Blood Pill Great Medicine

An Jing was naturally suspicious of the mysterious voice. Though it had helped him, perhaps it had its own motives?

But things had come to this point, and he had no room left to doubt it. At this crossroads, An Jing could either trust the voice or submit to the Demonic Cult.

The choice was easy.

[Hmm... It seems you really do understand the situation.]

Hearing An Jing state it so frankly, the mysterious voice paused before asking, [Since you know you've already been found out, how can you stay so calm? Past Life Wisdom can't explain that.]

"He wants me to go."

Even though the mysterious voice had easily seen through his Past Life Wisdom, An Jing remained calm. He said flatly, "He's already given me enough hints. When he taught me the righteous method, he didn't even try to hide that he belonged to the 'Tianyi Demonic Sect.'"

"In fact, apart from never calling themselves the Demonic Cult, they've hidden nothing from beginning to end."

"This was a test, too. If recognizing that the Imperial Heaven Method led straight to a Martial Meridian meant passing, and recognizing the Houtu Method meant being exceptional, then recognizing the Son of Heaven Method meant being fit for Xuanming Manor—or, rather, being the kind of 'genius' the Demonic Cult truly wanted to find."

"Do you think those beast bones that appeared when I was waiting at the gate were just a coincidence?"

"Do you think it was just a coincidence that, when I left through the gate, I was carrying medicine and walking toward the apothecary at Dongshan Manor?"

"There are no coincidences like that..."

"This was the final test. A test of 'where I stood.' There's a truth waiting for me there."

"Manor Master Yao wants me to go, and I want to go, too."

[You aren't surprised at all.]

The mysterious voice spoke softly. An Jing didn't know whether to laugh or sigh, so he could only say in a faintly bitter voice, "Because I'd been suspicious for a long time."

"Who would really spend True Gold to buy disaster refugees in the Northern Frontier, then treat their illnesses?"

"Only people who truly needed 'life.'"

"They examined our Root Bones and asked for our birth dates and times because what they needed was a life for each and every one of them. If someone's birth details suited them, they'd naturally be willing to pay the price to save that person and take them back."

"I already had some understanding of the brainwashing and training in obedience that went on at Xuanming Manor from my Past Life Wisdom, so I was especially wary. And that's not even mentioning the strange Fierce Beast meat and medicinal broth."

[That was Demon meat. Demons prey on intelligent life, and those who consume them take on their ferocity.]

The mysterious voice listened calmly as An Jing spoke, only occasionally interjecting to clarify. [The Demon meat stirs the ferocity of the bloodline and increases the body's potential, while 'Heartless Water' suppresses the Demonic Qi and strengthens the soul's resilience. They complement each other.]

[The only side effect is that they subtly change a person's temperament. That isn't a problem for them, either.]

[Since you saw so much, why didn't you suspect sooner that they were the Demonic Cult?]

"I knew it."

An Jing nodded slightly. By then, he had already crossed the road between the main manor and Dongshan Manor. "I thought most of the riders and instructors had something wrong with them. They were too cold and uncaring."

The rain poured down in torrents. An Jing instinctively wiped the water from his face, then vaulted over the wall and entered a shed in the manor. "As for why I couldn't see through them..."

He fell silent for a moment, then said bitterly, "Maybe it's because, on the surface, they treated us children pretty well."

"At least the ones of us still alive."

"If I were just an ordinary person, I'd have been completely brainwashed by now. They really were good to me."

"But I still know why the Demonic Cult is called the Demonic Cult."

He exhaled, his voice carrying a rare weariness and a sigh close to fear. "I just didn't want to know the truth about some things."

"But I have to know."

Dongshan Manor had many sheds to shelter the rain. Inside them stood numerous large, brown earthenware vats, nearly filling the entire courtyard.

"Why are so many vats set out here?"

Steadying himself, An Jing looked around. There were at least fifty, each covered with a flat stone, which left him puzzled. "Are they collecting rootless water? But why cover them with lids and build sheds over them?"

"Could there be medicine inside that needs to ferment?"

But as An Jing drew closer, he caught the faint scent of a strange, sweetly rank medicine.

He knew that smell well. It was very similar to the peculiar medicinal odor he had once smelled coming from the Medicine Pavilion.

Frowning, An Jing circled one of the vats to examine it.

When he got close, he noticed a slip of paper attached to the vat.

It bore a person's name, along with their birth date and time.

[Gu Jinghai, Life of the Ancient Earth Rock, mixed, aptitude below average]

A familiar name.

An Jing remembered the person it belonged to.

A quiet boy, still young, who liked to keep to himself. An Jing had once talked with him about his hometown. He missed the riverbank full of fish, and the summer days when he and his older brother chased dragonflies.

The Frost Calamity had destroyed everything. He had lost his brother and parents, been sold by his uncle, and come here alone.

The vat was large enough to hold a person.

Once that thought crossed his mind, An Jing suddenly understood.

His hands began to tremble.

"Impossible..."

An Jing knew how foolish it was to mutter to himself like this. Of course he knew.

He could activate the Imperial Heaven Nourishing Qi Method at any moment and enter that calm, detached state, as if looking down from above. Of course he could.

He could face the truth with an indifferent attitude and a cool mind.

But he didn't want to. He understood that perfectly well.

If he ran away from it now, he would surely lose something that mattered deeply to people—and to himself.

And so even An Jing, who had faced Manor Master Yao's repeated tests without so much as a change in his breathing, began trembling as he searched.

He searched vat after vat.

[Zhan Feng, Life of the Giant Spirit, mixed, aptitude below average]

[Ye Xiuyuan, Life of the Orator, mixed, aptitude below average]

[Zhang Ying, Life of the Geng Wolf, mixed, aptitude average]

In the end, he found their names.

"Ha... I finally found you."

Taking a step forward, An Jing let out a brief, quiet laugh. "So this is where you are..."

He reached out and touched the vat before him, murmuring, "Right here."

His voice grew softer and softer, until he fell silent.

An Jing remained silent for a long time. A bolt of lightning split the dark, rainy night, illuminating his pale face.

An Jing closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, his gaze was deep and shadowed. He raised his hand and heaved the lid off the vat.

The solid stone lid was heavy. Even an ordinary adult would struggle to move it, but for An Jing, who was nearing the Internal Breath stage and had eaten plenty of Demon meat, it was nothing.

Inside the vat was a mass of pale pink, viscous paste, with traces of medicinal herbs faintly visible within it. It gave off an overpowering, sweetly rank smell—the strange, sweet stench An Jing had smelled before, enough to make a person's mind waver.

But what truly shook him was the white bone that surfaced in the center of the medicinal paste.

A small skull.

The children who had left and never returned, the children who had been "eliminated"—their fate was now all too clear.

[Blood Pill Great Medicine]

The mysterious voice spoke coldly. [Made from people who carried a life but had yet to awaken it, it nourishes flesh and soul, prolongs life, and strengthens the body...]

[The demonic path must be destroyed!]