368: Can't understand human speech?

Taking a step into the spatial vortex, after a brief moment of weightlessness, his feet landed upon the soft earth.

An extremely rich fragrance of vegetation and primal aura rushed at him, mixed with the combined scent of countless types of medicinal ingredients, even purer and more ancient than the medicinal scent found in the plaza of Holy Pill City.

Jiang Donghua looked around and found himself within an extremely dense primeval forest.

Towering ancient trees obscured the sky, and thick vines coiled like massive pythons, allowing sunlight only to filter through the layered branches and leaves, casting dappled spots of light.

Moist vapor permeated the air, and in the distance, the low roars of unknown Magical Beasts could faintly be heard.

“So this is the Pill World? It truly is a blessed land, with such abundant energy; no wonder it can nurture countless rare medicinal ingredients.”

Jiang Donghua nodded slightly, quite satisfied with the environment of the Pill World.

Only then did he unhurriedly take out the jade slip issued by the Pill Tower and probe it with his Soul Power.

Information appeared within the jade slip, requiring him to find three types of medicinal ingredients.

dragon blood ganoderma: shaped like a coiled dragon, colored like congealed blood, growing in places of extreme Yang and rigidity, often guarded by powerful fire-attribute Magical Beasts.

Nine-Heart Soul Infant Fruit: shaped like a curled-up infant, entirely translucent, containing pure Soul Power, only likely to grow in places of extreme Yin, ancient battlefields, or where powerful experts have fallen.

seven-colored moon orchid: its petals display seven colors, emitting a soft glow under the moonlight, preferring cold and dark environments, often growing near deep pools, secluded valleys, or millennia-old ice.

Looking at the names and simple graphic descriptions of these three medicinal ingredients, a peculiar expression appeared on Jiang Donghua's face, and he subconsciously touched the high-grade storage ring on his finger.

“Uh~ dragon blood ganoderma, Nine-Heart Soul Infant Fruit, seven-colored moon orchid?”

He muttered to himself.

“Why do I feel like I just happen to have stock of these in my storage ring?”

Over the past year, he had been frantically refining pills in Sound Valley, which had nearly emptied its coffers to supply him with ingredients, including many rare varieties. Coupled with his previous collections, gathering these three ingredients—which were not common but also not top-tier—did not seem difficult.

He then looked at the extremely crude parchment map attached next to the jade slip, which only had three circled red dots roughly indicating the possible locations where these three medicinal ingredients might appear in the Pill World. Aside from that, there were no other topographical markings.

“This map is truly perfunctory.”

Jiang Donghua shook his head helplessly.

The Pill Tower was clearly increasing the difficulty, testing the contestants’ ability to find ingredients and their luck.

Although he could directly pull the ingredients from his storage ring and complete the task, that would be too boring, and his money was still money.

Jiang Donghua thought for a moment and decided to follow the rules, searching for the ingredients himself, and taking the opportunity to see what was unique about the Pill World.

“Fine, I’ll just treat it as a chance to stretch my muscles.”

His gaze fell upon the red dot closest to him on the parchment, which corresponded to the dragon blood ganoderma.

“I’ll start by checking out this place.”

Before his voice faded, Jiang Donghua did not choose to fly or walk. Instead, he directly extended his right hand toward the void ahead, slightly spread his five fingers, and then violently tore them apart!

“Tear—!”

A stable spatial rift, like cloth torn by an invisible giant hand, instantly appeared before him.

He took one step into it, and the rift immediately closed behind him.

Ten-odd seconds later, at the entrance of a scorching hot valley several hundred miles away from his original location.

Space rippled like water, and Jiang Donghua's figure calmly stepped out.

As soon as he stabilized, a scorching hot wave of air rushed toward him.

At the same time, a wolf howl filled with ferocity and warning, exploded in the valley like thunder!

“Awooo—!”

Deep within the valley, atop a massive, entirely crimson rock, a giant wolf—as robust as an ox, with fur like burning flames—was baring its fangs, its scarlet eyes fixed intently on this uninvited guest!

The fierce aura emanating from its body had clearly reached the Seventh Tier, equivalent to a human Dou Zong.

And in the rock crevice not far behind it, a spiritual fungus shaped like a coiled dragon and colored deep crimson like blood was emitting tempting energy fluctuations.

dragon blood ganoderma!

And guarding it was none other than this Seventh Tier Magical Beast, the Crimson Blood Red Wolf!

Jiang Donghua dusted off non-existent dirt from his clothes, looked at the poised Crimson Blood Red Wolf, and a faint smile curved his lips.

“Good luck. Saves me the trouble of searching slowly.”

Looking at the giant wolf before him, fierce in aura and scarlet-eyed, Jiang Donghua slightly raised an eyebrow, a flicker of doubt passing through his mind.

Logically, once a Magical Beast reaches the Seventh Tier, its intelligence is comparable to a human's. Most can transform into human form, and even if they maintain their original body, they should be able to speak human language and understand how to assess the situation.

However, this Crimson Blood Red Wolf, despite possessing the momentum comparable to a human Two or Three-star Dou Zong, only held primal ferocity and madness in its scarlet eyes, completely lacking any light of rationality. It seemed more like it had fallen into some kind of berserk state.

“Are the Magical Beasts in the Pill World all this irritable?”

Jiang Donghua muttered inwardly, but still decided to try diplomacy before resorting to force.

He stood with his hands behind his back, looked at the poised giant wolf, and spoke in a calm tone.

“I came for this spiritual fungus. Retreat now, and I will spare your life.”

However, the response he received was an even more furious roar from the Crimson Blood Red Wolf!

Its four limbs violently pushed off the ground, and its massive body transformed into a crimson streak of lightning, carrying an air-tearing shriek as it opened its gaping maw and lunged directly for Jiang Donghua’s neck!

Its speed was far beyond that of an ordinary Dou Zong!

“Alas, it truly doesn’t understand human speech.”

Jiang Donghua sighed, seemingly regretful. Just as the Crimson Blood Red Wolf's sharp teeth were about to touch his skin, he didn't even move a finger.

He merely had a slight shift in thought.

“Space... strangulation.”

Buzz!

Centered around the Crimson Blood Red Wolf's neck, a small section of space suddenly became extremely twisted and chaotic!

Countless spatial cracks, as fine as hair, appeared out of thin air, intersecting and slicing like the sharpest blades!

“Pfft—”

A soft sound, like a hot knife slicing through butter.

The fiercely pouncing Crimson Blood Red Wolf's massive body continued to surge forward due to inertia, but its head had already been completely separated from its body!

Scorching wolf blood surged out from the severed neck like a fountain, staining the crimson rocks below a deeper shade.

From the moment it erupted in attack until its head was separated and its body fell powerlessly from mid-air, the entire process truly only took one second.

Even in death, its scarlet eyes retained ferocity and a trace of bewilderment, as if it didn't understand what had happened.

“Why bother.”

Jiang Donghua shook his head, glanced away from the wolf corpse, and with a flash, appeared next to the dragon blood ganoderma.

Carefully, he used a jade spade to dig it out along with a small piece of rock, placed it into a prepared mutton-fat jade box, and stored it securely.

Having done this, he glanced at the still slightly twitching wolf corpse. Following the principle of not wasting anything, he casually sliced it open with a stream of Dou Qi, wanting to see if there were any treasures like a Demon Core inside.

As it turned out, the inside was empty; there wasn't even a Demon Core.

“Tch, truly a pauper. What a waste of such a large body.”

Jiang Donghua curled his lip, completely losing interest.

He once again took out the crude parchment map, his gaze falling on another red dot that was relatively close.

That was the area where the seven-colored moon orchid might grow.

“Next.”

He reached out again, lightly sliced the void beside him, skillfully tearing open a spatial rift, and stepped inside.

In less than two minutes, after several consecutive short-distance spatial traversals, Jiang Donghua’s figure appeared before a deep, secluded valley.

Before even entering the valley, a chilling, bone-piercing coldness rushed toward him like an invisible blade, causing a faint stinging sensation on his face.

The light inside the valley was dim, filled with white cold mist, and the sound of water flowing into a deep pool could faintly be heard.

“The cold aura is so heavy; it seems this is the place. The seven-colored moon orchid should be inside.”

Jiang Donghua sensed the chill and confirmed the location.

He restrained his aura, stepped into the valley, and began carefully searching for the seven-colored moon orchid, which thrives in cold, dark environments.

For others, the Pill World was full of hidden dangers and required vast amounts of time to explore, but for him, it was more like a backyard he could traverse at will.