014 An Ally

Right after swallowing the pill,Li Huowang felt a warm,fiery sensation in his dantian,and it seemed to be intensifying.The heat was so overwhelming that he even forgot the nausea and queasiness welling up inside him from having eaten a human being.

"Xuanyang,go back and rest.This pill's effect is quite potent,and it'll take some time to fully absorb it,"said the master.

"Yes,master,"Li Huowang replied.

Staggering back to his quarters,Li Huowang leaned against the doorframe and retched violently.However,all he could vomit was some clear water.The pill had already been completely absorbed.

"Creak,creak."His joints popped and crackled,and his body twitched involuntarily.The fire in his dantian had now spread to his limbs along his meridians.He felt as if he were wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket on a sweltering summer day,his whole body boiling like a cooked dumpling.

The heat also made his mind hazy.Lying on the bed,he stared at the spinning ceiling above and recalled everything that had just happened,the terrified and desperate looks in the eyes of everyone in the ingredient room.He had become that disgusting accomplice of Danyangzi,imposing on others what Danyangzi had done to him.

Maybe the other person couldn't read,but they weren't stupid.In the face of absolute power,whatever he did was in vain.

"I must kill him!I have to find a way to get rid of him!!"Li Huowang roared frantically in his heart.

Unconsciously,his right hand grabbed the edge of the stone bed.As he shouted the last sentence in his mind,the veins on the back of his hand bulged.With a"crack,"he broke off a piece of the hard stone bed.

This change took Li Huowang by surprise.He looked at his hand and then at the piece of stone he was holding.He quickly realized it was the effect of the pill.

Not only his strength but also other aspects had changed.Li Huowang even felt that he could see a bit farther.That pill made him feel like he had been reborn.

But the thought of obtaining this ability by eating a human being made his stomach churn again.

"Brother Li?Are you okay?"Bai Lingmiao timidly poked her head in through the door.

Li Huowang looked up at her with a complicated expression,not knowing what to say for a moment.

Bai Lingmiao stepped forward and said,"Brother Li,you don't have to blame yourself.We all know you had no choice.If...I mean,if the master asks me to do it again,don't switch to someone else.Anyway...everyone will end up the same."

Li Huowang didn't want to talk about this.Looking at the bleeding wound on her forehead,he took out a pill he had refined before and offered it to her."Take it.It can stop the bleeding."

Seeing the pill in Li Huowang's hand,Bai Lingmiao shook her head vigorously in fear."I won't take pills.I'll never take pills."

Li Huowang forced out a few dry laughs and casually tossed the pill on the ground."Yeah,every medicine has its side-effects.It's really not good to take them."

Bai Lingmiao bit her lip.After thinking for a while,she asked Li Huowang,"Brother Li,do you want to deal with the master?"

Li Huowang's expression changed.He nervously glanced at the door and quickly rushed over to close it.

"It's okay.The master can't hear us now.He uses the'Touring Lord'to keep an eye on us.On the days of the big market fair,the'Touring Lord'has to go back to the fair."

"What's the'Touring Lord'?"Li Huowang asked curiously.It was the first time he had heard this term.

"The'Touring Lord'is just the'Touring Lord'.It's invisible and intangible.I heard from my grandfather that only highly-skilled masters can command them."

"Oh?"Li Huowang's heart skipped a beat.He made a mental note of this point.This information was crucial to him.

"When are the days of the big market fair?"

Hearing this,Bai Lingmiao looked at him in confusion."The big market fairs are on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month.Brother Li,how come you don't even know this?Didn't your parents ever take you to the fair?"

Li Huowang shook his head.The memories in his mind,whether real or illusory,proved that he had only lived in the city before and had never participated in such a rural material-exchange event as the market fair.

"Brother Li,let's get back to the point.Do you really want to deal with the master?"

Li Huowang's expression became solemn."Of course.I wish I could eat his flesh and drink his blood!"

Bai Lingmiao took a deep breath and nodded firmly."Then,count me in,brother.I also want to help with this!"

Li Huowang looked at the young girl in front of him and her determined eyes.Maybe Bai Lingmiao wasn't as weak as he had thought.

"Okay,you're in,"Li Huowang agreed.He really needed an ally now.

After thinking carefully for a while,Li Huowang said to her seriously,"Two of us aren't enough.You go to the ingredient room first and see if there are any others who are discontented."

Maybe others were too afraid to resist Danyangzi,but the medicinal ingredients in the ingredient room were doomed to die.There must be some who were unwilling.This was a fundamental contradiction,and there must be some among them who he could win over.

"Okay,"Bai Lingmiao nodded and turned to leave.

After sitting for a while,Li Huowang picked up the round jade pendant tied to his waist.He thought of that senior brother who had failed to escape.

"Xuanyang,Xuanyang.Were you all gathered together like this back then?I hope I won't end up like you."

In the following days,Li Huowang fully immersed himself in the Qingfeng Taoist Temple.He tidied up the ingredient room,both the people and the items,in an orderly manner.

Facing such a well-behaved disciple,Danyangzi naturally rewarded him.He taught Li Huowang about various basic pills,as if he were really cultivating him as a disciple.

These ordinary pills weren't very effective.At most,they could help Li Huowang treat minor colds and external injuries.

Moreover,Li Huowang didn't know if it was just Danyangzi's pills or all the pills in this world,but pills had their limits.Taking too many would turn a cure into a harm.And there were taboos;they couldn't be taken together,or it would easily lead to trouble.

Rather than saying Li Huowang could be a clumsy doctor now,it was more accurate to say he was a qualified poisoner.

The pills weren't the key.The important thing was that his relationship with Danyangzi was gradually warming up during this contact.

Sometimes when Danyangzi was refining pills,he would even let Li Huowang assist him.

When Danyangzi took another young Taoist novice as his disciple,Li Huowang was no longer the youngest one and had completely integrated into the Qingfeng Taoist Temple.

Through such close contact,Li Huowang confirmed his suspicion.Danyangzi really couldn't read,and he was extremely averse to others being literate.

He didn't allow his disciples to outshine him in any way.That's why most of his disciples were illiterate.

This made Li Huowang feel a bit strange.He still remembered what Danyangzi had said to him before.

"The method of attaining immortality is written in the Heavenly Book given by Lord Laozi,and the Heavenly Book was personally delivered to me by Lord Laozi.Who else in the world can attain immortality?He said I could.I definitely can!"

Since the so-called Lord Laozi had given him a Heavenly Book,and neither his other disciples nor he himself could read,then who on earth read it to him?