Wild Dogs

Yang Fan, who had been disappointed, looked up in surprise.

He had been poisoned by that mysterious old Taoist priest, and he wouldn't feel at ease until the poison was removed.

Just as Yang Fan was about to ask for more details, Wang Mazi suddenly stood up and waited respectfully at the door.

Yang Fan quickly stood up and followed suit, standing to the side.

A moment later, a sword light flew swiftly from a distance.

However, in the blink of an eye, it stopped at the entrance of the main hall of the Pill Hall, and then an old man with a purplish-red face strode into the hall.

The old man nodded as he looked at the two people who were waiting respectfully at the door.

"Greetings, Grandmaster Ziyang!"

Wang Mazi hurriedly bowed, and Yang Fan immediately followed suit.

"It seems the Pill Refining Hall has already found suitable servants. Hopefully, there won't be any problems with the pills I'm refining this time."

Upon hearing this, Wang Mazi immediately nodded with a smile.

"Don't worry, Grandmaster, there won't be any problems this time."

"I wonder what kind of elixir Grandmaster intends to refine?"

"For this refining of a superior-grade Spirit Transformation Pill, immediately prepare three qian of Green Leaf Grass, two liang of Orchid Flower, and one inch of Oil Bamboo..."

Grandmaster Ziyang kept giving instructions, and Yang Fan hurriedly went to find the medicinal herbs while listening to their names.

Grandmaster Ziyang recited dozens of medicinal herbs in one breath before stopping.

No wonder someone sent the wrong medicinal herbs before; it's really possible to send the wrong herbs.

Fortunately, Yang Fan was quite familiar with these medicinal herbs, and with Wang Mazi's help, the herbs were delivered in no time.

"Good, no mistakes this time."

Master Ziyang glanced at the two and nodded slightly. Then he waved his hand, and a ball of flame shot out from his nose and flew to the bottom of the alchemy furnace.

Then he began to refine elixirs.

Yang Fan was startled, and Wang Mazi cautiously approached.

"How about that? Isn't Grandmaster amazing? Let me tell you, Grandmaster is a master alchemist. His ability to transform spiritual energy into fire is truly divine."

Wang Mazi lowered his voice, but with his old-fashioned skill, he could hear everything clearly.

The old Taoist priest's face clearly showed a smug expression.

He then threw the medicinal herbs into the alchemy furnace one by one and began to refine the pills.

Yang Fan stared intently at the old Taoist priest, wanting to see how he refined pills.

Having more skills is never a bad thing; it's always good to learn more and see more.

However, halfway through the refining process, Master Ziyang's expression suddenly changed.

Immediately afterwards, a plume of black smoke suddenly billowed out of the alchemy furnace.

Master Ziyang's face turned ashen. He snorted coldly and left without saying a word.

Yang Fan wanted to see Master Ziyang off, but Wang Mazi, who was standing nearby, hurriedly tugged at his sleeve.

After Master Ziyang left, Wang Mazi spat outside.

"Remember this: this old Taoist Ziyang is extremely petty and argumentative. He may not be very skilled at alchemy, but he has quite a temper."

Yang Fan was taken aback.

"Senior brother, didn't you just say that Grandmaster Ziyang was a master alchemist...?"

Before he could finish speaking, Wang Mazi snorted coldly.

"This old man loves being flattered, but he doesn't want people to fawn over him to his face, so I'm pretending to tell you this in secret."

"This old man is at such a high level, of course he can hear what I'm saying. Those words were originally meant for him."

"That way, even if the old man fails to refine the pills, he won't blame us."

Yang Fan suddenly realized.

"Junior Brother Yang, there are many tricks to this place..."

"We menial laborers are nothing but a fart in the eyes of these men."

As Wang Mazi spoke, he patted Yang Fan on the shoulder, telling him to clean up the furnace ash.

Yang Fan hurriedly went over and carefully removed the ashes from the furnace.

Seeing the two dark pills in the ashes, Yang Fan was overjoyed.

He covered his face with a rag and carefully made his way towards Poison Valley, carrying the ashes from the furnace.

Upon arriving at the Poison Valley and seeing that no one was around, Yang Fan carefully took out the pills and placed them into the small cauldron.

He hurriedly left the Poison Valley, and after a while, he opened the small cauldron. Looking at the golden pill inside, he immediately beamed with joy.

"Just like in that booklet, it really is a Spirit Transformation Pill."

However, Yang Fan definitely cannot consume such a high-grade elixir right now.

He carefully put away the pills before returning to the front hall of the pill room.

"Be careful when you go to Poison Valley in the future. The smoke there is toxic. If you inhale it for too long, you will never get better."

Wang Mazi spoke lazily, and Yang Fan casually agreed while moving closer.

"Senior Brother Wang, you've been here for three years, haven't you cultivated any immortal techniques?"

"I've heard that to cultivate immortality, one must learn the immortal techniques of immortals."

Yang Fan looked at Wang Mazi with great interest.

Upon hearing this, Wang Mazi snorted coldly.

"Those who can come here to do odd jobs are all people without spiritual roots or powerful backers."

"Learn immortal magic? You can forget about it."

"I've been here for three years and haven't seen a single magical technique."

As he spoke, Wang Mazi crossed his legs, took out a small wine flask from his pocket, and started drinking.

Seeing that Senior Brother Wang looked like he had given up, Yang Fan also felt a little desperate.

That old Taoist was an evil cultivator. He didn't know how strong he was, but he was definitely no match for him.

In addition, she was cursed in the womb, making it virtually impossible for her to recover.

Yang Fan was momentarily disheartened.

Not long after, several more immortal masters arrived to refine elixirs.

However, apart from one grandmaster who used spiritual energy to create fire, the others all used firewood to refine pills.

Yang Fan then understood why he had experience in starting a fire.

Yang Fan didn't know much about starting a fire, so the task fell to Wang Mazi.

Wang Mazi's fire was quite good, but these people didn't manage to refine a single pill all day.

In a fit of rage, one of the senior disciples punched Wang Mazi, saying that it was because of him that the pill could not be refined.

"Junior brother, did you see that? These old men are the most shameless. They blame me when it's clearly their own problem."

Wang Mazi rubbed his slightly swollen cheeks, complaining with dissatisfaction.

Yang Fan pulled back the furnace ash, only to find it filled with nothing but ashes, and couldn't help but feel disappointed.

After a busy day, only Master Ziyang had one defective pill while refining elixirs; all the other pills he refined turned to ashes.

"I never imagined that alchemy would be so difficult."

Seven or eight people came to refine pills all day today, but not a single one succeeded.

Even the discarded pills were only successfully refined by one person; the others were reduced to ashes.

"Hey, of course! Otherwise, how could our Pill Hall have such a high status within the sect?"

"Let me tell you, in the entire Qingyun Temple, only Grandmaster Qingyang has a 20% success rate in alchemy; everyone else has at most a 10% success rate."

A success rate of 20%.

"In a few days, when Grandmaster Qingyang is refining pills, you can learn from him."

"If I were chosen by Patriarch Qingyang and become a pill-making apprentice, my life would be turned upside down, and I would be qualified to learn immortal techniques."

Wang Mazi said with a hint of envy.

He had no hope.

Not only was he lacking in talent, but more importantly, his face was covered in pockmarks, and many people disliked his appearance, making it impossible for him to become a Dan Tong (a legendary cultivator).

"Let's go back, or we'll miss dinner."

As the sun began to set, Wang Mazi hurriedly led Yang Fan to the back mountain.

After dinner, Yang Fan returned to his room.

He took out two pills, glanced at them, and then put them back.

"Sigh, I've made it through the first day, but I don't know what to do from here on out."

The one-month deadline was drawing ever closer, but he hadn't even had a chance to see Xu Longyue, let alone get his hands on the jade pendant.

After thinking for a moment, Yang Fan took out the sleeping potion he had kept close to his body.

Although he was very reluctant to use this thing against Xu Longyue, Yang Fan had no other choice.

The one-month deadline is fast approaching. If he doesn't manage to get anything after going down the mountain, the old Taoist priest will probably torment him again.

"Never mind, let's take a look at these booklets first."

Yang Fan picked up the "Tips on Starting a Fire" and the pill formula summarized by Wang Mazi and began to read them.

For the next ten days or so, Yang Fan was busy all the time.

Every day, several immortal masters come to refine pills, but only a few succeed, and there are hardly any ruined pills.

After more than ten days, Yang Fan had only managed to collect a few pills.

However, most of these pills are effective for refining Qi, so Yang Fan cannot take them yet.

Without immortal techniques, he couldn't cultivate at all and could only sigh in vain.

He was inclined to search deeper into the Poison Valley to see if he could find more discarded pills.

However, the poisonous gas deep in the Poison Valley was too strong, and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold on any longer if he went any further, so he had no choice but to return disappointed.

"Junior brother, Grandmaster Qingyang will be coming over to refine pills soon, so hurry up and clean up again!"

As soon as Yang Fan arrived at the main hall, he saw Wang Mazi waiting at the door.

"Is Grandmaster Qingyang coming?"

Yang Fan hurriedly ran into the main hall and cleaned the alchemy hall one last time.

Grandmaster Qingyang is an elder of the Pill Hall, and his word is law.

After cleaning the alchemy hall, the two stood respectfully at the door.

After a while, a large group of people flew in from a distance.

"Why are there other people here?"

Yang Fan was puzzled, and Wang Mazi gestured with his lip.

"Master Qingyang is a master alchemist; who wouldn't want to learn alchemy from him?"

After a while, the group of people stopped in front of the Dan Hall.

At the very front of the group was an elderly man with an air of otherworldly wisdom; he must be Grandmaster Qingyang.

"Greetings, Grandmaster!"

Wang Mazi hurriedly bowed, and Yang Fan followed suit.

"No need for formalities. Go and prepare the medicinal herbs. I'm going to refine a batch of Rejuvenation Pills for Red Lotus Peak today."

"This is the list of medicinal herbs, enough for twenty people."

After speaking, Master Qingyang strode into the main hall, with a dozen disciples respectfully following beside him.

Yang Fan hurriedly went to prepare the medicinal herbs.

Once the medicinal herbs were prepared, everyone else had already surrounded Qingyang Patriarch so much that Yang Fan had no chance to get in.

As expected of the Elder of the Pill Hall, Master Qingyang successfully refined twenty portions of Rejuvenation Pills in one go.

"Grandmaster is truly amazing."

Wang Mazi praised Qingyang Master as if he were very familiar with him.

"Alright, the pill is ready. Who can help me deliver it to Red Lotus Peak?"

Upon hearing this, the previously lively crowd suddenly stopped, exchanging bewildered glances.

"Red Lotus Peak?"

That's where the female disciples stay.

Yang Fan was immediately excited.

The jade pendant belonging to Xu Longyue is still missing, so perhaps I can use this opportunity to get closer to her.

Seeing everyone in silence, Yang Fan was somewhat surprised.

"What's going on? Isn't this a perfect opportunity to curry favor with Grandmaster Qingyang?"

Yang Fan lowered his voice.

"Sigh, junior brother, you don't know, Red Lotus Peak is a forbidden area for male disciples!"

As he spoke, Wang Mazi shook his head repeatedly.

"A male disciple once wandered into Red Lotus Peak by mistake, and was caught by the White Phoenix Fairy of Red Lotus Peak, who broke his leg and threw him out."

"In the past, a servant who delivered pills had his eyes gouged out because he glanced at the woman on the peak a couple of times."

"Therefore, most male disciples simply don't dare to go up Red Lotus Peak."