The next day, in the main hall of the Heavenly Fiend Gang.

Wang Yi, Head of the Heavenly Fiend Gang's Law Enforcement Hall, spoke to the Gang Leader, Tang Yinian.

"Gang Leader, the homes of three of our men caught fire last night. All three were burned to ashes."

Tang Yinian was a man with the broad back of a tiger and the waist of a bear. A long knife scar ran across his face, giving him an extremely fierce and terrifying appearance.

"Oh? There is actually someone left in Yancheng who dares to provoke our Heavenly Fiend Gang."

Tang Yinian sat grandly in the Gang Leader's seat. No anger was visible on his face; instead, he seemed rather intrigued.

He had just recently broken through to the Innate Grandmaster Realm. Even before his breakthrough, his martial arts could be considered top-tier in the martial world, enough to reign supreme over Yancheng.

Now that he had reached the Innate Realm, he belonged to the absolute pinnacle of the martial world.

Throughout the entire martial world of the Qian Kingdom, the number of people who could best him definitely did not exceed double digits.

Because of this, his ambitions had skyrocketed. No longer satisfied with merely dominating Yancheng, he felt he finally had the capital to establish his own sect and laugh proudly at the martial world.

Furthermore, the presence of the mysterious Immortal Jiyin within the gang caused Tang Yinian's ambitions to swell even further.

However, Jiyin had never cared for worldly power, dedicating himself wholeheartedly to cultivation. This left Tang Yinian unable to discern exactly what Jiyin was thinking.

The relationship between Jiyin, the Heavenly Fiend Gang, and Tang Yinian himself had always been highly subtle. There was no actual friendship to speak of; theirs was merely a relationship of mutual benefit and dependence.

Jiyin used the Heavenly Fiend Gang to collect spirit medicines and medicine-slave apprentices. In return, the Heavenly Fiend Gang used Jiyin's name to intimidate invading martial experts.

"Did you find out who did this?" Tang Yinian asked.

Wang Yi replied, "According to our investigation, this matter is inextricably linked to Elder Jiyin's disciple."

Tang Yinian's spirit jolted. "Jiyin's disciple did it! Then this matter must be handled with caution. Step down for now; I will handle this matter personally."

After Wang Yi left, Tang Yinian muttered to himself.

"It has been a long time since I've seen Elder Jiyin. Perhaps it is time to find a suitable opportunity to pay him a visit."

...

For the next few days, Song Wen hardly left his courtyard, continuously circulating his cultivation to refine the blood qi within his body.

By his calculations, Jiyin was due to emerge from seclusion any day now. He absolutely could not let Jiyin notice any abnormalities in his blood qi, otherwise all his previous efforts would go to waste.

Four days later, Jiyin emerged from the alchemy room in rather good spirits.

Before starting this furnace, he had sensed an improvement in his alchemy techniques, so he increased the volume of raw materials. Just as he expected, he successfully produced four pills from this batch.

The quality of the pills was also quite good, emitting a faint pill fragrance.

"Song Wen, come to the second floor at once."

Having just emerged from seclusion, Jiyin could not wait to have Song Wen test the medicine.

Song Wen's face instantly filled with fear. His knees buckled as he knelt before Jiyin, pleading.

"Master, for the sake of all my hard work tending the medicine field for you, please do not make me test any more pills."

Jiyin remained unmoved, his expression perfectly calm.

"Rest assured, my pill refinement was extremely successful this time. There shouldn't be any major side effects. You might even find fortune amidst disaster and break through to the second layer of Qi Refinement. You should know, even my cultivation is only at the Qi Refinement third layer Perfection realm."

Song Wen's pupils contracted. He had just obtained another extremely important piece of information: Jiyin was only at the third layer of Qi Refinement, although that was still far higher than his own realm.

Still kneeling on the floor, Song Wen shuffled forward and grabbed Jiyin's robes, begging, "Master, we can recruit another batch of disciples. Wait until one of them successfully draws Qi into their body, and use them to test the pills instead!"

Jiyin snorted coldly. With a casual wave of his hand, he blasted Song Wen half a zhang backward.

"Hmph! Recruiting new disciples to test pills would take over a month. I do not have that much time to wait."

"You will take this pill today whether you want to or not. If you refuse, I will slaughter you right now."

"Master, I..." Song Wen raised his head, looking at Jiyin with a pleading gaze, as if begging him to show mercy.

Jiyin's gaze was dark. He pulled out a porcelain bottle and poured a Blood Qi Pill into his palm.

Taking two swift steps forward, he stopped in front of Song Wen. "Eat it."

As if entirely suppressed by the powerful aura radiating from Jiyin, Song Wen tremblingly reached out and accepted the pill.

However, he did not immediately place it in his mouth. He merely stared fearfully at the pill in his hand, hesitating over whether to eat it or not.

Based on past experience, Jiyin knew that to properly verify the pill's efficacy, Song Wen needed to actively cooperate.

If Song Wen simply sought death and swallowed the pill without circulating his cultivation to refine it, the medicine's continuous drain on his blood qi would definitely kill him.

Song Wen needed a genuine will to survive. He had to actively circulate his cultivation to digest the medicinal efficacy as quickly as possible. Only then would Jiyin know if the pill truly possessed the power to break through realms.

Knowing this, Jiyin's tone softened.

"Rest assured, your Master guarantees that this will be your last time testing pills. Regardless of success or failure, I will never use you as a test subject again. Moreover, I will grant you the true antidote to the Seven-Day Heartbreak Pill. You will gain true freedom, and whether or not you remain with the Heavenly Fiend Gang will be entirely up to you."

Song Wen's expression shifted, as if genuinely moved by Jiyin's words. He looked up at Jiyin and said,

"Alright. I hope Master keeps his word."

In reality, Song Wen did not believe a single word Jiyin said.

How could Jiyin possibly let him leave? Hadn't Jiyin ordered every single youth who failed to draw Qi into their bodies to be buried alive? It was all to prevent his cultivation technique from leaking out.

Everything Song Wen did right now was just an act, a deliberate show to lull Jiyin into a false sense of security. He knew that agreeing to test the pill too readily would only make the old man suspicious.

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