Danwu Refining Spirit

Chapter Twenty-Five: On the Pirate Ship

What kind of talk is this? Your father has always been diligent and honest in his work and in his personal life. How come you've turned him into a philanderer?

Xiao Banyue was clearly furious with the fat man and roared, "Grandson! I'll leave it to my grandson, okay?!"

"I want to find my mother!" the fat man said, his face full of resentment.

"Uh, then maybe we shouldn't?" Xiao Banyue's expression changed slightly, and she looked somewhat weak.

"How about this, the other seven pills also look extraordinary, so we'll leave them all for you to take. We'll deal with this Pill King later when you become an elite disciple."

Before the fat man could explain, Xiao Banyue had already grabbed the remaining seven pills and stuffed them all into the fat man's hand.

After calming her son down, Xiao Banyue gave Old Xu a deep look and said with bright eyes, "Master Xu, you have worked for my family for many years. You are often separated from your wife and children, which is very hard. It was my oversight."

"Alright then, it's getting late. You can stay here for the night. I'll send someone to fetch your wife and children tonight, and they can live here from now on, saving you the trouble of traveling. What do you say?"

"They're afraid the formula will be leaked, so they're taking my family hostage."

Old Xu sighed inwardly, and seeing Xiao Banyue's posture that seemed to say, "If you don't agree, I'll kill you to silence you," he could only smile wryly and say, "Then thank you for your understanding, sir."

"It should."

Xiao Banyue smiled with satisfaction, took out the pill formula from his bosom, memorized it, and gently threw it into the still-burning furnace fire.

……

……

The fat man was a little disappointed that he hadn't been able to taste what the Pill King was like. But having the other seven pills in hand made him feel a little better.

These seven pills were also of extraordinary quality, with a glossy, round appearance and a refreshing aroma. Even just smelling them was invigorating, let alone eating them. As for the pills distributed by the sect academy, and those refined at home before, Fatty now considered them fit only to be fed to dogs.

The fat man really wanted to keep all seven pills for himself, but after thinking about it for a long time, he finally didn't dare to—no, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Chong Shao is my good brother. You have to be loyal to your good brother, and I happen to be a very loyal person."

"The recipe was provided by Young Master Chong, so naturally Young Master Chong should receive a share of the pills produced. A man of such loyalty as myself would never do anything shameful."

For the past four days, the fat boy had been comforting himself with this thought, making a trip to the North City every day after school to quickly distribute the pills. He was afraid that if he delayed any longer, he would really be unable to resist consuming them all.

"Should we secretly hide one? Or try one first to see the taste? Otherwise, it'll be hard to divide among seven."

The fat man sat bored on the stool, staring at the pill in his hand, ignoring Qing Meng's rambling and his mind racing with all sorts of thoughts. He didn't even notice Xiao Chong entering the room.

"The pills were refined so quickly? They look pretty good. It seems the spirit of the cauldron is quite capable." Xiao Chong patted the fat man on the back and said.

The fat man was startled, his hand trembled and he almost dropped all the pills into his mouth. As for Xiao Chong's excited mention of the cauldron spirit, he didn't hear it at all.

"Look, it's all here. I never intended to steal any."

Seeing that it was Xiao Chong who was taking his picture, the fat man breathed a sigh of relief and spread the pills in his hand in front of the other man, his words carrying a hint of self-admission.

"Only seven? How could there be so few?" Xiao Chong stared into the fat man's eyes, his expression suspicious.

“That’s really all, I’m not lying to you.” The fat man became a little nervous under the stare and emphasized again, then added, “Oh, right, there’s one big one too. The alchemist said it’s a king-level pill, but my dad hid it away.”

Xiao Chong remained suspicious until the fat man's scalp tingled and he was about to jump up. Only then did he put away the pills and give the fat man three, saying, "This is your share."

"Why do you want an extra one?" The fat man was very dissatisfied with this way of dividing the food and stared intently into Xiao Chong's eyes.

"You know perfectly well that I've been tormented by Xiao Bian... Supervisor Xiao these past few days, and I'm relying on pills to save my life. Meanwhile, you haven't even finished tempering your body yet, so why are you giving me so many pills?"

Seeing that the fat man was still not giving up, Xiao Chong added, "Besides, your father still has a King Pill. It will be yours sooner or later, won't it?"

"uncertain."

Recalling his father's words the night the elixir was completed, the fat man deflated like a punctured balloon, harboring deep doubts about his own identity.

"Hmm? There seems to be more to this than meets the eye?" Xiao Chong looked at the fat man's chubby face with a gossipy expression, trying to find a clue.

But the fat man seemed to lose interest all of a sudden, and hurriedly put away the pills before bidding farewell to Xiao Chong.

"Remember this, don't you dare try to take advantage of me again!"

Just as he reached the door, Qingmeng's parting warning arrived as promised, once again delivering a heavy blow to the fat man's wounded spirit.

After the fat man left, Xiao Chong asked Qing Meng about her life these past few days, gave her a few brief instructions, and then sent her away.

There's no way around it; that little girl is too troublesome, and leaving her in the house could easily lead to some unexpected incident.

Inside the room, Xiao Chong began to communicate with the spirit of the Purple Cloud Cauldron, but this time he did not immerse himself in darkness as before, but instead used his thoughts.

The Purple Cloud Cauldron was a name he specially gave to the cauldron in memory of his past life, and the cauldron spirit had no complaints about it. However, when he tried to name the cauldron spirit "Ding Ding," the other party vehemently disagreed, saying that the name was too evil.

When asked what the spirit's original name was, the spirit hesitated and only said that it had once been the crown prince, without mentioning anything else. Xiao Chong had no choice but to give up.

"Tell me! Why is it that I just cultivated my first strand of Yuan Power today, and now I have almost none left? Did you steal it?" Xiao Chong was very dissatisfied with the cauldron spirit's shameless behavior and loudly reprimanded it.

"This was agreed upon beforehand. You would share half of the Yuan Power you cultivated with me. If I take back what belongs to me, can that be considered stealing?" the cauldron spirit replied confidently.

"How long will this situation continue? Is it possible to back out?"

"Indefinitely, until I regain my true form," the cauldron spirit said softly. "You can back out, but I will no longer provide you with any assistance, and..."

"And what?" Xiao Chong asked urgently, he had a very bad feeling.

"And I can't guarantee that I won't drag you down with me when I'm about to dissipate." The spirit's voice was full of smugness.

"This is threatening me, how shameful! Damn it, I've been tricked." Xiao Chong cursed inwardly.

"Sigh, each generation is worse than the last. You must know that opportunity and danger always go hand in hand. This young man is too greedy, which is not a good quality. You should know that..."

Seeing Xiao Chong remain silent, Ding Ling spoke even more enthusiastically, his tone sounding like a wise man who had seen much of the world, or a charlatan preaching to the ignorant masses.