Chapter 15: Runshan Ren

Hao Erge screamed as the giant spider scurried forward at breakneck speed, opening its two massive fangs toward Hao Erge!

Wu Haishan still had one more trick up his sleeve, prepared specifically for Xu Yuan.

But a quick glance revealed that the fellow Xu Yuan had vanished, hiding who knows where.

How treacherous!

Wu Haishan could no longer wait; his only option now was to flee first and worry about the rest later.

The Saint Maiden had favored him because of that single pill, yet he was merely a ninth-rate Rank Dan Xiu, and Rank Dan Xiu did possess certain techniques.

For instance, this "Longzhu Waidan" was refined from a type of spider evil spirit.

At this moment, he still held another Longzhu Waidan in his hand, a life-saving asset bestowed by his sect, which contained a single blade strike condensed from a seventh-rate Wu Xiu!

Wu Haishan transformed the fire in his belly into two flaming tails, attaching them to his legs; under their propulsion, his speed multiplied several times, and with a thunderous boom, he crashed through the crowd of villagers, reaching behind the village stockade gate in the blink of an eye.

The stockade gate stood wide open; seeing he was about to escape, Wu Haishan silently vowed: Once I get out, I will report to the Association, and next time I will bring a massive army to slaughter every chicken and dog in this village!

Suddenly, from the withered old tree in the village, a massive shadow spread its wings and flew forth, moving several times faster than Wu Haishan even with his fire tails!

In an instant, the shadow caught up to Wu Haishan, who roared in anger: "Good!"

He spat out the Longzhu Waidan from his mouth!

The pill soared upward against the morning sun, its surface gleaming with a metallic luster, and with a loud boom, a terrifying blade qi erupted from within!

The shadow, having not expected Wu Haishan to have such a move, could only endure the blade strike head-on in his haste.

Clang!

A tremendous crash echoed as the shadow stumbled to the ground, yet this did not hinder his movement at all; a flash of dark, lustrous blade light swept through.

Pfft—

A common woodcutter's knife from the mountains drove deep into the junction where Wu Haishan's neck met his shoulder, nearly cleaving Wu Haishan's upper body in two!

From the wound, sparks hissed outward, burning his own blood dry and emitting a foul, fishy stench.

Wu Haishan's eyes bulged wide with terror; his Adam's apple bobbed twice, he uttered two muffled sounds, and died with deep regret.

The old Runshan Ren pulled the woodcutter's knife from the corpse.

He still wore the great cloak adorned with countless feathers, yet about thirty percent of those feathers had been severed by that very blade strike!

His yellow crystal glasses were askew; Xu Yuan, hiding in the shadows, vaguely saw that the old Runshan Ren's eyeballs were entirely white!

The old Runshan Ren adjusted his glasses, wiped the woodcutter's knife clean, glanced back toward Xu Yuan's hiding spot, and then departed without uttering a word.

The villagers surged forward and divided Wu Haishan's corpse among themselves.

This was the rule in the village: whenever a difficult problem arose, the Runshan Ren was responsible for handling it.

The villagers were responsible for the aftermath.

With Wu Haishan dead, that giant spider simply stood frozen in place, dazed.

Its two massive fangs were merely one chi away from Hao Erge's neck.

Hao Erge croaked strangely: "Auntie Tang Si, save me—"

From the inn where the Wu Xiu Old Chen had lodged the previous night, the mother emerged; with a few flicks of her slender hand, she severed the spider silk and peeled Hao Erge out of the web.

Old Chen and the others were likewise "handled" by the villagers.

Xu Yuan stepped out trembling, waved the various goods in his hand, and forced a smile: "I am truly a peddler; let us continue our trade."

By mid-afternoon, all the goods Xu Yuan had brought were finally exchanged.

A pile of mountain produce now sat beside him.

Among them were many fine items that, once transported out and resold, could fetch ten times their price.

Yet Xu Yuan could not feel the slightest joy.

The villagers haggled over every measure, so Xu Yuan could only bargain back and forth with them.

Xu Yuan wished to conclude the trade swiftly, accepting whatever exchange terms the villagers proposed, just to leave this place quickly.

But he constantly felt as though a pair of eyes, hidden behind yellow crystal lenses, was staring fixedly at him.

Xu Yuan dared not reveal even the slightest flaw!

If he failed to appear like a genuine peddler, that blood-drinking woodcutter's knife would cleave his neck in the next instant!

With this delay, it was now too late to leave the mountains today, so he had to stay another night at Jiao Erbo's house.

Seeing that Xu Yuan had conducted a "good business" all day, Jiao Erbo raised the room rate by ten wen, and Xu Yuan paid it without a single stammer.

That night, Xu Yuan did not sleep; among these mountain products, more than half were herbs and ores, so while he "fed," he simultaneously refined them using the fire in his belly.

"Feeding," one of the myriad cultivation methods, is simply put, "eating."

However, it differs from what ordinary people eat.

Ordinary people who consume these would mostly die.

Cultivators of the Seven Great Sects "feed" on different things; Rank Dan Xiu have the broadest range of acceptable items.

They eat everything—the fire in the belly can refine anything.

Yet since Xu Yuan currently had no one to guide him, whether practicing Fate Cultivation or Rank Dan Xiu, he could only grope forward on his own.

Thus, as these "feeds" entered his belly, Xu Yuan could only refine them by "categorizing" them.

Herbs with similar medicinal properties were grouped together and refined into a single pill.

Ores were simpler; gold, silver, copper, and iron were smelted together into a single "Golden Pill."

However, the ores within Ghost Wushan possessed certain extraordinary qualities, far surpassing ordinary ores from the outside world.

Finally, Xu Yuan produced a gray-black Longzhu Waidan.

Upon close inspection, one could see that this Longzhu Waidan resembled a piece of inferior-quality amber, with a spider sealed inside.

This was Wu Haishan's Longzhu Waidan, which had been taken by the mother and daughter next door.

Xu Yuan paid a "huge price"—a full three kitchen knives—to acquire them from the other party.

The other pill, a Longzhu Waidan sealing a strike from a seventh-rank Wu Xiu, possessed only one use and would dissipate after being employed.

Xu Yuan washed this Longzhu Waidan clean, swallowed it, refined it with the Fu Zhong Huo in his belly, and then claimed it for his own use.

The spider within the Longzhu Waidan was a type of evil spirit, captured by someone and refined into a Longzhu Waidan.

Xu Yuan estimated that this spider was roughly equivalent to a ninth-rank cultivator; the person who refined it into a Longzhu Waidan was at least eighth-rank.

It was merely because the evil spirit spider itself was of low capability that this Longzhu Waidan was also of ninth-rank standard.

After cultivating through this night, Xu Yuan felt his Rank Dan Xiu level had finally reached ninth-rank.

The standard for a Rank Dan Xiu to "enter the ranks" is to condense five "pills."

Xu Yuan had just refined more than ten of them, sorted by category.

Although each one was not particularly strong, the quantity was already sufficient.

Regarding the various anecdotes of the Seven Great Sects, his father had told him quite a bit while alive; after his father passed away, his stepmother had systematically explained them to him several times.

The standard for advancing from ninth-rank to eighth-rank is to condense one's own "Inner Pill."

The ones Xu Yuan has refined so far do not count as true "Inner Pills."

Condensing an Inner Pill requires a Rank Dan Xiu to proceed with extreme caution!

For instance, Xu Yuan currently has absolutely no clue regarding what kind of Inner Pill he should condense; he needs to grind and examine himself on the path of Rank Dan Xiu for some time before he can recognize his direction.

(End of this chapter)