Make the Immortal Sect Great Again

The heavy rain continued to fall.

Shouchong's figure abruptly appeared on the street where Chen Haoyan had died. Surprise flickered in his eyes as he surveyed the man's remains scattered across the ground.

"Who did this?"

The man had been practically pulverized. Just how deep of a grudge would it take to do such a thing?

Sighing in amazement, Shouchong carefully searched the street, missing not a single crevice as his mind rapidly reconstructed the scene before and after the battle.

"The killer was calculating, setting an ambush around the corner. But his skills were lacking, and Chen Haoyan spotted him from far away. Interesting. The weak overcoming the strong? Chen Haoyan fired an arrow, and the killer... didn't block? He took the hit head-on and charged right up to him. And then... hmm? Chen Haoyan just lost?"

Shouchong's brows suddenly furrowed.

But soon, as if discovering a crucial clue, his brow smoothed out, and a faint smile crept onto his face.

"This footwork, this blood-erupting technique... is it planting a lotus in fire?"

Shouchong looked around, clicking his tongue in wonder.

"I only used it in front of him once. Just from that single glance, he managed to grasp the concept and use it on the spot... and quite decently, at that."

Such incredible talent!

"On top of that... my Lotus Blade is missing. If it weren't for that, Liansheng Bodhisattva wouldn't have been implicated and suddenly lost connection. And the Longxing County Seal—did that kid take that too? I fought half the night, only to let someone else walk away with a massive haul."

At this thought, Shouchong felt a bit helpless.

His plan for the night had actually been very simple: use his true body to draw enemy fire, while secretly sending Liansheng Bodhisattva in his place to infiltrate Youren Temple.

Yet two unexpected variables had ruined everything.

The first was naturally that Chen Haoyan had the exact same idea, causing Liansheng Bodhisattva to fall a step behind and let him get there first.

The second variable was the Lotus Blade.

Just as Liansheng Bodhisattva caught Chen Haoyan and was about to execute him, the Lotus Blade suddenly vanished. The resulting backlash immediately affected Shouchong himself.

This chain reaction forced Liansheng Bodhisattva into a momentary standstill as well.

That gave Chen Haoyan the opening to escape. By the time Shouchong recovered and chased him all the way here, all he found was a corpse scattered across the ground.

"...Forget it." Shouchong shook his head, quickly adjusting his mindset. "I'm the one taking the main loss here, having failed to secure the pills inside Youren Temple. However, Liansheng Bodhisattva still achieved her goal and harvested Youren Temple's incense offerings for this season. At least we didn't return empty-handed."

Besides, strictly speaking, Wang Ping was also a disciple of the White Lotus Sect.

At the end of the day, the spoils remained within the family.

"Moreover... this is an opportunity."

Standing in the rainy night, Shouchong looked up into the distance. In the center of Longxing County, the towering County Yamen lay sprawled across the earth, resembling a giant beast resting with its eyes closed.

Logically, without an Internal Force Martial Master like Chen Haoyan, the County Yamen should no longer pose any threat to him. Yet the reality was quite the opposite.

Through his senses, Shouchong realized that Chen Haoyan's death hadn't lessened the sense of danger emanating from the yamen; it had intensified to a matter of life and death.

He knew exactly why.

At this thought, a cold sneer curled Shouchong's lips. "A useful blade unexpectedly broke, leaving them with no weapon to wield, forcing them out into the open."

"Hmph... Let's see how much longer you can hide."

Retracting his gaze, Shouchong swiftly reined in his aura. He swept the scene one last time, erasing all traces of the battle before finally striding away.

..............

As for whatever else happened that night, Wang Ping had long since stopped caring.

By now, he had returned to his courtyard, changed out of his soaking-wet clothes, and tossed a bulging package onto the table.

Even now, he was still reliving the thrill of the battle.

Compared to killing Xie Shi, his fight with Chen Haoyan had undoubtedly been far more perilous. Theoretically, he shouldn't have been the one to walk away alive.

'Slaughtering Xie Shi only looked dangerous,' Wang Ping thought. 'In reality, I held every advantage of timing, terrain, and surprise. All I had to do was swing my blade; everything followed logically without a hitch. But Chen Haoyan was different. Killing him was seventy percent luck. With his first close-range strike, he chose to chop at my arm.'

At that memory, Wang Ping rubbed his shoulder.

The phantom pain of a severed limb still lingered. Compounding this were the aftereffects of overexerting his power; severe muscle soreness made it difficult for him to even move.

This was the consequence of tempering the tendons without tempering the flesh.

He possessed brute strength and explosive power, but his body couldn't endure the resulting toll. As a result, his stamina was pathetic; he couldn't even last three minutes before giving out.

'If that blade had aimed for my neck instead of my arm, I would've died on the spot. Even with Perish Together with the Sun, I wouldn't have had the chance to use it.'

'Still, it wasn't exactly him underestimating me. At the time, the only threat I posed was my sword hand. One look at my injuries and anyone could tell I wouldn't last much longer. From his perspective, crippling that hand guaranteed my death. It was only natural for him to subconsciously make the safest choice.'

Wang Ping continuously replayed the life-and-death struggle in his mind.

With the Desire Realm Celestial Body, he had keenly sensed the shifts in Chen Haoyan's emotions, which helped him analyze the man's psychological changes during the fight.

This was invaluable combat experience.

When he finished his review, Wang Ping reached a conclusion. 'With Qi Restriction and Perish Together with the Sun at my disposal, a strategy of trading injuries suits me best.'

'Moreover... my martial arts are just too weak.'

'Overcoming the strong as the weak isn't my style; bullying the weak as the strong is much more to my liking. The biggest issue this time was simply that my martial arts weren't as high as Chen Haoyan's.'

'Otherwise, I wouldn't have been discovered so early.'

'I need to fix this. Fortunately, with my spiritual perception and the Desire Realm Celestial Body, my martial arts progression is rapid. I'm just missing a handy weapon.'

A moment later, Wang Ping sat back up.

He formed hand seals to cast his art, using Qi Restriction to circulate True Qi through his body for a few cycles. In no time, his lethargic spirit was mostly restored.

Immediately after, he looked at the package resting on the table.

He had noticed earlier that Chen Haoyan had kept this package stuffed securely in his robes, guarding it like treasure. Because of that, Wang Ping had made sure to snatch it before leaving.

"Let's take a look..."

Wang Ping stepped forward and untied the bundle.

A split second later, twelve porcelain bottles accompanied by a rich medicinal fragrance were revealed to him, each bearing a specific label on its underside.

"Holy shit!?"

Wang Ping's eyes instantly bulged. The names on those labels nearly blinded him, and for a moment, he trembled with excitement.

"Indeed, good deeds bring good rewards..."

He muttered under his breath, rubbing his eyes as if he scarcely dared to believe his fortune. It felt like a dream, but after a moment, a relieved smile spread across his face.

They were all pills!

Wang Ping had learned a bit about pills during his earlier chats with Liu Ye. Rumor had it that only the extraordinary person alchemists of the imperial court possessed the skill to refine them.

'A single pill is worth a month of dietary supplements!'

'Did Chen Haoyan force his way into Youren Temple just for these? Did he actually loot their entire pharmacy?'

Wang Ping carefully took inventory of the pill types.

Gut-Severing Pill, Gu Poison Pill, Energy-Dissolving Powder.

Tendon-Changing Pill, Bone-Refining Pill, Marrow-Cleansing Pill, Qi-Replenishing Powder, Detoxification Pill, Body Tempering Pill, Heaven-Reversing Reconstruction Pill, Snow Ginseng Ice Fruit Jade Nectar Dew, Heaven's Will Soul-Returning Pill.

'Three types of poison, nine types of tonics.'

Staring at the bottles, Wang Ping fell into deep thought. He suddenly realized a potential issue—one that might stem from paranoia, but couldn't be ignored.

'Do the pills actually match their labels?'

Wang Ping picked up a bottle marked Body Tempering Pill. What if it actually contained a Gut-Severing Pill? What then?

'Judging others by my own standards, if it were me, I'd definitely use one set of labels publicly and another secretly to confuse ignorant outsiders.'

It was a basic anti-theft measure.

Youren Temple stood right out in the open. When Perfected Wandering Spirit refined pills, had he truly never considered the risk of them being stolen?

Wang Ping didn't buy it!

'In this world, none of those who make it to the top act like human beings, and those who do act human never live long... Being a little careful in all things and overthinking is never a mistake.'

At that thought, Wang Ping felt a headache coming on.

'I don't understand pharmacology.'

With his spiritual perception, he could analyze the components of these pills. However, without medical knowledge, even knowing the ingredients wouldn't help him deduce their exact effects.

'...Looks like I need a test subject.'

After mulling it over, Wang Ping pushed open his door, walked over to the adjacent stable, and led out the Curly-Maned Horse assigned to him by the yamen, giving it an affectionate pat.

For the sake of his own safety, his horse would have to suffer a bit.

A moment later, Wang Ping engaged his spiritual perception. He scraped a tiny portion of powder from each pill and fed them to the Curly-Maned Horse one by one, then waited patiently.

Just in case, he extracted powder from the surface, the core, and the middle layer of each pill to ensure the entire thing was non-toxic. After all, what if a deadly poison was wrapped in a harmless shell? Since caution sails a ship ten thousand years, he'd rather waste some medicine than fall into a trap.

Throughout the whole process, he observed with his spiritual perception.

From the moment the powder entered the stomach to when it began to take effect, he clearly saw exactly which organs were influenced and the potency of each reaction.

One shichen later.

After feeding a pinch of Detoxification Pill powder to the Curly-Maned Horse—which was already foaming at the mouth, legs flailing wildly in the air—Wang Ping returned to his room, his face livid.

The facts proved that he wasn't paranoid.

Every single label was mixed up. The true indicator of a pill's identity wasn't the text, but the patterns carved into the porcelain bottles, clearly serving as a secret code.

In this wretched place, not a single person acted like a decent human!

'If I hadn't been one step ahead, recalling how that old bastard Shouchong ruthlessly screwed me over, and taken extra precautions... wouldn't I have died and had to resurrect all over again?'

"Animals!"

Wang Ping cursed furiously for a while before rearranging the twelve bottles. Fortunately, even though the labels were scrambled on the bottles, the names written on them were accurate.

There were indeed only three bottles of poison and nine types of tonics.

'Gut-Severing Pill, Gu Poison Pill, Energy-Dissolving Powder. Put these three together. Highly toxic.'

'Tendon-Changing Pill, Bone-Refining Pill, Marrow-Cleansing Pill, Qi-Replenishing Powder, Detoxification Pill, Body Tempering Pill... these target the physique and are meant for External Arts martial artists.'

'Heaven-Reversing Reconstruction Pill, Snow Ginseng Ice Fruit Jade Nectar Dew... these two are for boosting Internal Force. After consumption, a mysterious surge of energy appears in the body. But without enough cultivation, they're actually harmful. The Curly-Maned Horse almost died on the spot after eating them; luckily my reaction was fast enough to pump its stomach in time.'

'And the last one...'

Wang Ping picked up the final bottle. It was labeled Body Tempering Pill, but the pill it actually held should be the Heaven's Will Soul-Returning Pill.

The problem was, he had no idea what it did.

'After the Curly-Maned Horse consumed it, there was absolutely no change to its body. All of its organs remained the same. I can't even tell if it's toxic or not; it's impossible to judge.'

Wang Ping guessed that this specific pill was Chen Haoyan's true target.

After all, while the other eleven pills were precious, few were actually useful to Chen Haoyan—at least, not important enough to risk his life over.

'If that's the case, this thing is a hot potato. If anyone finds out that I killed Chen Haoyan and took these pills, might it bring trouble?'

At that thought, Wang Ping immediately stored the Heaven's Will Soul-Returning Pill separately, then stuffed the Gut-Severing Pill into the bottle labeled Heaven's Will Soul-Returning Pill.

Additionally, he took the bottles originally containing the Heaven-Reversing Reconstruction Pill and the Snow Ginseng Ice Fruit Jade Nectar Dew and filled them with the remaining two poisons, the Gu Poison Pill and the Energy-Dissolving Powder. He then kept these three decoy bottles close to his body... While it was just a casual precaution, it might work wonders later on.

Only after finishing all this did Wang Ping return to his bed.

'My Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow has only just reached the introductory level. If I want to break through to minor completion, I must master Bones Like a Tiger, which primarily involves tempering the skeleton...'

With that in mind, he took out the Bone-Refining Pill, mixed it with water, and downed it in a single gulp.

At first, he felt nothing. But soon, Wang Ping felt as though a raging inferno had ignited in his belly, rapidly spreading through his limbs and bones.

Then came the itch! An excruciating itch!

It was an itch emanating from his very marrow, one that he couldn't scratch even if he tried. Knowing this meant the medicine was taking effect, Wang Ping didn't dare waste time and instantly grabbed the Black Hornless Dragon Bow.

"Phew!"

Cycling his spiritual perception to suppress all stray thoughts and physical sensations, Wang Ping's mind quickly sank into resonance with the Black Hornless Dragon Bow, digesting the surging medicinal power of the Bone-Refining Pill.

Feeling the current of heat within him, Wang Ping grew increasingly invigorated.

'It took me less than three days to reach the introductory level of Blood Like Fire with the aid of my spiritual perception. Now, assisted by pills, a single night is more than enough to reach minor completion in Bones Like a Tiger!'

...........

The next day, early morning.

The rain had passed and the sky cleared. Beneath the rising sun, a rainbow hung high in the sky. Fresh air rode the gentle breeze, drifting over a county town that had just endured a night of stormy rain.

Bang!

A night had passed. Wang Ping, who had been sitting on his bed as immovable as a stone statue, abruptly opened his eyes as an explosive pop rang out from within his body.

The sound hadn't come from his mouth or his organs. Instead, it was the culmination of countless minute vibrations as every bone in his body shifted, pulling along muscle, skin, and viscera. It coalesced into a noise like rolling thunder or the low growl of a tiger, containing within it the profound transformation of a reborn body.

"It's done!"

When the noise faded, Wang Ping was drenched in sweat. The intense muscle soreness from the previous day had completely vanished without him noticing, and a radiant light seemed to flash in his eyes.

Bones Like a Tiger!

Just like tendons and blood, bone quality was divided into four grades: Spirit Cat, Brindled, White-Browed, and Mountain Monarch. And Wang Ping's bones remained in the highest tier—the Mountain Monarch Bone!

Empowered by his True Dragon Tendon, Supreme Yang Blood, and Mountain Monarch Bone, Wang Ping clearly felt his physical strength skyrocket once again. His endurance under pressure had also surged frantically. Even executing techniques like planting a lotus in fire—which required twisting his entire body into a single unified burst of force—felt far easier than before.

Especially when his tendons and bones generated force together.

True Dragon Tendon and Mountain Monarch Bone! A single punch produced the roars of dragons and tigers. The fierce wind of his strike, combined with the steam evaporating from his boiling blood and sweat, made it seem as though real storms were trailing his every move!

"Exhilarating!"

Wang Ping stretched his limbs and let out a low roar. The sensation of his strength elevating so dramatically was even more satisfying than the momentary burst he got from practicing the Iron Ox Art.

It was a long time before he finally ceased his movements.

He then carefully wrapped and sealed the remaining pills. Using his spiritual perception to guide it, he made his Curly-Maned Horse swallow them one by one, hiding the stash securely within the beast's stomach.

'This way, they'll stay hidden for at least one to three days.'

Wang Ping manipulated his spiritual perception to adjust the position of the pills inside the horse's stomach, ensuring they wouldn't just be excreted. With his mind at ease, he turned and headed toward the County Yamen.

Without a doubt, the yamen must have received word of Chen Haoyan's death by now.

Rebels infighting, the chief constable dead—hearing such music to his ears, that magistrate who rarely showed his face surely wouldn't be able to sit still much longer, would he?

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