The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

After walking for about half an hour, Shen Yifei suddenly stopped.

The road ahead was blocked by a fallen tree. The tree was as thick as two people could hug, lying across the middle of the road and completely blocking the way.

Just as Shen Yifei was about to go around, he suddenly heard a voice coming from behind the tree.

"stop."

The sound wasn't loud, but it sent chills down your spine.

Shen Yifei paused, his hand already touching the Cauldron of Myriad Things.

A man emerged from behind the tree. He was a tall, thin man in his forties, and it was impossible to tell which sect he belonged to.

He is a Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator!

Shen Yifei glanced at it and got a sense of what was going on.

"Fellow Daoist," Shen Yifei cupped his hands in greeting and smiled憨厚ly, "what brings you to my path?"

The skinny man sized him up. "Mid-Foundation Establishment stage?" The skinny man chuckled. "You've got guts, daring to venture deeper alone."

"Good luck, good luck." Shen Yifei nodded and bowed. "I just didn't get anything good from the outer areas, so I wanted to try my luck inside."

"Try your luck?" The skinny man took two steps in front of him. "Take out your storage bag, and I'll check if there's anything good inside."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yifei sneered inwardly.

This is outright robbery.

But he didn't show it on his face; instead, he feigned fear and took a step back: "Fellow Daoist, I... I don't have anything good inside, just a few demon cores and some herbs. Please be merciful..."

"Enough nonsense." The skinny man waved his hand impatiently. "I've been wandering around this secret realm for five days and haven't found a single thing. I finally run into an easy target, and you expect me to go easy on them?"

He drew a short knife from his waist; the blade gleamed with a blue light, clearly poisoned.

"Throw the storage bag over here, and I'll spare your life. Otherwise..."

He brandished the knife in his hand, his meaning clear.

Shen Yifei pretended to be even more frightened and hurriedly pulled a small porcelain bottle from his pocket.

"Fellow Daoist... I have a fourth-grade pill here, which I found in my cave. Could you... could you please take it and spare my life?"

The skinny man's eyes lit up: "A fourth-grade pill? What kind of pill?"

"I...I don't know, and I didn't dare to eat it." Shen Yifei held up the porcelain bottle. "Look, this is it."

The skinny man reached out to take it.

Shen Yifei threw the porcelain bottle on the ground and ran away.

The skinny man subconsciously bent down to pick up the porcelain bottle.

Just as he bent over, Shen Yifei suddenly turned around and smashed the Wanwu Cauldron down on the skinny man's head.

He's much faster than before, and the skinny guy can't dodge him in time.

"Bang!"

The skinny man didn't even utter a sound; a flash of red light, and he vanished from his spot.

Shen Yifei picked up the porcelain bottle from the ground, dusted it off, and put it back into his ring.

"Little one," Liu Mengli said softly from inside the cauldron, "it's a pity you're not an opera singer with acting skills like that."

"Enough with the nonsense." Shen Yifei put the cauldron away and continued walking forward.

Finding a secluded spot, Shen Yifei sat cross-legged and took out the Myriad Things Cauldron.

When consciousness probed in, the skinny man lay motionless in the hazy space.

Liu Mengli had already hidden in a corner, wrapped in his outer robe, only revealing a pair of green eyes, watching the skinny man on the ground warily.

"You want to refine him?" she asked softly.

"Um."

"Aren't you...aren't you afraid of divine retribution?"

"He stole my things and tried to kill me, so it's only right that I fight him." Shen Yifei said calmly, as if he were just saying that the weather was nice today.

Liu Mengli stopped talking and just shrank even smaller.

Shen Yifei channeled spiritual energy into the cauldron.

A ball of blue flame emerged from beneath the skinny man.

The skinny guy woke up.

He opened his eyes and saw that his body was on fire, letting out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.

"Ah...! What is that! Who...who is trying to harm me!"

He rolled around in the fire, flailing his hands wildly. But the fire wouldn't go out; instead, it burned even brighter.

"Fellow Daoist! Fellow Daoist, spare my life!" the skinny man screamed. "I'll give you everything! I have spirit stones! I have pills! I have magic weapons! You can have it all! Just let me go!"

Shen Yifei ignored him.

The skinny man's skin began to blacken, like charred wood, and pieces of it fell off. Flesh and blood sizzled in the fire, and the blood evaporated before it could even flow out.

Liu Mengli huddled in the corner, covering her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide open.

She watched as the skinny man's flesh was burned away layer by layer, revealing his white bones.

The skinny man's screams grew weaker and weaker until only his panting "hoarse" sounds remained, like a bellows leaking air.

The whole process lasted about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea.

Gradually, only a small puddle of dark red liquid remained on the ground. Then it slowly condensed into a dark red pill.

He opened his mouth and swallowed the pill.

A new line appeared in my mind: "Sharpen perception, slightly enhance the ability to perceive the surrounding environment."

Shen Yifei sensed it for a moment, and it seemed that there wasn't much change.

"It's better than nothing," he muttered.

Liu Mengli witnessed the whole process inside the cauldron, and now she huddled in a corner, not uttering a sound.

Shen Yifei could feel her trembling.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"When you were refining that person just now," Liu Mengli's voice trembled, "it was different from when you were refining that giant ape."

"What's different?"

"When it was the giant ape, I couldn't see it very clearly. But this person..." She swallowed, "I could see him clearly. Pieces of his flesh were falling off, and his bones were burning to ash..."

She couldn't continue.

Shen Yifei remained silent for a moment.

He knew what Liu Mengli was afraid of. The giant ape was a demonic beast; if he refined it, so be it.

But this time, the person being tested was a living, breathing person. When the skinny man begged for mercy, his voice was so pitiful that even he almost softened.

But he doesn't regret it.

When that skinny man robbed him, he never intended to spare his life. If it weren't for the Cauldron of All Things, he would be the one lying on the ground being searched for now.

"If you're scared, then don't watch," Shen Yifei said calmly.

"I...I wasn't scared," Liu Mengli said stubbornly, but her voice was still trembling. "It's just...it's just a little disgusting."

Shen Yifei didn't expose her. He put the cauldron away, stood up, and continued walking.

After walking a few steps, Liu Mengli spoke again.

"Little guy, how many people have you trained before?"

"Including the one from before, that makes three."

"Three?" Liu Mengli's voice rose a half-octave. "You even refined two more?"

"Hmm. Two senior sisters from the Hehuan Sect tried to drain my essence, but I killed them instead."

"That broken cauldron of yours," she finally spoke, "how much can it actually refine?"

"The Cauldron of All Things, refines all things." Shen Yifei read the words on the cauldron aloud. "As long as it's alive, it can be refined."

"If I refine it, I can extract the other person's talent for my own use?" she asked.

"right."

"By refining the giant ape, one gains the power of the giant ape. Just now, by refining that person, one gains..."

"Sharp perception," Shen Yifei added.

Liu Mengli fell silent again.

After a long while, she said in a low voice, "You thing is even more sinister than our Nightmare Clan."

"How so?"

"At most, we drain people dry in their dreams, and that's it. But you? You refine people, bones and flesh, into elixirs and eat them, even stealing their abilities. Who's the evil one here?"

Shen Yifei thought about it and felt that what she said made sense.

"That's why I can't let anyone know," he said calmly. "This thing is both a lifesaver and a death warrant. If people find out, I'll die."

Liu Mengli snorted from inside the cauldron: "You seem to understand things quite well."

"Those who have been in the Hehuan Sect for three years and still don't understand it are long gone."