Chapter 9: Transforming Ghosts Into Pills
“You!” Wang Shijin was startled, his eyes widening round, “You’re going to eat a person?”
He had interacted with such strange Ghost Controllers before, but those people just drank some five-whip wine and took some dragon-tiger pills; he had never seen anyone directly eat people. After all, human flesh doesn’t taste good, and no one except perverts likes it.
“This should count as a type of demon pill thing.” Zhang Qian grabbed the ghost hand and yanked hard; the nearby table was smashed into pieces, but the seemingly fragile palm showed no damage at all. “See, no person could grow something like this, right?”
Wang Shijin quietly put away the phone behind his back and asked uncertainly, “This is the so-called ghost? It doesn’t look particularly special.”
“That’s because you’re lucky and haven’t seen it go berserk.” Zhang Qian used the ghost hand’s fingernail to scratch a dent in the walls. “It’s said this ghostly thing took the lives of several hundred people.”
“Hiss—that thing, keep it away, don’t come near me.” Wang Shijin shifted to the side. “You’re really going to eat something so dangerous?”
“Just say if you can refine it or not!” Zhang Qian deliberately taunted. “If not, I’ll find someone else.”
“I can, why not!” The old man lit the furnace and set up a medicine furnace. “Toss it in, this old man will perform ghost-to-pill alchemy today.”
Then he poured mountain spring water into the pot, took out many medicinal herbs and added them one by one, then slammed the lid on with a bang. “Wait and see, no one can question my Wang Shijin’s professional level.”
After a long while, the sun set in the west.
Wang Shijin opened the furnace lid; the various medicinal herbs inside had been boiled into a pot of dark brown medicinal soup, with a thick herbal medicine smell surging out and filling the entire factory’s space.
“Seems like it’s not working.” Zhang Qian poked the ghost hand in the liquid with a stick and suddenly felt this scene was a bit like stewing pig trotters.
“How about you take a sip and try?” Wang Shijin ladled out a small bowl of the liquid, sniffed the smell and felt there was no problem; it shouldn’t kill anyone.
Zhang Qian hesitated a bit as he took the bowl, let it cool slightly, held his breath, and downed it in one gulp.
Wang Shijin asked curiously from the side, “How does it taste? Any effect?”
“Urp—if it has an effect, that’d be weird.” Zhang Qian rinsed his mouth with clear water. “You’re indeed not very professional, but it’s okay, I can understand.”
Ordinary people really can’t refine pills that increase cultivation. Although he hadn’t held much hope from the start, he still felt a bit regretful.
Hearing this, Wang Shijin felt a bit awkward too. “This ghostly thing can’t even be boiled tender; I really have no way.”
“Sigh, then forget it.” Zhang Qian channeled true qi into his arms and fished out the ghost hand amid the steam.
Stimulated by the true qi, the ghost hand suddenly awoke from dormancy and writhed constantly on his hand. Zhang Qian ignored it and pressed it toward the golden box.
“Wait, I have a way!” Wang Shijin seemed to think of something and suddenly shouted, “Since you can influence it, why can’t you refine the pill yourself?”
“That makes some sense.” Zhang Qian paused his actions upon hearing this. “Then I’ll give it a try.”
His current internal energy still couldn’t light a fire, but channeling it to his palms was no problem.
So Zhang Qian clasped his hands together and rubbed the ghost hand between them; true qi and yin energy kept fusing, making sizzling sounds.
After a good while, the ghost hand was somewhat deformed but otherwise fine; instead, the surrounding air grew icier and colder, with mold spots even faintly creeping onto nearby objects.
Wang Shijin poked his head out from behind Zhang Qian and said hesitantly, “This thing is somewhat like those potent medicinal herbs—good effect but fierce nature, so we usually balance it with auxiliary ingredients. Dry-rubbing it like this isn’t a solution; how about adding some other materials to try?”
“These materials aren’t easy to find either.” Zhang Qian was somewhat speechless; he had just entered the qi refining stage today and was still a total newbie—where was he supposed to find other materials to refine pills?
Wait, there actually seemed to be some.
Zhang Qian turned his head to look; the yellow envelope was quietly lying in the golden box. Back then in the post office, he had only poured out the letters from his backpack, so two letters remained here.
“Whatever, let’s try.” Seeing the ghost hand growing more restless, Zhang Qian slapped the letter onto it and increased his true qi output as he rubbed.
A strange power emanated from the envelope; the ghost hand in contact with it actually stopped struggling and, with Zhang Qian’s rubbing, was gradually wrapped by the envelope, finally turning into a yellow pill.
Zhang Qian withdrew his true qi, picked up the pill, and held it before his eyes. “It’s done just like that?”
The pill was orange-yellow, icy cold and smooth to the touch, only two or three centimeters in diameter—he had no idea how a whole ghost hand fit inside.
Wang Shijin was amazed too. “I’ve really seen something new; your technique is even a bit like the myth of rubbing mud into pills.”
“Average, just standard operation.” Although Zhang Qian didn’t know why it worked either, as a qi refining stronger one, he had to remain impassive.
Although the pill was successfully refined, calling it medicine still lacked the crucial point: not killing the eater.
Other cultivators seemed to test medicine on lab mice… Zhang Qian thought, his gaze unconsciously drifting toward Wang Shijin.
“Why are you looking at me?” Wang Shijin felt creeped out by his stare. “I’m a sixty-year-old comrade.”
“It’s nothing, just that you look handsome.” Zhang Qian pinched up the pill. “I suggest you stay far away.”
After seeing Wang Shijin leave the warehouse, Zhang Qian sat cross-legged on the ground and swallowed the pill with his head tilted back.
This was worth one hundred million… He hoped the effect would be good.
The moment it entered his mouth, the pill melted directly in Zhang Qian’s mouth, turning into an unknown energy that merged into his true qi; the originally pure white true qi was also tinged with some gray.
He abruptly opened his eyes, formed his palms into a knife, and slashed beside him; a second later, the metal table suddenly broke into two sections.
“This is…” Zhang Qian sensed the true qi in his body, now carrying a sinister icy cold aura and even faintly emanating a sharp edge. “So that’s it, this is sword qi!”
Eating one ghost awakened sword qi—what would happen if he ate two more?
Thinking of tomorrow’s delivery mission, Zhang Qian couldn’t help feeling some anticipation.
At the same time, in a high-end residential area in Dahai City.
A woman with fiery red long hair collapsed weakly onto the bed. “Ah~ I’m finally back; I won’t go shopping again next time.”
She lay on the bed for a while, skillfully took out makeup remover and rubbed it on her face, wiping away the heavy makeup to reveal her flawless fair skin.
If Zhang Qian were here, he would be shocked that Jiang Dan, who looked like an old auntie, was actually a beautiful girl.
“Just updated…” Jiang Dan turned on the projector and searched for her usual comedy variety show, then took a pile of drama-watching snacks from the bedside shelf; she didn’t seem worried about tomorrow’s delivery mission at all.
The variety show guests’ silly reactions to pranks made her laugh heartily; carelessly, she knocked over the drink by her hand.
However, the cup stopped at a weird angle without spilling a drop of milk tea.
She casually picked up the cup, took two sips, and tossed it toward the bedside.
The cup traced a beautiful arc mid-air, bounced through various collisions, and landed in the corner trash can.
No helping it; her luck had always been good.
