Start with acting, and you'll achieve immortality!

Su Wan stood up, blood at the corner of her mouth.

"Are you still able to move around?"

"Still alive? Let's go!"

Li Ping leaned against the wall to steady himself.

At the very end of these stone steps stands a heavy iron gate.

A line of words was engraved on the door

"Written with the character '甲' (jia) and the number 17"

And the handwriting on that ledger that said "already in the furnace" was exactly the same.

The footsteps of the men in black behind were getting closer.

Li Ping stretched out his arm and pushed the door hard.

The door was unlocked

When the iron gate was opened, a wave of scorching heat hit my face and body.

Inside this is a circular stone chamber.

In the center of the stone chamber stood a black furnace, three zhang wide, its opening long since extinguished.

The furnace wall was covered with dark red patterns.

Seventeen stone pillars stood around the perimeter, each with an iron ring fastened to it.

These iron rings come in both relatively large and relatively small sizes.

The smallest one was only big enough to fit around a child's wrist.

Li Ping's gaze swept over the edge of the stove.

Scattered on the ground were some medicine bowls cracked from the fire, broken chains, and several wooden plaques that hadn't had enough time to be completely burned away.

"The third character in the Jia family is Zhao Xiaoman."

"It's number nine in the Jia class, and his name is Chen Rang."

"The seventeenth character of the Jia family is Shen..."

After the last piece of wood was burned, only half of its original length remained.

Li Ping bent down and picked it up.

There are three deep scratches on the back of the wooden plaque.

This looks like something someone would do when forcibly dragged to the front of a stove, scratching and digging with their fingernails.

Su Wan walked to the black stove

There was no ash at the bottom of the furnace.

There was only a layer of dried, black substance stuck in the gaps between the bricks.

"This is not dregs of medicine."

She spoke those words.

"This is the resentment of human blood burned away."

Li Ping did not ask what kind of object it was.

He noticed the array patterns distributed around the outer area of ​​the black furnace.

The array patterns are somewhat similar to the black rope array in the salt warehouse, but much more complex.

Seventeen stone pillars are connected in a circle, eventually converging at the bottom of the furnace.

This situation involves using living people as materials for setting up formations.

The character "甲" is seventeen.

This is not a number that belongs to just one individual.

This is the seventeenth position.

The iron gate behind him slammed open

The person in black went inside.

He didn't act immediately, but kept his eyes fixed on the half-burnt wooden plaque by the stove.

"As expected, it's in this place."

"Why was the plaque that Chen Rang owned placed inside the Jiazi Furnace?"

Li Ping asked

The person in black glanced at him.

"You really want to know?"

"You went to all that trouble to lure me here, just so I would find out about this, didn't you?"

"Then you can carry this sign and ask your good teacher."

The man in black raised his hand

The red light that had appeared above the stone chamber suddenly shone brightly.

The patterns on the furnace wall came to life, like blood vessels crawling outwards.

The seventeen stone pillars reverberated simultaneously, and the iron rings clanged and jingled in the air.

Su Wan's expression changed slightly at this moment.

"This formation hasn't completely lost its effectiveness yet!"

"Of course it's not dead."

Black-clad Man

"It was fed fresh, living people last night, and it's hungry."

A very faint groan came from below the furnace opening.

Li Ping suddenly turned his gaze in that direction.

There was originally a hidden door embedded at the bottom of the black furnace.

A body was curled up behind the hidden door.

The man's wrists were bound in iron rings, and his gray robe was tattered.

His face was deathly pale in the firelight.

This person was none other than the gray-robed cultivator who had been slapped into the river by the man in black earlier.

A talisman, already burned and cracked, was revealed inside his sleeve.

Last night's palm strike shattered the substitute death talisman, and everyone assumed he was dead; however, the man in black took advantage of the chaos to bring him back to his old house.

The man in the gray robe raised his head; his lips were now split open.

"Drag me out!"

"I don't want to lose my life... nor do I want to turn into medicinal residue!"

"He's the one who forcibly dragged me back to this place; he wanted to use my body to fill the core of the formation!"

He pointed at the man in black.

The expression on the face of the person dressed in black did not change at all.

"Shangguan Jue will make sure you die a gruesome death."

"I'm letting you into the alchemy furnace; at least you'll retain some usefulness."

"Fuck you!"

The gray-robed man struggled, the iron rings clanging loudly.

"This alchemy furnace will forcibly melt and dissolve my soul!"

The man in black didn't look at him again.

He turned his gaze to Li Ping.

"That ledger, you found it very convenient to use, didn't you?"

"Without my guidance, you little constable would never have found your way here in your entire life."

Why?

"Chen Boyong has been holed up in the prefectural governor's mansion for too long."

The man in black said,

"The pharmacy, the old signboard, the register—this bloody evidence was slammed into his face."

"Let's see how he pretends to be deaf and dumb."

"You used my body as a weapon to force the teacher to reveal his secrets."

"Don't you pride yourself on being someone who can enforce the law according to principles?"

Black-clad Man

"I've already laid the truth right in front of you; now you should kneel down and thank me."

"I find a road paved with the bones of living people filthy."

Li Pingdao

A hint of mockery flashed in the man's eyes.

"Then let them stay and serve as war materials."

He clenched his five fingers tightly together.

The black furnace shook violently.

The scream of the man in the gray robe had barely rang out when the array patterns at the bottom of the alchemy furnace lit up.

The iron rings on the seventeen stone pillars tightened simultaneously, forcibly drawing the spiritual energy within the stone chamber to the center of the furnace by a tremendous force.

Su Wan, carrying a long sword, ran and sprinted forward.

The man in black dodged to the side and struck the spine of the sword with his palm.

A loud clang rang out!

Su Wan was forced back several steps, her tiger's mouth split open.