Shen Yifei lay on the bed, gasping for breath, staring blankly at the Pill Furnace in his hand.
Two living people, just gone like that?
He tried shaking the Pill Furnace, and something seemed to be sloshing around inside. He brought it close to his ear and listened, but heard nothing.
What exactly was this thing?
He thought of that book, the 《Yin-Yang Essence Harvesting Technique》. He'd spent all of last night studying it, but the book said nothing about a Pill Furnace. Just who was the owner of that Storage Pouch—that dead Senior Brother—really?
He couldn't figure it out.
Shen Yifei put the Pill Furnace back into the ring and struggled to sit up.
As he sat up, he realized that although he'd lost a lot of Primordial Yang, he wasn't at death's door.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness." He wiped cold sweat from his brow. "My little life is saved."
He looked around. The room was empty—just him alone. The two people's clothes were still strewn on the floor, and the bedding on the bed was messed up beyond recognition.
Shen Yifei got off the bed, his legs weak. He held onto the edge of the bed for a long while before he could stand steady. He found his own clothes and put them on one by one, then picked up the two people's clothes as well and rifled through them.
From Ye Hongling's clothes, a small porcelain bottle fell out—the very one he'd used to feed her medicine earlier. From Zhao Xin's clothes, he pulled out a Storage Pouch, more exquisite than that Senior Brother's, embroidered with gold thread.
Shen Yifei put the porcelain bottle and the Storage Pouch into the ring as well.
The two people had vanished after he struck them, and this made him somewhat afraid. If it were ever discovered, his little life would be forfeit.
Shen Yifei forced himself to muster a breath and hurried back to his own dwelling.
Back at the Firewood Shed, Shen Yifei collapsed headfirst into the pile of firewood and lay there for a long time before he recovered.
Today's episode was even more thrilling than yesterday's.
Yesterday, he'd nearly been harvested to death. Today, he'd nearly been harvested to death, and then he'd made the people disappear.
Where on earth had those two people gone?
He couldn't resist taking out the Pill Furnace again, turning it over and over in his hands.
The furnace was still the same furnace—palm-sized, made of bronze, with a fierce beast carved on its lid, its mouth wide open.
He leaned in for a closer look. The beast was covered in fangs, its eyeballs bulging, incredibly lifelike.
He tried shaking it, and again something seemed to be sloshing around inside.
"Two living people—they couldn't really have been stuffed into this little thing, could they?"
He tried channeling Spiritual Energy into the Pill Furnace the way he would with a Storage Pouch.
The moment the Spiritual Energy probed inside, his mind went "buzz," and his consciousness entered a gray, hazy space.
Right in the center lay two stark-naked women.
They were none other than Zhao Xin and Ye Hongling.
The two lay on the ground, motionless, as if asleep. Zhao Xin was face-down, her face turned to one side, her chest pressed against the ground. Ye Hongling lay on her back, her hair spread across the floor.
Shen Yifei looked at the two of them, his heart in turmoil.
He hadn't expected that these two people really had been stuffed into this tiny furnace.
He didn't know if these two were dead or alive. If they were dead, did that make him a murderer? If they were alive, and one day they crawled out, wouldn't they tear him to shreds?
As he was pondering this, suddenly he felt as if something had been stuffed into his mind.
"Myriad Things Cauldron, Human Refining Art!"
Shen Yifei murmured the words aloud.
Those characters seemed carved into his mind, impossibly clear.
So this Pill Furnace was called the "Myriad Things Cauldron," capable of refining all things in heaven and earth. Refining humans was one of its arts.
Refining men could produce Pills; refining women could produce Spirit Liquid. Consuming them could raise one's Cultivation. If the target's aptitude was good, one could even directly extract their innate talents and skills and make them one's own.
The method of refining was also simple: channel Spiritual Energy into the Pill Furnace, think of who you want to refine, and the furnace fire would ignite on its own.
After reading it all, Shen Yifei was stunned for a long while.
Wasn't this just eating people?
No, it was even more ruthless than eating people. Eating people still required spitting out bones—this thing refined everything, bones and flesh alike, into Pills and liquid. Drink it down and your Cultivation would rise.
Raise Cultivation? This temptation was simply too great. If his Cultivation increased, he'd have a foothold in the Hehuan Sect.
Looking at the two people before him, Shen Yifei's heart was locked in a battle between heaven and man.
Neither of them was any good.
Ye Hongling had tried to kill him the very first time they met, and the second time she'd colluded with Zhao Xin to harvest him. Zhao Xin was even more vicious—right from the start, she'd wanted to harvest him into a dried-up husk.
If he hadn't pulled out this furnace at the final moment, he'd be the corpse on the bed right now.
Refining them was only right and proper.
His resolve set, Shen Yifei first separated the two.
Once out of the Pill Furnace, he channeled Spiritual Energy in.
"Refine Zhao Xin!"
His consciousness entered the Pill Furnace once more, and he saw a ball of fire erupt beneath Zhao Xin. Flames surged up from below her, spreading upward bit by bit.
Zhao Xin moved.
First she frowned, then her whole body shuddered, and she abruptly opened her eyes.
"Ah..."
A miserable scream, its sound utterly shrill!
Zhao Xin thrashed in the fire, her hands flailing wildly, but the flames couldn't be swatted out at all. She struggled to stand, and just as she got halfway up, her legs gave way and she dropped to her knees again.
"Who? Who's doing this to me?"
She screamed, looking around frantically, but in this gray, hazy space there was nothing—only her, alone, wreathed in fire.
Shen Yifei watched, and his palms began to sweat.
Too tragic.
So tragic that he could hardly bear to watch.
But just then, he suddenly realized he could smell something.
A strange fragrance drifted out from that gray, hazy space and wormed its way into his nose. That scent was indescribably pleasant—like the fragrance of flowers, yet also like the aroma of wine, with a hint of sweet, cloying womanliness.
Shen Yifei inhaled, and his whole body felt at ease.
Looking at Zhao Xin again, her struggles grew weaker and weaker, her cries fainter and fainter, and her skin began to turn transparent—he could even see the bones and organs inside.
Gradually, the bones melted too.
Like a candle, dissolving bit by bit, turning into a puddle of liquid that seeped into the fire.
In the end, only a small puddle of milky-white liquid remained on the ground, crystal clear, giving off a rich medicinal fragrance.
Shen Yifei's mind stirred, and the puddle of liquid flew out of the Pill Furnace, hovering before him like an oversized dewdrop, trembling.
He hesitated for a moment, then steeled himself and sucked it in through his mouth.
The liquid dissolved the instant it entered his mouth, and a warm current flowed down his throat, spreading to his four limbs and every bone. Every pore in his body opened up, and the comfort made him shudder.
Immediately after, something suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Hehuan Technique Cultivation Technique!"—only this technique was still blurry, as if waiting for his choice.
Shen Yifei nearly laughed out loud. This was truly a case of whatever he needed arriving right on cue!
"Keep it!"
Shen Yifei made his decision in his heart!
Instantly, the first and second layers of the Hehuan Technique were carved into his mind.
Shen Yifei circulated his Spiritual Energy, and the technique was complete!
"Good stuff, good stuff."
Shen Yifei looked at the Pill Furnace in his hand, and the look in his eyes had changed.
He then looked toward Ye Hongling. This woman deserved even less pity—he'd nearly lost his life at her hands twice!
"Refine Ye Hongling!"
The same process—Ye Hongling was refined into a drop of milky-white liquid!
Ye Hongling's technique was the Female Cultivator Seduction Technique, which Shen Yifei didn't need. He only absorbed her Cultivation, but for Shen Yifei, it seemed better than nothing—it had no real effect.
It seemed that to advance quickly, he'd have to refine those with high Realm and Cultivation!
Once the warm current in his body settled, Shen Yifei felt he had inexhaustible strength. He gave a casual wave of his hand.
"Boom!"
A wall of the Firewood Shed was blasted through, leaving a huge hole!
At this, Shen Yifei was dumbfounded!