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

Mei Chong knelt on the bluestone slab in front of the couch, his gaze falling on Elder Zhongzao's legs, where a body lay horizontally.

Li Changxing was naked from the waist down, his mouth was stuffed with black mud, and he had several marks of injury.

"Junior Brother was first ambushed and seriously injured," Mei Chong reported his guess. "Then he was robbed, and all his belongings were taken from him. Junior Brother didn't know when to stop and probably angered his attackers with his arrogant words. In the end, the two of them buried him alive in a pit."

Elder Zhongzao ignored Mei Chong's report and slowly stroked Li Changxing's cold body, sliding from his shoulder to his chest and then down his ribs.

Mei Chong dared not say much. Looking at Li Changxing's miserable state, he felt a strange unease. This kid had only been a disciple for a few days, and clearly had no real skills, yet he acted arrogantly and recklessly. He was attacked by several groups of people at once, and in the end, they disregarded the temple's prohibitions and insisted on burying him alive. In the end, even his pants were pulled down. This was just too much of a target of hatred.

"Have you found the person who killed your junior brother?" Elder Zhongzao asked.

Mei Chong quickly kowtowed: "I found two people, both of whom are the lowest-ranking disciples of the outer chamber. I followed the trail of fire you left behind and have located their residence."

"Keep them for now." Elder Zhongzao's hand stopped on Li Changxing's abdomen. "In a few days, go and capture them and deal with them."

Mei Chong responded, "Disciple obeys."

The lump of flesh on the soft couch stirred, and Elder Zhongzao opened his eyes.

"Resources within the temple are scarce, and the outside environment is deteriorating," Elder Zhongzao said to himself. "To improve this dilapidated environment, we can only try to force out the Great Qian Official Seal. However, this official seal is deeply hidden, and it will require the combined efforts of more late-stage Furnace cultivators to suppress and force it out."

He took a breath: "The resources required are too many, and those old fogies on the other side absolutely refuse to agree, saying that governing the fiefdoms will bring in official seals. These short-sighted good-for-nothings, are they even cut out for it? This is really troublesome."

Mei Chong lay prostrate on the ground, barely daring to breathe. These were all core secrets among the elders. As an outer disciple, hearing these things meant certain death if he made a slight mistake. He pressed his face against the cold bluestone slab, pretending to be deaf.

Elder Zhongzao withdrew his gaze, grabbed Li Changxing by the back of the neck, and with a single forceful movement, threw Li Changxing directly onto the ground in front of Mei Chong.

"Your junior brother is quite talented," Elder Zhongzao said, looking down at him. "He's completely dead, but the fire within his body hasn't gone out yet. Take him down and find a place to dispose of him; don't waste his life."

Mei Chong kowtowed and agreed as he looked at the body at his feet. He then picked up Li Changxing's stiff body and prepared to get up and leave.

"Wait a minute," Elder Zhongzao called out to him.

Mei Chong stopped moving and remained in a half-squatting position.

"How many days have you been kicked out of the pharmacy?" Elder Zhongzao asked.

Mei Chong felt a cold sweat break out on his back. He had messed up the job at the pharmacy and had been sent back with Liu Chengquan. This was the biggest thorn in his side. He hurriedly put down his body and knelt on the ground again.

"I have failed in my duty, please punish me, Master! I will definitely do my job well in the future, and I will go through fire and water without the slightest slackness!" Mei Chong kowtowed repeatedly, speaking very quickly.

The elder on the soft couch opened his mouth, and a gust of wind howled out, the foul stench hitting Mei Chong. Mei Chong was thrown back three feet, his bones squeezing under the immense force, making a groan as if they were about to fall apart.

"Answer directly," Elder Zhongzao said coldly.

Mei Chong, suppressing the metallic taste in his throat, lay on the ground panting heavily: "Seven days, almost seven days."

"In seven more days, Li Bin will be ready." Elder Zhongzao leaned back on the soft couch. "That is a great medicine that I cultivated myself. Senior brother must not keep it all to himself. When the time comes, go to the pharmacy and ask Jia Chunfang for half of the cultivator ginseng."

Mei Chong's heart skipped a beat, and he lowered his head to hide the sorrow in his eyes.

"This disciple has noted it down," Mei Chong replied through gritted teeth. "I will definitely go to the pharmacy to ask for it in seven days."

"Go ahead," Elder Zhongzao waved his hand.

Mei Chong picked up Li Changxing's body and backed out of the room. The cold wind outside made him realize that his undershirt was soaked with cold sweat. He glanced down at Li Changxing, who was naked from the waist down, and quickened his pace toward the backyard.

Song You sat on the wooden bed, the room filled with a faint smell of medicine. After resting, the exhaustion from the Tibetan meal had subsided considerably, and his spirits had recovered somewhat.

He opened his eyes and took out the two lung-clearing powders wrapped in coarse cloth. He untied the opening of one of the cloth packages. He hadn't noticed it when he was making it, but now that he saw it, the appearance was really terrible.

Forgetting all that, Song You tilted his head back and poured all the medicinal food from the cloth bag into his mouth. The bitter taste spread along the back of his tongue and clung to his throat, causing a sharp pain.

Song You picked up the rough porcelain bowl on the table next to him, poured a large gulp of cold water, and forcibly flushed the medicine powder into it.

He sat cross-legged and circulated his lung-fire qigong, waiting for the medicine to take effect.

After a short while, a slight coolness rose in my lungs, and I could feel the internal flames circulating more gently.

Song You carefully sensed the changes in his body. A quarter of an hour later, the chill was completely gone, and the internal flames in his lungs regained their original temperature and operating speed.

Song You opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.

"No wonder those outer disciples were so desperate to get this." Song You threw the empty cloth bag on the table.

The temptation to alleviate the burning pain of the lesions, even for just a quarter of an hour, is immense.

However, this thing was too inefficient for him. Instead of spending time brewing and taking medicine, he would rather go back to the world of light, eat more high-calorie meat, and use his massive blood and qi to suppress the lesions and improve his cultivation.

I'll keep the remaining packet of lung-clearing powder for now; I don't need it.

As darkness fell, Shen Lu returned, and Song You called her in.

"Senior brother, I've cleaned the pharmacy room thoroughly," Shen Lu reported.

Seeing her improved complexion, Song You asked, "Did you hear anything while you were in the outer courtyard?"

Shen Lu thought for a moment and nodded in reply: "When I was in the pharmacy just now, I saw several senior brothers wandering around in the front yard of the pharmacy. They were urging the pharmacy disciples to hurry up and prepare medicine. I heard them say that they were going to brew a large batch of qi-tonifying medicinal dishes."

Song You tapped his fingers on his knees. The biggest event in the temple recently must be the trial. It seems that the scale and danger of this year's trial will far exceed those of previous years.

He must accelerate the improvement of his strength.

Song You reached into his robes, took out the remaining packet of lung-clearing powder, and handed it to Shen Lu.

"Take this," Song You said.

Shen Lu took the cloth bag with both hands, squeezed it, and recognized it as medicinal food. Her eyes widened immediately.

"This is lung-clearing powder." Song You looked at her. "Keep half for yourself, and take the other half to the outer courtyard of the pharmacy. Find some influential disciples there and distribute it to them."

Shen Lu asked, puzzled, "Senior brother, this medicine is very valuable, why are you sharing it with them?"

"I'm sending you to make friends with them." Song You's tone was calm. "You can't just do odd jobs in the pharmacy. Those people in the outer courtyard are well-informed. Use medicine to exchange for favors. Find out everything that's going on in the temple, who's made enemies with whom, and who has any valuable items."

Shen Lu understood, carefully put the cloth bag away, and nodded vigorously: "I remember, I will definitely do a good job."

"How's it going with memorizing that book?" Song You changed the subject.

Shen Lu looked troubled, fidgeting with the hem of his clothes: "Senior brother, there are some words in the 'Compendium of Poisoning' that look familiar to me, but I don't understand what they mean when put together. Especially the pages about the incompatibility of poisonous plants, I've read them several times, but I still can't figure them out."

Song You pointed to the wooden stool next to him: "Sit down, and read to me which page you don't understand."

Shen Lu quickly moved a wooden stool over and sat down. She took out the tattered booklet from her pocket, turned to the page with the folded corner, and Song You patiently explained it to her.

Shen Lu listened attentively, making marks on the pages of the book.

Song You spent the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to explain all the difficulties that Shen Lu was stuck on.

"Alright, go back and figure it out yourself." Song You gave him the order to leave. "Make sure you have enough coal ready by tomorrow morning; I'm going to start the furnace."

Shen Lu stood up, bowed, and left the room, which then fell silent again.

Song You sat at the table, pondering his next plan.

He needs more trump cards. Now that he's passed the pharmacy hurdle, he needs to go to the world of light to check if there are any lesions.

Thinking of the secret technique for making a seed drill that he had obtained before, Song You felt a rare surge of excitement.