Refining

Xia Dong arrived at Yellow Mud Village, travel-worn but steady.

Yellow Mud Village was not particularly large; nestled against the mountains and by the water, it was originally a rather tranquil settlement.

With the respectable status of a tribute student and a grasp of medical skills, Xia Dong quickly integrated with the local villagers.

After several rounds of tactful inquiries, Xia Dong finally pinpointed the source of the haunting in Yellow Mud Village—a Mass Grave located ten miles outside the village.

According to the village elders, a great flood had struck Pingyang County years ago, followed by an epidemic after the waters receded, claiming many lives. To prevent the spread of the plague, the authorities had hastily dragged the unclaimed corpses to that wasteland for burial. Over time, the area became a gathering place for yin energy, eventually becoming a notorious Mass Grave for the surrounding ten miles.

At night, villagers often saw flickering ghostly shadows from afar and could even hear faint, wailing cries.

Even after identifying the source, Xia Dong maintained his cautious code of conduct and did not rashly venture deep inside.

He stayed in the village during the day, and only at night would he restrain his blazing life force to quietly lurk on the outskirts of the Mass Grave for observation.

After keeping watch for three consecutive nights, Xia Dong discovered that whenever the yin energy was at its peak during the Hour of the Rat, many large and small ghostly green flames would drift above the Mass Grave.

These ghost fires swayed with the wind; they were round and shaped exactly like green lanterns suspended in mid-air.

Through his powerful soul perception, Xia Dong finally made a precise judgment regarding these ghosts in the Mass Grave—they were weak.

They were simply too weak.

These spirits, which he named Lantern Ghost, were merely manifestations of the lingering obsessions and grievances of the commoners who had died from the epidemic and the flood.

They lacked even a complete consciousness, drifting aimlessly through the Mass Grave on instinct, without even the ability to leave the area to harm anyone.

Although the yin evil energy of these Lantern Ghost is weak, at least there is a large quantity, Xia Dong calculated to himself.

Having grasped the situation, Xia Dong no longer hesitated.

On the fourth night, Xia Dong stepped into the Mass Grave and released a sliver of life force to lure these ghosts toward him.

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

Those muddled Lantern Ghost had never encountered such a formation; before they could even develop the instinct to flee, they were pulled into the bell by the invisible suction it emitted.

After a period of arduous and intense demon-slaying, Xia Dong swept back and forth across the Mass Grave until a faint sense of stagnation reached his sea of consciousness.

Scarlet characters slowly emerged on the surface of the Bronze Ancient Bell.

He had successfully refined ten Yin Evil Pill!

However, when he attempted to continue absorbing the remaining Lantern Ghost, the Bronze Ancient Bell remained silent.

Xia Dong realized immediately: the spiritual power from the spirit stones the Bronze Ancient Bell had previously absorbed was completely exhausted.

"Ten Yin Evil Pill is a decent harvest." Xia Dong was not overly greedy and tucked them away securely.

However, looking at the few scattered Lantern Ghost still drifting in the Mass Grave, a thought suddenly occurred to him: these Lantern Ghost were weak, so he could try using them to practice the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining technique to see if the side effects were significant.

Xia Dong locked onto the dimmest Lantern Ghost, one that was nearly dissipating, and forcibly activated the secret soul-refining technique of the Profound Yin Scripture.

A sliver of weak yin evil energy was drawn into his sea of consciousness.

Refined in an instant!

Although he felt a slight, faint improvement in his soul, it was accompanied by an extremely uncomfortable emotion.

It felt like a disgusting drop of ink staining a piece of pure, flawless rice paper.

Xia Dong felt a wave of irritation in his heart.

"It really doesn't work!"

Xia Dong immediately cut off the circulation of the technique and quickly retreated from the Mass Grave.

Even with spirits as weak as the Lantern Ghost, using them to practice the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining technique left him feeling deeply unsettled.

It seemed he would indeed have to rely honestly on Yin Evil Pill to practice the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining technique.

Fortunately, the grade of these Lantern Ghost was truly too low, so the impact was limited.

The next day was the Dragon Boat Festival.

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

Xia Dong came to a sun-drenched area outside the village. Facing the scorching sun, he slightly bent his knees and assumed the Crane Stance.

At the same time, he activated his Dragon-Capturing Technique to its full extent. His spine locked and compressed his life force like a great dragon, then, guided by the Crane Stance, it surged and churned through his meridians like a mighty river.

Leveraging the intense yang energy of the Dragon Boat Festival, supplemented by his own tyrannical and masculine life force, he began to purge his system.

Before long, Xia Dong exhaled a long breath of stale air.

The ink-like discomfort in his sea of consciousness was completely dissolved, and his soul regained its clarity and transparency.

"A narrow escape."

Xia Dong opened his eyes and felt the ten hard-won Yin Evil Pill in his bosom, a look of satisfaction appearing at the corners of his mouth.

With the Yin Evil Pill, his soul cultivation could finally continue to improve.

Afterward, he quietly returned to the city.

Over the past few days, Xia Dong had provided free medical consultations to the villagers during the day, earning their genuine gratitude. If he were to bid them farewell, it would inevitably lead to a long-winded ordeal, easily causing complications.

It was better to brush off his clothes once the task was done, hiding his merit and fame deep within.

It took several days for the villagers of Yellow Mud Village to realize that Xia Dong had left. At first, they assumed he had met with some danger, and some villagers, recalling that he had visited the Mass Grave, even organized a search party to check the area.

But they found no trace of Xia Dong.

Later, they consulted the village head and made inquiries in the city, only then learning that Doctor Xia had already returned to town.

Only then were the villagers relieved.

After all, Doctor Xia was a scholar.

If something had happened to him in Yellow Mud Village, there inevitably would have been government runners descending upon the village.

Government runners coming to the countryside were no different from a bandit raid.

Everyone feared such an occurrence.

Of course, they were also truly grateful for Doctor Xia's free clinics; he was a genuinely good man.

In this day and age, to find a scholarly gentleman who wasn't heartless was a rarity!

The village elders felt they had truly seen it all now.

The villagers held simple and straightforward views, and through word of mouth, they added quite a bit of positive reputation to Xia Dong.

However, the yin spirits and ghosts at the Mass Grave held a very poor opinion of Xia Dong.

Even if they lacked any real consciousness.

Xia Dong's methods were simply too brutal.

Consequently, the Lantern Ghost of the Mass Grave had instinctively developed a fear of anyone dressed like a scholar. Those with even a shred of intelligence were now too terrified to emerge whenever they saw someone in scholar's robes.

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

Changchun Medical Hall.

After returning home and washing up, Xia Dong began preparing to consume the Yin Evil Pill.

He dared not keep this Yin Evil Pill in his possession for too long, and it was meant only for his own consumption.

Once his mind was settled, Xia Dong began to take the first Yin Evil Pill.

Following this, he activated the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining.

In the days that followed, Xia Dong did not step outside at all, dedicating all his energy to refining the Yin Evil Pill.

With the aid of the Yin Evil Pill, his Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining progressed day by day.

Finally, Xia Dong reached a threshold.

Am I about to manifest divine sense?

Xia Dong's heart stirred, and he immediately felt all the blood and energy in his body surging toward the center of his brow.

He felt as if he were about to take flight, drifting into an ethereal, transcendent state.