Chapter 11

He Pingsheng opened all the windows around the alchemy room, letting the outside air flow in.

After about half a stick of incense had burned, the smoke inside the room was completely blown away.

Next, scrub the pot.

Yes, manually clean the alchemy furnace, removing all the waste residue inside.

He Pingsheng glanced inside—the furnace contained no finished pills, not even a single failed one; everything had exploded into ash.

A whole pot of ash!

Cleaning this up would be a chore.

It took He Pingsheng a full hour to sweep the room spotless, then he piled all the alchemical waste into the trash basket by the door.

At this point, Hao Yun had washed his face; he looked at He Pingsheng and said, “Exit through the back door of the alchemy room, climb up the mountain, turn left at the very end of the steps—that’s the dump!”

“Take all this black ash and furnace residue over there!”

He Pingsheng made no complaint, nodding: “Got it!”

He mixed the pill ash and furnace ash together in the basket, slung it onto his back, and walked step by step through the entire alchemy room, exiting through the small gate in the back courtyard, then heading in the direction Hao Yun had indicated.

It wasn’t far.

Soon he reached the path’s end, where a cliff about three zhang high loomed below.

Beneath the cliff lay a gray expanse—decades of accumulated furnace and pill ash.

He Pingsheng didn’t hesitate; he simply waved his hand and dumped the ash into the abyss below.

He rinsed the basket slightly by a mountain spring, then returned to the alchemy room.

“You can rest now!” Hao Yun waved his hand.

But He Pingsheng wiped his sweat, sat on the steps below, and looked at Hao Yun: “Brother… you’re an outer disciple, so you must know some spells and divine arts, right?”

“Pfft…” Hao Yun sat two steps away from He Pingsheng, sneering: “Spells? Divine arts?”

He Pingsheng thought he was about to reveal some earth-shattering truth, but the sneer on Hao Yun’s face instantly turned to dejection: “I don’t know any!”

Oh dear…

“Little He,” Hao Yun said, “you’re mocking me!”

“No no no…” He Pingsheng shot to his feet, hastily explaining: “I… I truly didn’t know the rules—if I offended you, Brother, please punish me!”

“No punishment needed!” Hao Yun pulled out a teacup from somewhere, sipped twice, then said: “A few years ago, I got lucky and acquired a cultivation manual; I’ve followed it for over twenty years, and I’m still only at Qi Refining Stage Two—how could I possibly understand spells or divine arts?”

He Pingsheng looked envious: “Stage Two? That’s already impressive!”

“Impressive my ass!” Hao Yun said. “Besides having slightly better physical health, never getting sick, and being a bit stronger and able to jump higher, I’ve got nothing else!”

“Just like a common mortal!”

“Understand?”

He Pingsheng nodded, then asked softly: “Brother, where can one obtain a cultivation manual?”

It was a foolish question.

As soon as he asked it, his own face flushed red.

But he didn’t regret it.

Cultivation, cultivation… the first step is to have a manual.

Without a manual, what’s the point of cultivation?

“Hehehe…” Hao Yun chuckled. “You? Five-element spiritual roots… no parents, no background… and you want to cultivate?”

“Enough!” He stood, brushed his robe, and said: “Stop daydreaming here—it won’t get you anywhere!”

“Even if I gave you a manual, you couldn’t make any progress!”

“Get lost, get lost…”

“Why not go back and sleep? In dreams, you’ve got everything!”

Hao Yun flicked his sleeve and turned into the alchemy room.

He Pingsheng wasn’t clueless—he knew approaching now would earn him nothing but a scowl, maybe even a furious yelling.

Fine!

Plant a seed today; there’ll be an opportunity later.

He Pingsheng returned to his room to sleep and rest.

The next few days passed without incident.

He caught a plump squirrel in the mountains and smuggled it into his room, then locked the door from inside.

“Squirrel, squirrel… I don’t know if this will bring fortune or disaster!”

“Sorry!”

He Pingsheng pried open the squirrel’s mouth and pressed it into the dark, gloomy Treasure Basin.

The basin held a full pot of green water.

The water had condensed last night.

He Pingsheng did this to test whether the water was poisonous or beneficial.

Glug…

The squirrel took a sip.

Then He Pingsheng tied a rope around the squirrel and fastened it to the bedpost.

“Squeak squeak squeak squeak…”

The squirrel remained tied to the bedpost for two days, showing no unusual changes.

“Looks like…” He Pingsheng muttered, “the water’s quality hasn’t improved much—probably just clean and sweet, with no other effects!”

After thinking it over, he released the squirrel.

The moment he let it go, Hao Yun rushed over, frantic: “Bad news… He Pingsheng, come with me quickly!”

“Hurry, hurry!”

Seeing Hao Yun’s panicked, terrified expression, He Pingsheng asked: “Brother, what happened?”

Hao Yun said: “Little disciple Linglong from Master Yude’s sect has come—she’s here to refine the [Qi-Condensing Pill]!”

“Linglong Sister is infamous for her violent temper and cruel heart!”

“This is her first time refining pills in our alchemy room—if she fails and flies into a rage, we’re both doomed!”

He Pingsheng shuddered, voice trembling: “Will she kill us?”

Hao Yun said: “Hard to say!”

As they spoke, the two arrived at the alchemy room entrance to wait.

Soon, a woman in a purple robe appeared.

Behind her walked two male disciples in green Daoist robes, each holding a sword, standing one on each side like bodyguards.

“You?” The purple-robed woman spotted He Pingsheng and frowned slightly.

He Pingsheng bowed his head quickly: “Greetings, Madam…”

He felt miserable.

This woman was none other than the little sister who had recently screamed that the mountain spring water tasted different and threatened to chop him into eight pieces.

Unlucky!

He Pingsheng nearly spat blood.

“Aren’t you supposed to be fetching water in the labor crew?”

“Why are you here in the alchemy room?”

Linglong looked at He Pingsheng with contempt.

He Pingsheng took a deep breath: “It was Boss Zhang’s order—he feared I’d ruin the mountain spring water.”

“Hmph…” Linglong was sharp; she sneered: “It’s because my sister gave you two pills, and you handed them over to Boss Zhang, right? That’s why he gave you an easy job?”

“Isn’t that it?”

Linglong snapped.

He Pingsheng nodded quickly: “Madam’s insight is unparalleled—I dare not hide it—it’s exactly as you said!”

“If I hadn’t handed them over, I’d be dead!”