Alchemical Pills

1,137 words

Danyangzi paid no attention to what Li Huowang was thinking. He was busy dressing down his terrified disciples.

“From now on, if any of you get any treacherous ideas, remember what you saw today!”

Danyangzi’s words made everyone’s hearts tighten. The fear in their eyes deepened.

He paced with his hands behind his back, stepping in front of his disciples, his hawk-like gaze sweeping across every face.

“Let me tell you, helping a man become an immortal is a great merit. If I succeed, I won’t forget your kindness. But if anyone ruins my plans… Hmph!”

He stopped abruptly in front of Li Huowang, sizing up this disciple whose expression was different from the others.

“You’re just a hallucination. Why should I be afraid of you? You’re nothing but a thought in my head,” Li Huowang thought. He met the scabby-headed master’s eyes with steady calm.

When Danyangzi raised his right hand, the grime caked under his nails, the atmosphere in the cave grew heavy. The others watched, waiting to see how the master would handle this audacious disciple.

But Danyangzi’s expression suddenly softened. His raised hand came down gently on Li Huowang’s head, patting it. The tension dissolved instantly.

“Last night, those traitors asked you to leave with them. Why didn’t you?”

The question sounded like an inquiry, but it was really praise.

Li Huowang opened his mouth to answer, but Danyangzi raised his hand to stop him.

“Don’t give me any flowery words. You didn’t report them in time, but compared to those rebellious disciples, you’ve done well enough.”

He lowered his hand and continued, “I see you have talent. You don’t have to work in the ingredient shed anymore. From now on, you’re my registered disciple.”

Li Huowang was taken aback. He’d been promoted? But he quickly realized—with so many dead in the cave, Danyangzi needed more hands.

“Right, now that you’re my disciple and have joined this sect, you need a Dao name. From now on, your Dao name is Xuan Yang.”

Li Huowang glanced at the circular hole in the corner, where the previous Xuan Yang’s gruesome fate flashed through his mind. “Well, that name’s unlucky,” he muttered to himself.

He didn’t care much about the promotion, but the others in the ingredient shed stared with envy. Becoming Danyangzi’s registered disciple meant they wouldn’t die.

But Danyangzi knew he needed more than that. After a stick, you need to offer plenty of carrots to keep people loyal. “Xuan Yang, since you’ve just entered the sect, let me give you a little something.”

Hearing his name, Li Huowang quickly went to him. It sounded like a gift.

Danyangzi poured five pitch-black pills from the gourd at his waist into Li Huowang’s palm.

“Take these. These five are immortal elixirs I’ve refined. Eating them will not only extend your life by ten years but also temporarily grant you great strength to save your life.”

Li Huowang frowned, examining the pills. “Are these made from people too?” he wondered.

As he thought this, he saw one of the pills roll slightly in his hand, shifting from round to oval as if something inside was trying to push out.

He looked closer, but the pill showed no change.

“Damn it, am I losing my mind? Why do I care about what happens in a hallucination? It’s all fake. I can’t get sucked in again.”

Li Huowang smacked his forehead in frustration.

Danyangzi ignored Li Huowang’s strange behavior and turned to the rest. “See that? Oppose me and you die. But help me, and you’ll be rewarded—generously rewarded!”

Everyone’s eyes darted between Danyangzi and the pills, each lost in their own thoughts. What they were thinking, only they knew.

Satisfied with the effect, Danyangzi waved his grimy sleeve and dismissed everyone to continue working.

Li Huowang no longer had to go to the ingredient shed. His Dao name was Xuan Yang, meaning he now owned everything the previous Xuan Yang had—status, robes, and even the small private cave.

But right now, he didn’t care about any of that. He cared only about what he had gained.

He sat with his arms crossed, staring at two objects on the white hospital bedsheet: a jade pendant and a handful of pills.

“My god, they actually came back with me.”

Now Li Huowang was stuck. The old question was staring him in the face.

“If I take these pills and they actually work… then is that place a hallucination or not? What’s happening to me?”

He had been earnestly following the doctor’s advice, steadfastly treating everything over there as a hallucination. But now, with real objects in front of him, his resolve wavered.

If this was a hallucination, why had these things become solid? Were they harmful to him?

If that was another world…

Images flashed through his mind: the mad senior sister refined into a pill by the master, Xuan Yang devoured by the Black Cauldron—gruesome, horrifying scenes that made his breath quicken.

“Ahhh! It’s so frustrating! I don’t even have anyone to talk to about this.” Agitated, Li Huowang clawed at his head.

After venting, he had to face reality. After a long deliberation, he settled on a plan.

Over there—whether it was real or fake—he would go along with it as before, act as if it were true.

If it turned out to be real, he would survive.

If it was fake, he wouldn’t lose anything.

First, he needed to verify the authenticity and value of the things that came through, then decide his next step.

With his plan set, Li Huowang took a deep breath, pinched one pill between his thumb and forefinger, and held it up to his eyes.

“No way. Taking it myself is too dangerous.” He glanced at the patients sunning themselves in the courtyard outside.

After only a second of inner struggle, he slumped in defeat. They were poor souls just like him—he couldn’t use them to test the pills. He needed to find a lab mouse somehow, when he had time.

Then he turned his attention to the round jade pendant. Compared to the pills, this was easier to deal with.

He had already called Yang Na, the girl who used to live next door. She was the only one he could trust. He needed her to take the pendant and pawn it for cash—money he could use to buy lab mice and other supplies for his real-world survival.

“What’s up? I climbed over the wall to get here. If this is a prank, you’re dead,” Yang Na said, shaking her pale little fist in warning.

“Little sis, I had no choice but to ask for your help. You know I can’t get out of here.”

Li Huowang walked to the door of the ward, closed it, and drew the curtains.

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Reading Guide Decoding

Crossing Over: Li Huowang's First Test of Reality's Limits

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

Many readers may wonder about the concept of a 'registered disciple' (记名弟子). In traditional Daoist sects, disciples were often divided into inner disciples (内门弟子)—those who received direct training in core arts—and registered disciples (记名弟子), who were formally acknowledged students but taught only basic or outer practices. Here, Danyangzi uses the promotion as a political tool: by giving Li Huowang the same Dao name as his predecessor (Xuan Yang), he erases that disciple's death and claims continuity. The name itself—Xuan (玄, profound/dark) and Yang (阳, sun)—follows the pattern of alchemical nomenclature where opposites are combined.

The pills given to Li Huowang are called 'immortal elixirs' (神仙丹药). In Chinese alchemical tradition, external alchemy (外丹) involved compounding minerals and herbs into pills believed to grant longevity or supernatural powers. However, the novel consistently twists this tradition into body horror: these pills are made from human ingredients, as implied by the earlier mention of a senior sister being 'refined into a pill.' The slight movement Li Huowang sees—the pill pulsing—hints that something alive or undead is contained within.

Chapter Overview

Chapter 5, 'Alchemical Pills,' marks a pivotal turn in Li Huowang's relationship with the hallucinatory cave world. After the chaos of the previous night, Danyangzi promotes Li Huowang to registered disciple, gives him the Dao name Xuan Yang, and hands him five supposedly miraculous pills. But the real shock comes when Li Huowang returns to his hospital room—the pills and the jade pendant have come back with him. This tangible evidence forces him to abandon the doctor's simple solution and adopt a pragmatic dual-reality strategy. The chapter closes with him summoning Yang Na as an accomplice, revealing his growing willingness to engage with both worlds.

Key Plot Points

Danyangzi uses fear and reward to control his disciples after the rebellion: he promotes Li Huowang to registered disciple with the Dao name Xuan Yang, implying the previous holder's death is now irrelevant.
Li Huowang receives five black pills that Danyangzi claims grant ten years of life and temporary superhuman strength. Li Huowang briefly sees one pill pulse as if something is inside, then dismisses it.
Returned to the hospital, Li Huowang discovers both the jade pendant and the pills physically present on his bedsheet, shattering his belief that the cave world is just a figment.
After an agonizing internal debate, Li Huowang devises a strategy: he will treat the cave world as real for the sake of survival, but verify the cross-dimensional objects through testing rather than blind consumption.
He decides against using fellow patients as test subjects and instead contacts Yang Na to pawn the jade pendant for money to buy lab mice.
The chapter ends with Yang Na arriving, suspicious but willing to help, and Li Huowang closing the door and curtains to speak in private.

Reading Guide

This chapter is the first major test of the novel's central question: if objects can cross between worlds, is the cave world merely a hallucination? Li Huowang's decision to treat both as real while maintaining a cautious verification process shows his growing cunning. Pay attention to his internal dialogue—he still uses doctor-recommended phrases like 'it's all fake,' but his actions betray a man who now suspects otherwise. The introduction of Yang Na, a character from his modern life, creates a tangible bridge between the two realities. The chapter also reinforces Danyangzi's manipulative nature: he knows exactly how to use rewards (status, pills) to bind his remaining disciples after a bloody purge.

The Black Cauldron as a Symbol of Corrupted Alchemy

The Black Cauldron (黑鼎) mentioned in Li Huowang's flashback is a recurring symbol of how traditional alchemical apparatus has been perverted in the Dao-Twisted World. In classical Daoist external alchemy, the cauldron (鼎) was a sacred vessel for compounding elixirs, often associated with transformation and refinement. Here, it is used to devour disciples alive—a literal consumption that mirrors the alchemical process but inverts its purpose. Instead of refining minerals into immortality, the Black Cauldron refines human beings into raw material. The fact that the previous Xuan Yang was 'devoured by the Black Cauldron' adds a sinister layer to Li Huowang's new Dao name: he is inheriting not just a title, but a fate that may consume him.