Chapter 20

As Qin Sang's heart stirred, the King of Hell, who had been hiding outside, flew in, looking at Qin Sang with a fearful expression before merging into the Yama Banner.

The surface of the Yama Banner changed, and the pattern of the King of Hell reappeared.

Qin Sang ordered it to come out, and the banner surface twisted. The King of Hell floated out of the Yama Banner, standing solemnly before Qin Sang, appearing very obedient.

Qin Sang knew that the King of Hell feared the Jade Buddha, not himself, but he didn't mind. Recalling the words he had just seen, he commanded, "Give me a soul pill."

The King of Hell's eyes suddenly turned blood red, a fierce look flashing across his face, and he unwillingly opened his mouth to spit out a black mist. The black mist quickly condensed into a soul pill the size of a longan. Qin Sang caught it in his hand, which felt icy cold.

Looking at the King of Hell again, after spitting out the soul pill, his figure wavered, seeming to have become weaker.

Suppressing his urgency, Qin Sang ordered the King of Hell to return, tidied up the messy bed, and sat cross-legged, holding the soul pill and activating his cultivation technique.

As the text had said, as soon as the technique began to run, Qin Sang immediately felt a difference. After one cycle, the improvement was far greater than before, even surpassing the effects of the medicinal bath.

After the joy, Qin Sang felt a bit worried. The text clearly stated that to obtain more soul pills in the future, the King of Hell would have to devour human souls or yin energy.

Qin Sang had no idea what yin energy was. Did he really have to become a murderer?

A faint light came from outside the window. Qin Sang sighed inwardly, lay down in his clothes, and put aside these troubling thoughts. He visualized his body, as if playing with a new toy, moving it around continuously.

Finally, he returned to his soul. The yellow light around the soul was still there, but the Buddha's image was gone.

...

So much had happened that night, his emotions had swung wildly, making it feel longer than a year.

Soon, it was daylight. Qin Sang pretended nothing had happened, getting up as usual to light the fire, practice martial arts, and do his morning exercises. At noon, he pretended to just notice that Old Wu was dead, shouting in panic to call the old Taoist.

Jixin Daozhang indeed found no suspicious points and could only conclude that Old Wu, who had been pulling the rope every day, had died from overwork, his vital energy exhausted, and had died in his sleep from a sudden seizure.

Among Old Wu's belongings was a dagger for self-defense and a few taels of silver. When the old Taoist asked Qin Sang to report to the authorities, Qin Sang added money to buy a thick coffin and asked the residents of the temple to help prepare Old Wu's body and belongings for burial. He found a grave site on the back mountain and buried him that day.

Old Wu had no living relatives, so the funeral was simple. Only the old Taoist recited a few scriptures, and Qin Sang squatted by the grave, burning a full basin of paper money, saying softly, "Old Wu, have a good life in the afterlife. In the future, I will find a boy to adopt in your name, to continue the Wu family lineage. Rest in peace."

Relatives may still grieve, but others have already moved on.

In this world, death was too common, and the atmosphere in the temple returned to normal that night.

But for Qin Sang, another troubling matter arose that night. He found that after advancing to the second level of the *Yinming Scripture*, the medicinal bath had become almost ineffective for cultivation, completely ruining his plan to use soul pills and medicinal baths together.

He was unwilling to give up and pestered Jixin Daozhang for new formulas, much to the old Taoist's annoyance.

Seven days passed in the blink of an eye. After these days of consumption, the soul pill had been used up by about half. Calculating, one soul pill could only last about twenty days.

That afternoon, with nothing happening at the temple, Qin Sang and Mingyue went out for a feast.

In the bamboo grove, the two squatted by the earthen stove, with four cleaned rabbits and a few fat birds beside them.

Now, Qin Sang didn't need traps to find food. With just a wooden stick and stones, he never missed. Anything that moved couldn't escape his grasp, making Mingyue very envious.

With wine and meat, the two leaned against a rock, listening to the rustling wind, feeling very content. Qin Sang suddenly thought that if he hadn't met the immortals, living here for a lifetime wouldn't be bad.

Mingyue tore off a rabbit leg with his teeth, took a sip of wine, and then a bite of meat. Following Qin Sang's martial arts training, he had grown taller, and his appetite and alcohol tolerance had also increased.

Mingyue suddenly sat up, his ears twitching, and asked in confusion, "Brother, why are there pigeons cooing?"

"I've heard it a few times," Qin Sang said nonchalantly, "maybe they're from a temple on the front mountain. Pigeons are very nourishing. When I have the interest, I'll catch a few and let you taste pigeon soup."

Mingyue shrank his neck and laughed, "Just don't get caught by the owner, or Master will scold us."

Qin Sang said disdainfully, "Do you still doubt my skills?"

After eating and drinking to their heart's content, as night approached, the two returned to the temple together, finished their evening exercises, and each returned to their rooms.

As usual, Qin Sang tidied up his bed and held the soul pill and Yama Banner before practicing. He touched the black wooden sword on his chest. Compared to the Yama Banner, he was more interested in the black wooden sword, but the qi in his body entered the sword like a stone into the sea, with no response. The Yama Banner's spell was also useless against it, leaving him helpless.

The moonlit night was quiet, with only the long and short chirps of insects under the windowsill.

Qin Sang was concentrating on his practice when his expression suddenly changed. He opened his eyes and shouted, "Who's there!"

His eyes darted, staring intently at the corner of the room.

Suddenly, the darkness in the corner stirred, and a black figure emerged, dressed in night clothes!

"Who are you!"

Qin Sang was startled, having been silently infiltrated.

His hearing was very sharp, and he only noticed something unusual in the wind when the person infiltrated, waking him up. Otherwise, he might not have noticed even if the person had approached him.

Who was this person, and what did they want by infiltrating his room? Had his secret been exposed?

Qin Sang's thoughts raced, and his hand secretly touched the Yama Banner on the bed.

The black-clothed person stood calmly in the room, showing no panic at being discovered. His eyes were still very sharp in the dim room, making Qin Sang feel like two knives were scraping his body, causing him to shiver.

The black-clothed person looked at Qin Sang with surprise, "Tsk tsk... I didn't expect a Taoist in a dilapidated temple to have the eyes to see through my movements. So, did you kill Old Wu?"

Old Wu's death was Qin Sang's biggest concern. He thought he had covered his tracks perfectly, but suddenly being exposed by a stranger left him deeply shaken, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Really you?"

The black-clothed person's eyes narrowed, and a terrifying killing intent flashed in them. He said coldly, "Old Wu reported that there were only two small Taoists who knew some martial arts in the temple, not worth worrying about. I didn't expect him to have a bad day! Boy, I'm very curious who you are, that even a Jiangshan Tower assassin could fall to you!"

Qin Sang didn't expect the black-clothed person to be so perceptive. He had only shown a slight flaw, and it was immediately caught. He was also a bit puzzled. From the person's words, Old Wu wasn't an ordinary person. Was his identity as a rope-puller a fake?

Old Wu had been lurking in the temple for half a year. What was his purpose?

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

Qin Sang suppressed his voice, denying it, "Old Wu died from overwork pulling the rope at the ferry every day, and it has nothing to do with me! He had no injuries at all. Don't believe me? Go and exhume the body and examine it!"