Chapter Eleven: The Inner Elixir

  For a very long time in the future, Xia Qiu will regret his hesitation at that moment. He saw the green light rising quietly and did not immediately sound the alarm. He felt that if he had called out earlier, the outcome might have been greatly different.

  Wu Xing Fa Master Li Yuechi, a seasoned veteran of numerous battles, had slain over 140 demons and captured nearly 300 in his lifetime. He was among the top of his peers, but due to an extremely minor mistake, he ended up making a grave error.

  The demon's body is dead, the demon pill has been taken back, and the evil species has been eliminated. In Li Yuechi's entire experience, this snake demon has been completely destroyed, turning into a pile of useless flesh and blood, which will soon be gnawed clean by the small animals in the forest.

  The snake's corpse lay straight on the ground, its two long fangs stuck in the soft mud, one of which suddenly emitted a thin green light, like a timid young insect poking out its head to check the situation.

  Xiao Qiu blinked, wondering if she had seen it wrong.

  The first to react was not Li Yuechi himself, but the sword on his back, which flew out of its scabbard and into the air with a sharp whistling sound, this sound was much louder than the bell sound just now, the boys' exclamations were all drowned out by it.

  Li Yuechi was only a little late, with a smile still on his face, intending to explain a few more sentences to the young men of the small town. At the same moment that the treasure sword flashed behind him, he opened his arms and prepared to turn around and launch an attack.

  The green light in the snake's teeth suddenly expanded, instantly expanding to a thickness similar to that of the snake's body, like a mad cow rushing horizontally and vertically, passing by Li Yuanchi's side.

  At almost the same moment, the law sword flipped over in mid-air and stabbed down, hitting the green light right on target.

  A massive green light was violently swaying back and forth, it had no fixed shape or organs, but the boys seemed to hear its mournful cries, which were not ordinary cries, filled with dying fear and struggling resentment.

  After a long time, the green light gradually weakened, and the law sword also couldn't hold on, issuing its last metallic cry, shattering into over a hundred pieces. Only a thin thread of weak green light remained, rapidly fleeing deep into the dense forest, disappearing from sight in an instant.

  Li Yuechi slowly sat down, his expression serious, as if thinking about some major issues. He didn't chase after the green light, but instead beckoned to the young men with a wave of his hand.

  Xiao Qiu led the way, and the young men followed closely behind, but their eyes were fixed more on the snake's corpse behind Li Yuechi, fearing that something strange would emerge from it again.

  "It was just a momentary lapse." Li Yuechi said, his voice seemingly unharmed. "If one day you become five-element masters, don't repeat our mistake, be sure to thoroughly inspect the demon corpse from head to toe."

  "Can we also slay demons and evil spirits?" Xia Qiu asked with wide eyes, a thought and hope that had never occurred to her before rising in her heart, her voice trembling with excitement.

  Other young men also looked at Wu Xing with expectant eyes.

  Li Yuechi smiled slightly, without directly answering the question. "I'm not in charge of recruiting disciples, so I can't say whether you're suitable or not. But I hope you'll help me with something - later on, someone will check if you have a good foundation."

  "Morality is an essential quality for a Taoist, one in ten thousand." The officer said, hoping to show off his extensive knowledge and give Li Yuichi a deep impression.

  Li Yuechi smiled.

  Ye Lin Town had little contact with the outside world, and was almost closed off. There were only some absurd rumors about Taoist priests. The young people had never heard of anything called "Tao Gen", nor did they understand its meaning, but the reverence in their eyes still grew a lot because of this.

  The officer glanced at the young men, thinking that this group of kids was really stupid. Li Yuechi's meaning was very clear, and none of them had any background. "You want to find someone to help you, I can..."

  "You just saved us, it's only right that we help you, isn't it?" Xia Qiu said hastily, and the companions around her immediately nodded quickly.

  Two men squeezed in front of Xiao Qiu and said, "Tell me, my father is the town guardian, he can help with anything."

  When he heard the two words "garrison", the officer showed a very disdainful expression, and barely remembered that Er Stang's fists were hard, and forcibly held back a hum.

  Li Yuechi nodded with a hint of relief, "I hope you will hand over one thing to Master Pongshan."

  "What is it?" Er Bao asked.

  Li Yuechi slowly took a deep breath, his eyes slightly closed, then opened his mouth and spat out a sphere.

  The sphere was like a pigeon egg, slightly yellowish, emitting a faint glow, smooth and slippery, as if still coated with saliva. The young men who saw it in their eyes felt a bit nauseous, Ershuang involuntarily took half a step back and yielded the position to Xia Qiu.

  "Give it to Master Pong Shan." Li Yuechi said, his voice suddenly becoming weak and feeble, as if all his energy had been drained out with the sphere. "This is my internal elixir, don't give it to anyone else, and don't mention it to anyone either."

  Since he was aware, Xiao Qiu had never touched anything that came out of someone else's mouth, so he hesitated for a moment, reached up to touch the grass hat on his head, and then bravely stretched out his hand.

  The pill fell into his palm, strangely it wasn't damp at all, almost weightless, slightly warm, and nothing else out of the ordinary.

  Li Yuechi lowered his head as if he was about to fall asleep, then untied the small cloth bag at his waist and said, "This is for you."

  Xiao Qiu took it over in a daze, feeling a bit strange, "You..."

  "Swallow it down." Li Yuachi said, feeling that time was running out.

  "What?"

  "Swallow the inner elixir, it can't be exposed outside for too long." The officer explained on behalf of Li Yuichi, who had some understanding of the importance of the inner elixir, and that's why he didn't rush to accept.

  Er Biao originally had some jealousy towards Xiao Qiu's bravery, but now he was extremely glad that he had retreated half a step.

  Xiao Qiu looked at the inner elixir in his palm, feeling extremely hesitant about what he was going to do. Until he saw Li Yuechi's face getting increasingly pale, he finally made up his mind, raised his head, held his breath, and swallowed the inner elixir in one gulp.

  It's okay, no special feeling, and no weird taste.

  Li Yuechi felt slightly relieved, he had done everything he could, there were countless unexpected things in this world, even the most capable people couldn't predict them, let alone control them, he could rest easy now.

  "Take that lamp and follow it, it will protect you. I have been invaded by the demon species and cannot accompany you anymore." He said, lowering his head.

  The boys waited for the Five Elements Master to continue, but he didn't make a sound. After a long time, Xia Qiu slowly reached out her hand and checked his breath, then quickly withdrew it. "He's dead."

  The young men simultaneously retreated several steps, each with a look of astonishment on their faces. Then, without saying a word, they all looked at the officer, who was the only one who could explain this strange phenomenon: The Wu Xing Zhe Shi had just been hit by a green light and there were no injuries on his body, so how did he die?

  The officer's pale face showed that he was just as surprised as everyone else, coughed twice and said: "I've told you before, the devil is a bad thing, he must have been poisoned, so he warned us to stay away from the devil."

  The officer's words were not at all certain, but the boys all believed them. Only Er Shun still had doubts: "Obviously it was a green light, so why is it called 'demon seed'? It doesn't look like a seed at all."

  "This is... this is the way of Taoism." The officer's explanation became increasingly abstruse, talking endlessly about various terms that the young men couldn't understand at all.

  "What a pity, the demon escaped by a hair's breadth." Xia Qiu said.

  "What's he doing?" Da Liang pointed at Li Yuechi, the Taoist priest still sat cross-legged on the ground, seemingly dozing off.

  "He's so tough, he might not be dead yet." Xia Qiu still held a glimmer of hope.

  "Hmph." The officer couldn't help but reveal a tone of disdain, "He even handed over his internal elixir to you, that's how certain he was of his own impending death."

  Xiao Qiu walked up again to check his breath, Li Yuechi's skin had already cooled down a bit. "Let's bury him."

  "I think we should leave the forest immediately." The officer looked around anxiously, "The demons might come back at any moment."

  Xiao Qiu ignored him and first went to take down the small oil lamp hanging from the tree branch. What was strange was that the light, which had originally shone evenly in all directions, suddenly changed to shine only in one direction.

  After seeing the snake demon and the magic species, such a strange thing still made the young people of Yelin Town click their tongues in praise, finally understanding what Li Yuechi meant by "follow it".

  Xiao Qiu handed the oil lamp to Fang Fang and said to everyone: "Come on, let's dig a hole."

  The boys were looking for branches everywhere to use as digging tools, and even the second lieutenant pulled out a long sword. Only the officer retreated to one side, with his hands behind his back, showing no intention of helping.

  "You come too," said Xia Qiu.

  The officer shook his head firmly, "No, this is not something I should be doing."

  "You're a prisoner, you have to do whatever work is assigned."

  The officer shook his head, "I haven't learned it and I won't dig, I won't do it."

  Xiao Qiu was about to speak when Er Shuang walked over, clenched his fist and said "Are you going to dig or not?"

  The officer retreated timidly, hesitated for a moment, and finally softened. "You are the son of the garrison commander, you should learn to win people over with virtue, not just use your fists..." He walked around the two men, found a small branch, and started digging a hole together with everyone else.

  The ground was all rotten leaves, easy to dig, but after more than a foot deep, it couldn't be done, the roots were intertwined, and even with specialized tools, it was difficult to make progress.

  Several young men took action and lifted Li Yuechi, carefully placing him into the pit.

  Dah Lian felt around on the corpse for a bit.

  "What are you doing?" Xia Qiu asked.

  "He had so many treasures, how come none of them are left?"

  The officer didn't help much, but got tired and sweaty, still couldn't help but mock, "Rarely seen, yet surprisingly suspicious, except for the law sword, all the treasures of the five elements master are stored in the hundred treasure bag, how could it be hidden on his body?"

  Everyone's eyes fell on the cloth bag at Xia Qiu's waist.

  Xiao Qiu patted twice, "He said this is a gift for us, after walking out of the forest, everyone will divide it equally."

  Taking advantage of no one's attention, the officer curled his lips and was convinced that these boys were uncivilized little savages.

  The hungry boys walked out of the forest when the sky was already bright, they returned to their original place, standing at the bend of the official road, the traces of the battle between the snake demon and the Xuanfu army had disappeared without a trace.

  The oil lamp in Fang's hand seemed to know its task was completed and automatically went out.

  "What's next?" asked Dalang.

  Xiao Qiu scratched his head, he had been thinking about this problem all the way, and said to the officer: "Do you know the way to Pangshan?"

  The officer was taken aback, then said: "Ah, of course. Mount Pong is one of the nine great Taoist mountains, famous throughout the land... If you want to go to Mount Pong, you must first go to Xiao'er Fort, where there is a post station, and from there it's smooth sailing to Mount Pong."

  "He's cheating again." Er Biao pushed the officer away. "If you ask me, let's go back to town first. My dad must know where Pang Shan is."

  "Me and Fang Fang..."

  He nodded twice and waved his hand, indicating that he had already considered everything. "You and Fangfang are still hiding in the old madwoman's house."

  "It's Grandma Feng." Fangfang corrected softly.

  "Uh-huh, let's go back to town and gather information first. Then we'll set off together."

  The other boys all agreed to Er Bao's plan. In fact, their playful hearts had been exhausted and they just wanted to go home immediately. As for whether or not they would still follow Xiao Qiu to Mount Pan, that was something to be considered later.

  "Alright." Xia Qiu reluctantly nodded.

  The officer forced a smile, "I don't have to go to Yelin Town, do I?"

  The two policemen pushed him again on the officer's body, "You still have so many words, you have to go with us."

  The young men set foot on the road home, thinking that they would be able to return home by dusk today, and no one felt invigorated. No one could have predicted that something big was about to happen in Yelin Town, and it would no longer be the home they remembered.

  (Collection needed, recommendation needed)

  (I saw book friends mention the issue of posting new book announcements in "The Book of the Dead", due to lack of experience, "The Book of the Dead" had already applied for closure, VIP channel closed, new book announcements can only be displayed in public chapters, and the default page is the latest VIP chapter, after a few attempts, finally posted in the introduction above. New book "Bà Mó" looking forward to everyone's support.)