Chapter 23: Whether the external world is good or not.

The next day, the torment continued.

During morning lessons, each person endured a Great Path Aura from Song Yin. After convulsing for half a day, they would rise to meditate before being driven down the mountain to level the land with mortals, quarry stones, fell trees, and along the way, teach the mortals to distinguish between herbs and wild vegetables.

Only after sunset did they return up the mountain to hand over the gathered resources to Song Yin, allowing him to continue with the construction repairs.

Then, Zhang Fei Xuan once again endured a Great Path Aura from Song Yin. Amid convulsions and rolling eyes, he met with a mix of gloating and sympathetic gazes from his sect mates.

A day passed in this simple, yet fulfilling manner.

Not until the sun had completely set and the moon rose did Zhang Fei Xuan pick himself up from the empty plaza and make his way, dejected, into the house where Song Yin resided.

By this time, Song Yin sat cross-legged in front of the Pill Furnace, eyes closed in meditation. The ingredients inside the furnace had already been placed, while nearby, the Hunyuan True Spirits were entwined and frolicking—One-Eye pinning down the body of Three-Mouths, its mouth spread wide in joy.

"Junior brother is here, ignite the Pill Fire," said Song Yin, opening his eyes and speaking to Zhang Fei Xuan.

"Yes, senior brother."

Zhang Fei Xuan formed a Dharma Seal and kindled the Pill Fire, then, watching what seemed like Song Yin meditating and circulating Qi, could no longer hold back and asked:

"Senior brother, why do you still benefit from meditating at night?"

Unlike ordinary people, their sects' Qi Cultivators were only effective when refining Qi from early morning until noon, and even then, only for about an hour. Any longer would not result in much progress, and at night, Qi circulation would be utterly unresponsive and yield no advancement.

But Song Yin was different, not only did he circulate Qi during the day, but he continued to do so at night. And judging by the diffuse aura around his body, his progress was clearly rapid.

"Have you forgotten, junior brother, that I possess the Flawless True Body?"

Song Yin laughed, "As the Flawless True Body, I am constantly absorbing the Essence of Sun and Moon. In fact, I don't even need to meditate; it's just a habit."

"Is this another one of your insights?" Zhang Fei Xuan asked subconsciously.

He swore he had never heard of this 'Essence of Sun and Moon'.

"Junior brother is indeed clever," Song Yin nodded and formed a Dharma Seal to begin alchemy.

In just one hour, a batch of Shengji Elixirs was ready. The Hunyuan True Spirits crawled out of the Pill Furnace, this time not holding a single elixir but surrounded by a large number of pills as they hopped and skipped cheerfully towards Song Yin, presenting one of the elixirs to him as if offering a treasure.

"This batch yielded forty pills. The resources you gathered today are plenty for two days of Qi cultivation," said Song Yin with a smile. "However, junior brother, did you make sure to leave enough for planting?"

"Ah... I did," Zhang Fei Xuan answered absentmindedly.

"Good, that's right. Once the house is built, we can teach people how to cultivate herbs and vegetables. After all, every time one is dug up, that's one less to work with," Song Yin said. "After I make the elixirs we need for the next seven days, junior brother, you shall accompany me on a trip to look for nutritious things in farther places. After all, humans still need to eat. Relying solely on elixirs every day is not a sustainable strategy."

The ingredients for these elixirs were merely wild vegetable roots and a minute amount of medicinal herbs. For those consumed by mortals, not even medicinal herbs were added. Essentially, they were all wild vegetable roots. Even if one could replace its nature and toxin theory with the principle of like nurturing like, it wouldn't make it any larger out of nothing.

Simply put, these elixirs couldn't replace food.

They still needed real sustenance.

After Song Yin finished speaking and saw no response, he looked over to find Zhang Fei Xuan with shifting eyes, one hand unconsciously positioned behind him.

"Junior brother?"

"Ah... right, senior brother is correct," Zhang Fei Xuan came back to his senses and nodded vigorously in agreement.

Song Yin furrowed his brows and asked, "Junior brother, is something on your mind? You seem sneaky."

"Not at all, how could that be? I was merely in awe of senior brother's far-reaching thoughts," Zhang Fei Xuan replied with a sheepish smile.

"Heh!"

However, in the next moment, accompanying a laugh, something behind his waist loosened. Then, the Hunyuan True Spirit darted from under Zhang Fei Xuan's feet towards Song Yin, giggling and holding up a pill about the size of two fingers to Song Yin.

"Hmm?"

Song Yin paused his gaze, took the pill, rotated it in his hand, then turned to scrutinize Zhang Fei Xuan with inquiring eyes.

Zhang Fei Xuan felt his scalp tingle, as if it were about to explode. He had been thinking of excuses since he acquired the pill, pondering day and night how to have Song Yin ingest it without arousing suspicion. Despite the torment, by evening, his true colors were inadvertently exposed.

It happened too hastily, not even allowing for preparation time!

Song Yin looked again at the elixir in his hand, a flash of white light passing through his eyes, "Wailing resentful spirits and the aura of demons, thus bursting forth with violent poison, this is a Resentful Poison Elixir indeed."

He faced Zhang Fei Xuan, his voice deep and solemn, "Junior Brother..."

Thump!

Zhang Fei Xuan suddenly slipped to his knees, scurrying up to Song Yin and exclaimed loudly, "It was given by Master!"

"Given by Master?"

Song Yin paused, "Master has emerged from seclusion?"

"Yes... last night he emerged."

Zhang Fei Xuan stuttered as he spoke, then quickly tried to explain, "Senior Brother, you listen to me, this Resentful Poison Elixir..."

Song Yin waved his hand to stop Zhang Fei Xuan, pondering, "Resentful Poison Elixir? This pill is for me, right?"

"Yes, it is..." Zhang Fei Xuan lowered his head, his body starting to shake a little.

It was a decision made firmly, thinking that even if Song Yin discovered it, it was worth a fight to the death.

But when the moment actually arrived, he realized he could not muster the will to resist.

At the sight of those eyes, he inexplicably lost his courage.

"Master is thoughtful."

"Senior Brother, I was also forced into this, I... Eh?"

Zhang Fei Xuan's shaky voice had just began to speak, but when he reached halfway, he suddenly realized something, looked up in surprise and said, "Thoughtful?"

Song Yin nodded, "You must understand, the practice of alchemy speaks of medicine and poison interchanging, this Resentful Poison Elixir is indeed poison, but it also has its mysteries. If one were to consume it, their constitution would change, and they would easily sense the resentful spirits and demons of the world."

He shook his head, sighing, "Master's intention must be for me to see the demons and oddities of this world clearly, so as not to be bewitched by them."

"But it's a pity, Master only knows of my Flawless True Body and not its second aspect. I not only remain invulnerable to all evils and ailments, the things of this world can hardly escape my Dharma Eye. There is no need for this elixir anymore."

"Senior Brother, if this elixir is of no use to you, then give it back to me," said Zhang Fei Xuan immediately.

Although he did not understand, it seemed as if his crisis of death had been lifted.

"You won't do, you are not a Flawless True Body. I can disregard its toxicity, but for an ordinary Qi Cultivator, this would be an item of certain death, even holding it in hand would allow its aura to affect them. And moreover..."

Song Yin's expression grew grave, "This elixir is not newly refined, judging from it, the demonic Qi and resentful spirits within are intertwined. Surely a demon caused harm, and it must be a great harm, for such intense resentment to emerge. Hmm, this demonic Qi carries some moisture, it must be a flood..."

Flood...

Zhang Fei Xuan suddenly became dazed...

...

On that day, a great catastrophe struck the city, floods overflowed, submerging the town. Within the floodwaters appeared creatures like rats, fish demons with sharp teeth and four legs, hairless monsters that devoured anyone on sight, and countless transparent tentacles emerged in the water...

...

"People dying halfway, resentment skyrocketing to the heavens, even if this is just a remnant, I can still sense the scene of corpses strewn across the fields. If anyone survived, it would be amidst utter despair, with even stronger resentment."

...

After the flood, corpses were scattered everywhere, limbs severed, with no survivors. Only he, Zhang Fei Xuan, had lived, and at that time the sect he had been making offerings to descended from the heavens. Without a word, they captured him, interrogated him day and night, then threw him back into the water...

...

"We of the Jinxian Sect follow the Righteous Path, using elixirs to observe the world, and can also glimpse within. Master gave me this elixir surely with this intention. In doing so, I could better help the people of the world. Junior Brother, Junior Brother?"

"Ah! Senior Brother!"

Zhang Fei Xuan snapped back to awareness, seeing Song Yin staring at him, and promptly responded.

Song Yin spoke slowly, "Junior Brother, I am originally a wild man with no understanding of worldly affairs... is the outside world not doing too well?"

He was really a man out of his time, oblivious to the outside world, using the identity of an unsophisticated wild man as a pretense, which was indeed a good excuse.

Zhang Fei Xuan, upon hearing this, froze again, a trace of a hard-to-notice bitter smile on his face.

"It's alright..."