Chapter Sixty-One: The Mysterious Jade Bottle

The scene before his eyes shifted and changed at a terrifying speed, so quickly that Jiang Feng could scarcely take it all in. He tried to close his eyes, but it was futile—whether his eyes were open or closed, those visions remained, neither increasing nor diminishing.

“Damn it, my Blood Fiend Fruit!”

Hearing Yichen’s final words, Jiang Feng’s expression changed dramatically. He hadn’t expected Yichen’s speed to be so astonishing. Just as he himself had been caught in that bewildering illusion, Yichen had seized the opportunity to snatch the Blood Fiend Fruit from his arms.

A wet splutter echoed in his mind, as though someone coughed up a mouthful of blood.

At that same moment, Jue’s voice emerged, anxious and cutting: “Kid, how are you feeling? I told you not to take that palm head-on, but you insisted. Now look, something’s gone wrong.”

A chill ran through Jiang Feng’s heart. He rushed into his sea of consciousness. As soon as he entered, he saw that Guiyue was in dire shape: her face was deathly pale, her limbs trembling uncontrollably, and a trickle of white fluid dripped from the corner of her mouth, to his great alarm.

“Senior Guiyue, what’s happened to you?”

Seeing Jiang Feng, Jue explained, “She was trying to protect you. After that fellow snatched the Blood Fiend Fruit, he struck at your chest in an instant. At that moment, your mind was lost in that illusion—there was nothing else to be done. Kiddo had no choice but to throw herself forward and take the blow for you.”

Guiyue sat cross-legged on the ground, her face showing a hint of unwillingness. It seemed the recent battle had left her frustrated—she’d been grievously wounded before she could even fight back in earnest.

“Kiddo took a direct hit, her nether energy scattered. Thankfully, she’d already refined a wisp of soul essence, so her soul didn’t shatter along with it. But all that hard-won essence is gone in an instant.” Jue’s voice was filled with regret, as if recalling the time he too had lost his hard-earned essence in the Sandfall.

“All of Senior Guiyue’s essence has dissipated?” Jiang Feng asked hurriedly.

“It’s nothing,” Guiyue said. “What I’d refined was still immature, far from the level of Jue’s essence. Gone is gone. Let me be for a while. I’ll use nether energy to dissolve that palm print. This Frost Soul Elixir can heal any wound, but I need time!” She glanced at Jiang Feng, sighing softly. “If only that Blood Fiend Fruit were still here, I’d recover much faster. Still, I’m surprised you managed to hold your own so long against someone at the ninth tier of the Void Nether Realm, and without using soul power at that. Even if it was just a clone, it’s still extraordinary. You’ve got guts, boy! Here, take this.”

As she spoke, she produced a small jade vial and tossed it to him. Yet the vial flew so slowly that Jiang Feng hurriedly caught it. As soon as his hand closed around it, his arm sank—“How heavy!” Such a tiny vessel, yet it weighed dozens of pounds. He wondered what could be inside.

“This jade vial, I don’t know its name, but it’s a fine nether artifact. There’s still a trace of that fellow’s spirit within. Erase it and perform a rite of refinement; you should be able to absorb that illusion spell into it,” Guiyue said. “That man was quite the character. With just a clone, he cast several spells in succession, even released the illusion from within this vial. But he was still shortsighted. Inside the vial, I found a sword formation left from antiquity. If you can obtain eight supreme-grade dark swords and invest them, you’ll be able to activate it. No matter if you face ghosts or gods, you’ll be unstoppable—characters like him won’t be your match. But I doubt you could afford such swords. For now, break the illusion spell, then think about collecting the swords.”

With that, Guiyue made a dismissive gesture. Frost Soul Elixir seeped from every pore, gathering into a bubble around her. Countless shards of ice spun in the air, circling the bubble.

Jue said to Jiang Feng, “Kiddo snatched this vial from that fellow just as she was struck—a fair trade, so we haven’t lost much, heh.”

After a moment’s thought, Jue sighed and complained, “Kiddo’s not lucky enough—if only she’d managed to swipe a Ten-Thousand Essence Golden Pill, both our essences would be restored at once.”

At the mention of the Golden Pill, Guiyue’s eyebrow twitched inside the icy bubble.

But Jue, oblivious, rambled on, “Even if we can’t get a ten-thousand essence pill, a thousand-essence one would do.”

At last, Guiyue couldn’t stand it. She opened a small gap in the bubble to let her voice out: “Jue, if you keep prattling, you’ll drive me mad. And this vial is already quite valuable. Also, stop calling me 'kiddo'!”

Seeing the argument between the two escalating, Jiang Feng quickly withdrew from his sea of consciousness to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. No sooner had he exited than he was hit with another wave of dizziness—the momentum of the illusion spell still surged around him.

Guiyue’s words echoed in his mind: as long as he erased Yichen’s remaining spirit from the vial, he could control it as he wished.

He focused, sending his spirit into the vial. Instantly, a blaze of deep green fire leapt up inside, like sword energy slashing through the air. The flames tore the air with a thunderous roar.

Jiang Feng was startled—was this truly the power of a mere wisp of spirit?

When using a nether artifact, its master always infused it with their spirit to forge a subtle link. A treasure like this jade vial would surely be infused with Yichen’s own spirit.

The green flame clashed with his own spirit, a wave of heat coursing through his mind, as if a hammer struck an iron bell, leaving his blood surging. Yet the flame did not inflict any real harm on his spirit.

Relief flickered in Jiang Feng’s heart. “Yichen must have been too arrogant about his own nether energy and didn’t put much effort into refining the artifact.”

He shaped his own nether energy like a blade of celestial steel and clashed with the remaining spirit. The impact sent fragments flying in all directions, surging like waves. In an instant, Yichen’s spirit scattered and vanished!

His own spirit now filled the vial. Jiang Feng had no time to celebrate before facing the chaotic world around him.

He hurriedly summoned all his nether energy and uncorked the vial. At once, the illusion spell was sucked inside, rumbling echoes reverberating through the mysterious forest. To his astonishment, the little vial contained a vast internal space—even after nearly an hour of absorption, it showed no sign of filling.

But his nether energy was not inexhaustible. Soon, he felt it flowing into the vial like water, draining fast.

“Hurry up! If this goes on, I’ll be drained dry!”

Jiang Feng could have cursed, his face twisted with anxiety, the hand holding the vial trembling, his vision blurring.

Truly, such a supreme nether artifact was almost beyond his ability to control.

Fortunately, just before he lost consciousness, the illusion spell was finally absorbed, another series of world-shifting visions flashed—and then everything returned to normal.