Chapter 7: Qingfeng Temple

Li Huowang lay on the bed, dressed in a hospital restraint suit, silently watching the hook of an IV drip above him, as if waiting for something.

With a creak, the ward door opened. "Ah, Xiao Li, weren't you recovering quite well before? What happened this time?"

Li Huowang's attending doctor walked in, a look of disappointment on his face.

Upon hearing this, Li Huowang, whose head was wrapped in white gauze, immediately became anxious and began to explain, "Doctor, they attacked Yang Na first! I was just forced to fight back to protect her!"

The doctor pushed his glasses up with a bent index finger. "Was that 'fighting back'? You nearly killed him! Liu Jianye is now in the ICU and hasn't come out. That kick of yours almost sent him straight to his grave. You've been here for a while, and you know everyone's conditions. Didn't you consider Master Liu's health before you acted? I thought you were a sensible child."

Thinking of Yang Na, who had been frightened to tears, Li Huowang seemed somewhat defiant. "What if he's mentally ill? Does having a mental illness mean he can do whatever he wants? If I have to choose between Yang Na getting hurt and going to jail, I'd rather choose the latter."

"You—" The attending doctor was speechless, having been retorted by Li Huowang.

He finally sighed and shook his head. "Forget it, forget it. The dean has already called both families. You don't need to worry about these things."

Upon hearing this, Li Huowang curled up slightly and turned onto his side, facing the empty side of the bed. In his mind, he began to calculate whether the 400,000 yuan jade pendant would be enough for compensation.

However, at this moment, he wasn't panicking at all. When he saw that the medicinal pills truly had an effect, Li Huowang suddenly realized that he had many new options in life.

Sensing his young patient's low spirits, the doctor spoke to reassure him, "Xiao Li, don't worry, you won't go to jail. The hospital can issue you a certificate. Don't think about these things; just rest and recover. We'll handle everything else."

Li Huowang noticed the doctor's concern in his words. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Thank me for what? I'm your attending doctor, after all. And you're so young, of course, I need to take extra care of you." Li Huowang felt the doctor's hand pat his shoulder.

"But Xiao Li, tell me honestly, how did you injure them so badly? That's not something an ordinary person can do. Were you in a normal state then, or did you fall into some new stress-induced hallucination again?"

Upon hearing this, Li Huowang's heart tightened, and his attention immediately focused on the pocket of his upper garment. "Well... I..."

"I'm a psychologist, and I have a good understanding of these matters. Don't try to hide your condition. You'd better think carefully before answering. I really dislike it when my patients deceive me."

Although the doctor's tone was gentle and pleasant, Li Huowang felt an invisible pressure in the room. "What should I do? I can't let him know about the pills."

Just as Li Huowang was anxiously searching for a way out, everything around him began to become unstable, and the doctor's voice grew increasingly indistinct.

Within a few seconds, he found himself once again caught in a hallucination, lying on a stone bed in Xuan Yang's private cave chamber.

Sitting up, clutching his head, Li Huowang looked at the simple furnishings around him and laughed. "Heh heh, no matter what, this is a solution."

He didn't plan to go back so quickly this time, to avoid the doctor waiting nearby.

Walking out of the room, Li Huowang watched the senior and junior disciples moving in and out of the cave tunnel, and began to formulate his plans.

Since those pills were real, he couldn't be as casual as before. He had to manage things well here to extract more benefits from this place.

Fortunately, his identity was no longer a "medicine ingredient" in the preparation room but had become a registered disciple under the bald-headed master, giving him much more freedom of movement.

When he saw a bearded Taoist, also dressed in a Taoist robe, walk past him, Li Huowang's eyes lit up, and he quickly chased after him. "Senior Brother! Senior Brother!"

The bearded Taoist turned his head and saw that it was Li Huowang speaking; his attitude was neither warm nor cold. "Junior Brother Xuanyang, what is it?"

Li Huowang imitated their way of speaking and replied, "Junior Brother has just become Master's disciple. I humbly ask Senior Brother for guidance. What should I do next?"

"Don't blame Senior Brother for speaking bluntly. Although you were personally taken in by our esteemed Master, your seniority is the lowest, so for now, you can only run errands within the Qingfeng Temple."

"To have Master teach you the methods of immortality is a privilege reserved for inner disciples. You are not yet qualified. For now, come with me and wait outside the alchemy room."

"Immortality...?" Li Huowang murmured to himself. He had never heard of any immortal achieving immortality by refining humans into elixirs.

"Can Master really become an immortal?"

A hint of self-satisfaction appeared on the bearded Taoist's face. "Of course! Master possesses great divine powers. Just serve him well."

From this Senior Brother, named Xuanyin, Li Huowang also learned the composition of the personnel within the entire cave temple: there were five registered disciples, one inner disciple, and the temple master, who was Danyangzi.

Besides these individuals, the remaining were peripheral staff, such as cooks, "medicine ingredients" in the preparation room, and utility Taoist children, totaling about a hundred to eighty people.

This was Li Huowang's first comprehensive understanding of the entire temple. The number of people in the temple was relatively small, even rudimentary, especially after a large number had died not long ago.

During their conversation, the oppressive alchemy furnace once again appeared before Li Huowang. Wisps of white smoke drifted from the furnace, seemingly refining something.

This time, besides Danyangzi, his inner disciple, a gloomy-looking young man, was also present by the furnace.

After waiting for a while with Xuanyin, Li Huowang received his task: taking a list of ingredients to the preparation room to count them, just like the work Xuanyang had done before.

When Li Huowang, holding a white whisk, arrived at the preparation room, everyone who was working looked over, their nervous eyes tinged with fear.

The albino girl pursed her lips and eagerly took two steps forward, but ultimately said nothing and slowly retreated in fear.

His identity had shifted from the oppressed to the oppressor.

Li Huowang looked at them, and his thoughts became active. Their roles had changed; perhaps he could find some advantages in this.

"Um, do you have any money?" At this question, everyone was stunned. "Money, don't you understand? I mean silver, gold, jade pendants are also fine."

To be honest, Li Huohwang desperately needed money right now. He didn't know how much compensation would be required for Old Liu Tou. His family was just an ordinary one; if the compensation was substantial, his mother might have to sell their house, which was something he urgently wanted to avoid.

"Anyway, you can't spend it here, so you might as well give it all to me. Consider it protection money; from now on, I'll look out for you."

His words were so direct that everyone else understood. The people in the preparation room began to search their bodies. They didn't ask Li Huowang to protect them; they only hoped that if they handed over their belongings, he wouldn't bully them.

Half a thumb-sized piece of blackened broken silver, a copper hairpin, and forty-odd copper coins, round on the outside and square on the inside—that was all he got.

Looking at these items, Li Huowang sighed. He seemed to have miscalculated. How could these people have any money? The money exchanged for these items was probably less than what was on his medical insurance card.