The Immortal of Plague begins by establishing the root of lung fire.

As Song You was pondering, he noticed Jiang Yangge behind the desk. Jiang Yangge's left hand was slightly pressed down, his index and middle fingers overlapping, making a reassuring gesture.

Song You weighed the pros and cons. Although when he first came to the pharmacy, it was Brother Jiang Yang who showed him around, and the two of them had a connection with Jiang Yangjiao, their relationship was limited to returning Jiang Yangjiao's belongings.

In this cannibalistic world, you can only know a person's face but not their heart. If something really happens, it's completely unknown whether Brother Jiang will lend him a hand.

Entrusting your life and fortune to someone you've only known for two days is far too extravagant.

Song You did not take the three copper coins. Instead, he stepped back half a step to clear the passageway in front of the counter.

"I'm sorry, senior brother, I'm clumsy with my hands." Song You looked directly at Mei Chong, "I'm afraid I can't take the blame."

After saying that, he turned and walked out.

A man suddenly appeared from behind Mei Chong and blocked the door to the inner hall: "Junior brother, my name is Li Bin. I entered the sect a year earlier than you. Why don't we have a competition?"

Having said that, he blocked Song You's path, raised his right arm, and punched him in the face. There were rules in the temple: private use of fire in the inner hall was strictly forbidden; if the medicine furnace exploded, no one could bear the consequences.

Song You tilted his head, the wind from the punch grazing his earlobe. He had been eating plenty of high-calorie beast meat these past few days, and after being tempered by lung fire, his physique far surpassed that of these old disciples who had long been drained of their vital energy by illness.

Song You raised his right leg, his knee striking Li Bin precisely in the abdomen, causing Li Bin to arch his back in pain. Song You then slammed his elbow down, striking Li Bin's spine in the back.

Li Bin lay sprawled on the bluestone slab, utterly humiliated and filled with anger and shame. He opened his mouth, and a ball of grayish-white flame shot out, heading straight for Song You's chest.

The firelight carried a strange, exotic fragrance that made people feel dizzy and lightheaded. When the fragrance came into contact with the surrounding wooden medicine cabinets, the paint on their surfaces quickly peeled off, revealing rotten, blackened wood.

All of them were at the initial stage of the "firewood" stage, but the thickness of their outer flames differed. Song You was able to barely hold on thanks to his physical constitution.

As the strange fragrance drew near, Song You held his breath, yet he still felt a brief numbness in his nerves and his breathing became erratic. This lung fire actually carried toxins. He activated the lung fire within his chest cavity, directly incinerating the trace amounts of toxins he had inhaled.

Song You stared at Li Bin's lung fire. This guy's fire was weak and the outer flames were pitifully thin, not even as thick as the flames he had cultivated for two nights. It was completely different from what he had imagined.

After considering his options, Song You didn't take the attack head-on. Instead, he took two steps back, then suddenly stumbled, pretending to be outmatched.

Seeing this, Li Bin urged the flames to approach. As the flames drew closer, Song You and the others circulated the fire in their chests, and a wisp of solidified outer flame was emitted from their palms, directly striking Li Bin's ball of fire.

The strange fragrance and flames were swallowed up. Song You's hand, still powerful, landed on Li Bin's shoulder.

The ashen aura of death seeped into his flesh, and Li Bin screamed in agony, staggering back several steps, clutching his shoulder and rolling on the ground. His clothes were burned through, and his flesh turned grayish-black, emitting a foul, burnt stench.

Mei Chong's lips twitched slightly, and another person stepped forward: "Liu Chengquan, go for the kill. I'll find the right opportunity to strike."

Song You seems to be quite capable; delaying might cause unforeseen changes, so it's best to take him down directly.

Liu Chengquan took a step forward, and the gray-white flames danced on his fingertips.

Jiang Yangge stepped out from behind the desk and stood in front of Song You, saying, "Fellow senior brothers, let's stop here."

Mei Chong stared at Jiang Yangge: "Who do you think you are, trying to stop us?"

Jiang Yangge pointed at Li Bin on the ground: "You broke the rules first and used your lung fire. If you keep causing trouble, we'll all die together."

Mei Chong did not back down. Tonight's probing had completely failed. If they didn't take down Song You today, the three of them would have no place to stand. Negotiations were fruitless, so Mei Chong raised his hand and threw a ball of intense lung fire at Jiang Yangge.

Jiang Yangge unleashed his outer flames to meet the attack, but Liu Chengquan bypassed Jiang Yangge and charged straight at Song You.

Song You mobilized his lung fire to fight Liu Chengquan, but he had already exhausted himself, and his opponent was much stronger than Li Bin. Song You could only fight and retreat, looking for an opportunity to leave.

Mei Chong suppressed Jiang Yangge, and the two of them, panting heavily, temporarily halted their offensive.

Taking advantage of the moment when the two were catching their breath, Mei Chong clasped his hands together, and a huge fireball formed in his palms, ready to smash it towards Song You.

Jiang Yangge demanded sharply, "You don't even respect Elder Jia?"

Mei Chong continued firing the fireball without pause: "By the time he returns, we'll have already taken the medicinal herbs back to Elder Zhongzao's place."

Jia Chunfang was being held back, and Song You sorted out the situation.

These three came prepared. They couldn't stay in the pharmacy any longer. During the fight, Song You found a way out and retreated until his heels were against the threshold.

Just then, the fireball in Mei Chong's hand dissipated, and he froze in place, staring intently at the direction of the gate.

Song You turned his head, and Jia Chunfang stepped across the threshold and walked in. His withered body was even more hunched than a few days ago, and he exuded an extremely heavy aura of death. As soon as he walked in, the eerie green flames in the medicine furnaces around him all shrank by a third.

Mei Chong's teeth chattered: "Elder, why are you back?"

Jia Chunfang walked to the middle of the inner room, her withered lips parting slightly: "When you get old, you become homesick and want to come back and visit. I never imagined you'd empty our coffers. Liu Xiang must have gone to great lengths to get rid of me."

Song You understood; Liu Xiang was the name of Elder Zhongzao.

Seeing the pale faces of Mei Chong and the other two, Jia Chunfang sighed, "We're brothers, why resort to such underhanded methods? He wants to break through his cultivation level, how could I, as his senior brother, not help him?"

Jia Chunfang raised her head, her cloudy eyes sweeping over the three men before finally settling on Li Bin, who was rolling on the ground.

"Not bad, he's a good medicine." Jia Chunfang pointed at Li Bin and said slowly, "Looks like he's been raised with a lot of care. You two can get out of here, consider it me giving him some face."

Li Bin stopped rolling, his face blank, then filled with terror. He opened his mouth to shout but no sound came out. His body was stiff, pinned to the ground by an invisible force.

Mei Chong and Liu Chengquan scrambled out of the pharmacy and ran until they could no longer see the courtyard wall of Baicaotang. Only then did they stop and lean against a withered tree, panting heavily.

"Li Bin is actually..." Liu Chengquan began to speak, but stopped himself.

The two looked at each other, neither of them revealing the rest of their thoughts. They had always believed that Elder Zhongzao had favored Li Bin this year, giving him rare items and precious medicinal herbs.

Now that Jia Chunfang has pointed it out, it's not favoritism at all; it's clearly treating Li Bin like a human-shaped medicinal herb being nurtured, perhaps even in preparation for a breakthrough.

Mei Chong didn't continue the conversation. They were all the same kind of people; thinking too much about it would inevitably lead to a sense of shared fate. He shifted his focus and gritted his teeth, saying, "Junior Brother said before that Song You had some kind of opportunity, and I think it's probably true. But given the current situation, we can't touch him."

The job at the pharmacy was botched; there was no way to explain it back home, and resources had been cut off.

Liu Chengquan stared at the withered leaves on the ground, lowered his voice and said casually, "I think our junior brother is also destined for greatness."

Mei Chong turned to look at Liu Chengquan, their eyes met, and they both understood each other's plans. The youngest junior brother whom Elder Zhongzao had recently taken in was usually arrogant and domineering, and as a newly initiated disciple, he held a lot of resources in his hands.

His master didn't dote on him much, and besides, he was too busy to care about anything else right now. Since he couldn't afford to offend Song You, why bother going to such lengths?

The two exchanged a smile, everything understood without a word.

Inside the pharmacy, the smell of medicine was mixed with the smell of burning.

Song You took a deep breath to compose himself, stepped forward two paces past the struggling Li Bin, and bowed to Jia Chunfang, saying, "Greetings, Master."

Jia Chunfang did not respond. He walked past Song You and his gaze fell on Jiang Yangge.

"Cough cough."

Jiang Yangge's knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground, clutching his chest with both hands. His face was contorted in pain as he curled up in a ball on the ground, but he dared not make a sound.

Jia Chunfang withdrew her gaze and slowly turned to look at Song You.

"Song You, do you think I, as your master, am responsible?"