Three Sins Against Heaven

Early in the morning, Mark Ye walked briskly out of the courtyard, heading straight for the Spirit Treasure Platform.

With twenty-three Spirit Gathering Pills, the commotion he would cause this time would be even greater. After exchanging them for Spirit Stones, he wouldn't lack for them for a while.

Yet the true hero behind this was completely unaware, even being casually tormented.

Inside the courtyard, Ryan Ji waited for a while before pushing open the window. "Hey guys, wanna chat?"

Roy Li was the first to poke his head out, stretching lazily. But when he saw the tiger cub poking its head out alongside Ryan, he quickly retracted his head in fright.

"How did it grow so fast? Can you not let it out? It scares me."

In just over ten days, the tiger cub, which was initially only the size of two palms, had doubled in size. Although its breed was unknown, it was definitely not an ordinary tiger if it was being raised by a cultivator.

Ryan patted the tiger cub's head and laughed, "What's so scary about a tiger? Let me tell you, my dad is a famous hunter in our area. He's killed at least eight or ten tigers. I even shot one myself before. Besides, Little Black is so cute, not scary at all. Right, Little Black?"

"Roar," the tiger cub lazily growled, struggling to steady itself on the windowsill. If Ryan hadn't caught it in time, it would have fallen.

"You really treat it like a dog, even giving it such an awful name. Be careful, it might bite you when it grows up," Carol Yan teased, stretching comfortably as she poked her head out.

"No way, I feed it every day. It's very close to me," Ryan chuckled. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a window opening and turned to see Dylan Chen poking his head out. Ryan snorted and quickly turned his head away.

Dylan also sneered and turned his head towards Roy.

"Come on, don't be so serious," Roy said, taking out the leftover silver from refining silver essence and tossing it to Dylan. "Dylan, spend it as you like. Ryan, catch. Carol, the biggest piece is for you."

Ryan caught the silver and weighed it, joking, "If I were at home, I'd tell my parents I struck it rich. But here, silver is useless, just junk nobody wants. If you gave me a Spirit Stone, I'd definitely thank you properly."

Roy sighed, "You think we can get our hands on something like that?"

Dylan looked down at the silver in his hand and found it amusing.

He had been sold by that gambler for two taels of silver, and the casino sold him to Dennis Li for ten taels. The silver in his hand now was worth at least twenty taels.

Dennis hadn't haggled at all when buying him, and Dylan had thought Dennis was just wealthy. But now he realized, as Ryan said, that gold and silver, which mortals valued more than life, were worthless to cultivators.

He had been sold to this dark place for a few pieces of silver. How ironic...

"Thanks," Dylan said, shaking the silver at Roy. It might be useless now, but who knows about the future.

"We're all in the same boat, no need for thanks," Roy waved his hand and called out, "Ralph, do you want some?"

Ralph Zhao remained silent as always, not responding.

Ryan pursed his lips and mocked, "Why bother talking to that mute? He'd never respond."

Since coming here, Ralph had never spoken a word to them. Even when he went out with Ryan to feed the tiger cub, he never talked. He adhered to Mark Ye's rules better than anyone.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Ralph walked out, surprising everyone. He looked at the silver in Roy's hand, shook his head, and indicated he didn't want any.

It wasn't until Ralph pointed at the tiger cub in Ryan's arms that they understood.

They thought Ralph had suddenly become bold, but he just wanted to go out with Ryan to feed Little Black.

"We're off for some fresh air. It feels great to go outside," Ryan laughed, holding Little Black as he walked out, giving Dylan a provocative look.

Dylan watched coldly, feeling a mix of emotions. Even though he knew Ryan was doing it on purpose, he couldn't help but envy him for being able to go outside.

Roy sighed, "I've finished refining the silver essence, and now I can't even go out into the courtyard. I wish I could switch places with them."

Dylan was about to speak when he suddenly looked up at the fluctuating light screen and listened carefully.

Ryan and the others had just gone out, so the fluctuation was normal, but Dylan heard four footsteps.

Mark Ye was back.

Dylan quickly made a shushing gesture and pointed outside, then hurriedly closed the window.

Roy immediately understood and closed the window as well.

"Dylan," Mark Ye's first words upon returning were to call Dylan.

Dylan quickly went out and followed Mark into the loft. Judging by Mark's demeanor, it seemed he wanted Dylan to refine pills again.

Given his current success rate with Spirit Gathering Pills, meeting Mark's requirements wasn't difficult.

But Dylan's expression soon turned grim as Mark handed him two jade slips, indicating he wanted Dylan to refine new pills.

The first jade slip contained the recipe for a first-grade pill called the Rejuvenation Pill, which was effective for most injuries.

Cultivators often fought, and injuries were inevitable. While some might not afford Spirit Gathering Pills, Rejuvenation Pills were essential.

The recipe for Rejuvenation Pills was more complex, requiring nine ingredients, two more than Spirit Gathering Pills. The additional ingredients made the process more complicated and significantly increased the difficulty.

The second jade slip didn't contain a recipe but detailed the interactions between various medicinal properties, even explaining the properties of over a hundred herbs.

After reading it, Dylan was delighted. This jade slip was a rare treasure, indicating that Mark knew pill refining couldn't rely solely on personal insight but also required accumulated experience from predecessors.

After Dylan finished reading, Mark took back the jade slips.

"Begin."

Dylan took a deep breath and sat in front of the pill furnace, putting the prepared ingredients into it. Although he wasn't as nervous as the first time he refined Spirit Gathering Pills, he wasn't relaxed either. He wasn't confident about succeeding this time.

As Dylan failed repeatedly, Mark's expression grew darker.

When the tenth batch of ingredients also failed, Mark's furious roar echoed through the courtyard, "Useless!"

Dylan collapsed in pain, unable to defend himself. Rejuvenation Pills were harder to refine than Spirit Gathering Pills, and luck wasn't always on his side.

For a pill he had never refined before, failing ten batches was normal, and even a hundred failures were possible.

This was why many novice cultivators didn't dare to try pill refining; it consumed too many resources. Dylan had only recently learned to refine pills, so failure was expected.

But Mark didn't care about any of that; he only wanted results. To him, Dylan was just a Spirit Slave. Doing well was expected, but disappointing him meant punishment!

"Those ten batches of ingredients cost five Spirit Stones, and the detailed explanation of medicinal properties cost ten Spirit Stones. Even if I sold you in pieces, you couldn't repay it, useless trash!" Mark stomped on Dylan's head, then kicked him hard, sending him flying.

With a loud bang, Dylan crashed into the wall, creating spiderweb-like cracks, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Mark stepped forward, grabbed Dylan by the neck, and lifted him, "If you don't succeed tomorrow, I'll make you wish you were dead!"

"Get out!" Mark tossed Dylan onto the stairs.

Dylan rolled down to the second floor, lay on the ground for a while, then struggled to his feet, wiped the blood from his mouth, and slowly moved his injured body.@@novelbin@@

As he walked out of the loft, Ryan, Carol, and Roy's eyes almost simultaneously fell on him, clearly having noticed the commotion in the loft.

Then another pair of eyes focused on Dylan. It was Ralph, who usually minded his own business, standing by the window and looking at Dylan, his gaze not as calm as usual.