“Junior Brother Shen, you’re truly amazing! You actually became an inner sect Menial Disciple!”
After finishing a day’s work as a helper in the Pill Room, Shen He returned to his room in the evening.
Pang Sanxian waited for him excitedly. “How did you get in? Teach me quickly. We’re fellow disciples who joined Silent Night Palace together, so we should help each other out!”
The Pill Room was a cushy job. Sect brothers and sisters always needed pills, and while pill refining required talent, being a helper or Menial Disciple didn’t. Though the attrition rate there was high, the benefits were obvious!
Pang Sanxian’s family ran a tavern, and he believed he had some talent in the pill dao. He had long been scheming to get into the Pill Room. Now that Shen He had beaten him to it, didn’t that mean he could get the moon first since he was close to the water tower?
Seeing Pang Sanxian’s excited expression, Shen He gave wry smile after wry smile.
The young man’s face was full of exhaustion. Today’s events had been too stimulating for him.
He mustered a breath and smiled. “Senior Brother Pang, sorry, Little Brother is too tired. Once I’ve rested, I’ll definitely discuss it in detail with Senior Brother.”
Though Pang Sanxian was reluctant, he saw that Shen He seemed about to collapse from fatigue and could only step aside.
After entering the room, Shen He activated the formation and took out a bottle of pills from his bosom.
Those pills were the freshly made Demonic Cores that increased Demonic Qi.
Senior Brother Hong had just given him the pills and told him to take good care of himself.
“Confused?”
Xie Linlang noticed that Shen He had been staring at the Demonic Core. “Only you can use this pill. The resentful souls of the previous two Menial Disciples are contained within it. I kicked the culprit inside on your behalf, soothing the resentful souls’ hatred. Instead, it purged the Karmic Obstacles within the Demonic Core and suppressed the side effects to the minimum.”
Even as a pill dao grandmaster and existence known as the Pill King, Xie Linlang couldn’t change the properties of a pill that had already been refined two-thirds of the way.
“That Foundation Establishment Cultivator surnamed Hong gave you the pill merely to go with the flow. Your performance afterward was pretty good.”
Xie Linlang sincerely praised Shen He. Whether it was Shen He’s quick wits or his handling of various Demonic Plant materials under Senior Brother Hong’s watchful eye afterward, it far exceeded Xie Linlang’s expectations.
It showed that Shen He had cultivated diligently before this. Though his strength wasn’t much, his foundations were solid.
Moreover, Shen He came from Pang family’s tavern. His claim that he had seen the properties of that Spiritual Mushroom while helping out at the Pang family perfectly glossed over the Pill Room incident, earning Xie Linlang’s admiration.
Shen He asked softly, “…Dao Ye, is pill refining always like this?”
Though he didn’t spell it out, Xie Linlang understood what Shen He was asking.
“Of course not. Proper pill refining isn’t like today at all.”
Xie Linlang said candidly, “I’ll pass you some basic pill dao techniques shortly. Study them, but Orthodox Cultivators and Demonic Cultivators have different pill refining methods. Don’t reveal them outside.”
Shen He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. He said listlessly, “But I’m a Demonic Cultivator now. I don’t want to learn to refine Demonic Cores. That’s too much.”
“…Is that so?”
Xie Linlang’s heart suddenly softened as he recalled events from long ago.
“Actually, even demonic sects don’t refine pills this way. At least, none of the Demonic Cultivators I knew did. Only those who have fallen into the evil path use people as materials for pills. After all, humans are the most spiritual of all things. About three hundred years ago, there was a place called Caojia Du. An evil cultivator blocked the heavenly secrets, isolating Caojia Du from heaven and earth, letting the people inside slaughter each other. In the end, Caojia Du became a land of white bones.”
“That evil cultivator used Resentful Soul Flowers nourished by the dead flesh and blood to refine Nine Sorrows Pills. The mortal kingdom where Caojia Du was located was in the midst of war, so no one knew of the tragedy. However, one cultivator had a promise with a family in Caojia Du to eat their green rice balls the next year…”
Xie Linlang’s voice seemed to come from afar, as if the long-dormant memories of the past were awakening, gradually emitting colorful, dreamlike hues.
“He arrived at Caojia Du, saw through the evil cultivator’s atrocities, and swore to avenge it. With one man and one sword, he swept through more than a dozen mortal kingdoms and three Spirit Realms, finally chasing the evil cultivator to the border of the Spirit Realm and Demon Domain, slaying him under his sword.”
Hearing this, Shen He felt immense yearning. He said excitedly, “Was that you, Dao Ye?”
Xie Linlang laughed and said happily, “Of course not. It was my… my Senior Brother.”
The next second, sorrow welled up in Xie Linlang.
Pei Ji was the top prodigy of the next generation in the immortal realm, renowned far and wide, known to all.
Yet just a few hundred years later, aside from his own barely surviving Remnant Soul, who else remembered Pei Sword Immortal’s fame for slaying evil and purging demons?
Shen He didn’t notice Xie Linlang’s mood change. He was extremely excited. “This is the kind of immortal master I imagined! I want to become someone like that!”
Xie Linlang’s mind shook greatly upon hearing this.
After a long while, he exhaled and said mildly, “Good. Very good.”
