Pawn Crossing the River

Qi Xuansu took out Qiniang's second-hand pocket watch and stared at the hands on the dial, feeling that the days were like years.

Probably because the alchemy furnace absorbed the yin fire of the alchemist and the yang fire of "Fengyan Yisan", it accelerated the speed of the elixir being released. After about an hour, the layer of hot fire surrounding the alchemy furnace began to converge inward, and then the elixir was released. The furnace begins to cool down.

Qi Xuansu put away his pocket watch and came to the alchemy furnace.

The alchemy furnace is divided into three floors: upper, middle and lower. The smaller upper floor is the alchemy room, used for refining elixirs. The slightly larger middle layer is the furnace room, which is used to control the heat. The largest lower level is the fire room, used for starting fires and filling with fuel wood.

There was only a soft sound, and the door of the alchemy room slowly opened, spewing out a huge air current and spreading to all sides. The strong wind blowing against his face contained so much fire that ordinary people would be burned if they touched it even a little bit. Even Qi Xuansu had to step back.

When the air flow dissipated, there was still a hazy layer of smoke lingering in the alchemy room, making it difficult to see what was going on inside. However, a strong fragrance of elixir has spread. It is difficult to describe this fragrance in words. It has the aroma of grass and wood, but also has a faint sweetness of blood. It is not pungent, but makes people feel relaxed and refreshed. Feeling refreshed.

Qi Xuansu couldn't help but take a deep breath.

This is a strange thing. The smell of blood has always made people sick. Such a strange smell of blood is rare. No wonder it is called "Blood Pill".

At the same time, Qi Xuansu can also be sure that this must be a real high-grade elixir, and there is no reason to miss it.

This was an unexpected surprise. Qi Xuansu was just cleaning up living corpses, but he didn't expect such a harvest. It's no wonder that the alchemist became murderous when he saw him. He must have regarded him as someone who came to snatch the "blood pill". However, In the end, the "Blood Pill" fell into his hands.

After a while, the smoke in the alchemy room completely dissipated. Qi Xuansu looked intently and saw a blood-red elixir the size of a chicken in the alchemy room. What was even more surprising was that this elixir was beating slightly like a heart.

Qi Xuansu hesitated for a long time, jumped up, stretched out his hand to take out the "blood pill" from the pill chamber, and held it in his palm. He only felt a warm feeling coming from it, and could also clearly feel the pulse in it, murmuring Said: "This elixir is... alive?"

This kind of living creature is more similar to plants and trees than birds and beasts, and has no intelligence at all. But even so, it is amazing enough. No wonder it is called a "creation".

However, Qi Xuansu also knows that this kind of elixir must not be taken hastily, otherwise it is very likely that the surging medicinal power will backfire on oneself. The medicinal power may block the meridians, or directly burst the Dantian. It needs to be taken with caution and refined slowly. People in Bai Yutang may leave and come back at any time. It is not a place to stay for a long time, and they cannot swallow pills on the spot.

So Qi Xuansu found the jade box originally used to hold red fruits in the medicine cabinet, put the elixir in it, and then sealed the jade box to block the elixir fragrance from overflowing.

Then he glanced at the alchemist's body, and without stopping, he closed the door of the alchemy room and opened the door of the fire room. There was still some dark fire inside, and Qi Xuansu sent the body and head into it. When the dark fire touched the corpse, it instantly turned into an open flame. In the blink of an eye, the corpse turned into curls of green smoke, leaving no trace.

Qi Xuansu then closed the door of the fire room, climbed up the rock, and left this place.

In this way, even if the people of Bai Yutang find that the alchemist is missing, it will be difficult to determine whether the alchemist escaped with the "blood pill" or was killed. As for the dead living corpses, it can be interpreted as evidence that the alchemist was killed, or it can be interpreted as the alchemist's formation to spread suspicion. It all depends on what the people in Bai Yutang think.

After all, Qi Xuansu was taught by Qi Niang. After leaving Tiangang Hall for a while, the Jianghu habits took over again. One of the characteristics of Jianghu is that no matter what is right or wrong, only about strength or weakness, without being unreasonable, the greatest thing is to live. Just like a tiger eating a goat, others will only praise the tiger for its ferocity, but will not pity the goat's tragic death. This is the world outside the flower garden. People who have been in the flower garden for a long time will never see this.

Qi Xuansu returned along the original path and came to the fork in the road that he had marked. He hesitated for a moment and instead of exploring the other fork in the road, he walked towards the ground.

When Qi Xuansu returned to the ground, he found that the heavy rain had stopped, but the rain clouds were still gathering in the sky.

At this moment, a loud rumbling sound came from the direction of the core area of ​​"Tuntian".

Black gas billows straight into the sky.

Qi Xuansu walked out of the dilapidated pavilion, looked at the direction of the rising black smoke, and murmured: "What on earth is going on? Could it be that the people from the 'Inn' got into trouble with the people from Bai Yutang?"

As soon as he finished speaking, another stream of black energy swirled up like a dragon. Among them were pale white ghosts, twisting and twisting as the black energy rolled, constantly howling and roaring.

Although this area was once washed by the Daomen with "Feng Yan Jia San" and it was the Gobi in early spring, after years of recovery, some vegetation still survived tenaciously. However, when the black air passed by, all the vegetation withered at a speed visible to the naked eye. , the green faded quickly, and the ground was withered and yellow.

That's all. Even the already very barren Gobi Desert has been depleted of water, starting to dry up and crack, and is almost completely turning into desert.

There are records in Taoist scriptures that the drought demon came to the world, and the red land was thousands of miles away. Now, with such power, it actually has a somewhat drought-like atmosphere.

When Qi Xuansu saw this, he took out his armor and tied it to his leg without hesitation, and ran out without looking back.

This formation was not inferior to that day when Wu Luo's projection broke the flying boat. He did not dare to put all his life on the so-called secondary focus.

Qi Xuansu looked back and saw people running away like him one after another. However, he was a little late and was immediately trapped by the black yin energy. People with weaker cultivation levels quickly aged and their skin shriveled up without warning. , the flesh and blood melted, turning into mummies in an instant. Although they still maintained their appearance in life, when the wind blew, they completely turned into powder and scattered with the wind. At the same time, there were faint wisps of souls coming from their bodies. They flew out of the body, were caught in the dark wind, and all floated towards the core area.

People with a slightly higher level of cultivation can barely resist it, forcibly locking their blood and soul from being taken away by the black energy.

However, the black energy is endless, just like the sea during a storm, with rough waves. Even those who are familiar with the nature of water have to drift with the tide until they are exhausted and sink to the bottom.

As the black air continued to wash away, these people were eventually swallowed up.

When Qi Xuansu escaped from the "Tuntian" area, he stood on a high slope and looked back.

I saw a huge black vortex appearing in the sky at some point, covering the sky and the sun.

Huge cracks and gaps appeared on the ground, and the walls of the house collapsed toward the place of meditation. Smoke and dust were everywhere, and there was a roar, as if a ferocious ancient beast was about to tear the earth apart and crawl out from the ground.

Qi Xuansu could vaguely see the leading old man among the nine people in the "inn" leaping high, and he was able to stay in the air for a short time, which showed that he was not far from the heavenly beings.

The next moment, where he had just stood, there were five tall pillars of different lengths rising slowly. If he looked carefully, he could see where the pillars were. They were clearly five fingers.

I saw a huge hand rising from the ground, and then continued to reach upwards, grabbing the leading old man in the palm.

The earth shook.

The ground within a radius of a hundred feet was completely shattered at this moment, and then all the buildings began to collapse downwards. Only the hand holding the leading old man was still standing tall.

Then another huge hand climbed onto the ground, and then a huge body slowly appeared.

This is a huge evil ghost, with dark skin all over its body and exposed veins, as if it were the roots of an old tree, and it is as thick as an ordinary human arm. It has a green face and fangs, is ferocious and ferocious, and has an exaggeratedly bloody mouth that can swallow a person whole without any effort.

A figure was also standing on the shoulders of this vicious ghost at this time, smiling and standing with his hands behind his back.

The moment this evil ghost appeared, countless Yin Qi enveloping the dead souls rolled towards it and then poured into his body.

Then, the evil spirit crushed the old man to death, then threw it into his mouth and chewed it, causing blood to splash everywhere.

Qi Xuansu was horrified beyond words.

What the hell is this?

Recalling that this place was once the place where the corpses of the first earth masters were kept, Qi Xuansu couldn't help but make a bold guess.

Could this be the legendary "Great Asura" who is comparable to the gods?

…

Qianhusuo, "Inn" located in the West Gobi.

The shopkeeper stood behind the counter as usual, turning a peace coin.

There is not much business today, and there are not many people in the lobby. As the shopkeeper himself said, in such a borderland, fighting with people is secondary, the key is fighting with the sky.

At this moment, a waiter walked in hurriedly.

The shopkeeper's eyelids twitched, and with a "pop" sound, he stretched out his hand and patted the rotating Taiping Money under his palm, then slowly removed his palm, revealing the four words "The World is Peaceful" on the Taiping Money.

"What's the matter?" the shopkeeper asked calmly.

The clerk took a breath and said with an ugly face: "Sir, a large group of cavalry is coming towards us."

"A large group of cavalry, where did this large group of cavalry come from?" The shopkeeper's expression changed.

The clerk said: "Of course it is the cavalry of the men in black. They seem to have been mobilized directly from the Xizhou Protectorate. As you know, the Xizhou Protectorate is nominally under the control of the Governor of Xiliang, but fundamentally it is still under the control of the Governor of Xiliang. Those directly under the cabinet have always acted boldly and unreasonably.”

"Transferring troops across state lines? This is usually a method used against local powerful people. It is because they are afraid that local powerful people are entangled and have their hands on the local men in black, so they will mobilize foreign soldiers to enter. Is the imperial court going to attack Yongzhou?" The shopkeeper is still here I felt a little unbelievable, "Why is there no news from Qingluan Guard?"

The clerk said: "It seems that Qingluan Guard has been bypassed directly, and now the three thousand households of Qingluan Guard are busy arresting people from the 'Tianting'."

Outside the city, the earth trembled.

A dark heavy cavalry force quickly approached this long-abandoned Qianhushe.