Hidden Moth-Chapter 454 - 258: The Wild Fox in the Mountains Becomes a Silver Fox

This wasted a large amount of precious spiritual medicine without having any effect, and many people still don’t learn from it.

For example, Zhang San’s experiment failed, but Li Si was not convinced and always wanted to try it himself. As the saying goes, failure is the mother of success. How can you summarize the experience if you don’t try it yourself?

Just because others fail doesn’t mean you will. The reason for failure might just be that you chose the wrong cat or dog?

Perhaps influenced by mythical tales, many once believed that foxes were the best experimental subjects. As a result, the foxes in the deep mountains around Phoenix Tail Town suffered a lot, always being caught and fed medicine for observation.

Experimentation can’t be said to be without results, as there is a special fox breed in the mountains around Phoenix Tail Town called the "Silver Fox," with fur somewhat like a shade of silver, said to have been "bred" by ancient ancestors.

To curb this increasingly rampant evil practice, the Ancestral Hall formally convened a meeting five hundred years ago to discuss whether it was necessary to add a new rule to the major Magic Sects.

For example, prohibiting the refining of Spirit Awakening Pills, or forbidding the feeding of animals with Spirit Awakening Pills.

Most of the high-level members of the Magic Sect who participated in the discussion had done this kind of thing themselves, and they felt they shouldn’t set a bad example for their disciples. However, the discussion did not result in the inclusion of this in the Sect Rules.

The alchemy formula for the Spirit Awakening Pill was left by the ancestors, serving as a means to test the level of alchemy technique. It’s hard to prohibit someone from occasionally refining a batch, as long as they gather the materials themselves.

Moreover, just because past experiments failed doesn’t mean future ones will always fail. What if one day we do discover a demon creature with the potential to awaken intelligence?

Therefore, the Ancestral Hall issued a temporary order prohibiting the unauthorized feeding of animals with Spirit Awakening Pills, while strictly controlling the teaching of the pill’s formula.

Note, this is not a Sect Rule but a notice from the Ancestral Hall. It’s like not writing it into law but having the governing body issue a red-headed document.

Such notices have a time limit. For example, two years ago, the Ancestral Hall issued an order temporarily prohibiting high-tier sorcerers from venturing into Qi Yuan. It can’t become a formal Sect Rule; it’s only a temporary regulation that was later lifted.

But the regulation "prohibiting the unauthorized feeding of animals with Spirit Awakening Pills" is still in effect. Its continuous existence shows that over the past five hundred years, people have persisted in doing this.

In his youth, Li Xiuyuan secretly fed a rabbit with a Spirit Awakening Pill and was reported, resulting in a punishment of being sealed for half a year.

Today, many Magic Sect Disciples are unaware of this prohibition, and they don’t need to know. Only the few who achieve a high enough cultivation to refine Spirit Awakening Pills will be informed during their study of high-level alchemy techniques.

Though the prohibition exists, as the alchemy technique level of past ancestors broke through to a certain realm, they occasionally refined a batch of Spirit Awakening Pills. Since there’s no use for these, over the years, the sects have accumulated quite a few, and Elder Li has his ways of obtaining them.

Upon hearing this introduction, He Kao exclaimed in surprise, "Sealed for half a year? And it was just for feeding a rabbit, such a harsh punishment! Did the rabbit change in any way afterward?"

Li Xiuyuan replied, "Of course, there was a change. The taste was very tender, and it retained some effect of nourishing the primordial spirit, though it was minimal, wasting most of the spiritual medicine..."

He Kao exclaimed, "You actually ate it!"

Li Xiuyuan said, "It wasn’t me; it was that troublesome kid Gu Chun, who also reported me... Later, I also caught a few to taste and found he wasn’t wrong."

He Kao asked, "You caught a few to taste! How many rabbits did you feed, really?"

Li Xiuyuan replied, "In total, about a hundred or so. They were the rabbits raised by Uncle Dou in the village. My thinking at the time was that the sample range was too small for this kind of experiment, so a screening method was necessary..."

No wonder, feeding over a hundred rabbits and being reported was well deserved; otherwise, who knows how much more spiritual medicine would have been wasted. The half-year seal was indeed justifiable.

Back then, Gu Chun could report him, but today’s He Kao wouldn’t dare to criticize him to his face and instead asked, "What about the Transformation Pill?"

Li Xiuyuan pondered, "The Transformation Pill is different from the Spirit Awakening Pill, as its materials are very precious and hard to gather completely, and the refining requirements are extremely high.

At least Tier Six Cultivation is needed to master both the refining and taking methods, so the stock within the Magic Sect is very low. I can only give you this one gourd, containing a total of nine pills.

Today, you asked about it, so I gave you these elixirs. I figure each sect has some stored, and your Hidden Moth Sect can’t not have any.

Whether it’s the Transformation Pill or the Spirit Awakening Pill, I’ve given them to you for research purposes, and I’ve reminded you about the important matters."

Leaving aside the method of refining, the method of taking elixirs is also quite intricate. They’re not like candy that you can swallow. Almost all require the use of an Innate Transformation Method.

Sometimes, the one taking the pill has no ability to transform innately, like a rabbit, so a high-level person must cast a technique to assist in the transformation and absorption of the elixir’s spiritual effect.

The few stored Transformation Pills indicate that there are still some in stock, as alchemy masters from past generations occasionally tried their hands at refining them. Having no use for them, of course, resulted in some accumulation.

The function of the Transformation Pill is to help already intellect-awakened demon cultivators grasp the mysteries of transformation. He Kao couldn’t even "understand" the alchemy formula, so it was the perfect time to consult Elder Li.

According to Elder Li, it’s hard to strictly define the Tier One and Tier Two cultivation of demon cultivators; it’s like breaking through a certain bloodline limitation or undergoing a certain mutation, where their senses, body, lifespan, and even intelligence undergo changes.

And the process of awakening intelligence is like gaining a certain talent, akin to breaking through Tier Three cultivation. In this newfound clarity, one can cultivate and learn, consciously or unconsciously using certain techniques.