Chapter 92: Where Should I Put My Hands? What Is Right and Evil?

“You’re still looking? Close your eyes!”

Xiao Yanying was nearly beside herself with fury. That damned old man had tied the two of them back to back, and now she could not even cover herself where she wanted to. In the end, she was the one who had to suffer such humiliation, while Ling Tian reaped all the benefit.

Yet it was strange: her clothes had been burned away, but the ropes behind her were perfectly intact.

Still, this was no time to brood over it.

“There’s nothing worth looking at anyway...” Ling Tian muttered, then covered his eyes with one hand.

That much was true. There really was nothing to see.

One could even say it was plain to the point of ordinariness. If not for her fairly delicate face, Ling Tian would not have believed she was a woman at all.

At that thought, a notion flickered in his mind: if Xiao Yanying dressed as a man, probably very few people would recognize her.

“Y-Your hand?!”

Xiao Yanying had been about to scold him for saying such a thing in front of a woman—did he not know how hurtful that could be? But when it came to Ling Tian, the words on her lips were swallowed back down.

Ling Tian’s ropes had actually broken.

Whether he had done it on purpose, no one knew.

“Right, my hand! Oh—maybe it’s because my sword arts have made it so sharp that I broke free with a little force just now?”

Ling Tian rolled his eyes and immediately made up a fairly convincing excuse.

“Come and untie me too! Think of a way out, or we’ll really be refined into pills by him!”

Xiao Yanying did not dwell on whether Ling Tian’s words were true. The most important thing now was escaping this pill furnace.

The temperature inside had already begun to rise, and her skin could feel the searing heat.

At this rate, in no more than a brief moment, her flesh and blood would be melted down.

In such circumstances, whether Ling Tian had been telling the truth hardly mattered anymore.

“Mm.”

Ling Tian agreed, and with his eyes still covered, he felt his way over to Xiao Yanying.

“Where are you touching? A little higher!”

Xiao Yanying turned her head away, biting her lip, her eyes full of embarrassment.

He, he had actually touched that place.

And yet, seeing Ling Tian still conscientiously keeping his eyes shut, she felt that he was not one to take advantage of someone in distress. That made him, at least, a decent person.

She did not blame him much, only pointed him in the right direction.

Following her instructions, Ling Tian found the rope and quickly untied her.

In truth, Ling Tian possessed dual pupils; whether he closed his eyes or not made no difference.

But just now, he had indeed sealed them shut.

Otherwise, he would not have touched somewhere he should not have.

Xiao Yanying’s brows knit slightly. She took out another set of clothes and put them on; the quality was better than the last pair.

Even so, before long, it also began showing signs of catching fire.

“Think of a way out...” Xiao Yanying’s forehead was beaded with fine sweat as she looked to Ling Tian with pleading eyes.

“Hm? How strange. You two can still speak? Good, excellent—my judgment was not wrong. As expected of prodigies; the power of your bloodlines is truly vast!”

Before Ling Tian could answer, the wild voice of the alchemist came from outside.

“Old wretch, I’ll tell you this now: I’m wearing a rare treasure. No matter how you refine me, you won’t be able to harm me in the slightest. I have plenty of time to play with you.”

Ling Tian smiled with mocking ease.

“In that case, I need one person to help me refine this medicine. I can let one of you go. In a moment I’ll open the furnace, and you can decide for yourselves.”

After a short silence, the alchemist outside spoke in a coaxing tone.

He meant to make the two inside kill each other over the single chance at survival.

No matter who died, his refining would proceed much more smoothly.

His intent could hardly be called anything but vicious.

If the two captives had been strangers, they likely would have fought over this sliver of hope.

But Ling Tian and Xiao Yanying knew each other very well, and would never do such a thing.

“We were only helping me, yet both of you suffered this calamity because of it. I’m willing to stay behind; you go.”

“If you have the heart, friend, go to the Xiao Clan in the Heavenly Flame Domain and tell my parents.”

Xiao Yanying clenched her small fists and tucked away her playful expression. When it came to matters of principle, she was never vague.

Just as she was thinking how to make concessions to Ling Tian and finally persuade him to leave, he unexpectedly answered:

“Fine!”

“Hm? Shouldn’t you refuse a few times first? Then I persuade you, and only afterward do you agree?”

Xiao Yanying shot him a resentful glance. This man was far too straightforward.

Could he not leave even a little good impression in her heart?

“Was there any need? Better to save our breath. He might be able to refine for a while longer.”

Ling Tian smiled, spreading his hands in teasing fashion.

“Hiss... Are you a dog?”

As soon as she finished speaking, Xiao Yanying bit Ling Tian on the arm.

Pouting, she said nothing more, only stared at him fixedly.

Seeing that his goal had not been achieved, the alchemist outside opened the furnace as promised.

His purpose was simple. If the woman came out, kill her.

If the man came out, seize the treasure and kill him.

If both came out together, keep the woman.

The medicine he was refining required a living human as its catalyst.

He had to leave one person alive.

Otherwise, he would never have thrown them in alive to begin with.

He had only been angered badly by that youth.

With no other choice, he had come up with such a scheme.

Who could have guessed they would not take the bait? He had no choice but to continue. Release them? Hah...

Ling Tian sprang upward and flew toward the furnace mouth.

Xiao Yanying watched his departing figure with a complicated expression. He had not even said goodbye to her.

Still, if he could survive, would that not be a good thing?

Though the furnace looked small from the outside, its interior was another world entirely—vast and spacious.

Within a few breaths, Ling Tian shot out through the mouth of the furnace. The alchemist’s face twisted ferociously.

“Move! Hack this brat to pieces for me!”

What perfect timing.

The one he wanted to kill had delivered himself to the door. Challenge me? I’ll have you die for it!

The scattered cultivators nearby, who had been won over by the alchemist, also surged toward Ling Tian at the command.

“Hmph. Do you really think I can’t deal with the lot of you?”

Ling Tian snorted coldly. He licked the corner of his mouth, and the Banner of the Human Emperor appeared in his hand.

“Bind them for me!”

Under the banner’s crushing pressure, those cultivators were filled with terror and tried to flee, but it was already too late.

After the Banner of the Human Emperor devoured several bodies and their flesh and blood, its power had clearly grown stronger.

Perhaps he was mistaken, but his banner seemed to be faintly wreathed in black smoke.

After sending the cultivators into the Banner of the Human Emperor, Ling Tian fixed his gaze on the alchemist.

“Those who do evil will bring ruin upon themselves. You refine such wicked pills, and Heaven and Earth will not tolerate you. Today, I’ll rid the world of your scourge!”

Ling Tian looked around and saw the corpses of children and scattered cultivators, most of them missing their hearts.

His brow furrowed slightly. He knew some alchemists used human hearts as medicinal catalysts to refine heaven-defying pills.

The results were indeed excellent, and the process was easier to achieve, but such methods were reviled by all.

Such alchemy could only produce evil pills.

Just like the two of them: had they not possessed special means of defense, today they too would have met the fate of being refined.

“Evil pills? And you call this an evil pill? By your logic, which of the Great Emperors who rose to greatness had not trampled mountains of bones beneath their feet? Would they then be considered evil cultivators as well?

“They contend with Heaven, and I contend with Heaven too! They said I had no talent for alchemy, yet I used this very method to become a fifth-rank alchemist. Tell me, does that not count as success? Does it not? Hah!”

The alchemist’s expression turned crazed as he shouted at Ling Tian.

“Nonsense!”

Ling Tian’s frown deepened. A fierce sword intent burst from his body, swift and unstoppable, piercing through the alchemist’s forehead.

“Heh. Evil cultivator? Righteous path?”

The alchemist’s eyes widened. He sneered the words, then collapsed to the ground, his face full of contempt.

Ling Tian looked at the alchemist with a complicated expression. From his own former standpoint, these alchemists truly were evil cultivators.

But if one followed the alchemist’s line of thought...

Ling Tian drew a sharp breath.

Wretch, how dare you shake my Dao heart.

He also came to a conclusion: if one was weak, one was an evil cultivator.

Inside the furnace, Xiao Yanying did not give him much time to reflect. She cried out in surprise:

“Why did the fire go out? How strange...”

Ling Tian opened the furnace lid and peered at her with a teasing smile.

“Still not coming out? Are you really planning to refine yourself into a pill?”

“You...”

Xiao Yanying widened her eyes and managed only that one word before falling silent. A faint smile curved her lips.

He had not abandoned her after all.

After she emerged and saw the alchemist lying lifeless on the ground, she understood what had just taken place.

Though the scattered cultivators had vanished without a trace, Xiao Yanying did not ask Ling Tian about them. Everyone had their own secrets.

They were not familiar enough for that.

“This furnace is actually not bad.”

Ling Tian looked at it. Though it was only a broken-void-grade furnace, it was well suited to him in terms of refinement and preserving medicinal properties.

After all, the alchemist had been a fifth-rank alchemist, and Ling Tian currently focused mainly on refining fifth-rank pills. Using this furnace would be an excellent choice.

As for anything it had been used to refine before, alchemists took great care of their furnaces and cleaned them regularly.

He only needed to disinfect it with his own flames before using it.

That was why Ling Tian had not broken the furnace earlier.

Who could have known all these later events would unfold?

Of course, if Xiao Yanying had been in danger, he would not have chosen the furnace.

At worst, he would simply have made her compensate him with another one, since she was the daughter of the Xiao Clan patriarch in the Heavenly Flame Domain.

That much, at least, they could afford.

After collecting the furnace, Ling Tian ignited a flame in his palm and burned the alchemist’s corpse on the ground to ash.

“I’m telling you, you must not tell anyone about what happened today!”

Once they were out, Xiao Yanying remembered the matter of the furnace and could not help but warn him.

Ling Tian glanced at her, his gaze somewhat peculiar, then smiled.

“If you hadn’t mentioned it, I’d already have forgotten.”