Master

Li Huowang raised the pestle in his hand, listlessly pounding it against the mortar, slowly grinding the flowing light cyan stone mixed with silt inside into powder.

Although the cave was damp and cold, he was only wearing a coarse cloth garment. But he didn't seem to care at all, as if he didn't take any of this to heart.

He wasn't the only one in the cave; there were other men and women as well, all with their hair tied up and wearing the same coarse linen ropes.

The only difference between them and Li Huowang was that they all had obvious external defects, including albinism and polio.

All kinds of congenital and acquired physical deformities could be found here; the small material room cave resembled a museum of deformities.

These people's jobs were the same as Li Huowang's, all pounding things, but the things they were pounding were different, including metal, stone, and medicine. However, it was clear that some people were not focused on their work.

"Ah!" A woman's terrified scream drew everyone's attention.

A chubby, harelipped young man stood by the side of the cave, a lewd smile on his face, trying to pull an albino girl into his arms.

"I'll just do it once, I promise, just once, hehehe~"

Li Huowang ignored the noise, closed his eyes, and continued to do his work, pounding away.

Listening to the woman's increasingly miserable cries, an annoyed Li Huowang cursed inwardly, picked up the stone mortar with one hand, and stood up.

"Thud!" The sound of stone colliding with bone echoed dully.

The harelipped fatty, his head bleeding, sat down on the ground, stunned. Clearly, he had been dazed by the blow. After a couple of seconds, his expression twisted in pain, and he wailed, clutching his wound.

The white-haired, white-skinned girl, having escaped her fate of being defiled, clutched her clothes and fearfully hid behind Li Huowang.

"I'm telling you! You're done for! Do you know what I am to Master? When he finds out, he'll kill you!" the harelipped fatty threatened, his expression extremely angry.

"What does he amount to? He's not even worth a fart!" As soon as Li Huowang said this, the entire place fell silent in shock.

No one present had ever imagined that this man would dare to say such a thing.

Looking at the expressions of these so-called fellow disciples, Li Huowang took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in his heart.

What's wrong with me? Why am I getting angry at these things? My personality isn't supposed to be this flamboyant. I can't let these things affect my personality. The me just now wasn't the real me. Calm down, calm down.

Just as Li Huowang was calming himself down, he heard someone calling him from the entrance.

"Junior Brother Li, Wang Shimei, Master is calling for you." The tall young man who called out was clearly of a different status than Li Huowang, wearing a cyan Daoist robe.

Although the robe looked old, the cuffs faded from washing, it was far better than the tattered linen Li Huowang was wearing.

This person held a horsetail whisk in one hand, looking at the juniors in front of him with a hint of arrogance in his eyes.

Seeing the young Daoist appear, the fatty with the bleeding head immediately revealed a gloating expression. "Haha! You're done for!! Today's your day."

But Li Huowang completely ignored him, turned around, and was about to walk towards the entrance with a woman whose mouth was crooked and drooling. The woman's face was waxy white and looked very unhealthy.

He had only taken two steps when he felt someone tugging at his sleeve, pulling him back. Li Huowang turned around and saw that it was the albino girl he had saved.

Her eyes were filled with tears as she shook her head repeatedly, her eyes full of fear.

The indifferent Li Huowang was unmoved, forcefully flung off her sleeve, and strode forward.

Coming out of the material room was a larger cave. On the walls of the cave were many caves like the material room, serving other purposes. Looking at the pitted and uneven appearance, it was clear that the craftsmanship of the people who built this place was not very good.

The entire cave was very large, with tunnels of all sizes crisscrossing, like a magnified ant nest.

Pieces of decaying peach wood were nailed to each small cave junction, each cave's name carved deeply into the wood with forceful strokes: Spirit Palace Hall, Old Discipline Hall, Ancestral Celebration Hall, Four Royals Hall.

A naturally formed cave was actually transformed into something resembling a Taoist temple.

As the two continued walking through the cave, the crooked-mouthed woman took out a dark object from her pocket and suddenly handed it to Li Huowang, saying in her foolish voice, "Want some sweet paste?"

Li Huowang frowned slightly, seemingly aware of her simple-mindedness, and impatiently took it, stuffing it directly into his sleeve.

Seeing Li Huowang take it, she took out another piece from her pocket and put it in her mouth, continuing to say with a silly grin, "Master good, Master get candy."

Li Huowang didn't intend to say anything about this, and the two continued walking. After about fifteen minutes, an antique, completely black, tall alchemy furnace appeared before him.

The smoking furnace pierced straight into the cave ceiling, the massive furnace looking like a small metal mountain.

Watching the furnace gradually grow larger from a distance, until its shadow completely engulfed him, Li Huowang felt a sense of oppression.

What made him feel oppressed, besides the huge five-tiered furnace, was the figure standing in front of it.

Seen from the back, he was wearing a cyan-blue Taoist robe, with a hairpin and crown, and white hair at his temples, looking very much like a Taoist immortal.

Seated cross-legged on the ground, he seemed to be doing the same thing as Li Huowang earlier, pounding with a pestle, but the pestle in his hand was obviously much larger, looking like a giant pillar.

With each rise and fall, the sound of metal and stone colliding echoed continuously within the cave.

"Mas... Master!" The crooked-mouthed woman clumsily pinched her left thumb with her right hand, placed the four fingers of her left hand on the fingers of her right hand, put her hands on her chest, and bowed to the figure, her eyes full of reverence.

As soon as she spoke, the piercing sound of collision stopped.

The figure turned around, and although he was mentally prepared, Li Huowang's pupils still shrank slightly in shock.

The Taoist's front was completely different from his back. From the back, he looked like a Taoist immortal, but from the front, he was a disgusting pockmarked head old man, with a few sparse yellow teeth exposed in the overbite of his mouth.

"You're here? Good disciple, I've been waiting."

With a wave of his dirty Taoist robe, the old Taoist rose into the air, grabbed the crooked-mouthed woman's neck with one hand, and retreated.

Before the foolish woman could say another half a sentence, she was instantly thrown into a half-person-high stone urn. The next moment, the Master, with a ferocious expression, grabbed the stone pestle with both hands and slammed it down heavily.

"Ding Chou extends my life, Ding Hai protects my soul, Jia Zi protects my body, Jia Xu preserves my form, Jia Shen solidifies my fate, Jia Wu guards my soul, Jia Chen is my true spirit!"

He lifted the stone urn, weighing several hundred pounds, with one hand, and poured it all into the alchemy furnace in front of him. Then, with an extremely excited expression, he raised both hands sharply into the air.

"Start the furnace, refine the elixir!"

Two Taoist children with exaggerated rouge on their cheeks walked out of the shadows, fanning the flames while pouring various ingredients into the furnace, including various metal and stone powders, as well as many living, wriggling things.

Before long, a strange, rich fragrance filled the air.

At this moment, the Pockmarked Head Master closed his eyes, took a deep breath, stroked the few whiskers on his chin, and a satisfied expression appeared on his dirty, ugly face.

When he slowly opened his eyes, put his hands behind his back, and turned to look at Li Huowang, "I heard you called this Daoist a fart? Is that true?"

In an instant, the surrounding air seemed to freeze.

Looking at the so-called Master in front of him, who killed without blinking an eye, Li Huowang remained unmoved, slowly closing his eyes to calm his somewhat rapid breathing, silently chanting in his heart: "You can't fool me, this is all fake, all fake."

"Speak! Are you mute? Huh?!" As the Master's footsteps grew closer, the stench mixed with blood on his body rushed towards him like a wall.

Trembling, Li Huowang clenched his teeth and suddenly opened his eyes with all his strength.

The dark and oppressive cave temple that was just there vanished in an instant, replaced by a bright, clean, and fresh-aired hospital room. His lower body was tightly bound to the bed with cloth straps.