The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 202 The Golden Touch
"what--!"

With a scream, the bandits who were close to the mural were all sent flying backward.

The bandit leader was closest and bore the brunt of the attack. Even before the man hit the ground, he and those around him knew that he had no chance of survival.

The body was so mangled and bloody that its outline was barely recognizable.

In his final moments, the bandit leader felt not pain, but regret.

'I haven't even used all that gold and silver I robbed!'

The thought had barely crossed my mind when everything went completely dark.

Immediately afterwards, the disaster victims who were still standing there in shock saw more than a dozen pools of blood and flesh thrown straight in front of them.

In an instant, even the screams they should have let out caught in their throats. They just stood there, frozen, their eyes filled with disbelief.

He had thought this journey would be fraught with uncertainty and death, but when he turned around, he saw that more than half of the bandits who held his life in their hands were dead or wounded, and the scene was still so shockingly tragic.
The disaster victims remained frozen in place, while the remaining bandits had already come to their senses.

"Big brother! Big brother is dead!"

"It's a monster! There's a monster here!"

"There's a monster here!"

Someone screamed first, and the remaining bandits were instantly terrified, fleeing in panic. As for the famine victims who had been captured to work as porters, and the stolen belongings, they had long since forgotten about them.

In the face of such a horrifying sight, what could be more precious than life?

Of course, we should run away as fast as we can!

In that sudden turn of events, the mural had killed more than a dozen bandits, leaving only a dozen or so. They were terrified and ran wildly in different directions, wishing they had more legs.

The disaster victims, finally realizing what was happening, wanted to escape, but dared not go with them, fearing they would be caught again later.

These beasts are truly ruthless and heartless!

So he stood frozen in place, unsure whether to run or not, caught in a dilemma, when suddenly a voice drifted from behind him, like a sigh or a murmur:

"Those who reap what they sow will not escape punishment."

Isn't there no one behind me?

Could that sound be coming from a monster?

They had just been far away, but they clearly saw the ten-foot-long tail painted on the stone wall suddenly come to life and flick outwards.

He then directly killed the bandit in front of him.

If this isn't a monster, what is it?
Turning around in shock, they saw that the tail was still perfectly still on the stone wall, motionless.

Looking around, I saw a young man standing under the mural.

He held a half-burnt wooden stick in his hand, half blackened and half intact.

He saw them looking at him.

Du Yuan immediately smiled and asked:
"What do you all think? Should we spare these bandits' lives, or should we kill them sooner rather than later to prevent them from continuing to wreak havoc on the area?"

The disaster victims instinctively said:
"These beasts! They should be killed as soon as possible! Keeping them alive is just asking for trouble!"

Du Yuan nodded and smiled:

"This humble Taoist also believes it should be so!"

He paused, then raised the wooden stick and said, "As the saying goes, evil begets evil, and the justice of heaven is clear!"

"Everyone, watch closely!"

As soon as the last three words were uttered, the refugees saw the young Taoist priest, holding a charred wooden stick, repeatedly point at the fleeing bandits, shouting, "Change! Change! Change!"

Before the words were even finished, a blinding golden light erupted from the first bandit pointed out, instantly transforming him into a golden statue, his fleeing posture frozen in place without the slightest deviation. "Whoosh—"

The disaster victims gasped in shock and stepped back, but still stared intently, unable to look away.

The saying "evil begets evil" is not something easily witnessed.

What's more, these bandits were the same people who had tortured them before.

There's nothing more captivating than this!

Then a second and a third golden light appeared in succession, and the bandits who were fleeing suddenly stopped and turned into ferocious golden figures, frozen between the rocks in the wasteland.

As the wind blew by, the dozen or so golden figures gleamed brightly in the wilderness, yet they were utterly devoid of any life.

The disaster victims stared in disbelief. The ferocious bandits who had been so menacing just moments before had been rendered inanimate by this young Taoist priest with just a few words and a wooden stick?
"This humble Taoist's technique is called the Alchemy of Gold, which can transform all things, including these thieves!"

After saying that, Du Yuan shook her head at the bandits who had turned into golden figures, and said, "Using this method to end their lives can be considered as fulfilling the karma of their becoming outlaws and their greed for gold."

Perhaps these bandits were driven to desperation by this damned world.

But since we've come this far on this path...

Then don't blame Du Yuan for acting on behalf of Heaven. After all, aren't there many others in the same situation who never changed to be like them?

Upon seeing this, the disaster victims knelt on the ground and repeatedly shouted at Du Yuan:

"I've seen an immortal!"

"Grandmaster Immortal, please accept my humble bow!"

"Thank you, Immortal Master, for slaying the traitor!"

Du Yuan raised her hand to help them up and said loudly, "Please get up, everyone. It was just a small favor."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly frowned, pointed to the dried meat they carried, and sighed:

"Please find a place to properly bury these people."

The bandits were only capturing people to fill their stomachs, so who among them didn't know what these "dried meats" they were carrying were made of?
The victims turned pale and hurriedly nodded in agreement, no one daring to ask a single question.

Looking at their sallow and emaciated appearance, Du Yuan knew that these people had nothing else to eat besides this filthy stuff.

A pang of bitterness gripped his heart. He immediately squatted down, dug up a handful of withered grass mixed with yellow soil, and held it up to show everyone:

“I recently asked the heavens for a recipe for a pill called the ‘Begging for Life Pill’—” He paused, then gently rubbed the withered grass and yellow soil between his fingertips: “So you can use this withered grass and yellow soil to make a pill to fill your stomach. Come, everyone, follow me and see how to make this pill.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a joyful shout suddenly erupted from the crowd:

"You...you could you be the immortal lord of Cold Pine Mountain?"

Du Yuan raised an eyebrow and smiled, still holding a handful of yellow soil in her hand: "You've heard of me?"

The man nodded eagerly: "I've heard! I heard before that you were going to refine immortal pills in Cold Pine Mountain! But before I could go there, I was captured by these beasts!"

Although Du Yuan always walked at the forefront, almost none of the disaster victims she encountered had ever heard of Qi Huo Dan (a traditional Chinese medicine for reviving the dead).

However, quite a few people knew that he was refining elixirs in Hansong Mountain.

After laughing, Du Yuan demonstrated the method of refining the Begging Life Pill to them and warned them about the Rejuvenation Pill.

When these disaster victims themselves finally managed to concoct the life-saving pill.

Du Yuan smiled and pointed to the large patch of dark clouds overhead, saying:
"Please rest assured, everyone, I will soon be able to send down a rain to relieve the urgent water shortage in the southwest!"

Upon hearing this, the disaster victims all looked at the ten-foot-long tail painted on the stone wall behind Du Yuan.

(End of this chapter)