358 - Rebirth of a Star: Another Day, Another Drama

Chapter 358: The Mysterious Pill Tower Royal jelly is a wonderful thing. It's honey brewed by the phoenix among the Sky-Devouring Bees, not only sweet in flavor but also nourishing to the body. It's far superior to the honey made by ordinary Sky-Devouring Bees. Usually, the swarm guards it closely, and only the little ginseng doll, who plants spiritual flowers for their honey, gets some as a reward. But now, both Xiao Hei and Feng Li have somehow managed to get their hands on it. Upon closer inspection of Xiao Hei, Ye Linglong suddenly noticed that his plump figure seemed abnormal. It wasn't just fat—it seemed to be... swollen. Ye Linglong sighed in exasperation, "Well, serves him right for stealing royal jelly and getting stung like that." Putting aside the matter of the royal jelly, Ye Linglong's attention was drawn entirely to the towering nine-story structure before her. She stepped forward swiftly and arrived at the entrance of the tower's first floor. The grand door was shut, with two bronze rings but no lock. Feng Li caught up with her and remarked, "Even though it's not locked, I've tried with all my might, and I couldn't budge it." Xiao Hei nodded in agreement with a couple of low whimpers. Ye Linglong attempted to push the door using the bronze rings but found it immovable, as if it were locked from the inside. Feng Li chimed in, "See, I told you. It won’t open." "It shouldn't be that way. If it's here, then there must be a way to open it," Ye Linglong mused aloud. Her eyes fell on the bronze rings, and with instinct guiding her, she rapped them against the door. In ancient-style doors, rings serve as knockers, and in a sense, knocking is a form of courtesy, Ye Linglong thought. Mockingly, Feng Li commented, "There can't possibly be anyone inside. I couldn't sense any signs of life, and you expect someone to just..." His words were cut short by a creaking sound as the door opened. The phoenix was stunned, almost in disbelief. "What? I spent two hours trying to open it, and she just knocks, and it opens?" Ye Linglong advised, "Knock before entering—it shows manners." With that, she walked inside. Immediately upon entering the first floor, she noticed spacious surroundings with bookshelves lining the walls, filled with a variety of jade slips. She was drawn to examine what was recorded in them when a loud thud echoed from behind, followed by Feng Li's curse, "What the heck?!" Turning around, Ye Linglong saw Feng Li crouching on the floor, clutching his nose as if he had bumped into something. "What happened?" she asked. Feng Li got up and felt around in front of him, discovering an invisible barrier blocking his entry. "I can't seem to get in," he admitted helplessly. Ye Linglong exited and reentered without issue, but Feng Li remained blocked by the unseen barrier. After several attempts, he shrugged it off, "Looks like only you can enter. You go ahead." Ye Linglong nodded and continued to explore the jade slips, all meticulously arranged. Inserting her spiritual sense into one, she was astonished to find it contained a pill recipe. Checking those around her, she found they, too, were pill recipes. She surveyed the entire first floor and realized all the jade slips contained pill recipes marked as Yellow-grade. This meant every recipe stored here was of Yellow-grade. Could it be that the higher floors contained recipes of higher grades? With curiosity piquing, Ye Linglong approached the stairs to the second floor, but like Feng Li, she encountered an invisible barrier. Realizing she couldn't proceed upward, she reluctantly returned to the first-floor hall. Inspecting the jade slips again, she found they all contained Yellow-grade recipes. Her gaze traveled to the center of the room, where a pill cauldron sat—a rare find, even though it didn’t compare to the legendary Thousand-Jin Cauldron, it was certainly of celestial artifact caliber. While she didn't understand the celestial grading for artifacts, Ye Linglong knew it must be valuable, so she stored it away. Beside where the cauldron stood, there was a stone platform with ten small round indents, perfectly sized for pills. An idea struck Ye Linglong—it seemed like a place to set pills. Testing this theory, she placed a pill given to her by Jiang Lingyun into one of the indentations, only to have it promptly ejected, bouncing off a shelf and rolling onto the floor. For reasons she couldn’t fathom, Ye Linglong sensed a distinct emotion from the tower: disdain. What on earth? Even the tower is picky?!