Capítulo 14: Chapter 14 Helpers

Just after swallowing the Elixir, Li Huowang felt a warm blaze in his Dantian, which seemed to burn brighter and brighter.

It burned so intensely that he couldn't even pay attention to the nausea and retching welling up inside him.

"Xuanyang, go rest. This Elixir is quite potent; it will take some time to fully absorb," said Master Danyang.

"Yes, Master."

Stumbling back to his quarters, Li Huowang leaned against the doorframe, heaving deeply, but he could only vomit some clear water. The Elixir had already been completely absorbed.

"Crack crack." Li Huowang's joints creaked, and his body convulsed involuntarily.

By now, the fire in his Dantian had traveled along his meridians to his limbs. He felt like he was wearing a heavy cotton coat in the height of summer, his whole body seemed boiled.

The heat made his mind groggy; lying in bed, Li Huowang stared at the spinning ceiling overhead, thinking of everything that had just happened, remembering the fearful and desperate looks of everyone in the storeroom.

He had become an accomplice to the repugnant Master Danyang, forcing upon others what had been done to him.

The others might not be literate, but they were not stupid. In the face of absolute power, nothing he did mattered.

"I must kill him, I must find a way to kill him!!" Li Huowang roared frantically in his heart.

His right hand clenched the edge of the stone bed unconsciously, and as he finished the last sentence in his heart, veins stood out on the back of his hand.

With a "crack," he snapped off a chunk of the hard stone bed.

This unforeseen change startled Li Huowang. He looked at his hand, then at the piece of stone he was holding. He quickly realized that this was the effect of the Elixir.

It wasn't just strength that had changed. Li Huowang even felt that he could see a bit further with his eyes. The Elixir had given him a feeling of being reborn.

But the thought of how he had gained this power made Li Huowang feel nauseous again.

"Brother Li, are you okay?" Bai Lingmiao cautiously poked her head in from the doorway.

Li Huowang looked up with a complex expression, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Taking a step forward, Bai Lingmiao said, "Brother Li, you really shouldn't blame yourself. We all know you had no choice. If... I mean if Master asks me to go next time, just don't switch me with someone else. After all... everyone ends up the same."

Li Huowang didn't want to talk about it, seeing her bleeding forehead, he took out an Elixir he had made earlier and handed it to her, "Eat this, it will stop the bleeding."

Bai Lingmiao looked at the Elixir in Li Huowang's hand, then shook her head hard in fear. "I won't take any Elixirs, definitely not."

Li Huowang forced a few dry laughs and casually tossed the Elixir on the ground, "Right, all medicines have their poisons, indeed they aren't good to take."

Bai Lingmiao bit her lip, thought for a moment, then asked Li Huowang, "Brother Li, are you planning to go against Master?"

Li Huowang's expression changed, and he looked nervously towards the door, hurrying over to close it.

"It's okay, Master can't hear us now. He relies on 'You Lao Ye' to spy on us. On the days of the big market, 'You Lao Ye' always goes back for the market," she explained.

"What is 'You Lao Ye'?" Li Huowang asked, puzzled; this was the first time he had heard this term.

"You Lao Ye' is just that, 'You Lao Ye.' It's invisible and intangible. I've heard my grandfather say that only highly skilled Taoists can command them," she said.

"Oh?" Li Huowang's interest was piqued, and he filed this crucial piece of information away in his mind.

"When is the time for the big market gathering?"

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao looked at him with puzzlement, "It's on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, Brother Li, how do you not know this? Didn't your parents ever take you to the market?"

Li Huowang shook his head. The memories in his mind, whether real or illusory, proved he had only lived in the city before and had never taken part in such countryside material exchange fairs.

"Brother Li, let's get back to the matter at hand, do you really want to deal with Master?"

Li Huowang's expression turned grim. "Of course, I wish I could eat his flesh and drink his blood!"

Bai Lingmiao took a deep breath and nodded emphatically, "Then count me in, Brother. I also want to help with this kind of thing!"

Li Huowang looked at the girl before him, and her resolute gaze, realizing that Bai Lingmiao might not be as fragile as he had thought.

"Alright, you're in," Li Huowang agreed, feeling indeed in need of a helping hand.

After some careful thought, Li Huowang said to her with a serious expression, "The two of us aren't enough. Go to the storeroom and watch over it, see if there's anyone else who harbors dissatisfaction."

Others might not dare to rebel against Master Danyang, but those in the storeroom destined to die as Medicinal Guides are bound to have grievances; this is a fundamental conflict, and surely among them there are those worthy of being approached.

"Mm." Bai Lingmiao nodded, then turned and left.

Li Huowang sat for a while before picking up the round jade pendant tied around his waist, thinking of that fellow disciple who had failed to escape.

"Xuanyang, oh Xuanyang, was it like this when you all gathered together back then? I hope I don't end up with the same fate as you."

In the following period, Li Huowang began to integrate himself wholeheartedly into Qingfeng Taoist Temple, arranging the storeroom in perfect order, both people and things.

Faced with such a dedicated disciple, Master Danyang naturally had rewards to offer, teaching him all kinds of basic Elixirs, as if he truly intended to cultivate him as a disciple.

These common Elixirs weren't very effective, at best allowing Li Huowang to treat minor illnesses and injuries.

Moreover, Li Huowang didn't know whether it was just Master Danyang's Elixirs or if all the Elixirs in this world were the same, but such things have their limits; taken excessively, they turn from curing to harming.

And there were taboos as well, such as not mixing them; mixing could also easily lead to problems.

Rather than saying Li Huowang could now become a quack doctor, it would be more accurate to say he had become a qualified poisoner.

The Elixirs were not key; what was key was that Li Huowang's relationship with Master Danyang gradually warmed through this contact.

Sometimes during Alchemy, Master Danyang even had Li Huowang assist him.

When Master Danyang took in another Taoist Boy as a disciple, Li Huowang was no longer the youngest one and had fully integrated himself into Qingfeng Taoist Temple.

Through such close contact, Li Huowang confirmed his suspicion that Master Danyang was indeed illiterate and very averse to others being literate.

He did not allow his disciples to surpass him in anything, which is why the disciples he chose were basically illiterate as well.

This made Li Huowang sense something was amiss, recalling the words Master Danyang once said to him.

"Because the way to immortality is written in Grand Master Lao's Heavenly Book, and the Heavenly Book was personally delivered to my hands by Grand Master Lao himself. Who else in the world can become immortal? He said I could become immortal. I surely can become immortal!"

If Grand Master Lao had given him a Heavenly Book and none of the other disciples could read, and he himself could not read either, then who was it that read to him?

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