Liver-Severing Qi-Killing Pill! Kill, Kill, Kill!

[Name: Liver-Severing Qi-Killing Pill]

[Category: Pill]

[Description: A pill recently prepared by Sun Sheng, Ghosthand's beloved disciple. It contained potent ingredients such as Azure-Blood Turtle and Red Arsenic Stone and was refined using techniques unique to the Ghost Hand Apothecary. It stimulated the power of the human liver to produce an intense Liver-Killing Aura. Its effects were highly unpredictable.]

[Cost: After one dose, the liver became restless, the temper turned volatile, and strength multiplied; after more than three doses, the liver began to corrode and dissolve, producing a Liver-Killing Aura that filled the body and made the urge to kill difficult to control. The liver dissolved in exchange for killing aura; death would soon follow.]

[Status: Reversal of Cost was possible. Note: After Reversal of Cost, using the pill to produce Liver-Killing Aura would strengthen and protect the liver.]

"What a vicious pill."

Reading the description in his sea of consciousness, Gu Qingfeng could not help but marvel.

It would dissolve a person's liver outright to produce this murderous aura of liver and gall.

What could that aura even be used for?

He had a vague feeling that they were using people's bodies to cultivate it.

Gu Qingfeng knew little about killing aura.

As he understood it, the term usually described someone's bearing—someone bristling with murderous intent, for instance.

But the aura produced by dissolving the liver seemed to be something tangible.

Was it like true qi?

For a moment, Gu Qingfeng grew intensely curious. He wished he could swallow a few more pills right now and see what this aura really was.

Just then, the gaunt man suddenly stood up and began thrusting at the air.

Gu Qingfeng stared, baffled. Is this the effect of a single dose—the restless liver and volatile temper?

He had not yet reversed the cost. He felt a little on edge, but nowhere near that bad.

The Yellow-Haired Smoke Ghost was much the same.

Sweat had begun to bead on his forehead, but he remained relatively calm, merely sitting on the bed and bouncing his leg.

Gu Qingfeng gradually figured it out.

The Liver-Severing Qi-Killing Pill was fierce, but thanks to the Ghost Hand Apothecary's refining techniques, its power was released gradually rather than all at once. That was why he barely felt it yet.

The gaunt man had the weakest constitution of the three, so even that gradual release hit him hardest.

The woman in purple had not left. She was still watching them.

Under the apothecary's rules, they had to stay here for a full four hours before they could leave.

And the doubled payment for testing the pill—sixty taels of silver—would not be handed over all at once.

They would receive only ten taels today. After that, they had to return each day to have the effects observed and take more pills along the way. Only after six full days would they receive the rest.

It was a way to keep them on the hook.

Gu Qingfeng did not mind. He wished they would give him all six days' pills at once.

Then, while his liver grew stronger and remained protected, he could see what this aura it produced was all about.

By then, Gu Qingfeng had begun to feel hot and restless too.

The pill's effects must be growing stronger.

His gaze sharpened, and he silently commanded, Reversal of Cost!

As soon as the cost reversed, the restless heat vanished, replaced by a gentle warmth.

The change was especially noticeable in his eyes.

Was this what they meant by "clearing the liver to brighten the eyes"?

While Gu Qingfeng was still savoring the pleasant change, a crisp smack rang out.

The Yellow-Haired Smoke Ghost had slapped the woman in purple on the backside.

The sudden move startled both Gu Qingfeng and the gaunt man.

Seeing their surprised faces, the Yellow-Haired Smoke Ghost grinned. "First time here for you two, huh?"

"You can do it too. Ask the lady if you don't believe me."

The woman in purple, who had a certain mature charm, nodded. "Keeping the pill testers in good spirits is part of my duty."

Gu Qingfeng scratched the back of his head. "Damn, they even offer service like this for a pill test?"

But remembering the pill's effects—enough to dissolve a man's liver—he decided the service was worth jack shit.

All you did was slap her backside, and she wanted your liver, your heart, and your life!

The first apothecary Gu Qingfeng visited in Red Tears City had taught him a harsh lesson.

It had shown him the true colors of this city in the Returning Ruins.

With that in mind, Gu Qingfeng held nothing back and gave the woman in purple a smack.

No—ten smacks in a row!

Each one was harder than the last!

If he had not reversed the cost, he might not even have kept his liver. He had earned this!

He struck so hard that the woman in purple was on the verge of tears.

She flung her sleeve and walked off with tears glistening in her eyes.

This time, it was the seasoned Yellow-Haired Smoke Ghost's turn to be stunned.

He looked at Gu Qingfeng. "I've come here so many times, and I've never hit her that hard."

Gu Qingfeng looked perfectly at ease. "What's the point of going easy on a woman like that?"

Seeing someone so young act with such abandon, the smoke ghost could not help regarding him with newfound respect. "I'm impressed! Truly impressed!"

Shut in the room to wait for the pill to take effect, the three began to chat.

"Just who is this Lord Ghosthand? How can he run so many apothecaries?" Gu Qingfeng asked.

The Yellow-Haired Smoke Ghost introduced himself as "Huang Qu." Flashing his yellowed teeth, he said, "You don't even know Lord Ghosthand, yet you were slapping away in his shop like that?"

When he saw that Gu Qingfeng genuinely had no idea, he could not help muttering, "Country bumpkin!"

From Huang Qu, Gu Qingfeng learned a little about Lord Ghosthand.

Known as the "Ghost Physician," Ghosthand was not entirely a native of the Returning Ruins.

Beyond the Returning Ruins lay the Ten Continents. The sect that produced the most miraculous healers there was the Three Gold Sect.

Ghosthand had been one of the Three Gold Sect's Four Divine Healers. It was no exaggeration to call him one of its finest physicians.

While serving as a divine healer of the Three Gold Sect, his medical skills grew ever more refined, until he seemed poised to become the foremost of the four.

There were even rumors that he was the likeliest candidate to become the sect's next leader.

But as his fame grew, his ideas about medicine came into bitter conflict with the Three Gold Sect.

Ghosthand was not content merely to heal the sick.

He believed people were born imperfect and could approach perfection only by continually taking the best traits of others to make up for their shortcomings.

So he seized many people for experiments. He tried, for instance, to cross humans with cattle to create a supposedly more perfect race like "bull-headed men."

His actions caused an uproar across the Ten Continents. People both inside and outside the Three Gold Sect pressured him to stop these experiments, which defied human decency.

That night, Ghosthand stood by his medical beliefs. He cut off the hands of his own master—Luo Divine Physician, then leader of the Three Gold Sect—and defected.

Afterward, experts across the Ten Continents hunted him. He survived by the skin of his teeth and even lost one of his balls.

At last, he escaped to the Returning Ruins and became the notorious Lord Ghost Physician Ghosthand.

Even after arriving here, Ghosthand continued to put his medical skills and beliefs into practice.

He took on disciples in droves and opened apothecaries everywhere, declaring that he would prove to the Three Gold Sect—and even to the entire human world—that his was the true path of medicine!

After hearing Lord Ghosthand's story, Gu Qingfeng thought the Ghost Physician was every bit as deranged and twisted as his reputation suggested.

Perhaps only a madman like that could open so many apothecaries in a place like the Returning Ruins!

According to the description in his sea of consciousness, Ghosthand's disciple Sun Sheng was using the bodies of pill testers like him to cultivate killing aura. There had to be something extraordinary about it.

For the moment, Gu Qingfeng wanted more Liver-Severing Qi-Killing Pills.