After digging pits all night, Zhou Wuji was covered in dirt from head to toe and looked quite bedraggled.
But his True Qi had advanced to the seventh rank, greatly strengthening his body. He was not tired at all; instead, his spirits were vigorous and his body felt at ease.
It was as though every part of his body had only just warmed up, leaving him in excellent condition.
Zhou Wuji felt he had done a great good deed, and his mood was very pleasant as well.
Only then did he inspect the coarse earthenware jars. Even without opening their wax seals, he knew they all contained red flower honey.
He picked up a jar and hefted it. It weighed a full fifty or sixty jin.
There were five wax-sealed earthenware jars in all, amounting to over two hundred jin of red flower honey.
Red flower honey was a precious and relatively rare spiritual substance. It had no stable market price.
By his reckoning, even if he sold it cheaply, fetching a thousand taels of gold would not be difficult.
Fortunately, he had mastered the Five Yin Pouch. Otherwise, he really would have had no way to carry away these large jars of red flower honey.
Along with the broken Yin-Yang Hundred Spirits Banner and a bronze cauldron for refining medicine, Zhou Wuji packed up the other things as well, including the iron shovels, hoes, and coarse earthenware jars.
These farming implements were not worth much, but they were important tools to ordinary farmers.
He had no use for them, but he could bring them back for the temple's tenant farmers.
Save where he should, spend where he should. Having money was no reason to be wasteful.
Zhou Wuji checked everything over and, finding nothing overlooked, finally set off on his return journey.
He retraced the route he had taken coming here. It was a long detour, but it would keep anyone from intercepting him along the way.
The return journey was relatively easy. Whenever Zhou Wuji rested at night, he put away the Five Yin Pouch to conserve Law Power and True Qi.
The Five Yin Pouch had been damaged once by the ghost soldiers, but the impact was actually slight. After all, the five Yin Spirits were rooted in the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment and could not truly be destroyed.
On his way back, Zhou Wuji went to check on the tiger demon. Its corpse had long since been dragged away, leaving only scraps of torn flesh and hide.
The golden toad, giant snake, and other monsters had vanished as well.
All manner of fierce beasts and monsters roamed the mountain forests. Such bloody fare would soon be divided up and devoured.
Zhou Wuji had expected this, so he was not particularly disappointed.
Along the way, he also killed some minor monsters and destroyed a few ghost spirits formed of Evil Qi.
These little things were of no use to him. He used the Profound Essence and Profound Qi converted from them to nourish the Yin Spirits, with quite good results.
By dusk on the fifth day, Zhou Wuji had returned to Hidden Dragon Temple.
Rather than entering through the front gate, Zhou Wuji vaulted over the rear wall and silently made his way to Abbot Wuzheng's room.
Wuzheng was sitting on a meditation cushion, chanting scriptures as part of his daily evening devotions.
Hearing a sound, he turned and looked back. When he saw Zhou Wuji, delight showed on his face. "Junior brother, you're back."
Though Zhou Wuji was covered in dust, his spirits looked quite good. Wuzheng said with great relief, "It's good that you're back."
The Golden-Ringed Poison Bees of Red Leaf Ridge were formidable. Wuzheng had been worrying about Zhou Wuji all this time, afraid he might meet with some mishap.
In his view, there was really no need to brave such danger for a few villagers he had never met.
Yet Zhou Wuji had resolutely gone. Though that was a little foolish, it also showed that this junior brother pitied the suffering of the world and harbored compassion.
A good man who fought well and dared to kill, yet valued loyalty and morality, had earned Wuzheng's trust and made him value Zhou Wuji all the more.
Zhou Wuji smiled at Wuzheng. "I've kept you worrying, senior brother. With the Northern Emperor's blessing, the trip went fairly smoothly."
"You got the red flower honey?" Wuzheng was both surprised and delighted. This junior brother truly had abilities that reached the heavens. He had actually pulled it off?!
"Yes. I also ran into a fiend from the Yin Yang Dao..."
Zhou Wuji briefly recounted what had happened, naturally omitting his slaying of the monsters and focusing on the Yin Yang Dao fiend.
He took the Yin-Yang Banner and the ring out of the Five Yin Pouch and handed them to Wuzheng to examine.
He could use neither item, so there was little point in hiding them. Better to let Wuzheng take a look. As a Daoist who had undergone Seventh-Rank Register Reception, he ought to be far better at identifying Law Artifacts.
"The Yin Yang Dao has been quite active these past few years..."
Wuzheng stopped halfway through, having seen Zhou Wuji take two objects from his sleeve. The ring was one thing, but how had he pulled out an eight-foot banner?
He understood a moment later. "Is that the Five Yin Pouch?"
Zhou Wuji nodded. "Your discerning eye is right, senior brother. That's precisely the technique."
"Junior brother, you're a heaven-sent genius. Not only is your swordsmanship exceptional, but your attainments in Law Techniques are so exquisite as well."
Wuzheng was not flattering him. The Five Yin Pouch was genuinely complicated, and hardly anyone in the lower monastery practiced it.
Mastering the Five Yin Pouch to the point of taking things in and out at will was rarer still.
"You're too kind. It's all the Northern Emperor's blessing. I succeeded by luck."
After a few modest words, Zhou Wuji asked, "Senior brother, what do you make of these two Law Artifacts?"
"The Yin-Yang Hundred Spirits Banner looks to be of quite good quality. As for this ring..."
Wuzheng held it before his eyes and studied it carefully for a while, then tried feeding True Qi into it to activate it. Somewhat uncertain, he said, "It should be a Law Artifact that carries the Thousand Poisons and Ten Thousand Baleful Intents Arrow. This technique is extremely vicious and can unleash poisoned arrows..."
Zhou Wuji was impressed. Wuzheng was truly knowledgeable and explained both the origins and workings of the Law Artifacts clearly.
He then took out the bronze cauldron and the other items for Wuzheng to identify. Wuzheng recognized most of them as well.
Of the several Law Artifacts, the most valuable was naturally the Hundred Spirits Banner. Unfortunately, Zhou Wuji had cut it in two. The ring came next.
Without the corresponding Law Techniques, outsiders could not use either Law Artifact.
Wuzheng suggested sending them both back to the lower monastery to be broken down into their various materials, which could still bring in some money.
Zhou Wuji naturally had no objection. To sell these things for a good price, he could only go to the Yin Yang Dao. That was absolutely out of the question.
Passing them on to the lower monastery would at least bring in a little money.
Wuzheng cautioned him, "The Yin Yang Dao has experts too. Their libationer in Yunyang Prefecture is called Fang Boxiong. I hear he's a sixth-rank cultivator. Now that you've made an enemy of the Yin Yang Dao, you should be careful..."
Zhou Wuji paid this little mind. Devil Cultivators were called Devil Cultivators precisely because they could not bear the light of day.
Even a sixth-rank Devil Cultivator probably would not dare come to Hidden Dragon Temple to make trouble for him.
Knowing Wuzheng was skilled at refining pills, he promptly offered him a jar of red flower honey.
Wuzheng was rather embarrassed. "This is too valuable. I can't accept it."
"Senior brother, I'd like to learn a little pill refining too. How about treating it as tuition?" Zhou Wuji was somewhat interested in pill refining, mainly because he had the Origin Profound Spirit. Once he learned how to refine pills, he could rapidly improve his skills.
The methods of internal alchemy were all about cultivating oneself. No matter how accomplished one became, they benefited only oneself.
The methods of external alchemy were different. Everyone wanted good pills.
The Daoist orders' skill at refining pills was also an extremely important reason why the emperor treated them so favorably.
As the saying went: learn the art of pill refining, and you can travel the world without fear!
Pill refining was good. Pill refining had to be learned!
Wuzheng smiled and waved his hand. "With our relationship, teaching you pill refining would be easy enough. There's no need for this."
"That won't do. Pill refining is an orthodox art. How could it be passed on lightly? Your willingness to teach me is already a favor as great as heaven."
Judging others by himself, Zhou Wuji felt that no matter how much someone declined a lavish gift, they surely wanted it in their heart.
No matter how Wuzheng declined, he insisted on giving it to him, and did so with particular sincerity and determination.
Seeing this, Wuzheng declined no further. He said, "Pill refining is only a general term. I can't claim mastery of it; I'm merely good at refining a few kinds of pills.
"Pill refining is much like cooking. It requires careful control of the heat. Most importantly, you must sense through Qi and use water, fire, Yin, and Yang to regulate the spiritual Qi of the medicinal ingredients, bringing them to a harmonious, perfectly rounded state. That's why the medicines refined this way all take the form of perfectly round pills..."
Just those few words on the essentials of pill refining brought Zhou Wuji great insight. Truly, the great Dao was simplicity itself-or perhaps it was that a true teaching could be conveyed in a single sentence.
Those few simple sentences had already explained the essence of pill refining with perfect clarity. Zhou Wuji's respect for Wuzheng grew a little. His martial skills were ordinary and his Daoist arts decent, but his attainments in pill refining were genuine...
Once pill refining came up, even Wuzheng, who disliked chatting, spoke like a river pouring forth, his words flowing without end.
Seeing how carried away he was, Zhou Wuji could hardly dampen his enthusiasm. Besides, listening broadened his knowledge.
Only after speaking for a while did Wuzheng realize he had become too excited and said too much. He gave a dry cough and said, "Pill refining is rather complex. More than anything, you need hands-on practice. When I fire up the furnace to refine pills, come over.
"That bronze cauldron you obtained happens to be more than adequate for practice."
Zhou Wuji nodded. Good as pill refining was, it was not something he could master overnight.
He asked about the important matter. "Who was the first to leave the temple after I left?"
"A kitchen servant." Wuzheng had paid particular attention to this. They had discussed it beforehand, intending to see who would go out to tip others off.
"The Zhang Household has many people and great influence in Siming County. It's no surprise someone would tip them off. Leave that person alone for now."
Zhou Wuji asked again, "Senior brother, when will the experts from the lower monastery arrive?"
Wuzheng shook his head. He did not know either. They could only wait.
Zhou Wuji was a little disappointed. Without the experts from the lower monastery here, he really did not quite dare go to Wu Di to demand the prisoners' release.
The fellow had made it sound good, saying he would release them once he received the red flower honey. But if Wu Di saw that his plan had failed, he might turn hostile on the spot and seize Zhou Wuji.
The risk was immense. Still, he could have Wuzheng go.
Wu Di only wanted his life. There was no way he would do anything to Wuzheng.
At this thought, Zhou Wuji cupped his hands. "I'll have to trouble you to go to the Ironclad Guard and ransom them, senior brother. Only you have the standing for it..."
Wuzheng felt that saving people was a good deed and would also bring him credit. Since Junior Brother Wuji had his concerns, it was only right for him to step forward and help. He readily agreed...