Divine Level Witch Doctor

The Xiaoyang found this all quite troublesome. ’Wouldn’t it be better to eat the medicinal materials directly? They have to be brewed? What a needless complication!’ But Zhao Yuan was its master now, so it didn’t dare disobey his words. It could only be patient and learn obediently.

After finishing his instructions, Zhao Yuan asked, ”Have you learned it?”

”I’ve learned it,” the Xiaoyang replied with a nod.

Zhao Yuan asked again, ”Have you memorized the steps for adding the ingredients?

The Xiaoyang immediately recited the sequence of adding the ingredients, as if presenting a treasure. Indeed, there were no mistakes.

Zhao Yuan nodded with satisfaction. Seeing this, the Xiaoyang was delighted and immediately broke into a smile. This smile was a problem. Its two large, thick lips instantly flipped up, covering its entire face.

”You should probably smile less from now on,” Zhao Yuan said with a helpless, wry smile.

The Xiaoyang quickly smoothed its lips back into place, looking embarrassed and awkward.

Fortunately, Zhao Yuan didn’t tease it further and turned to business. ”Have you memorized the location of this village?”

The Xiaoyang nodded and replied, ”Memorized!”

Zhao Yuan’s face turned serious. ”From now on, your mission is to guard this village, my family and friends, and the mountain peak where I cultivate my medicinal materials. Understand?”

”Understood!” the Xiaoyang nodded, its bloody maw splitting into a wide grin. ”Guard this place. If any wrongdoers show up, I’ll eat them!”

Its two lips flipped up again, but this time the Xiaoyang was prepared. Before they could cover its face, it smoothed them down with its hands.

Zhao Yuan waved his hand dismissively. ”If there are wrongdoers, just beat them up and throw them out. Don’t take their lives.”

”Don’t eat them?” the Xiaoyang asked, its expression full of regret.

Zhao Yuan replied earnestly, ”Don’t eat them! And from now on, you are forbidden from eating people ever again!”

”Then what will I eat?” The Xiaoyang sounded aggrieved.

”The mountain forest is full of Wild Beasts,” Zhao Yuan said, exasperated. ”Are you afraid you’ll have nothing to eat?”

The Xiaoyang explained, ”Ordinary Wild Beasts can only fill my stomach. But eating people can increase my power.”

”There’s such a thing?” Zhao Yuan was a bit surprised, but he quickly understood. Humans are the spirit of all creation, born with natural Spiritual Qi. Therefore, for many Demon Beasts and Spirits that don’t know how to cultivate, eating people is the simplest method.

Unfortunately, the Information Leaf only contained Cultivation methods for humans. This set of methods was not suitable for Spirit Monsters and couldn’t be taught to the Xiaoyang. However, Zhao Yuan thought of a solution. ”People are absolutely off-limits. But you can eat the medicinal materials on this mountain.”

”Eat medicinal materials?” The Xiaoyang looked baffled. ”Can they increase my power?”

”Ordinary ones can’t, but Spirit Medicinal Materials that have gestated Qi can.” As Zhao Yuan spoke, he walked over to where the Centennial Solomon was planted, dug up a section that had gestated Qi, and handed it to the Xiaoyang. ”Eat this and try.”

Although the Xiaoyang was skeptical, it obediently took a bite of the Centennial Solomon. Without much chewing, it swallowed the whole thing down.

The moment the Centennial Solomon entered its stomach, the Xiaoyang’s eyes lit up.

It felt a surge of Spiritual Qi being digested and absorbed by its body. This Spiritual Qi was potent, equivalent to eating several humans.

”It really can increase my power!” The Xiaoyang was overjoyed and grinned again. This time, it held its lips down with its hands beforehand, preventing them from flipping up.

Now that it had a substitute, not eating people didn’t seem like such a big deal anymore. And what made the Xiaoyang even happier was that the substitute, Spirit Medicinal Materials, was far more effective than eating people.

It surveyed the medicinal herb plantation, searching for Spirit Medicinal Materials while thinking to itself, ’If I could just eat as much as I want, my life would be absolutely perfect!’

Zhao Yuan, as if he had heard its thoughts, immediately added, ”You can only eat one a month!”

The Xiaoyang’s head immediately drooped in disappointment.

’What a pity, the beautiful dream is shattered!’

Zhao Yuan gave the Xiaoyang a few more instructions, then waved his hand. ”Alright, you can go back now.”

But the Xiaoyang said, ”I’m not going back to the cave. I’ll find a place to stay in the nearby woods. It’ll be easier to guard this village and this mountain peak.”

At this moment, it already saw the medicinal herb plantation as its personal vegetable garden. It couldn’t wait to stand guard here every day, lest someone come and steal its rations. As for the people of Jinhua Village, it regarded them as farmers working in its garden. ’Since they’re working for me, of course I have to do my best to protect them.’

Zhao Yuan thought for a moment and agreed. ”Fine. But remember, don’t let anyone discover you.”

The Xiaoyang patted its hairy black chest and said confidently, ”Don’t worry, I definitely won’t be discovered!”

After bidding farewell to Zhao Yuan, the Xiaoyang turned and disappeared into the darkness.

Only when it was leaving did the White Cat reluctantly jump off its head and onto Zhao Yuan’s shoulder.

Zhao Yuan yawned. He had fought, traveled, and dealt with many things this night. It was impossible not to be tired.

”Let’s go. Time to go back and sleep,” Zhao Yuan said, walking toward his own courtyard.

In the distant darkness, the Little Red Fox widened its small eyes, watching Zhao Yuan return home. Just as it was about to follow and get a clearer look, the White Cat suddenly turned its head and glanced in the direction where it was hiding.

That single glance scared the Little Red Fox so much that it curled into a ball. After a moment’s hesitation, it ultimately decided not to follow, turning and disappearing into the night-shrouded mountain forest instead.

Zhao Yuan knew nothing about the Little Red Fox. After returning home, he lit a stick of Soul-Stabilizing Incense, lay down on his bed, and fell asleep.

He slept soundly and sweetly.

However, on the Cultivator Forum, a denunciation campaign against him was unfolding in full swing.

It turned out that the post he had made using Hao Li’s alternate account had been seen by one of the forum’s moderators this afternoon.

The moderator, of course, didn’t consider that their side might have made a mistake with the questions. He just assumed Zhao Yuan was trying to stir up controversy to get attention. Originally, he wanted to delete the account and the post directly, but on second thought, he changed his mind. He decided to turn Zhao Yuan’s post into a cautionary tale for future users.

He pinned the post, highlighted it, and replied with sarcasm: ”You want to get famous through controversy? I’ll grant your wish! Also, let me tell you, all the questions on our forum are created after numerous discussions and revisions by a panel of at least ten renowned experts in their respective fields. You’re saying our questions and answers for the Pill Master assessment are wrong? Are you aware that among the Pill Masters who participated in creating the questions were Elder Weng, the Cold Mountain Elder, and several others? You can’t possibly be suggesting that your skills in the Alchemy Dao are greater than theirs, can you?”

Although Zhao Yuan’s post had been up for two or three days, it hadn’t received much attention before. Besides Hao Li’s ’friendly bumps,’ there were only two or three replies. It wasn’t until the moderator pinned, highlighted, and replied to it that the post suddenly blew up on the Cultivator Forum.