The Red Pill and the Blue Pill

The reaction of the man in the red robe was already swift enough. When he reminded the thin man, he had already turned around and started to flee. However, he couldn't escape and was caught in the tribulation lightning.

If given another chance to escape, he would surely run faster because this time he didn't perform to his full potential.

"Why can a Foundation Establishment Stage alchemist cause such a commotion?! Tribulation lightning!?"

While half of his body was charred and the tribulation lightning ran rampant within him, he couldn't comprehend it.

He fell from the sky and crashed into a damp grassy thicket, with fine rain pouring down on the man in the red robe. But he couldn't feel it anymore. He stared at the fading remnants of lightning in the darkness and questioned his life, murmuring, "Tribulation thunder of the Golden Core to Nascent Soul transformation?"

"Quite knowledgeable, not bad," a deep, hoarse voice sounded nearby. Struggling to look in that direction, the man in the red robe saw a black figure emerging from the rain. The figure was shrouded in darkness.

They were so close...

This made him realize something. After the explosion, both left and right were fake. The true master, You Dashifu, had long hidden in the rain and taken cover on the ground.

No matter how they chose, they were wrong. Two Golden Core Stage cultivators were played with by a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. They were like two clowns!

"Ah..." the man in the red robe shouted in confusion, perhaps due to the intense pain.

"What's your name, what organization do you belong to, and what is your purpose in capturing me?" Qin Ran approached, raising a bubble with his hand, enveloping the man in the red robe. He held a sword and asked repeatedly.

The man in the red robe stopped shouting, looking at the bubbles around him and then at the sword in You Dashifu's hand, feeling even more desperate.

As Qin Ran got closer, he suddenly noticed that half of the man in the red robe's body was charred by the tribulation lightning while the other half remained relatively intact... This appearance was like that of Two-Face.

I created a Batman-like image for myself, but ended up with a Two-Face. What a coincidence!

After pondering for a moment and seeing the man in the red robe remaining silent, Qin Ran put away his sword and took out a red pill and a blue pill from his Universe Bag, indicating to the man in the red robe, "One is a high-grade Great Redemption Pill that can repair your physical body as much as possible, giving you a glimmer of hope. The other is a Murdering Pill that leads to death. I'm giving you a chance to choose."

He seemed to have become Two-Face.

The man in the red robe looked at the pills in Qin Ran's hand. He didn't understand pills, but based on his experience, the red one should be the Murdering Pill. However, he couldn't fathom why this person, whose scheming ran so deep, would be so kind?

"Do you really want to die? After experiencing countless dangers to form your Golden Core, you want to die like this?" Qin Ran suddenly began to persuade.

At this moment, a lightning bolt struck down from the sky...

The man in the red robe was startled and trembled all over. He looked up at the sky and realized it was just an ordinary thunderbolt.

Taking advantage of the lightning's illumination, he looked at You Dashifu in front of him and saw that his face was divided into two halves by the lightning... Like a devil.

He instinctively felt afraid, as if he were back in his childhood, abandoned in the rainy night. But soon, he felt desolate. He remembered that he was a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, while the person in front of him was merely a small Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator.

"What... do you want?" he asked bitterly.

"What organization wants to capture me?" Qin Ran asked directly.

"Fate," the man in the red robe replied.

Fate? Fate Tea House? Qin Ran remembered the name from the auction.

"Why are you capturing me?"

"Because you are an alchemist who can refine pills."

That was the reason. Control the alchemists, refine the pills, and then sell them through the organization.

"Split!" Another bolt of lightning struck, leaving Qin Ran's face completely blackened.

"Make your choice!" He didn't want to ask any more questions and said in a deep voice.

Although he felt that the blue pill was the Great Redemption Pill, the man in the red robe hesitated before saying, "Blue."

Qin Ran let go, and the blue pill was wrapped in bubbles and flew into the man in the red robe's mouth.

As soon as the pill entered his mouth, it quickly dissolved, and the medicinal power spread throughout his body. Feeling the situation inside his body, the man in the red robe squinted his eyes—it was indeed the real Great Redemption Pill!

He looked at the Master You in front of him, who hadn't even tried to escape, and couldn't help but smile. "Master, do you want to serve the organization?"

"After refining the pills, how will the distribution be?" Qin Ran asked.

Still thinking about distribution? The man in the red robe sneered inwardly, but still answered, "Fifty-fifty."

Qin Ran nodded and asked again, "Besides you, are there others coming to pursue me?"

"Aren't two Golden Core Stage cultivators enough?" the man in the red robe replied with a question.

Indeed, he was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, and two Golden Core Stage cultivators coming was already giving him face. Qin Ran breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "How many people are there in this organization called Fate?"

The man in the red robe wasn't stupid. It was just that he had lost his composure amidst the constant shifts between life and death. But when he saw that Master You had clearly relaxed, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

He remembered the two figures that had appeared after the second dispersal. Both of them were fake. So, these two pills...

By now, the medicinal power that had been absorbed by his body began to take effect, but...

Instead of repairing his body, the medicinal power began to devour it!

That wasn't the Great Redemption Pill; it was the Murdering Pill!

The man in the red robe's expression changed to one of horror...

"Split!"

Qin Ran looked calmly at him.

The two pills were indeed one Great Redemption Pill and one Murdering Pill, but the Great Redemption Pill was a failed refinement, a Murdering Pill with impurities and no medicinal power.

The Murdering Pill, formed according to the rules of pill refinement, possessed not the ability to save lives but the power to snatch souls!

As the body was destroyed by the Murdering Pill, the Tribulation Lightning was no longer restricted. It eroded the body along the damaged areas, a process that tore and burned the flesh into fine particles.

"Ah!" The man in the red robe couldn't bear it any longer and let out a miserable scream.

This was a kind of torment! No matter which pill he chose, whether it was the Murdering Pill or the Great Redemption Pill, it was torture.

He was too naive. How could Qin Ran let him live?

On this rainy night, the man's agonizing screams echoed for a long time, until they eventually weakened and were drowned out by the sound of rain.

Another seeker of immortality ascended.

The man in the red robe's body was completely charred by the Tribulation Lightning. Qin Ran confirmed that he was dead and took out his specially prepared corpse-dissolving powder, sprinkling it on the body to ensure that it would decompose into air particles without damaging anything else.

He carefully probed with his divine sense to ensure that no remnants of souls or the like remained, completely dissipating them.

In short, he exerted his utmost power to leave no future troubles.

He then dealt with the emaciated man who had died directly under the tribulation lightning. Qin Ran took the Universe Bag belonging to the two individuals and thoroughly searched it, leaving only spirit stones that couldn't be tampered with, while noting down a few useful alchemy recipes. As for the rest, such as magical tools, treasures, and cultivation techniques, he didn't dare take a single one.

He packed their belongings into the Universe Bag and manipulated the bag's spatial formation, causing the interior space of the bag to distort. Eventually, the distorted space ground the bag and its contents into powder.

After dealing with those items, Qin Ran breathed a sigh of relief. He took the two identity tokens that would surely have tracking marks and headed straight to the riverside.

He took a final look at the tokens. Both tokens had the same external design, with one side imprinted with the character "Fate" and the other side with the character "Dao." He randomly chose one, enveloped it in water flow, and threw it into the river, allowing it to float downstream.

Before long, a large fish swallowed the token in one gulp, and he paid no further attention. Then, he caught a large waterbird by the riverbank, tied the other token to it, and fed it a berserk pill, causing it to fly aimlessly in all directions.

After dealing with the tokens, Qin Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

He watched as the bird disappeared into the night sky and the fish vanished downstream, silently praying that there would be no further consequences.

Then, Qin Ran plunged into the river, utilizing the Flowing Water Technique, and swam upstream, embarking on his journey back home.

At a certain location upstream, he took off his cloak and wrapped it in water flow, allowing the cloak to continue upstream while he went ashore. Activating his Shadow Steps, he dashed into the depths of the mountains, running all the way into the Hengduan Mountains.

Upon entering the Hengduan Mountains, his figure flickered, splitting into three individuals with different appearances, each running in a different direction. Among them, his true body meandered through the forest for a long time, arriving at another formation he had set up in advance, and then he plunged into it.

He waited within the formation until daybreak, and no one came chasing after him. Qin Ran stealthily used the Flowing Water Technique from a certain location, concealing himself from the formation and emerging. Then, he proceeded towards the Daojian Sect.

It wasn't until the sky brightened, the clouds dispersed, and the sun emerged from behind the eastern mountain that Qin Ran stumbled back to the Dan Peak.

Li Shiyin was in the living room eating, teasing the cat with some breakfast candy. "One for you..." she tossed it forward, and Chasing the Wind leaped to catch it. "One for me..." she popped it into her own mouth. Both the human and the cat were happily amused.

Seeing Qin Ran push open the door and enter from outside, Li Shiyin exclaimed, "Master, you're up so early today?" Then she noticed Qin Ran in his night-travel attire and remarked, "Master, your outfit is quite stylish!"

Qin Ran shot her a glance, panting heavily, and directly took off his black coat, throwing it on the floor. He only wore an undershirt as he ascended the stairs, instructing, "Help me wash the clothes. I'll take a shower and rest for a while."

This world is indeed dangerous. It's safer to stay in one's own nest. If possible, one should avoid going out. It's too terrifying. Qin Ran thought as he lay in his own bed.