It was hard to imagine the ‘trash’ refined from a person could fill up a pill room. Gao Ming studied the wiggling black substance. He could see occasional human faces. They couldn’t speak and thus couldn’t ask for help. They were swallowed by the ball of black goo.
“Even the Soul Temple cannot eliminate the stuff refined from the butcher’s body quickly.” Gao Ming and Bai Feng shared a look. This proved that the Soul Temple wasn’t omnipotent. There were things that even the ‘God’ couldn’t do. This was good news for them.
“Friend, you should leave. You let the dirty things inside the butcher impact you and ruin your Dao heart.” The single-armed refiner spoke slowly. He had no pill scars on his body. He planned to leave after throwing away the abandoned pill. He was only reminding Gao Ming out of the kindness of his heart. He had no other intention.
After he turned and walked away, the single-armed refiner noticed that the stench had thickened. He turned around with curiosity. His soul almost left his body. While carrying Fu Shu, Gao Ming reached his hand at the black substance without any protection.
“Stop! Stop right now!” The man shouted and ran back to stop him. “Even if you want to die, don’t drag the others down with you!”
Worried that the other refiners would be tipped off, Gao Ming didn’t argue and pulled his hand back. His palm hid the ‘abandoned pill’ that this single-armed refiner disposed of. The ‘abandoned pill’ was a shattered wrist bone. It was wrapped in a black band.
“Are you an Immortal Pharma tester?” Gao Ming opened his palm. The sticky black substance stuck to the black band. “Why would you use the only thing that can prove your identity to refine the pill? This is your key to communicating with Immortal Pharma! Without it, your chance of leaving this dream will be so much lower!”
“What Immortal Pharma? What tester? You think this place is the dream, but to me, that other place is the dream!” The man waved his remaining arm, “I will use my past memory as fuel to burn away all the unnecessary connections. My mind will be empty, and that will help my cultivation! I chopped off my arm and sacrificed it to form the shell of the pill. The more formless you are, the more effective your training!” The man was furious. He was very clear but Gao Ming didn’t listen to him and even wanted to return him the abandoned pill. “You are here to ruin my Dao heart!”
Listening to the man, Gao Ming’s eyes flashed with pity. He also came from the outside as a tester, but he had fully lost himself in the Soul Temple. He was willing to give up everything for ascension.
“You spout nothing but nonsense. You are too corroded.”“Nonsense?” The man scoffed, “You think you are so clever, but you cannot even find the correct path. You cannot go up and cannot abandon your obsession and leave. You do not believe in immortality and do not train your true self. Then, do you plan to stay here and complain forever?”
“What kind of nonsensical talk is that?” Fu Shu mocked, but Gao Ming waved his hand. “I’ve found the ingredients to refine my pill, and I will leave soon. I hope my actions can inspire you.”
“I’ve seen too many arrogant people such as you.” The man flung his sleeve and left. He stormed back to the giant furnace.
“The people here cannot be saved at all.” Fu Shu sighed as he watched the man leave.
“They are tricked too.” The black band Gao Ming held was damaged. Only a few basic functions remained. When the two black bands touched, Gao Ming heard the single-armed refiner’s recorded message or, rather, his last words.
“Wife, I’ve found our daughter's location. When I become Immortal Pharma’s Level Five Tester, they promise they will use the company’s resources to help us find our daughter! It has been five years! But our family will reunite soon!” There were many messages, but only a few of them could be played normally.
“He has had to complete many missions in the past five years to reach level four confidentiality access. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know that Immortal Pharma will select talented children from orphanages every year to participate in their experiments. They are behind many child kidnappings.” Fu Shu was expressionless. “Asking the killer to help find the killer. You’ll only find death.”
The black band and the store memory were abandoned. It was not that he stopped caring about his missing daughter. It was because he cared about her so much that he had to sacrifice this most precious thing in exchange for a chance to ‘fly into the divine temple’. He desperately wanted to leave.
“The Soul Temple has come up with new rules. As more people follow them, the rules will become stronger. To destroy the Soul Temple, you have to go against them.” Gao Ming observed the rotting black stuff. He captured the sinking faces. Gao Ming appeared more like a God at that moment, filled with despair, pity and sadness.
Gao Ming removed the ropes on his body and handed Fu Shu to Bai Feng.
“What are you doing? Bring me with you! We are supposed to leave together!” Fu Shu was more anxious than Gao Ming. He shouted nervously, “Don’t force me to bounce over to you! I don’t trust the others!”
Gao Ming didn’t even look at him. He only told Bai Feng, “Look after him.”
He strode into the black pill room. Small hands latched onto his legs. The floor seemed to have turned into a bottomless swamp. Everything was rotting and emitting a horrible stench. The waste material from the pill furnaces was the worst thing in the nightmare. They had no uses. They could only spread destruction and panic. They were the scariest ghost, the most merciless poison and the most cunning monster.
Gao Ming’s body started to sink. The illusions of the Gods of the Future and the Past appeared in his eyes. He stared at the things hidden underneath the black substance.
The butcher shed the ‘waste material’ from his body there. After that, the cultivators from Dream Break Town turned this place into a garbage dump for abandoned pills. They allowed this place to fester. However, they forgot that these abandoned pills were once derived from their most precious thing.
The furnace took away the power within their body and soul. However, it ejected the most extreme and cutting emotions.
“Being immortal is a lie. The Soul Temple just wants to turn all of you into its slaves. It doesn’t need any of you to think and doesn’t require your bloody hearts.” Gao Ming pulled out the butcher’s knife. “However, I’m different. Let me show you the real divine temple.”
The blade slid down from the centre of his collarbone. The blood that radiated meat fragrance started to drip.
“Dream Release!”