Slime Immortal.

Chapter 173 Slime Master

Compared to the savages who were used to the cold, the stinging bees and beetles in the squad all showed varying degrees of cold intolerance after entering the snowfield.

After dark, they would huddle together in the warmest corner of the cave, huddling around the campfire for warmth, occasionally making soft rustling sounds, as if they were shivering.

Right next to them, rows of bulging cloth bags were neatly stacked.

After obtaining the bat slime's consent, Sergash and Sermia cautiously approached and untied the rope of a cloth bag.

With a whoosh, a large pile of irregular but plump and thick tubers rolled onto the ground covered with dry grass, still covered with the fertile black soil from the Roots Forest, which was now completely dry.

"So much food!" Sergash exclaimed.

Sermia picked one up and weighed it in her hand; it felt heavy.

The two sisters looked at each other, then untied the rest of the bags, revealing more tubers.

In addition, there were more than a dozen bags of tightly packed smoked meat, salt wrapped in thick oil paper, and even some ironware tied with straw ropes—iron pots, iron axes, and spears, all of which were used in daily life and hunting.

This was a godsend for the fleeing group, who were short of supplies.

Sergash also discovered a special cloth bag with exquisite magic runes. Curious, she opened the bag, revealing a brand-new set of cold-resistant leather armor and an extremely finely crafted elven staff.

The staff is made of warm wood, and a gemstone with a soft, warm glow is inlaid at the top. Just holding it in your hand, you can feel a warm current that dispels the cold.

"This is... for me?" Sergash stroked the staff in disbelief, clearly delighted with it.

The bat slime bounced around, a hint of pride in its voice: "Of course, I personally chose it. It's made of the finest moonwood and warm sunstone, both beautiful and practical."

Of course, Chen Yu didn't forget Sermiya's share either.

In addition to the cold-resistant leather armor, the other set of equipment also included two short steel blades.

The handle of the short blade is wrapped with a non-slip leather cord, and the blade has natural patterns that spread like ice flowers, reflecting a cold and sharp light in the campfire light.

Elves certainly wouldn't possess such exquisite forging skills; these were acquired through trade with merchants who visited their territories.

Sermia picked up the short blade, flicked her wrist, and twirled it. The blade whistled through the air with a metallic chill, and a look of satisfaction appeared in her eyes.

She sheathed her dagger and, facing the bat slime, solemnly expressed her gratitude: "Thank you for your generosity, messenger. If we can return to the swamp safely, Sergash and I will personally visit you to express our thanks."

After their initial joy, the two realized that everyone was still hungry, so they quickly carried the bags of tubers to the campfire.

The savage was still drinking boiled snow water to stave off hunger when he saw the two sisters coming over. He quickly got up and went to help carry the snow.

“Miss Sergash, let me do it.”

"I am coming too."

"Thank you all for your help." Sergash smiled gratefully.

Before the elderly Brutu shaman could even ask what was in the bags, the savages who had gone to help carry them exclaimed in surprise.

"What happened?" the old man asked hurriedly.

The savage pointed tremblingly at the cloth bag, his voice filled with surprise and disbelief: "This is food, food, lots of food!!"

Sergash emptied one of the bags onto the spread-out animal hide, exposing the plump, purplish-brown tubers to everyone's view.

She smiled easily and said, "The envoy has brought enough food, so we won't go hungry tonight."

"food?!"

Upon hearing the word "food," the eyes of all the savages, which had been dulled by exhaustion and hunger, suddenly shone brightly, and the sound of swallowing saliva rose and fell.

Brutus the shaman took a deep breath and struck the ground heavily with his wooden staff, a symbol of his status, to quell the excited clamor. His voice was hoarse but solemn.

"Stop your shameful behavior. This is a blessing from God through His messengers. We must not forget to be grateful."

Upon hearing this, the savages immediately became solemn, put down what they were holding, and knelt down devoutly before the bat slime, chanting ancient and simple prayers.

In that instant, the bat slime perched on Sergasus's shoulder sensed something amiss.

It seemed to see an almost imperceptible white halo flash across the kneeling savages, then quickly disappear.

"Huh?" The bat slime tilted its round little head, looking somewhat puzzled.

It looked at Sergas and Sermia, who seemed completely unaware of the strange occurrence and were still busy preparing the food.

Although the bat slime was puzzled, its brain capacity was too small to support more complex thinking, so it dismissed the phenomenon as an illusion and put it aside.

Soon, the cave was bustling with activity again. The tubers were cleaned with snow, skewered on sharpened sticks, and roasted over a fire until the outer skin was charred and crispy, making a sizzling sound.

Some tubers were cut into small pieces and thrown into the newly brought iron pot along with shredded smoked meat, snow water, and precious salt, and simmered into a thick and fragrant broth.

Soon, the aroma of roasted tubers and broth filled the entire cave, like a warm hand soothing every hungry stomach and weary soul.

The savages gathered around the campfire, watching eagerly as the food slowly became more tempting in the flames, their stomachs rumbling involuntarily.

They did not rush to eat, but instead, according to tribal custom, respectfully presented the first roasted tubers and the first bowl of piping hot broth to Sergash and Sermia.

Sergash thanked them, took a perfectly roasted tuber, and, under the expectant gazes of the savages, carefully blew on it before taking a small bite.

The crispy outer skin cracks open, revealing the soft and sweet meat inside. The warm food slides down the esophagus, dispelling the chill in the body and bringing the satisfaction that only a staple food can provide.

"Mmm! Delicious!" Her eyes narrowed happily, like two crescent moons, and she couldn't help but take another big bite, her cheeks bulging.

Sermia preferred the soup. She sipped it slowly, and the hot soup gradually warmed her cold limbs, dispelling the sluggishness and drowsiness brought on by the cold.

Seeing the two sisters begin to eat, the savage, ignoring the heat, blew on the roasted tubers and wolfed down the hot soup.

"Hot! Smells so good!"

"Oh my god, it tastes like salt! I haven't tasted it in so long!"

"I'm so full..."

The savages ate with gusto, finishing off the large chunks of tuber in just a few bites, and even drinking every last drop of the broth.

They stroked their bulging bellies, their faces showing unprecedented satisfaction.

At that moment, the fear of fleeing, the grief of losing companions, and the uncertainty about the future seemed to be temporarily dispelled by this hot meal.

The cave echoed with contented sighs and hushed conversations after a hearty meal, creating an atmosphere more relaxed than ever before.

The bat slime noticed the strange white halo again, this time brighter and clearer than before, like a light mist emanating from the happy and content savages, before gradually disappearing.

Huh?
What a strange thing.

Unfortunately, it felt that its intelligence was ultimately inferior to that of its true self, and it couldn't guess what it was.

Fortunately, it didn't dwell on it and decided to return to the swamp to tell its original owner about this strange phenomenon.

Everyone was full and drowsy.

The children, in particular, were exhausted after a day of running around. Now, warm and full, they nestled in the arms of their mothers or relatives and quickly fell into a deep sleep, breathing evenly and slowly.

Old shaman Brutus seemed to have something on his mind. Leaning on his wooden staff, he walked unsteadily to the corner of the cave and came to the two sisters who were talking in hushed tones.

"Your Excellencies."

The old man spoke, his voice low and serious, "Do you still intend to continue the Snow Eagle Trial?"

He paused, his cloudy eyes gazing at the endless darkness and snow outside the cave, his tone filled with deep worry.

"In the Snow Eagle Holy Land, apart from the legendary warriors of Kukala, no one has ever truly been able to traverse the relentless blizzards, climb the cliffs, and reach the highest peak. Even the overlords of this snowfield, the strong orcs, regard it as a forbidden place."

"Ancient legends say that the sacred land is also inhabited by terrible frost monsters that can breathe extremely cold air and freeze any intruder, along with their soul, forever in ice crystals."

Serghash gripped the warm staff in his hand, his gaze resolute as he met the old shaman's eyes: "We have the map and guidance left by our ancestors; we will surely find the way to the summit."

"And what about you, savage tribe? Are you leaving the snowfield? The rotten moss tribe of the swamp will welcome you."

Brutu Shaman slowly shook his head and said helplessly, "Thank you for your kindness, but the swamp is too warm and too damp for us."

“We have lived on the ice plains for generations. Our thick fur and cold-resistant muscles are a gift from the ice and snow, but also a shackle that keeps us here. If we go there, they will probably become a burden.”

"Perhaps we will try to migrate to the edge of the snowfield, to find a place where we can continue to live in the border area between cold and warm."

"We've taken the most difficult step, and nothing can stop us now."

Sergasus opened her mouth, as if to say something, but the bat slime perched on her shoulder suddenly jumped up, conveying her thoughts.

"Seghash, ask them if they're interested in joining our Slime Kingdom."

"My lord, do you intend to take them in?" Sergash asked curiously.

"Take them in? Hmm... you could say that."

"However, Benm has already thought of everything for the main body, planning to build an outpost fortress on this snowfield to expand the kingdom's borders."

"They have lived here for generations, are familiar with the environment, and are cold-resistant. They are very powerful in the snowfield and can help the kingdom protect the fortress."

Sergash understood its meaning and turned to convey the invitation to the old shaman and the savages who were watching the commotion.

"The Slime Kingdom?"

"What is that place?"

"That sounds... a little strange."

The savages looked at each other, confused and bewildered by the unfamiliar name, and began to whisper among themselves. However, after listening to Sergash's words, the old shaman Brutu's cloudy eyes lit up slightly.

With a map leading to the outside world and enough food, crossing the snow was no longer a difficult task for them.

But as long as they live around the snowfield, they will eventually be found by the Frostbone Tribe.

Their descendants will repeat the same mistakes, continuing to be oppressed and enslaved by the orcs, forced to live a life of mere survival.

The blizzard could not break the savage's indomitable will; he was more worried about the orcs' revenge.

You see, when those orcs are short of food in the winter, they will cross that snow curtain and head south to cause trouble for the human kingdoms.

The snow cover meant nothing to them, so even if the savage tribe left the snowfield, they could not be considered safe.

Brutus was still worried about this matter, but he never expected that the messenger of the gods would take them in.

This was undoubtedly a good opportunity for him and for the savage tribe.

Without much hesitation, he took a shaky step forward and knelt down before the bat slime, his voice trembling with emotion:
"Thank you, Your Excellency. Thank you for taking in us homeless people. Our tribe is willing to join the Slime Kingdom and pledge allegiance to the Kingdom, guarding this snowy border for generations to come."

His decision came so quickly and decisively that it stunned the other savages.

But thinking that this messenger had brought them life-saving food and a "kingdom" that seemed to offer them protection, after a brief silence, more and more savages followed the shaman and bowed their heads toward the tiny bat slime.

The bat slime looked down from Sergash's shoulder, its gaze lingering only on them for a moment before settling on the reappearing white halo.

Huh?
It's getting brighter and brighter...

It felt as if it had stumbled upon something extraordinary.

Forget it, never mind.

Anyway, it's a good thing that new people are joining.

The original entity would definitely praise it if it knew, hehe...

After the sacred and solemn oath was taken, the savage returned to the campfire to rest.

Outside the cave, the wind and snow continued to howl, but inside, the firelight flickered, creating a warm and peaceful atmosphere.

The savage, who had been on edge, had just relaxed when he fell into a deep sleep, clearly exhausted.

At this moment, Sergasus was also extremely sleepy. Holding the little slime, she tried to stay awake despite her drowsiness, but her eyelids, which were so heavy she could barely keep them open, clearly betrayed her.

Sermia approached and draped a thick animal hide over her.

"Go to sleep. I'll keep watch tonight; no one will come."

"Mmm..." Sergash felt a sense of relief and fell into a deep sleep in her arms.

Even the little slime lay in the warm animal skin, closed its sleepy little eyes, and fell asleep, its tiny body rising and falling with its breath.

……

The cold and darkness gradually faded away.

In the obsidian mining area, underground magma surges restlessly, and fiery red rivers gush out from the fissures in the veins. Some of these rivers are guided into man-made trenches, flowing along predetermined paths like winding fire dragons.

The bright red light dispelled the darkness of most of the smelting area and illuminated the small figure standing at the edge of the trench.

At this moment, Chen Yu was completely focused, his small eyes fixed on the few medicinal herbs floating in front of him that emitted a faint spiritual light. He clumsily controlled the flames to calcify the herbs, all in order to extract their spiritual essence and then condense it into a spiritual pill.

In the Void Profound Heaven, pills are classified into two types by cultivators: Earth Pills and Spirit Pills, based on their different refining methods.

The method of refining the Earth Pill is relatively simple. It does not rely on profound Taoist techniques. It can be refined into a pill by simply grinding and mixing the medicine, kneading and shaping it, refining and shaping the pill, and removing poison and locking the spirit.

The finished pills are mostly dark brown in color. Pills made using this traditional method are also known as "earth pills". They have the advantages of being simple to make and better preserving the spiritual essence.

However, it also has many drawbacks. For example, erysipelas is a well-known problem, and every year some disciples of the Sanyuan Sect seek medical treatment for poisoning.

Moreover, the refining process is complicated and time-consuming.

To solve the problem of pill poisoning that plagued cultivators, three alchemy masters joined forces during an alchemy conference a thousand years ago to pioneer a new path called "Spirit Pills".

In order to eliminate the many tedious steps of alchemy and focus only on the step of forming the pill, one specializes in fire control and object manipulation techniques, precisely controlling the heat and medicinal materials, refining only the spiritual essence of the medicinal herbs, extracting the spiritual essence into pure yang substances, and sealing the spiritual essence to form the pill.

Without the medicine itself, there is no problem with erysipelas; the entire elixir is pure essence.

It sounds very high-end.

However, the reality is that the method of obtaining the elixir has not been widely adopted to this day.

This is not only because the method of making elixirs has a high entry barrier, but also because the elixirs made from them do not have better medicinal effects than earth elixirs.

In the process of refining spirits with fire, the spiritual essence of the elixir is often lost due to excessively long calcination time, resulting in an elixir with less medicinal efficacy than a celestial elixir.

They were extremely particular about the alchemist's techniques, almost to the point of discussing talent.

Otherwise, they would have to compete in terms of cultivation level. Often, the higher the cultivation level and the stronger the soul of the cultivator, the easier it would be for them to control the heat and medicinal materials, and the more effective the pills they could make would be.

Therefore, the method of making elixirs is almost exclusively the domain of powerful alchemists, and few younger generations practice it.

It's true that Earth Pills contain toxic substances, but they are cheap, and a whole box can be refined at once, so it's unlikely to kill anyone. Naturally, many cultivators buy them.

Chen Yu originally planned to start practicing with the simplest method of Earth Elixir, but he soon discovered a problem.

Zearella has no medicine to cure erysipelas. If he overdoses and ruins himself, there's no cure now.

To be on the safe side, it would be best to practice the art of elixirs.

The Lv.1 "Fire Control" only allows him to have a slight ability to manipulate flames, and his operation is not particularly refined.

Coincidentally, his talent "Flame Affinity" acts like a whip, taming the unruly flames and allowing his "Fire Control" to reach level 3 or higher.

With the addition of a maxed-out "Object Manipulation Technique," his pill-making success rate is quite high, comparable to some alchemists who have been refining pills for several years.

He carefully manipulated the subterranean fire drawn from the magma trough. The originally raging and unruly flames, under the influence of his "Flame Affinity" talent, became much more docile, like silk being smoothed by an invisible hand, gently wrapping the medicinal herbs and carrying out delicate calcination.

This process was extremely mentally taxing; his gel-like body even slightly contracted due to tension.

Finally, the last medicinal herb was precisely burned by the flames and turned into ashes, leaving behind a swirling, liquid-like essence that emitted an alluring energy fluctuation.

Chen Yu was so nervous that he was practically bubbling over. He spat out a gray gravel crystal that he had prepared beforehand from his treasure-bag-like gel belly.

The gray gravel crystal slowly floated up and approached the restless spiritual essence. The spiritual essence, like a trickle, evenly penetrated into every tiny pore of the gray gravel crystal.

As the flames spun and burned, the two gradually merged into one, emitting a soft glow.

After an unknown amount of time, the light gradually faded, and a round and translucent bead fell from the flames, bouncing gently a few times on the ground with a crisp sound.

The surface of the bead still retained a trace of red light, and inside it seemed as if there was a glassy luster flowing slowly.

Success!
After practicing for ages, I finally succeeded!!
Chen Yu was overjoyed, and his entire gel body bounced around happily like jelly, tumbling several times on the ground.

Once the bead has completely cooled and the red light on it has gradually faded, it reveals its crystal-clear true form, resembling a masterpiece of glass, and even still radiating a faint spiritual glow.

Chen Yu carefully picked up the "Bone-Tempering Yellow Pill" with his soft, gel-like little hands, looking at it from left to right, becoming more and more satisfied with it.

Then, with a gulp, he swallowed the elixir and it quickly digested. The medicinal power immediately transformed into a gentle and pure energy that flowed throughout the gel.

But slime has no bones, and it doesn't even have any muscle. It's just a soft, limp lump of gel, and you can't feel any effect after eating it.

However, after sharing the medicinal power, Xu Xuantian's body seemed to experience a comfortable feeling, and his physical condition improved slightly.

-

Life Status: Vigorous [HP: 970/1000]
-

One pill added thirty health points?
Chen Yu's eyes lit up.

Moreover, he felt that it wasn't just his physique that had improved; it seemed that his strength and agility had also increased.

This stuff is great.

Having tasted success, he immediately began refining a second pill. This time, his technique was more skillful, and it took a little less time. However, after the pill was formed and absorbed, its effects were slightly diminished, increasing his health by only 27 points.

This suggests that even pills without the toxicity of erysipelas cannot maintain their effectiveness indefinitely, as there seems to be a limit.

The Shadow Trial was about to begin in a few days, so Chen Yu didn't continue the experiment. Instead, he secreted a slime with "fire affinity" and "energy storage".

“From now on, you will be the Alchemy Slime,” Chen Yu said.

The little slime shook the gel up and down earnestly, its expression serious as if it were receiving a sacred mission.

So, the two slimes, one big and one small, started busily working around the lava trench.

Half a day later, the last Glazed Spirit Pill rolled to the ground with a "ding" sound, gathering with the previously refined pills in a small pit.

Upon careful counting, there were a full thirty spiritual pills inside, crystal clear and sparkling with spiritual light, which looked extraordinary.

After retrieving the alchemy slime, Chen Yu secreted a second bat slime.

Number Two swallowed all the elixirs and stored them away. Then, escorted by the stinging bee team, it flapped its wings and set off without stopping.

To save time, Chen Yu also planned a straight route for it, which would lead directly through the Rift Pass to the Dark Land and then to meet up with Gor and Arno.

Before the second batch of herbs arrived, he let his consciousness drift into the distance, intending to check on Arno's progress in martial arts.

(End of this chapter)