Returning to Youth

Fang Xiu held a pale green pill up to his eyes, looking through it at the shadow of the hall behind him. Besides this, there were also two talismans placed on Fang Xiu's table.

This was Fang Xiu's first attempt at using Alchemy to create alchemical items. Fang Xiu didn't have an alchemy table, so he could only create the simplest one-time use alchemical items. This pill was made using the resin of the Necro Tree as the base, with the spell structure of the Basic Body Modification Technique imprinted into it.

The talismans were the same, using the sap of the Necro Tree as the carrier for the spell structure, drawn onto the paper. However, the pill was for modifying the body, while the talismans were for healing injuries and illnesses.

As long as this pill was consumed, the pre-set Basic Body Modification Technique would activate, adjusting the body to the maximum state it could currently reach. Of course, this was for humans. Fang Xiu couldn't guarantee what would happen if other animals took it.

"Longevity Pill, taking it can dispel all illnesses and prolong life!"

"Spring Return Talisman, consuming it can heal severe injuries!"

Although the Longevity Pill and Spring Return Talisman were two different spell creations, they were different ways of using the Basic Body Modification Technique. This also meant that from now on, Fang Xiu possessed the ability to create extraordinary items.

Fang Xiu took a box, put the remaining Longevity Pill and two Spring Return Talismans inside, and then slowly stood up from the sofa.

At this moment, one could see that Fang Xiu was even a little wobbly when walking. This was the result of the Basic Body Modification Technique making fine adjustments to his body. Fang Xiu did not change his appearance, but only adjusted his bone structure, height, arm length, leg length, muscle strength, and reaction speed. Fang Xiu, whose body was originally only average, felt his body gradually developing in a direction that surpassed professional athletes.

Within three days, Fang Xiu felt as if he was being slowly stretched like clay. He felt a sore and numb pain in his bones, and his skin was constantly shedding dead skin and oozing oil and dirt, like a snake shedding its skin. His appetite also became several times what it was before.

According to Fang Xiu's estimation, this effect should last for at least another two weeks.

Based on the changes and effects on his own body, Fang Xiu had gradually figured out the method for making Longevity Pills and Spring Return Talismans over the past few days. If he had more cases, Fang Xiu estimated that he could likely explore more ways to use the Basic Body Modification Technique.

"The effect on people who take the Longevity Pill should be similar to mine. I'll compare it later and record the effects of the pill. This is also important information for researching and exploring the Basic Body Modification Technique."

Fang Xiu slowly walked down to the basement, placed the box on the top shelf, and put it together with the Giant Force Hand and the Deceitful Clown's Mask.

The gate of the Three Goat Temple was tightly shut. Compared to its previous bustling state with numerous pilgrims, it now seemed deserted.

Since the end of the grand three-day and three-night fasting and ritual ceremony, the Daoists of the Three Goat Temple had not been seen descending the mountain, especially the abbot of the Three Goat Temple, Qingyun Daoist, who had been meditating and chanting scriptures in the large collective Quiet Room behind the temple, quietly reciting the Huang Ting. It was as if he had completely isolated himself from the mundane world, not even seeing his disciples.

The Quiet Room was over a hundred square meters wide, with antique wooden floors. The walls, which were originally hung with various famous landscape paintings and calligraphy, had all been removed, and not even a screen was left. Only the walls full of Taoist scriptures and the portrait of the ancestor Chong Yunzi hanging above the incense table in the main hall remained.

Even the disciples who delivered the vegetarian meals could only see the back of the abbot, Qingyun Daoist.

"Could the abbot have been stimulated?" A middle-aged Daoist transferred from the Religious Affairs Bureau said with a hint of schadenfreude in his voice.

"How many days has it been? He hasn't come out at all. If we weren't delivering meals every day, I would have thought..." The fact that nothing happened during the previous fasting and ritual ceremony greatly disappointed these Daoists who had been transferred through connections. Coupled with the fact that there was no gain from the so-called Three Goat Temple Taoist Canon, after several investigations, they found that this was just an ordinary small Taoist temple. Many people had already started to think about leaving.

"The abbot's appetite has become so big during this time, he eats as much as several of us combined!" This was a disciple who had been with Qingyun Daoist for many years.

"What's wrong with Master?" Huan Chen was originally a temporary worker hired by the Three Goat Temple to deal with pilgrims, but he had been made a full-time disciple of the Three Goat Temple before. At this moment, facing this situation, he also felt worried.

"Creak!"

Everyone was discussing outside the door of the Quiet Room in the backyard. At this moment, the door of the Quiet Room slowly opened. They saw the abbot Qingyun Daoist, whom they had been discussing, finally giving up his nearly twenty-day closed-door meditation and chanting, and walking out the door.

However, when everyone present looked at Qingyun Daoist, the sound of their discussions instantly vanished, and every disciple who saw Qingyun Daoist had an expression of shock and surprise on their face.

"Who is this?"

"Mas... Master?" A disciple's face finally showed an expression of horror and fear, and his voice became trembling.

"Abbot? How is this possible... Abbot, what happened to you?" After hearing his words, others burst out with shocked voices one after another, and everyone's face was filled with disbelief.

"How is this possible! This is... the Abbot?"

Huan Chen was worrying about the abbot's health with his fellow disciples. At this moment, he noticed that everyone had quieted down and was looking behind him, so he immediately turned his head to look as well.

He saw a Daoist with thick black hair and a long black beard walking out of the Quiet Room. He was wearing a white short jacket that he wore for meditation, and his face was fair, his skin like a baby's.

He was tall and strong, and even standing still, he exuded a sense of power, like an old ape in the forest, or a nimble leopard cat. He looked no more than thirty years old at most, his eyes sparkling brightly, full of wisdom and a sense of vicissitude.

"Ab... Ab... bot?" It took Huan Chen a long time to find a trace of their old abbot in this seemingly tall and ethereal Daoist.

He stared blankly at the abbot Qingyun Daoist, his chest changing from steady to violent heaving, his eyes changing from disbelief to shock, and finally to fanaticism.

Huan Chen suddenly felt an inexplicable surge of excitement from his chest. He stared intently at Qingyun Daoist's face. For the first time, he felt the meaning and power of so-called cultivation and so-called longevity.

"This is cultivation... This is a spell!"

"This is!"

"Longevity!"

Although Huan Chen didn't say it out loud, he was screaming hysterically in his heart.

And the others present were even more excited than Huan Chen. No one could remain calm in this situation.

"There really... really is a method of cultivation!"

"Can one really live forever?"

"Can people really cultivate to become immortals?"

Everyone was roaring in their hearts, their pupils fixed on the abbot Qingyun, as if they could see a thick flame burning.

This was the reality of true rejuvenation placed before them, and the other party, before this, was just an ordinary person like them, an old man who had become old and frail under the erosion of time, waiting for death.

The one who came out was indeed Qingyun Daoist, but at this moment, he was like two different people compared to his previous white-haired and hunched figure. If it weren't for his disciples who had been with him day and night, perhaps no one present would have been able to recognize him anymore.

Unlike the shock and excitement of his disciples, his face was full of peace and tranquility. His young face combined with his wise and vicissitudinous eyes showed an even greater sense of conflict and shock.

At this moment, one could see his upright figure, standing proudly at the doorway, naturally exuding an ethereal aura. The wind in the courtyard blew through the fallen leaves, and his scattered black hair danced in the wind like silk. The cicadas chirped incessantly on this early summer afternoon. He closed his eyes as if listening to the sounds of nature.

Qingyun Daoist stretched out his hand, closed his eyes, and caught a fallen leaf that drifted in front of him. His fair and rosy fingers held the green tender leaf, and he sighed softly: "What a pity!"

"The time is not yet ripe!"