Chapter 164 - The Lifeless Old Poison
Divine Bodies were the blessing of the heavens. There was no need to compete in cultivation speed with a Divine Body coupled with heavenly resources. There was simply no competition at all. One would only be angered to death if they took it seriously.
Surprising as it was to find two Divine Bodies in this barren world, it was more surprising to find them both in one city. Leon didn't think much about such a desolate world, but the more he learnt about it, the more startled he became. The world was not as simple as it appeared to be and there was more to it than what meets the eye.
"Oh right, let me show you something good, mother." Leon suddenly said with a big grin. He took out a bottle of longevity blood and handed it over his mother.
"Hmm? What is this?" Elizabeth was slightly taken aback by her son's cheeky smile. Receiving the bottle of red liquid, she was clueless about its usage and was bewildered. "Is this blood? How is this something good?"
"It is called the longevity blood, and it is the solution to all our money problems. How can it not be something good?"
"Oh!? Truly??" Elizabeth was astonished by Leon's answer. She sensed the blood vitality in the bottle, but how would that help their money problem? The amount the needed was after all not small. "What does it do exactly?"
"It can replenish the lost vitality of Awakeners from using the defective Awakening Pills. This one replenishes 3 years of their natural lifespan." Leon explained.
As they were already aware, the Awakening Pills draws upon a person's latent potential to forcibly awaken early and harm their vitality. It was like plucking an unripe orange and squeezing it for all its juice.
The effect of the longevity blood was similar to filling up the squeezed orange with new juice. Elizabeth widened her eyes in disbelief as the hand holding the bottle involuntarily shook once she understood its usage.
"Is it possible for something so miraculous to exist…?" Once Elizabeth heard its usage, she immediately understood its value. Leon did not need to explain it. This was something nobles would go crazy over. It was a priceless elixir that can only be sought. Elizabeth treated the bottle in her hand like it was the most precious thing in the world, more precious than the crystals.
'How much can I sell this bottle of longevity blood for? 50,000,000 Craws? 100,000,000 Craws? No… that is nowhere near enough money to fund the full reconstruction project. How much drops of longevity blood are in this bottle? 100 drops? 200 drops? Perhaps, we have to sell it by the drops.' Elizabeth thought. She did not know that Leon still had more than 2000 such bottles in his Worldspace.
If Leon knew his mother's thoughts. He would have broken in sweats. Would a drop of longevity blood still have any effect? They were after all trying to revitalize the kingdom. How can they take their subject's money and not provide them sufficient benefits?
"Not only does it exist, there are even more miraculous elixirs that exist out there. Mother, you should consume this bottle of longevity blood." Leon stated.
"WHAT!" Elizabeth jumped at his suggestion. "This is a priceless treasure! We need to auction it. Mother is now a Transcendent. Mother doesn't need this little bit of lifespan replenishment."
Leon clicked his tongue in realization and understood her concerns. He smiled wryly, "Don't worry, Mother. I still have more than 2000 such bottles."
Most of his time during his one-week trip outside was spent on refining these longevity blood. It goes without saying, that he would have plenty of them.
"Oh!? 2000!?" Elizabeth gaped in shock but did not completely lose her mind. She immediately began doing mental calculations. 2000 bottles multiplied by a minimum of 50,000,000 Craws per bottle was at least… 100,000,000,000 Craws!
But of course, this was an unrealistic calculation. Not every noble family was wealthy enough to afford to pay such a sky-high price. It may even lead to the decline of their family business. The value of the longevity blood would depreciate with each purchase. Thus, this wasn't something that could be sold all at once. They had to use hunger marketing strategies to ensure their maximum profits, but it would span over a period of time.
"You've done very well, my son. Mother can rest easy for a while." Elizabeth sighed. A burden had been lifted off her shoulders. With the amount of funds, they could raise from the longevity blood, she no longer had to worry about insufficient funds for a period of time.
"It's what I should do." Leon smiled lightly. Being part of the royal family, he naturally had to share his mother's burden. He did not want to see his mother exhaust herself from overworking.
Elizabeth nodded with a gratified smiled. It was her blessing to have such a capable son. Soon, she began making arrangements to insert a surprise auction in the upcoming banquet she was planning.
Before leaving, Leon mention his grand idea of using railway tracks to connect every major city and town in the kingdom and create a steam-powered steel carriage that could run on said track with the capability of transporting many goods and resources.
It was a brilliant idea, but their hands were tied with many ongoing projects and the production of steel was limited. However, Elizabeth also realized the importance of this railway project. The completion of the railway project would herald an age of rapid kingdom development. Although the railway project couldn't be initiated immediately, preparations can be made.
After Leon bid farewell to his mother, Elizabeth drafted the idea on paper and sent it to the Lancaster to come up with a suitable design for the steam-powered steel carriage and another one to the Cromwell to map the route for the railway.
When Leon left, he did not head over to see Aria and Lynne. Instead, he collected some crystals, before heading to the Lancaster's workshop tower to visit the busy Lancasters. Since Aria and Lynne were cultivating, he would not bother them. It was best if they could become strong as possible. Ever since he returned and saw the festive development of the Capital, he had been feeling a sense of foreboding like some great danger was drawing nearer.
Scrunching his brows, Leo thought, "Mother and Grandpa Don are both Transcendents, so there shouldn't be anyone who could threaten our kingdom. Where could this sense of danger be coming from? Was there an existence that could threaten Transcendents outside of the Perilous Lands?"
Come to think of it, no one really knew the different levels in the Transcendent Realm. People only knew the Transcendent Realm was above the Awakened Realm, but it also shouldn't the end. There should be higher realms above the Transcendent Realm.
…
"Sect Elder, congratulations on finding the treasure." The Illusory Butterfly Sect disciples congratulated, attributing all the credits to the sect elder.
"Nonsense. This was the result of everyone's efforts. I will not steal anyone's credit. When we return to the sect, you will all be equally rewarded." Old Poison
"Thank you, Sect Elder."
"Master, are you sure the treasure is the energy gathering formation?" Celia asked. She had to make sure since this was something, they spent a week to dig up. There were many times where she wanted to give up, thinking there was simply no treasure.
At the moment, all the disciples of Illusory Butterfly Sect gathered around Old Poison, dirtied and ragged. Old Poison rubbed off some of the remnant dirt on the formation plate and inspected it carefully.
"En, I'm sure of it. I recognize the engravings. It's the same as our sect's treasure, albeit with some differences." Old Poison said. He thought it was normal for the runic inscriptions on the plate to be slightly different since the sect's energy gather formation was as powerful as what they had witnessed here. "Let's return to the sect immediately."
"Maybe we should wash up first, master?" Cal suggested, before joking, "I'm afraid that if we return like this, no one will recognize us as fellow sect members of the Illusory Butterfly Sect. They might see us as people of the Beggar Sect instead."
"En, you have a point. Let's return to the Rainwallow City and clean us."
Returning to the city, Old Poison did not clean himself immediately, instead he gave the formation plate a thorough clean instead. It needed to be in a presentable condition when he hand it over to the sect leader.
After the formation plate was clean spotless, Old Poison gave it another inspection and suddenly discovered some problems. Previously, he was too ecstatic to notice, but now that he had calmed down, he saw the issue immediately. The shape was a little strange. It was not flat like it should be and was slightly curved around the edges. It did not seem priceless treasure but more like some well decorated bowl and neither was it gathering any energy.
"Maybe it hasn't activated yet…" He told himself and tried channeling his own energy into the plate to activate the runes on the plate.
However, nothing happened. There was no difference between channeling the energy into the plate and channeling the energy into the air. There was nothing holding it in place. The energy simply scattered into thin air.
"Oh no…"
Old Poison paled at once. He realized why the runes were slightly different. The runes weren't whole. Parts of it was missing. The formation plate was damaged and became useless. A useless treasure was no treasure at all. It was trash. The sect didn't have anyone capable of repairing formations.
"Hahaha…. All that effort just to pick up this piece of garbage… Hahaha…. FUCK!!!!!"
Old Poison laughed hysterically and threw the broken formation plate outside in anger. He was a complete fool! How could he be so stupid!? Treasure? What treasure? How laughable.
Not long after, his two disciples burst into his room shortly after being startled by his outburst.
"What's wrong, master? Where's the treasure?"
Old Poison did not respond. He sat on a stool lifelessly like he had lost his soul.
In a nearby alleyway, beggars frequented the place. It was prime spot for receiving money from kind travelers staying in the nearby inn. The broken formation plate coincidentally landed in front of one such beggar.. The Beggar bowed gratefully to the heavens and used the broken formation plate as his new beggar's bowl.