One person: Senior brother Zhang Zhiwei, the Celestial Master begged me to descend the mountain.

"Impossible... Absolutely impossible..."

Tang Miaoxing slumped in the armchair like a spineless puppet, his hands nervously gripping the armrests, oblivious to his broken fingernails. His lips trembled, his cloudy eyes were bloodshot, and he repeatedly muttered those words, his voice growing louder and sharper:

"That's Dan Shi! That's Dan Shi!!"

"No one can survive swallowing the pill! Zhang Huaiyi can't! Neither can you!!"

"You will die... even if you're a god, you'll die..."

He even started acting like a madman, stretching out trembling fingers and counting in the air, one by one:

"one two three……"

"It will take effect immediately... Within five steps... certain death..."

Seeing their usually dignified and profound sect leader now acting like a madman, the Tang Clan disciples around them turned ashen-faced, their weapons trembling slightly.

That was the sound of faith collapsing.

however.

Zhang Taichu, standing in the center of the hall, didn't even glance at Tang Miaoxing.

He merely frowned slightly, rubbed his stomach, and wore a strange expression.

Upon seeing this action, a startling light flashed in Tang Miaoxing's eyes. He abruptly sat up and roared hoarsely:

"It's acting up!! Let's see how you freak out now!! It hurts, doesn't it? It's a pain that feels like your internal organs are melting away..."

Gollum-

A muffled, thunderous sound came from Zhang Taichu's abdomen without warning.

The sound was extremely loud; in the deathly silent hall, it was as if a war drum had been struck.

Tang Miaoxing swallowed the vicious curse that was on the tip of her tongue.

Zhang Chulan swallowed hard, instinctively taking a half-step back, and tugged at Wang Ye's sleeve, his voice trembling:

"Old Wang...this voice...doesn't sound like someone who's about to die..."

Wang Ye had given up thinking at this point. His usually half-open, half-closed phoenix eyes were now wide open, staring intently at the golden light that had been calmly surrounding Zhang Taichu.

Just a moment ago.

He clearly sensed that the Qi within Zhang Taichu's body had undergone an extremely terrifying qualitative change.

If the previous golden light was an impregnable city wall...

Now...

"belch------"

A loud and long burp suddenly exploded in the hall.

With that burp, Zhang Taichu slightly opened his mouth.

call.

A cloud of pitch-black smoke billowed out of his mouth.

The moment the smoke touched the air, it emitted a sizzling, corrosive sound, as if it were burning through the void itself. Then, the plume of black smoke twisted and struggled in mid-air, finally dissipating from sight as if its last trace of life had been completely drained.

And after exhaling that breath of stale air.

Zhang Taichu's aura visibly surged!

Within the originally dazzling golden light, there was now a faint trace of eerie black light flowing within, which was the power of Dan Shi after it had been completely tamed and assimilated!

"That feels good."

Zhang Taichu let out a long breath, his young face glowing red. He showed no signs of poisoning whatsoever, but rather looked like a glutton who had just finished a nutritious feast, every pore on his body seemed to be cheering with joy.

He patted his stomach, a lingering smile playing on his lips:

"That's interesting."

"This stuff may not taste very good, but it's definitely very potent."

"It's easy to digest... and it's quite warming to the stomach."

Warm...warming to the stomach?!

Upon hearing those two words, Tang Miaoxing's eyes, which had still held a glimmer of hope, completely lost their luster.

pat.

He slid off the chair, as if he had lost all support, and knelt heavily on the hard floor.

Lost.

We lost completely.

The Tang Clan's proudest secret technique, the God-Slaying Poison created with painstaking effort by generations of Tang Clan founders, was nothing more than a... comforting dessert in front of this monster?

"No...this isn't real..."

Tang Miaoxing's eyes were lifeless, and he muttered to himself, looking as if he had aged ten years.

Xu Xin, the one who performed the spell, stood there dumbfounded.

Looking at Zhang Taichu, whose face was ruddy and who was even picking his teeth, he felt that his worldview of decades had shattered into pieces at that moment.

"I've trained my whole life..."

Xu Xin looked down at his withered, trembling hands and gave a bitter laugh:

"He hid his whole life..."

"So...it was all a joke."

He slowly closed his eyes, his once straight spine hunching over again. The madness and bloodlust that had just been stirred up vanished without a trace in the face of the absolute difference in strength.

"Let's get started."

Xu Xin's voice was hoarse, carrying a calm tinged with despair:

"You have to accept the consequences of your bet."

"Since the pill can't kill you, then you can take my old life as well."

After saying that, he made no attempt to defend himself and quietly awaited death.

Looking at the old man in front of him who was determined to die, Zhang Taichu raised an eyebrow.

"Take your life?"

Zhang Taichu chuckled and strode forward, walking step by step to Xu Xin.

Da, da, da.

The footsteps stopped in front of Xu Xin.

"I have always been fair and just."

Zhang Taichu's voice rang in Xu Xin's ears, tinged with amusement:

"You treated me to such a lavish meal; if I don't reciprocate, wouldn't it make Longhu Mountain seem like we don't know any manners?"

Xu Xin suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Zhang Taichu, who was standing close to him, with some surprise.

Before he could react...

Swish!

Zhang Taichu suddenly raised his right hand, and a point of dazzling golden light instantly condensed on his index finger.

Within that golden light, there was also a trace of black light that he had just refined, which had now become incomparably pure.

"then!"

A low shout.

Zhang Taichu's finger struck Xu Xin's forehead with incredible speed!

boom!!

An enormous, outrageously pure energy surged from between Xu Xin's eyebrows, like a flood bursting its banks, and poured wildly into his body.

"Ughhhhhhh!!!!"

Xu Xin shuddered violently and let out a shrill roar.

"Uncle-Master!!"

Tang Miaoxing, who was standing to the side, thought that Zhang Taichu was going to kill him. His eyes were bloodshot and he wanted to rush up to fight to the death, but he was blown away by a wall of energy that Zhang Taichu casually waved.

"Open your dog eyes and see clearly!"

Zhang Taichu didn't even turn his head, coldly shouting.

At this moment, Xu Xin was enveloped in a dazzling golden and black light.

His originally emaciated body suddenly emitted crackling sounds of bones popping in the light.

Then, a scene that everyone will never forget unfolded.

Xu Xin's skin, which was originally like dry tree bark, began to become plump and rosy at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The deep wrinkles on his face seemed to have been smoothed out by an invisible hand.

What's even more striking is his messy, gray, and dry hair.

Under the influence of this powerful vitality, my hair actually started from the roots and gradually turned black!

"This is……"

Zhang Chulan rubbed his eyes, his jaw practically dropping to the floor:

"Rejuvenation...rejuvenation?!"

"Is this some kind of tonic being fed to him?!"

In just a dozen or so breaths.

When the light fades.

The one standing still is no longer the old beggar who is on his deathbed and could breathe his last at any moment.

Instead, he was a middle-aged man who, although still thin, had a straight back, a ruddy complexion, and a head of black hair with only a few silver strands mixed in!

Apart from the lingering weariness in his eyes, Xu Xin looked at least twenty years younger at this moment!

Xu Xin stood there, stunned.

He raised his hand with trembling hands and looked at his hands, which had regained their strength and firmness.

He felt the surging Qi within his body, which was several times purer than it had been in his prime.

That's more than just vitality.

That is... a sublimation of a realm.

"This...this is..."

Xu Xin suddenly looked up at Zhang Taichu, who had withdrawn his finger and looked completely calm. His lips trembled so much that he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

"That stuff was too pungent, so I modified it a bit."

Zhang Taichu clapped his hands, as if disgusted that they were covered in dust:

"Once you remove the toxins, what's left is the purest form of energy."

"How is it?"

Zhang Taichu moved a little closer, looked at Xu Xin who was staring blankly, and revealed his signature wicked smile:

"The feeling of this reverse pill-devouring technique that I've experienced..."

"How does it compare to your half-baked skill?"

puff.

A muffled thud.

This time, it wasn't Tang Miaoxing who knelt down.

It was Xu Xin, who had just been given a new lease on life.

He knelt heavily on the ground, neither moved to tears of gratitude nor kowtowing to beg for mercy.

He knelt there, head tilted back, looking at Zhang Taichu, tears silently streaming down his now youthful face.

That is reverence for absolute power.

It is also a kind of relief for these decades of absurdity.

"I give up..."

Xu Xin lowered his head, his forehead hitting the ground heavily, his voice choked with sobs:

"Master Zhang's methods are... all-encompassing."

"Xu Xin...I give up."

"Tang Sect...I'm impressed."

With Xu Xin kneeling down.

Tang Miaoxing, who had just gotten up in the distance, looked at his junior brother, who seemed to have undergone a complete transformation, and then at the young Taoist priest who looked like a god or demon.

He gave a bitter laugh, and all his pride and persistence vanished in that instant.

puff.

Tang Miaoxing also knelt down.

Followed by.

Thump, thump, thump...

Inside the main hall, hundreds of elite disciples of the Tang Clan, whether elders or apprentices, threw down their weapons and knelt down in unison before the young man standing in the center.

It was a dark, dense mass.

No one dared to look directly at that figure anymore.

A deathly silence fell over the hall, broken only by the heavy breathing of the crowd.

Zhang Taichu stood in the center of the crowd, receiving the kneeling worship of the entire hall, but his expression remained unchanged.

He seemed to be used to this kind of scene.

Or rather, in his eyes, this was simply a matter of course.

"Alright."

Zhang Taichu waved his hand impatiently, turned around, and plopped down in the grand chair that originally belonged to the Tang Clan leader.

He crossed his legs, his gaze sweeping over Xu Xin and Tang Miaoxing kneeling on the ground, his voice cold:

"Since you've given up, don't waste your time."

"Let's get down to business."

Zhang Taichu leaned forward slightly, his deep eyes fixed intently on Xu Xin:

"Tell me everything you know about Zhang Huaiyi."

"Not a single word was missed..."

"Spit it out."