Inside the dungeon, the atmosphere was heavy.
No one spoke. Only Liu Chengqi lay on the ground, wailing incessantly. Liu Chenggong, who had come to his senses, quickly went to help his cousin.
"Father! Father..."
"Shut up!"
An uncertain expression once again appeared on Liu Tianfeng's face. Chu Huaixu, half a head taller than the old man, just stared at him, and he stared right back.
Youthful arrogance! Truly, youthful arrogance!
The Deacon Liu, his heart filled with endless rage, struggled for a long time. His old hands inside his sleeves were trembling slightly, wanting to lash out several times! He'd had his only son late in life; this was his everything, especially since his true root of life had long since withered.
But the young man before him was simply too arrogant. Such insolence—if he didn't have a sky-high background, how would he dare!
What's more, when the old man had been about to block Chu Huaixu, he had been momentarily hindered by Niu Yuanshan's spiritual power, which was why his support had not been timely.
"That man surnamed Niu definitely knows his background!"
Niu Yuanshan's uncharacteristic behavior today—when something is out of the ordinary, there must be a demon at play! Liu Tianfeng even felt that this man surnamed Niu was trying to... curry favor with this young man?
His towering rage was forcefully suppressed by reason, surrendering to the tyrannical power of the Sixth Elder.
Liu Tianfeng took a deep breath and declared his position. "This matter today was entirely my dog son's fault. He was the one who broke the rules. This old man will definitely take him back for a stern lecture!"
Liu Chengqi, with several ribs broken again, felt he couldn't swallow this injustice. His eyes were bloodshot, his mind in a chaotic haze, feeling like he was about to go mad. Liu Chenggong, who was helping him up, gripped his right hand tightly, constantly giving him signals with his eyes. He now understood why Chu Huaixu had reacted that way when he, the vice-captain of the Law Enforcement Team, had gone to arrest him. Thinking back on it now, it was complete and utter fearlessness!
"Who on earth is he!?" Liu Chenggong's heart shook.
Crouching on the ground, he looked up and saw Chu Huaixu happen to glance over, looking down on him. Their eyes met, and a jolt shot through Liu Chenggong's heart. He realized that he too had long since provoked the other party!
After a few seconds of silence, Chu Huaixu finally said to Deacon Liu, "Understood. Then I'll let Senior Brother Liu slowly recuperate."
"This disciple will take his leave now."
The reason Chu Huaixu had made that palm strike was simply because he had a backer, nothing more.
You already tried to take my life. If I show no reaction at this point, am I supposed to go home and engage in cautious development for a while before coming back for revenge? Just like in those parenting videos, "We must teach children delayed gratification," is that it?
What I want is instant gratification! To achieve a clear and unobstructed mind!
...
...
After the trio left the dungeon, Chu Huaixu shot Niu Yuanshan a thankful look. Old Niu gave him a slight smile. The two had a mutual understanding.
"Loy—alty!"
Chu Huaixu still felt no sense of belonging to [The Organization]. After all, he hadn't gone through the training and brainwashing. The system had even designated his [Faction] as [Dao Gate], not [The Organization]. But his personal favorability towards Old Niu had soared.
Niu Yuanshan really did have a strong, affable charm. This slightly hunchbacked, square-faced middle-aged man raised his right hand, beckoned to Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang, and said, "Come, let's go back. We'll talk as we walk."
He tucked his hands into his sleeves and led the two young people towards his small courtyard. Along the way, he chattered on, seeming a bit long-winded.
"I imagine you both must be very curious about the purpose of these two Jade Tablet Fragments I helped you obtain, right?"
"This jade tablet is of great use. So, you must listen carefully to what I'm about to say, hehe."
"Oh right, before I begin, I must first ask you: do you know of the Pill King?"
"The Pill King?" Han Shuangjiang said softly. "I've seen him mentioned in storybooks. The King of the Dao of Pills."
Niu Yuanshan looked straight ahead, his eyes filled with reverence, and began his introduction.
"The Pill King, a native of the Moon Kingdom, was a rare eighth-realm Great Cultivator. His mastery of pill refining could be said to have stolen from creation itself. In the Dao of Pills, he is hailed as the number one person beneath the Dao Ancestor."
"Half of the current recipes for high-grade and supreme-grade spiritual pills came from his hands."
"For example, the Profound Heaven Embryonic Breath Pill."
"In fact, many pill refiners believe that the Pill King is already on par with the Dao Ancestor in the Dao of Pills!"
Niu Yuanshan paused for a moment. His public identity was, after all, a Dao Gate deacon, so he stated his position clearly, "Of course, this is a point that we of the Dao Gate will never acknowledge."
Chu Huaixu also had some understanding of this matter. In terms of overall contribution, the number of high-grade and supreme-grade spiritual pill recipes created by the Dao Ancestor was not many, only about a third of the Pill King's. But there was no helping it; the Aperture-Opening Pill was just that incredible. The Dao Ancestor had, by his own power, lowered the threshold of cultivation, ushering the Xuanhuang Realm into a prosperous age of cultivation. As for the high-end goods created by the Pill King, let alone ordinary people, even ordinary cultivators could not benefit from them. After all, high-grade and supreme-grade spiritual pills used heavenly materials and earthly treasures, their prices were astronomical, and they were often priceless with no market.
At this moment, Niu Yuanshan also continued, "Guess why the Pill King has so many supporters in the pill refining world?"
Without waiting for the two to answer, Old Niu gave the answer himself.
"Because the Pill King accepted too many disciples in his lifetime."
"And then, the disciples took on disciples, and those disciples took on disciples. After so many years, the pill refining world is filled with his disciples and grand-disciples."
Chu Huaixu also knew this. The Pill King loved to take on disciples, and he didn't care about your talent in pill refining. It was purely based on his mood and whether he found you pleasing to the eye. As a rogue cultivator, he himself had no sect or faction. When taking on disciples, he didn't care about their origins, nor did he distinguish by country. Because he didn't teach cultivation at all; he only taught pill refining, acting only as a master of the Dao of Pills. As a result, even some disciples from the four great sects of the Eastern Continent's Mirror Kingdom would seek him out to become his apprentice and learn pill refining. The Dao Gate was no exception.
Niu Yuanshan continued his story. "In his lifetime, the Pill King had a total of 12 True Disciples, 129 ordinary disciples, and a number of in-name disciples that he probably couldn't even remember."
"It's laughable, really. Even now, there are people in the pill refining world who use the banner of the Pill King's lineage to swindle people, claiming that their lineage's founder was once an in-name disciple of the Pill King."
"But in fact, because the Pill King never looked at talent when accepting disciples, and because he himself was intoxicated with the Dao of Pills and didn't have that much time to guide so many disciples, the pill refining skills of these people are a mixed bag."
"Of course, there were some outstanding ones among them. Several Grandmasters of Pill Refining have come from his disciples," Old Niu said.
At this point, he suddenly stopped, looked at the two young people with a serious expression, and said:
"The Jade Tablet Fragments you two obtained are, in fact, fragments of a Pill King's Token."
Chu Huaixu already knew this, but as a companion, how could he not know how to provide emotional value? He immediately sucked in a breath of cold air and exclaimed, "The Pill King's Token!"
Han Shuangjiang was also slightly stunned, shocked in her heart.
"Yes, the Pill King's Token. Apart from his in-name disciples, every one of the Pill King's official disciples would have a Pill King's Token to signify their identity," Niu Yuanshan said with a gentle smile.
He continued, "You should know that many of our Dao Gate's predecessors would emulate the Dao Ancestor and, before their passing, set up a secret realm somewhere in [The Mountain Beyond the Mountains] to leave behind their legacy and opportunities."
Chu Huaixu nodded. Han Shuangjiang, the little novice, however, was hearing this for the first time, and she gave him a surprised look.
Niu Yuanshan pointed at the two of them. "Your Jade Tablet Fragments are the key to one such secret realm. Although that Dao Gate predecessor was not among the 12 True Disciples, he was still an official disciple of the Pill King."
"Although the pill refining skills of the Pill King's disciples are a mixed bag, at the very least... they can't be too bad."
"Ahem, there's still a baseline."
Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang looked at each other, both understanding the value of these Jade Tablet Fragments.
In Chu Huaixu's memory, when "Borrowing a Sword" first started its open beta, the players were all still in the novice period. A storage ring left behind by a third-realm cultivator had caused a sensation on the game forums, making all the major player guilds spring into action, turning it into a sleepless night.
This official disciple of the Pill King couldn't possibly be worse than an ordinary third-realm cultivator, right?
Niu Yuanshan looked at them, the smile on his face growing wider. He said:
"Finally, I must say one last thing. This predecessor perhaps wanted to find a piece of unpolished jade, so this secret realm can only be entered by those without spiritual power."
"You two children, being in the aperture-opening stage, perfectly meet this condition."