Lu Yang said goodbye to Zhou Lulu and headed to Elixir Cauldron Peak. The moment he reached the foot of the mountain, a rich medicinal fragrance wafted toward him.
"As expected of Elixir Cauldron Peak. Even the air is filled with fragrance. It's no worse than the fabled paradises and immortal mountains."
Lu Yang couldn't help taking a couple more deep breaths. His body felt light and floaty, as if he were about to ascend to immortality.
"Junior Brother, don't breathe it in!"
A voice shouted frantically from not far away. When its owner saw Lu Yang take a couple more breaths, he grew even more anxious.
"Junior Brother, use the Tortoise Breathing Technique, quick! Wait, you seem to be a mortal. Then cover your nose! This smell is from a poison I accidentally made while refining pills..."
Those were the last words Lu Yang heard before passing out.
"What kind of place is this? Even the air is poisonous..." Lu Yang murmured. His body wavered, and the whole world seemed to spin around him. Then his vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.
As it turned out, whether a smell was fragrant had nothing to do with whether it was poisonous.
When Lu Yang woke again, a huge face was right in front of him. He jolted in fright and came fully awake.
The man gave an awkward chuckle. "Junior Brother Lu, you're awake. You're not hurting anymore, are you?"
Lu Yang's identity was written on his jade pendant.
Lu Yang blinked a few times. His whole body ached, as if someone had kneaded him into a ball and then rolled him flat with a rolling pin.
He was in an alchemy room. The medicinal fragrance was thick, and it was much warmer than outside. A huge pill furnace stood in the center, surrounded by shelves stacked with bundles of herbs and white porcelain bottles. The bottles likely held successfully refined pills.
Stacks of rough sketches showing pill-making methods littered the floor, along with little white mice locked in cages. Anyone unfamiliar with the place would have trouble finding a spot to set their foot down.
There was only one bed in the alchemy room—the one Lu Yang was lying on.
"My name is Wu Ming. Sorry about that, Junior Brother. I was thinking while refining pills and got distracted. I didn't control the heat properly, and the pill turned into poison."
"But don't worry. I often accidentally refine poison, but I've never poisoned anyone to death." Wu Ming sounded quite proud.
...That only makes me more worried.
Lu Yang struggled to sit up, shifted his bottom, and leaned into the corner where the bed met the wall. That felt a little better.
His head itched, so Lu Yang rubbed the back of it. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Since I only breathed in some poisonous fumes, why is there a bandage wrapped around the back of my head?"
Wu Ming explained sheepishly, "I got distracted while carrying you and you hit your head on the ground. There's no need to worry too much. As long as you're alive, we can treat you here at Elixir Cauldron Peak!"
"The pills I have on hand are all too potent for you to take. Look, while you were unconscious, I specially refined pills that even a mortal can take." Wu Ming presented them to Lu Yang like a prized treasure and urged him to take a couple.
The pills were golden, with three circular rings around them. Lu Yang knew those were pill marks, which meant the pills had been refined to near perfection.
Lu Yang still didn't dare eat them.
All he'd wanted was to come to Elixir Cauldron Peak and ask for a few Fasting Pills. He hadn't even done anything yet, and already he was lying in bed with a bandage wrapped around his head.
If he ate something else now, even the King of Hell would praise him for not knowing when to quit.
"They're not poisonous, really." Wu Ming assured him again and again.
Seeing that Lu Yang didn't believe him, Wu Ming found a little white mouse to demonstrate.
The mouse seemed to know its time had come. As Wu Ming lifted it out, it squeaked frantically, as if bidding farewell to its wife and children.
The mouse swallowed the pill, fell to the ground, and stopped breathing. Seeing this, its wife and children wept bitterly, as though they were already witnessing their own fate.
Lu Yang: "..."
Wu Ming: "..."
"It was an accident, just an accident. The mouse is small, so even a little poison would kill it. People are different. I know what went wrong. Wait a moment, and I'll refine another batch for you."
Lu Yang hurriedly tried to distract Senior Brother Wu Ming. "Senior Brother, you said you were thinking about something and got distracted. What were you thinking about?"
Wu Ming really did get distracted. After gathering his thoughts, he said, "Pills—what matters is the word 'medicine' at the end. Pills are naturally supposed to cure the sick and save lives, but Fasting Pills aren't meant for the sick. So why do they count as pills?"
"If Fasting Pills count as pills, then pills aren't just for curing the sick and saving lives. They can also serve as food."
"But if Fasting Pills don't count as pills, then what should they be classified as?"
Lu Yang figured you'd have to take your brain out and roast it in an alchemy furnace for three days and three nights to come up with a question like that.
"Speaking of Fasting Pills, the only ones I have that mortals can eat are these. I've got strawberry, apple, and watermelon flavors. Want some? They're not poisonous." Wu Ming pulled out a handful of colorful candy-like pills.
Thinking of the King of Hell's eager expectations, Lu Yang chose not to accept Wu Ming's gift. Plenty of people at Elixir Cauldron Peak were practicing how to refine Fasting Pills. Whoever he went to, they'd be safer than Senior Brother Wu Ming.
"Junior Brother, if you ever need pills refined, remember to come to me. I won't charge you." Wu Ming saw him off warmly as Lu Yang left.
Lu Yang hurried away, limping.
The next day, the Seventh Elder of Elixir Cauldron Peak heard about Lu Yang's tragic experience and sent him some pills that could truly cure a mortal, along with a gourd of Fasting Pills.
Lu Yang recovered.
Over the next month, Lu Yang kept busy, moving between the Scripture Depository, Word Transmission Peak, and his cave abode. He greedily absorbed immortal cultivation knowledge he'd never encountered before, like a desert wanderer stumbling upon a clear spring, drinking it down with unquenchable thirst.
A month later, everyone had gotten their wish and become disciples under one of the elders. Meng Jingzhou became the Third Elder's disciple, Man Gu became the Fourth Elder's, Li Haoran, who had a Fire Spirit Root, became the Fifth Elder's, and Tao Yaoye, who possessed the Ascension Immortal Body, became the Sixth Elder's...
This left Lu Yang rather puzzled. He'd assumed Man Gu would become the Third Elder's disciple just like Meng Jingzhou. The Third Elder was a renowned body cultivator in the immortal cultivation world, and no one dared wrestle with him. With his Ancient Barbarian Tribe bloodline, Man Gu was ideally suited to be taught by the Third Elder.
In contrast, the Fourth Elder was a Confucian cultivator, learned but not famed for his strength. Lu Yang didn't know why Man Gu had chosen him as his master.
The Fifth Elder excelled at artifact refinement. Given Li Haoran's Fire Spirit Root, the match made sense.
Lu Yang had never met the Sixth Elder. He'd heard she was a breathtakingly beautiful woman who possessed an immortal body similar to Tao Yaoye's.
Man Gu becoming the Fourth Elder's disciple wasn't the most eye-catching thing. The most eye-catching was Lu Yang himself, who became a disciple of the mysterious Sect Master.
The Sect Master reportedly hadn't taken a disciple in over a hundred years and lived a carefree life. The disciples discussed it among themselves, unable to understand why the Sect Master, still in seclusion, had taken Lu Yang as his disciple.
Under the envious gazes of the crowd, Lu Yang was led by Senior Sister Yun Zhi to Heaven Gate Peak, where the Sect Master resided.
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