Little Alchemist on the Run from Quantai Prefecture

Whatever happened later on Qingyun Mountain had long been tossed Beyond the Nine Clouds by Hanyu.

He just wondered whether the entire Star Sect would be so overwhelmed by surprise tomorrow that they would do something irrational. It felt like the sky was about to fall on Star Sect.

What a sin! Doing a good deed was far too hard these days.

Striding along the mountain path as swiftly as the wind, Hanyu could not help sighing over how people's hearts were no longer what they used to be.

"I'll leave first thing tomorrow morning."

Having made up his mind, Hanyu slipped into the city.

At the foot of Qingyun Mountain, after Lin Daozong and the elders landed, they surrounded the hundred examinees as though they had found priceless treasure.

Tsk, tsk! The patriarchs were blessing them!

What did a hundred Superior Spirit Roots mean?

Put it this way: since the sect had been founded, it had never been this wealthy.

Once this batch of disciples was nurtured, becoming a Top-Tier Sect would be as natural as water flowing into a channel.

Even if he went underground someday, with this achievement, saying "when the patriarch picks up food, I'll turn the lazy Susan" would still be too modest. He could have a whole table to himself.

"Are you all willing to join Star Sect?"

Lin Daozong asked with a kindly smile, his aged face creased with wrinkles.

Naturally, the hundred examinees were more than willing. Both sides hit it off at once.

Lin Daozong then came to Li Tianhai's side and patted his shoulder approvingly. "Little Li, you've rendered great service."

Li Tianhai still looked dazed and ignored his words completely.

Lin Daozong assumed he was overjoyed and could not help bursting into laughter.

"Laugh all you want. You'll have time to cry later."

Bai Jingliang had a nose like a dog's. Not long after Hanyu casually found an inn to stay in, the fellow tracked him down and booked a room next door.

After considering it again and again, Hanyu decided to give him the Chicken Dance Pill after all.

Bai Jingliang held the pill now, his mouth nearly splitting to the back of his head with delight.

Hanyu shook his head and said helplessly, "Think it through before you take it. This medicine has a side—"

Before he could finish, Bai Jingliang, afraid the pill would be taken away, opened his huge mouth and tossed it straight in. He smacked his lips. "Tastes pretty good."

Hanyu could only stare at him dumbfoundedly, silently giving him a thumbs-up with a face full of admiration. "I surrender to you a hundred times over. Truly."

Bai Jingliang smiled indifferently, his expression calm. "Isn't it just that I can't hear roosters crow? I'll just figure out a way not to hear them."

What a powerful train of thought.

Hanyu clicked his tongue in praise.

March twelfth, Closing Day. Dark clouds covered the sky. Good for hunting and capturing criminals.

Today was exceptionally important to Hanyu. He rose early, washed up simply, then sat quietly in his room and waited.

In the meantime, he listened to Bai Jingliang's Wailing Ghosts, leaning against the windowsill as he watched the man helplessly run toward Qingyun Mountain.

What a sin. Where had all those mountain chickens come from, and why were they crowing at the same time?

Sure enough, one could not underestimate the pills from the Glazed Bottle. Even if the sound carried only faintly, hearing it was hearing it.

A pill rolled around between his fingers on the table. Today's pill... was rather hard to put into words.

Guanyin's Child-Giving Pill: After taking this pill, the user may give birth to a qilin child within one hour. Side effect: The child has absolutely no blood relation to the user.

The first thing Hanyu thought when he saw the pill's description was, whose child did that make the child?

All he could say was that the Glazed Bottle's methods were getting wilder and wilder.

A throbbing that sprang from the depths of his heart suddenly jolted Hanyu back to his senses.

It was here. It had really come.

A warm current began continuously gathering in his lower abdomen, sometimes bunching into a mass, sometimes writhing like snakes and dancing dragons.

The source of the warm current wandered ceaselessly through his lower abdomen, seemingly searching for an exit. Hanyu held his breath and sat utterly still.

It traveled from his lower abdomen to his forearm. Something like a bulging vein rose beneath the skin, slithering along his arm like a little snake, until it seemed to get stuck at his shoulder.

So it turned back, reached the soles of his feet, then traveled from there all the way to his cervical vertebrae.

By the time it surged to the Baihui Acupoint at his crown, cold sweat had already covered Hanyu's entire body.

At last, the warm current seemed to give up and returned once more to his lower abdomen. After circling around for a while, it released countless threadlike strands that spread throughout Hanyu's body—to his bones, internal organs, skin, and more.

At the same time, Hanyu's entire body trembled. It felt as though ten thousand ants were crawling inside his bones, leaving him both itchy and aching.

Crack! Crack!

After his bones gave off a series of crisp cracks, his skin gradually took on a mirror-like sheen. Only after his bones stopped sounding did that luster slowly fade.

He had won the gamble!

Delight filled Hanyu's face, and he nearly jumped up.

Creation Pill: One year after consumption, gain Sixty Years of Cultivation. Side effect: Any cultivation of an ideological nature within sixty years will result in death.

When the Glazed Bottle had spat out this pill, Hanyu had repeatedly exclaimed over how terrifying it was.

Terrifying because it took merely one year to grant the equivalent of sixty years of arduous cultivation by others.

Terrifying because the side effect likewise barred one from cultivating for the following sixty years.

It was equivalent to collecting what one would gain in the next sixty years in advance, then spending sixty years repaying the debt.

Bold beyond measure, Hanyu had swallowed it without a second word, because as an utterly ordinary person, he could ignore the side effect.

Likewise, because he was an ordinary person, no one knew what it would be like when sixty years of cultivation erupted within his body. This had been a gamble.

He had won. He still had not gained cultivation, but sixty years of arduous training had been transformed into his physical body.

A body forged by sixty years of cultivation—just thinking about it made him feel fantastic.

"Little Alchemist, hurry and go."

A figure let out a strange cry in midair beyond the window, then pounced in through it.

Bai Jingliang, who had been invited by the chickens of Qingyun Mountain to dance at dawn, was now drenched in sweat. As soon as he entered, he hurriedly shut the windows and door tight.

"A huge group of Star Sect disciples has gathered at the foot of Qingyun Mountain to come make trouble for you."

Bai Jingliang said anxiously, panting.

It had happened!

Damn it. He had been so busy waiting for his medicine to take effect that he had forgotten what he did earlier.

Seeing that Hanyu was still unmoved, Bai Jingliang grew even more anxious, stamping his feet. "What are you standing around for? Run! Once you leave Quantai Prefecture, you'll be safe. Star Sect wouldn't dare reach its hands out recklessly beyond its territory."

Hanyu came back to his senses and nodded. Just as he turned to leave, he hurried back, whispered several instructions into Bai Jingliang's ear, then patted his shoulder.

"You're a loyal friend. I'll save some good medicine for you next time."

With that, he hurried downstairs.

A moment later, a large group of cultivators surrounded the place completely, some in midair and some below the building, blocking every exit.

Several cultivators smashed through the window and entered first. Before they could make a move, Bai Jingliang's loud shout rang out.

"Don't attack! I'm a good person!"

On Qingyun Mountain, in Star Sect's Disciplinary Hall.

Li Tianhai stood below with his head lowered, his face full of bitterness, while the elders and Lin Daozong sat high above.

Usually, he sat up there reprimanding disciples. Today, the wheel of fortune had turned, and he had become the one guilty of a grave offense.

Just last night, Lin Daozong had still politely told him that he had rendered great service.

Inside the Disciplinary Hall, everyone's expressions were gloomy. How could they not be?

Just imagine it: Lin Daozong had been so delighted last night after bringing a hundred prodigies back to the sect that he could not sleep all night.

He had finally endured until dawn and begun to feel sleepy, only for disciples to report that yesterday's prodigies were lying limp in bed today, half-dead and unwilling to rise.

Lin Daozong was horrified. He personally went to inspect them, and it would have been better if he had not looked. The moment he did, he nearly spat blood.

Every one of those hundred or so disciples was weak in the limbs, and even getting out of bed was difficult. Worse still, every one of them had lost all fighting spirit, looking exactly like useless cripples.

In his towering rage, Li Tianhai was the first to suffer. Early in the morning, the elders had escorted him into the Disciplinary Hall.

Now, with his head lowered, he recounted everything about Hanyu in full detail, from the wager in Quantai Prefecture to the wager at the foot of Qingyun Mountain afterward.

After hearing this, Lin Daozong's face darkened like water as he stared silently at Li Tianhai.

If not for Li Tianhai's seniority and his usual diligence without fault, Lin Daozong would have wanted to kill him. Why had he not mentioned such wicked people and matters last night?

Now that they had accepted them, were they supposed to throw them out again?

Star Sect could not afford that humiliation.

At that moment, a disciple hurried in to report.

"He escaped!"

Lin Daozong flew into a rage. "A whole group of you let a single Little Alchemist escape?"

The disciple also looked miserable as he said bitterly, "It wasn't that we disciples were incompetent. The young master of the Bai Family tipped him off and let him escape beforehand."

"Young Master Bai also said the Little Alchemist left a message."

The disciple spoke cautiously.

"Speak."

Lin Daozong barked.

"That Medicine Master said not to rush to drive them away. Wait until the hour of the Rooster, and you'll understand."

After finishing, the disciple bowed and stood to one side.

Lin Daozong's expression shifted between light and dark, while several elders exchanged glances. At last, Lin Daozong gave the order: they would wait until the hour of the Rooster.

The group truly endured in silent torment in the Disciplinary Hall until nightfall.

"Sect Master, those newcomers are full of life again. The disciples tested their spirit roots, and they seem... seem to be fine again."

Listening to the disciple's report, Lin Daozong finally pieced everything together.

"That damned Medicine Master has given us a difficult problem."

Half dragon and phoenix, half useless firewood—like chicken ribs, a pity to throw away, yet sickening to keep.

"Then should we continue pursuing the matter?"

An elder frowned and asked.

Lin Daozong frowned in silence. After a long while, he sighed. "In the end, we cannot lose face."

"Are we just letting it go, then?"

Lin Daozong shook his head, his eyes flickering. Suddenly, he smiled. "Of course not. Have someone spread word of this Little Alchemist's abilities. Speak only of the effects, not the side effects. Naturally, plenty of people will come looking for him."