Beast Taming: I Have an Immortal Mansion

Chapter 318 - 256: Longevity Vines

The vine grew unrestrained. Contained by the array, it took less than a day to completely fill the space within.

As a rule, whenever Fang Qingyuan came across something unknown that he couldn’t immediately figure out, he would place it inside a dedicated array, even within the safety of his Immortal Mansion. This was a precaution to prevent anything undesirable from causing uncontrollable harm to the Bee Queen and the Spirit Plants inside the mansion.

And now, after the long years Fang Qingyuan had maintained this habit, the array had finally served its purpose.

The array Fang Qingyuan had laid out only covered an area of about a hundred square feet. While not large, it was exceptionally sturdy. Even a Tier Two Upper-Grade demon beast would have difficulty breaking out of it quickly if trapped inside.

Yet, in just one day, the space had been completely filled by the lush green vine. Its growth rate was clearly astonishing.

Even so, the vine within the array continued to grow ceaselessly, constantly compressing what little empty space remained.

The array now looked like a bowl placed upside down on a patch of Black Land. Looking through the transparent barrier from the outside, one could see that the vines inside were packed so densely they appeared almost black, and they were constantly writhing.

This was the scene that greeted Fang Qingyuan the moment he entered the Immortal Mansion. He could even faintly hear a soft, rustling sound coming from the growing vine.

Fang Qingyuan frowned. Such vigorous vitality was exceedingly rare, even among Tier Two Spirit Plants.

At this unrestrained rate of growth, if not for the array’s containment, it would have likely covered more than half of the Immortal Mansion by now.

’Could it be a Tier Three Spirit Plant?’

With this thought, Fang Qingyuan extended a finger and pointed at the array, magically extracting a thin tendril of the vine.

The tendril hovered in mid-air about ten feet from Fang Qingyuan. Even after being severed from its main body, suspended in this rootless, waterless space, the slender piece of vine swelled until it was as thick as a baby’s arm before finally ceasing its growth.

Once it stopped growing, the vine emitted only a faint Spiritual Power. At best, it was a Tier One Lower Grade spiritual material—perhaps not even that.

’Right. If it grew this fast and was also as rich in Spiritual Qi as a Tier Two spiritual material, wouldn’t that make it a legendary immortal material?’

’But with so little Spiritual Qi, what use could this vine possibly have?’

After a moment of thought, Fang Qingyuan went to where he kept his Iron-Seeking Rats and grabbed more than a dozen of the small creatures. He chopped up the vine tendril and fed each rat a different amount.

A short while later, the rats that ate the vine pieces appeared unchanged. None of them suddenly dropped dead; in fact, the few that had eaten larger portions seemed to have become much more energetic.

Seeing this result, Fang Qingyuan tentatively concluded that the vine was non-toxic and had a slight effect of enhancing the consumer’s energy levels.

Next, Fang Qingyuan set these rats aside in a separate enclosure, planning to observe them for a few more days. He then extracted several more tendrils and began subjecting them to a series of tests: burning them with fire, soaking them in water, burying them in soil, and so on.

After a long time, Fang Qingyuan picked up a piece of the vine, took a small bite, and chewed it a few times to taste it.

’Sour and astringent. Not a pleasant texture. It’s definitely not suitable as a food source.’

After spitting out the remains, he couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face. Lacking Spiritual Qi and having a terrible texture—for a Spirit Plant, this was as good as useless.

’Did this vine put all its evolutionary points into growth?’

With this conclusion, Fang Qingyuan sighed and began to investigate the reason for the vine’s rapid growth.

He extended his Divine Sense and carefully probed inside the array. After a lengthy search, Fang Qingyuan made an astonishing discovery.

The dozen or so Demonic Magical Artifacts he had stored within the array were now gone.

These Demonic Magical Artifacts were spoils Fang Qingyuan had accumulated over the years from enemies he had killed. Because they were of the Demonic Dao, he couldn’t easily dispose of them publicly, so he had stored them here.

The Crystal Skull he had acquired on Sea Gate Island, and the Demonic Magical Artifacts taken from the storage bags of the Twelve Beasts he had killed in Black Sand City—all of them were now gone.

’It seems this unknown vine seed devoured them all. That must be the reason for this astonishing transformation.’

’Growing by devouring Demonic Qi...’ Fang Qingyuan had never encountered a Spirit Plant like this before; he had hardly even heard of such a thing.

’That fishing enthusiast friend of Wan Sancai’s... just where did he get this thing?’

’Looks like I’ll have to find Wan Sancai tomorrow and ask him to arrange a meeting with his friend. I need to get to the bottom of this item’s origin.’

Fang Qingyuan surmised that besides his dozen or so Demon Artifacts, the Black Land in his Immortal Mansion was another essential factor in the seed’s transformation.

Otherwise, Demonic Qi, while scarce, was not entirely absent in the outside world. The seed had clearly shown no unusual properties before, which was why Wan Sancai had been able to acquire it so easily, and how it ultimately ended up with him.

It had to be the Black Land of the Immortal Mansion that stimulated the seed’s vitality, activating it and causing it to absorb the Demonic Qi from the nearby Demonic Magical Artifacts.

That was the only way to explain the current situation.

Having pieced together the sequence of events in his mind, Fang Qingyuan began to wonder what benefits a plant that could absorb Demonic Qi might bring him.

’I can’t have just sacrificed a dozen or so Demonic Magical Artifacts for nothing, right?’

Gazing at the vigorously growing vine, Fang Qingyuan pondered for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He turned and summoned the Bee Queen.

When the Bee Queen came scooting over, she still had a dazed, sleepy look on her face. She had been fast asleep just a moment ago.

"Ruoxi, what is the most crucial ingredient in the recipe for the Blood Life Pill?"

Fang Qingyuan asked calmly, and the Bee Queen answered without a second thought:

"The Bloodthirsty Profound Cyan Vine. It’s a Tier Two Middle-Grade Spirit Plant that needs to be irrigated with Demon Beast Essence Blood for over ten years before it can be used for alchemy."

The main ingredient for creating the Blood Life Pill was the Tier Two Middle-Grade Bloodthirsty Profound Cyan Vine. This plant required constant irrigation with large amounts of Demon Beast Essence Blood to mature enough for use in alchemy. The purpose of this process was to use the vine to filter out the demonic qi and blood qi from the Demon Beast Essence Blood, converting it into the plant’s own life force.

Then, through alchemy, this life force could be transformed into a Cultivator’s Innate Primordial Qi, thereby extending their lifespan.

Depending on its quality, a high-grade Bloodthirsty Profound Cyan Vine could extend a Cultivator’s life by two to four years when refined into an elixir. However, excessive consumption would lead to great harm to the Cultivator’s body due to the blood toxin inherent to the vine.

The Bloodthirsty Profound Cyan Vine was not commonly sold on the market, primarily because it required a stable supply of Demon Beast Essence Blood to grow properly. In the wild, such a stable source was hard to come by.

Fang Qingyuan had previously bought a few young Bloodthirsty Profound Cyan Vine seedlings and was slowly cultivating them in a corner of his Immortal Mansion. He had planned to hunt sea beasts to collect their essence blood for irrigation, providing a future supply for the Bee Queen’s alchemy. But now, the appearance of this Demonic Qi-absorbing vine presented him with a potential alternative.

"Do you think this vine meets the requirements to be the main ingredient for the Blood Life Pill?"

Fang Qingyuan held out a freshly picked tendril, placing it in front of the Bee Queen for her to examine and sense carefully.

After a long moment, sensing the astonishing vitality within the vine, the Bee Queen said happily:

"Maybe! I’ll try refining a furnace of Blood Life Pills with it and see what happens."

The Bee Queen was now skilled enough to refine Tier Two Elixirs. The Blood Life Pill was a relatively advanced elixir, but in alchemy, as long as one had sufficient materials and wasn’t afraid of failure, one’s skills could improve at an incredible pace.

Following the method described in the elixir recipe, Fang Qingyuan worked with the Bee Queen to begin extracting the life force from the vine.

After half a day’s work, the massive tangle of vines, covering over a hundred square feet, yielded only three drops of Essence of Life.

Looking at the richly fragrant Life Source Liquid, Fang Qingyuan felt a deep, instinctual craving from within.

Even without being refined into an elixir, this Life Source Liquid alone could extend a Cultivator’s life by more than a decade.

This Life Source Liquid was now considered a Tier Two Upper-Grade spiritual material. If it were to be auctioned, each drop would fetch a price of fifty Top-grade Spirit Stones, and buyers would be fighting over it.

The Bee Queen took the vial of Life Source Liquid, carefully dripped a single drop into her Pill Furnace, added the other supplementary ingredients, and began the refining process in earnest.

「Three days later.」

As the Bee Queen’s small face was etched with concentration, waves of a soul-refreshing fragrance began to waft from her newly acquired Tier Two Upper-Grade Seven Treasures Ruyi Furnace.

Smelling the aroma, however, the Bee Queen didn’t look happy. An escaping fragrance meant the refinement wasn’t perfect and that some of the elixir’s medicinal potency had been lost.

’Seven Treasures Ruyi, do as I wish! Open!’

As the Bee Queen’s pleading voice echoed in Fang Qingyuan’s mind, the seven gems on her Seven Treasures Ruyi Furnace flashed. A surge of Spiritual Power flowed into the Pill Furnace, and instantly, the medicinal aroma within grew even more mellow and rich.

The furnace lid flew open, and five longan-sized elixir pills shot out.

"Collect!"

The Bee Queen used her Divine Sense to swiftly guide the five blood-red elixir pills into a vial. She then sealed the Pill Furnace and began the recuperation process.

The seven gems on the Seven Treasures Ruyi Furnace could release their stored Spiritual Power, giving a chance to raise the quality of the finished elixir pills by a small sub-tier. After being used, however, the furnace needed time to recuperate.

The Bee Queen didn’t need to do this when refining ordinary Blood Qi Pills or Blood Soul Pills, but a high-level elixir like the Blood Life Pill required this additional support.

"It’s done!"

The Bee Queen lifted the elixir vial with her Divine Sense, presenting it to Fang Qingyuan as if showing off a precious treasure.

Fang Qingyuan patted the Bee Queen’s little head in encouragement, then took the vial and tipped out one of the Blood Life Pills.

The blood-red pill’s appearance wasn’t the most appealing, but the Life Essence Qi it contained more than made up for that.

Moreover, compared to a true Blood Life Pill, it lacked the strong sanguine smell described in the recipe.

’Is this an improvement, or is it worse?’

Fang Qingyuan wasn’t sure. He took the vial, left the Immortal Mansion, and found an elixir shop to have the pill appraised.

....

「Half a day later.」

Fang Qingyuan’s expression was calm, but his steps were much lighter.

According to the appraisal by a high-ranking Pill Master, each Blood Life Pill the Bee Queen had refined could extend a Cultivator’s life by a full three years, and it contained barely a trace of blood toxin.

It was safe to say that the Blood Life Pills created from the unknown vine were even more potent than the ones described in the original recipe.

A single drop of Life Source Liquid, which on its own could only extend one’s life by five years, had its potency tripled through the alchemical process with supplementary ingredients. The five Blood Life Pills were enough to grant a Cultivator fifteen more years of life.

This was the magic of a Pill Master: to take a spiritual material, add supplementary ingredients, and through various techniques, amplify its medicinal potency to a level far beyond the material’s original limits, achieving a manifold increase in efficacy.

’It seems this unknown vine in my Immortal Mansion is of an even higher grade than I imagined. A Tier Three Upper-Grade? Or is it already bordering on Tier Four?’

’It’s even more miraculous than the Bloodthirsty Profound Cyan Vine. Maybe I should call it the Profound Cyan Longevity Vine.’