Liuu Ji was one of the larger marketplaces nearby, with a permanent population of over ten thousand and a daily floating population several tis that number.
Song Lin rode his horse and soon arrived at the bustling market.
The layout here wasn’t as orderly or clean as Shanyin County. On both sides were small stalls, most selling vegetables, fruits, and wild ga hunted by villagers.
The roads were filled with flowing wastewater, littered with rotten vegetable leaves and unidentified animal entrails.
The walls of the houses on either side were covered in dark green moss. Occasionally, soone would open their door and dump waste into the foul-slling gutters nearby.
Riding a horse here was slower than walking, so Song Lin decided to dismount and lead his horse on foot.
"Old sir, where can I find the dical clinic run by Master dicine Dragon?" Song Lin stopped an old man carrying a yoke of goods.
"Master dicine Dragon? The clinic is closed today. He went to a banquet at Liuu the Great Benefactor’s house with so others."
"Where is Liuu the Great Benefactor’s house?"
"Just cross through this marketplace and head two li south. You’ll find it there."
"Many thanks, old sir."
Song Lin placed a couple of pieces of broken silver into the old man’s hands. The man stared at Song Lin’s retreating figure, dumbfounded, wondering if all city folks were so generous.
Past the market lay a sprawling field.
"Eh? Song Lin?"
From the horizon ca a streak of tunneling light. A rotund man dressed in black descended from a shadowy cloud.
"Lin Yang, my Taoist friend? What brings you here?"
Song Lin tugged on his reins and ca to a stop, recognizing an old acquaintance.
"You’re here for Master dicine Dragon, too?" Lin Yang imdiately guessed.
"Exactly. And you as well?"
"Of course. It’s worth six points of yin rit. How about we work together and split the yin rit evenly?"
Lin Yang fished out a Paper Horse Talisman from his sleeve, tossing it into the air. A white horse materialized on the ground before him.
"Deal."
Without wasting any more words, the two mounted their horses and rode toward Liuu Village.
It didn’t take long before they spotted a large mansion adorned with lanterns and banners up ahead.
Liuu the Great Benefactor was hosting a grand banquet today.
As soon as they approached, a servant stepped forward to greet them.
"Honored guests, may I ask if you have invitations?"
"No need for one. Kindly notify them that the Lin Family, traveling rchants from the South, are here to visit."
"Very well. Please wait a mont, honored guests."
Before long, the servant invited the two inside.
"This is one of my legitimate investnts under a secular identity," Lin Yang explained with a grin, "Having a clear worldly status makes things much easier. Taoist friend, have you yet settled down to marry and build a life?"
"Not for now. I’ll think about it later."
Song Lin was presently focused solely on cultivation.
"Haha, a lifespan of a few hundred years, and you plan to spend it all cultivating? Wouldn’t that be dull?"
Most who pursued Immortal Cultivation didn’t do so to beco Immortals but to enjoy life to the fullest.
Compared to the toil of cultivating day and night, living freely and indulging in pleasures was far more appealing.
"So, have you settled down?" Song Lin diverted the topic, unwilling to delve deeper.
The heavens had already granted him incredible fortune. If he didn’t cherish it and strive accordingly, he would deserve divine punishnt.
Song Lin wasn’t disinterested in won or inexperienced, but he understood one fundantal truth: those who strive for greatness must not be distracted by fleeting passions or romantic entanglents.
"? My son’s old enough to buy soy sauce," Lin Yang chuckled proudly.
The two followed a servant across a courtyard, finding ten or so tables set up in the rear.
Two elderly n with white hair occupied the main and guest seats.
"Guests are welco. Young master of the Lin Family, please have a seat."
Landlord Liuu appeared to be a shrewd old man, while the other, donning a Taoist robe and exuding an otherworldly air, had to be Master dicine Dragon.
Song Lin subtly sniffed the air, detecting a potent dicinal scent.
Neither acted rashly, opting instead to blend in and find a table.
Song Lin gnawed on a pork hock while speaking quietly with Lin Yang.
"Does sothing feel off to you? I initially suspected this fellow of deliberately spreading plague to refine plague True Qi," Lin Yang whispered.
Theoretically, external energies could indeed be harnessed to purify True Qi.
Plague Qi, in particular, was exceedingly sinister. Deliberately spreading disease to refine True Qi would make one a universally reviled target.
"And now?"
"He doesn’t seem to have any plague Qi on him."
As they conversed, cries echoed from outside the doors.
"Xiao Liu, go and check!"
Before Landlord Liuu could finish his command, a woman rushed in holding an infant. The baby was visibly stricken with smallpox, causing the crowd to recoil in fear.
"Master, save us!"
"Everyone, remain calm!" Master dicine Dragon stood up, smiling. "Allow ."
He approached, extending a finger to tap the infant’s forehead.
The infant’s blackened brow emitted a wisp of dark energy that flowed into Master dicine Dragon’s own brow.
The sores on the infant’s face imdiately receded. However, in the eyes of Song Lin and Lin Yang, the baby had lost all its Primordial Energy and wouldn’t live to see eighteen.
"Amazing!!"
"Master, your divine power is unmatched!!"
Demon!
Song Lin and Lin Yang exchanged a knowing look.
In tacit agreent, they struck simultaneously.
Song Lin produced a Jade Talisman, channeling mana to transform it into a raging, flaming treasure sword.
Shing!
The flying sword streaked across ten paces, aid directly at Master dicine Dragon’s vital areas.
anwhile, Lin Yang transford into the form of a Black Evil God, with a dark face and fiery red hair. He blew out a gust of white wind composed of countless tiny bone needles.
"Demonic cultivators? Damn you!" Master dicine Dragon’s expression changed drastically.
The sudden assault left him no ti to evade. The flying sword pierced his right arm, and the bone needles embedded themselves into his thigh, causing excruciating pain akin to being flayed alive.
"Ahhh!!"
Master dicine Dragon waved his hand, releasing a cloud of green mist, and, wrapped in a demonic wind, burst through the roof to escape into the sky.
"Pursue him!"
Song Lin stepped onto a two-zhang-long Red Dragon, flying out of the mansion.
Lin Yang was about to follow when Landlord Liuu suddenly scread, "Big Brother!"
Landlord Liuu’s head exploded, revealing an insect-like head covered in scales. His mandibles glead with an eerie chill as he spewed out green, toxic mist.
Landlord Liuu was also a demon!
The putrid green mist spread, instantly dissolving everyone in its path into pus.
Lin Yang, now in his ghostly form, was unaffected by the toxins.
"A Centipede Spirit? No wonder he’s called dicine Dragon!" Lin Yang exclaid, finally understanding. He then called out to Song Lin, who was circling back to assist, "This one’s mine to deal with!"
"Understood!"
Song Lin continued chasing the fleeing demonic wind.
His pupils had subtly shifted to a pale green hue.
Under the Taiyin Golden Pupil’s gaze, no matter how fast dicine Dragon fled, escape was impossible.
dicine Dragon, as it turned out, was just another term for a centipede.
Unexpectedly, today had yielded more than one discovery.
Eliminating demons and evil spirits was the fastest way to accumulate yin rit.
Song Lin pursued him all the way to a crumbling mountain temple.
The temple was half-collapsed, its entrance partially concealed. Inside, the place was cluttered with spiderwebs.
Upon entering the temple, Song Lin found a campfire burning within.
Six Jianghu people with blades strapped to their waists rested against hay bales.
One purples-robed man at the forefront stepped forward protectively in front of his younger sister and asked warily, "Who are you?"
"I’m searching for soone. Have you seen any strangers co through here?" Song Lin replied calmly.
"No, no one’s co through here."
"There was soone," Song Lin said, shaking his head.
"There’s no one here you’re looking for!"
"In that case, pardon my intrusion."
Song Lin smiled faintly and retreated, closing the door behind him as he left.
"A scholar in such a remote place? Could he be one of those reclusive masters the storybooks talk about?"
The purple-robed man laughed, "Not likely—where would we find so many masters?"
"Who’s he hunting, though? Could he have crossed paths with a ghost?"
The woman in their group noticed a faint reflection on the floor. Round and full, resembling moons, there were over a dozen of them, like mirrors overhead.
The others noticed the oddity and instinctively looked upward. What they saw would be forever etched in their mories.
Coiled across the beams of the temple roof was an imnse creature, its sheer mass filling the entire airspace. Its long, serpentine body was covered in gleaming, moonlike scales, polished to an oily shine. It was an enormous centipede.
Its head was that of an elderly man, tongue flicking out as its venom slowly dripped down.
"Hehehe!"
dicine Dragon opened its bloody maw wide and lunged at the group.
"Help!!"
The purple-robed man wet himself in fear, the foul stench filling the temple air.
Just then, a flying sword burst through the window.
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