Return to Youth

Fang Xiu held a green pill up before his eyes. Pressing it against his eye, he could see the shadow of the hall behind it through the pale-green pill. Besides that, two talisman papers lay on Fang Xiu's table.

This was Fang Xiu's first attempt at using alchemy to create an alchemical item. He had no Alchemy Platform, so he could only make the simplest single-use alchemical items. This pill used the resin of the Necro Tree as its base, into which he had imprinted the spell structure of the Basic Body Modification Technique.

The talisman papers were the same. They had been drawn using the sap of the Necro Tree as the vessel for the spell structure. However, the pill was used to modify the body, while the talisman papers were used to heal injuries and illnesses.

As long as someone swallowed this pill, the preconfigured Basic Body Modification Technique would activate, adjusting the body to the utmost limit it could currently reach. Of course, this was designed for humans. Fang Xiu could not guarantee what would happen if other animals took it.

"Longevity Pill! Taking it can drive away every illness and prolong your life!"

"Spring Return Talisman! Swallowing it can heal serious injuries!"

Although the Longevity Pill and Spring Return Talisman were two different magical creations, they were merely different applications of the Basic Body Modification Technique. This also meant that from then on, Fang Xiu possessed the ability to create supernatural items.

Fang Xiu took out a box, placed the remaining Longevity Pill and the two Spring Return Talismans inside, and then slowly rose from the sofa.

At this time, it could be seen that Fang Xiu was even somewhat unsteady on his feet. This was precisely the result of the Basic Body Modification Technique fine-tuning his body. Fang Xiu had not changed his appearance; he had only adjusted his skeleton, height, arm and leg length, muscle strength, and reaction speed. His body, which had originally been merely average, felt as though it was gradually developing in the direction of surpassing professional athletes.

For three days, Fang Xiu felt as if he were being slowly stretched like clay. A dull, prickling pain came from within his bones, while his skin constantly shed dead layers like a snake molting, oozing oil and filth. His appetite had also become several times greater than before.

According to Fang Xiu's estimate, this period would last for at least another two weeks.

By studying the changes and effects on his own body, Fang Xiu had gradually worked out how to manufacture the Longevity Pill and Spring Return Talisman over the past few days. If he had more cases to study, Fang Xiu estimated that he might very well discover more ways to use the Basic Body Modification Technique.

"The effects on people who take the Longevity Pill should be about the same as on me. I'll compare them with my own condition when the time comes and record the pill's effects. That'll also provide important information for studying and exploring the Basic Body Modification Technique."

Fang Xiu slowly walked down into the basement, placed the box on the top shelf, and set it beside the Giant Force Hand and Deceitful Clown's Face.

The gates of Three Goat Temple were tightly shut. Compared with its former bustling incense and constant stream of worshippers, it now seemed deserted.

Ever since the grand three-day-and-three-night fasting and ritual ceremony had ended, none of the Taoists from Three Goat Temple had been seen coming down the mountain. In particular, the Abbot, Daoist Qingyun, had been sitting in meditation and reciting scriptures in the large communal Quiet Room behind the temple, quietly chanting the Yellow Court Scripture as if he had completely severed himself from the mortal world. He would not even see his own disciples.

The Quiet Room covered more than a hundred square meters. It had antique wooden floors, and its walls had originally been hung with famous landscape paintings and calligraphy by renowned figures. Now all of them had been removed, and not even a screen remained. Only Taoist scriptures covered the walls, along with a portrait of the temple's founder, Chong Yunzi, hanging above the ancestral altar in the main hall.

Even when disciples went inside to deliver his vegetarian meals, they could only see the back of the Abbot, Daoist Qingyun.

"Could the Abbot have suffered some kind of shock?" A middle-aged Taoist assigned from the Religious Affairs Administration spoke with undisguised schadenfreude.

"How many days has it been? He hasn't come out once. If we weren't delivering food every day, I'd think..." The previous fasting and ritual ceremony had passed without incident, leaving the Taoists assigned through connections bitterly disappointed. On top of that, they had gained nothing from the so-called Taoist Canon of Three Goat Temple. After investigating several times, they discovered that it was nothing more than an utterly ordinary little temple, and many of them had already begun thinking of leaving.

"The Abbot's appetite has become enormous lately. One person eats as much as several of us!" This was one of the disciples Daoist Qingyun had taken in many years ago.

"What happened to Master?" Huan Chen had originally been a temporary worker hired by Three Goat Temple to deal with worshippers, but he had been made permanent and become an official disciple. Facing the current situation, he could not help worrying.

"Creak!"

The people were discussing the matter noisily outside the Quiet Room in the rear courtyard. At that moment, the door to the Quiet Room slowly opened. The Abbot they had been discussing, Daoist Qingyun, had finally ended his nearly twenty-day retreat of scripture recitation and stepped outside.

The instant everyone present looked toward Daoist Qingyun, the noisy discussion vanished without a trace. Every disciple who saw him wore an expression of shock and astonishment.

"Who is that?"

"M-Master?" Terror and panic finally appeared on one disciple's face, and even his voice trembled.

"The Abbot? How is that possible... Abbot, what happened to you?" After hearing him, the others erupted in shocked cries one after another, disbelief written across every face.

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

Huan Chen had been worrying about the Abbot's health with his senior and junior brothers. When he noticed that everyone had fallen silent and was looking behind him, he immediately turned around.

A Taoist with thick black hair and a long black beard walked out of the Quiet Room. He wore the white short shirt worn for meditation. His face was fair, and his skin was as smooth as a baby's.

He was tall and powerfully built. Even standing still, he radiated strength, like an old ape in the forest or an agile leopard cat. He looked no more than thirty years old. His eyes gleamed brightly, filled with wisdom and the flavor of the years.

"A-Ab... Abbot?" Only after a long while did Huan Chen find a trace of their old Abbot in this tall, otherworldly Taoist.

He stared dumbfounded at the Abbot, Daoist Qingyun. His chest rose and fell steadily, then violently; disbelief in his eyes transformed into shock, and finally into fervor.

A surge of inexplicable excitement suddenly welled up from Huan Chen's chest. He stared fixedly at Daoist Qingyun's face. For the first time, he sensed the meaning and power behind what people called cultivation and what people called longevity.

"This is cultivation... this is magic!"

"This is it!"

"Immortality!"

Although Huan Chen did not say the words aloud, he screamed them hysterically in the depths of his heart.

The others present were even more excited than Huan Chen. No one could remain composed under such circumstances.

"There really is a way to cultivate!"

"Can people really live forever?"

"Can a human really cultivate to Become Immortal?"

Everyone was roaring inwardly, their pupils fixed on Daoist Qingyun as if they could see blazing flames burning within them.

The reality of returning from old age to youth had been placed right before them. Before this, he had been just like them—an ordinary person, an old man worn down by the grinding of time and waiting for death.

The one who had come out was Daoist Qingyun. Yet now, he and the white-haired, stooped figure he had been before seemed like two different people. If not for the disciples who had accompanied him day and night, perhaps no one present could recognize him anymore.

Unlike the shock and excitement of his disciples, his face was filled with quiet serenity. His youthful features combined with his wise, weathered gaze created an even stronger sense of contrast and impact.

At that moment, he stood tall and proud in the doorway. Simply standing there, he naturally radiated an otherworldly air. Wind swept through the courtyard and stirred the fallen leaves, while his loose black hair danced in the breeze like satin. Cicadas called without pause on the early-summer afternoon, and he closed his eyes as if listening to nature's music.

Daoist Qingyun extended his hand and, with his eyes closed, caught a falling leaf before him. His fingers, white with a flush of red, pinched the green tender leaf. He let out a soft sigh. "What a pity!"

"The time isn't right yet!"