Three days later, more black smoke poured out of the pill furnace. Maddened, Bai Xiaochun let out a roar and went out to do more research, his eyes completely bloodshot.
Another month passed, and by this point, Bai Xiaochun had already forgotten why he had come to be so focused on creating this medicine formula. All he did was work on his creation, occasionally launching a hand out through the spell formation shield to grab another snake. He got especially good at that part.
During the month that had passed, he’d caught and studied dozens of snakes. The snakes outside eyed him as coldly, as if he were a mortal enemy. The sound of their hissing, and the flow of their venom, never ceased. The snakes in the eighth level of Qi Condensation continued to occasionally attack the spell formation, looking for a weakness, hoping to consume Bai Xiaochun.
“Nope. That’s not it. Not good enough!” By now, two months had passed since he began working on a medicinal pill to shut the mouths of the venomous snakes. He had failed over a hundred times, without even one success.
Creating medicine formulas was not an easy thing, something he was now acutely aware of. However, he didn’t give up. In fact, he descended deeper into the madness of his experimentation. Another two months passed, and he had experienced hundreds of failures, but managed to succeed once. When that happened, his looked discontentedly at the black spirit medicine he held in his hand.
“How come there’s only one pill…
“There are so many snakes here! If I only get one to shut its mouth, that won’t help at all….” Eyes bloodshot, he tugged angrily at his hair and stared at the pill.
“I need a way to spread the effects. The best pill would be one that, once consumed by a snake, caused it to emit some sort of aura that infected all the other snakes…. Hmm… Infection? Right! Infection! I need to create a medicine formula that starts an epidemic!!” Eyes shining brightly, breath coming in ragged pants, Bai Xiaochun was now convinced that he was aimed in the right direction.
Soon after, he suddenly started laughing. Considering the madness of the laughter, anyone who might have been able to see Bai Xiaochun at that moment would have gasped and sworn an oath to never disturb him in the middle of medicine concocting.
As of this moment, Bai Xiaochun emanated a vile aura.
With new inspiration, he once again descended into medicine concocting. He mixed and matched the medicines, he adjusted the augmentation and suppression, he made small changes here and there. He grabbed snakes with increasing frequency. On a few dangerous occasions, he almost seemed soulless, as though he didn’t even notice or care what was happening around him. He was completely and utterly focused on creating a new medicine formula.
Time passed. One month. Two months. Three months. Four months….
Before long, it had been six months since Bai Xiaochun started his work on creating a medicine formula. During that half year, he had failed too many times to count. He was in a complete mess, clothes rumpled, hair disheveled, face smudged with ash. And yet, his crimson eyes glowed with excitement as he stared at the pill furnace.
“It’s gonna work. Hahaha! I’m going to do it this time!” As he howled in excitement, the pill furnace began to tremble. He had poured his heart and soul into this medicinal pill, and now that it was on the verge of finally appearing in the world, Bai Xiaochun’s excitement only grew.
“Li the Snake! Li the Swindler! When you tossed Lord Bai into this place, did you really think he couldn’t handle some measly snakes? You just wait until this treasured pill is finished being concocted, then I’ll teach your stupid little snakes a lesson. Humph! Who knows, after this, I might even be able to lead these snakes to conquer the world!” In the middle of his bragging and maniacal laughter, Bai Xiaochun’s expression suddenly flickered, and then he stared out of the stone hut.
Instantly, his jaw dropped.
He wasn’t sure exactly when, but a visitor had arrived, and was now standing there at his door. It wasn’t very tall, had two white paws, and two long ears sticking straight up. It even had a fluffy little tail which twitched back and forth as it stood there.
It had red eyes, and a cute little mouth with two teeth sticking out the front. Currently, it was standing there staring at Bai Xiaochun.
Time suddenly seemed to slow to a crawl. Bai Xiaochun’s widened.
“What are you doing here!?” he shouted. When Fragrant Cloud Peak had been thrown into chaos, Bai Xiaochun had searched high and low, but had been unable to find this very… talking rabbit!
As soon as Bai Xiaochun started yelling, the rabbit suddenly imitated his appearance and then yelled, “What are you doing here!?”
Eyes wide, the rabbit turned and fled at top speed, simultaneously letting loose a stream of words.
“Heavens! What’s that?!
“Did you see that? That rabbit can talk!
“Keep this on the down low, but yesterday I saw Elder Zhou go into a room with those phoenixes of his. Afterward, I heard some really strange noises….
“Elder Brother Hou Yunfei, you’re so naughty! What are you doing…? Uh… what’s that? Why are those monkeys twitching like that?!
“Junior Sister Meixiang, I, Li Qinghou, am not fickle in love. After I break through to the Gold Core stage, I’ll definitely take you as my Daoist partner!
“Hahaha! This medicinal pill is incredible. I, Bai Xiaochun, am clearly super awesome. This rabbit can actually talk!
“Li the Snake! Li the Swindler! When you tossed Lord Bai into this place, did you really think he couldn’t handle some measly snakes? You just wait until this treasured pill is finished being concocted, then I’ll teach your stupid little snakes a lesson. Humph! Who knows, after this, I might even be able to lead these snakes to conquer the world! Hahahahahaha!”
Even as the words echoed out, the rabbit sped out of the stone hut. When Bai Xiaochun heard the final passage, his face completely fell, and then he let out a howl of fury.
He tried to catch the rabbit, but it was too fast. Bai Xiaochun burst out of the stone hut, but his shouting caused the countless snakes in the cave to hiss and spray venom. As for the rabbit, it was unimaginably dextrous, and evaded all the snakes with ease. When they tried to bite down onto it, all they bit was air, and the rabbit… vanished, leaving behind nothing but a puff of smoke.
Off in the distance, it was possible to hear it reciting all of the passages it knew, which echoed back and forth in the subterranean cavern.
Bai Xiaochun tottered on the verge of collapse. He wanted to chase after it, but clearly, he was no match for it in terms of dexterity. He could only stare off in the direction it had fled, looking like he was about to cry. When he thought of that rabbit’s proclivities, and how loud its voice was, he began to sweat profusely. If the rabbit escaped to spread word, and Li Qinghou caught wind of it, Bai Xiaochun could only imagine the catastrophe that would result.
“Dammit!” he thought, grinding his teeth. “What kind of a rabbit is that?!?!” However, the truth was that nobody knew the answer. After all, he was the one who had created the thing.
The feeling that he had screwed himself over caused Bai Xiaochun’s madness to grow. Clearing his throat anxiously, he howled, “Peak Lord Li is brilliant and mighty! He’s invincible wherever he goes! He’s my most beloved relative!
“Uncle Li, I, Bai Xiaochun, will definitely work hard in the future, and promise that I’ll never disappoint you!”