Moonlight spilled across the courtyard like pale water, illuminating the silent sprawl of bodies scattered across the ground.
The night was unnaturally still.
Only the heavy, uneven snoring of unconscious cultivators broke the quiet.
Chang Le stood frozen in place, heart hammering so loudly he feared it might wake the dead. Cold sweat soaked through his clothes, clinging to his back as his legs finally gave out beneath him.
He collapsed against the wall, gasping for breath.
"That… that was way too close."
His hands trembled as he pressed them to his chest, trying to calm the storm inside. His pulse was still racing from the chaos he'd barely escaped.
And yet—
A grin slowly crept across his face.
A wild, disbelieving grin.
After waiting for what felt like forever, he cautiously stepped forward and nudged the nearest cultivator with the toe of his boot.
No reaction.
He nudged harder.
Still nothing.
The man's face remained slack, flushed with lingering excitement, mouth slightly open as he snored loudly. The blissful expression hadn't faded—if anything, it looked almost peaceful.
Chang Le let out a long breath.
"They're really out cold…"
Only then did he dare relax.
He circled the unconscious man carefully, eyes sharp, watching for any sign of movement. Nothing. The pill had worked exactly as promised.
Too well, in fact.
Earlier, when the man had swallowed pill after pill, Chang Le had watched from a distance as the effects stacked violently.
At first, the cultivator had been cautious—careful, alert. But once the energy surged, caution vanished entirely.
Power rushed through the man's body in visible waves. His aura flared, dust swirling around his feet as if caught in a miniature storm.
"Level six… seven… eight…"
The man had laughed like a madman, eyes glowing with joy.
"Peak stage! I've reached the peak!"
His body trembled as strength flooded every vein. Years of stagnation shattered in seconds. The rush was intoxicating.
Then—
Boom.
A violent surge of pressure exploded outward, flattening nearby grass.
"I've broken through! I've broken through!!"
The man howled in ecstasy, arms raised, eyes blazing with triumph.
"I'll join a great sect! I'll rise to the heavens! I'll—"
His words cut off mid-sentence.
His body froze.
Then, with all the drama of a felled tree, he collapsed face-first into the dirt.
And started snoring.
Chang Le had stared in disbelief.
One second a future legend.
The next, a human pillow.
Watching it happen in real time had nearly given him a heart attack.
Now, standing over the unconscious man, Chang Le couldn't help muttering, "Thank the heavens I didn't test that stuff on myself."
With his fragile mortal body, sleeping even three days straight would be dangerous. Months? He'd be a corpse.
He crouched beside the man and carefully searched his clothes.
The results were disappointing.
A chipped sword.
A small pouch with a few spirit stones.
And an iron badge stamped with the words Tong'an Escort Guild.
"Guard-for-hire," Chang Le muttered. "Or a bandit pretending to be one."
He pocketed the stones without hesitation. As for the sword and badge, he wrapped them in cloth and shoved them beneath a broken crate in the corner of the yard.
Too recognizable.
If anyone traced them back to him, he'd be dead.
He dragged the unconscious cultivator into a storage cellar, buried him beneath straw and firewood, and covered everything carefully.
Not out of kindness.
Out of self-preservation.
"If you wake up in a few months, good luck to you," Chang Le muttered. "If not… well, that's fate."
He wiped his hands and finally turned inward.
The system interface glowed faintly in his mind.
Pill Consumption Progress: 3000 / 3000
His breath caught.
"So it's finally complete…"
A rush of triumph surged through him.
After all that risk, all that madness—it worked.
But the excitement faded quickly.
He still had a problem.
He had stones now, yes—but no ingredients, no contacts, no protection. The system could refine materials, but where was he supposed to find proper ones?
He paced the shabby hut, eyes darting over everything he owned.
Rotting leaves.
Rainwater in a cracked barrel.
Bark from the old locust tree outside.
A ridiculous thought crossed his mind.
"…Would it take anything?"
He scoffed at himself.
Then hesitated.
"Well. No harm trying."
He grabbed a bowl, dumped in a handful of soggy leaves, scraped off some bark, and added murky water.
"Refine," he whispered.
The system responded instantly.
A translucent cauldron appeared in his mind, spinning slowly.
Materials detected.
Quality: Extremely poor.
Refinement possible.
Select quantity: 1–9999
Chang Le's eyes widened.
"You're kidding…"
Heart pounding, he selected 1.
The cauldron churned violently, sparks flickering as if straining against the garbage input. After several tense seconds, the light faded.
A single pill floated before him.
It was… horrifying.
Black, uneven, pitted like charcoal. It smelled faintly burnt.
Chang Le swallowed hard.
He summoned the pill's information.
Item: Unnamed Pill
Effect: Advances cultivation to Late Stage Golden Core.
Side Effect: Permanent transformation into Godzilla
Chang Le froze.
"…What?"
He read it again.
And again.
"Godzilla?!"
His mind blanked.
"What kind of unholy system makes something like this?!"
A Late-Stage Godzilla?
What was he supposed to do with that?!
Eat it? Absolutely not.
Feed it to someone else? Even worse.
If that thing rampaged, he'd be flattened before he could blink.
He stared at the pill like it might suddenly grow legs and attack him.
"So garbage materials make garbage monsters," he muttered. "Good to know."
With great care, he sealed the pill away.
One wrong move, and he'd be crushed by his own creation.
Outside, the night deepened.
And across Shitang Town…
Chaos erupted.
One by one, cultivators collapsed.
In teahouses, mid-conversation.
On streets, mid-step.
In training yards, mid-strike.
They slumped forward without warning, falling into unnaturally deep sleep.
Panic spread fast.
"They won't wake up!"
"They're breathing, but nothing works!"
"Even pouring water on them does nothing!"
By midnight, dozens had fallen.
Then hundreds.
Whispers turned into shouts.
"It's that pill!"
"The boy from the market!"
"He poisoned everyone!"
At the Wang estate, lanterns blazed through the night.
Wang Qingtian stood at the head of the hall, face dark as thunder.
"How many?" he demanded.
The steward swallowed. "Over a thousand, sir. Some… some even reached higher stages before collapsing."
The table shattered beneath Wang Qingtian's fist.
"A thousand?! And you let him escape?!"
"No one suspected anything at first. He made them take the pills on the spot. By the time symptoms appeared, he was gone."
Q
"Seal the town," Wang Qingtian roared.
"Search every house. Offer a bounty—alive or dead!"
Fear swept through the estate.
That single unknown youth had shaken the entire town.
And he didn't even know it.
Back in the abandoned hut, Chang Le sat in silence, staring at the horizon as dawn began to creep in.
He packed quickly.
Coins. Supplies. The cursed pill.
Everything he owned fit on his back.
"This place is finished," he murmured.
With the first light of day, he slipped out of the yard and vanished into the shadows, heading straight toward the road beyond town.
Behind him, Shitang simmered with fear and fury.
Ahead of him lay the unknown.
And somewhere in his pack…
A pill that could turn someone into a monster.