Extreme Yin Emerges from Seclusion

The next day, Heavenly Baleful Gang's main hall.

Wang Yi, head of the Heavenly Baleful Gang's Enforcement Hall, said to Gang Leader Tang Yinian.

"Gang Leader, last night, the homes of three of our Heavenly Baleful Gang subordinates caught fire. All three were burned to ashes."

Tang Yinian had the back of a tiger and the waist of a bear, with a long saber scar across his face. He looked exceptionally fierce and terrifying.

"Oh? Someone actually dared to provoke our Heavenly Baleful Gang in Salt City."

Tang Yinian sat boldly in the gang leader's seat. There was no anger on his face; instead, he seemed rather intrigued.

He had only recently broken through to the Innate Grandmaster realm. Before his breakthrough, his martial arts had already ranked among the very best first-rate experts in the martial world, more than enough for him to rule Salt City as a tyrant.

Now that he had entered the Innate realm, he belonged to that tiny handful at the very pinnacle of the martial world.

In the martial world of the Gan Kingdom, the number of people stronger than him definitely did not exceed two digits.

At once, his ambitions began to swell. He was no longer content with merely dominating Salt City. He believed he now had the capital to establish a sect and laugh proudly over the martial world.

Moreover, the gang had the ever-mysterious immortal, Extreme Yin. This made Tang Yinian's ambitions expand even further.

Yet Extreme Yin had never concerned himself with worldly power, focusing solely on cultivation. This left Tang Yinian unable to fathom what Extreme Yin truly thought.

The relationship between Extreme Yin, the Heavenly Baleful Gang, and Tang Yinian had always been subtle. There was no affection between them whatsoever; they were bound together only by mutual interests.

Extreme Yin used the Heavenly Baleful Gang to gather spirit herbs and medicine-slave apprentices for him, while the Heavenly Baleful Gang used Extreme Yin's name to deter martial experts who came to cause trouble.

"Have you found out who did it?" Tang Yinian asked.

Wang Yi said, "According to our investigation, this matter is inextricably linked to Elder Extreme Yin's disciple."

Tang Yinian's spirits lifted. "Extreme Yin's disciple did this! Then this must be handled with caution. You may leave first. I will personally deal with this matter."

After Wang Yi left, Tang Yinian muttered to himself.

"It has been a long time since I last saw Elder Extreme Yin. Perhaps it is time to find a suitable opportunity to pay him a visit."

Over the next few days, Song Wen barely left the courtyard, constantly circulating his cultivation to refine the blood qi within his body.

By his calculations, Extreme Yin should emerge from seclusion within the next few days. He could not let Extreme Yin notice anything unusual about the blood qi in his body, or all his efforts might come to nothing.

Four days later, Extreme Yin emerged from the alchemy room in high spirits.

Before opening the furnace to refine pills this time, he had felt that his alchemy skill had improved, so he had increased the amount of ingredients. Sure enough, just as he had expected, he produced four pills from this batch.

The pills were also of good quality, with a faint pill fragrance wafting from them.

"Song Wen, come to the second floor at once."

Having just emerged from seclusion, Extreme Yin could not wait to have Song Wen test the medicine.

Song Wen's face filled with fear. His knees buckled, and he knelt before Extreme Yin, pleading in a beseeching tone.

"Master, for the sake of my hard work tending your medicine field, could you please stop making me test medicines?"

Extreme Yin remained unmoved. His expression calm, he said, "Rest assured. This batch was an exceptional success. There should not be any major side effects. You may even turn misfortune into fortune and break through to the second layer of Qi Refining. You should know that even I am only at the perfected third layer of Qi Refining."

Song Wen's pupils contracted. He had obtained another extremely important piece of information: Extreme Yin was only at the third layer of Qi Refining, though that was still far above him.

Still kneeling, Song Wen shuffled forward on his knees until he reached Extreme Yin. He grabbed Extreme Yin's robe with both hands and continued pleading, "Master, we can recruit another batch of new disciples. Once some of them successfully draw qi into their bodies, we can use them to test the medicine."

Extreme Yin snorted coldly and casually waved his hand, sending Song Wen back half a zhang.

"Hmph! Recruiting new disciples to test medicine would take at least over a month. How could I have that much time to wait?"

"Today, you will eat this pill whether you want to or not. If you refuse, I will slaughter you right now."

"Master, I..." Song Wen raised his head and looked pleadingly at Extreme Yin, as though begging him to show mercy.

Extreme Yin's gaze was dark and sinister. He took out a porcelain bottle and poured a Blood Qi Pill into his hand.

Then, in two or three strides, he arrived before Song Wen. "Swallow it."

As though intimidated by the powerful aura radiating from Extreme Yin, Song Wen tremblingly reached out and accepted the pill.

However, Song Wen did not immediately put it into his mouth. Instead, he stared fearfully at the pill in his hand, as though unable to decide whether to eat it or not.

Based on his past experience, Extreme Yin knew that in order to verify whether the pill was effective, Song Wen had to cooperate willingly.

If Song Wen had his heart set on dying and swallowed the pill without circulating his cultivation to refine it, the pill would continuously consume his blood qi until he died.

Song Wen had to possess the desire to live and actively circulate his cultivation to refine the pill, digesting its medicinal power as quickly as possible. Only then could they learn whether the pill truly had the effect of breaking through a realm.

Thus, Extreme Yin softened his tone.

"Rest assured. As your master, I guarantee that this will be the last time you test medicine. Whether it succeeds or fails, I will never use you to test medicine again. Moreover, I will grant you the true antidote to the Seven-Day Heartbreak Pill. At that time, you will gain true freedom. Whether you continue to remain in the Heavenly Baleful Gang afterward will be entirely up to you."

Song Wen's expression stirred slightly, as though Extreme Yin's words had moved him. He looked up at Extreme Yin and said.

"Very well. I hope Master will keep his word."

In truth, Song Wen did not believe a single word Extreme Yin said.

How could Extreme Yin possibly let him leave? Had he not seen how all those young men who failed to successfully draw qi into their bodies had been ordered by Extreme Yin to be buried alive, merely to prevent the cultivation technique from leaking out?

Everything Song Wen had done was only an act, meant to lull Extreme Yin into complacency. He feared that agreeing to test the medicine too readily would make Extreme Yin suspicious.