Having spent the entire night digging the burial pit, Zhou Wuji was caked in dirt from head to toe, looking quite disheveled.
Yet his true qi had advanced to Rank 7, and his physical body had improved substantially. At this moment, he felt no fatigue whatsoever; instead, his spirits flourished and his body felt completely invigorated.
It was as though every part of him had just warmed up, settling into peak condition.
Zhou Wuji felt that he had performed a truly virtuous deed, and his mood was exceptionally bright.
Only now did he go to inspect those coarse pottery jars. Even without breaking the wax seals, he knew they were filled with red blossom honey.
He lifted one jar and weighed it in his hands; it easily tipped the scales at fifty to sixty jin.
There were five wax-sealed pottery jars in total, adding up to over two hundred jin of red blossom honey.
Red blossom honey was an exceedingly precious spiritual treasure, quite rare on the market and without any fixed price.
By his calculations, even if he sold it cheaply, fetching a thousand taels of gold would be no difficult feat.
Fortunately, he had mastered the Five Yin Pouch; otherwise, he truly would not have been able to haul away these massive jars of honey.
Together with the severed Yin-Yang Hundred Spirits Banner, a bronze cauldron for refining medicine, and other items like iron shovels, hoes, and empty earthenware jars, Zhou Wuji packed everything away.
While these farming implements were of little monetary value, to ordinary peasants they were vital tools.
Though useless to him, he could take them back for the temple's tenant farmers to use.
Save where one should, spend where one must; just because one had wealth didn't mean one should be wasteful.
Zhou Wuji checked the surroundings once more. Finding nothing left behind, he set off on his return journey.
He took the same route back that he had come by. Although this detoured a long way, it would prevent anyone from intercepting him along the road.
The return trip was comparatively relaxed. When resting at night, Zhou Wuji would stow the Five Yin Pouch to conserve his dharmic power and true qi.
Though the Five Yin Pouch had been breached once by the ghost soldier, the harm was minor. After all, the foundation of the five yin spirits resided in the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, so they could never be truly destroyed.
On the way back, Zhou Wuji went to check on the tiger demon. Its carcass had long since been dragged away, leaving behind only torn scraps of hide and flesh.
The golden toad, giant serpent, and other beasts were nowhere to be seen either.
The mountains and forests were ever home to various wild beasts and monsters; such blood food would naturally be scavenged and devoured in short order.
Zhou Wuji had anticipated this, so he was not particularly disappointed.
Along the way, he also slew a few minor demons and eradicated several malicious specters.
These petty creatures were useless to him directly, but using the converted profound essence and profound qi to nourish his yin spirits proved quite effective.
By dusk on the fifth day, Zhou Wuji had returned to Canglong Temple.
Zhou Wuji did not enter through the main gate. Instead, he vaulted over the rear wall and silently arrived at the quarters of Abbot Wuzheng.
Wuzheng was sitting on a prayer mat chanting scriptures, his daily evening service.
Hearing a sound, he turned around. Seeing Zhou Wuji, he could not help looking pleased. "Junior Brother, you have returned."
Seeing Zhou Wuji covered in dust yet appearing in high spirits, Wuzheng said with deep relief, "It is good that you are back safely."
The gold-ring poison bees of Red Leaf Ridge were formidable, and Wuzheng had been constantly worried that some mishap might befall him.
In his view, taking such a tremendous risk for a few villagers he had never met was entirely unnecessary.
Yet Zhou Wuji had gone without hesitation. While perhaps a bit foolish, it showed that his junior brother possessed a compassionate heart that pitied the suffering of others.
A good man who fought skillfully and dared to kill, yet still held fast to righteousness and compassion, had won Wuzheng's trust and earned his growing esteem.
Zhou Wuji smiled at Wuzheng. "Forgive me for causing Senior Brother worry. By the blessing of the Northern Emperor, the journey went reasonably well."
"You obtained the red blossom honey?" Wuzheng was pleasantly surprised. Did his junior brother truly possess miraculous ability, having actually pulled it off?!
"Yes. And I also ran into cultists from the Yin-Yang Dao..."
Zhou Wuji gave a brief account of what had happened, naturally omitting how he had hunted the monsters and focusing instead on the situation with the Yin-Yang Dao cultists.
He retrieved the Yin-Yang banner and the ring from his Five Yin Pouch and handed them to Wuzheng to inspect.
Neither item was usable by him, so hiding them served no purpose. It was better to let Wuzheng examine them; after all, Wuzheng was an ordained Rank 7 Daoist and bound to be far superior to him in appraising magical artifacts.
"The Yin-Yang Dao has been very active in recent years..."
Wuzheng stopped mid-sentence. He had just watched Zhou Wuji pull two items from his sleeve—the ring was one thing, but how had an eight-foot-long banner come out of there?
He quickly realized. "Is that the Five Yin Pouch?"
Zhou Wuji nodded. "Senior Brother has discerning eyes; it is indeed that technique."
"Junior Brother, you are truly a peerless talent. Not only is your swordsmanship superb, but your attainments in the mystical arts are remarkably profound as well."
Wuzheng was not flattering him; the Five Yin Pouch was exceedingly intricate, and almost nobody in the lower courtyard practiced it.
To cultivate the Five Yin Pouch to the point where one could retrieve items at will was even rarer.
"I am humbled. It was all by the grace of the Northern Emperor that I had some fortunate success."
Zhou Wuji offered a modest response before asking, "Senior Brother, what do you think of these two artifacts?"
"The Yin-Yang Hundred Spirits Banner appears to be of quite fine quality. As for this ring..."
Wuzheng held it close to his eyes, studied it carefully, and attempted to channel true qi into it to activate the ring. With a touch of uncertainty, he said, "It should be the vessel artifact for the Thousand-Poison Ten-Thousand-Fiend Arrows. This sorcery is venomous and sinister, capable of unleashing poisoned arrows..."
Zhou Wuji was genuinely impressed. Wuzheng truly possessed broad knowledge, explaining the origin and nuances of the artifacts with utter clarity.
He then brought out the bronze cauldron and other items for Wuzheng to appraise, most of which Wuzheng recognized as well.
Among the artifacts, the most valuable was naturally the Hundred Spirits Banner, though sadly Zhou Wuji had severed it. Next came the ring.
Without the corresponding spells, outsiders could not utilize either artifact.
Wuzheng suggested sending them all back to the lower courtyard to be dismantled into their component materials, which could fetch some money.
Zhou Wuji naturally had no objection. If one wanted to sell these items at full value, one could only sell them to the Yin-Yang Dao—which, of course, was out of the question.
Disposing of them through the lower courtyard would at least recoup some money.
Wuzheng cautioned, "The Yin-Yang Dao has powerful experts as well. Their Libationer in Yunyang Prefecture is named Fang Boxiong, reportedly a Rank 6 practitioner. Now that you have formed a grudge with the Yin-Yang Dao, you should be careful..."
Zhou Wuji did not pay it much mind. Demonic cultivators were called demonic cultivators precisely because they could not operate in the light of day.
Even a Rank 6 demonic cultivator would hardly have the courage to come cause trouble for him at Canglong Temple.
Knowing that Wuzheng was skilled in refining medicinal pills, he immediately gifted Wuzheng a jar of red blossom honey.
Wuzheng felt somewhat sheepish. "This is far too valuable. I cannot accept it."
"Senior Brother, I would also like to learn the art of refining pills. Consider this tuition, how about it?" Zhou Wuji had some interest in alchemy anyway, mainly because he possessed the primordial profound spirit; once he learned how to refine pills, he could rapidly elevate his skill level.
Internal elixir methods were cultivated solely within oneself; no matter how formidable one became, they benefited only the practitioner.
External alchemy was different—everyone desired high-grade pills.
The Emperor treated the Daoist sect with great favor, and the Daoists' mastery in alchemy was a crucial reason for it.
As the saying went: master the pill-refining craft, and fear nothing beneath heaven!
The pill-refining craft was splendid; learn it he must!
Wuzheng chuckled and waved his hand. "Between the two of us, if you want to learn pill refining, that is simple enough. There is no need for this."
"That won't do. Alchemy is an orthodox art; how could it be imparted lightly? That Senior Brother is willing to teach me is already a great kindness."
Judging others by himself, Zhou Wuji knew that no matter how someone declined a valuable gift, deep down they surely wanted it.
Regardless of how Wuzheng demurred, he insisted on giving it, and did so with utmost sincerity and resolve.
Seeing this, Wuzheng no longer refused. He said, "The pill-refining method is merely an umbrella term. I can hardly claim to be a master, only skilled in refining several kinds of pills.
"Refining pills is much like cooking; it all hinges on the control of heat. Most crucial is sensing through qi, utilizing water and fire, yin and yang, to harmonize the spiritual qi of the medicinal ingredients until a state of rounded harmony is achieved. That is why the medicines refined take the shape of perfectly round pills..."
With just a few words on the essentials of pill refining from Wuzheng, Zhou Wuji gained tremendous insight. Truly, the Great Dao was simple, or as they said, the true transmission takes but a single sentence.
In a few plain sentences, the essence of alchemy had been laid bare. Zhou Wuji felt a couple degrees more respect for Wuzheng: though his senior brother's martial arts were mediocre and his Daoist arts decent, he possessed genuine mastery when it came to refining pills...
When speaking of alchemy, Wuzheng—ordinarily a man of few words—became an eloquent torrent, holding forth without pause.
Seeing how animated he had become, Zhou Wuji didn't want to spoil his mood. Besides, listening was expanding his own horizons.
After talking for a while, Wuzheng realized he had grown overly excited and said too much. Giving a dry cough, he said, "The pill-refining method is quite complex; in the end, it relies on hands-on practice. When I next fire up the furnace to refine pills, come on over.
"Coincidentally, you obtained this bronze cauldron; it will be more than enough for your initial practice."
Zhou Wuji nodded. As good as alchemy was, it could not be mastered in a single day.
He turned to business. "After I left, who was the first person to leave the temple?"
"A handyman from the rear kitchen." Wuzheng had paid special attention to this, as they had planned beforehand to see who would slip out to leak information.
"The Zhang family possesses great numbers and influence in Siming County, so it is no surprise that someone reports to them. Leave him alone for now."
Zhou Wuji asked again, "Senior Brother, when will the experts from the lower courtyard arrive?"
Wuzheng shook his head; he did not know either. They could only wait.
Zhou Wuji felt a bit disappointed. With the experts from the lower courtyard not yet here, he truly did not dare go to Wu Di to demand the captives.
That fellow had spoken fine words, promising to release them once he got the red blossom honey. But if Wu Di saw that the plan had failed, he might well turn hostile on the spot and arrest him.
The risk in this matter was immense. However, he could have Wuzheng go.
Wu Di merely wanted Zhou Wuji's life; there was no way he could do anything to Wuzheng.
Thinking this through, Zhou Wuji cupped his hands. "As for the Pacification Office, I must trouble Senior Brother to go redeem the captives. Only you command the requisite standing..."
Wuzheng believed that saving lives was a righteous deed and one that would bring prestige. Since Junior Brother Wuji harbored concerns, stepping up to help was only right, and he gladly agreed on the spot...
Chapter 48