Chapter 136: The Value of the Soul Pill
Precisely because he couldn't figure it out, at this moment, Yang Haoran, even after obtaining the Demon Pill, showed no trace of happiness on his face.
He kept feeling as if he had overlooked something, but he couldn't recall what it was he had missed for the life of him. This left him deeply troubled. From the moment he acquired the Demon Pill, not a hint of joy had appeared on his face; instead, his brows remained tightly furrowed throughout the journey.
Zhou watched Yang Haoran's reaction, but he didn't utter a single word, nor did he show any suspicious expression. His spirit body, bound by chains of Spirit Power, remained kneeling obediently before the altar table, as if he had fallen into a deep slumber due to the extreme weakness of his spirit body.
Yang Haoran stared at the Demon Pill for a long time, but still couldn't figure out where the problem lay. With no other choice, he closed the box and re-affixed the talisman.
As the talisman was re-applied, the Demon Power emanating from the Demon Pill was isolated, and not a trace of it could be sensed.
Before he could figure out the root of the problem, he wasn't going to open the box again. After all, the Demon Pill was now in his possession, and he had all the time in the world to understand the source of that unease in his heart.
As for why he didn't directly interrogate Zhou, the reason was simple. If Zhou had meticulously plotted to frame him, he felt it would be impossible to extract any useful information, and he might even be misled by Zhou.
Therefore, he preferred to think it through himself rather than fall into Zhou's trap. Perhaps Zhou was precisely waiting for him to interrogate him at this very moment.
Putting away the Demon Pill, the night passed without incident.
Looking at the aloof woman before him, her hands tucked into her pockets, Yang Haoran's face broke into a slight smile.
"It seems you've recovered well."
Xu Meijing's expression remained as arrogant as ever, and her tone of voice was still the same—lofty and dismissive of all. She seemed to regard everything in this world with disdain.
By now, Yang Haoran no longer bothered with this aspect of Xu Meijing's personality. He smiled and nodded gently, and said, "My parents have walked their path in this life to its end, but my path is not yet complete. I need to keep walking."
"It's best you think this way. Many things, once they become facts, are hard to change," Xu Meijing said with a hint of lament.
"Come in and sit. It's rude to keep you standing outside."
Yang Haoran invited Xu Meijing into the house, and she did not refuse. She entered the old house with Yang Haoran.
As soon as she entered the old house, Xu Meijing spotted Zhou kneeling before the altar table.
When her gaze fell upon Zhou, Zhou's spirit body involuntarily gave a violent shudder.
Zhou had his back to Xu Meijing, but Xu Meijing's presence seemed to make Zhou sense something terrifying, which caused his spirit body to involuntarily tremble.
No wonder Zhou reacted this way. The reason he had fallen to his current plight was entirely thanks to Xu Meijing. If not for Xu Meijing, he wouldn't have died; it would have been Yang Haoran who died, and his plan would have succeeded.
But all of this had gone up in smoke because of Xu Meijing's appearance.
The person Yang Haoran hated most was Zhou, but the person Zhou hated most was not Yang Haoran, but this terrifying woman who had casually bisected his body with a single slice.
After merely glancing at Zhou, Xu Meijing said nothing and withdrew her gaze, then sat down at the table.
Although she said nothing, Yang Haoran's emotional intelligence was not low. With a wave of his hand, the Soul-Gathering Bead whistled forth and drew the kneeling Zhou into its depths.
"I came today to bid you farewell," Xu Meijing said after sitting down.
Yang Haoran had just sat down when he heard her words. He smiled faintly and said, "Are you returning to Lecheng so soon? Won't you spend more time with your grandmother?"
Xu Meijing shook her head and said, "Not returning to Lecheng, but leaving Lecheng."
These words startled Yang Haoran.
"Leaving Lecheng? " Yang Haoran's smile froze on his face, and he asked, "What are you doing leaving Lecheng? Searching for spirits? We Night Watchers have rules. We can't cross borders to guide spirits; that would break the rules and stir up unnecessary trouble."
"Do I need you to teach me these things? " Xu Meijing's rhetorical question immediately cut off all of Yang Haoran's subsequent words.
Watching Yang Haoran rendered speechless by her single sentence, Xu Meijing suddenly felt quite pleased.
"If I don't leave, it will be difficult for you to grow. Lecheng, though not small, isn't big enough for both of us to share," Xu Meijing said.
"So that's what you're worried about," Yang Haoran said. "How about this? From now on, the city and the public cemeteries outside the city will be yours, and the countryside will be mine. This way, your monthly gains should not differ much from before. What do you think?"
Xu Meijing smiled and teased, "There aren't many people in the countryside. Aside from some lonely spirits, you probably won't have much of a harvest each month. You'll be at a great disadvantage this way."
Xu Meijing was not wrong. If Yang Haoran followed this suggestion, he would certainly be at a disadvantage. Yang Haoran was naturally aware of this.
"It's nothing. I don't want my presence to affect you, and I especially don't want you to leave Lecheng because of it," Yang Haoran said with a smile.
"Heh, you're truly generous. " Xu Meijing replied with a cold laugh, then continued, "If you truly do as you say, then you probably won't be able to reach the Open Soul realm in your entire life, and you'll only be a Night Watcher your whole life, working for Deng Feng for the rest of your days."
Her words were somewhat hurtful. Yang Haoran's smile became forced, but Xu Meijing didn't care and continued to speak.
"Before you became a Night Watcher, the number of souls I submitted to Deng Feng each month was astonishing, and the Soul Qi I gained was far beyond what other Night Watchers received, which is why my strength was far superior to theirs. But, if I told you that purely on the meager Soul Qi Deng Feng gave me each month, I would still have to struggle for ten, twenty, or even more years before I could possibly break through to the Open Soul realm, would you believe me?"
Yang Haoran's brows furrowed. From Xu Meijing's words, he gleaned many implications, but he did not speak, waiting for Xu Meijing to continue.
"The reason I was able to break through to the Open Soul realm was because I once had the good fortune to encounter an opportunity. It was also from that time that I learned about the existence of the Soul-Refining Cauldron and obtained a Soul Pill. However, I had kept this Soul Pill preserved since I acquired it, never using it, because I wanted to use it to aid my Open Soul breakthrough."
"For all these years, I've been working diligently, striving to guide more spirits and exchanging them with Deng Feng for more Soul Qi. All this was to lay a solid foundation for myself, to ensure that after consuming the Soul Pill, I could break through to Open Soul in one fell swoop."
"I only had one Soul Pill. If, after consuming it, it couldn't help me break through to the Open Soul realm, then my situation might become very troublesome. I might even be suppressed by Deng Feng because of it. That's why I kept building my foundation and never dared to rashly consume that single Soul Pill."
"It wasn't until the end of last month, when I was provoked by you while submitting souls. After returning home, in a fit of pique, I directly consumed that cherished Soul Pill. Perhaps it was because my foundation had indeed been well-laid over the years, or perhaps I underestimated the immense Pure Yin Qi contained within the Soul Pill—I succeeded! I successfully opened my Heaven Soul and entered the Open Soul realm!"
As she spoke, Yang Haoran felt both surprised and awkward. He hadn't expected Xu Meijing to have only recently broken through to the Open Soul realm, and he certainly hadn't expected the matter to be related to him.
When Xu Meijing reached this point, displeasure clearly showed on her face. Seeing this, Yang Haoran quickly stood up and said, "I'll get you a glass of water. Oh, right, what's that Soul Pill you just mentioned?"
Yang Haoran sensed Xu Meijing's irritation, so he used getting water as a cover and changed the subject to distract her.
"Refined from a Soul-Refining Cauldron," Xu Meijing said, annoyed.
Yang Haoran placed a bowl of boiled water in front of Xu Meijing and couldn't help but show a bewildered expression. He asked, "Isn't what's refined from a Soul-Refining Cauldron a Soul Crystal?"
Xu Meijing picked up the boiled water and took a small sip, then put the bowl down and couldn't help but give Yang Haoran a side-eye.
"For those of us in the Underworld Office, Soul Crystals are the most supreme nourishment. They're not that easy to refine; the emergence of a single Soul Crystal can definitely stir up a storm of blood and gore in the Underworld Office. As for Soul Pills, they are the byproduct of failed Soul Crystal refining. Even though they are a failed product of Soul Crystals, their value is still extremely high. As for how high, you should be able to guess one or two things by looking at me, the beneficiary."
The reason Xu Meijing was able to break through to the Open Soul realm was partly due to the solid foundation she had built with a large amount of Soul Qi. But most importantly, it was because of that Soul Pill. If it weren't for the existence of that Soul Pill, Xu Meijing's desire to break through to the Open Soul realm would still be ages away. This demonstrates how immense the value of a Soul Pill truly was to them.
As for Xu Meijing's words, Yang Haoran had no doubt, because he felt Xu Meijing had no reason to lie to him.
"Do you remember the box Deng Feng used every time he performed a Soul Qi infusion? " Xu Meijing suddenly asked.
Yang Haoran nodded. He had an extremely deep impression of that box and was very curious: Each time Soul Qi was infused, where did that dense Pure Yin Qi come from? Was it the box itself, or something inside the box?
Seeing Yang Haoran nod, Xu Meijing continued, "Inside Deng Feng's box, there was a Soul Pill. And the Pure Yin Qi that appeared every time we received a Soul Qi infusion was just a tiny fraction extracted from within that Soul Pill. One Soul Pill is enough to sustain all the Night Watchers in Lecheng for several years. Now that I've explained it this way, I believe you should understand just how valuable a Soul Pill is."
Xu Meijing's words were astounding, and Yang Haoran listened with a face full of disbelief.
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