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Inside Qingfeng Temple's Pill Refining Room, Li Huowang stood frozen in place, covered head to toe in his master's blood, clearly unable to process what had happened. "Were those three pills really that powerful? Were the things Danyangzi and I refined pills or explosives?"

After lying sprawled on the ground for quite a while, he climbed to his feet, wiped his face with one hand, then bent down to pick through the mess on the floor.

After picking for ages without finding a single piece of flesh that could still move, and seeing that even Danyangzi's Copper Bell had been blasted flat, Li Huowang finally let out a breath. Danyangzi had truly been killed by him, completely and utterly.

"But now that he's dead, what am I supposed to do next?" Li Huowang stood there, suddenly not knowing which way to go.

Li Huowang had thought he would be happy after avenging himself, but when that moment truly came, he found himself lost in confusion.

Every plan he had made these past days had revolved around killing Danyangzi. He had never even considered that he might survive.

Now Danyangzi was dead, Bai Lingmiao was safe, and he had fulfilled all his promises. What was he supposed to do next?

Just as he was pondering that question, the door to the Pill Refining Room was suddenly pushed open. Chang Ren and Chang Ming entered cautiously, each holding a longsword in one hand.

After looking around and failing to find Danyangzi, they turned wary eyes on the blood-soaked Li Huowang. "Halt! What demon are you? Speak! Where is our master?"

"Master? You're standing on him. Also, I'm Xuan Yang, Senior Brothers."

His words made Chang Ren and Chang Ming instinctively lower their heads and lift their feet. A mass of internal organs lay exposed before them, and their pupils shrank to pinpricks.

Li Huowang looked around, picked up half of Danyangzi's face from the floor, and held it up. "Look, he's really dead."

"I killed him," Li Huowang muttered to himself.

"By all rights, he slaughtered people like hemp all his life. He should have died long ago. But that wasn't why I killed him. I killed him over a personal grudge."

Just as Li Huowang was about to explain to the two of them why he had done it, Chang Ming and Chang Ren exchanged a glance, sheathed their longswords without another word, then whirled around and rushed out the door.

"Hey, wait until I'm done talking before you leave!" Li Huowang shouted helplessly after them.

After shouting for quite some time without getting any response, Li Huowang gave a bitter smile, clutched his still faintly aching stomach, and walked toward the door.

"Leper Head is dead! He's dead! Come out, everyone! You can all go home!!" Li Huowang shook the flattened Copper Bell in his hand with all his strength and shouted at the surroundings.

Today was the first day of the new year. The piercing bell did not summon any Lord You, but it did draw out the Apprentices and Medicinal Guides.

When they saw the half-face in Li Huowang's hand, they were beside themselves with joy, falling to the ground and kowtowing in all directions.

Li Huowang slowly walked through the Karst Tunnel. He wanted to carry this news to every person in Qingfeng Temple.

More and more people joined his procession, following him as they shouted, "Leper Head is dead! He's dead! We can go home!"

Just then, Li Huowang felt someone reach over to support him. Turning his head, he saw Bai Lingmiao, tears and joy mingling on her face.

Li Huowang smiled at her and raised Danyangzi's half-face, waving it forcefully. "Leper Head is dead! You can all go home! It's New Year's! You can all go home!"

"Yes! Senior Brother Li! You can go home too! We can all go home!"

Li Huowang's expression stiffened. Then he continued waving the Copper Bell with all his strength and roared at the top of his lungs, "Danyangzi is dead! Come out, everyone! You can go home!!"

However, not everyone in Qingfeng Temple was so happy. When Li Huowang reached the area near Danyangzi's quarters, he heard the clash of metal and stone in the distance.

Li Huowang led the others over and found Xuan Yuan confronting Chang Ming and Chang Ren inside Danyangzi's filthy quarters. Both sides had drawn their weapons, and the atmosphere was taut as a drawn bow.

Li Huowang saw the so-called Heavenly Book wrapped in Black Thread Copper Coins and naturally understood what they were fighting over.

"Junior Brother Xuan Yang, come quickly! Let's kill Danyangzi's two accomplices together! We can share this Immortal Ascension Scripture!" Xuan Yuan, his face no longer mild and amiable, urged Li Huowang.

At the side, Chang Ming stepped forward with his right foot and swept it out, leveling his longsword directly at Li Huowang in the doorway. "If you don't want to die, get lost! Master taught you the Pill Dao! Do you really think you can handle the two of us who practice the Sword Dao in a situation like this?"

Li Huowang sighed softly and looked at the scene before him with some helplessness. "That isn't any Immortal Ascension Scripture, all right? It only has Ancient Scripture written on it. Everything I said before was made up to fool Leper Head."

"Don't believe Leper Head's lies too much. That bastard was full of lies. Saying Lord Lao personally gave it to him? With his temperament, he probably killed someone and stole it somewhere. Three Senior Brothers, let's go."

Chang Ming and Chang Ren pinched two Black Talismans between the fingers of their left hands and wiped them over their longswords. At once, gusts of sinister wind swept through the room.

"Junior Brother Xuan Yang, since you don't want to get involved, stop talking nonsense and leave."

"Junior Brother Xuan Yang, since you don't want to get involved, stop talking nonsense and leave."

Chang Ming and Chang Ren raised their longswords and spoke in unison.

Feeling Bai Lingmiao timidly tug at his Daoist Robe with her fingers, Li Huowang cupped his hands toward both sides, then led everyone toward Qingfeng Temple's cave entrance. "Then, three Senior Brothers, carry on. Until we meet again."

The instant Li Huowang thoughtfully closed the door behind them, sounds began to ring out from inside.

In the dark tunnel, a group of people returning home walked onward, exhilarated and emotional. Every hand holding an oil lamp trembled.

This tunnel was unfamiliar and rugged, and they occasionally had to climb using ropes. Li Huowang had never been here in his memories.

Yet he knew clearly that this was Qingfeng Temple's exit, because he could see the hands of everyone around him shaking harder and harder.

After walking for about the time it took two incense sticks to burn, light began to appear in the distance at the end of the Karst Tunnel. The moment they saw it, everyone's steps grew disorderly. Walking turned into running.

As they ran, that distant light grew larger and larger until it finally swallowed everyone's field of vision.

The instant they emerged from the cave, nearly everyone squinted their eyes. After living inside the cave for so long, the outside was simply too bright for them.

As their eyes gradually adjusted to the light, the scenery beyond Qingfeng Temple unfolded before them.

The sky in the distance had only just revealed its pale fish-belly dawn. The distant mountains, the distant forest—everything was so pure and refreshing that it felt like a faint ink-wash painting.

At that very moment, the first ray of morning sunlight on the first day of the new year pierced through the thin mist and fell upon everyone's faces.

Li Huowang squinted at the rising sun and murmured, "Did Leper Head and I spend the whole night in the Pill Refining Room? The sun's already up. The weather's really nice today."

Suddenly, someone beside him moved. It was an Apprentice, tears streaming down his face as his feet hurriedly carried him, head lowered, down a small path that vanished into the forest.

His flight triggered the Herd Effect. More and more people began running that way, wanting to flee far, far away from this place of sorrow.

Before long, only seven or eight people from the Material Room remained at the cave entrance. Their gazes were all fixed on Li Huowang.

"Senior Brother Li, let's go too." Bai Lingmiao still had tear tracks on her face, but she was smiling happily.

"Wait a moment." As Li Huowang spoke, he took several slips of paper from his pocket and stuffed them into Bai Lingmiao's arms. "These are the last words and addresses left behind by those Medicinal Guides who died. Once you get out, find an Escort Agency along the way and have them delivered."

Bai Lingmiao held the slips of paper in both hands, standing there in a daze, completely at a loss.

Li Huowang smiled again at those who remained. Carrying the oil lamp in his hand, he turned around and walked alone into the pitch-black Qingfeng Temple.