The next morning, the candlelight in the side hall of Medicine King Valley was dazzling.
The room was filled with red light, so bright it made people dizzy.
Su Chenbi held the silver needle over a fire, the tip glowing red-hot, and spoke in a calm and collected tone:
"Don't be afraid, just prick me nine times. The pain is like a mosquito bite, just bear with it."
"You must have a misunderstanding about mosquitoes!"
Just as Mo Jiuxiao was about to retort, the first needle had already been precisely inserted into the Tanzhong acupoint.
A sharp pain exploded!
He roared in a hoarse voice, "This is worse than being stung by a poisonous thorn! Even storytellers wouldn't dare to make something like this!"
"Shouting until you're hoarse won't save you, and it'll just waste your energy."
Su Chenbi's hands moved with lightning speed, and nine needles fell in succession, giving him no chance to catch his breath.
The needles trembled together, bursting open with golden light!
The light points condensed into an image; above the clouds, a young man in white knelt and shouted:
"Master! Your disciple, Li Hanzhou, is willing to follow you to conquer the eight wastelands and pacify the four seas!"
Mo Jiuxiao's jaw dropped with a "thud":
"This is the little one I raised in my third life. He used to follow me around begging for candy. How did he become the Valley Master of Medicine King Valley?"
Su Chenbi raised her hand and slapped his chin shut with a firm but not too firm touch.
"Don't open your mouth, or flies will fly in and build a nest, and I'll have to clean it out for you."
She pulled out a tattered booklet with crooked handwriting that read "The Secret Manual of Reincarnation":
"Twenty years ago, he took this booklet with him when he left the valley. When he came back, he was a completely different person and his behavior changed drastically."
"So he betrayed us? Forgot who taught him about poisons and protected him as he grew up?"
Mo Jiuxiao struggled to get up, pulling at his wound and wincing in pain.
Su Chenbi flipped through the secret manual and said earnestly:
"Either he's not your apprentice, or he was 'backdoor listed' and his body is Li Hanzhou's, but something else has been replaced inside."
"Backdoor listing? Where did you learn this new term?" Mo Jiuxiao raised an eyebrow curiously.
"It was told by the storyteller in Xihong City, Steamed Pumpkin," she added, tracing the words with her fingertips. "This kind of story is even more exciting than a reincarnation drama, with so many plot twists that you can't guess what's going on. I've even seen your portrait in the Valley Master's stone chamber. There are rows and rows of portraits hanging there, even showing you in a disheveled state, cutting your hand with a piece of porcelain."
Mo Jiuxiao felt a chill run down his spine, and goosebumps rose all over his body.
"So I'm not his master, but one of his 'reincarnation specimens'?"
"It could also be a highly nourishing food; your soul energy is stronger than that of ordinary people."
No sooner had she finished speaking than the guard outside the door called out urgently, "Senior Sister Su! The Valley Master has ordered us to come over for a meeting immediately!"
Su Chenbi stuffed the secret manual back into his sleeve:
"Your meridians aren't stable yet. Wait for me here. Don't run around and become a target."
At midnight, Su Chenbi pushed open the door, bringing with him a chill and raindrops, carrying a food box:
"Qi-boosting pills are sugar-coated; the sweetness masks the bitterness."
"I don't fall for sugar-coated bullets!" Mo Jiuxiao turned his face away arrogantly.
"It's a sugar-coated map; there's a note inside the core."
With a flick of his finger, Su Chenbi delivered the pill precisely into his mouth.
Mo Jiuxiao chewed through the candy coating and spat out the note: [Tomorrow at the Medicine Testing Hall, there's a secret passage beneath the alchemy furnace. The cinnabar fork is a trap, the blue line is the way out. Don't trust Li Hanzhou.]
He crumpled the note and muttered:
"You're even better at hiding things than the system! At least the system sends a pop-up message, but you hide the map inside the pill, as if you're afraid someone will find out?"
Su Chenbi glanced at the candlestick, and the flame suddenly turned a deep blue:
"Remember, you can't even beat a three-year-old right now. If you try to fight head-on, you'll just be throwing your life away."
"This reminder is even more hurtful than calling me a piece of trash!" Mo Jiuxiao's lips twitched.
As dawn broke, Su Chenbi tossed his cane aside:
"Let's go to the medicine testing hall and find the secret passage."
"It hurts for every step I take!" Mo Jiuxiao said helplessly.
Su Chenbi raised an eyebrow and teased:
"If you're leaning on a cane, just consider it as leaning on me. With me here, no one will dare to bully you."
Mo Jiuxiao struggled to his feet, leaning on his cane, and muttered:
"It's a shame you're not a storyteller; you can talk even more than Mr. Steamed Pumpkin, and you can even make empty promises."
The medicine testing hall was bustling with noise, and the bronze alchemy furnace gleamed coldly.
Su Chenbi grabbed his wrist and cut open his pulse point; the blood droplet condensed into a dark red blood crystal.
"Take this; crush it in a critical moment to prevent a fatal injury."
"And what about you?" Mo Jiuxiao asked worriedly.
"I have a mouth, I can fool Li Hanzhou into questioning his existence and making him lose his composure."
Su Chenbi winked at him.
Just as the two of them entered the secret passage under the alchemy furnace, a loud explosion came from behind them. The furnace shattered, black mist poured out, and the disciples screamed in unison!
"Run! Li Hanzhou has noticed!"
Su Chenbi pulled him forward.
In the dark secret passage, the cane tapped on the ground with a "thud".
"Where does this secret passage lead? Is it a dead end?" Mo Jiuxiao asked.
"Whether you find the truth or a coffin depends on luck," Su Chenbi said nonchalantly. "If you're lucky, you'll find the answer; if not, you'll be out of a job."
In the stone chamber at the end of the secret passage, there are portraits of Mo Jiuxiao from different periods of his life, even depicting him in a disheveled state, cutting his hand with a shard of porcelain.
In the ice coffin in the center of the stone chamber lay a white-robed, white-haired boy whose features resembled Li Hanzhou's seven parts, but were more youthful and innocent.
"This is the real Li Hanzhou!"
Su Chenbi's voice trembled as he pressed the mechanism on the ice coffin, "His soul hasn't dissipated; it can be awakened."
The boy in white suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze empty:
"Master...!"
"Holy crap! A zombie? Even the dead are restless in this world!"
Mo Jiuxiao was so frightened that he almost tripped and fell.
"It's a return of his soul; his spirit is still trapped inside his body."
Su Chenbi bit her fingertip, and a drop of blood fell on the boy's brow. "I'll use my blood to guide his soul back."
The moment the blood seeped in, the stone chamber shook violently, and stones kept falling!
Mo Jiuxiao hoisted the ice coffin onto his shoulder:
"Run! We'll be buried if we're any later! This ice coffin is heavier than the sword I carried in my past life. The path you've chosen is really troublesome!"
"Stop complaining, or you'll become a casualty in the end!"
Su Chenbi pulled him towards the exit.
Just as they jumped out of the secret passage, Li Hanzhou's voice caught up with them:
"Master, you can't escape it, you must repay your debt of reincarnation!"
Mo Jiuxiao carried the ice coffin forward, his clothes soaked by the torrential rain, his tone defiant:
"Debt? I'm going to default on it! How can you just say you owe me something without me even knowing what I owe!"
With a slip, the ice coffin fell and the lid popped open.
The young man in white sat up, his eyes clear and bright.
"Master... I've finally waited for you. Remember, don't believe what you see; everything has been altered..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the boy turned into starlight and disappeared, a wisp of his soul merging into Mo Jiuxiao's body.
Su Chenbi crushed the blood crystal, and a red light curtain enveloped the two of them:
"Let's hide for now; tonight isn't the time for a direct confrontation."
The campfire crackled in the dilapidated temple as Mo Jiuxiao slammed the map on the ground.
"I refuse to accept this! Tomorrow I'll go back to Medicine King Valley and overturn that fake chessboard!"
Su Chenbi leaned against the corner of the wall and laughed out loud at his sullen expression:
"Okay, let's divide the work: I'll be in charge of fooling him and confusing him; you'll be in charge of beating him up and making him submit. We're guaranteed to win."
The next chapter will be hilarious: A lone man and a lone man going to "get physical"?