Even if the Saint of Elixirs were summoned, he would have to shake his head and leave.

The next day.

Before dawn had fully broken, someone was banging on Su Ji’s door from the outside, "bang bang."

The racket sounded like a debt collector—far from gentle.

"Fellow cultivator Su! Fellow cultivator Su! Are you awake yet?"

Yun Yao’s loud voice was clearly audible even through the door.

Su Ji didn’t even open his eyes.

Since he couldn’t use cultivation to replace sleep, he still needed a certain amount of rest.

But he had barely slept at all last night.

【The Art of Desolate Alchemy】.

It had been like a demonic chant, looping endlessly in his mind the entire night.

Countless complex pill formulas, bizarre refining methods, pharmacological knowledge he had never heard of—all of it was forcibly crammed into his memory, like an involuntary infusion.

Things like "use life as a guide, the body as a furnace," "reverse yin and yang, forge vitality from deathly energy," "all things can be medicine, Heaven and Earth can become a pill."

This stuff…

It didn’t sound like any righteous alchemy technique.

What righteous art would treat its own body as a pill furnace to refine?

Could that guy actually be a demonic cultivator?

It felt a bit sinister, after all…

Still, Su Ji wasn’t repulsed. Instead, he felt a secret thrill, like he’d stumbled upon a treasure.

Sinister or not.

If it worked, it was a great technique.

"Coming!"

Su Ji replied, slowly crawling out of bed.

As he dressed, he quickly ran calculations in his head.

That "Yun Yao" from yesterday—she was meticulous, her actions watertight, nothing like the naive, sweet girl Yun Yao seemed to be.

Her probing yesterday, though he’d managed to bluff his way through, could well have a follow-up.

This so-called "Elder Yao" today was probably a trap.

A moment later.

"Creak—"

The door swung open.

A gust of cold wind, laced with snowflakes, rushed inside.

Yun Yao poked her head in, her round, apple-like face beaming with a brilliant smile, her eyes shining bright as if holding stars.

"Hurry, hurry! Onto the wheelchair!"

Without waiting for Su Ji’s response, she briskly pushed the hard wooden wheelchair to the bedside and moved to help him up without a second thought.

"I can do it myself."

Su Ji quickly waved his hand, not wanting to experience being lifted out of bed again.

He slowly shifted into the wheelchair, noticing that Yun Yao had thoughtfully placed a thick woolen blanket on the seat.

"Let’s go!"

Yun Yao pushed the wheelchair, humming an off-key little tune, her steps light and cheerful.

Anyone watching might think she was taking her old grandfather out for a stroll.

The journey was quiet.

Yun Ying didn’t show up today.

That put Su Ji at ease.

Staying with that sharp-tongued, sharp-eyed kid meant he had to be on guard constantly—too exhausting.

The alchemy hall of Yin Yang Sect wasn’t far from Su Ji’s lodging.

Or rather, Kong Xuan Mountain itself wasn’t very big.

Before he even got close, Su Ji smelled a rich aroma of herbs, mixed with the dry heat of sulfur and flames, hitting him in the face.

"Alchemy hall" was a bit of an exaggeration. It looked more like an ordinary cave, with a massive stone blocking the entrance, carved with two crooked, scribbly characters—"Dan Fang."

The strokes were sloppy, but the force behind them was strong.

"Elder Yao! Elder Yao! I’m here!"

Yun Yao’s voice carried inside before she even arrived.

After a long wait, there was no response from within.

"Elder Yao?" she called again, a note of confusion creeping into her voice.

"What’s all the noise? Are you rushing to be reincarnated?"

A deeply impatient, hoarse old voice rumbled from behind the stone.

"I’m in the middle of a critical refinement! If the furnace blows, you couldn’t pay me back even if you sold yourself!"

Yun Yao stuck out her tongue and made a funny face at the cave entrance, then lowered her voice and said, "The elder’s temper is like this. Don’t mind him."

Su Ji nodded, signaling he understood.

Dealing with fire all day—having a short fuse was normal.

After waiting about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense.

"Boom—"

The massive stone blocking the entrance slowly shifted aside.

An even denser wave of medicinal aroma mixed with heat surged out of the cave.

A stooped, scrawny old man with hair as messy as a bird’s nest emerged.

He wore a dusty gray robe covered in stains of various colors, and his face was streaked with black and white, looking like a fire-tending boy who had just crawled out from under a stove.

This was Elder Yao?

Su Ji sized him up, feeling a bit doubtful.

This image was a far cry from the immortal, wind-borne figure he’d imagined.

The moment Elder Yao came out, he glared at Yun Yao irritably.

"Alright, what is it this time?"

His gaze swept over Yun Yao and then landed on Su Ji, his brow instantly twisting into a knot.

"Where did this one come from? Are you trying to mess with my head again?"

He pointed at Su Ji, his eyes hostile.

"Elder, this is a fellow cultivator I saved at the foot of the mountain. He’s badly injured. I wanted to ask you to take a look at him."

Yun Yao quickly explained.

"Take a look?"

Elder Yao let out a scoff, striding over to Su Ji with a swaggering gait.

His murky, aged eyes shone with undisguised disdain.

"What’s there to look at?"

Elder Yao extended a black-stained finger and wagged it in front of Su Ji.

"Meridians shattered, core pulverized, soul fire flickering like a candle in the wind—could go out any moment."

These were conditions she had checked before, but coming from Elder Yao’s mouth, the sense of hopelessness magnified countless times.

"An injury like this? Don’t even mention me."

Elder Yao withdrew his hand, glancing sideways at Su Ji, his tone dismissive.

"Even if you brought the Pill Saint himself, he’d shake his head and walk away."

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