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Chapter 490 Pill

Chapter 490 Pill
Just as Zhou You was stunned, the eye suddenly blinked and then disappeared into the pill, leaving only its black surface—as if it had all been an illusion.

Then Master Chongxu spoke again.

"What are you all looking at? Let's eat."

Unfortunately, some people didn't finish eating.

Perhaps it was out of fear, or because of doubt, or simply because of idiocy.
Therefore, Master Chongxu turned his attention to Xuancheng.

This time, without any orders, Xuan Cheng, like a lackey, came out with a sinister grin, grabbed a child in front of him, and ignoring his struggles, forced the pill into his mouth and made him swallow it before stopping.

When he reached the second child, the little guy hurriedly stuffed the pill into his mouth—unfortunately, Xuan Cheng immediately saw through his trick and slapped him a few times, causing the pill in his mouth to fall into his stomach.

Soon, Xuan Cheng walked up to Zhou You.

Seeing this, the man nonchalantly tossed the pill into his mouth, tilted his head back, and then opened his mouth wide to show the other person that he had indeed swallowed it.

It wasn't that he wanted to eat this strange thing, but given Xuan Cheng's vengeful nature, and with the unknown 'Master Chongxu' behind him, if he didn't eat it, he probably wouldn't even be able to leave this room.

As for the consequences of taking this substance...
As for what happens next, we'll think about it later—a perfectly healthy person, how could they possibly die from holding in their pee?
but.

The moment Zhou You swallowed, all his expressions froze.

Xuan Cheng thought he was frightened, so he snorted and went to find the next person.

I don't know.

That's not the reason Zhou You stayed away.

The moment he swallowed that strange pill, his Heavenly Dragon Bloodline seemed to have encountered some irreconcilable enemy, instantly activating and frantically gathering towards the pill.

Because blood vessels connect to the body, intense pain surged through every limb and bone in an instant—yet Zhou You suppressed his voice with immense willpower, his expression remaining unchanged as he simply stood there, observing his body's condition through internal vision.

half an hour.

The rampaging bloodline finally calmed down a bit. The pill—or perhaps it couldn't even be called a pill—contained something resembling an egg sheath. Tiny, downy tentacles extended from it, wandering and drifting around, seemingly trying to find a piece of flesh to take root somewhere.

However, under the continuous suppression of the Heavenly Dragon bloodline, this thing trembled precariously, that feeling...
Like a mouse caught by a cat?
Zhou You thought for a moment, but decided not to kill him outright. Instead, he forced him into a corner, then used some of his magic to envelop him before finally opening his eyes and raising his head.

But then, he froze again.

Right before his eyes, even the Venerable Chongxu and Xuancheng had changed their appearances.

Half of his once-intact face was now rotten, with pus-filled flesh and bright red pressure sores exposed to the air. Plump white maggots crawled everywhere, and every now and then a few would fall down, only to be crushed into a burst of maggots by the feet below.

Xuan Cheng was slightly better; at least he still looked like a human being. However, countless thin, long tentacles covered his entire body, making him look like a dandelion drifting in the wind.

In the blink of an eye, all the abnormalities vanished without a trace. The person was still the same, with no sores or tendrils on his face. One was dignified and other arrogant at first but obsequious later, as if everything before had been an illusion.

However, Zhou You doesn't think so.

He continued to feign fear, but his mind was racing.

"When they ate the pills, there were no changes; they still looked perfectly normal. The same thing happened when their Heavenly Dragon bloodline was activated. The only change was when the pills' growth was interrupted. So..."

However, at that moment, a surprised and joyful shout suddenly rang out.

"I think I can understand the words in this book!"

In an instant, all eyes turned to that direction.

Even the extremely aloof Venerable Chongxu nodded, not to mention Xuancheng.

“He’s a good prospect. He’s already reached the Nadan level so quickly. Well then, read the first paragraph aloud so I can hear it.”

The child quickly opened the book cover and then read it aloud in a clear, childlike voice, word by word.

"Before the beginning of time, there was something shrouded in chaos, neither yin nor yang, neither bright nor dark. Its shape was like a deep sea containing stars, and its sound was like thunder echoing in an empty valley."

Something so complex could never have been made up by an illiterate child.

Zhou You then opened the book.

He was literate, and in order to work out the script, he had seriously studied classical Chinese for a period of time in real life, so even though he hadn't allowed the pill to parasitize him, he could still recognize what was written in the book.

Not a single word was missed, not a single fraction was wrong.

Is this thing really that powerful, capable of instantly gaining sentience?

Zhou You just stared at the child, only to find that the child was reading with increasing enthusiasm, speaking so fast that his words were becoming somewhat unclear.

"At midnight, face the Big Dipper, visualize the center of your chest transforming into a crystal cauldron, within which white qi rises and swirls like dragons and snakes, gradually forming the images of the heavens."

Is it the excitement of suddenly becoming literate?
No, to be more precise, he looked almost like he was going crazy!

The child's eyes bulged out, and his mouth was full of white foam. He continued chanting like a madman.

"At this moment, knock your teeth together thirty-six times, swallow your saliva as if it were passing through twelve layers of a tower, and you will feel a snow-white light bursting from your Niwan Palace, illuminating your past life as a white deer carrying a lingzhi mushroom as it fell off a cliff."

However, at this moment, Master Chongxu intervened.

With a flick of his finger, a rune was placed lightly on the child's head, instantly calming his convulsing body and restoring his clarity to his eyes.

The child stood there stunned for a while before realizing what was happening. He hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed in gratitude.

"Thank you, Master, for intervening and preventing me from falling into demonic possession."

In an instant, the surrounding gazes turned reverent—in the children's naive perception, this was almost like the path to immortality.

But from Zhou You's perspective...
But it was a completely different scene.

Suddenly, a gash appeared on the child's forehead, from which a bit of the child's white brain was scooped out, squeezed a few times in mid-air, and then stuffed back in.

After the skull was reattached, the person felt completely different.

Just like...
Having lost themselves, they have become nothing more than empty shells, puppets that can talk and move.

"."

Zhou You's gaze grew cold, but the other children couldn't see that. They excitedly opened their books and eagerly began to read the words.

—They were all children from poor families. For them, being able to read was already an incredible stroke of luck, let alone being averse to school.

There are only two exceptions.

Under the cover of the crowd, Lin Yunshao carefully approached.

"Senior brother."

Zhou You didn't answer, but instead gently patted her shoulder.

The little girl was very clever and immediately understood what it meant. She sat down obediently and then, like the others, opened the book.

Zhou You did the same, but he tapped the book a few times as if he were trying to learn to read.

That was: "You saw it too?"

However, the little girl shook her head blankly.

Seeing this, Zhou You said nothing more, but tapped a few more times to form a sentence.

"--We can talk about it after we get out."

Lin Yunshao then quieted down. Just then, Master Chongxu began his lecture.

"You don't need to look at how complicated this book is; it can be understood in a simpler way."

Although his words were cold, he spoke with great seriousness.

It was just like being a real teacher.

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Since they were all beginners, Master Chongxu didn't teach anything complicated. He only taught them some simple methods of circulating qi, and then had Xuancheng lead them out.

Soon, the dilapidated house became empty.

Master Chongxu waved his hand, and the door closed automatically without any wind. Then he picked up the handkerchief he had used before and carefully cleaned himself up before sitting back in the recliner and exhaling a breath of stale air.

Then he spoke.

"Even at a time like this, they still picked up a batch of new supplies to bring up the mountain. It's not like we're out of supplies. What exactly is that old man up to?"

Strangely enough, even though there was no one else in the room, his demeanor was as if he were having a conversation—a few seconds later, he shook his head again.

"Maybe so, but everyone's so competitive, nobody really cares about these things, right? Maybe it's a good thing for me? Anyway."

Master Chongxu sighed, stood up again, and then walked into the back room with his hands behind his back.

The room was sparsely decorated, without even a single window. A few lamps were lit around the room, providing dim illumination.

Apart from that, there was only a bookshelf and a dozen or so jars next to it.

Master Chongxu first took a register from the bookshelf, wrote a few words on it with a brush, and then walked to the jars and opened the lids one by one to take a look.

"This won't work; there's too little time."

"This one won't do either, it's too light, we'll need to add more later."

"This...tsk, it's broken. Let that person throw it away."

"this."

When the last jar was opened, Master Chongxu's face suddenly lit up with surprise.

Similarly, the strange smell in the room suddenly became stronger.

He took a wooden ladle from the side, gently skimmed off the foam on the surface of the jar, scooped up a little, and put it in his mouth.

The next moment, he suddenly burst into laughter.

"Great, great! It seems like our luck has really turned around. We actually found a top-grade jar in this batch of goods—that should be enough to exchange for quite a bit of stuff. This gives me a lot more confidence for the future."

He wanted to scoop up another spoonful, but after thinking about it, he shook his head and closed the lid again.

However, even before closing it, one could see through the candlelight...
A pair of small eyes stared blankly at him through the murky liquid.

Once outside, the children were incredibly excited.

After all, this new master is a good person, and I have suddenly become literate and can learn those profound techniques—maybe one day I can also be like those immortals, soaring through the clouds and commanding the wind and rain.

The fear they felt upon arrival, and the nightmarish cage, were quickly forgotten by the children.

—Especially after hearing that there would be a hearty breakfast included.

After teaching, Xuan Cheng did not rush to take them to do chores. Instead, he led them to the kitchen, gave each child a large bowl, and then ladled a large bowl of thick porridge for each of them—with a boiled egg and a small piece of salted fish in it.

In addition, there is a yellow flatbread, and it is clearly stated that as long as there is no waste, both porridge and flatbread are unlimited.

In modern times, this might not seem like much, but like the braised chicken and steamed buns we had before, this kind of breakfast was something only landlords—and not even small landlords—could afford. When they learned that they could eat as much as they wanted, the children cheered and then each found a table and started slurping their food.

Lin Yunshao naturally sat with Zhou You.

Unlike the others, the little girl ate her portion slowly and carefully, while whispering to Zhou You.

"Senior brother."

Meanwhile, the other person gulped down his porridge, glanced up, and replied vaguely.

"What's wrong?"

"What exactly did you mean when you said, 'You saw it too'?"

Zhou You didn't answer—telling her about this abnormality now would be of little use except to frighten her—so he simply asked a rhetorical question.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it. Then why did you come to me in the first place?"

Lin Yunshao hesitated for a few seconds before continuing.

"I feel there's something wrong with this Taoist temple."

"What's wrong?"

“Something’s not right, inside or out,” Lin Yunshao said softly. “I can’t quite put my finger on what’s wrong, but I have a feeling that something eerie is seeping in from the inside out, from that kind-looking sect leader uncle to this master… In my father’s words, this entire sect is probably incredibly sinister.”

This is the second time the little girl has mentioned her father.

Hearing this, Zhou You became somewhat interested.

"Who is your father? How do you know so much about him?"

However, Lin Yunshao realized he had said too much, so he quickly shut up and awkwardly changed the subject.

"Senior brother, what do you think we should do now?"

However, Zhou You, whom she remembered as always being a troublemaker, gave a very indifferent answer.

"What else can we do? Let's just see how it goes for now and deal with the rest later."

Lin Yunshao immediately frowned slightly.

"Senior brother, life may be peaceful now, but what about later?"

However, Zhou You looked up as if he had seen something and suddenly said something.

"Senior Brother Xuancheng, what brings you here?"

Lin Yunshao shuddered and then turned his head to look in a panic.