Chapter 63 - 56: I Really Cured Him to Death?

’Don’t tell me... they’re trying to improve my Alchemy skills this way?’

’No way, right?!’

’With my level of skill in Alchemy, is improvement even possible?’

’Or... are you all doing this just to...’

’Yes!’

’That has to be it!’

’They must be using this bloody, absurd, and completely illogical method to assault my Dao Heart and shatter my common sense!’

’They want to make me think the world is just this insane, so I’ll accept their inhumane actions!’

’Otherwise, there’s no other way to explain why they keep mutilating themselves in front of me over and over again!’

What was she supposed to do?

Eldest Senior Brother shot her another urging look.

"Junior Sister, hurry up and save him!"

"What are you spacing out for?"

"If you keep hesitating, he’s going to die again!"

Su Ling’er’s face was pale, her eyes unfocused.

’I don’t get it... I just don’t get it...’

’I’m so tired... Whatever, let them do what they want...’

So, she grabbed another random pile of herbs, threw them into the Pill Furnace, and began to refine... and refine... and refine.

This time, she really tried to refine them properly, hoping to create something decent.

In the end, what came out was a pitch-black, grimy-looking pill.

She looked at the black pill in her hand, then at the one her Eldest Senior Brother had refined earlier.

Eldest Senior Brother had fed that black pill to the disciple who had stabbed himself in the chest, and the disciple had healed instantly, becoming full of life and vigor.

’Is that the legendary power to bring the dead to life and regrow flesh on bones?’

’Then I look at my black pill...’

’They don’t look that different, right?’

"Senior Brother... you..."

But before she could finish, the mangled mess of flesh and blood that was Ji turned his remaining eyeball toward his junior sister.

"Th... thank... you... Junior Sister... for saving... my life!"

He then snatched the shoddily refined black pill from her hand and swallowed it in one gulp!

And then... he spewed even more blood!

"Some... someone drag me over to Eldest Senior Brother... or... or to Lu Wu... either one works..."

He said, spewing blood with every word.

So, two other disciples came forward, each grabbing a pant leg, and dragged him to the bedside of the alchemy maniac, Lu Wu.

Immediately after, another disciple arrived where Su Ling’er was.

"Junior Sister! I’m counting on you!"

Su Ling’er glanced at the disciple who had just been dragged away like a dead dog, then at the newcomer. She could already guess what was about to happen.

The disciple slapped both hands against his ears with a loud CRACK, and blood instantly gushed from his seven orifices.

Then, he struck himself several times all over his body.

He went even further, snapping his own wrists and ankles backward with a series of CRUNCHES! CRUNCHES! twisting himself into a bizarre posture.

"Ju... Junior Sister... I’m counting... on you..."

Looking at his grotesque, contorted body, Su Ling’er just wanted to ask them: ’Doesn’t that hurt?!’

’How can they even bend their own bodies like that?’

’How did he do it?’

’This really is some kind of Evil Cultivator celebration!’

’It’s just like those vengeful ghosts from the storybooks that crawl out of wells with their joints bending the wrong way!’

She stared blankly at this new "patient."

"Oh... I get it. I’ll just make a pill for you."

...

And so, she repeated the cycle over and over: Alchemy, feeding them the pill, and watching as each "patient" was dragged away in an even worse state.

The disciple who had previously blown himself into a bloody mess actually came back after being healed.

But before he could even say a word, he exploded with a BANG right in front of her, blowing himself in two!

She looked at Eldest Senior Brother and Lu Wu. They seemed to have no intention of intervening, instead gesturing for her to handle it.

’Heavens above!’

’So you’re not going to step in until I fail, is that it?’

’What are you trying to do?!’

’What in the world are you...’

Su Ling’er was so furious she didn’t know what to say. She was even starting to feel numb.

Once again, she mimicked the senior brothers next to her, refining... and refining... and refining...

As she worked, she realized the pill she was making this time actually looked somewhat decent.

It wasn’t a piece of dross reeking of burnt slag, but a perfectly round pill, with faint wisps of a pill-halo swirling around it... a real pill!

’Could it be... I finally know how to do Alchemy?’

’I can finally refine... a real pill?!’

A wave of disbelief washed over her.

She held the pill with extreme care.

’Although I have no idea what it actually does—after all, I just grabbed a random handful of herbs—judging by its appearance, it probably... hopefully... won’t kill someone, right?’

She took a deep breath, and with a mix of trembling and anticipation, she fed this first true "pill" of her life to the disciple who had blown himself in two.

She watched as the pill slid slowly down his throat...

’Success!’

However, the thought had barely formed in her mind before it was shattered by the horrifying scene unfolding before her!

The pill, before it even reached his stomach, suddenly burst open with a SIZZLE inside the disciple’s throat!

A puff of green smoke emerged, and the section of his throat was corroded through at a visible rate!

The disciple couldn’t even let out a scream. His body went rigid, and the light in his eyes instantly extinguished.

Head, upper torso, lower torso—the already mutilated body now became a "three-piece" corpse, pierced through by the poison.

Su Ling’er stared blankly as the pill, having corroded through the disciple’s throat, fell out of the hole and onto the ground. It landed with a SIZZLE and dissolved into a fine powder. Her mind was a complete blank; she had no idea what to say.

’Wh-what’s happening?’

’Why wasn’t the pill corrosive when it was in my hand, but it corroded him as soon as he swallowed it?’

’And... my first successfully refined pill... isn’t a Spirit Pill, but... a poison pill?!’

’I really don’t have any potential as a pill refiner...’

’And... I killed someone?!’

She looked at the pool of blood on the ground before her, and the body now in three pieces.

’This isn’t like the one who choked before. This guy is deader than dead!’

The little voice in her head was screaming.

’It wasn’t me who harmed you!’

’You forced me!’

’You forced me to do it!’

’You’re the ones who forced me to "save" you like this!’

’I told you I couldn’t save you!’

’You lunatics better not come back to haunt me as ghosts!’

’I didn’t kill anyone... I didn’t kill anyone... I didn’t kill anyone...’

’Right!’

’I... I’m eliminating demons to defend the righteous path!’

’Eliminating demons to defend the righteous path... Eliminating demons to defend the righteous path!!!’

’That’s right!’

’I’m eliminating demons to defend the righteous path!’

’This is all for the good of the world and the righteous path of humanity!’

’I didn’t kill anyone!’

...

After that, she tried not to think anymore.

She dealt with the people constantly mutilating themselves in front of her with a numb detachment.

’If they want to eat it, fine. They’re the ones forcing me!’

’I can’t take it anymore!’

’I have to get out of this ridiculous evil sect!’

’What the hell is this place?!’

’I can’t stand another second in this sect!’

Just then, she saw a special "patient."

It was Mr. Qian, also a "patient."

He was carried to the bed in front of her, lying there quietly, his breathing faint.

Su Ling’er looked at that all-too-familiar face, at this righteous senior who had been enslaved by demons for who knows how many years, and her heart filled with a storm of emotions.

’It’s not enough that I’m being toyed with by these demons, but even you, Senior... have to be tormented by them to this extent?’

’The ways of the demonic path truly defy all logic.’

...

「Meanwhile, in the wilderness.」

A Contracted Spirit Insect, which had been lurking in the soil, stirred and took flight.