Half an hour later, Yang Kai sat with a face full of consternation, letting out a helpless sigh.
With his attainments and knowledge in the art of pill refinement, he still couldn't identify the species of this Spirit Pill. He had no idea what type it was — he could only vaguely judge from the medicinal fragrance that it was used for Cultivation, and that it posed no harm.
Could it be a Spirit Pill whose formula had been lost since the ancient era? Yang Kai's brow furrowed as he quietly speculated. If that were the case, it would be excusable that he couldn't recognize it. After all, pills refined by martial artists tens of thousands of years ago were bound to differ somewhat from those of the present day.
Unable to identify it, Yang Kai wasn't in any rush. He carefully stored away the Void King grade Spirit Pill for the time being, planning to confirm its identity when the opportunity arose later.
The pill was in his hands now, and it wouldn't be used carelessly. There would come a day when he figured it out.
With that thought, Yang Kai produced another item to examine.
It was a finger bone.
Speaking of which, this trip to the Imperial Palace had yielded tremendous gains just from that hidden valley alone — several hundred stalks of ten-thousand-year spirit herbs, dozens of pills bearing Pill Patterns, a Void King grade pill furnace, and a single Void King grade medicinal pill manifesting a Pill Cloud. Every last item was extraordinarily valuable.
This finger bone had also come from the hidden valley. It was the only bone left behind after the valley's master had perished.
Yang Kai had merely wanted to show respect to the great alchemist by laying him to rest, but while burying the skeleton, he had stumbled upon this finger bone — the only piece that hadn't weathered into dust. It seemed goodness was rewarded with goodness.
What secret this finger bone might contain, Yang Kai had no idea. All he could do was begin studying it now.
Holding the finger bone, Yang Kai examined it carefully and discovered that despite tens of thousands of years having passed, the bone remained warm and lustrous as jade, pristine and flawless — as though the owner had once refined it with some extraordinary secret technique during his lifetime.
The thought sent a surge of excitement through Yang Kai.
He had never seen any martial artist refine a part of their own body as though it were an Artifact, but if the other party had done so, there had to be profound reasoning behind it. Perhaps this finger bone truly concealed some earth-shaking secret.
Holy Energy surged. Yang Kai tentatively channeled his own power into the finger bone, but to his great disappointment, the bone refused to accept a single drop of his Holy Energy, showing not the slightest change.
After a moment, Yang Kai withdrew his Holy Energy. Since the bone wouldn't accept it, further probing would be pointless.
It had no response to Holy Energy — but what about Divine Sense?
With that thought, Yang Kai immediately activated his Divine Sense. In an instant, his vast, ocean-like spiritual consciousness manifested as a misty existence, enveloping the finger bone.
Spiritual consciousness manifesting into form!
Only when one's Divine Sense reached a certain threshold would the invisible spiritual power undergo this miraculous transformation, becoming something visible to the naked eye.
Yang Kai's Spiritual Sea was nourished by the Seven-Colored Warm Spirit Lotus. Even without deliberate Cultivation, his Divine Sense grew stronger with every passing moment. So although his cultivation realm was only at the first stage of the Return Void Realm, the sheer intensity of his Divine Sense had barely reached the threshold for manifestation!
This was something that even ordinary Void King realm powerhouses couldn't achieve — a feat worth boasting about!
Moreover, his Divine Sense was a mutated form — the Divine Sense Flame, possessing tremendous destructive power. As a result, the misty manifestation also took on a fiery red hue.
This time, Yang Kai's guess proved correct. The finger bone rejected his Holy Energy, but it responded with extreme sensitivity to his Divine Sense.
When the fire-red spiritual consciousness wrapped around it, a blinding white radiance erupted from within the bone. Immediately after, a tremendous pulling force surged outward from the bone, instantly drawing Yang Kai's Divine Sense inside.
Yang Kai remained composed. Though he didn't know what would happen next, this pulling force didn't seem particularly dangerous, and if he wished to resist, he could always withdraw his spiritual consciousness.
With that in mind, he offered little resistance, instead allowing the force to guide his Divine Sense flowing into the finger bone.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai found himself in what seemed like an entirely different world.
Under the probe of his spiritual consciousness, everything around him was shrouded in gray mist, utterly empty — save for a multitude of mystical runes darting about like fish.
"This…" Yang Kai's face froze in astonishment.
From those mystical runes, he actually sensed fluctuations of Divine Sense power — these runes themselves had been born from the manifestation of spiritual consciousness!
Needless to say, they were clearly the spiritual consciousness of that great alchemist.
He hadn't expected the man to possess not only extraordinary attainment in the Dao of Alchemy, but also cultivation that was nothing short of exceptional. To achieve such a clear state of spiritual manifestation, one would need at least the third level of the Void King realm!
And upon sensing the arrival of Yang Kai's spiritual consciousness, those mystical runes seemed to spring to life, rushing toward him in a wave and instantly merging with his own.
Yang Kai's body shuddered as a sharp light flashed in his eyes. He allowed those runes to dissolve into his Divine Sense, then began carefully pondering the mysteries hidden within.