Chapter 64: The Immobilizing Pill

She Meier was delighted beyond measure as she saw Yan Chixia’s unusually joyful and envious gaze. She coughed loudly, then spoke with pride, “Yan Chixia, my breakthrough into the Golden Elixir realm today is actually thanks to you! Don’t ask why—just listen, and I’ll tell you everything…”

She Meier proceeded to recount the whole story in detail. Yan Chixia was left utterly speechless, unable to find any words.

Seeing his stunned expression, She Meier coughed again, deliberately, and said, “Well? Yan Chixia, are you shocked?”

Yan Chixia finally came to his senses and replied, “This… this is unbelievable! She Meier, everyone else breaks through with diligent cultivation, but you managed it in a fit of anger? No matter how it happened, you truly are in the Golden Elixir realm now! Haha, She Meier, I’m overjoyed for you. Congratulations!”

She Meier grinned broadly. “Thank you, and congratulations to you too!” Suddenly, her gaze landed on the lifeless body of Master Xuanxuan, and she remembered his intent to perform a ‘sacrifice.’ She asked, “Yan Chixia, there’s something I don’t understand. My master never performed sacrifices when refining elixirs… Why did Master Xuanxuan need to sacrifice while refining?”

“Because he was a demonic cultivator, following the crooked path. Sacrifice is necessary for such methods,” Yan Chixia explained. “Your master, like mine, followed the righteous path—those on the righteous path don’t need sacrifices for elixir refinement.” As he spoke, Yan Chixia stepped toward Master Xuanxuan’s corpse. The body lay on its side, limbs stiff, clearly dead. Yan Chixia raised his foot and kicked him in the abdomen.

She Meier hurried over and asked, “Yan Chixia, the demonic cultivator is dead—why kick him? Is it for revenge?”

“No, you’ve already avenged me,” Yan Chixia replied. “She Meier, I’m not kicking him for revenge, I’m just turning him over…”

“Turning him over? He’s dead… why bother?” She Meier asked, confused.

Yan Chixia didn’t answer. He flipped Master Xuanxuan’s corpse onto its back, then reached into his pouch…

“Oh?” She Meier’s eyes lit up with sudden understanding. “I get it! Yan Chixia, you’re searching his pouch—collecting spoils of war!”

“Exactly.” Yan Chixia nodded. “Earlier, he ambushed me, immobilizing me and nearly killing me… I must see what artifact was used to bind me.” As he spoke, he pulled out a dark storage pouch adorned with a yin-yang eight trigrams pattern.

She Meier was excited. “A storage pouch! Wonderful! Yan Chixia, open it and see what treasures are inside!”

Before she finished speaking, Yan Chixia had already opened the pouch. With a loud rustle, a jumble of items spilled onto the ground.

She Meier’s eyes dazzled at the sight. Upon closer inspection, she saw a stack of talisman papers, two small red gourds, three white porcelain bottles, three green porcelain bottles, five gold bars, and two gold ingots.

“Wow!” She Meier curled her lip. “Quite a lot, and even gold!”

Yan Chixia laughed, “Indeed! She Meier, we’ve struck it rich this time!”

“Hmph, who cares about his filthy money?” She Meier scoffed. “He certainly had plenty of bottles and jars… Yan Chixia, which one immobilized you?”

“How should I know?” Yan Chixia squatted to examine the scattered items. “It’s easy! She Meier, these bottles and gourds have labels. I’ll check them one by one.” He began to inspect each, “Soul-Mesmerizing Incense—not it; Infatuation Water—not it; Carefree Pill—not it; Corpse-Burning Liquid—not it; Spring Desire Powder—definitely not…”

“Ugh, disgusting!” She Meier wrinkled her nose. “All sorts of lowly stuff… Yan Chixia, stop looking. Just dispose of these filthy things—”

“Found it! Immobilizing Pill!” Before she could finish, Yan Chixia grabbed a green porcelain bottle. “She Meier, look, it’s this one.”

“Really! Yan Chixia, open it, quick!” She Meier became instantly interested.

Yan Chixia nodded eagerly and opened the bottle. Inside were dozens of Immobilizing Pills. He poured one into his palm for both of them to examine.

“She Meier, is this the Immobilizing Pill?”

“Yes!” She Meier replied. “Yan Chixia, that’s what immobilized you earlier…”

“Such a tiny thing—about the size of a soybean—can have that much power? It actually froze me in place?” Yan Chixia remarked, fascinated. Just then, two large yellow sheep bounded out from a thicket twenty paces ahead. Yan Chixia wanted to test the Immobilizing Pill. He aimed at the leading sheep and flicked the pill toward it. With a snap, it struck true. The sheep let out a startled cry and immediately froze in place.

“Ah, it worked!” She Meier exclaimed. “Yan Chixia, that Immobilizing Pill really is effective!”

“Very effective!” Yan Chixia said happily. “Since it works, let’s keep this bottle—you never know when it might come in handy…”

But before he finished, the immobilized sheep suddenly bleated loudly and took off at a frantic run.

Yan Chixia was stunned, then called out, “Where do you think you’re going?” He quickly flicked another Immobilizing Pill at it. With a snap, the unlucky sheep was struck again, froze, and stood motionless.

Yan Chixia and She Meier watched in silence.

“One, two, three, four, five…” Yan Chixia counted quietly as he observed. When he reached ten, the tenacious sheep bleated again and ran off at full speed.

Yan Chixia was at a loss, thinking, “With such brief immobilizing power, how did it manage to keep me frozen? What a grievance! Master Xuanxuan, where did you get this junk? Did you make it yourself?” He sighed, shook the bottle in front of She Meier, and asked wryly, “She Meier, with this ‘chicken rib’ of an Immobilizing Pill, what should I do with it?”