The carriage raced like the wind, mountains, rivers, grass, and trees swiftly receding backward.
Night enveloped the sky, the moon rising above the eyebrows.
With a creak, the carriage finally stopped at the foot of a steep, jagged mountain.
The old Daoist lifted the carriage curtain for a look, nodded in satisfaction, walked in and picked up Lu Li with one arm and Qin Shouren with the other, stepped outside, lightly tapped his foot, and landed like a meteor on a peculiar rock. After a series of ups and downs, he had already reached halfway up the mountain.
After resting briefly, the old Daoist exerted force again, borrowing power from the strange rocks like a ghost, each leap propelling him upward more than a dozen zhang.
Before long, the Daoist had arrived at the mountaintop.
Here stood an old Daoist temple, inscribed 'Qingliang Temple.' The Daoist kicked open the temple gate and entered.
Behind the gate was a sizable courtyard. A young Daoist around seventeen or eighteen was looking around in the courtyard. Seeing the old Daoist enter, his face immediately lit up with joy, heaving a heavy sigh of relief, and quickly came forward: "Master, you've returned."
The old Daoist nodded, "Your master has brought back four more medicine slaves. There are still two at the foot of the mountain. Go bring them up."
"Yes, Master!" The young Daoist lowered his head and replied, then quickly walked toward the courtyard exit.
To the right of the courtyard was a row of low houses, six rooms in total. Each door had a number, from one to six from left to right.
The elderly Daoist, carrying Lu Li, walked toward the low houses. He first tossed Lu Li into number one, came out and locked the door, then tossed Qin Shouren into number two, before finally leaving.
After quite some time, the young Daoist returned panting heavily, also carrying two people under his arms, though he walked with an unsteady sway, looking as if about to collapse from exhaustion, cursing under his breath: "Damn it, this big oaf eats so much, nearly broke my back."
With that, he clanged open the number three door and threw Chen Zhong inside. Finally, he tossed Li Xiangyun into number four, then heavily sighed in relief.
Then he went to room number six, leaned close to listen, found no movement inside, shook his head and sighed, then turned and left.
The sun and moon rotated.
The next day, a ray of sunlight shone through the small ventilation window in the wall, finally bringing a glimmer of light into the dim room.
A musty, moldy scent wafted into his nostrils. Lu Li frowned, slowly opened his eyes.
"Where... is this?"
Lu Li slowly got up, rubbed his somewhat swollen head, looked around, and realized he was in a dark, cramped room. The room was empty, aside from some dry grass and water stains, nothing else remained.
"I... have been locked up?"
A bad feeling suddenly arose. This place looked quite similar to the prison cells described in books. The walls were tightly sealed all around, with only one ventilation window.
He tried pulling the door, found it completely immovable, and made of iron. His heart instantly sank halfway.
"That old Daoist truly isn't a good person."
Lu Li retreated to the wall, lowered his head, held it in his hands, his eyes filled with confusion. That old Daoist's abilities were too mysterious; the several of them were probably in danger.
Clang.
Suddenly, a small opening was made below the door, and a small iron basin filled with food was pushed inside.
Lu Li glanced sideways, saw the food inside wasn't bad, even better than what they ate at Dashi Village, fragrant and appetizing, with meat and vegetables. It didn't seem like they intended to mistreat him, adding another layer of confusion to his mind: What exactly did he want to do?
"Damn you, let me out... I curse your ancestors, let me out...."
Just then, Lu Li suddenly heard kicking sounds coming from the room next door, unmistakably that of Qin Shouren.
"That beast." Lu Li's mouth twitched slightly.
On the other side.
In the temple's main hall, a small three-legged cauldron was placed in the center. Below the small cauldron, earth fire sizzled outward. The young Daoist sat on a small stool, occasionally turning a knob.
As the knob turned, the opening degree of the two iron plates on the earth fire vent also constantly changed, the flames sometimes large, sometimes small.
The old Daoist sitting cross-legged nearby looked at the youth with great appreciation, "Zhengping, your flame control technique is already quite proficient, very good."
Fan Zhengping wiped the sweat from his forehead, casually said, "It's all thanks to Master's excellent guidance. But Master, we're always capturing mortals to test pills. I'm afraid this goes against the Heavenly Way. How about we stop after this round of testing..."
"Hmph." Hearing this, the old Daoist coldly snorted, admonishing: "Cultivation itself is going against Heaven. If we fear the Heavenly Way, we might as well learn to plow fields and farm like those mortals."
"Besides, for these mortals to become stepping stones on our cultivation path is a blessing accumulated over several lifetimes. Only by holding firm to one's true heart can one walk farther on the path of cultivation. Do you remember this?"
"Yes." Fan Zhengping no longer argued upon hearing this, lowered his head, and continued controlling the earth fire.
A moment later, he turned off the earth fire switch, slowly opened the cauldron lid, looked at the two pitch-black pills inside, frowned, "Master, seems the medicinal herbs used this time still aren't right. This Piercing Acupoint Pill is still pitch black."
"Is that so?" The old Daoist stood up and walked over, stared at the pills in the cauldron, "No matter. Perhaps the Piercing Acupoint Pill is originally this color. Keep trying slowly. As long as we succeed once, we, master and disciple, will profit greatly."
The old Daoist's name was Zhang Song. He was a Rogue Cultivator. Now over eighty, he had only reached the eighth level of Qi Refining. This shows how difficult the path of cultivation truly is.
This Piercing Acupoint Pill formula was something he accidentally found in a cave dwelling. It was said that if successfully refined, it could allow Qi Refining stage cultivators to quickly break through Qi meridian acupoints, advancing realms a thousand li in a single day. Not even the great Sects had this kind of Pill. If he could refine it, he would have a great chance to achieve Foundation Establishment before one hundred.
However, this formula was only a remnant. Among the four medicinal ingredients, only three had been verified. Even the owner of this formula had never successfully refined it.
That's why he kept searching for medicinal herb combinations to try. To avoid poisoning himself with the refined pills, he went around capturing mortals to test the pills. So far, he had been refining this medicine for over three years, and hundreds of test subjects had died, yet the remaining medicinal ingredient still hadn't been identified.
"Yes." Fan Zhengping nodded, "I'll go find someone to test."
After speaking, he stood up and walked toward the courtyard outside the hall. Arriving in the courtyard, he walked straight to room number four, slowly opened the door, and called to a child inside: "You can come out now."
That child was Li Xiangyun. Hearing this, his face lit up with joy, quickly ran out, innocently asked: "Im, Immortal Master, why did you lock me up? Where are Brother Mud Monkey and the others?"
Fan Zhengping's eyes flashed with a trace of reluctance, but immediately concealed it, "They went to another place to cultivate. Locking you here was to temper your mind. Now it's fine. My master has refined a Pill for you. After eating it, you can become an Immortal. Come with me."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Subsequently, the two walked toward the main hall.