Eventually, Yaan settled his attention on another series of pills. To say these pills didn’t tempt him would be a massive lie. All of these pills were kept in a large green case containing five shelves of varying sizes. As he pulled out the shelves, then read the pill names and consulted the brief hand guide within the case, his desire towards these medicines only increased.

So, he settled on this case for his next stage of training.

Blood Essence Pills - Rank:3->5 , Grade:Top->Peak

Blood essence was a type of blood that served as the source of all the blood and vitality in a being’s body. Most cultivators didn’t even possess a single drop, especially not Qi masters. Higher ranking body temperers would possess their own blood essence, as would spirit and demonic beasts, and even certain plants and flowers.

Yaan swallowed the very first pill on the bottom tray. Even this was Rank 3, as blood essence related pills below Rank 3 were almost non-existent. The blood refining pill was one exception, but alas, it could be used only once.

The first pill was the Rank 3 blood ape essence pill. Yaan had no idea what sort of monkey that was, but it sounded like it was loaded with blood essence!

As soon as the pill dissolved in his mouth, he could instantly feel the nature of the blood ape. It was as if the illusion of the blood ape appeared before Yaan’s very eyes. He felt as if, in that brief moment, he was the blood ape, roaring out loud, growling at the heavens and at its assailants with a ruthless and unyielding tone.

In the next moment, Yaan blinked, returning to reality. Whilst he had completely neglected to control and monitor the refinement of that blood essence, he had uncovered something far superior; a realisation.

To understand the blood essence, you must experience the life of the being that it originated from!

Yaan sat there silently, thinking back on the illusion he just witnessed. He was well aware that his reaction to this pill was not ordinary…no, to be honest, he had abnormal reactions to the resources he consumed more often than not.

“Illusions…Nadda’s grandfather once mentioned that I am subconsciously implementing the dao of illusions into my sword arts, manifesting the image in my mind and turning it into reality. But this is slightly different. I am perceiving the lingering sentience, the nature of the blood essence, seeing past its material form and experiencing the fragment of its memory, or perhaps its will. Either way, it is only possible for me to so clearly witness this scene, thanks to my supposed ability to comprehend the dao of illusions…”

“Next pill!” Yaan showed a determined expression and consumed the next along. Every pill along this bottom plate was labelled as a ‘Rank 3 Top Grade pill, though Yaan wasn’t quite sure what this grading referred to.

As he had hoped, he again witnessed an illusion after consuming the second pill. It didn’t last for as long as the first, perhaps because the essence was from a serpent and therefore less compatible with Yaan’s human form.

He also realised that after consuming the pills, he somehow became aware of the number of blood essence drops contained within. In the fire ape’s, there were 3 drops. The serpent possessed 2.

The next pill.

A boar was rushing through the woods, hunted by poachers. It cried out in misery as its offspring were all caught and executed on the spot. The boars went crazy, entering a blood frenzy and killing three men before being felled by the hunters itself.

An eagle flew through the sky. Yaan experienced this flight for a long, long time, as if it would never end. The peace and serenity of the world from up above was like nothing he had ever felt before. And then, everything went black. Neither Yaan nor the eagle knew how it had died, it was too sudden, too abrupt, and struck from an unseeable location.

A baby chick. Unlike an eagle, it could not fly, relying on its mother to feed it each day. One day, the chick’s mother never returned. After starving for two days, the chick was found by poachers and discovered to be a baby demonic beast. Since demonic beasts were too much of a hassle to raise, they just killed it and extracted the valuable components.

An earthworm, slithering through damp soil. Onwards, consuming dirt and grub, with no clear intent or ambition, other than to survive. It’s life ended when a mortal unknowingly stepped on top of it whilst walking.

On and on, he experienced memories from one creature after the next, each different from the last. All were Rank 3 pills with varying amounts of blood essence, but always below 6 drops.

The more he saw of these illusions, the more Yaan felt that he was beginning to touch upon something.

His original intention was to use these blood essence pills to further develop his own blood essence, which would be a massive improvement for his body. These pills were actually fairly mild on the body, so he was easily able to suppress the lingering power of the astral spirits whilst absorbing the blood essence.

Whilst Yaan continued to properly absorb the blood essence, he had been drawn into a trance as he experienced illusion after illusion, causing him to forget his initial intention as he found himself fixated on experiencing more of these alternative lives.

After seeing through the lives of 50 creatures and exhausting the supply of pills in the bottom draw, his only choice was to move up the compartment of pills. In the 2nd of of the 5 draws lay 12 pills. Six of the pills were labelled ‘Rank 4 Top Grade’, whilst the other six were labelled as ‘Rank 3 Peak Grade’.

“This…” As he swallowed the first of the pills, a Rank 3 pill, Yaan’s eyes widened.

He was a man. A human man, and a mortal. This man was once a farmer, but his village became increasingly dangerous as the number of demonic beasts started to increase in number. Before Yaan could truly understand this man, or this place, the man’s head was torn off by a pitch black jaguar.

Without hesitating, Yaan became serious and consumed the next pill as soon as the previous illusion wore away. This time though, he opted for the ‘Rank 4 Top Grade pill’, curious as to the difference between them.

As he expected…a human…

Not a man, nor a mortal, but a female cultviator. She flew through the skies elegantly on a sword, draped in robes which covered her face. She was anxious, rushing west across a far distance in order to try, just to try, to help those close to her, When she thought of her elders, those who had raised her, losing their lives, she bit her lip and shed a single tear. As she imagined her disciples, being torn apart and killed viciously, she couldn’t bear to continue thinking. As she closed her eyes and grit her teeth, she continued rushing forwards, despite knowing that she was far, far too big a distance away. It would take her at least 15 years to return home.

Unlike the others, the girl did not die. Shockingly though, her emotions for her loved ones were so deep that when she cried, blood seeped from her eyes. She didn’t care and continued to fly, letting out all of the sadness in her heart. As she shut her eyes one last time, a single drop of essence blood fell from the corner of each eye.

Yaan opened his eyes, gasping for breath and drenched in cold sweat. Blood was leaking out from his nose, eyes and ears. He coughed repeatedly, choking up some thick black sludge. It was only after a few minutes that he managed to calm down his mind and body. After allowing himself to heal naturally whilst he read through some more of the old woman’s notes, Yaan came to understand a few things.

A pill was a refined conglomeration of the world’s essence. A healing pill to one man, was a poison to another. A single pill could not be clearly and factually defined in its effect, because in many instances, particularly with unique pills, the effects were unpredictable and varied much from person to person.

When Yaan glanced at the time, he felt dazed. Sure, he’d consumed many pills, but it only felt like a minute or two passed by in each…but he’d spent over a full day in the temporal acceleration chamber now!

He suddenly remembered that woman and her tears. Somehow, he understood that he had been trapped within that illusion for many times longer than the others.

A powerful emotion filled his heart that he didn’t quite understand. His mood became quite strange, and whilst he understood that this was caused by the illusions he had unknowingly been drawn into, he didn’t care, nor did he try to suppress this feeling.

A tranquil sense of sorrow emanated from his body. After seeing the pitiful deaths and plights of so many creatures, yaan couldn’t help but think back on his own life…

In the end, he stood up and stretched, showing no anxiety towards the death match in 7 minutes time. In fact, he calmly walked across to the door, then knocked on the formation three times. A few seconds passed by, before the door opened and Yaan was once again met with the attendant.

She had been planning on teasing him a little bit, but she couldn’t find the words when she gazed into his eyes. Before, Yaan had been anxious, in a rush and desperately searching for a chamber so that he could prepare for his match. Yet now…it all seemed like such a needless worry.

“I’d like to pay for a bit longer in here, if that's alright with you?”

“Ah, yes, of course sir! The 4th pagoda operates on a first come first served basis, meaning rooms cannot be booked…equally, you may only book for at most 10 days each month in total across the pagoda.”

“I see…I’d like 3 days."

“Three days? Ok, then I’ll-”

“I’m out of time…” Yaan laughed wryly as the white light materialised around him. “Here, and lock the door, I have valuables in there.”

Right as he was forcibly transported away, he threw forwards three days of payment for the 6th chamber without a second thought.