchemist, the worse their alchemy skills will be, or they may have good alchemy skills but poor mental fortitude, or they may have a very low success rate in making pills.

They might have refined several batches of pills before they could ascend to the Pill God Tree, or perhaps they only managed to do so by sheer luck and exceptional skill. Once they were on the Pill God Tree, they might frequently fail in their refining process, and might even end up refining pills that the Pill God Tree wouldn't want to consume at all...

Moreover, not every alchemist can find a suitable martial arts practitioner.

The powerful forces naturally had no problem, as they knew the news early and made preparations in advance. However, some people only heard about it from others, or only found out at the last minute and could only hastily hire or bring along a martial arts cultivator... so the quality varied greatly.

Some more martial arts practitioners joined the clash of the leaves.

Most martial arts cultivators weren't in such a hurry. The day of rejuvenation wasn't just coming to an end; it would take quite some time. After all, this was the "Dan" Divine Tree, and it was meant to allow alchemists to make the most of it. So they all observed first, focusing solely on protecting the alchemists.

Unfortunately, there are always impatient "neighbors," either desperately hoping to use their abilities to elevate the leaves and gain benefits from the Divine Pill Tree, or feeling that their own alchemists have failed repeatedly and are therefore impatient for quick results, or perhaps for some other reason—

It's possible that the alchemists gave instructions to the martial arts cultivators. For example, if the alchemists nearby happened to be from an opposing force, and their alchemy skills were superior to their own, they would rather not gain much benefit themselves than let the opposing force's alchemists profit from the Divine Pill Tree...

It's even possible that some alchemists simply haven't found any martial arts cultivators they can trust. Perhaps these cultivators harbor ill will towards alchemists, or perhaps they've been bribed to do this intentionally, hoping to influence alchemists and force them to leave the Pill God Tree.

As a result, the flames of war swept across the land, and many layers of leaves became unsettled.

Many alchemists were knocked down at this moment. Many of them were so focused on refining pills that they did not notice and fell directly from the sky without any time to react. They all screamed in agony...

Those who fall directly from the tree and are not caught by anyone are either injured or killed.

Several alchemists have already died.

The opportunities presented by the Divine Pill Tree are actually quite mild. Alchemists focus wholeheartedly on refining pills on the Divine Pill Tree, and many dangers are evaded by martial arts cultivators, so there shouldn't be any problems.

However, human nature is unpredictable, and every time spring returns, some alchemists will still perish. Even though many high-level alchemists and powerful martial arts cultivators watch from the outside each time, absolute safety cannot be guaranteed.

The number of deaths was not large; compared to the vast total number of alchemists who climbed trees, it was extremely small.

Yet it still happens every single time.

·

Zhong Cai's Energy-Replenishing Pill has reached the final few steps of refinement.

Suddenly, he smelled the scent of blood, his brows furrowed, and he naturally became distracted.

It was precisely because of this that Zhong Cai heard several high-pitched screams—his five senses were still very sharp.

Subconsciously, Zhong Cai glanced at the leaves below.

Even though those leaves were still far from his level, he could see many martial arts cultivators fighting among the leaves at the same level. At the same time, alchemists were also affected. After the martial arts cultivators accompanying them were defeated, the leaves beneath them flipped over and they fell down, involuntarily shouting.

Just as Zhong Cai looked over, he witnessed a master alchemist fall to the ground with a thud and die instantly!

Even though the martial arts practitioners around him had only lost, not died, they didn't chase after them to pick them up...

Zhong Cai hissed and looked away.

During the brief moment that Zhong Cai was distracted, the medicinal herbs in the furnace had already interacted and reacted completely.

Zhong Cai began the final step of alchemy.

Before long, he finished the task smoothly and successfully produced the pill.

It's still full of Dan, without a doubt.

From the very beginning of his alchemy training, Zhong Cai would only produce partially finished pills when first trying new ones. Once he had mastered the technique, he would meticulously refine his skills, and every pill he produced afterward would be fully finished.

Zhong Cai had refined the Replenishing Strength Pill many times, and this time she performed steadily, producing three top-grade pills and three high-grade pills.

He thought for a moment, then took out one of the top-grade ones and fed the remaining five to the Pill God Wood.

Wu Shaogan had just finished killing a wooden beast and now walked over with a smile, sitting cross-legged next to Zhong Cai.

The other "Wu Shaogan," the avatar he released, had just finished dealing with a wooden beast, and now transformed into a stream of light, returning to Wu Shaogan's body.

Zhong Cai handed the top-grade Energy-Replenishing Pill directly to his old man, Wu, and said with a grin, "Old Wu, you've worked hard!"

Wu Shaogan took it, but didn't eat it yet. His smile deepened as he said, "How can you say it's hard work taking care of A-Cai?"

Zhong Cai beamed with joy. If it weren't for the fact that they were in a public place and that the number of souls sweeping over from time to time was in the tens of thousands, he would have hugged Old Wu's neck and given him a big kiss!

But I'll pass now; the performance went too far.

Wu Shaogan put away the pills, but slightly adjusted his energy and spirit.

Before Zhong Cai appeared a large expanse of blue light.

There are quite a few things vaguely visible inside.

Zhong Cai chuckled, "When I was refining pills earlier, the resources I produced were the same, but this time there are quite a lot. Old Wu, how many wood beasts did you kill? Yours must be among them!"

Wu Shaogan thought for a moment and said, "I killed a few... I didn't count."

Zhong Cai didn't mind, she just reached out and took out the resources one by one.

The very first thing is a jade tablet.

He recognizes this thing! It's a heirloom jade tablet!

Zhong Caihun scanned it with her mind and immediately showed a shocked expression, as if the jade tablet in her hand was burning hot. She tossed it to Wu Shaogan and said mysteriously, "Look, it's a surprise for you!"

Wu Shaogan raised his eyebrows, took it, and then, following Zhong Cai's example, sent his spiritual sense into it to examine it.

In an instant, it felt as if tomorrow was hanging high in the sky!

But upon closer inspection, one would discover that it was actually an enormous and imposing bird hovering high in the sky, its wings spread wide, its entire body enveloped in terrifying flames, as if it were burning!

It faced a city, opened its enormous mouth, and suddenly inhaled—

In the next instant, countless black dots flew up from the city, almost converging into a torrent, and were all swallowed by the giant bird.

Those tiny black dots are clearly countless black figures!

It turned out that the giant bird came to hunt for food and treated all the citizens of the city as its own delicacies, eating them without any restraint.

Such a terrifying bird was beyond the resistance of any cultivator in the city. Several powerful cultivators charged forward, but they were easily devoured by the bird. Despite launching countless attacks, they could not harm the bird in the slightest.

The giant bird devoured its prey, unaware that, at some point, a burly human figure had suddenly appeared on an inconspicuous hilltop on the other side of the mountain range.

The man's face was indistinct, and he held a large bow in his hand, which shimmered with a strange brilliance.

Between the bowstrings, an incredibly powerful and frenzied energy was brewing, constantly converging into ten crimson arrows!

In another instant, the man shot out a long arrow!

After the ten arrows were launched, they quickly converged and, at a speed visible to the naked eye, condensed into an even larger golden arrow! It headed straight for the giant bird!

The arrow struck the enormous bird's abdomen with remarkable accuracy.

Caught off guard, the giant bird let out an extremely terrifying cry. The sound waves continued to radiate and spread, creating fine, dense black cracks in the surrounding space!

Those are spatial cracks.

This enormous bird already possesses such terrifying power simply by uttering a cry!

The giant bird seemed to be unleashing all its strength as it tried to shake off the massive arrow lodged in its abdomen!

However, it simply cannot do that.

The giant arrow still contained terrifying power, and its power continued to expand after it struck the giant bird!

The wound on the giant bird grew larger, and the power from the giant arrow spread extremely quickly. In the blink of an eye, it had enveloped the entire giant bird, turning it into a giant fireball—unlike the previous giant bird that resembled the sun, this one was much more dazzling and burst out in all directions!

Countless flames, like a rain of fire, fell in droves.

After the light dissipated, the giant bird was no longer in the sky.

It is completely dead.

At this moment, the figure drawing the bow and shooting the arrow still had the bow drawn, and turned his head, seemingly glancing in a certain direction.

That glance seemed to connect with Wu Shaogan's soul.

It was as if the two of them were separated by countless years and spaces, and they were looking at each other.

Of course, this is just an illusion.

As Wu Shaogan withdrew his spiritual thoughts, the various things he had seen before still lingered in his mind, causing his pupils to shrink slightly.

Clearly, that scene greatly shocked Wu Shaogan.

Next, Wu Shaogan felt a square handkerchief placed on his face to wipe his sweat—he was quite sweaty because he was deeply engrossed in the situation and his mind was in turmoil.

When Wu Shaogan came to his senses, he saw his wife, A Cai, getting closer.

Zhong Cai asked with concern, "Old Wu, how are you?"

Just now, after his soul entered, he also saw the giant bird "Tomorrow Soars Across the Sky" and the burly cultivator holding a large bow.

Zhong Cai knew immediately that this had nothing to do with alchemy, and withdrew.

As for the surprise he told his old man...

Wu Shaogan exhaled and said, "This is the owner of the Sun-Shooting Bow from ancient times."

·

Each accompanying treasure may have followed only one owner.

The Sun-Shooting Bow was no exception.

The image on the jade tablet records a scene from ancient times where a user of the Sun-Shooting Bow used it to kill a ninth-tier giant bird.

That giant bird was called: Great Sun Kunpeng.

It is a terrifying rare beast that can eventually reach the ninth rank and has a great fondness for eating people.

Once it reaches a certain level, it will gain intelligence. Even so, it still has a craving for humans. It will cunningly find opportunities when human powerhouses are unable to leave, and devour the city's inhabitants as quickly as possible. One or two cities, or even several cities, will become its food!

The Great Sun Kunpeng is one of the rare beasts that are the mortal enemies of the human race.

The reason it's called the Sun-Shooting Bow is that it didn't actually shoot down the blazing sun from the sky.

Based on what's shown in this video, one can't help but speculate that perhaps... the name of this Sun-Shooting Bow comes from its hunting of the Great Sun Kunpeng.

The Sun-Shooting Bow is a murder weapon!

At the same time, it should also be the mortal enemy of the Great Sun Kunpeng.

·

That scene is so ancient; you can tell from the shape of the city and the changes in the mountains.

In this scene, the burly figure and the Great Sun Kunpeng are two opposing entities, making them the most conspicuous.

After seeing those images, Wu Shaogan felt as if he were experiencing them firsthand.

The "charm" of that arrow suddenly gave Wu Shaogan a lot of insights.

He could vaguely see the trajectory of the arrow, but he also understood that it was impossible for him to fully master it at his current level. However, he could learn a new archery technique that suited him by constantly observing and studying it.

Wu Shaogan was quite confident, and he already had countless ideas in his mind, ready to give them a try at any time.

However, he quickly gathered his scattered thoughts and wrote down the inspiration he had.

Now is not the time for Wu Shaogan to concentrate on his studies.

·

Zhong Cai sighed, “Dan Shenmu is truly a…” He pondered his words, “…a very respectable elder.”

Although it should be a treasure, it must possess wisdom, and it is truly kind and selfless!

Zhong Cai guessed that it was probably the way his old man used the bow and arrow that Dan Shenmu saw on the leaves that made him realize that he was actually the owner of the Sun-Shooting Bow. Dan Shenmu might even have seen that his old man had gone to great lengths to reshape the damaged Sun-Shooting Bow.

So, Dan Shenmu gave the old man Wu a scene he had stored, depicting the moment when the owner of the Sun-Shooting Bow demonstrated his archery skills.

The Divine Tree must value talent highly, because if Old Wu has enough strength, it will bestow upon him the most suitable treasure!