Chapter 652 - Meng Qi’s ambitions & Second Silver Pagoda
Chapter 652 – Meng Qi’s ambitions & Second Silver Pagoda
Bai Zemin’s joy did not last long when after reaching into the crystal vase with the intention of taking out one of the more than one hundred shiny pills inside, his expression changed as soon as one of his fingers touched the first pill.
As if it were an illusion or a soap bubble, the milky white pill immediately broke out at the slightest touch. The medicinal smell immediately mixed with the rancid smell of something that had been rotten for a long time and like a chain reaction all the other pills that until a second ago looked in perfect condition turned into a pile of black dirt inside the vase.
“This… What the hell is this all about?” Bai Zemin was astonished as he looked at the vase in his hands in wonder.
“Big brother, let me see the cover of the vase for a moment.” Meng Qi walked over as she noticed what had just happened and upon receiving the lid from a startled Bai Zemin began to look attentively at the magic circle.
Bai Zemin did not stop to wait for Meng Qi’s verdict as in his heart he had a clear answer but was unwilling to accept it. He quickly picked up another vase and after removing its lid tried to take one of the pills inside, only to meet the same event as before for the second time.
“Damn it!” Bai Zemin threw the vase to the ground, breaking it into pieces as he said through gritted teeth, “Don’t tell me all these things are time-expired!”
Shangguan Bing Xue and the others did not sit still either as they immediately started to open the vases with the intention of checking the pills inside. However, by the time a couple of minutes had passed and after they had opened the more than 5000 vases inside the large room all they could rescue from them were five pills; all the others turned into a pile of foul-smelling black powder.
“Big brother, even though I can’t draw runes since I don’t understand how the process works, I actually understand a bit of their functions after looking at these engravings” Meng Qi approached Bai Zemin again and showed him the small magic circle drawn with what seemed to be some kind of green ink on the top of the lid that covered the first crystal vase.
“This magic circle actually seems to be a preservation magic circle. I believe that in theory, the pills inside the vase should have lasted a minimum of around 50,000 years but unfortunately, the power inside the magic circle came to an end after not receiving any more support from any Soul Stones so eventually, the pills inside lost their effect…. The pills from before were actually nothing more than an illusion that was barely maintained thanks to the fact that nothing inside this place had changed or moved.”
Meng Qi’s words clarified what most had actually noticed.
The pills were naturally made from all kinds of medicinal herbs, and like all consumables, they had a certain time limit before they would expire if the necessary preservation care was not applied. After so many years of being buried in some unknown and unmaintained place, it was a fact that the medicinal pills would turn into a pile of unusable waste.
“It’s okay… Look on the bright side, at least we were able to get these five pills and this is only the first room,” Wu Yijun approached Bai Zemin and gently caressed his arm as she saw his depressed expression.
“… Don’t worry, I’m just a little disappointed and that’s all.” Bai Zemin shook his head and sighed. “If only we could have obtained all these pills we could probably drive all the other enemy races out of China in way less time than it would normally take.”
Shangguan Bing Xue also sighed but she seemed more optimistic as she said softly, “There’s no need to be too disappointed…. If in the past someone could make these pills, then we can make them too. We just need to study more about the mutant plants and blood of evolved creatures…. As time goes on we can have our own supply of pills to support us in combat.”
“I guess so…” Bai Zemin nodded before looking at the five pills in his hand.
“Anti-toxin Pill, it can suppress any poison coming from a Third Order skill or lower…”
“Refining Pill, cleans 10% of lower quality Soul Power and refines it into high-quality Soul Power. Only works on existences below level 40…”
“Bone Reinforcing Pill, increases the hardness of your bones by 50% for 120 seconds. Only works on those who have not yet exceeded level 90…”
“Godly Beauty Pill, increases the natural beauty of the one who consumes it by an extra 5%. Only works on existences below Second Order level 90…”
“Purifying Pill, clears impurities from any liquid source below Rank 4….”
Bai Zemin read aloud the records of each of the five pills in his hands for all to hear and as he finished he couldn’t help but have some of that disappointment he felt a moment ago disappear.
It was worth mentioning that not a few greedy eyes fell on the Godly Beauty Pill as the women listened to its effect. The only one unaffected was Shangguan Bing Xue who did not care too much about her external beauty unlike the vast majority of women.
“Those pills are already so amazing even though most of their past effect was lost due to the passage of time… I wonder how good they must have been in their prime.” Nangong Lingxin said with a sigh.
These five pills alone were actually tremendously valuable and except for the Godly Beauty Pill which in Bai Zemin’s eyes was meaningless, the other four were pills that at the right time and place could save lives and make many things easier. Besides, if he gave these pills to a good team and gave them time they might be able to replicate the effects to some extent.
For example, before Bai Zemin had given what was left of the health potion he got in Oblon World when he finished off the Second Order giant eagle that had severely wounded Shangguan Bing Xue to a team composed of biologists, chemists, and developers of new vials. While it had not yet been possible to study the potion in depth, it was true that they had identified more than 50 mutant plants among which 19 had already been found so they would probably be able to develop a lower version within a few months at most.
The same applied to these pills. He would definitely not waste them unless he really had no choice as Bai Zemin preferred to hand them over for study.
After storing the five pills in one of the vases, Bai Zemin had someone pick up the lids where the written magic circles to take with them.
“What do you want those lids for?”
“Of course, we will study those magic circles and when we figure out how to activate them we can reuse them or maybe recreate them. It will make our lives easier in the future as well.”
That was his answer to Sun Ling’s question, who immediately became enlightened and couldn’t help but praise Bai Zemin in her heart for not letting go of the slightest opportunity that came his way. Moreover, it was thanks to these small deeds that Sun Ling finally began to understand a bit of the reason why the young man her daughter loved was so strong; it was not only about bravery and decisiveness, it was also about knowing how to seize the slightest of opportunities that life put in his path.
The group led by Bai Zemin inspected the rest of the rooms but apart from pills, there was nothing else in the place. Of course, because this place was too old and the pills had been neglected for too many years, 99.9% of the pills inside the ruins were useless and the ones that still survived had lost a lot of their effect.
Still, the result was undoubtedly a good harvest. With over two hundred pills whose effects were variable stored in small bottles and separated by their effect of use, Bai Zemin and the others walked toward the magic teleportation circle to leave the first silver pagoda.
“Meng Qi? What are you doing?” he asked as they were about to leave.
“I’m trying to draw what I can about the magic circles.” Meng Qi said as she scribbled something in her book without looking ahead and avoiding stumbling thanks to Little Snow who was guiding her. “This teleportation circle is of interest to me. Big brother, if you want to rule in this new world you will certainly need more than brute strength and leadership ability.”
Meng Qi wanted her brother to grow into the most brilliant existence of all as he had the ability to lead mankind into a new era of glory and prosperity; no one was better than him to do it, was what she believed from the bottom of her heart. Therefore, she wanted to support him in every way possible and it was clear to Meng Qi that the power of runes and magic circles would undoubtedly be a crucial factor.
Unlike the vast majority, Meng Qi knew that while Bai Zemin looked calm on the surface his heart was pumping lava instead of blood. She did not believe that he wanted to stop after ruling China…. And if Bai Zemin wanted to rule the Earth, he would then have to face powers that would probably have already established themselves to some extent in different countries.
Meng Qi had her own ambitions as well…. It was just that contrary to the ambitions of most people who felt the benefits of evolution, her greatest ambition was to take the person who deserved it the most and who she trusted would do a great job straight to the top of the world.
She had seen her brother suffer a lot and she had also seen him sacrifice himself for her…. The least she could do for him was to try to help him get the best in every aspect of life.
Ruling China could be considered “easy” since they all started out the same from a certain point of view. However, ruling other countries would not be easy at all since those countries would surely have great powers and mighty warriors who like Bai Zemin would have used the time since the beginning of the evolution apocalypse to establish themselves as ruling lords.
Bai Zemin knew that his little sister wanted to help him so he patted her head gently and thanked her with a loving smile. But what he didn’t know was that she had not only seen into his heart but was already stepping forward and preparing the groundwork for his future move of large-scale conquest.
At the end of the day, there was no way Bai Zemin would let another great power rise up on Earth; this would mean that in the future whether distant or immediate a greedy character could point their sword in the direction of his home… Such a thing was something that Bai Zemin would not let happen no matter what.
Bai Zemin and the others waited thirty minutes to give Meng Qi time to draw the runes that she could read and understand how they worked before finally walking towards the large magic teleportation circle. When they passed beyond the teleportation circle, they magically appeared outside the silver pagoda from before.
“I really can’t help but be surprised even though I knew what would happen.” Cai Jingyi shook her head as she looked towards the inside of the pagoda which was a completely normal world unlike that alien room from before.
“We too will reach this level someday.” Bai Zemin stated confidently. However, he corrected himself as soon as he said those words, “No, we will achieve even greater feats than this!”
His words were not just empty words and for some reason when the others heard him his words sounded like a natural fact that would definitely happen in the future. Moreover, as crazy as it seemed to them, they felt that this future might be sooner than they thought.
Shangguan Bing Xue watched his back and could not help but shake her head as she recalled how three months ago she practically detested every time Bai Zemin talked big or acted with that confident attitude. Now, far from detesting that kind of attitude from him, she admitted in her heart that it was attractive as she understood the kind of person Bai Zemin was; a man who always kept his word no matter what.
Soon, the group stood in front of the second silver tower, the one located on the right side of the stone square. The pagoda was identical to the previous one, therefore, the two bronze lion statues could not possibly not be present.