Chapter Sixty-six: A Good Show

The night wind was crisp, and the furnace blazed.

On the sheer cliff, a lone figure scurried back and forth, busy with his task.

Ten medicine cauldrons stood in a neat row.

Clear, bubbling concoctions boiled within each pot. As time passed, the liquid deepened in color, gradually taking on a hint of golden hue.

Moving swiftly among the cauldrons, Qi Xiu scrutinized the subtle changes in the medicine’s color in each pot. Fanning with his right hand, he inhaled the increasingly rich scent of the herbs, a smile spreading across his face.

With this Tenfold Yang Heaven and Earth Vitality Soup, I will reclaim my True Intention realm!

Song Tingye truly has profound resources. Seven hundred and sixty-five ingredients, at least thirty-nine extinct, and two rare ones nearly approaching Daoist elixirs.

He managed to find them all without exception.

The power behind him might even surpass Yuan Baiyi.

Yet, his honesty and earnestness almost make me feel guilty.

Seated atop a protruding rock, Qi Xiu propped his chin with one hand, lost in thought.

I must find a way to repay him.

Perhaps I should gift him two Martial Talismans?

The Purple Extreme True Art, derived from the Purple Sun True Art, greatly enhances constitution. Now, his stamina and energy have improved by leaps and bounds.

Recovery is swift.

As long as Martial Talismans aren’t used excessively, his body can endure.

He has even discovered how to craft them—using his own fresh blood as ink, writing the talisman upon refined steel.

Thus, Martial Talismans can be preserved long-term, just like Suppression Talismans, effective for up to a month.

But their power is immense.

Even with a method to preserve them, he has never let Martial Talismans leak.

“To give him a Martial Talisman isn’t out of the question.

But Purple Extreme True Art is too potent to reveal so casually.

The Shadowless Phantom would suffice—a perfect life-saving token, befitting my role as his protector.”

Nodding quietly, Qi Xiu made up his mind.

Once the breakthrough was complete, he would craft two Shadowless Phantom Martial Talismans for Song Tingye.

Courtesy begets longevity in business.

Clang, clang—

On the other side, the lids of the ten medicine cauldrons rattled noisily as steam rushed against them.

Qi Xiu sprang to his feet, moving like a blur, pouring the contents of all ten cauldrons into prepared white porcelain bowls.

Golden, luminous medicine rippled in the porcelain, dazzling like liquid gold.

“At last, it’s done.”

He grinned at the golden elixir in the bowl.

Gathering the ingredients for the Tenfold Yang Heaven and Earth Vitality Soup had kept him busy for half a month.

From the initial decoction and extraction to repeated adjustments and purification, he had slept barely two hours each day.

But now, the reward was finally here.

Lifting the porcelain bowl, the golden medicine shimmered and released a thick aroma. Even before drinking, Qi Xiu felt the spring of qi in his dantian stirring restlessly.

He tilted his head back and drank the golden medicine in one gulp.

Sweet and fiery, the liquid coursed down his throat and settled in his belly.

In an instant, he felt all 129,600 pores on his body open at once.

Heat surged forth from within, turbulent and unending.

Boundless warmth flooded into his limbs and bones, blood and sinew.

In his dantian, the spring of qi spun like a nebula, countless streams of heat converging and strengthening the ancient cloud within.

Perhaps he overdid it.

His face flushed, veins bulged, and Qi Xiu desperately circulated his True Art to digest the medicine.

He had feared the medicine would be insufficient to break through the Condensed Qi stage and reclaim his True Intention.

Yet Song Tingye’s ingredients were of exceptional quality.

The effects far surpassed expectations.

More than he had anticipated.

As the medicine was absorbed, the spring of qi expanded, and the vague outline of True Intention in his mind grew ever clearer.

The proficiency indicator on his panel surged forward like a train sounding its whistle.

All at once!

Feeling himself approach the threshold of True Intention, Qi Xiu raised the second bowl of Tenfold Yang Heaven and Earth Vitality Soup and drank it down.

...

Midnight.

Song Manor.

Bent over his desk, Song Tingye wore a grave expression, pen poised, writing something unknown.

Suddenly, a wind chime hanging before his desk rang out, though no breeze stirred.

Ding-ling—

Looking up at the sound, he saw the chime swaying, ceaselessly.

Song Tingye seemed to sense something. Rising, he took a blue-gray bronze mirror from the nearby bookshelf.

Muttering obscure incantations, he formed a Daoist seal with his right hand, spiritual light flickering from his fingertips.

“Manifest the spirit realm!”

In the next instant,

The surface of the mirror rippled like water.

Five strange Daoists appeared in the mirror, clad in robes of odd colors, faces ghastly, skin unnaturally pale, eyes bright red.

“They came quickly.”

He murmured, then called for Sun Yueting:

“Yueting, take the armored troops to the city gate at once. Also, notify Ye Wen.

The Blood Alliance has arrived.”

“They’re planning a night raid? Which faction?”

Sun Yueting’s face darkened at the mention of the Blood Alliance.

“Five corpse-driving sorcerers, no Daoist cultivators. But we don’t know how many zombies they have.”

“Corpse-driving sorcerers.”

Hearing this, Sun Yueting felt his scalp prickling.

Among demon and evil cultivators, corpse-drivers weren’t the strongest.

But these sorcerers excelled at controlling corpses, favoring armies of the dead.

Not powerful, but exceedingly troublesome.

...

“Senior brother, this is it—Baoxian County.

The Hu brothers and the twin Li demons were all lost here.

The hall master has ordered us to investigate thoroughly. If the Dragon Pool is really here, he’ll come himself.”

Holding a map, a corpse-driver with a black mole on his nose spoke.

“Let’s test the waters first.”

The senior brother shook his robe, producing a dark yellow bronze bell, and gave it a heavy shake.

From the pitch-dark, silent forest behind,

Over a dozen stiff, lumbering, bloated zombies emerged, skin blue-black, their movements shaking the ground.

In life, these zombies had been powerful men capable of carrying oxen.

Captured, tortured, and killed by the corpse-driver, they had been refined into zombies.

Each possessed the strength of an ordinary Martial Force cultivator, feeling no pain, fearless of death.

A dozen such zombies could raze a small town.

As the lead corpse-driver prepared to drive the zombies toward Baoxian County,

Suddenly, the city erupted with drumbeats and bonfires.

Over a hundred constables rushed about, shouting,

“Wake up! There are monsters!”

The entire populace was startled awake by the sudden commotion. Rubbing their eyes, they poked their heads out.

Hearing “monsters,” shock crossed their faces. They hurried back, dressed, gathered their wives and children, and moved outside.

Beyond the city walls.

Seeing the county suddenly erupt in chaos,

The five corpse-drivers were bewildered.

The lead sorcerer, controlling the zombies, gaped in confusion.

What does this mean?

We are evil cultivators here to kill, not performers.

You—you’re not showing us any respect at all.

...

Meanwhile, atop the city gate tower,

Gazing at the bustling, watchful town, Song Tingye gently waved his folding fan, a light smile on his lips.

The stage is set.

The drama is about to begin.

Step—

A burly figure bounded up the gate tower like a leopard, Sun Yueting approaching Song Tingye with a grim face, speaking quietly:

“Master, Ye Wen seems to be missing. I’ve beaten the drum till it broke, but he hasn’t appeared.”

Clack—

The folding fan slipped from Song Tingye’s hand, his face darkening, wordless.

Somewhere, the faint sound of grinding teeth seemed to echo.

...