Yu Lie remained in the quiet room, diligently studying, his heart alternating between worry and joy.
Fortunately, the inspiration of using the wine cup to ingest the viscera of the wolf demon, besides the Ascension Pill, Yu Lie also had other medicinal herbs and food in his hands.
With patience, after several days of careful consideration, he finally tested the miraculous effects of the bronze wine cup.
As he had speculated before, the bronze wine cup could indeed transform demons into spirits, and convert poison into essence!
Any lifeless object, once soaked in the wine cup for a while, harmful impurities, foul odors, toxins, demonic energy, and other substances in the lifeless object would be polished and dissolved.
Substances like demonic energy would be transformed as much as possible into pure spiritual energy. If they were of no use, they would be completely removed.
This was why the wolf demon's viscera would shrink after soaking in the wine cup. Many unusable things within it had already been removed, naturally causing it to shrink.
However, if soaked for too long, the wolf demon's viscera would eventually be transformed into a pool of pure spiritual water, losing all other miraculous uses.
After reaching this conclusion, Yu Lie held the bronze wine cup, overflowing with joy in his heart.
Such a detoxifying item in the hands of a cultivator was truly priceless, with endless uses!
For example, if Yu Lie were to learn alchemy, whether in the preparation before alchemy or in the consumption process after alchemy, he could soak the medicinal herbs and pills in the wine cup to eliminate any toxicity.
Even if he failed in alchemy, he could use the wine cup to salvage the medicinal herbs, making it a waste utilization without the need to discard them.
"However, in the future, when using the wine cup, I must also be mindful of the limits," Yu Lie thought joyfully, also silently warning himself.
During these days of seclusion, besides pondering the miraculous uses of the bronze wine cup, he was also thinking about how to avoid attracting fatal dangers.
After much consideration, Yu Lie had decided that the bronze wine cup could only be used on himself and must never be used for personal gain, let alone for refining pills or artifacts for others, or detoxifying others... even pets had to be wary!
Otherwise, if a word leaked out, he would be inviting disaster by seeking small gains!
After careful consideration, Yu Lie looked at the bronze wine cup in his hand, motionless. Then, he held the wine cup, opened his mouth, and swallowed it.
Yu Lie's throat made a gurgling sound as he swallowed the wine cup into his stomach.
At present, Yu Lie's cultivation was low, and he had no good way to store the wine cup. However, just after completing his transformation, he had gained some control over his physical body, allowing him to hide the wine cup in his stomach.
Although this method was a bit troublesome, it was safe and discreet. As long as Yu Lie wasn't killed, he wouldn't lose the wine cup.
After hiding the cup in his belly, Yu Lie swallowed lightly, wiped his face with his hand, and returned to his normal appearance. But as he looked around the dim and quiet room, a sense of nostalgia once again appeared on his face.
In just over ten days, Yu Lie had experienced more than in a year, which was truly thrilling and heart-stirring.
It was precisely during these ten days that he had completed his first transformation, obtaining a great opportunity that would greatly change his path of cultivation!
With a gentle smile, Yu Lie was no longer lost in nostalgia.
He stood up from the stone altar, took the beeswax candle from the stone wall, burned all the miscellaneous items in the quiet room, and then, holding the candle, he opened the stone door and walked out gently.
At this moment, Yu Lie, although still slender, was no longer frail. The gloomy expression on his face had faded, leaving behind clarity and radiance.
Walking through the long corridor, he arrived outside the quiet room.
The official quiet room was located at a high place, with mist rolling over Blackwater Town below, the light dim.
Looking down from a high vantage point, Yu Lie no longer felt that the town was a place inhabited solely by mountain ghosts but saw a hint of immortal aura within.
Breathing in the mist, he murmured softly, "Truly like a world apart."
Beside Yu Lie, an old Daoist disciple who was in charge of the quiet room was dozing off. Upon hearing Yu Lie's footsteps as he walked out, the disciple half-awake, rubbed his eyes, and let out a big yawn.
Upon hearing Yu Lie speak softly, the old Daoist disciple drooped his eyelids, lay down, and muttered, "Is it done? Too bad, no extra income..."
Yu Lie heard the old Daoist disciple's complaint and couldn't help but smile wryly.
It seemed that what was good for him might not be good for others.
With that in mind, Yu Lie restrained all signs of joy, even adjusting his posture to appear slightly hunched, and quickly walked towards Blackwater Town.
Although he had made a breakthrough, he had only gone from being a low-ranking Daoist disciple to a slightly higher one. There were many talented individuals in the town, and he couldn't afford to be complacent.
After leaving the official quiet room, Yu Lie walked down the path. The mountain road was rugged and rough, but with the support of the wolf demon's power, even without mastering light-footed techniques, he walked as if on flat ground, effortlessly.
Yu Lie's goal was to return home.
As a disciple who had passed the Child Rites and became a Daoist disciple, upon arriving in Blackwater Town, he was assigned a place to stay, where he had been living before.
However, the free accommodation provided by the town was far from ideal. Eight or nine people, or even a dozen, crowded into a large courtyard, with chickens, ducks, dogs, and people living together.
Yu Lie had become neighbors with other Daoist disciples like Shan Daoist.
But now that he had completed his transformation and gained a foothold in the town, Yu Lie planned to move out of the crowded courtyard as soon as he returned, seeking a single, independent residence.
The crowded courtyard was inconvenient for his future cultivation and the use of the bronze wine cup, risking exposure and potential danger. It was not suitable for long-term residence.
Yu Lie walked through the streets and arrived at the shanty-like area.
The narrow and dark alleyways were always filled with a foul stench emanating from the water channels, and the black stone ground was stained with dried and wet blood, as if covered in thick black moss.
After a light rain that day, Yu Lie lowered his head, stepping on the puddles, and entered a courtyard surrounded by shanty dwellings on all sides.
As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, Yu Lie heard the sounds of chickens and ducks, along with the harsh cries of slaughtering chickens.
A plump woman was squatting on the ground, plucking feathers and gutting a chicken. Beside her stood a chubby-faced child, and a group of chickens in the courtyard pecked at the offal on the ground.
This woman was the landlady of the shanty courtyard, as her husband had passed away. After her husband's death, she was responsible for accommodating the new Daoist disciples in the town and for cooking meals.
As soon as Yu Lie walked in, the landlady spotted him and immediately recognized him.
Her face lit up with joy, and she stood up, rushing towards Yu Lie, saying, "Oh! It's Yu Ge'er back! Where have you been playing recently? Haven't seen you for a while!"
The landlady approached Yu Lie with a chicken in hand, saying:
"Ge'er, this month's food expenses haven't been paid yet! Even if you haven't returned, the food expenses are fixed and must not be missed. If they are, the two of us won't be able to survive."
Yu Lie was caught off guard by the sudden demand for money from the landlady upon his return.
As he looked at the woman's large figure and her chubby child, he couldn't help but find it amusing. Although he had been living in the shanty courtyard for over a year, he was not as well-fed as they were.
Yu Lie patted his body, preparing to take out a few coins to settle the matter.
However, an awkward situation arose - he had used up all his money for the seclusion. After all, even if he had more money on him, it would still belong to others if he couldn't leave the seclusion.
So, Yu Lie was currently penniless.
Seeing Yu Lie's actions, the landlady's joyful expression instantly turned sour, muttering to herself, "Another poor fellow!"
But as she held the chicken, her eyes lit up, and she shouted loudly towards a nearby room:
"Auntie Pu! Your lover boy is broke again, quickly bring out the money!"