The cultivators watching through the Mystic Heaven Mirror: 【???】
In the reflection, a pill furnace chariot charged forward with unstoppable momentum, plowing through the swarming Bone-Erosion Spiders like a force of nature—slaying gods if they stood in its way, cutting down buddhas if they dared obstruct it!
【What in the world is that thing?】
【Never seen or heard of anything like it. Do alchemists always storm into secret realms like this??】
【I—I don’t! I’m usually the one getting chased by demonic beasts, waiting for a swordsman to rescue me…】
【So, is this pill furnace chariot for sale? With this thing, wouldn’t I be invincible hunting demonic beasts in secret realms?】
【Seriously, where can I buy one? Name the price—I’ve got the money!】
【Ugh, I want one too, but it’s probably way too expensive for me…】
【Haven’t seen this before. You could wait until Junior Sister Wen Shuangbai finishes this round of trials and pay her to forge one for you.】
Inside the Mystic Heaven Mirror, Wen Shuangbai had no time to explain.
The pill furnace wouldn’t last much longer—every second they gained was bought by its sacrifice.
After consulting Xie Ziyin, Wen Shuangbai rummaged through his storage ring and pulled out a medicine kit, handing it to Senior Sister Zhuohua and the others, urging them to treat their wounds quickly. Then, without pause, she took her place behind the chainsaw, feeding it spirit stones as fuel.
If the chainsaw stopped—if its spinning blade lost power—the exposed teeth would be swarmed by Bone-Erosion Spiders and corroded.
So it couldn’t stop.
So she had to keep feeding it spirit stones. Heart aching at the cost, she prodded Xie Ziyin, “Can’t you go any faster?”
Xie Ziyin, one hand pressed to the furnace wall, channeled his spiritual energy to propel the pill furnace forward while occasionally checking their path.
Between him and Wen Shuangbai, a small hole—melted open by her Radiant Heart Technique—served as their shared line of sight.
In essence, the process wasn’t much different from driving a car in the modern world. Same principle.
The only difference?
No gasoline.
He was both the driver and the fuel.
Xie Ziyin had already pushed his “accelerator” to the limit. Hearing her question, he replied coolly, “No. This is top speed.”
“Fine.” Wen Shuangbai deftly retrieved a bottle of Spirit-Restoring Pills from his storage ring, bit off the cap, downed half, and tossed the rest to him.
Xie Ziyin, steering with one hand, caught the bottle with the other. He eyed the rim fastidiously, purified it with a cleansing spell, then swallowed the pills.
Shen Hefeng, digging out the remnants of Bone-Erosion Spiders from his wounds and crushing them underfoot, couldn’t resist mocking, “Xie the Poison, what’s the difference between that and taking off your pants to fart?”
Xie Ziyin briefly considered hurling the empty bottle at the damn priest’s head—but no, the bottle could be reused. The priest wasn’t worth wasting it on.
Tucking the bottle away, he shot Shen Hefeng a lethal glance. “And what’s the difference between you and a bald monk? Might as well shave your head and join a monastery.”
“Nonsense! I still have—” Shen Hefeng reflexively touched his scalp, only to find the last two strands of hair gone, replaced by two gaping holes corroded by the spiders. He shot to his feet, shaking a fist at the furnace lid, ready to charge out and take the spiders down with him. “AAAAH! I’LL KILL YOU ALL! GIVE ME BACK MY HAIR—!”
“What the hell?” Shen Hefeng froze mid-rant, noticing the furnace lid shifting slightly. “Shuangbai, did you not seal it tight?”
Wen Shuangbai, still feeding the chainsaw, didn’t turn. “No, it’s sealed.”
The others tensed, rising to their feet, scanning their surroundings.
Wen Shuangbai spoke rapidly, “The pill furnace won’t hold much longer. Patch any holes you find—buy us as much time as possible!”
“You could’ve said so earlier!” Shen Hefeng yelped, scrambling back. He’d assumed the furnace was unbreakable—hence the bravado.
Inside, they couldn’t see the horrifying truth: outside, the pill furnace was completely blanketed by a seething mass of Bone-Erosion Spiders.
Just as Shen Hefeng retreated, the first hole appeared on the lid.
Spiders poured in through the gap.
Li Zhuohua, freshly bandaged, leapt up, drawing her Flowing Rainbow Sword. Risking its corrosion, she sliced through the invading spiders in one stroke.
After all, both Yin Xuan and Xie Ziyin had sacrificed their artifacts.
She wouldn’t hold back either!
But killing them wasn’t enough—unpatched, the hole would keep spewing more.
“What do we use to seal it?” Li Zhuohua asked urgently.
Wen Shuangbai wasn’t sure either. She was about to dump random materials from her storage ring for the others to improvise when—
Yin Xuan stepped forward, holding something. “How about this?”
Everyone turned.
In his hand was a ghostly limb—plundered from Lu Jiayao’s stash. With a gentle smile, he snapped off a finger and said softly, “Seems like a perfect fit.”
They glanced between the spider-chewed hole and the dismembered finger.
Well. The size did match.
Wen Shuangbai nodded. “Senior Brother, try it!”
Yin Xuan obliged, leaping onto the lid and plugging the hole with the finger.
…A flawless fit.
Li Zhuohua, Yin Xuan, and Shen Hefeng quickly realized the ghostly limbs’ versatility: the arms made excellent weapons against the spiders (no regrets if corroded—just grab another), while the fingers served as emergency hole-plugs.
Every part was useful. A treasure trove!
Wen Shuangbai glimpsed their makeshift solution and relaxed.
A pang of regret hit her—if only they’d harvested more ghostly organs from the earlier horde. If the hands were this handy, imagine what other parts could do.
Even Xie Ziyin had Shen Hefeng toss him a hand, using its sharp nails to poke away spiders obstructing his view.
Of the six in their team, five were thoroughly pleased.
The exception? Lu Jiayao.
Clutching his remaining ghostly limbs, he watched in despair as they were snatched away one by one. Tears streamed down his face. “Ghostly hands are so cute… how could you use them to fight spiders? This is my fault… I never should’ve picked them up…”
Shen Hefeng, squatting beside him, gleefully looted more hands to chuck at Li Zhuohua and Yin Xuan mid-battle. “Yes, yes, it’s all your fault! Ahahaha!”
Lu Jiayao: “…………”
Li Zhuohua swiftly caught the ghost hands Shen Hefeng threw her way.
With five fingers gripping five, ten ghosts in her grasp—she owned the world!
Li Zhuohua swung the ghost hands so fast they became a blur, striking down swarms of bone-melting spiders, unstoppable!
All because she had a goal in mind.
Earlier, she’d witnessed the speed of Junior Sister Wen Shuangbai’s chainsaw—she was determined to surpass it!
Yin Xuan snapped off a thumb, gestured vaguely at Li Zhuohua, then plugged it back into the hole.
The five of them worked like a well-oiled assembly line.
Wen Shuangbai revved the chainsaw, Xie Ziyin drove, Yin Xuan patched holes, Li Zhuohua slaughtered spiders, and Shen Hefeng tossed ghost hands while—on Wen Shuangbai’s reminder—opportunistically scooping up the fallen spider corpses and stuffing them into his storage ring.
Lesson learned from past mistakes: who knew if they’d need them later? Better take everything, useful or not.
As the ghost hands dwindled, Lu Jiayao’s sorrow swelled into a river of grief. In his anguish, he pulled out a flute and played a dirge so mournful it nearly sent them all to the afterlife.
Not just the bone-melting spiders—even Xie Ziyin faltered, nearly flipping the cauldron and getting them all killed.
That single misstep made it clear: one of the four wheels was hanging by a thread.
Though Wen Shuangbai had forged the wheels with the most corrosion-resistant materials from her storage ring, facing such an overwhelming horde, holding out this long was already a miracle.
The alchemy cauldron lurched sharply.
Immediately, Xie Ziyin pressed both hands against its walls, channeling all his spiritual energy to steady the vehicle.
He barked at Wen Shuangbai, “Watch the road. Guide me.”
He had no strength left to spare for navigation.
Wen Shuangbai: “Got it.”
The cauldron, carrying six people, shot forward like lightning, skidding around a hairpin turn and barreling ahead at breakneck speed.
As its master, Xie Ziyin knew its condition better than anyone.
He could feel it—this cauldron was on its last legs.
Sure enough.
The ghost fingers bought only a brief respite. The corrosion worsened.
First, the thinnest part—the lid—vanished entirely, turning it into a convertible.
Moments later, the wobbling wheel gave out, downgrading them to a three-wheeled open-top.
Then holes riddled the walls, merging into gaping voids.
Bone-melting spiders poured in like wasps.
Wen Shuangbai stared at the spiders crawling over her hands, then at the suddenly clear surroundings. For a dazed instant, she felt like she was on a sightseeing cave tour…
“Close! The exit’s ahead!” She sensed gusts of damp air, heard faint rushing water—they were almost there!
Shoving spirit stones into the chainsaw while channeling the Radiant Heart Technique, she began a countdown to rally her struggling comrades: “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…”
“Five-point-nine, five-point-eight…”
Shen Hefeng snapped: “You venomous wench, just say one already!”
“Five-point-seven, five-point-six—” Suddenly, Wen Shuangbai glimpsed the cave mouth ahead. Her eyes lit up. “FOUR, THREE, TWO!”
“NO—XIE ZIYIN, TURN AROUND!!” Damn these spiders! The “exit” wasn’t an exit at all—just a sheer cliff plunging straight down!
Hordes of bone-melting spiders catapulted upward from below.
This was their nest.
That “rushing water”? Spiderfall.
Xie Ziyin’s eyelid twitched violently. “Brace yourselves.”
Drawing on his modern-day ER-drive skills, he wrenched the cauldron into a U-turn.
But too late. Momentum carried them not back the way they came, but up the cavern wall—straight toward the ceiling.
Shen Hefeng thought, We’re done.
He shut his eyes, ready to die.
The cauldron hurtled toward the roof.
Instinct made Wen Shuangbai flinch, but her chainsaw never stopped. If anything, she poured even more Radiant Heart energy into it, reckless in her panic.
A deafening crack split the air.
Under the triple force of the chainsaw blade, Radiant Heart energy, and the cauldron’s velocity, they shattered through the ceiling—through layer after layer of rock—catapulting into the sky!
Then, in a parabolic arc, they crashed somewhere.
The cauldron exploded into scrap metal. Total loss.
But though the vehicle was wrecked… its passengers lived.
