The Scripture of Zhou Tian's Starry Sky Mystic Elixir, Ice Clod's Soup

Qinghe County.

Early in the morning, the chirping of birds pierced through the window gauze of the side chamber.

Li Mo was jolted awake by the system's notification tone.

Blinking against the sunlight, he saw the familiar ceiling above him and froze for a moment before letting out a yawn.

"Haven’t slept this well in ages."

He had never pushed his limits to such an extreme before.

Every last drop of his inner breath had been exhausted.

The mental strain had been so immense that he’d blacked out entirely.

Checking his dantian, Li Mo was surprised to find a sliver of inner breath had already replenished.

Had he been cultivating in his sleep?

Unable to make sense of it, he turned his attention to the culprit that had disturbed his peaceful slumber.

[Congratulations, Host. Successful investment in ‘Qian Bufan,’ preventing him from falling into a demonic sect ambush.]

[Investment Reward: 《Eight Treasures Gold-Devouring Art》]

[Eight Treasures Gold-Devouring Art]: "Rooted in the essence of wealth and treasures, aligned with the Metal element, its offensive power is unparalleled. However, the cost is immense. Unless one is considerably wealthy, practice with caution."

"Elder Qian’s martial art?"

Li Mo had once mused about getting his hands on Old Qian’s techniques.

Who would’ve thought the system would drop it just like that?

Still, he already had a primary cultivation method—he wasn’t sure if this one was even compatible.

The rewards didn’t stop there.

[Congratulations, Host. Successful investment in ‘He Chen,’ preventing him from falling into the Summoning Demon Sect’s ambush.]

[Investment Reward: 《Cloud-Sundering Sword Art》]

[Cloud-Sundering Sword Art]: "A sword technique passed down through the lineage of the Horizontal Cloud Sword City, comprehended by the Bai Clan’s patriarch while observing sword-like clouds. Only direct disciples may learn it."

[Congratulations, Host. Successful investment in ‘Zhou Tu,’ preventing his demise in the Blood Phoenix Secret Realm.]

[Investment Reward: Crimson Ganoderma Wine.]

[Congratulations, Host. Successful investment in ‘Yao Feng,’ preventing his demise in the Blood Phoenix Secret Realm.]

[Investment Reward: Eight Years of Martial Insight.]

......

A flood of investment rewards left Li Mo’s head spinning, his eyes struggling to keep up.

There were quite a few noteworthy treasures among them.

Martial arts alone numbered thirty, the lowest among them being high-tier, with several even classified as peerless techniques.

Unfortunately, the peerless-grade ones were all low-tier—not a single mid-tier among them.

Three Ancient Bronze Scripture Seals.

One Ancient Bronze Creation Seal.

The Creation Seal seemed far rarer than the Scripture Seal—the former was for refining divine diagrams, while the latter was for martial arts.

Perhaps it was a matter of probability, or maybe divine diagrams were inherently more valuable than martial arts of the same tier.

"The library has very few divine diagrams—must be the latter."

Setting aside the martial arts rewards, Li Mo turned his attention to the chaotic mess in his system space.

Grinning, he began organizing his newfound wealth.

Twenty thousand taels of red gold.

Three hundred thousand taels of regular gold.

Silver? Hard to say—the stack of silver notes filled an entire chest. Cashing them out would easily amount to millions.

Forty-some pieces of Mystic Crystal.

No need to elaborate—these were even more valuable than red gold.

"Pfft, the Eight Treasures Gold-Devouring Art? If I wanted to practice it, it’d be a breeze."

Li Mo decided to revise his self-introduction.

"Modest wealth" could now be upgraded to "comfortable assets."

The rest of the treasures—ores, jewels, medicinal herbs, fine wines, precious teas—had also diversified significantly.

His system space had expanded by a third.

All of it harvested from the Blood Phoenix Secret Realm.

"Holy smokes."

"This trip was worth it."

Judging by the rewards, Li Mo had effectively saved the majority of the participants in the secret realm.

Some he’d rescued through chivalry in the first layer, while others were spared when he shattered the realm itself—apparently counting as his "investment."

In other words, without him, disaster would have struck.

The Summoning Demon Sect had planned to let no one leave alive.

"All I wanted was to invest in that ice block..."

Li Mo sighed.

Speaking of which, he suddenly remembered—he hadn’t even checked the rewards from the ice block yet.

His consciousness plunged back into the system space.

A golden page.

A golden seal.

These were the rewards from Ying Bing.

[Gilded Creation Seal]: "When stamped upon a divine diagram, it can refine, perfect, and elevate its tier. Usable on diagrams up to the Extreme Form level."

Li Mo had read the "Annals of Divine Forms."

Incidentally, that book was written by Han Zhen.

If it could work on Extreme Forms, then the Gilded Creation Seal could elevate a divine diagram from Extreme Form to Great Dao Divine Form.

Currently, he owned three divine diagrams:

The Night Ghost Statue.

The Flesh Buddha.

And the Golden Crow Ascending to the Sun.

The first two weren’t particularly useful—whether they were powerful or not, they weren’t exactly orthodox. Practicing them would likely turn him into a pariah.

As for the Golden Crow Ascending to the Sun, he’d once thought it was a Great Dao Divine Form.

Turned out it was merely an Extreme Form.

"My understanding of the Divine Form Realm is still shallow. No need to rush using the Gilded Creation Seal."

"Besides, this thing only drops from the ice block."

Suppressing the urge to immediately obtain a Great Dao Divine Form, Li Mo moved on.

[Zhou Tian Star Pill Scripture]: "A supreme art, recording the profound mysteries of the celestial stars. By refining star pills within one’s inner cosmos, one may manifest the full array of the heavens. Only when the star pills number three hundred sixty-five will perfection be achieved, allowing the pills to emulate the myriad phenomena of the universe!"

Li Mo: "Huh?"

He was stunned.

Three hundred sixty-five star pills?

Did that mean he had to condense three hundred sixty-five mystic pills?

Rubbing his eyes, Li Mo checked again—no mistake.

The golden page bore no text. The information was transmitted directly to his soul.

This confirmed it—the 《Zhou Tian Star Pill Scripture》 could no longer be classified as a mere martial art.

It had transcended the category entirely.

"But... can my dantian even hold that many?"

He couldn’t wrap his head around it.

"Wait..."

"These pills aren’t stored in the dantian—they’re in the inner cosmos."

Li Mo realized.

This wasn’t something meant for the Inner Breath Realm.

An inner cosmos was a hallmark of the sixth realm—the Dharma Body Realm.

Three hundred sixty-five mystic pills made sense for a Dharma Body cultivator.

But...

"I don’t have an inner cosmos."

"But... what about a minor world?"

A thought struck him.

He assessed his current condition.

After pushing his body to the brink, every cell screamed for replenishment. His meridians were parched, tangled like knotted ropes, requiring careful recuperation.

Once his vitality was restored, he might even break through to new heights.

"By then, the opportunity to condense a mystic pill should arrive."

Taking a deep breath, Li Mo tried to get out of bed—only to find his limbs weak.

The famed "Hammer King of the Northwest" nearly toppled over.

Nearly.

Because he collided with something cold, fragrant, and jade-like.

Namely—Ying Bing’s shoulder.

"You’re awake."

A voice like jade beads falling onto stone reached his ears.

Looking up, Li Mo met Ying Bing’s downward gaze.

She had changed into a homely dress and was holding a bowl of medicinal broth.

Normally quick-witted, Li Mo found himself at a loss for words.

After a long pause, he straightened up and nodded.

"Thanks."

"I should be thanking you."

Ying Bing took a seat at the antique rosewood table, carefully arranging the items from the tray before lightly patting the stool beside her:

"Come here, sit down."

"What's this?"

Li Mo eyed the objects on the table, a sinking feeling creeping into his chest.

"Tonic."

Ying Bing stirred the contents of the bowl with a spoon, then tapped the rim of the celadon vessel with a crisp clink.

"Drink it."

"Then I’ll help you regulate your meridians."

Li Mo: "!"

He glanced between the girl’s serene gaze and the bowl of liquid on the table.

The same Li Mo who had once fought two opponents at once like a celestial descending from the heavens, wielding divine weapons in a furious battle within the Inner Breath Realm—now shuddered involuntarily.

Folks, any ideas on how to escape the "Big Lang’s Medicine" scenario?

Waiting online. Urgent.