Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

Chapter 1988 (Raw 2085.5 Missing from Raws): The Depressed Third Palace Master

The Third Palace Master immediately felt very anxious. A medicine cauldron that could withstand a stellar core was, at the very least, a Grade 9 Heaven Rank medicine cauldron.

For Alchemists, a good medicine cauldron was hard to come by.

It was like a cultivator’s saber or sword, something close to the heart.

Xiao Chen looked around contemplatively. However, he could not find a suitable place for the medicine cauldron.

That medicine cauldron was at least three kilometers tall, something incredibly vast. It would be like a mountain when taken out.

There was also the flame within the medicine cauldron. That would be too eye-catching and hard to deal with.

“What’s wrong?”

Xiao Chen answered honestly, “This residence of mine is too small for it.”

Finding that strange, the Third Palace Master said, “How big can a medicine cauldron be? Come with me. I’ll bring you to a place.”

“Whoosh!”

Right after the Third Palace Master spoke, he picked up Xiao Chen and soared into the air. This disoriented Xiao Chen, preventing him from figuring out which way they headed.

When the two landed, they were in a desolate area.

“This is where I usually go into closed-door training. I’ll bring you to my secret realm for refining pills. It definitely can contain your medicine cauldron. After all, if I fail in a refinement, the resulting shock waves would be horrific.”

Xiao Chen saw the Third Palace Master quickly forming hand seals, and the surroundings promptly blurred.

When the surroundings turned clear again, Xiao Chen discovered that he already entered the secret realm.

This secret realm was an independent small world with herb fields. The Spiritual Energy here was extraordinarily lush, and there were all sorts of natural treasures.

It teemed with thousand-year-old herbs, and even ten-thousand-year-old herbs and older were visible in large numbers. It was simply unbelievable.

Xiao Chen felt dazzled at the sight. These…these are all the Third Palace Master’s?

Some of the Spirit Herbs made Xiao Chen drool at the sight of them. They were simply too tempting.

“Don’t overthink. These are the sect’s accumulations over tens of thousands of years. I am just the guardian and do not have the authority to make use of them. Given your rank, even if you become a heaven-class Elder, you would not be able to come here, either.”

The Third Palace Master continued, “Hence, don’t even think about these sect accumulations. Our seniors exchanged their lives for these. We cannot casually use them. Come, let me see your medicine cauldron.”

Xiao Chen did his best to retract his gaze. When he looked around, he discovered that there was plenty of space. His figure flickered, and he arrived at an empty space.

Then, he raised his hand. The ground boomed and shook violently.

The Third Palace Master, who was far away secretly taking a sip of wine, was startled before he could even finish his drink.

When he looked up, he discovered that a mountain had appeared in this secret realm at some point in time.

He squinted at it and discovered that this was not a mountain. It was clearly a colossal medicine cauldron the size of a mountain.

“This…”

The Third Palace Master could not help feeling flabbergasted. This stupefied even him.

“Rumble…!”

A fierce flame appeared above the medicine cauldron, along with a horrifying Medicinal Energy. This startled the Third Palace Master to his senses. Then, his figure flashed as he rushed over. “Where did you get this medicine cauldron?”

Xiao Chen answered honestly, telling the Third Palace Master about the ancient city left by a True God in Desolate God Valley and explaining that the medicine cauldron was something he obtained from the herb garden there.

The Third Palace Master immediately showed incredible regret. “How unfortunate! How unfortunate! An ancient city left by a True God. To think that I did not sense it immediately. To think that it was a bunch of brats like you lot searching it.”

Xiao Chen thought for a while, then said, “It should not be too late to go now. With Third Palace Master’s cultivation, you should be able to gain something.”

“Gain something, my ass. It has been so long already. The Holy Domain’s people should have already taken it away.”

“Holy Domain?” Xiao Chen parroted, finding it strange. What’s that place?

The Third Palace Master realized that he let something slip, so he did not continue bemoaning the missed opportunity. He said sullenly, “Speaking of which, the medicine cauldron is colossal. Who refined your storage ring? How could it contain the medicine cauldron?”

Xiao Chen did not answer him. He said in a neutral tone, “Third Palace Master, don’t ask too much about that. How’s the medicine cauldron? Can it be used?”

Xiao Chen had to keep the Divine Universe Stele a secret. A spatial tool that could store living people was too horrifying.

The Third Palace Master had just wanted to change the topic, so he did not dwell on that. As he looked at the medicine cauldron, he showed a grave expression.

Then, he discovered something on the top of the medicine cauldron. It seemed like there were some words there. After studying them, he exclaimed in shock, “Divine characters!

“This is a medicine cauldron engraved with divine characters. This…”

This was too shocking. The Third Palace Master felt that his knowledge was inadequate.

The Third Palace Master simply had not expected Xiao Chen, an insignificant Holy Venerate, to dig out such a terrifying item.

“Can you use it?”

When Xiao Chen saw the situation, he felt somewhat nervous. Don’t tell me that you cannot use it, either. That would be too disappointing.

That would mean that I brought trash back home. It has no use at all.

The Third Palace Master forced himself to say, “I am not confident of using this medicine cauldron. Originally, I thought that it was a Grade 9 Heaven Rank medicine cauldron. Who could have imagined it would be a medicine cauldron that surpassed Heaven Rank? It is a Divine Rank medicine cauldron. Furthermore, it has divine characters engraved.”

“So?” Xiao Chen prompted.

The Third Palace Master said seriously, “I can give it a try. However, don’t take back your medicine cauldron yet. Ahem! Ahem! I’ll study it first.”

Even if the Third Palace Master could not use it, he could study it.

This would be of great help to his skill at alchemy. With this thought, the Third Palace Master could not help getting excited.

The Third Palace Master had been stuck at Rank 7 Grandmaster Alchemist for many years already.

This gave him the impression that he did not have much of a chance of advancing further in this life. However, this medicine cauldron before him reignited his hopes.

Xiao Chen rolled his eyes and said, “You can’t even use it, so what is the point of leaving it here? I’d better take it back.”

“Don’t!” the Third Palace Master quickly protested.

Xiao Chen asked, “What’s wrong?!”

The Third Palace Master smiled and said, “Let’s discuss this. While I cannot use this thing now, once I make a breakthrough and can use it to refine pills, their quality would increase by another level. At that time, I will halve my profits with you. Just think about it: you no longer have to worry about resources for the rest of your life.”

Xiao Chen’s lips curled up as he retorted, “At the end of the day, you still can’t use it. I’d better look for someone else.”

The Third Palace Master stopped smiling. As he looked at Xiao Chen, he said, “I finally figured it out. Brat, you are targeting those sect accumulations, right?”

Xiao Chen said righteously, “The sect accumulations have been inherited for tens of thousands of years. It is the cumulation of our seniors’ lives and hot-bloodedness. How could I dare to target them? Third Palace Master, please don’t smear my good name. I only want to take back the medicine cauldron.”

Rubbing his chin, the Third Palace Master said, “Actually, it is possible to give you a Spirit Herb of more than ten thousand years old.”

“Haha! Thank you, Third Palace Master.”

“Whoosh!”

Xiao Chen turned into a lightning bolt plunging into the endless herb fields. Then, he plucked an ice-attributed fruit that caught his eye earlier.

The fruit abounded with cold Qi, looking like an ice crystal. It gave off wisps of white vapor that formed beautiful ice flowers in its surroundings.

Xiao Chen did not know what fruit this was, but he vaguely sensed that it would be of great help in cultivating the Ice Dao.

“Damn! That is a Nine Heavens Profound Ice Fruit that’s about to turn into a herb king!” The Third Palace Master let out a startled cry. Initially, he thought that Xiao Chen would randomly choose a ten-thousand-year-old Spirit Herb.

He never expected Xiao Chen to choose something close to becoming a herb king. This was a considerable loss.

Xiao Chen stored the fruit in a brocade box and quickly returned. He smiled and asked, “Third Palace Master, what is a herb king? Can you explain it to this junior?”

Seeing Xiao Chen’s ignorant expression made the Third Palace Master so angry that he huffed, his beard rising momentarily, and glared at Xiao Chen. Then, he barked, “Scram. Scram. You managed to trick this old man. Brat, you never intended to take the medicine cauldron away in the first place.”

Xiao Chen felt delighted. He knew he struck it big. He smiled and said, “In that case, I’ll be leaving. I won’t tell you what is in the medicine cauldron.”

“Come back here.”

The Third Palace Master grabbed Xiao Chen and demanded, “What is in there?”

Xiao Chen said innocently, “I am preparing to scram. Third Palace Master, you were the one who told me to scram.”

The Third Palace Master offered in frustration, “Alright, I will raise the rank of your cultivation resources after this, from Rank 4 to Rank 5. Will that do now?”

Xiao Chen adjusted his clothes and showed a helpless smile, looking like he was put on the spot. Then, he said, “Third Palace Master, why do you keep forcing me to take things? I did not even ask for them, but you keep forcing them on me. Well, there is a rudimentary Divine Pill inside. However, the Divine Pill already gained intelligence and is not easy to deal with. In fact, I can’t even find it.”

“A Divine Pill?”

The Third Palace Master vanished in the blink of an eye. Finding this strange, Xiao Chen said, “Where’d he go?”

Xiao Chen smiled in his heart, knowing that the Third Palace Master had gone in search of the Divine Pill. However, having been in the medicine cauldron before, he could guess the result. The Divine Pill had intelligence and was not easy to find.

The Divine Pill also did not have a good temper. One needed some skill to interact with it.

One could not be too forceful or too soft. If pushed into a corner, who knew what the Divine Pill would do?

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

As Xiao Chen pondered, he heard loud sounds coming from the interior of the medicine cauldron. Flames surged to the sky like a volcanic eruption.

This startled Xiao Chen into moving back. Will the Third Palace Master be fine?

“Help me up.”

Just then, Xiao Chen heard a weak voice. He immediately ran towards it.

Xiao Chen saw a sizable black charcoal reeking of soot below the medicine cauldron, where the medicinal dregs drained out.

He pinched his nose and walked over. After flipping the black charcoal over, he saw that it was the Third Palace Master.

“Cough! Cough!”

The Third Palace Master coughed a few times, and thick smoke wafted out of his mouth and nose. He said with some lingering fear, “That scared me to death. To think that it has a trace of divine nature. It nearly melted me. Fortunately, I was smart and managed to find a hole to come out of. Speaking of which, what kind of medicine cauldron is this? Why is there a hole?”

Xiao Chen rather reluctantly told the Third Palace Master the truth. “Third Palace Master, this is the hole for draining medicinal dregs…”

The Third Palace Master’s face promptly turned blacker. He had refined Medicinal Pills all his life, but he never expected that he would come out from the dreg drainage one day. What a great humiliation!

The Third Palace Master wished that he could find a hole to hide in.

“Go. Don’t bother me. I am feeling stupid at the moment and need quiet,” the Third Palace Master growled.

“Who’s Quiet?”

[TL Note: The usage of Quiet here is a wordplay. The literal translation of what the Third Palace Master was, I need to think of quiet. In Chinese, the word quiet sounds like a name, Qing Qing. Xiao Chen is clearly messing with the Third Palace Master here.]

“Scram!” the Third Palace Master roared furiously. The entire secret realm shook. Cracks even appeared. This scared Xiao Chen into quickly running off, not daring to remain any longer.