Chapter 195: Grade Five Pill?

Li Jun headed deeper into the cave with Haru following shortly behind as the blistering heat and burning glow from the lava illuminated the walls of the tunnels as heat waves radiated from the rocky stone floor beneath them.

It was easy for Li Jun to move around since he could float above the ground but for Haru, he had to make sure that he was careful when walking. The ground was rough and uneven and he could run the risk of getting his foot stuck in a hole where the ground hadn't formed properly.

Each wall looked to have carbon scoring which made sense since the cave system was probably made by molten rock flowing up from the mantle. Haru was glad that the last eruption happened only a few hundred years ago. If one didn't happen for a few thousand years then the whole inside of this cave would be full of magma and he would be burned to a crisp.

Haru had the ability to resist the heat from any flame but that was exclusive to flames. If he was hit by lava it would melt his skin like it would with any other person. But luckily for him, he could resist something like that if he coated his body in Qi and he would be completely protected but only as long as he didn't run out of Qi to surround him.

Li Jun turned to look back at Haru as they continued into what seemed like an endless walk throughout the inside of the mountain.

"I feel the presence of something that would be helpful for you. Do you want to take a quick diversion?" He asked.

Haru looked back in confusion.

"Something that is helpful? What is it?" He inquired for more details about what Li Jun meant. How could there be something helpful in a cave? There was no way for anyone to enter so Haru thought that it would be completely empty apart from the dragon corpse that they were looking for.

If there was something that could help him then he would of course want it. And Li Jun knew that he would want whatever it was so he took the lead with a smile as they walked up to a crossroad. The cave now split off in three directions and Li Jun looked back at Haru before nodding his head.

"Follow me then." He said before floating off down the far left tunnel.

"Well, aren't you going to tell me what it is? Why are you trying to be all mysterious?" Haru asked as he followed him without a single complaint. He just wanted to know what they were going to get.

"Shh, Be a little respectful." Li Jun said as the cave ahead of them grew dim and the light from the magma faded from behind them.

'Be respectful? Respectful of what?' Haru thought before using Kun's flame like a torch to light the way for them as they headed deeper into the cave.

He kept quiet out of respect for his teacher's wishes but that didn't stop his mind from wandering about all the possibilities. Were they heading toward some secret plant that only grows within volcanoes? Or some secret manual that will teach him how to master the ability to control magma. But it was nothing like that at all.

The small tunnel opened up into a huge chamber where even the sound of his breath was amplified to a deafening volume. The walls had holes all the way along them that seemingly shot sound out in random directions creating a reverberance, unlike anything he had ever experienced.

At first, it sounded like someone had entered the room behind them but that was just the sound of their own footsteps coming out from one of the holes in the wall behind them.

"What is this place?" Haru asked Li Jun, causing his voice to shoot out in hundreds of directions before echoing again another ten times.

"Shhh." Was the only reply that Li Jun gave to Haru before looking down at the ground.

Haru hadn't noticed as he entered the room since he was trying to understand how the room had such an echo to it but now that he looked back at Li Jun he spotted something else.

In the very centre, there was the skeleton of a human sat in a crossed-legged position. It looked like they had been dead for hundreds of years but the lack of deterioration in the bones was quite disturbing. They were pure white almost like they were still living.

Usually, after death bones would decay and become yellow as the flesh deteriorated around it but this was unnatural.

Haru observed without uttering so much as another word while he watched Li Jun reach down into the robes that were still firmly wrapped around the skeleton to reveal a small red ball of light within the rib cage.

The ball of red light was around the same size as a normal pill and had orange lines running all the way across it. It looked similar to the pill veins that he had managed to form on a few pills before with the same pattern like lightning bolts running all the way around it.

Li Jun dug his hand into the ribcage and pulled out the little red ball before holding it in front of his face to take a closer look at what it is. He then smiled at it before looking back down at the skeleton and reaching inside the robes once more before pulling out a small bag.

"What is that?" Haru asked again. He couldn't keep his curiosity in anymore. He needed to know what it was.

Li Jun turned slowly while holding both the bag and the little ball of red light.

"A grade five Qi condensing pill. It will come in handy for you in the future." He smiled again after holding it out for Haru to take.

"A grade five pill? What use will this be? Wait…" Haru began to question Li Jun's judgement before he noticed something strange about the pill as he took it in his hands.

Not only did it have pill veins at grade five. But there was also no Qi at all emitting from the thing. Unlike all of the other pills, he had seen and made this felt like it had no power in it at all. Was it a dud? A failure?

"This is useless. How will it help me if there is no Qi within it?" Haru asked once again. There was no way that it could be useful. The pills he made were way stronger than this thing. But why would Li Jun lie to him about something like this?

"You don't know?" Li Jun asked, surprised.

"I don't know what?" Haru became confused. There was clearly something he was missing here but he didn't have a clue what Li Jun meant.

"Let me ask you something. Do you know the reason why you will ascend to the upper realms when you reach the Nascent Soul stage?" Li Jun asked with a frustrated tone to his voice like he already knew that Haru would get the answer wrong.

"I'm not sure… I didn't really think about it but I guess it is because you get too strong to stay in the lower realm?" Haru asked. He had no idea how to answer the question as he didn't see a reason to ask about it before. It still seemed like a thing that would be far away from happening to him so he didn't care about the reason all that much.

Li Jun sighed for a moment and put his hand over his face in disappointment.

"Before I disappeared I asked Lao to tell you everything you needed to know and he actually forgot to tell you something this important… Okay. I guess it's time for a quick lesson about cultivation now follow me." Li Jun said before leading them both back out into the tunnel to avoid the echo of the chamber they had previously been standing in.

"It's quite simple but also really important for you to know this. If we weren't around when it happens to you then you would end up worrying and could possibly end up dying." Li Jun said and then got ready to explain.

"When you reach the nirvana stage your body will start preparing itself to enter the upper realms so it will take longer for you to break through to the next stage and you will feel a pull toward the upper realms constantly on your body that will only get stronger as you get closer to breaking through.

The reason is that just like with Natural Qi and abundant Qi there is also another type of Qi but the lower realms reject it.

It's called True Qi. Once you get to the nirvana stage your body will automatically start converting all of the Qi in your body into True Qi instead of natural Qi. So the more True Qi that manages to store within your dantian the stronger the force will be pulling you to the upper realms until it eventually happens.

And when it does happen you will be transferred to a random world in the upper realms depending on your race. If you are a demon you will end up in one of the demon clans territories like you will end up in one of the human clan territories.

But once you ascend. The natural Qi in your body will all convert at once and your dantian will be filled with nothing but True Qi. It sometimes takes a while for people to realise what happens but if you try to use your Qi as you did before it won't work.

You need to first establish a connection with the upper realms by absorbing a large amount of True Qi from the place you end up in. For some it takes weeks and others it takes years until they are able to use their power again. But once they can they will be significantly stronger.

That is where this pill will help. If you take it as soon as you end up ascending then it will make it easier for you to absorb a large amount of Qi.

Because that pill comes from the upper realms. It is made out of materials that contain only true Qi so you can't even sense the power it holds yet." Li Jun explained as they arrived back at the crossroads.

"Think you can remember all that?" He asked.

"Yeah," Haru responded while staring at the little red pill once again.

"Good. Now let's go find that dragon." Li Jun announced before handing the bag that he picked up from the skeleton to Haru and then looking at the other two remaining tunnels.