74. An Assassin Arrives at the Alchemy Hall

The magazines Xie Wuji gave to Ximen were nothing but swimsuit pictorials, not breaking any rules. As a man himself, Xie Wuji understood men all too well. When a man is faced with a completely exposed beauty, the allure is actually not as strong; it’s the art of concealment, the half-hidden, half-revealed that proves fatal in its attraction. This stems from a man’s inherent desire for conquest—one target is already conquered and no longer a challenge, while the other still requires effort and a price to pay, and naturally men tend to choose the latter. After all, the sense of accomplishment from such a conquest is far greater. Thus, Ximen sank completely into this obsession. In just a few short days, he succeeded in losing weight: from a three-hundred-pound giant, he shrank to a scrawny figure, weighing less than a hundred pounds, almost nothing but skin and bones. The amount of tissues he consumed was astonishing, and it was clear he couldn’t keep this up much longer.

For the sake of Ximen’s health, Xie Wuji decided to set aside the teachings he had received from Ximen for the next few days, digest and organize everything, and finally begin refining pills. During their conversations, Xie Wuji also learned that Ximen’s family had once been a sect devoted solely to pill refining, every member a master of the craft. Yet their fatal flaw was that each was obsessed with alchemy and neglected martial cultivation. In the end, other sects coveted their pills and staged a massacre; nearly every member of Ximen’s family perished. At the time, Ximen and his sister escaped only because they were visiting their maternal relatives with their mother. When they learned that their father and the entire clan had been wiped out, the siblings threw themselves into studying alchemy, eventually creating an utterly unique pill that drove all 130 members of their enemy’s household insane overnight.

Ximen’s elder sister was ruthless—turning her enemies mad wasn’t enough; she hacked off their limbs, leaving them writhing like maggots in the street. After losing their sect, the siblings apprenticed themselves to a notorious libertine, learning martial techniques and skills by his side. Through constant exposure, they became terrors of the martial world.

Ximen Qiu Huan himself was a prodigy in alchemy, though his lasciviousness was a flaw. Otherwise, Xie Wuji would have gladly recruited him under his own banner.

Xie Wuji prepared a purple-gold pill furnace, one of the finest in the Pill Refining Hall. The best was the Fire Crystal Furnace, kept secret by the Grand Elder. Legend had it that the Fire Crystal Furnace needed no external flame, as the crystal itself radiated heat, making pill refining twice as effective with half the effort. The purple-gold furnace, though excellent, still required a flame.

After gathering the necessary herbs, a sudden thought struck Xie Wuji: could he use the Immortal Undying Flame for alchemy? With no one else around, he steeled himself and muttered, “Let’s do it! The Immortal Undying Flame will consume my spiritual energy, but I can always replenish that. It’ll save a lot of resources, and after all, fire is still fire. Here goes nothing!”

With that, he dumped all the ingredients for a Foundation Establishment Pill into the furnace, raised his palms skyward, and summoned two flickering wisps of Immortal Undying Flame. Crossing his hands, he pushed the fire into the furnace. The instant the fire entered, a commotion ensued—the furnace began to tremble violently, then shook as if an engine were roaring inside, producing a relentless buzzing sound.

Ignoring the oddities of the furnace, Xie Wuji poured his full focus into channeling the Immortal Undying Flame. In a matter of moments, ten radiant pills materialized within the furnace.

Seeing the pills, Xie Wuji couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. “As expected, consulting Ximen was the right move. I tried countless times before, and every batch turned to ash. This time, I’ve actually managed to form proper pills. I wonder how effective they are.”

With a fresh batch of pills at hand, it was only natural to test their effects. Glancing around and seeing no one else, he noticed a Fire-tailed Chicken pecking at herb scraps nearby. Xie Wuji chuckled, tossed a pill onto the ground, and called out, “Here, here, little one, come and try my new creation!”

The Fire-tailed Chicken, unsuspecting, swallowed the pill in one gulp. Instantly, its body began to tremble uncontrollably. Xie Wuji watched in astonishment as the creature suddenly swelled several times in size.

This was the Fire-tailed Chicken King, his loyal companion and proud rooster with over seventy hens in his harem. Muscles rippled beneath its feathers, its frame growing larger and more imposing, its aura rising dramatically.

“How do you feel?” Xie Wuji asked.

The Chicken King let out a series of low clucks, then suddenly lifted its head and shot out the door.

Xie Wuji was dumbfounded. The Chicken King had flown off at once—did the taste not appeal to him? But just now, after eating the pill, its presence had clearly grown stronger. The pill must have worked, or so Xie Wuji hoped.

Stretching, he decided to take a stroll. Just as he raised his hand, a sudden sharp presence caught his attention nearby. Instinctively, he scanned the surroundings, only to see a flash darting towards him.

“Arm guards! Shoulder plates!” Xie Wuji shouted, instantly donning his full armament and raising his arms to block. With a clang, a bright green throwing knife clattered to the ground. Looking up, he saw three figures dressed in black perched on the rafters above.

They leapt down, surrounding him. Wary, Xie Wuji demanded, “Who are you? Do you realize this is the heart of the Danxia Sect?”

“Are you Xie Wuji?” one of them asked.

Squinting, Xie Wuji replied, “Yes, that’s me—your Grandpa Xie, at your service!”

“Kill him!” shouted another.

All three drew their long blades and lunged at him. Xie Wuji was stunned—how had he provoked such assassins that they would come for his life?

But now was no time to hesitate. He had no idea how long these men had been lying in wait, and now, with their first strike, they left him no escape. All three were at the Golden Core stage, swift and deadly, attacking in perfect unison.

Relying on his Unyielding Grip, Xie Wuji blocked left and right, but the coordinated assault left him scrambling just to defend himself, with no chance to counterattack.

“That bracer of his must be a treasure,” one of the assassins sneered. “Once we finish him, that’s mine!”

The man’s blade gleamed with greenish smoke—obviously poisoned—as he slashed toward Xie Wuji’s side.

Xie Wuji rolled aside, grabbing the still-hot purple-gold furnace. Wrenching it open, he flung the scalding pill ash at his attackers.

They shielded their eyes, giving Xie Wuji a chance to dash for the hall’s main door, hoping to escape—after all, it was foolish to fight three Golden Core experts head-on.

But as his hand reached for the door handle, three throwing knives flew at him. He jerked his hand back just in time; the knives buried themselves deep in the door.

“Damn!” Xie Wuji cursed. If he’d insisted on opening the door, he’d probably be skewered by now.

Their fighting style clearly wasn’t from Danxia Sect. Who were these people? Xie Wuji racked his brain—other than the seven elders, he hadn’t offended anyone else. Could Ding Desheng have hired these killers?

Before he could figure it out, the three assassins closed in again, forcing him into a corner, trapping him with no way out.

Just as Xie Wuji resigned himself for the end, a voice echoed from above.

“Cluck, cluck, cluck!”

Looking up, he saw the Fire-tailed Chicken King swoop down, wings spread wide and talons like iron hooks, striking at one of the assassins. The man never imagined a mere chicken would dare attack him, and tried to swat it away, but the Chicken King was already upon him. Its claws flashed twice, leaving six bloody gashes in the man’s arm.

Seizing his chance, Xie Wuji unleashed his own power at another assassin, bellowing, “Mountain Crash!”