The Thorne of Destiny-Chapter 90: Soul Enhancement Pill

Adrian stood in front of the three passages, pondering what to do. He figured he was caught in some sort of illusion formation again.

Even though he had figured out what the problem was, that didn’t make it any easier. He wasn’t a formation master, so he couldn’t decipher the formation.

He also didn’t think he was strong enough to destroy such a high-level illusion formation.

"Hehe," He snickered to himself. He couldn’t even find the formation, yet he was thinking about destroying it.

He pondered on what to do for a while, but couldn’t come up with any meaningful ideas.

He just decided to keep trying until he figured something out. After all, he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

He picked a random passage and entered, this time with far less vigilance than before. Instead of focusing on where to go, he started looking for what didn’t belong.

He placed a finger on the wall and started tracing it down the corridor. A thin line became visible as he continued down the corridor.

He exited the corridor and, without any difficulty, continued making his way down the succeeding passage.

Unsurprisingly, he found himself back at a fork in the road. He hurriedly approached and entered the same passage that he had just left, the middle passage.

He stared at the wall and noticed that the line he had just drawn with his finger wasn’t there anymore. The passage was as if no one had stepped foot in it before.

The line was gone, and even his footprints on the ground were no longer there, as he had never set foot inside before.

He immediately recognized what was going on. It was a mirror trap. One that was far more dangerous than an ordinary illusion.

Mirror traps were illusions that didn’t just fool the eye, they fooled the entire reality around a person. Like a reflection inside a reflection, they created worlds within worlds, allowing the victim to believe they were moving forward, while actually being held in place.

Of course, that was only for high-level formations. The one in front of him was not that advanced. Still, it increased the difficulty of his task.

"Well, at least now I know what I’m dealing with." He muttered to himself, forgetting to question why he even recognised such a formation.

But to maintain such a formation took a massive amount of energy. Adrian didn’t know whether the source of that energy was close by or not.

’Should I just keep entering it to see if I can deplete the energy?’ He thought to himself.

However, he quickly discarded that idea. He didn’t know how vast the energy reserves powering this formation were.

For all he knew, he could be stuck here all his life without even depleting the energy reserves. That thought sent a shiver down his spine, making him realize how he was truly not in a good situation.

"Hah, if only I could use spirit sense, I would be able to investigate even further." He said to himself.

Snap!

His head snapped up when that thought entered his mind. He had just had a great idea. With a single thought, a pill appeared in his hand.

Its body was round, and it had a light blue hue. If an alchemist were present, they would recognize it for what it was: a soul enhancement pill.

A soul enhancement pill was a special kind of pill. Its effect was to increase the power of the soul by one whole realm.

If a person in the Golden Core realm ingested it, their soul power would increase to that of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator.

It also had the added benefit of healing the soul, albeit not by much. Still, it was a precious pill that could save one’s life at critical moments.

Pills that could affect the soul were all very precious. The lowest rank one could get was Rank 4. That was because the ingredients required were very precious and not easily found.

However, that didn’t mean a Rank 4 alchemist could refine one. Soul pills required even more spirit power and concentration in order to refine them successfully.

To refine a Rank 4 soul pill, the spirit power of a Rank 5 alchemist would be required. The cycle continued as the rank of the pill increased.

This meant that only a Rank 5 alchemist could refine a Rank 4 soul pill. The pill in his hand was obviously not something he had refined. It was something that was prepared for him when he was going to train in the Misty Mountains by his family.

He popped the pill into his mouth, and a refreshing feeling coursed through his body. His mind felt clear and refreshed, as if he had just taken a cool bath.

The lingering headache that he had been having ever since he woke up was gone, replaced with brimming vitality.

Adrian could feel the power of his soul increasing rapidly. It was such a euphoric feeling that he had never felt before. He closed his eyes to savor the feeling, trying to make it last as long as possible.

Suddenly, he heard a small popping sound in his mind. A wave of spirit energy rushed out of his mind, into his surroundings.

He started seeing his surroundings in a different light. Everything in a ten-meter radius was within his vision.

Even with his eyes still closed, nothing could escape him. This was his spirit sense.

Adrian opened his eyes in wonder, marvelling at the situation that had just occurred. Activating his spirit sense meant that his soul was currently on par with that of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator.

Even if it was temporary, it was such a novel and refreshing feeling for him. Adrian didn’t waste time basking in the sensation.

He knew the effect wouldn’t last long. Soul enhancement pills, especially ones that weren’t of the highest quality, only provided a temporary boost. He had a limited window before the formation adjusted or his soul returned to its normal strength.

He extended his spirit sense cautiously, examining his surroundings thoroughly.

Immediately, he noticed subtle fluctuations in the air. It was as though the illusion was breathing, reacting to his presence. The walls flickered under his perception, their edges fuzzy like wet ink spreading on paper.

His spirit sense picked up the faintest pulses of spiritual energy, the rhythm of the formation. It was like a heartbeat, constant and deliberate.

The same thing could be felt from all three passages. Since he didn’t know what he was looking for, he picked one at random once again.

This time it was the passage on the right. Like before, when he entered, he felt a change in the surroundings.

This time, he wasn’t looking through his eyes; he was using his spirit sense. The ten-meter radius was just enough to cover both walls, ensuring he didn’t see anything.

He kept his pace steady, not moving too slow nor too fast. He was taking time, making sure not to miss anything while simultaneously not wasting the time provided by the soul-enhancing pill.

The amount of information he received from using his spirit sense was a lot. He could see every crack in the wall, every joint where the stone slabs met.

It took a little while for Adrian to get used to it so that he wouldn’t get overwhelmed.

He continued walking till the end of the passage, not noticing anything odd. He was already contemplating what to do if he didn’t find anything in the passage.

As he took one foot out of the passage, he felt a ripple shimmer across his spirit sense like a pebble tossed into still water. Adrian froze mid-step, eyes narrowing. He had finally noticed something different.

The ripple was very subtle, hard to detect. If he hadn’t been paying such great attention with his spiritual sense, he would have missed it.

He stepped back into the corridor where he felt an almost inaudible hum resonating through the air. It was as if something was reacting... not just to his presence, but to movement through specific points.

He dropped to one knee and pressed his palm against the floor. Nothing. No special carvings or marks could be seen.

He scanned the area thoroughly until he noticed a brick that was different from the rest. While the others had a word down look, it looked perfectly fine, as if it was just made.

Intrigued, Adrian tried to probe it with his spiritual sense. He was surprised when he saw that his spiritual sense couldn’t penetrate it easily. It took a bit of effort, but he could finally see the interior of the brick. All he could see was black.

He tried the others around it and was able to penetrate it easily. He could see the dirt and stones that he would need to make up a normal brick. Meaning that this brick was an anomaly.

"Got you," Adrian whispered, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. He was sure that the brick was related to the illusion.

Adrian didn’t know the proper way to disable a mirror illusion, but he didn’t need to. His goal was to get past the illusion, not destroy it.

Anyway, he wasn’t even sure if he could destroy a mirror illusion. He simply needed to disable the formation for a little while, until he could get past it.

He brought out his sword and started channeling his Qi into it. Without hesitation, he swung down on the mysterious brick. Bright red flames surged forth from his sword as he executed his martial skill.

Crack!

A fracture split across the surface of the ’exit’, but not a physical one. It was more like an illusory rupture, like glass spider-webbing under pressure. Light bled from the crack, distorting the wall in front of him.

Previously, when one ’exited’ the passage, they would have to turn right, as no passage could be seen ahead. However, now, that was different.

The walls flickered violently. Adrian reeled back, shielding his eyes as a gust of wind surged outward. Before him was another corridor, where the wall had previously been.

He probed it with his spiritual sense and found nothing suspicious. That didn’t make him feel safe, though.

The range of his spiritual sense was small, only ten meters. He couldn’t see farther than that, so he didn’t know if there was danger lurking deep inside.

However, it seemed he wasn’t going to be given a chance to think. His eyes glanced towards the brick, which had only a small crack on it after facing Adrian’s full strike.

Now that small crack seemed to have been repairing itself. It was as if time was being reversed on it.

He had to quickly make a choice. He could stay here and try to figure out a way to permanently stop the mirror illusion, or he could take the risk on a path he wasn’t clear was safe or not.

Gritting his teeth. He dashed towards the passage that was quickly returning back to its previous state.