Zheng Kun

"My home is at No. 22, Baolu Ward, Xia Liang East City Gate. Tell my wife there are two little goldfish in the false bottom beneath the third jar of pickled vegetables under the bed. Use them sparingly—they should last until Bao Er comes of age."

A middle-aged man whose face was covered in pimples fought back his fear as he quietly entrusted Li Huowang with his last words.

This was today's Medicinal Guide being sent to the Pill Refining Room. Yet there was nothing Li Huowang could do except keep those last words in his heart.

Watching the man tremble as he entered the pill refining chamber, Li Huowang turned and headed back, irritation written across his face.

This was already the eighth person. As time passed, the number of people in the Material Room kept dwindling. What pained him even more was that he seemed to have grown used to it—the guilt of sending people to their deaths was steadily fading.

He was being assimilated by a disgusting bastard like Danyangzi. He did not want that.

Li Huowang desperately wanted to escape this abnormally tormenting situation. He had been searching for a solution, but one was not easy to find. With only himself and a handful of disabled people from the Material Room, dealing with the unfathomable Danyangzi was practically impossible.

The only things he knew now were that the "Lord You" controlled by Danyangzi did not exist on the First and Fifteenth, so it could not watch them then; and that Danyangzi was illiterate, with some presence within Qingfeng Temple reading the Heavenly Book for him.

Should I go to Danyangzi's dwelling, find that presence, and kill him? Among all the disciples in this cave, I'm the only one who can read. He'll definitely have no choice but to let me translate the Heavenly Book for him! When that happens, wouldn't killing Danyangzi be as easy as reaching into a bag and taking something out?

No sooner had the thought popped into Li Huowang's mind than he rejected it.

He knew where the karst cave Danyangzi lived in was, but first, he did not know what traps lay inside; second, he did not know how powerful the presence reading the Heavenly Book for Danyangzi was. If he barged in recklessly, he might not even know how he died.

Poison his pill materials? No. He taught me all my pill-refining techniques. Trying to show off before an expert would be courting death.

As Li Huowang walked back, his mind kept turning over possible new ways to deal with Danyangzi.

Just then, a gloomy young man wearing a Daoist robe and a Taoist Scarf approached from the other direction. Li Huowang knew him. He was one of Danyangzi's inner disciples, Zheng Kun.

Li Huowang did not know much about him. Aside from occasionally running into him at meals, Zheng Kun was usually nowhere to be seen.

Moreover, unlike unregistered disciples like Li Huowang, he did not need to bother managing all the affairs of Qingfeng Temple. As for what he normally did, Li Huowang had no idea.

The two passed one another, one to the left and one to the right. Zheng Kun's shoulder gave a light bump, and Li Huowang crashed straight into him. The instant he touched him, Li Huowang felt as though he had rammed into a block of raw iron.

Zheng Kun abruptly stopped, turned sideways, and looked at him with a smile that did not reach his eyes. "Xuan Yang, you've been awfully lively around the temple lately. You've got Master laughing quite happily, haven't you?"

Li Huowang frowned slightly and glanced at him, saying nothing as he turned to leave.

But before he had taken two steps, a tremendous force suddenly struck him from behind and shoved him forward.

Li Huowang staggered several steps and took a while to steady himself, barely avoiding a face-first fall.

"What is it, Junior Brother Xuan Yang? Even this senior brother's words don't carry weight anymore?" Zheng Kun asked as he crossed his arms and slowly stepped forward until he stood before Li Huowang.

"Senior Brother Zheng Kun, I still need to help Master sort out the pill materials," Li Huowang said calmly.

"Don't fucking use Master to pressure me. Back when I followed Master while we were being hunted down, you didn't even know where you were! I'm telling you, Xuan Yang—just keep your head down and do your work properly. For everything else, you'd best keep your mouth shut. Don't be so blind to what's in front of you." Zheng Kun's tone sharpened further.

Li Huowang was not angry. Instead, he stared blankly at Zheng Kun, as though considering something. This man really did have the terrible temper Xuan Yuan had described. But did that not mean he was rather impulsive?

"What? Cat got your tongue? Speak!"

Li Huowang, whose expression had been dull until now, suddenly came alive. A trace of mockery entered his voice.

"Master values me because that is Master's decision. Even if Master told me the method of becoming immortal, that would still be his business. I'm afraid Senior Brother Zheng Kun has no say in it."

Zheng Kun froze, unable to react for a moment to the fact that Li Huowang dared speak to him like that.

When he came back to his senses, his face twisted viciously. He pressed two fingers together in a hand seal and jabbed them through Li Huowang's Daoist robe into his left ribs like a small chisel.

"You think you're worthy? Master hasn't even told me the Immortal Ascension Technique—he'd tell you? Who the hell do you think you are? Pill dregs!!"

The excruciating pain nearly made Li Huowang pass out, yet a smile spread across his face. He had guessed right.

"Hehe. If Master hasn't told you, perhaps your comprehension is simply too poor, Senior Brother Zheng Kun. Cultivating immortality depends on talent. Since you lack the talent, don't make Master waste his time on you."

Those words seemed to touch Zheng Kun's reverse scale. He pulled his two fingers free and stabbed Li Huowang three more times in rapid succession. "You pill dregs! You're courting death!!"

Amid the searing pain, Li Huowang's laughter only grew louder. "Hahaha! Come on, kill me! Let's see how Master reacts when he learns disciples of the temple are slaughtering each other."

Li Huowang's laughter before him swelled from loud laughter into mad cackling. Zheng Kun kicked out and shoved off with his right foot, sending him flying into the wall. "Hmph! A lunatic who doesn't know life from death."

Li Huowang lay on the ground for a long while without recovering. After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a pair of large hands reached over and helped him up.

"Ah, Junior Brother Xuan Yang, why won't you listen? Didn't I tell you to show Zheng Kun more respect? Why did you provoke him again?"

The speaker was Xuan Yuan, the habitual peacemaker. Thanks to his easygoing nature, he was the only person in Qingfeng Temple who could truly speak with Li Huowang.

Li Huowang clutched his side and said through the pain, "What? Could he really kill me? Master's Lord You is watching right beside us. If more disciples in the temple die, it won't be able to keep going."

"What Lord You?" Xuan Yuan asked, looking somewhat surprised.

He did not know? A thought suddenly flashed through Li Huowang's mind. Could it be that the others did not know how Master monitored all of Qingfeng Temple?

Thinking of the two inner disciples among those who had died before, Li Huowang realized that these people might truly not know.

"It's nothing. I'm just saying he wouldn't dare make a move."

"That's not how it works. He's an inner disciple, while you're an unregistered disciple. He may not dare beat you to death outright, but if he wants to make things difficult for you, it would be as easy as turning over his hand."

"Haha, my feet are small. I was born to wear small shoes."

Even as he spoke with Xuan Yuan, a smile gleamed in Li Huowang's eyes. Zheng Kun had just revealed something: even as an inner disciple, he still was not qualified to learn the Immortal Ascension Technique.

Danyangzi trusted no one.

That was not the main point. The main point was the look in Zheng Kun's eyes. When they had met gazes and Li Huowang said he had learned the Immortal Ascension Technique, he had clearly felt the intense unwillingness in Zheng Kun's eyes.

The disciples raised by Danyangzi could not possibly be loyal to him heart and soul.

This might be something he could use. He wanted to try.