Chapter 1 The Master

Raising the medicine pestle and tamping it into the medicine jar, Li Huowang, who was feeling bored, slowly ground the gleamy lapis mingled with silt into powder.

Although the karst cave was wet and cold, the boy was dressed only in a rough cloth gown. But he did not seem to take any notice of it.

He was not alone in the cave. There were other men and women of the same age, with the same coiled hairdo and the same cloth gown as him.

The only difference between them and Li Huowang was that they all have obvious physical defects, including albinism and polio.

All kinds of congenital and acquired body deformities can be found here. This small karst cave used as the material warehouse was like a museum of deformities.

The work of these people was the same as that of Li Huowang, only the materials they grind were a bit different. There were minerals and medicine. But clearly, some people were not concentrating on their work.

"Ah!!" A woman's terrified scream drew everyone's attention.

By the side of the cave, a harelip fat boy with a creepy smile was trying to pull an albino girl into his arms.

"I'll just do it. I promise I'll do just it for a moment, hee-hee." Li Huowang ignored the noise, closed his eyes, and continued with his work.

Next to him, the woman cried harder and harder. Feeling annoyed, Li Huowang cursed under his breath, picked up the stone-made medicine jar in one hand, and stood up.

"Thud!" The stone and skull collided together and made a dull sound.

The fat, lip-cleft man who sat on the ground with his head bleeding was stunned. He was obviously knocked down by the blow. After two seconds, he held his wound in pain and began to howl.

The pale, white-haired girl who escaped the stained fate, clutching her clothes in fear, hid behind Li Huowang.

"I tell thee. Thou are done! Don't you know who I am? If I let the master himself know this, he'll kill you!" The fat man with the cleft lip looked extremely angry and threatened.

"Who does he think he is? To me, he's nothing more than a fart!!" Li Huowang's words shocked the beholders into silence.

The others had never imagined that the man in front of them would dare to say such a thing.

Looking at the face of these so-called apprentice brothers, Li Huowang took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart.

"What's wrong with me? How can I get angry with these things? My nature is clearly not this immoderate. I can't let these things affect my nature. That wasn't me. Calm down."

Just as Li Huo Wang was still calming his mood, he heard someone call him at the door.

"Junior brother Li, Junior sister Wang, the master calls you." The tall young man who was speaking was obviously not in the same position as Li Huo Wang. He was wearing a blue Daoist robe.

Although the robe looked pretty shabby, and the cuffs were washed out, it was infinitely better than the tattered linen on Li Huowang.

The man cradled a horsetail whisk in one hand and looked at his juniors with a hint of arrogance in his eyes.

Seeing the young Daoist appear, the fat man with a broken head immediately showed an expression of schadenfreude. "Ha ha! You're done!! It's your turn today."

However, Li Huowang completely ignored him and turned to follow a woman who had a wry mouth and drooling face to the door. She looked ghastly pale and unhealthy.

He had just taken two steps when he noticed someone tugging at his sleeve and holding him back. Li Huowang turned his head and saw the albino girl that was saved by him.

She shook her head with tears and fear in her eyes.

Being callous, Li Huowang remain unmoved, flicked his sleeve hardly and stridden forward.

Coming out of the material warehouse was an even bigger Karst cave. There were also many caves on the wall of the karst as well as the material warehouse for other purposes. By looking at the bumpy walls, it was obvious that the people who built this place did not have good skills.

The whole cave was enormous, with large and small tunnels in all directions, just like a magnified version of a termite nest.

Pieces of decayed peachwood were nailed on each small cave, engraved with the name of each cave emphatically. Ling Gong palace, Lao Lv hall, Qing Zu temple, and Si Yu palace. (Spiritual, Ancient Law, Celebrating Ancestors, Four Imperial)

Unexpectedly, a naturally formed karst cave has been decorated to look like a Daoist abbey.

When two people walking along the cave, the wry mouth woman took out a piece of black things from her pocket, suddenly handed it to Li Huowang, and said dementedly, "Eat... syrup?"

Li Huowang frowned slightly, seeming to know her silliness, took it and stuffed it into his sleeve.

Seeing Li Huowang accept it, she also took out a piece from her pocket and put it into her mouth. She went on to say with a simple mind, "Master is kind. Master gave me candy..."

Li Huowang did not intend to say anything about it. The two of them continued to walk. They walked on for about a quarter of an hour. Then a tall, antique, blackened pill furnace appeared before them.

Smoking cauldrons poke into the roof of the cave, and the furnace was so huge that it looks like a metal hill.

From far to near to see the furnace gradually become larger, and eventually the shadow of the furnace directly submerged them, which made Li Huowang feel stifling.

In addition to the huge five-storey pill furnace, what also let him feel stifling was a figure in front of the furnace.

From the back, the figure was wearing a turquoise robe. His hair was pinned up with a Daoist cap, and the white hair on the temples made him look very sage.

Sitting on the ground, he seems to be doing the same thing as Li Huowang had previously done, taking the medicine pestle to tamp, but the pestle in his hands was noticeably much bigger. It even looked like a giant column.

As the pestle rose and fell, the sound of the stone crash reverberated in the cave.

"M... Master!" The wry-mouth woman clumsily gripped the thumb of her left hand with her right hand and placed the four fingers of her left hand above the fingers of her right hand. The woman put her hands ahead of her chest and bowed to the figure, her eyes were full of respect.

As soon as she spoke, the harsh pounding stopped.

The figure turned around. Although Li Huowang had been prepared, he was still startled that his pupils contracted slightly.

The Daoist priest's front look was completely different from the back. From the back, he had a sage-like type. However, from the front to see, it was a disgusting scabby, mange-head old man. Few yellow teeth scattered in his underbite were exposed to the air.

"There you are, my good disciple, I've been waiting so long."

With a flick of his dirty robe, the old Daoist priest leapt into the air, grabbed the wry-mouthed woman's neck with one hand and flew back.

Before the silly woman opened her mouth to say a word, she was instantly thrown into a stone urn of half a man's height. Straight after that, the ferocious master raised that huge stone pestle and smashed it down heavily on her head.

As the scream stopped abruptly, a certain squelch which sounded like feet trodden into the mud puddle was transmitted from the stone urn.

And that's not all. The bump reverberates again, as the pestle rose and fell, every part of the woman's body ended up like her head.

With each smash, the right cheek of Li Huowang, who was breathing rapidly, also shook violently as if it were affected.

Meat residue and blood foam smeared the old Daoist priest's face and body, but he was untouched and still mumbling something in a certain melody excitedly.

"Ding Chou (Tetra-ox) extends my lifespan, Ding Hai (Tetra-pig) protects my soul, Jia Zi (Mono-rat) protects my body, Jia Xu (mono-dog) defends my shape, Jia Shen (Mono-monkey) solidifies my life, Jia Wu (Mono-horse) guards my soul, Jia Chen (Mono-dragon) distinct my spirit!" (FYI, aforementioned terms are from "heavenly stem and earthly branches")

When thoroughly smashed into a paste, he lifted the stone urn with one hand, which weighed several hundred pounds, and poured all the "mud" into the pill furnace in front of him. Then his hands suddenly lifted in the air while his face looked extremely excited.

"Fire up! Do the alchemy!"

Two Daoist boys with exaggerated blushes emerged from the shadows, fanning and pouring various seasonings into the furnace, including various kinds of mineral powder and many living and squirming things.

Not for a while, an eerie, rich aroma filled the air.

Now the mangy master closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He stroked the few whiskers on his chin and looked satisfied on his dirty, ugly face.

Then he slowly opened his eyes, clasped his hands behind his back, and turned to Li Huowang. "I heard you call I nothing more than a fart? Is that so?"

For a moment, the air around him seemed to solidify. Looking at the murderous so-called master, Li Huowang stayed nonchalantly, and slowly closed his eyes to calm his breath. In his mind, he said, "You can't cheat me, this is false, all of these are false!"

"Speak! Are you dumb? Huh? !" As the master's footsteps came nearer and nearer, the stench mingled with the smell of blood from his body stroke like a wall.

The trembling Li Huowang clenched his teeth and opened his eyes with all his might.

The dark and depressing cave temple vanished. A bright, clean, airy ward emerged in front of him. Below his waist, his body was bound to the bed with some cloth belts.