Chapter 5: The Wonderful Use of the Pill Fragrance
A pale yellow soul ring floated above the first layer of the dark yellow Pill Tower.
Since Ning Bei summoned his martial soul, the Red Cloud Elk hadn't taken its eyes off the Pill Tower in his hands. It stared intently at the Pill Tower, as if forgetting the fear it had of the two titled Douluo nearby. The trembling stopped.
The others watched in amazement. To make a soul beast, which naturally feared humans, forget its fear—how powerful must this Pill Tower be?
After a while, an even more surprising scene unfolded before everyone's eyes.
The Red Cloud Elk slowly stood up and approached Ning Bei. It sniffed at the Pill Tower in his hands, its face showing an expression of pleasure as if it were enjoying the scent.
Both Chen Xin and Gu Rong, who had been alert since the elk stood up, relaxed and lowered their guard.
Ning Bei, looking at the elk with a silly expression, felt something strange inside.
"Is this... its waist isn't sore anymore, and its legs aren't shaking? Does my Pill Tower have some kind of... kidney-tonic function?"
The little elk paid no attention to the others as it sniffed the Pill Tower, occasionally rubbing its face against it.
After a few minutes, the elk slowly lay down on the ground, eyes closing in apparent satisfaction.
"???"
"It looks like it's asleep."
"I think so."
"We can't tell what effect the Pill Tower has just by looking at it. All we know is that the soul beasts really like it."
The group watched the sleeping Red Cloud Elk, exchanging opinions in a flurry. Only Chen Xin remained silent, his eyes fixed on the little elk.
After a while, his eyes widened in shock.
"The Red Cloud Elk's cultivation seems to have increased a little. It's very subtle, but it has definitely increased."
"What?"
The others were stunned and focused their mental powers on the elk, trying to sense any change.
"Master Jian, are you sure? I haven't noticed anything unusual."
Gu Rong stared at the elk for several minutes but didn't detect any changes, suspecting that Chen Xin was just playing with them.
"Old Bone, do you think I'd joke about something so important?"
"Earlier, the Red Cloud Elk's cultivation did indeed increase a little. It seems to have stopped now."
Gu Rong understood that Chen Xin wouldn't joke about something as important as the future of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School. He didn't argue further and turned to Ning Fengzhi.
Ning Fengzhi pondered for a moment before turning to Ning Bei.
"Bei'er, what do you think?"
"What do I think? I'm just watching."
Ning Bei had been observing the elk's behavior since it started sniffing the Pill Tower. Upon hearing Ning Fengzhi's question, he muttered to himself and then voiced his thoughts.
"Grandpa Jian is right. Since my Pill Tower received its first soul ring, besides being able to refine different pills, it also gives off a pill fragrance. And it seems that this fragrance can help soul beasts increase their cultivation."
"And…"
He paused for a moment, then controlled the first layer of the Pill Tower to glow briefly. Immediately, the Red Cloud Elk vanished from sight.
"And it seems that each layer of my Pill Tower creates its own space."
Ning Fengzhi's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the little elk vanish. After all, storage soul tools couldn't store living creatures.
"Did... did you just store the soul beast in the Pill Tower?"
Ning Bei nodded, confirming his father's guess.
"That's right, Dad. I can store them in the Pill Tower's space and also release them again."
As he spoke, the first layer of the Pill Tower flashed again, and the Red Cloud Elk appeared before them once more, still fast asleep.
Gu Rong thought for a moment, then asked in confusion:
"Does this mean that, in the future, Bei'er will have countless soul beast pets?"
Chen Xin's eyes also lit up upon hearing Gu Rong's words.
"Old Bone is right. The Pill Tower helps soul beasts, and they're definitely willing to live inside it. Over time, these soul beasts will surely form a bond with Bei'er." He then raised a question of his own. "But I'm curious, does the Pill Tower work for all types and ages of soul beasts?"
Ning Fengzhi and Ning's mother both nodded in agreement after hearing what they said.
"Indeed, Bei'er's Pill Tower has this distinct advantage. We must make full use of it. Before we move forward, we should test it with a few different types and ages of soul beasts."
Everyone nodded in agreement with Ning Fengzhi's words and then turned their eyes to Ning Bei.
Ning Bei, feeling the weight of their gaze, swallowed nervously and took a few steps back.
For some reason, their gazes reminded him of how the people of ancient India must have looked at a giant lizard—intimidating.
Thus began Ning Bei's regular life.
During the day, he controlled the Pill Tower to observe the Red Cloud Elk's cultivation progress, and at night, he meditated to increase his soul power.
After several days, Ning Bei noticed that the little elk had indeed made considerable progress in its cultivation. Gu Rong and Chen Xin each took turns traveling to the Star Dou Forest and brought back several more soul beasts.
After over a month of testing, the group found that the Pill Tower could greatly enhance the cultivation of soul beasts under 100 years of age. The effect would gradually diminish as the soul beasts' age increased, and for those over 1500 years old, the effect was nearly nonexistent. This also explained why, during the beast tide when they obtained their first soul ring, the highest-level soul beasts only reached 1000 years of age.
Ning Fengzhi and the others furrowed their brows upon hearing this information. Soul beasts around the 1000-year mark wouldn't be of much help to Ning Bei, as those around 1500 years were equivalent to low-level Soul Emperors, a type of soul master that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School had in abundance.
They relaxed their minds afterward, realizing that Ning Bei was still only a soul master. There was no reason why, as his cultivation and soul rings increased, the effect of enhancing soul beast cultivation wouldn't improve as well.
After discussing with Ning Bei, they decided to wait until he obtained his second soul ring before conducting further tests. For now, Ning Bei should focus on improving his soul power and producing more pills.
The pills Ning Bei produced were sold through the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's business channel, the Seven Treasure Trading Association. Although the quantity was small, the pills' effects had gained widespread attention from mercenaries.
After all, not every soul hunting team could find a suitable auxiliary soul master, and even when they did, they still had to worry about protecting them while hunting in the Star Dou Forest.
Most auxiliary soul masters had little combat ability.
Now, with the pills sold by the Seven Treasure Trading Association, low-level auxiliary soul masters were no longer as essential.
Injured or during battles, they could simply take the pills.
This had caused widespread complaints among regular auxiliary soul masters, who found it harder to get into teams.
When Ning Bei heard about this, he scratched his head awkwardly.
It seemed that he had unintentionally affected their livelihood.
He wondered if, in the future, when people found out he was the one making the pills, would they try to throw bricks at him when he went outside?
But Ning Bei didn't think about stopping the production of pills.
First, it helped him train his soul power.
Second, it could indeed bring a steady income to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, which would only grow as his strength increased.
(END CHAPTER)
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