Wild Dogs

Senior Brother Wang is dead.

Moreover, it was because the fire burned the elixir.

Yang Fan didn't know what to say. He really wanted to go to the back mountain, but he knew that the front hall couldn't be left unattended.

If some grandmaster were to arrive and find no one here, I'm afraid all the servants in the Pill Hall would be in trouble.

Yang Fan hurriedly put away the Swiftness Talisman and immediately returned to the front hall to organize the medicinal herbs.

Not long after, a streak of light flew by and landed in front of the Pill Hall. Yang Fan hurriedly went out to greet it.

"Hmm, why are you the only one here?"

Grandmaster Qingyang looked at the lonely Yang Fan and asked with some surprise.

"Yesterday, Senior Brother Wang made a mistake while tending the fire and accidentally burned the pills. He was then killed by Grandmaster Chiyang with a single palm strike."

"Oh, what a pity, that kid's firework skills were pretty good."

"But Chi Yang is so old, and he can't even control flames, it's really..."

Grandmaster Qingyang shook his head, his face showing complete indifference.

A wave of sorrow washed over Yang Fan.

Senior Brother Wang worked as a handyman in the Pill Hall for three years, but his death didn't even cause a ripple.

Perhaps in the eyes of these senior brothers, uncles, and grandmasters, the lives of these menial servants are as worthless as weeds.

"Come on, I'm going to refine the Fire-Separating Pill today. Prepare some fire-attribute medicinal herbs for me."

Without time to mourn the death of his senior brother Wang, Yang Fan immediately got busy.

Following Master Qingyang's instructions, he quickly prepared the medicinal herbs.

The following day, Yang Fan was extremely busy because he was all alone.

Fortunately, because of being busy, the grief brought about by Senior Brother Wang's death was somewhat lessened.

They were busy until evening, when it was finally time for Dantang to close.

Yang Fan cleaned the furnace ash, put away the two discarded pills, and slowly returned to the back mountain.

He didn't rush to eat, but instead wandered around the back mountain and finally found the place where his senior brother Wang was buried.

A low grave mound, with a simple wooden sign casually stuck there.

The wooden sign had no formal name, only the simple three characters "Wang Mazi".

Looking at the crooked wooden sign, Yang Fan gently brushed it across.

"Will I one day end up like this, with only a straw mat and a wooden sign?"

"In a few months, I'm afraid everyone will have forgotten about this place."

Yang Fan took out a jar of wine and gently poured it on Senior Brother Wang's grave.

The wine spilled on the grave mound looked like tears falling.

In the wind, the wine seemed to sob, like the lament of a wronged soul.

"Snapped!"

Yang Fan smashed the wine jar.

"Senior Brother Wang, I'll remember your grudge!"

Yang Fan murmured to himself, unsure whether he was speaking to the dead in the grave or to himself.

When he returned to the cafeteria, Yang Fan's face no longer showed any sorrow, only calmness.

Senior Brother Wang is dead. Everything seems to have changed, yet it also seems as if nothing has changed at all.

Yang Fan became even more silent, and cultivated even more diligently every day.

Besides cultivating the Azure Cloud Feather Transformation Scripture, Yang Fan also practices the Divine Concealment Technique and the Fire Control Technique every day.

Since Senior Brother Wang is dead, he will have to take over the task of controlling the flames. He cannot end up like Senior Brother Wang.

Yang Fan's fire control technique was far superior to his previous experience in making fire. In just a few days, his control over flames became even more exquisite than that of his senior brother Wang.

"Not bad, your control over the flames is much better than the previous one."

Grandmaster Qingyang praised Yang Fan, but as for Senior Brother Wang, who was already dead, he didn't even know his name.

"What's your name?"

"Respectfully submitted to Grandmaster, this humble one is Yang Fan!"

"Hmm, you're quite good at starting fires. From now on, you'll be my alchemy apprentice. You can help out in the alchemy hall and come help me refine pills whenever I need you."

"Dantong".

Yang Fan's eyes lit up.

Although Dan Tong was not a formal disciple, his status was much higher than that of an ordinary servant.

That way, I won't have to listen to Zhou Bantou anymore, and I can go down the mountain whenever I want.

"Thank you, Grandmaster!"

Yang Fan quickly bowed and agreed.

Not long after Grandmaster Qingyang left, Senior Brother Chen arrived at the front hall.

"Junior Brother Yang, we meet again."

Since sending Yang Fan to Zhou Bantou's place, Yang Fan has never seen him again.

He had a very good impression of this senior.

"Greetings, Senior Brother!"

Yang Fan hurriedly bowed, but Senior Brother Chen waved his hand.

"No need to be polite. My master has already told me that from now on you will be the alchemist of the grandmaster. This is your storage bag."

As he spoke, Senior Brother Chen handed Yang Fan a storage bag.

"Senior brother, I have no cultivation, I can't open this storage bag..."

Yang Fan said, feigning embarrassment.

His cultivation had reached the first level of the Qi Refining stage, so opening the storage bag was no problem for him.

However, he used the technique of invisibility to conceal his cultivation level, so others could not detect it.

In their eyes, Yang Fan was still the same mortal without any cultivation.

"It's alright, this is the lowest level storage bag, it can be opened with essence blood."

"You can put some medicinal herbs in there and send them to Master when he needs them."

Senior Brother Chen handed over the storage item with a smile.

Yang Fan dripped his blood essence and opened the storage bag.

The storage bag contained only a set of white clothes and two spirit stones.

"Being a pill apprentice is different from being a menial servant. The sect will give you two low-grade spirit stones every month."

"Logically speaking, there should be a basic Qi-inducing pill, but since you are just a pill apprentice and do not have any cultivation techniques, you do not have this Qi-inducing pill."

Yang Fan nodded repeatedly, indicating his understanding.

However, he knew in his heart that there was a high chance that someone else had embezzled the item.

Yang Fan changed into white clothes, took out the two spirit stones, and respectfully handed them to Senior Brother Chen.

"What are you doing!"

Senior Brother Chen waved his hands repeatedly, but his face was full of joy.

This kid is too smart.

"Without you, senior brother, I wouldn't be where I am today. Please accept this spirit stone."

"No, no, you mustn't!"

Senior Brother Chen kept making excuses, but he held onto the spirit stone tightly.

Yang Fan shoved the spirit stone into his hand.

"Senior brother, I'll be relying on you from now on. If there's anything I don't do, please help me out."

"Oh, you've really put me in a difficult position!"

After a moment of hesitation, Senior Brother Chen accepted the two spirit stones.

"Don't worry, I'll talk to Chief Zhou in a bit. Even though you're still staying here, he'll have to listen to you if anything happens."

Yang Fan nodded repeatedly.

That would be best; we wouldn't need to ask Chief Zhou for permission to go down the mountain anymore.

And from then on, even Zhou Ban Tou had to listen to him.

Sure enough, Senior Brother Chen's words worked.

When Yang Fan arrived in his white robe, all the other servants looked at him with awe.

Although Yang Fan is still a menial servant, his status in their hearts has changed drastically.

"Junior Brother Yang..."

Zhou Bantou looked at Yang Fan with a fawning expression.

Yang Fan nodded slightly.

"We're still short-handed at the front hall. Send two menial workers over tomorrow, and I'll train them. They'll handle the miscellaneous tasks from now on."

After giving his instructions, Yang Fan headed towards the cafeteria.

"Yes, yes, Senior Brother Yang is right!"

The next day, as expected, Zhou, the head of the squad, sent two people over.

"Do you recognize any medicinal herbs? Do you know how to start a fire?"

The two men chosen by Zhou Bantou both knew a bit about medicinal herbs and had also learned how to start a fire; their guidance would be very useful.

Yang Fan assigned tasks to each of them, and he would take care of cleaning up the furnace ash in the Poison Valley.

In the past few days, Yang Fan obtained some more poison pills. After putting these poison pills into the small cauldron, they all turned into good pills.

Yang Fan is currently only at the first level of Qi Refining, so he cannot take most pills. He can only take some pills with relatively weak effects.

In addition, he urgently needed a few antidote pills.

After entering and leaving the Poison Valley many times, Yang Fan could feel some discomfort in his body.

Fortunately, after taking the antidote pill, the poison was neutralized.

A few days later, both of them had adapted to the work of the Pill Hall. After several days of hard training, Yang Fan finally advanced to the second level of Qi Refining.

"Yang Fan, Grandmaster Qingyang is looking for you. Come with me to the Grandmaster's cave."