The legend begins with becoming a white deer.

The two children, bewildered, raised their little hands and touched their arms and chests.

The fingertips touched warm, soft skin, no longer the cold, hard stone, and even the piercing pain disappeared without a trace.

"It doesn't hurt anymore, the stone is gone?!"

"Mine too!"

They blinked, looked at each other, paused for a moment, and then their lips slowly curled up into happy smiles of relief.

The tense atmosphere in the arena eased slightly.

"That's wonderful, the two children have recovered. This ability truly lives up to its reputation as an auspicious beast..." someone in the crowd exclaimed softly, their tone filled with awe.

The woman in black bent down and touched the tops of the two children's heads. Her fingertips touched the warm skin, and her usually taut shoulders relaxed slightly.

She looked up at Qi Ji and nodded slightly: "Thank you."

As soon as she finished speaking, the woman in black turned around and her gaze fell on Duan Chi on the ground.

Now she has to fulfill her promise.

"——"

A ghostly blue light shone from the depths of her eyes, like two clusters of will-o'-the-wisps in a cold pool, mysterious and eerie.

Duan Chi was already in a daze due to excessive blood loss. When he was met with that gaze, he trembled violently and felt a cold force rushing from his brow to his brain.

He instinctively gritted his teeth, trying to muster his inner strength to resist, but with all four limbs severed and one leg not yet cut off, his meager resistance was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot in the face of this power.

In just a few breaths, his eyes became unfocused, dull and empty, like a puppet on strings.

"Duan Chi!"

Seeing this, the fierce monk beside him let out an anxious growl and tried to struggle, but he couldn't even lift his arm.

In the end, he could only take a heavy breath, close his eyes dejectedly, and look resigned to his fate.

"I'm asking you."

The woman in black's voice seemed to drift from a great distance, carrying a strange penetrating power: "What is your purpose in kidnapping children and performing the stone-sifting ritual?"

Duan Chi opened his mouth, his voice monotonous, as if reciting a poem: "We captured the children for the stone sieve, and the stone sieve... is for refining medicine."

"Alchemy?!"

The black-clad woman who performed the spell was stunned, as if she couldn't believe her ears.

The entire venue fell silent for a moment, then erupted in a deafening roar.

"Did I hear that right? Did he say he was making medicine?"

"You heard me right, that's exactly what that beast said!"

"You bastard, using a child to make medicine?!"

"Bastard! This guy is an animal!"

Some people started cursing loudly, their voices trembling with anger.

Xu Ling stood still, her hands clasped tightly together, her eyes closed, chanting Buddhist mantras rapidly. Her small body trembled slightly, as if she was trying to suppress the surging anger in her heart with the scriptures.

The golden-green light on Qi Ji's deer antlers also brightened a bit at this moment.

He had long suspected there was a conspiracy behind this, but hearing the words "using children to make medicine" still made the anger in his chest almost burst out.

As a human being, Qi Ji had never heard of such inhuman behavior in his previous life.

Just for a mere pill, they treat living, breathing children like dregs, squeezing them dry.

The woman in black took a deep breath, composed herself, and continued, "What kind of medicine are you making?"

"Pure Karma Bodhi Elixir".

Duan Chi answered mechanically: "The top-grade products boiled from the stone sieve stimulate all the vitality in the body to its peak, and they can usually live for another twenty to thirty days. During this period, the effect of refining medicine is the best. By squeezing out their vitality and then combining it with medicinal materials to refine it into pills, they can greatly increase their lifespan and also greatly enhance their power and break through cultivation bottlenecks."

"Those who survived the stone sieve but whose life force was not stimulated are Grade B goods. They can only live for a day at most and cannot be refined into the Pure Karma Bodhi Pill. So we use a special method to extract the remaining life force in their bodies little by little and refine the Withering and Flourishing Blood Continuation Pill. Although it cannot prolong life or break through realms, it is extremely effective in healing injuries and replenishing qi."

He spoke calmly, as if he were discussing the grade of ordinary goods.

But to everyone's ears, every word sounded like it was stained with blood.

"mine!"

One of the bodyguards, his eyes red with rage, cursed loudly and drew his sword, slamming it into the ground, sparks flying everywhere.

"What Bodhi Pill! I think it's a pill that will kill your offspring! How could you do something so despicable? Aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning?!"

Su Yanji clenched her teeth so tightly that her knuckles cracked.

She considered herself a seasoned traveler, accustomed to all sorts of shady dealings, but at this moment, she was so angry that her heart felt heavy, and she wished she could tear Duan Chi to pieces on the spot.

"Pure Karma Bodhi Pill, what a shameless name."

凸(艹皿艹 )

The golden patterns all over Qi Ji's body flickered continuously due to his anger.

The children who had just been rescued were even more terrified, their faces turning deathly pale.

Although they only half understood what they were hearing, the words "squeeze out life force" and "refine medicine" still pierced their hearts like needles, making them instinctively feel afraid.

Several of the younger ones, trembling uncontrollably, stumbled and rushed to Qi Ji's side, hugging his legs tightly and burying their faces in his mane, not daring to look up.

Qi Ji's heart softened.

Suppressing his anger, he emitted a faint golden mist that gently enveloped the children around him.

The warm life force seeped into their bodies through their pores, soothing their fear, and their tense little bodies gradually relaxed.

"Yo~"

Qi Ji raised his eyes, looked at the woman in black, and let out a deer-like cry.

The woman in black immediately understood and nodded.

She could understand the meaning behind Qi Ji's shouts.

This is to let her ask the mastermind behind it all.

Using children to make medicine, with headquarters and branches, and even more subordinate dens kidnapping children, could not possibly be run by a simple group of human traffickers.

Behind it, there must be a behemoth.

The woman in black, her eyes gleaming with a deep blue, coldly said, "I'll ask you again, who's behind all this? Who's your real backer?"

Duan Chi's blank face remained expressionless as he uttered three words, one after another:

Wanfo Temple.

boom--

The moment those three words were uttered, it was like a thunderclap exploding above the crowd.

Everyone was stunned.

"Wanfo Temple?!"

The spirit suddenly opened its eyes, exclaimed in shock, its little face turning deathly pale: "Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! He's lying!"

The woman in black turned to look at Xu Ling, her tone calm yet undeniably certain: "He's under my illusion spell, his soul is controlled, and every word he says is true."

Many people still found it hard to accept.

Wanfo Temple.

That is one of the top ten sects in the world, with a history of hundreds of years and unfathomable depth.

In ordinary times, the monks people see are those who go down the mountain to provide disaster relief, medicine and save lives; their reputation is always upright.

Even if a few greedy monks occasionally come out, they are just considered to be a few bad apples, and no one would think about it any deeper.

Among the ten major sects, Wanfo Temple's reputation, while not the best, is definitely in the upper-middle range.

Someone muttered, "There must be some mistake. How could a high-ranking monk from Wanfo Temple do such a thing?"

"A high-ranking monk? I doubt it."

A cold laugh suddenly rang out from the crowd.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the speaker was a middle-aged man who looked like a cloth merchant.

His face was grim, and he said in a deep voice, "Do you think all the monks at Wanfo Temple are devout believers? Last year, I fell ill while doing business away from home, and I happened to meet a monk from Wanfo Temple who said he could cure my illness and relieve my suffering. He asked for ten gold coins right off the bat. I thought it was too expensive, and he said that even the most expensive doctor would only charge one gold coin. I gave him two gold coins because of Wanfo Temple."

"And then what happened?" someone asked.

"As he was leaving, he patted me on the shoulder and said it was a blessing."

The cloth merchant gritted his teeth: "That very night I vomited blood profusely, and my condition worsened. Finally, I consulted a renowned doctor in the city, who, after taking my pulse, declared that I had suffered an internal injury from cold and dampness, and the injury was located on my shoulder. That wasn't a blessing; it was a sinister attack!"

Upon hearing this, the entire audience erupted in uproar.

Everyone looked at each other, their hearts heavy.

If even Wanfo Temple is involved, then this situation is much more complex than they imagine.

"impossible……"

The spirit was so excited that her inner energy surged wildly, and her little face turned bright red.

"Wanfo Temple wouldn't have such a scoundrel! You're talking nonsense!"

The cloth merchant was startled by the sudden aura emanating from the spirit and instinctively took a half-step back.

"Little monk, calm down."

Su Yanji quickly reached out and grabbed Xu Ling's arm, his tone calm and slow: "Forget what I told you, there are all kinds of birds in a big forest. I have received a lot of news over the years. It is true that Wanfo Temple has been involved in more than one or two cases of greed and embezzlement. Moreover, as far as I know, Wanfo Temple has never been a monolithic entity. Factional strife has a long history."

The ethereal being shuddered.

He looked up at Su Yanji, his lips moved, but he ultimately said nothing. He slowly lowered his head, clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, and fell silent.

Su Yanji didn't provoke him further, turned to the woman in black, and nodded slightly: "One more question, where exactly is their headquarters located?"

The woman in black withdrew her gaze and looked at Duan Chi again.

A deep blue light shimmered in his eyes.

"Tell me, where is the human traffickers' headquarters located?"

Duan Chi opened his mouth, and his voice, devoid of any emotion, clearly resounded throughout the entire venue.

"The main altar is located outside the Qingliao Embankment section of Wanzhen Cangdi, inside the Xuanyin Grotto."