"Child, you're awake?"
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"What's your name?"
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An old voice called out, waking the young man lying in bed.
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The young man stared blankly, his eyes full of confusion. "I... I'm Li Yan. Where is this?"
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He looked around. It seemed he was in an old courtyard, damp and chilly, with the smell of mildew hanging in the air.
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When he threw off the covers, a bone-chilling gust made him shudder.
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He remembered.
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Li Yan remembered.
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He recalled attending a gathering of traditional Hanfu enthusiasts. While climbing a mountain, he'd accidentally fallen off a cliff.
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That was the last memory he had before losing consciousness.
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In a daze, Li Yan looked to his right and saw someone standing beside his bed.
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He looked closely.
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The Daoist before him was an old man in a robe. His skin was a bluish gray, half his right ear was missing, and his murky eyes were bloodshot. Whenever he looked at someone, his gaze carried a sinister scrutiny.
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No matter how Li Yan looked at him, the Daoist didn't seem normal...
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Suppressing his discomfort, Li Yan asked, "Old Daoist, I seem to have lost my phone. Could you help me call my family?"
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The old Daoist's eyes flickered with surprise.
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He shook his head again and again. "Seems you fell from the mountain and took a knock to the head. Now you're delirious and babbling nonsense."
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"Never mind. I have some pills here that treat head ailments."
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With that, the old Daoist pulled out a medicine gourd and tipped a scarlet pill into his hand.
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"Here, take this pill. It'll suppress the delirium in your head."
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When the Daoist held the pill out to Li Yan, Li Yan frowned. There were twelve kinds of wrong with it for every ten.
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The pill throbbed like a heart. Red light flashed inside it now and then, and it looked as though there were insect eggs developing within.
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Was this a pill?
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It looked like a clutch of apple snail eggs!
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Li Yan shook his head repeatedly and refused. "No need, Daoist!"
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But the old Daoist, with his crooked eye and split ear, kept closing in, pushing the throbbing pill toward Li Yan's lips.
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"Child, would I ever harm you?"
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"The nonsense you just spouted makes it obvious you're quite ill. Take your medicine at once."
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Whoosh!
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The whisk in the old Daoist's hand seemed to come alive. Thousands of fine strands shot out and bound Li Yan tight.
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The old Daoist, his mouth full of yellow teeth, let out a series of low chuckles.
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"I'm doing this for your own good. Be a good boy and take your medicine."
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Li Yan's eyes widened. He wasn't sick. He didn't need medicine!
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When Li Yan kept his teeth clenched, the old Daoist simply tapped his face with a finger-pointing technique. His mouth sprang open, and the red pill was shoved inside.
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"Mm!"
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The moment the pill entered his mouth, Li Yan clearly felt it throb and squirm, wriggling its way into his throat.
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There was definitely something wrong with this pill!
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Once that egg hatched inside him, Li Yan would become a walking corpse controlled by a parasite.
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It was over...
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Just as his heart began to race and his breathing grew ragged...
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[Detected that the host has taken a pill with powerful side effects—Low-grade Blood Egg Pill!]
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[Congratulations, host, on awakening the 'Side Effect Collection System.']
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[The host is not only immune to all side effects, but can also collect them for personal use!]
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When that voice rang out in his mind, Li Yan's body jolted, then he slowly calmed down.
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Had he transmigrated? And awakened a cheat at a time like this?
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He wasn't just immune to side effects—he could turn them into abilities of his own?
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Having read plenty of web novels, Li Yan immediately realized what this meant.
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He stopped struggling, his expression gradually returning to calm.
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Seeing this, the old Daoist's smile grew more and more ferocious. "Heh heh heh, looks like the pill I refined is working."
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"Child, how do you feel?"
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Looking at the crooked-eyed, split-eared old Daoist grinning before him, Li Yan realized he was no match for the man.
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This world he was in must have people like cultivators.
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A wise man didn't fight when the odds were against him. Until he figured out what was going on, Li Yan decided to play it safe.
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"Daoist, I feel much better."
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The old Daoist grinned, his yellow teeth parting to release a foul stench.
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"Young fellow, stay here and rest up in the sect. Heh heh heh."
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As Li Yan watched him leave the room, the old Daoist muttered to himself, saying strange things.
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Only after the sound of his voice had faded into the distance did Li Yan let out a long breath.
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But soon, he felt something strange in his stomach.
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The Low-grade Blood Egg Pill was slowly wriggling inside him, crawling into his dantian.
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He could clearly feel the thing moving around in his belly. The sensation made his skin crawl.
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Just then, the system spoke again.
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[The Low-grade Blood Egg Pill has hatched inside you]
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[Low-grade Blood Egg Pill's effects: Suppresses nervous excitement, restores calm, and helps one gather blood qi more effectively and enter the Blood Condensation Realm faster.]
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[Side effect: While helping the host cultivate, the blood egg will continuously siphon blood qi from the host's body.]
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[Immunizing you against the side effect. Parasite removed. Beginning side effect conversion...]
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[Host has acquired a new ability—Blood Qi Steal: Level 1.]
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[Blood Qi Steal: When the target's strength is no more than one major realm above yours, you can silently steal the blood qi of cultivators within ten paces.]
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What?!
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Li Yan raised his hand, sensing a strange new power within him.
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Just then, footsteps sounded outside. A young disciple with a pale face and dark circles under his eyes walked in.
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He carried a tray of food and wore a wooden plaque at his waist.
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The plaque read [Labor Disciple · Ming Che]. He was probably a Labor Disciple in this temple.
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As Li Yan was thinking, the other man tossed a wooden plaque over to him.
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"This is your identification plaque. Starting today, you're a Guest Diner at our Jingxu Temple."
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Li Yan caught the plaque and looked at it. His own was marked [Guest Diner].
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The other man set the food on the table and spoke as if to himself. "Master told me to explain the rules of Jingxu Temple to you."
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"You're not allowed to wander around during the day. You can only move about inside this Stone Workshop Eatery."
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"At night, you must return to your room. Jingxu Temple has a curfew."
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Hearing these rules, Li Yan felt even more certain this wasn't a proper Daoist temple.
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His identification plaque said Guest Diner, which made it sound like he'd come to the temple for a meal.
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But who was eating whom? This Guest Diner status... made him sound like livestock penned up in the Stone Workshop Eatery.
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At that moment, Senior Brother Ming Che's lips curled upward, and he made a suggestive gesture.
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"Got any silver?"
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Li Yan looked confused. "Senior Brother, what do you mean?"
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"What do you think? I'm asking you to show a little appreciation."
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As he spoke, Senior Brother Ming Che placed two bowls of rice on the table.
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"Pay up, and you can eat nice, white rice."
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"If you've got no money, then I'll just have to give you this stuff instead."
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One of the two bowls on the table held ordinary rice.
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The other was filled with wriggling insect eggs, one after another.
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Senior Brother Ming Che stared straight at the gold chain around Li Yan's neck, his eyes greedy.
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