The carriage raced like the wind, the mountains, rivers, grass, and trees blurring past.
Night fell, and the moon rose high in the sky.
With a heavy creak, the carriage finally rolled to a stop at the foot of a jagged, rocky mountain.
The old Daoist lifted the curtain to check their surroundings, nodding in satisfaction. Reaching inside, he grabbed Lu Li under one arm and Qin Shouren under the other. He stepped out, tapped his foot lightly against the ground, and shot up like a streak of light to land on a jutting boulder. Bounding upward from rock to rock, he quickly reached halfway up the mountain.
After a brief rest, the old Daoist surged upward again. Moving like a phantom, he bounded off the strange rocks, every leap carrying him more than a dozen zhang higher.
Before long, the Daoist arrived at the mountain peak.
An ancient temple stood there, a plaque above the entrance reading “Qingliang Temple.” The old Daoist kicked open the doors and strode inside.
Behind the gates lay a sizable courtyard where a young Daoist, roughly seventeen or eighteen years of age, paced back and forth. Spotting the old Daoist, his face lit up with relief. He hurried forward to greet him. “Master, you’ve returned.”
The old Daoist nodded. “I brought back four more medicine slaves. Two remain at the foot of the mountain. Go bring them up.”
“Yes, Master!” The young Daoist bowed his head and hurried out of the courtyard.
To the right of the courtyard sat a row of low stone buildings, totaling six rooms. Each door was numbered sequentially from one to six.
The elderly Daoist walked toward the low buildings. He tossed Lu Li into room one, walked out, and locked the heavy door. Then he threw Qin Shouren into room two, secured it, and finally walked away.
Much later, the young Daoist staggered back into the courtyard, panting heavily. He carried the remaining two youths under his arms, swaying unsteadily with every step as if on the verge of collapsing. He cursed under his breath, “Damn it, this big oaf eats so much he nearly broke my back.”
With a loud clang, he pulled open door number three and dumped Chen Zhong inside. Finally, he tossed Li Xiangyun into number four and let out a long, heavy breath.
He then walked over to room number six and pressed his ear against the door. Hearing no movement inside, he shook his head with a sigh, turned, and left.
The sun and moon traded places in the sky.
The next day, a sliver of sunlight pierced through a narrow ventilation slit high on the wall, finally bringing a glimmer of light into the dim cell.
A damp, moldy stench crept into his nose. Lu Li frowned and slowly opened his eyes.
“Where… is this?”
Lu Li slowly pushed himself off the ground and rubbed his throbbing head. Glancing around, he realized he was trapped in a dark, cramped room. It was completely empty save for some scattered dry grass and old water stains.
“Have I… been locked up?”
A sharp sense of dread rose in his chest. This place looked exactly like the prison cells he had read about in books. The thick walls were sealed completely tight, save for that single ventilation slit.
He tried rattling the door, but it was forged from solid iron and didn’t budge an inch. His heart instantly sank.
“That old Daoist really isn’t a good person.”
Lu Li backed away until he hit the wall, sliding down to clutch his head. His eyes flickered with anxiety. The old Daoist possessed terrifying, mystical abilities; the four of them might well be in danger.
Clang.
A small flap at the bottom of the iron door suddenly slid open, and a small metal basin filled with food was shoved inside.
Lu Li glanced sideways. The food inside actually looked quite decent—even better than what they ate back in Dashi Village. It was fragrant, piled with meat and vegetables. It didn’t seem like his captors intended to starve or mistreat him, which only deepened his suspicion. Just what did they want with him?
“Son of a bitch, let me out! Fuck your mother, let me out of here…”
Lu Li suddenly heard furious kicking and shouting coming from the adjacent room. It was unmistakably Qin Shouren.
“That beast,” Lu Li muttered, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
Meanwhile.
In the center of the temple’s main hall rested a small three-legged cauldron. Earth fire sizzled furiously from the stone vent beneath it. The young Daoist sat on a low stool nearby, occasionally twisting a mechanical dial.
As he turned the dial, the two iron plates covering the earth fire vent shifted, widening and narrowing to constantly adjust the intensity of the flames.
Sitting cross-legged nearby, the old Daoist watched the youth with a look of deep appreciation. “Zhengping, your flame control technique is already quite proficient. Very good.”
Fan Zhengping wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. “It’s all thanks to Master’s excellent guidance. But Master, constantly capturing mortals to test our Pills… I fear this goes against the Heavenly Way. Perhaps, after this round of testing, we could stop…”
“Hmph.” The old Daoist coldly snorted, his tone turning sharp. “Cultivation itself is the act of defying Heaven. If we feared the Heavenly Way, we might as well plow fields and farm the earth like those mortal peasants.”
“Besides, for these mortals to serve as stepping stones on our path of cultivation is a blessing they accrued over several lifetimes. Only by holding firm to your Dao Heart can you walk further on this path. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Master,” Fan Zhengping replied, no longer daring to argue. He lowered his head and focused on controlling the earth fire.
A moment later, he sealed the earth fire vent entirely. Slowly lifting the lid of the cauldron, he stared at the two pitch-black Pills resting inside and frowned. “Master, it 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 rose to his feet and walked over, peering intently at the Pills in the cauldron. “No matter. Perhaps the Piercing Acupoint Pill is supposed to be this color. We will keep trying slowly. So long as we succeed just once, the two of us will make a fortune.”
The old Daoist was named Zhang Song, a Rogue Cultivator. At over eighty years of age, he had only managed to reach the eighth level of Qi Refining, a testament to just how grueling the path of cultivation truly was.
He had stumbled upon this Piercing Acupoint Pill formula by accident in an ancient cave dwelling. Legends claimed that if successfully refined, the Pill could allow Qi Refining stage cultivators to rapidly blast through their meridian acupoints, allowing their cultivation to advance at a tremendous pace. Even the great Sects lacked such a miraculous Pill. If he could refine it, he stood an incredible chance of reaching Foundation Establishment before his hundredth birthday.
However, the formula was only a remnant. Out of the four primary medicinal ingredients, only three had been firmly verified. Not even the original owner of the formula had successfully refined it.
Thus, he continuously tested different combinations of medicinal herbs. To avoid poisoning himself with failed batches, he traveled around kidnapping mortals to serve as test subjects. He had been refining this medicine for over three years, and hundreds of test subjects had died, yet the final ingredient remained a mystery.
“Yes,” Fan Zhengping nodded. “I will go fetch someone to test it.”
He stood up and left the main hall. Entering the courtyard, he walked straight to door number four, slowly unlatched it, and called out to the boy huddled inside. “You can come out now.”
The boy was Li Xiangyun. Hearing the young Daoist’s voice, his face instantly lit up with relief. He scrambled out of the dark room and innocently asked, “Im—Immortal Master, why did you lock me up? Where are Brother Mud Monkey and the others?”
A fleeting trace of pity flashed through Fan Zhengping’s eyes, but he immediately buried it. “They were sent elsewhere to cultivate. Locking you in here was merely a test to temper your mind. Everything is fine now. My master has refined a Pill just for you. Once you eat it, you can become an Immortal. Come with me.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
With that, the two of them walked back toward the main hall.