Raise a sword!

Not long after Dan Laomo left, Hao Lao's voice rang out from the side.

"I never thought that teaching you body tempering would harm you. If I had known you would end up like this, I would have preferred to let Old Demon Dan poison you to death."

Jiang Peng was unable to move her entire body, not even open her mouth, so she could only remain silent.

But he didn't forget to activate his golden finger, constantly purifying the yin energy.

The purification process proceeded silently.

The originally icy and piercing aura quickly transformed into a refreshing and comfortable sensation after entering Jiang Peng's body, even more so than when cultivating Qi.

Jiang Peng knew that this was the Yin energy being purified into pure spiritual energy, silently nourishing his physical body and increasing his cultivation.

If he could cultivate by absorbing spiritual energy at this moment, his progress would likely far surpass what he had made before... But unfortunately, he was unable to move or circulate his energy to absorb spiritual energy, and could only be passively nourished by spiritual energy.

Clang clang clang—

The sound of chains clanging rang out.

It was Old Hao who moved his feet and came closer to Jiang Peng.

Finally, out of the corner of Jiang Peng's eye, she could see that Old Hao's figure had stopped just outside the few small flags next to him.

At this moment, Old Hao's hands and feet were bound by iron chains, the other end of which was connected to the rock wall.

Old Hao looked at Jiang Peng with pity.

"Only your eyeballs can move? Poor kid." Old Hao said regretfully, "The process of turning a living person into a zombie is excruciating. Even at this moment, you must be enduring immense pain."

"In comparison, this old man... although I'm so weak that I'm not even as good as a mortal, at least I don't have to suffer the same level of physical pain as you."

Jiang Peng couldn't say anything, unable to offer any words of comfort to the old man.

Actually, he didn't feel much pain; he even felt a bit of pleasure.

In the six months since he began cultivating, he had never seen such pure spiritual energy.

Old Hao knew that Jiang Peng could not respond, so he continued, "This is probably another lair of the old demon Dan... This demon has been causing havoc in the Southern Region for decades and has been able to get away with it. It is common for a cunning rabbit to have multiple burrows."

"Just bear with it. I'll stay by your side during these last days of lucidity."

Jiang Peng blinked.

While Old Hao was speaking, nourished by spiritual energy, his fingers and toes seemed to be able to move slightly.

...

The new cave has one advantage: there is a small hole, about the size of a fist, that leads directly to the ground not far away.

Every day, sunlight shines through the hole into the cave, and the sounds of insects chirping and birds singing often echo through the hole, reverberating endlessly in the underground cave.

Compared to the previous grotto prison, this Yin Sha Land is at least a bit more of a place to relax.

Dan Laomo still came to feed Jiang Peng pills every two days.

However, half a month later, in addition to the Body Strengthening Pill and Spirit Heart Pill, Dan Lao Mo fed Jiang Peng another new type of pill.

The first two need no further explanation.

After the new elixir entered her mouth, golden characters appeared before Jiang Peng's eyes again.

[Corpse Poison Pill: First-grade superior quality, contains corpse poison, enhances affinity with Yin energy, and strengthens the physical body]

Purification and Refinement

Without hesitation, Jiang Peng purified the pill and obtained a completely new kind of elixir.

[Unknown Elixir: High-grade Tier 1, Enhances affinity with Yin energy, Strengthens the physical body]

The process of refining the Corpse Poison Pill reappeared in Jiang Peng's mind, but she still couldn't understand it; she simply memorized it.

He then named the purified corpse poison pill "Yin Sha Pill," refined it again to remove the poison, and finally took it.

It sounds complicated, but the whole process only took a dozen or so breaths. Old Demon Dan assumed that Jiang Peng was still resisting and didn't pay any attention to it.

However, after feeding him the pills this time, the Old Demon of Pills did not leave immediately as usual.

He approached Old Hao, who was standing nearby, and left behind three bottles containing pills.

"Every two days, feed him one of each of these three pills, and do not slack off," the Old Demon Pill instructed.

Old Hao looked surprised.

"This is the first time you've asked me to do something."

"I just don't trust outsiders." Old Demon Dan gave a forced smile, then turned and left.

His voice rang out once more before he disappeared from sight.

"If anything happens to my zombie, I'll cripple your precious daughter, defile her, and then sell her to a brothel."

Upon hearing this, Old Hao's face instantly turned extremely ugly.

An overwhelming hatred surged within him, but seeing the old demon Dan who had stopped not far away and was smiling in a half-smile, Old Hao could only close his eyes in anguish.

Seeing this, Old Demon Dan smiled smugly and strode away.

Once Dan Laomo's figure had completely disappeared, Hao Lao dragged the chains to a spot not far from Jiang Peng.

"If it were just me who was captured by that demon, I would simply sever my own meridians and die a quick death, rather than be tortured."

Old Hao covered his face, and tears were faintly seeping through his fingers.

"He knows I have a daughter in Cangshan Market!"

"I know the Cangshan market can't stop him!"

"Old Demon Dan has been famous for a long time. If he only wants to kidnap a minor cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining, he can't make a fuss at all with his abilities."

"I am incompetent, I am foolish."

Old Hao's voice was broken and intermittent.

He seemed to have been holding back his emotions for too long, so once he started talking, he couldn't stop.

"If he weren't incompetent, he wouldn't have stopped improving his cultivation at over seventy years old; if he weren't foolish, he wouldn't have so easily trusted that disguised Old Demon Dan, not only letting him figure out his true nature, but also being captured alive by that beast!"

Old Hao choked up as he recounted his capture.

He was originally a disciple of the Cangshan Sect, and accepted the sect's mission to go down the mountain to eliminate demons and protect the righteous path.

Who would have thought that the mission was a trap set by Dan Laomo, and that the person responsible for receiving them was Dan Laomo himself in disguise.

As a result, the disciples sent by the Cangshan Sect were completely wiped out.

Meanwhile, the ringleader, Old Hao, was captured alive and has been tortured ever since.

Jiang Peng listened quietly the whole time.

It's been almost half a month since we arrived at the new grotto.

After being nourished by spiritual energy for the past two weeks, he has actually regained the ability to move freely, but he has never revealed it and has maintained his original appearance.

Listening to the numerous pieces of information that Old Hao rambled on about, Jiang Peng finally gained some understanding of this world, or rather, of the region he was in.

For example, this world is called the Cangxuan Realm, and the region where the Cangshan Sect is located is called the Southern Region.

The world is divided between immortals and mortals. Sects control the mortal world through the royal family, but they never interfere easily.

Because spiritual energy is scarce in the mortal world, few cultivators remain in the mortal realm.

Only someone like Old Demon Dan, who has already reached the bottleneck in his cultivation, would constantly cause trouble in the mortal world.

But it was precisely because Dan Laomo never dared to leave the mortal world easily that the Cangshan Sect was somewhat helpless.

At the very least, someone cultivating to the Foundation Establishment stage would never personally make the trip for a mere Qi Refining Demon.

"I hope you...won't blame me."

After rambling on for a long time, Old Hao finally shook his head bitterly.

"I also wanted to end your life, at least to spare you the suffering of turning into a zombie... but Old Demon Dan knew my weakness, so I had no choice."