[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-nothing-is-taboo":3,"chapter-nothing-is-taboo-nothing-is-taboo-chapter-7":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Nothing Is Taboo",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2310392,4514,"Chapter 7: Alchemy","nothing-is-taboo-chapter-7",7,"\u003Cp>Just now, Xu Yuan hesitated between the two, ultimately choosing the Alchemical Cultivator path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Daoist path sounds powerful, but the one I encountered didn’t diligently cultivate the True Dao—instead, he pursued some heretical “Commercial Dao,” leaving himself wide open to exploitation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In comparison, the Alchemical Cultivator’s power is real and tangible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alchemical Cultivators cultivate internal and external elixirs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>External elixirs serve as tools; internal elixirs are the foundation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alchemical Cultivators have a saying: “Seeking external substances to strengthen oneself,” pursuing the ultimate “Golden Core.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the cultivation methods of Alchemical Cultivators are the most diverse—they can circulate Qi, gather and refine essence, or ingest substances, among other techniques.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So after that flame took root in Xu Yuan’s belly, he felt an intense hunger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He searched everywhere, but there was little edible in the mountains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if he spotted wild fruits or similar things, Xu Yuan dared not eat them—could one casually eat anything in Ghost Witch Mountain?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan suddenly noticed the money bag in his hand and swallowed hard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those gold, silver, and copper coins… weren’t they perhaps edible after all?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan tried swallowing one silver bean—it slid into his belly, and the “fire in his abdomen” immediately began refining it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was “ingestion.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Wu Xiu often use “ingestion” as a supplementary method.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They consume copper and iron to strengthen their skin and bones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The saying “copper skin, iron bones” among Seventh-Rank Wu Xiu originated from this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The silver bean refined quickly, but Xu Yuan’s hunger barely lessened, so he immediately swallowed several pieces of silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then came the copper coins—before he realized it, only the gold ingot remained in his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan finally felt “full.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He understood: this was the limit of his current cultivation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These life-buying coins were crafted by Ninth-Rank Daoists; Xu Yuan’s Alchemical cultivation was still unranked, and refining this much was already difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan went to where he chopped firewood and swung his axe to begin cutting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After an hour, Xu Yuan suddenly felt the fire in his belly had fully refined the life-buying coins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stood firm on the slope, opened his mouth, and spat out a golden-silver gleaming elixir that shot forth with a hiss, striking a tree as thick as a bowl.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crack!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tree was severed mid-trunk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan gestured, and the elixir spun back, landing in his palm, spinning rapidly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt heavy in his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire weight of the silver and copper coins he’d swallowed was now concentrated in this single elixir.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But since the quantity was small, the elixir’s power was limited to breaking one tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet this elixir also condensed the life-buying Dao methods embedded in those silver and copper coins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alchemical Cultivators can condense “objects” into elixirs, and also condense “methods” into elixirs—so ideally, two separate elixirs should have been formed, but Xu Yuan was still unranked and couldn’t achieve such precision, so he merged them together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After forming this elixir, Xu Yuan felt “hungry” again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So he took out the gold ingot and swallowed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before nightfall, Xu Yuan returned to town carrying a bundle of firewood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The “Yifang Inn” stood in the center of town, right beside the official road.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Master Qiao naturally claimed the best location.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Xu Yuan passed by “Zhao’s Fur Shop” at the town’s eastern end, he unconsciously glanced upward—the window upstairs was closed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several people stood behind the window, watching Xu Yuan through the cracks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Xu Yuan looked up, they swiftly stepped aside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only this boy returned,” said Zhao Yong, the fur shop owner, his voice low.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone understood what this meant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did he kill Huang Wanliang and Fatty Bao?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This boy has serious problems!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Wanliang was the Daoist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yong thought for a moment: “I’ll inform the Holy Lady.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yong didn’t use the front gate—the Holy Lady had ordered him not to expose their connection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yong was a Wu Xiu, agile as a monkey; he easily scaled the outer wall to the base of the Holy Lady’s window.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The window was open; water sounds came from within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Holy Lady was bathing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yong quickly pulled his head back from the window.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Holy Lady’s soft laugh came through: “If you want to look, just look.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yong whispered repeatedly, “I dare not.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t that he didn’t want to look—he truly dared not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A coward with lust but no courage.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yong reported quietly: “Huang Wanliang and Fatty Bao didn’t return.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The water sounds ceased; after a moment, the Holy Lady said, “I understand. Return for now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yong replied, “Yes,” slipped down, returned to the fur shop, and soon after, night fell completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Holy Lady, in her bathtub, ordered: “Send Wu Haishan to give him a dose of medicine.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Haishan arrived quickly: “That medicine can’t be given to him. If he killed Huang Wanliang and Fatty Bao, he must be a cultivator—my medicine only works on ordinary people; if a cultivator takes it, it will backfire on me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Holy Lady angrily waved him away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Haishan left, drenched in sweat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was merely a Ninth-Rank Alchemical Cultivator, but the Holy Lady always brought him along because he possessed a potion that forced obedience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If that potion lost its value to the Holy Lady, he himself would have no value.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Holy Lady dismissed Wu Haishan, dried herself, dressed in her robes under her maid’s care, and ordered: “Go test this boy’s true strength!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maid bowed and accepted the order, then hesitated and advised: “Holy Lady, the bait arrives tomorrow. Though this boy has some skill, we should still prioritize the greater matter.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Holy Lady coldly replied: “I know my own limits!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maid dared not speak further. She walked to the candlelight, and beneath its glow, her shadow swayed—then suddenly detached from her body, gliding away, slipping through cracks in the wooden floor, avoiding all light, racing swiftly toward the back courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the back courtyard, the shadow stood upright, its eyes snapping open—two blood-red pupils.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maid controlled the yin soldier as it began searching the courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a large room near the kitchen, the fat cook snored loudly, reeking of alcohol.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The yin soldier instinctively recoiled from the stench, glanced inside once, then withdrew, following the wall to the second room, sniffed—it sensed no life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It slipped to the third room’s entrance, crept through the door crack—the room held two broken wooden beds, but only one was occupied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maid frowned—she recognized this man; he’d delivered meals twice, his eyes lecherous, destined to be the Holy Lady’s next meal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were no other buildings in the back courtyard—where had the boy gone?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Holy Lady asked: “What did you find?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The boy isn’t in the back courtyard.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Holy Lady frowned: “Impossible. Night curfew is enforced—even if he’s a cultivator, he couldn’t have left the compound.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maid was a Spirit Cultivator; after dark, she dared not send her yin soldier beyond the compound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll search again.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The yin soldier sniffed through Erliang’s room—only one person’s life energy remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It drifted out, slipped into the empty kitchen, checked the stove and chimney—still nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, it crept into Zheng Rongkui’s room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The overpowering stench of alcohol made the yin soldier want to sneeze; the loud, prolonged snores made its mind ache.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, it endured, searching every corner of the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There really isn’t anyone…,” the maid murmured inwardly. The Holy Lady noticed: “Can’t find him? Could the boy be hiding in one of the inn’s empty rooms?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maid immediately recalled the yin soldier and searched every room one by one—after over an hour of frantic searching, found nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Enough,” the Holy Lady covered her mouth with a delicate hand and yawned. “Let it rest for tonight.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maid felt ashamed of her failure and retracted her yin soldier, hiding it inside a pottery jar in the back courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tomorrow morning, we’ll see where that boy really went!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1335,"2026-06-20T12:07:23.516Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","6d5405f020a2929e821a54db7c2f442ed058c5c99a492ab5ff075b4344ecbed8","nothing-is-taboo-chapter-8","nothing-is-taboo-chapter-6",413,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnothing-is-taboo-cover.jpg"]