Li Jingtian entered meditation and focused on refining the pill. Zhuo Fan and Vicious Pill King were actually just standing there looking at him.
Six hours later, Li Jingtian stood up. Zhuo Fan smiled, “How is it, Elder Li? Happy?”
“Yes, my body feels so free!”
Li Jingtian let a carefree laugh, but then was cut short as he frowned, “However, why is it that my body hasn’t grown in power?”
Grinning, Zhuo Fan said, “That’s normal since it was not a body pill by any means. It’d be odd if you did get stronger!”
“What? You lied?” Li Jingtian’s rage exploded.
Vicious Pill King hunkered for cover behind Zhuo, but the latter was still carefree, “Oh my, Elder Li, you are a veteran and a man with widened horizons. How come you bought into this fairy tale about body pills? Don’t you know cultivators walk in defiance to Heavens? The greater the price the bigger the reward. Relying on pills will only ruin you in the long run!”
“You played me for a fool?!” Li Jingtian’s eyes were red now.
Vicious Pill King shivered as he shook Zhuo Fan’s arm. He tried to make him stop aggravating this old monster.
Zhuo Fan, however, flicked his hand free and laughed, “And, what are you gonna do about it? You think I’m as dumb as those morons you robbed, thinking you can just take my cultivation method? Fat chance!”
“Why you little…”
Li Jingtian was panting in rage, pointing at Zhuo Fan all the while.
The great Mad Dipper Li Jingtian was somebody, even in his early days, that the seven houses would show some respect. But then, he met this young pup who started cursing him.
The shame was unbearable.
No matter if he got the cultivation method or not, Zhuo Fan had to die.
Li Jingtian bellowed and slapped the two. The wave of power coming from him almost blew the two away.
“Kid, your life ends here!”
Vicious Pill King shivered behind Zhuo Fan in fear.
[Steward Zhuo, you tricked him but your Bloodworms plan fell through, so why are you making it worse?]
[You looked so wise with your poise and calmness, but how come why are you hotheaded today?]
Vicious Pill King cried as he wailed inside. Who could have seen this coming? He just got a new lease on life only to die again a month later.
[Is this the end of my poor life?]
In the middle of his lamentation and prayers, Zhuo Fan snorted and made a sign.
“Ah…”
A shriek of pain shuddered the heavens itself. A bloody mark appeared on Li Jingtian’s forehead that forced his palm to a stop but a hair’s breadth away from Zhuo Fan
He then proceeded to hold his head as he collapsed in agony.
Blood flowed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, dyeing the ground red. His eyes bulged out and were ready to pop.
The wail had Vicious Pill King looking stumped. Looking back at Zhuo Fan, he noticed the trademark wicked grin on his face.
“Uh, Steward Zhuo, did it work?” Vicious Pill King blinked.
Zhuo Fan nodded, “But of course. This coot is under my complete control. Elder Yan, you did well today. I will remember this!”
“Great, ha-ha-ha…”
Vicious Pill King’s spirits were uplifted. He looked to Li Jingtian with a proud gaze. [He-he-he, you finally got yours. Who told you to play around?]
[Don’t you know any ploy before Zhuo Fan is paid back many folds?]
Vicious Pill King felt it on his own skin. But seeing the Mad Dipper of Tianyu’s act crushed and shamed, made him chipper.
His admiration for Zhuo Fan grew as well of course
[He even managed to bring a Radiant Stage cultivator to his knees! This boy is too much!]
“W-what’s happening to me?” Li Jingtian held his head as he rolled on the ground, “What the hell did you do to me?
Zhuo Fan and Vicious Pill King snickered in sync.
Taking the remaining two pills, Zhuo Fan said, “Elder Li, I’m sure you know by now. I mean, didn’t a veteran cultivator like you ever heard the saying, don’t take candy from a stranger?”
“The pill?” Li Jingtian’s eyes widened, “Impossible. Even if a 3rd-grade pill had poison, my Yuan Qi is more than enough to remove it. And didn’t you take it too?”
Zhuo Fan snickered, “We did indeed. Terribly sorry, however, this pill is completely safe. It has no poison, though it does refresh one’s body. What is wreaking havoc in your body is this little buddy.”
Zhuo Fan presented the gourd and a Bloodworm came out.
Li Jingtian had known something was off about it, but never thought it could be so deadly and make him stand on the edge of a precipice.
“This is my demonic creature, Bloodworm. It takes control of your blood. I am linked with it and a thought from me is enough to plunge you into a world of pain! It works just the same even on a Radiant Stage expert like you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Li Jingtian was shocked and roamed his eyes around, all while he expressed his doubt, “That can’t be! I scanned every ingredient you used, even the dead fox and there was nothing wrong with any of them. The Bloodworm was killed by me at the start. You’re saying the worm didn’t die when being refined?”
Vicious Pill King was also curious about this. This was the reason for his disappointment earlier. He just didn’t know how Zhuo Fan pulled off getting this old guy to swallow a Bloodworm.
“Ha-ha-ha, I know this as well. Why else would I propose the red-tailed ice fox?”
Chuckling, Zhuo Fan’s eyes shined with wisdom, “My Bloodworm lives in frigid pools, and the ice fox’s main property is its icy blood. So, I had Elder Yan feed it a Bloodworm, but not to include it in the pill later. It was all so it would lay its eggs. You might have killed the Bloodworm, but the icy blood was filled with eggs.”
“Now I get it! Under a Radiant Stage expert’s scrutiny, they’ll notice any hint of life in seconds. But an egg isn’t alive until it hatches. This made Li Jingtian’s search useless.”
Vicious Pill King exclaimed while also giving Zhuo Fan a good round of ass-kissing, “Steward Zhuo is a sage to cover all aspects. Not even the veteran Li Jingtian could match your perfect schemes. I am in awe!”
“That’s not right. How did you make the Bloodworm grow so fast from a mere egg?” Li Jingtian was still in denial.
With a light smile, Zhuo Fan supplied the explanation on a casual note, “You have the potency of the pill to thank for that. As I’ve said, I used both yin and yang fires in the refining. If I did not do so, the yang fire would have ruined the egg in the blood. The rest is as you already understand. Or more aptly put, felt on your own skin. The pill freely switches from yin to yang. Sometimes the warmth of spring, and sometimes the chill of a winter blizzard. It imitates the four seasons. Though it may have been six hours, but to the Bloodworm, it was equivalent to decades.
“Not to mention, this pill speeds up your pulse, all to help the little Bloodworm grow. The pill was no body pill, but one that facilitates the flow of blood, the Spring Pill!”
The explanation floored Li Jingtian completely.
Never had he thought this day would come. He moved unchecked across the empire only to fall in the hands of a twerp. He could only laugh at himself for being greedy. It was this that brought him to his knees.
But Zhuo Fan saw through him once again, “Ha-ha-ha, you must be thinking greed got you into this mess, no? Wrong. Humans are inherently greedy. Take away your desire, and would you still be human? Desire is fine, but you must never ever try to take any shortcuts. There’s no such thing as a miracle pill to make you strong. And even if there is, the price you’d have to pay for it would be so much greater.”
Zhuo Fan then placed a jade slip at his feet, stopping the Bloodworm’s torment as he continued preaching, “Like I said. I have my own cultivation method. It is called Wraith Art, a mid profound ranked demonic method of astonishing power. Train it to completion and it won’t lack one bit to a top one. It is without a doubt stronger than even the Imperial Tyrant Body Art. At the same time, I will also give you three matching profound ranked martial arts.”
“If you are willing to bend a knee and join me and the Luo clan, pick it up and become its elder. Or, you can just leave, return to Regent Estate as a guest Venerable. I won’t stop you!”
Looking Zhuo Fan straight in the eye, Li Jingtian could pick up on his sincerity.
He slowly reached for the jade slip as he muttered, “I first want to see if it is real and not and if it is incomplete like what Regent Estate had passed to me.”
Zhuo Fan smiled and nodded.
When Li Jingtian caught a glimpse of it, his eyes widened, “Bloody hell! There’s a sound profound ranked martial art in here! This doesn’t exist anywhere in the empire. What kind of a behemoth is this Luo clan to have such a treasure? “
“Your decision?” Zhuo Fan smiled.
“I’m in. Who the hell wouldn’t at this point?” Li Jingtian put the jade slip in his ring and laughed, “Kid, I’d come over to your side much earlier if you had just shown me this cultivation method. What need was there for all that cloak and dagger spiel? He-he-he…”
“You don’t say.” Knowing what he was thinking once again, Zhuo Fan smiled coldly, “Wouldn’t you have killed me instead, to silence me, and take my head for a reward?”
Li Jingtian scratched his head awkwardly from having his heart laid bare.
[Zhuo Fan is just as the rumors say. Nothing escapes him. No wonder he can act so calmly after killing six experts.]
[With such a talent, the clan must be of even more epic proportions. I didn’t lose out following him.]
Li Jingtian laughed inside. He may have been forced to switch camps but you could say he traded up!
As such, another poor and disillusioned expert climbed aboard.
Zhuo Fan didn’t mind at all. [Isn’t it a good thing if they trust the Luo clan? Although they may perhaps experience a somewhat mild let down when they see it.]
Zhuo Fan felt somewhat bashful at that last thought…