Chapter 6

Yue Qing said coldly, "Zhu Hong, I know you're in there. Can you hide forever? If you don't come out, I'll have to use the Five Fires Burning Heaven Cold Flame Soul Search Technique!"

He was full of anger, his voice resonant, echoing through the cave with a series of dull reverberations.

After waiting for a while, still receiving no response, Yue Qing lost his patience. Although he guessed that Zhu Hong might not be in the cave, he also suspected that Zhu Hong might be using some spell to hide his presence and set up an ambush to attack him.

He formed a seal with his right hand, his thumb, index finger, and ring finger interlocking, the other two fingers raised, forming a triangular shape. Gathering his true qi, he blew, and a flame ignited in the center of the flower. The flame was dark and emitted no light. He casually threw it on the ground, where it transformed into waves of flame that quickly spread out. At the same time, his divine sense spread out with the flames, and everything the flames passed over—every blade of grass, every tree, every stone, every speck of dust—appeared clearly in his mind.

"Turns out he really isn't in the cave." Yue Qing, confirming that no one was inside, retracted his spell and stepped in.

After using the spell to investigate, he had a clear picture of the cave's interior. Zhu Hong's cave was quite large. Upon entering, there was a spacious cave about three people tall, with circular moon gates on all four walls leading to the sleeping quarters, meditation room, alchemy room, and furnace room. The construction was rather crude, with scratch marks from flying swords still visible on the ceiling and walls. It was clear that Zhu Hong did not intend to live here forever and was likely planning to refine a few magical treasures according to the scriptures and then leave to live a carefree life.

Yue Qing first went to the alchemy room, which was oval-shaped and about three zhang high, with a yang qi vent at the top. In the center was a pure copper octagonal alchemy furnace. Touching it, he felt that the furnace walls were still warm. He turned the mechanism, and the outer walls of the furnace opened like petals, revealing five copper gourds inside. Yue Qing used his sect's technique to release the five elements' true qi, lightly shaking the gourds, which then burst open, revealing either two or three golden pills inside. A faint smoke rose, filling the room with a fragrant aroma.

Holding the pills in his palm, Yue Qing carefully examined them, and he was both surprised and delighted. These pills were actually the Primordial Golden Pills!

As a prestigious sect that had led the Central Plains' Daoist community for nearly three hundred years, the Wutai Sect was renowned for its sword refining techniques, but its alchemy was also highly esteemed. Among its most famous pills were the Taiyi Pill, the Primordial Pill, and the Xuanhuang Pill. Only a hundred years ago, the Taiyi Primordial Ancestor had refined a batch of Xuanhuang Pills, using five types of dragon blood as the main ingredients, along with 365 other medicinal herbs. These pills could revive the dead and regenerate flesh. Now that the Taiyi Primordial Ancestor was dead and the Heavenly Book was lost, the recipes for these three pills had been lost.

For the Primordial Pill, people only knew of it by hearsay. It was said to strengthen the foundation, cleanse the meridians, and increase one's Daoist power. It was rumored that only the sect's uncle, Mahavira Venerable Sikong Zhan, had some. Yue Qing never expected that Zhu Hong would have secretly refined them here! He took a white jade gourd that Zhu Hong had prepared and placed the pills inside.

Just as he was about to explore the rest of the cave, he suddenly felt a sense of danger and quickly used earth遁 (earth遁) to fly out.

Outside, the sun was setting, and gray clouds had covered the sky, starting to drizzle.

Yue Qing rode his遁 (遁) light up the mountain to the north peak. There, a young woman stood, about twenty years old, with willow-like eyebrows, cherry lips, almond eyes, and extraordinary beauty. She wore a black gauze blouse, slightly damp from the rain, which accentuated her graceful figure and charming appearance.

The woman held a small banner and gently shook it, black smoke rolling off it to form a large stage. On the stage, small figures made of black smoke, some riding horses and others wielding weapons, fought each other, creating a captivating scene. She spoke in a seductive tone, "Good child, come out, I'll give you this treasure to play with, okay? Come out!"

Situ Ping sat in a circle formed by talismans, his eyes bright as he watched the black smoke figures, clearly very fond of them. However, Yue Qing had told him not to leave the circle before leaving. Situ Ping, only two or three years old, was still naive. After his family's destruction, he was both afraid of and dependent on Yue Qing, so he remembered his command and refused to leave the circle, even though he was tempted by the woman.

When her coaxing failed, she turned to threats, shaking the banner to make the black smoke figures grow to over two feet tall, each one looking fierce and surrounded by thick black mist. They surrounded Situ Ping, making tearing and devouring motions: "If you don't listen, I'll let these ghosts eat you! I'll gouge out your eyes and bite off your nose!"

Situ Ping trembled with fear, tears in his eyes, his small hands tightly gripping the protruding rocks, but he remained silent.

Seeing that her methods were ineffective, the woman stomped her foot in anger: "I don't know where you came from, you little brat. Zhu Hong left you here without caring about your life. Tomorrow, when he casts his spell, your soul will be gone!" Realizing the child might not understand, she frowned, "No matter what, I'll capture you first!"

She had already tried various spells, but none could cross the talisman circle. This time, driven by anger, she released a tangerine-yellow flying sword, holding it in her hand and threatening Situ Ping a few more times. Seeing no effect, she finally released the sword.

Yue Qing saw that she intended to use the sword light to wrap Situ Ping out of the circle. He dispelled his遁 (遁) light, flew up in the air, and silently approached the woman from behind, lightly tapping her shoulder.

"Who's there!" The woman screamed, reflexively swinging her sword, but missed.

Yue Qing had already set up a strange formation, making him invisible. The woman, seeing no one, suspected it was a hallucination and secretly prepared a magical treasure, holding a mother-child soul-chasing nail in her hand. She then released her flying sword to wrap Situ Ping, ready to release the soul-chasing nail when the opponent appeared. Suddenly, her wrist went numb, and the item in her palm was snatched away.

"Oh no!" The woman felt a chill run through her body, her hair standing on end. She had never encountered such a powerful person before. If he had wanted to, he could have taken her life without her being able to resist.

She jumped onto a rock, using her sword to protect herself, and turned around, but neither Situ Ping nor the talisman array was in sight. Yue Qing had used the strange formation to take Situ Ping away.

"Who are you! Why do you hide and not show yourself?" The woman called out three times, but received no response. Looking around at the quiet mountains and rocks, she felt as if everything that had just happened was a dream.

"Oh, I know, you're Brother Hong!" She realized that the talisman array on the ground was a genuine Wutai Sect technique, and his actions seemed more playful than malicious. Considering the remote location and Zhu Hong's territory, she concluded that it must be Zhu Hong playing a trick on her. "Brother Hong, don't play with me anymore, come out and see me."

Yue Qing naturally did not appear.

The woman called out twice more, still seeing no one, and then said softly, "Brother Hong, I know you're standing right in front of me. Maybe if I reach out, I'll touch your face." She really reached out, but only grabbed air. "Brother Hong, I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have been angry about the scripture being a secret of the Wutai Sect. I've thought it over these days. I only wish to be with you forever, to go in and out together. Everything else is unimportant. I know my words hurt you, so I went back to my master to get a thousand-year-old lingzhi mushroom to apologize."

Yue Qing remained silent.

The woman, thinking he didn't believe her, took out a brocade box from her bag, opened it, and revealed a lingzhi mushroom wrapped in red cloth. Yue Qing directly took it, and the woman said happily, "Brother Hong, you forgive me!"

Before her smile could fade, a sword light suddenly descended from the sky, and a voice shouted, "Sister Lan, be careful, this is the Wutai Sect's strange formation technique." As the voice faded, a young Taoist appeared beside her, using three sword lights to protect them both. He said loudly, "Which Wutai Sect senior is here? Why hide and play tricks?"

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