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

Song You stopped moving. Li Bin was a humanoid medicine carefully raised by Elder Zhongzao. Such a living creature that could be used to break through realms would never be left to roam freely outside without any precautions.

Given Elder Zhongzao's style of doing things, he must have left some means of protecting Li Bin.

Song You closed his fingers and withdrew his hand.

Jiang Yangge, who was standing to the side preparing to make a move, looked at Song You's actions and asked, "Junior Brother Song, why did you stop?"

Song You looked directly into Jiang Yangge's eyes: "Since Elder Zhongzao let him out to roam, he must have something to protect himself with. It would be dangerous to attack him directly."

After listening, Jiang Yangge's gaze swept over Li Bin twice. He pondered Song You's words, and the more he thought about it, the more sense they made.

This new junior apprentice was meticulous and thorough in his work. Jiang Yangge's broken left arm hung at his side, blood dripping from the broken bone onto the muddy ground. He groped around in his pocket with his intact right hand.

"Your concern is valid." Jiang Yangge rummaged in his pocket. "The pharmacy has special supplies for dealing with this kind of thing."

He pulled out a small black insect with his right hand. The insect was only the size of a fingernail, with a single horn on its head and six legs curled up together. It was lifeless and appeared to be a dead thing.

When Jiang Yangge picked up the insect, it strained the muscles in his shoulder, causing intense pain at the site of his severed arm. He gasped, his teeth grinding together, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Song You looked at the twisted left arm: "Senior brother, do you want to bandage your severed hand first?"

Jiang Yangge shook his head, holding the black worm in his palm: "If I bandage it, Elder Jia won't be happy to see it. If I leave it in this miserable state, the elder will calm down, and only then can I secure my position as a pharmacy disciple and prolong my life. A little blood is nothing."

Upon hearing this, Song You realized that the people in the Soul-Hidden Temple were ruthless to themselves and even more ruthless to others in order to survive.

He needs more resources to replenish his strength and enhance his power; only with greater strength can he control his own destiny.

"What is this?" Song You pointed to the black insect in Jiang Yangge's hand, changing the subject.

"This is a medicinal insect." Brother Jiang held the insect close to Li Bin. "It's standard equipment for the pharmacy's accounting disciples. There are always disciples in the temple who are not clean and smuggle out medicinal herbs. This insect feeds on the pathological residues of various medicinal herbs. As long as you inject a little lung heat, it can crawl up your body. It's the safest way to use it for body searches."

Song You nodded. The division of labor in this temple was very detailed, and even the auditing of accounts had a special item inspection.

Jiang Yangge's chest heaved as he mobilized the remaining lung qi in his body. A wisp of external flame traveled along the meridians of his right hand, gathered at his fingertips, and touched the black insect's carapace.

Nourished by the lung fire, the black insect stretched out its six curled-up legs, and the shell on its back opened and closed, making a slight rubbing sound.

Jiang Yangge flipped his wrist and threw the medicine worm onto Li Bin's chest.

The insect landed, its single horn swaying from side to side as it caught scents in the air. It crawled down Li Bin's clothes with incredible speed.

The insect crawled into the inside of Li Bin's clothes through the gaps in the fabric, causing a small bump to rise on the surface of the clothes, and then moved down his chest.

Song You and Jiang Yangge stared at the moving small bag. At first, there was no movement. The medicine worm crawled over Li Bin's ribs and moved towards his abdomen.

When the medicinal insect moved to a position three inches above Li Bin's navel, the abnormality occurred.

A dull cracking sound came from Li Bin's abdomen. Immediately afterwards, a ball of black flame broke through the cloth barrier and shot out.

Song You had been on guard the whole time. The instant the cracking sound rang out, he pushed off with both legs, taking three steps backward to avoid the range of the flames. Jiang Yangge reacted just as quickly, pushing off with one leg and rolling to the side.

Black flames tumbled in mid-air, the air distorted and deformed by the intense heat.

Song You recognized the fire. A few days ago, when the elders were hunting down that wild beast, Elder Zhongzao had spat out this kind of black lung fire, which had extremely strong corrosive and devouring power.

The flames shot out three feet, but then lost momentum and dissipated into the dim passage.

Song You observed Li Bin's body. The coarse cloth robe was completely intact where the flames had just erupted, with no trace of scorching even at the edges.

This lung fire was specifically designed to detect external intrusions. Its temperature was controlled with extreme precision, capable of repelling search methods without harming Li Bin in the slightest.

The elder of the cultivation workshop valued this great medicinal herb highly, which was fully reflected in this lung fire.

The insect fell out of Li Bin's collar, its shell burned through with a large hole, its six legs stiffened, and without support, it became a completely lifeless thing.

The commotion jolted Li Bin awake from his unconsciousness. He opened his eyes, his vision blurred for a moment, before he could make out his surroundings.

He looked down at his abdomen, which was empty; the warmth that had been there had vanished.

Li Bin's noodles twitched; he knew exactly what he had lost. It was the life-saving trump card given to him by Elder Zhongzao; in times of danger, this lung fire could save his life.

He looked up at Song You and Jiang Yangge, who were standing a few steps away, his arrogance completely gone. He tried to back away, supporting himself with his hands on the ground, but his body remained limp and powerless.

"Senior brothers, please have mercy." Li Bin's voice trembled as he spoke rapidly. "I have many valuable things on me: medicinal herbs, cultivation techniques, and a lot of money. I'll give them all to you if you spare my life and help me escape from the temple."

Song You took two steps forward, stopped in front of Li Bin, and looked down at him.

"You're too late to beg for mercy," Song You said. "We'll take your things ourselves, you don't need to be so polite."

Upon hearing this, the hope in Li Bin's eyes vanished, replaced by malice. He opened his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Song You, don't be so smug! My master won't let you get away with this. When he comes out of seclusion, he'll skin you alive and throw you into a fire pit to be boiled into lamp oil."

Jiang Yangge walked over from the side, clenched his right hand into a fist, and smashed it directly onto the back of Li Bin's head.

A dull thud echoed, and Li Bin, already weak, collapsed limply onto the muddy ground, unconscious once more.

Jiang Yangge withdrew his hand, panting heavily as he looked at Song You: "Junior Brother Song, thank goodness you reminded me earlier. If I had attacked directly, that lung fire would have spurted out, and I wouldn't have been able to save my right hand either."

Song You waved his hand: "Senior brother, you're too kind. It's always better to be careful. You can search now."

The two men crouched down and began searching Li Bin's clothes. Since Jiang Yangge had difficulty operating with one hand, Song You was in charge of searching while Jiang Yangge was in charge of identifying the items.

Song You reached into Li Bin's pocket, pulled out several cloth bags, and casually untied them. Inside were dried grass roots and shriveled fruits.

Jiang Yangge recognized the items at a glance. "They're all our pharmacy's stock. Mei Chong and the others secretly took things from the pharmacy. I'll take these back and put them in the accounts to make up for the previous deficit. Elder Jia will be less angry when he sees them."

Song You pushed the medicinal herbs in front of Jiang Yangge, and then continued to rummage through Li Bin's arms, pulling out several thread-bound booklets.