Chapter 126: Chapter 126: Beast Feeding Pill and Speculation

Li Ping was now a Tier Three Lower Grade Alchemist.

Using his unparalleled talent, he had learned a total of two Pill Master inheritances: the Tier One Upper Grade Pill Master inheritance from Lv Caibai and the Tier Three Lower Grade Pill Master inheritance from Xu Pingsheng.

However, neither of these two Pill Master inheritances included the method for refining the Beast Feeding Pill.

Therefore, before Li Ping could refine the Beast Feeding Pill, he, like other Alchemists, needed to carefully study its refining method before he could begin Alchemy.

Moreover, since the Tree of Inheritance had no record of the Beast Feeding Pill, he couldn’t achieve a one hundred percent success rate when refining it, unlike with other Pills.

Of course, as long as he succeeded once, he would never fail to refine it again.

Studying a Tier One Pill Formula with the knowledge of a Tier Three Alchemist was naturally a simple task. After mulling it over for half a day, Li Ping was confident.

He took out his Pill Furnace, placed it in the center of the Alchemy Room, and then mobilized the Innate True Flame within his body, spitting a line of fire that landed beneath the furnace.

Instantly, the temperature inside the Pill Furnace shot up.

Li Ping continuously tossed the Spirit Medicines at hand into the furnace to be purified and refined. The Spirit Medicines vanished one by one... Before half an hour had passed, a strange fragrance began to waft from the Pill Furnace.

Seeing this, Li Ping couldn’t help but smile. But in the next moment, the smell of something burnt entered his nostrils, and the smile on his face instantly froze.

After dumping the ruined Pill dregs from the furnace, Li Ping carefully contemplated the steps and techniques he had just used to refine the Beast Feeding Pill.

Half an hour later, he began refining again. This time, just as the Beast Feeding Pill was about to be completed, it turned into charcoal.

Li Ping sighed. ’To fail refining a Tier One Beast Feeding Pill twice in a row... it seems my talent for Alchemy really isn’t that high.’

Fortunately, the third attempt went smoothly. Learning from the lessons of the two previous failures, he successfully refined a furnace of Tier One Beast Feeding Pills this time.

And once he succeeded, the experience of this success was instantly and deeply imprinted upon the Tree of Inheritance, on the branch representing his Alchemy skill.

With the blessing of the Tree of Inheritance’s ’succeed once, succeed forever’ principle, his success rate for refining Beast Feeding Pills was now one hundred percent!

...

He spent a full day and night using up all the Spiritual Materials he had purchased for the Tier One Beast Feeding Pills.

Returning to his training room, Li Ping lightly patted the Spirit Beast Pouch at his waist, rousing the slumbering Desolate Fire Sparrow inside.

"CHIRP~"

A crimson figure flew out of the Spirit Beast Pouch and circled Li Ping at high speed, letting out cheerful and joyous cries.

Li Ping watched the Desolate Fire Sparrow as it affectionately zipped around him, a smile gracing his lips.

After devouring and digesting its eggshell, the Desolate Fire Sparrow was much larger than when it had first hatched.

It now stood a foot and a half tall. From beak to tail feathers, it measured nearly three feet, and its wingspan was almost two and a half feet.

Li Ping took out the Beast Feeding Pills he had just refined, plucked one out, and flicked it into the air.

"WHOOSH!"

A streak of fire flashed through the air, and the Beast Feeding Pill vanished.

"CAW! CAW!"

Having eaten the Beast Feeding Pill and sensed its benefits, the Desolate Fire Sparrow flew back and forth in front of Li Ping, emitting ingratiating chirps as if to say, "More! I want more!"

"You greedy little thing!" Li Ping chuckled, then tossed the entire bottle of Beast Feeding Pills into the air.

WHOOSH~

A humanlike joy appeared in the Desolate Fire Sparrow’s eyes. It instantly flapped its wings and accelerated, a streak of fire circling in the air, and the entire bottle of Beast Feeding Pills ended up in its belly.

It then landed on the ground nearby, folded its wings, and began to refine the medicinal power.

Li Ping shook his head, sat down cross-legged, and began to meditate and cultivate.

...

Just as they stepped out of the area covered by Immortal Peach Mountain’s Array, Ji Shu Xuan couldn’t help but speak up. "Hengchuan, didn’t you say you noticed something off about that He Yunyi, that you suspected he committed a serious crime and is a fugitive? Why didn’t you tell the senior?"

Yan Hengchuan’s eyes showed hesitation. "It’s all just my speculation. Before I’m certain, it’s not appropriate to tell Grandmaster."

Because he had suspected He Yunyi was a spy sent from another restaurant to steal their techniques, Yan Hengchuan had paid special attention to him over the past year, frequently observing his behavior.

But gradually, he began to notice that something was wrong with He Yunyi.

He Yunyi was a recluse who rarely went out. Other than the occasional trip to the market to buy Pills, he almost never left the restaurant’s premises. He had no friends, and even when he spoke to the other apprentices in the restaurant, he never said more than three sentences.

It was as if he were deliberately hiding his tracks, making himself inconspicuous for fear of being discovered.

Based on this, Yan Hengchuan concluded that He Yunyi wasn’t a spy from another restaurant, but a criminal who had committed some transgression and was now on the run!

He had originally planned to report this to Li Ping and ask him to deal with He Yunyi.

But just as the words were on the tip of his tongue, he thought about how He Yunyi silently endured being bullied by Chef Mo in the restaurant every day. He also did whatever Yan Hengchuan ordered without complaint.

He felt a little reluctant to turn him in.

After all, to err is human.

Judging by his demeanor, He Yunyi had clearly turned over a new leaf.

Besides, he had helped him with many things; reporting him now seemed dishonorable.

So in the end, Yan Hengchuan did not tell Li Ping about his discovery.

Hearing this, Ji Shu Xuan grew anxious. "Hey, Hengchuan, how can you be so foolish? If he’s really a criminal, you’re in danger! You’re only at the Qi Refining Second Level, but he’s at the Qi Refining Third Level!"

Yan Hengchuan felt a flicker of panic in his heart when he heard Ji Shu Xuan’s words.

But panic was one thing; he couldn’t lose face. He feigned indifference and said, "What are you talking about, Shu Xuan? I excel at Magical Combat, and Grandmaster gave me a Spirit Talisman. You think I’m afraid of him?"

They had already left Immortal Peach Mountain. To go back now and tell his Grandmaster would be a huge loss of face.

’I’ll bring this up next year when I come to visit Grandmaster!’ he thought to himself.

...

"Something’s not right!"

After meeting with He Yunyi, Gumu Sheng walked out of the restaurant. The smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a grave expression.

Because he had made a promise to Li Ping, he had left the Immortal City as soon as the new year passed and personally made a trip to Teng Feng’s village.

His purpose was to investigate He Yunyi.

The result of his investigation was that everyone in the village praised He Yunyi as a lively, kind, and good child.

Neither his parents nor the other villagers held it against him for not returning to the village for several years; they were all understanding.

They believed that a child’s path of cultivation was difficult and that a trip home might delay his progress, so they felt they shouldn’t disturb him.

However, his parents missed their child very much and had specially asked Gumu Sheng to help write a letter to take to He Yunyi.

Having obtained a satisfactory result, Gumu Sheng returned to the city to meet with He Yunyi.

He had planned to have an open and honest conversation with He Yunyi during this meeting, to clearly inform him that he was expected to look after the other villagers once his cultivation was successful.

But as soon as he met He Yunyi and asked him about his recent situation, Gumu Sheng sensed that something was wrong.

Because the He Yunyi he met and the He Yunyi described by his parents and the villagers were two completely different people!

The He Yunyi his parents spoke of was youthful, lively, and kind. The He Yunyi he met, however, was mature, reserved, and taciturn. The difference in their personalities was as vast as heaven and earth!

As the saying goes, a leopard can’t change its spots.

A person’s personality couldn’t possibly change so drastically in just a few short years.

What’s more, this wasn’t a change—it was as if he had become a completely different person!

Gumu Sheng was an exceptionally astute man. The moment he sensed something was amiss, he didn’t mention the village again. He didn’t even take out the letter He Yunyi’s parents had entrusted him with.

He merely offered a few words of comfort to He Yunyi in a soft voice, telling him to cultivate well in the Immortal City, then calmly turned and left.

"Why is it like this?" Gumu Sheng walked along the streets of the Immortal City, still unable to figure it out. "Could it be that He Yunyi doesn’t look like this, and I picked up the wrong person back then?"

Carefully recalling the scene from several years ago when he brought He Yunyi to the Immortal City, Gumu Sheng quickly ruled out this possibility. He had brought He Yunyi directly from the village.

There was no way he could have made a mistake.

"And back then, he already seemed taciturn. After arriving at the Immortal City, he didn’t show the shock and longing that an ordinary youth would upon seeing it!" Gumu Sheng mused, discovering more and more suspicious points.

At the time, he had assumed that He Yunyi had been to the Immortal City while fleeing a beast tide, and that was why he was so unruffled by its magnificence.

But now, it was clear that things weren’t that simple.

"Could it be... he was a victim of Possession?" The thought startled Gumu Sheng.

But the more he thought about it, the more plausible the guess seemed.

He Yunyi had likely been subjected to Possession even before he was brought to the Immortal City.

He hurried toward Immortal Peach Mountain. "I need to go discuss this with Big Brother!"

...

As he watched Gumu Sheng leave the restaurant, Yan Liming gave his departing back a deep look before heading toward the back kitchen.

Along the way, he also closed the door to the kitchen passage.

"One really can’t underestimate anyone!" Yan Liming muttered as he walked, a strange light flashing in his eyes. "In the end, it’s because I lack the life experience of a low-level Loose Cultivator. That’s why my disguise is full of holes, so easily seen through by a mere Qi Refining Cultivator."

Shaking his head, he added in a self-mocking whisper, "And that treacherous disciple of mine... he tracked me down so quickly. It seems he holds his master in such high ’regard’!"

As a giant of the Demon Dao, he took on disciples only to groom them as tools. Thus, he had placed a Restriction in the Sea of Consciousness of every one of them.

He had known the moment that disciple appeared in the Immortal City.

As Yan Liming stepped into the back kitchen, the heavy stench of blood immediately assaulted his nostrils.

Surveying the bodies littering the kitchen floor, he grinned. "Can’t stay here any longer. Best to leave as soon as possible."

Walking past the corpses whose eyes were wide with terror, Yan Liming stopped in front of Chef Mo. Seeing the man in a state worse than death, a hint of mockery appeared in his eyes. "How does our sect’s Heart-devouring Curse feel?"

Chef Mo’s face was contorted, his hands clawing ceaselessly at his own chest as if trying to dig his heart out!

"Forget it, forget it. You won’t live much longer anyway, so I won’t dirty my hands." Receiving no reply, Yan Liming shook his head and walked over to the unconscious Yan Hengchuan.

"I’ll take this kid with me. If that Foundation Establishment cultivator backing him comes after me, I’ll have an extra bargaining chip."

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