Day and night tour

Chapter 494 Jade Cauldron Country

"There might be something interesting about the blue stone corpse of the Dan Demon."

Mr. Yan paced back and forth inside the stone house, carefully considering his next move.

He wanted to go to the mortal realm to further verify whether Zhou Xuan had truly refined the human elixir he had imagined.

He is the overseer of the passage between the mortal realm and the heavens, and naturally he also has the right to descend to the mortal realm.
However, in his eyes, the human world was a sick village, teeming with disease and filled with filthy patients, and he feared contracting a terrible illness.

But that fictitious pill kept nagging at his heart.

"If there truly is a Human Pill, then its quality wouldn't be much different from the Origin Power Pill consumed by 'Heaven and Earth'."

The more Mr. Yan thought about it, the more it itched to get out of his skin. Finally, he went to the depths of the stone house, pushed open the door, and opened the cabinet in his bedroom.

Inside the cabinet, a man was hanging from two iron hooks.

Upon hearing the cabinet door open, the man slowly raised his head, his eyebrows lowered respectfully. He glanced at Mr. Yan, opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

Mr. Yan did not want to talk to him, but instead touched the man's chest.

The mere touch sent ripples through the man's chest, spreading out in concentric circles.

Immediately afterwards, the man's entire body began to sway—he was not a real living person, but a human skin.

Mr. Yan grabbed the human skin, wrapped it around his own body, and his fat, maggot-like appearance immediately became human-like.

He walked to the bedside, squatted down, pulled out a wooden box from under the bed, and took out a set of clothes from it—a blue robe, a wooden hairpin, a white crane and cloud pattern belt, and a white jade pendant.

After he put on this outfit, he looked just like a scholar—except that he was a scholar from ancient times, which seemed somewhat out of place in the current era of Jing Kingdom.

Mr. Yan spread his arms out and looked down at his wide robe and sleeves. After finding no flaws, he went to the hall of the stone house and took down a lantern with the words "Sick Village" written on it from a wall full of lanterns.

Mr. Yan lit the candle in the cage and began to walk with measured steps, a long-lost sense of comfort returning to him.

Compared to "maggots crawling," Mr. Yan is more familiar with and has a greater fondness for walking on two feet.

Holding a lantern, he walked into the passage between heaven and earth...

……

When Zhou Xuan returned to the Zhou family's ritual shop, it was nearly dawn, and the night sky was beginning to lighten.

Yun Ziliang and Li Changxun were carrying bag after bag of braised meat and sauce.

Zhao Wuyai was carrying a large wooden box, while Zhou Xuan was carrying bags of high-end snacks, including local osmanthus cakes and mung bean cakes, as well as Western pastries such as chocolates and crystal candies.

When Zhou Xuan pushed open the shop door, Xiao Fuzi was wearing a cotton-padded coat and dozing off on the counter. Hearing the door open, he quickly got up, and after seeing that it was Zhou Xuan, he asked, "Young Master, Hua Zi is back?"

"I'll be back tomorrow, tomorrow."

Zhou Xuan placed the bags he was carrying on the table, took out a box of liqueur-filled chocolates, and handed it to Xiao Fuzi.

"The people are so enthusiastic, the gifts they gave me, big and small, could drown me."

After Zhou Xuan finished speaking, he went to the copper basin to wash his hands and face, and asked Xiao Fuzi at the same time, "Is Fifth Senior Brother asleep?"

"Oh, no, the Bone Elders are celebrating the reconstruction of Mingjiang Prefecture and they've arranged to go to the Metropolis for all-night drinking. Fifth Senior Brother didn't want to go at first, but the Bone Elders called more than ten times, and he couldn't resist, so he went."

"Going is a good idea. Participating in team building activities will improve your relationships with colleagues."

After wiping his face and hands, Zhou Xuan hung the towel on the wooden rack and prepared to go upstairs.

Yun Ziliang called out to Zhou Xuan, "Xuanzi, why are you sleeping so early on such a joyous occasion? Shouldn't you eat and drink something?"

Zhao Wuyai poured some wine and shouted, "That's right, Brother Xuan, when you were refining pills, Wuyai Chan possessed my body again. I didn't even see how you refined the pills. You have to give me a proper explanation."

"Tomorrow, tomorrow." Zhou Xuan poked his heart and said, "Mingjiang Prefecture is celebrating, and my fellow workers in this secret realm are also waiting for dinner."

Those outside the secret realm should enjoy themselves, but those inside should also eat and drink to their hearts' content; no one should be treated unfairly.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Wuya and Yun Ziliang stopped trying to persuade him and started drinking on their own.

The large wooden box that Zhao Wuyai brought in was filled with wine, and they were naturally drinking red wine at the time.

The group of them drank red wine and ate braised pork and braised pork hock, but they always felt that something was missing.

"It doesn't feel right."

Li Changxun got up from his seat, walked to the corner of the room, turned on the record player, and picked out a vinyl record.

Play the record, press the stylus, and beautiful singing voices flow from this steel machine.

I hurried into the forest—the forest was dense and thick—I couldn't see any trace of him.

The vocals are full of jazz flavor, which makes the song much more dynamic, and upon closer listening, it even has a psychedelic feel.

Li Changxun leaned against the counter, held a glass of red wine, took a small sip, and sighed, "This feels just right."

"What's wrong with it? It's bad luck. Why is it playing Bai Guang's song?" Zhao Wuya was getting impatient and was about to turn off the play button.

Li Changxun was completely bewildered: "Is there something wrong with Bai Guang's song?"

This mountain ancestor did not know who Bai Guang was. He had only escaped from the abyss after the fire disaster and did not know much about Mingjiang Prefecture before the disaster.

Yun Ziliang grabbed Zhao Wuya and said to Li Changxun, "The white light is the star-covering light."

"Huh? This Zhexing is a courtesan?"

"Changxun, this 'Nanping Evening Bell' is the representative piece of music that was played before the Zoroastrian fire, when the white light turned red all over the streets and alleys of Mingjiang Prefecture."

Yun Ziliang continued, "It would be good to listen to this song again. Mingjiang Prefecture was plunged into the calamity of the Zoroastrian fire after this song became a hit. Now, as we listen to this song, we can feel the peaceful life of Mingjiang Prefecture. Upon closer examination, we can even sense a sense of destiny."

Zhao Wuyai thought about it and agreed. He then sat down and raised his wine cup, saying, "Grandmaster Zhao, Grandmaster Grandpa, we, the third generation of the Xunlong Sect, wish Mingjiang Prefecture our blessings."

"Blessed, blessed."

The three clinked their glasses, the red liquid swirling, as they savored this rare moment of tranquility.

……

"Are you all ready?"

"Ready."

"Report the count."

"one two Three……"

In front of the City God Temple in the secret realm, Miss Wall, Engineer, Cerebellum, Big Brother, Third Brother, Green and Red Fish, and Blood Well Brain stood in neat rows.

Mr. White Deer also transformed into the appearance of an ancient book, coming to the secret realm to freeload.

Zhou Xuan, adopting the demeanor of a "new student instructor," said, "Gods of the realm, regarding this 'grand feast' event, I only want to emphasize three things! Discipline, discipline, and more discipline!"

"When dining, please be mindful of your manners and avoid making loud noises. No matter how delicious the food is, you must not make any smacking noises with your lips."

"We should respect the elders like Jingzi and Shuizi, and not compete with them for food."

"Finally, I wish you all a pleasant meal, damn it!"

Zhou Xuan waved his hand, and the neat, orderly, and disciplined line of people went to eat.

The five styles of the Buddhist Kingdom, the six supreme masters of the Escape Techniques, and a series of Escape Technique disciples lay dead, becoming the sole theme of the secret realm tonight.

Inside the City God Temple, the sounds of chewing and swallowing could be heard incessantly.

Zhou Xuan then went into the Black Water.

Today, a new stone temple, "Shanshui Jian" (meaning "Seeing Mountains and Waters"), stands on the Heishui River.

Beside the temple, six withered flowers floated, four of which had been dissolved by the black water, leaving only their stamens.

These six flowers were the eyes that "Heaven and Earth" had placed in the stone temple, and now they have been pulled out one by one by the Blackwater.

The stone temple opened, revealing a boy inside chanting scriptures; he was dressed as a half-monk, half-Taoist.

It was that Dan Demon.

"Dan Yao, why don't you go get something to eat and drink?" Zhou Xuan asked.

When Dan Yao was stuffed into the secret realm by Zhou Xuan, she was then lured into the City God Temple by the Blood Well.

Only after the black water had plucked out all the eyes of the stone temple, ensuring that there were no more ears in the walls, did the Blood Well release the Pill Demon.

The Pill Demon Child lowered its head and stopped chanting. It said to Zhou Xuan, "I am not a Pill Demon, I am a Pill Child."

"You've adapted to local customs, so you named yourself 'Danzi'."

Zhou Xuan habitually called the Black Water "Water Child," the Blood Well "Well Child," and the Peach Tree "Tree Child." This Pill Demon, in order to show friendliness, called himself "Pill Child," which shows he has a good eye for people.

“My original name was Danzi, the son of Danmu.” “…” Zhou Xuan.

"You people of Jing Kingdom habitually call us demons, but we are not demons." Danzi stood up, stroked the wall of the stone temple, and sighed, "This 'Shanshuijian,' in a way, is my older sister."

Zhou Xuan didn't quite understand and asked Danzi, "You and 'Mountain and Water Encounter' weren't forged in the same furnace, were you? You two should be completely unrelated."

This is like an analogy: Aunt Wang from East Street gave birth to a daughter, and Aunt Li from West Market gave birth to a son. What is the relationship between this son and daughter? They have absolutely no relationship.

"All the alchemy furnaces in the world are merely mediums of production; without the elixir mother, these elixirs cannot be refined."

"Where is Danmu?"

"It has no substance or form; only we, Danzi, can find it," Danzi said.

Zhou Xuan asked again, "Then what is the Starry Sky Scroll and its cauldron body combined? Isn't it the Pill Mother?"

"She was the mother palace in Danmu's body, but since Danmu cultivated the Great Dao, she ascended to heaven and no longer needed this physical mother palace."

Zhou Xuan was overwhelmed by these relationships.

After fiddling with it for a while, he finally straightened the loose thread and said, "Listen to this, isn't this what I said?"

"Please say."

"You yourselves come from another civilized country?"

"We come from the Jade Cauldron Heaven. Our gods and guardians were all born from the Mother Cauldron."

Zhou Xuan nodded and said, "The Starry Sky Scroll is part of the Mother Cauldron?"

"Ah."

"The one who truly presides over the refining of the elixir is not the mother cauldron, but the formless and intangible elixir mother."

"You are very perceptive."

"In the past, alchemy was forbidden in the Kingdom of Jing. However, the mother cauldron fell from the sky in the form of a shooting star and landed on the land of Jing. The cauldron was then discovered by a master in the Kingdom of Jing, and that's how the practice of alchemy came about."

Zhou Xuan changed the subject and said, "In other words, besides the Mother Cauldron, what fell into the Well Kingdom was also that formless and intangible Pill Mother."

"Yes."

Danzi said.

Zhou Xuan became increasingly insightful and said, "I refined you..."

"It wasn't you who refined me, but rather the remnant will of the Pill Mother that guided you to refine me."

"You little brat, you speak quite cautiously!" Zhou Xuan retorted after making a sarcastic remark.
"Therefore, when I took your Source Energy Pill, the sight of your eyes opening and your flesh and blood regenerating in my eyes was not a flaw, but rather something you deliberately showed me."

"So your purpose is to find me?"

Danzi nodded again, and then a hot tear fell from her snow-white eyes. She said, "I heard Dan's mother's cries for help. I saw Dan's mother being tortured. I want to save her."

“But you’re too weak to save her,” Zhou Xuan interjected.

"..." Upon hearing this, Danzi turned his head and glared angrily at Zhou Xuan, but soon he slumped down and nodded helplessly.

"Look at you, you still like to rage impotently. You get upset when I say a few words to you."

Zhou Xuan reached out and poked Danzi's chest, then changed the subject again, saying...
"However, you are just a pill. You ask me to save this or that—let me tell you, I am greedy. If you can't give me a price, then the pill mother and pill father have nothing to do with me."

"What if I could offer a price?"

"That depends on my mood. You know, I have a very tight schedule."

Zhou Xuan said.

"If I offer an exceptionally high price..."

"What else is there to say? Respect the elderly as you would your own parents, care for the young as you would your own children. Although I have never met Danmu, I always felt that... Danmu must have looked like a kind old woman."

"..." Danzi was speechless, taken aback by Zhou Xuan's flexible approach, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

Finally, Danzi said again, "I can offer a price, and a very high one."

"What's the price?" Zhou Xuan asked.

“I can help you understand the Kingdom of Well again.”

"What do you mean?"

Zhou Xuan didn't quite understand how "re-starting" meant.

Danzi then dug a small piece of flesh from her right index finger into her arm and beckoned to Zhou Xuan, saying, "Come closer."

Zhou Xuan wasn't afraid at all. After all, this was his own secret realm. How could he let the Pill Demon bully him?
He leaned forward slightly, and Danzi placed the pieces of meat on Zhou Xuan's forehead.

Zhou Xuan immediately smelled a strange meaty aroma, and then felt something burrowing into his brow.

Then he heard the babbling of a stream and some dripping sounds.

Danzi asked Zhou Xuan, "Do you have a timekeeping device?"

"Have."

“Take it out and let me see,” Danzi said.

Zhou Xuan immediately took out his pocket watch, opened the cover, and the second hand was still ticking away, with nothing unusual in sight.

What are you showing me?

“Keep watching, one minute,” Danzi said.

Zhou Xuan patiently observed the pocket watch, which seemed to have nothing unusual about it. He watched the second hand tick slowly.

Until the second hand pointed past "11", it suddenly skipped "0" and pointed directly to "1".

"what."

Zhou Xuan was somewhat skeptical and continued watching. In this minute, just like the previous minute, the pointer jumped directly from "11" to "1", as if the "0" in the table had disappeared.

He suddenly looked up at Lai Danzi.

Danzi's eyes remained pale as she asked, "Did you figure it out?"

“The pointer always jumps from 11 to 1,” Zhou Xuan said.

Danzi said, "In the Kingdom of Jing, there exists a law called the 'Law of Time,' and this law exists because—time in the Kingdom of Jing is not uniform."

"Working at sunrise and resting at sunset was the daily routine of the ancient people of the Jing Kingdom. Later, timekeeping tools were developed, dividing the day into twenty-four hours."

Danzi continued, "And an hour is divided into sixty minutes, and a minute is divided into sixty seconds."
Time in the Kingdom of Well seemed to be evenly distributed within these artificially divided hours, minutes, and seconds.
However... time is not uniform; some minutes, seconds, and hours are missing.
The law of time, however, is a supernatural power that utilizes these missing moments.

"These are some of the truths about the Kingdom of Jing, but of course, the truth is not limited to this."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xuan asked, "Is this the price I'm paid to find the Pill Mother?"

"Yes."

"Then can I suspect that my current sense of time loss is not the truth about the Kingdom of Jing, but the effect of your elixir?"

With utmost skepticism, Zhou Xuan said, "I know that the Human Elixir can cause mental confusion and strange hallucinations."

Danzi disagreed, saying, "When a person is deceived for too long, he may think that the truth is false when he sees it again. This kind of situation can probably only be seen in the Kingdom of Jing."

"Do not speak nonsense or spread rumors to mislead the public."

Zhou Xuan said, "I will verify whether what you said is true or false."

"I hope you can verify this as soon as possible. Once you discover my value, you will be willing to help me find Danmu."

Danzi sat cross-legged on the ground again and continued chanting the scriptures.

……

In Xiejia'ao, inside the alchemy furnace, a scholar in a blue robe, carrying a lantern, was searching around.

"The location of the Dan Demon's corpse should be here."

Mr. Yan's lantern illuminated a piece of bluestone. The bluestone was somewhat dull in color and was located in the center of the alchemy furnace, the place where the alchemy demon was born.

He slowly squatted down, ran his right hand across the bluestone, and then placed his fingertips to his nose to smell it.

A faint scent drifted into his nostrils.

He couldn't tell from the smell whether he had inhaled the fragrance of "Ren Dan" (a traditional Chinese medicine), but he had his own way of testing.
That is time...

(End of this chapter)