Refining

Xia Dong arrived at Yellow Mud Village, steady on his feet despite the long, dusty journey.

Yellow Mud Village was not very large. Nestled between mountains and water, it had once been a rather peaceful village.

With the respectable status of a tribute student and his medical knowledge, Xia Dong quickly struck up a rapport with the local villagers.

After several rounds of subtle questioning, Xia Dong finally learned the source of the hauntings in Yellow Mud Village: a Mass Grave ten li outside the village.

According to the village elders, Pingyang County had suffered a great flood some years ago. After the waters receded, an epidemic broke out, and many people died. To prevent the disease from spreading, the authorities had hurriedly hauled the unclaimed bodies to that desolate patch of land and buried them. Over time, baleful energy gathered there, turning it into a notorious Mass Grave known throughout the surrounding villages.

At night, villagers often saw ghostly figures flickering in the distance, and even heard faint wailing.

Even after learning the source, Xia Dong still held to his cautious ways and did not venture in rashly.

He stayed in the village during the day. Only at night, after suppressing his blazing vitality and blood, did he quietly lurk around the outskirts of the Mass Grave to observe.

After keeping watch for three nights in a row, Xia Dong discovered that whenever the baleful energy was at its strongest around midnight, countless ghost fires of all sizes would float above the Mass Grave.

They swayed in the wind, round as can be, looking just like green lanterns suspended in midair.

Using his powerful spiritual sense, Xia Dong finally made an accurate assessment of the Mass Grave's ghosts and spirits: weak.

Incredibly weak.

The spirits he named "Lantern Ghosts" were simply the lingering obsessions and resentment of those who had died in the epidemic and flood.

They did not even have complete awareness. They could only drift aimlessly around the Mass Grave on instinct, and lacked even the ability to leave it and harm anyone.

"Though these Lantern Ghosts have only a faint trace of baleful energy, there's a lot of them." Xia Dong calculated silently.

Now that he understood the situation, Xia Dong no longer hesitated.

On the fourth night, Xia Dong entered the Mass Grave and released a little of his vitality and blood to lure the ghosts toward him.

Then the Bronze Ancient Bell rang in his sea of consciousness.

The dazed Lantern Ghosts had never seen anything like it. Before they could even feel the instinct to flee, the invisible force emanating from the Bronze Ancient Bell dragged them inside one after another.

After a hard-fought, fierce battle to exterminate the evil, Xia Dong swept through the Mass Grave again and again, until an extremely faint sense of stagnation came from his sea of consciousness.

Crimson characters slowly emerged on the Bronze Ancient Bell.

He had successfully refined ten Yin Evil Pills!

However, when he tried to absorb the remaining Lantern Ghosts, the Bronze Ancient Bell fell silent.

Xia Dong immediately understood: the spiritual energy in the Spirit Stones the Bronze Ancient Bell had absorbed earlier was completely spent.

"Ten Yin Evil Pills—that's no small haul." Xia Dong was not overly greedy and carefully put them away.

But as he looked at the few scattered Lantern Ghosts still drifting through the Mass Grave, an idea suddenly occurred to him. These Lantern Ghosts were weak. He could try using them to cultivate the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining Art and see how bad the side effects were.

Xia Dong fixed on the dimmest Lantern Ghost, one that was nearly fading away, and forcibly began the spirit-refining secret art of the Profound Yin Scripture.

A faint thread of baleful energy entered his sea of consciousness.

It was refined in an instant!

Though he felt his spirit had improved ever so slightly, an intensely unpleasant emotion accompanied it.

It felt like an especially disgusting drop of ink staining a sheet of flawless white rice paper.

Xia Dong felt a wave of vexation rise in his heart.

"Just as I thought. It won't work!"

Xia Dong immediately cut off the cultivation technique and quickly withdrew from the Mass Grave.

Even a spirit as weak as a Lantern Ghost made him deeply uncomfortable when he used it to cultivate the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining Art.

It seemed he really had no choice but to cultivate the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining Art honestly with Yin Evil Pills.

Fortunately, the Lantern Ghosts were so low-grade that the effects were limited.

The next day was the Dragon Boat Festival.

The yang energy between heaven and earth reached its most blazing peak of the year.

Xia Dong went to a sunlit patch of ground outside the village. Facing the scorching sun, he bent his knees slightly and assumed the Crane Stance.

At the same time, the Dragon-Capturing Technique circulated at full force within him. His spine locked and compressed the vitality and blood throughout his body like a great dragon, then, guided by the Crane Stance, they surged and roared through his meridians like a mighty river.

He drew on the Dragon Boat Festival's blazing yang energy, using it to wash through his own fierce, masculine vitality and blood.

Before long, Xia Dong let out a long breath of stale air.

The discomfort in his sea of consciousness, like a blot of ink, was completely dispelled, and his spirit once more felt clear and lucid.

"A close call."

Xia Dong opened his eyes. Feeling the ten hard-won Yin Evil Pills against his chest, he smiled with quiet relief.

With the Yin Evil Pills, his spiritual cultivation could finally continue to advance.

Then he quietly returned to the city.

In recent days, Xia Dong had offered free medical consultations to the villagers during the day, earning their heartfelt gratitude. If he took his leave, they would surely insist on seeing him off, which could easily lead to needless complications.

Better to leave once the job was done, taking neither credit nor glory.

It was several days after Xia Dong left that the villagers of Yellow Mud Village noticed he was gone. At first, they feared something had happened to him. Some remembered that he had visited the Mass Grave and even organized a search party.

But they found no sign of Xia Dong.

Later, they went to ask the village head, who made inquiries in the city. That was when they learned that Doctor Xia had already returned.

Only then were they reassured.

After all, Doctor Xia was still a licentiate.

If anything happened to him in Yellow Mud Village, the constables would surely come down to the village.

Having the constables come down was no different from being raided by bandits.

Everyone feared that happening.

Of course, they were grateful to Doctor Xia for his free consultations. He really was a good man.

In this day and age, a scholar who wasn't black-hearted? What a rarity!

Even the village elders had never seen the like in all their years.

The villagers were straightforward and simple in their thinking. As word spread, Xia Dong's good reputation grew.

But the ghosts and spirits in the Mass Grave had a terrible opinion of Xia Dong.

Even if they barely had any awareness, his methods had been far too brutal.

As a result, the Lantern Ghosts of the Mass Grave had developed an instinctive fear of people dressed as scholars. Those with even a little intelligence would be too frightened to show themselves whenever they saw a scholar in the future.

In their crude understanding, scholars were more terrifying than evil ghosts!

Changchun Medical Hall.

After returning home, Xia Dong washed up and began preparing to take the Yin Evil Pills.

He didn't dare hold on to these Yin Evil Pills for long, and they were only safe for him to take himself.

Once his mind had settled, Xia Dong took the first Yin Evil Pill.

Then he began circulating the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining Art.

In the days that followed, Xia Dong did not leave the house at all. He devoted all his energy to refining the Yin Evil Pills.

With the help of the Yin Evil Pills, the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining Art improved day after day.

At last, Xia Dong reached a threshold.

"Am I about to form spiritual sense?"

Xia Dong's heart stirred. Then he felt the vitality and blood throughout his body surge toward the space between his brows.

He felt as if he were about to take flight, light and airy, as though ascending to immortality.