Starting as a Magical Girl, I Alone Shall Rule for Eternity

Chapter 238: The Funeral Hall Lecture for Dad

"The quantity is wrong?"

"The position of the alchemy furnace..."

"No, no, no, this requirement is from the Thirteen External Formulas Examination..."

Inside this crude earthen house, arranged like an ancient yet dilapidated Taoist temple, a middle-aged man in Taoist robes paced back and forth, rummaging through his large bookshelf.

*Zhouyi Cantongqi*, *Danfang Aolun*, *Jindan Dacheng Ji*, *Baopuzi*, *Jinhua Yuye Dadan*...

Jiang Si looked around and finally confirmed.

This was nowhere else but his childhood home.

His father, obsessed with alchemy, and that treasured alchemy furnace of his.

Whoever dared touch his furnace, he'd fight them to the death.

He still remembered as a child, accidentally falling while his father was refining pills, instinctively grabbing the furnace for support.He got slapped across the face.

"Son, do you know who I am?"

When this man held him as a child, this was the question he asked most often.

"I am the last Taoist priest in this world! When I achieve immortality, our whole family, even the chickens and dogs, will ascend to heaven!"

For a very long time, he had no fixed job, no stable income.

He just took odd jobs, earned some money, then bought ingredients to come home and refine pills.

This cycle repeated for over twenty years.

"One tael of mercury, one tael of white alum with moisture removed, one tael of saltpeter with moisture removed, one tael of dried salt, plus five qian of cinnabar, one tael of soap alum... no problem, all no problem..."

Seeing his father, whom he hadn't seen in so long, scratching his head in frustration, Jiang Si found it somewhat dull.

External path.

He looked down at the kitten he'd picked up on the road.

Trembling, he could feel its heartbeat wasn't fast; it was already on the verge of death.

So he placed the cat inside the quilt—there was one bed in the house, very simple, with only bedding.

The room didn't need heating; his father was always refining pills, the furnace kept it hot. Aside from the possibly toxic smoke billowing out, it was basically tolerable.

This batch from the furnace was again a pile of pitch-black junk.

"Wet fine sand... slightly extinguish and roast the vessel, one stick of incense burns out, gentle fire to ascend and refine, two sticks of incense burn out, strong fire to ascend and refine, three sticks of incense burn out, remove from fire and let cool... maintain moisture, avoid the plaster drying and cracking, causing the pill to escape... if the pill is white, the fire is insufficient; if black or purple, the fire is too strong; low-grade cannot be used as medicine... yellowish-white is high-grade..."

Jiang Changshou held the low-grade waste product, mottled black and purple, bloodshot veins in his eyes.

"How could this be? The steps weren't wrong! Where's the problem, where's the problem..."

He fixed his gaze on Jiang Si. "Right, you're the only variable."

Finally, he grabbed Jiang Si's shoulders and shook him. "Son, you ruined your father's precious pill!"

"Wasn't it your furnace placement that was wrong?"

Playing with the dying cat, watching it gradually expire, Jiang Si didn't even look up. "Celestial phenomena, the Five Elements—no attention paid to those, no Exotic Flame either, just using ordinary household fire. How can you refine a true pill?"

His father showed a puzzled expression. "Celestial phenomena, the Five Elements? And where would I find an Exotic Flame?"

"Battle Through the Heavens," Jiang Si said flatly. "For celestial phenomena and the Five Elements, read more Profound Mirror. Intent, detailed alchemy processes—the Great Dao is within. You only read useless fake scriptures every day; how can you refine a true pill?"

The previously deranged Jiang Changshou was stunned by his son's words.

"My pill is false? Impossible, absolutely impossible. My furnace position can't be wrong..."

Muttering, the other ignored his words.

Jiang Si sneered coldly and said no more.

It seemed this was just a memory.

Not long after, someone barged in.

"Jiang Changshou! Are you trying to die?!"

Jiang Si finally looked up.

His young mother, whom he hadn't seen in so long.

In his blurred memories, his mother was always old, weak, her face etched with wrinkles filled with unresolvable sorrow.

Faced with anything, she would only yield and apologize.

Her back was always bent, head bowed, as if crushed by something, struggling to breathe.

Yet, in her youth... actually, she was already over thirty here.

But her back was straight, her voice not heavy. Her unwrinkled face was full of vitality and sharpness.

Apart from her appearance, she was almost a different person from the mother in his memory.

"If you poison the child, I'll shove you into the cesspit!"

As she spoke, she dragged him away.

Yet his father just waved his hand. "Go away, get lost, don't disturb my alchemy."

"Go die early!"

His mother dragged him out of the house.

Because he got separated from his mother on the road, he had instinctively returned to this home.

As his mother pulled him out, an explosion sounded from inside the house, followed by his father's maniacal laughter.

"What's wrong? Right, right, it's right!"

He'd gone berserk in his cultivation.

This is the outcome of only practicing the External Core path.

Those so-called ancient alchemy methods were mostly heretical paths used to harm later cultivators.

Though they did contain some truths of cultivation.

Only after countless web novel authors organized and optimized them was the true path to immortality finally distilled.

Yet, no matter how many times he told his father, the other remained stubbornly deluded.

Only recognizing these ancient alchemy methods.

"You mustn't become like him in the future, son."

Holding his hand, the previously irritable and angry mother's voice softened.

"Hmm."

His mother gently touched his face, then simply picked him up. "Cold, son?"

"Not too bad."

"Where did this cat come from?"

Only then did Jiang Si remember the cat he'd picked up on the road.

He touched it again; it was already stiff.

So he casually tossed it into a garbage pile.

"Found it."

"Do you like cats, son?"

"If it's dead, then forget it."

The snow kept falling, heavier and heavier.

After carrying him for a while, his mother said, "This snow keeps blowing down my neck. Son, block the snow for me."

Saying this, she squatted down and carried Jiang Si on her back, using him as an umbrella against the snow.

"Hmph, we don't need him. Us mother and son can live a good life..."

A snow-laden branch nearby, under the cold wind, snapped with a crisp sound, followed by more accumulated snow falling to the ground.

It startled his mother, who then laughed and cursed a couple of times.

The alleyway, cloaked in silver, was silent. His mother carried him all the way back; their footprints behind were soon covered by the heavy snow.

Amid the swirling snowflakes, not a single other person could be seen.

In the not-wide alleyway, every household had their windows and doors tightly shut, no fires lit, no lights on, deathly silent like a cemetery.

His mother was saying something in his ear, but as they walked, even his mother's voice disappeared.

He got down from his mother's back, walking on the ground again.

Stepping on the thick snow, there was no sound either. For a moment, he thought he'd gone deaf.

Then he turned to look at the windows of the surrounding houses.

He saw his father continuously refining pills, continuously failing.

His father started cultivating the Dao in his youth; he began alchemy after marrying his mother.

He'd heard that initially, his father wasn't crazy; cultivating the Dao was just for self-cultivation.

After his father's parents fell seriously ill and passed away, his father seemed to have been struck by something.

He began obsessing over the alchemical path, curing all ailments, seeking immortality.

What kept him going were a few successful pill refinements in between.

He even ate the pills, and his own illnesses alleviated somewhat.

So he began refining pills even more fanatically.

Lost his job, lost his friends, quarreled with his mother.

Almost got divorced.

Finally lived separately from his mother.

As he walked through the alleyway, he saw in the mirrors the arguments, curses, and mockery his father had experienced.

Since childhood, he liked squatting by his father's alchemy furnace, watching him refine pills.

His father would tell him many, many things about cultivating immortality.

The heartlessness of the Great Dao, longevity and freedom, and the various methods of the immortals.

Jiang Si didn't think his father was a fool, nor did he think he was particularly smart.

A path that led nowhere, yet he kept walking it, even though there were better methods.

The snow stopped.

He saw in the window of a nearby house that he had grown up, started school.

Then, found the true Great Dao.

At that time, his father's health had deteriorated due to alchemy; he was bedridden for years, his body worsening.

When Jiang Si told him about the true path to immortality from web novels,

His father just tore up his book with a gloomy face.

His mother cried, begging him not to be like his father.

Half her life had been ruined by his alchemy-obsessed father; she didn't want to see her son follow the same disastrous path.

But Jiang Si knew he was different.

He walked the true Great Dao, and he never intended to let it affect his life.

All his seeking of the Dao was outside his studies. Even when searching for the world's extraordinary powers,

He only used his part-time earnings during holidays.

Using his father as a warning, he didn't plan to mess up his life and family because of seeking the Dao.

But his parents tightened their control even more.

During holidays, they forbade him from going out, forbade him from reading web novels, even forbade him from working part-time.

Strictly controlled his movements, monitored the books he read.

Fortunately, there was Lu Ya.

Because of Lu Ya, his path to the Great Dao never completely severed.

Even locked in his room, Jiang Si never felt bored or resentful.

These were all necessary trials on the cultivation path.

Only those who can endure loneliness are qualified to tread the path of immortality.

And indeed, that was the truth.

Looking at his own journey, Jiang Si couldn't help but give a carefree smile.

The path of the Heart Image—not bad.

From the past all the way to the present, when he saw a door again, Jiang Si casually pushed it open and walked in.

Continuing to stride forward, he saw a courtyard.

That was the house his father later bought after working seriously. The yard wasn't large, but compared to the previous shabby place, it was somewhat decent.

But now, it was completely different from his memory.

The snow had stopped, but the house was still covered in white.

Funeral wreaths and elegiac couplets covered the entire house.

In a daze, it still seemed like a heavy snowfall.

Jiang Si looked around again. The outside path was now paved with asphalt; the garbage mountain further ahead was gone; the mulberry tree he used to like climbing had disappeared, leaving only a small pavilion.

A scene outside his memory.

He stamped on the ground, feeling a certain substantial heaviness.

That was the heaviness of reality.

Not in a hurry to go back, Jiang Si walked forward, arriving at the unfamiliar entrance of his own home.

Two elderly people were squatting at the courtyard gate, cracking melon seeds, sitting on small stools and chatting.

Seeing Jiang Si, they both stood up at once.

"Oh! Isn't this Jiang Changshou's eldest son?"

"Jiang Si, how come you're back? Didn't you run off with Lu Ya?"

"Heard it was an elopement?"

Jiang Si found this utterly baffling and simply asked, "Who died?"

The two old folks forced dry laughs.

"Your dad..."

"He's been gone for a long time. The funeral is only today."

Jiang Si looked up at the wreaths in the yard. "Did he get sick from eating pills?"

"No, he stopped refining pills long ago. Didn't your dad have a sudden awakening? Worked honestly, never touched that stuff again. But he probably damaged his foundation; his health was never good after that..."

Entering, several tables were set up in the yard, filled with guests who had already eaten.

Now they were sitting together chatting.

Leftover food and dishes were on the tables; some laughed, some picked their teeth, children ran around.

From the main hall came faint crying, heart-wrenching, but not very sincere.

Jiang Si passed through the crowd, entered the main hall. Smoke filled the air, making it seem like he'd entered his father's old alchemy room.

Turning his head, he could see the paper-burning basin and a woman rolling on the floor crying next to it.

And a couple standing around, absent-mindedly chatting with others.

He didn't recognize that couple, but judging by their status and faces, they should be family.

Family, a younger brother? Or what?

After he went to the Magical Girl world to seek the Dao, it wouldn't be strange for them to have another child...

When he walked in, the stranger rolling on the floor wailing put even more effort into it.

"Who are you?"

He lifted her up by the collar and asked impatiently.

The woman, who had been crying, was startled and choked, unable to cry out.

But tears and snot still streamed down.

People nearby immediately rushed over. "What are you doing! Who are you? Put her down!"

But Jiang Si just asked, "What are you crying for?"

The woman cried even more sorrowfully. "This is my job..."

Ah, a professional mourner.

He thought for a moment and didn't make things difficult for her, just threw her outside the door. "Not needed."

A young man who bore some resemblance to his father came over and immediately shoved him. "Just who the hell are you! What do you want! Don't cause trouble at my dad's funeral, I'm warning you! No gift money, no eating at my dad's banquet!"

Shouting loudly, even the people in the yard attending the funeral looked over.

But after several shoves, Jiang Si didn't budge; instead, the bespectacled young man almost pushed himself over.

The woman beside him quickly grabbed him, complaining about the glasses-wearing youth's incompetence.

Jiang Si looked at the funeral altar at the front of the main hall, the familiar black-and-white photo, remained silent for a moment, then said, "I am Jiang Si."

"Jiang Changshou's son."

The atmosphere shifted from anger to cold silence, then towards panic and strangeness.

"What Jiang Changshou's son! Not coming early, not coming late, you show up when dad's dead! And come to cause trouble!"

"I have some words to say to him. You all go out first."

"I'm warning you, I organized dad's funeral. When dad couldn't move, I took care of him. You hooked up with a rich woman and kicked your parents aside, didn't show up for so many years, and now you pop up calling yourself a filial son, wanting to split the inheritance with me."

"Out."

The woman beside the bespectacled man roared, "What's wrong with you! This is our house! Old Yao! Throw him out!"

The woman screamed, and a strong man in a suit walked in from outside, cracked his neck, loosened his tie, and grabbed Jiang Si's shoulder.

"Kid, come with me."

Finding he couldn't pull him, he tried to kick Jiang Si's leg, intending to break it.

But the youth instead grabbed the man's head.

And slammed it violently onto the large round table in the room!

Soup splattered, meat and mushrooms scattered everywhere, the entire table instantly shattered!

The strong suit-wearing man's head smashed through the wooden table and the dishes on it, then slammed hard onto the ground. His flabby flesh trembled, his eyes rolled back, and he directly passed out, face-down in the puddle of soup.

Jiang Si casually picked up a piece of fish and tasted it.

Then spat it out.

Tasted awful.

"Out."

The previously shouting younger brother and sister-in-law finally quieted down, scrambling out in panic.

Jiang Si dragged the unconscious suit-wearing man to the doorway, looking at the guests in the yard.

"Finish eating and go back."

Everyone immediately stood up, gathering their things to leave.

Some were busy packing the food from the tables into bags. Soon, after the yard quieted down, Jiang Si casually threw the suit-wearing man outside the courtyard.

He closed the courtyard gate, then closed the main hall door.

Chattering, gossiping voices started growing louder outside, along with neighbors' idle talk.

This was why he didn't like funerals.

He walked into the room. The funeral altar was arranged simply. A huge paper treasure palace stood behind the offering table, the photo hung under a plaque inscribed with "Ling Yu Hall."

Looking at the photo below the altar, surrounded by his father's belongings.

Numerous books, and his alchemy furnace.

Including successfully refined pills.

Someone smashed a window; people outside cursed and laughed.

Jiang Si casually picked up his father's book, *Zhouyi Cantongqi*. "Internal and external not distinguished, deliberately mystifying. If you don't submit to the qi, how can you enter the Dao? How dare you laugh at Grain Abstention as a heretical path."

Threw it into the mourning basin.

Picked up another, *Danfang Aolun*.

Shook his head and also threw it into the mourning basin. "Gentle fire, strong fire—none compare to an Exotic Flame."

Then picked up *Jinhua Yuye Dadan* and similarly threw it into the basin. "Water method alchemy? Daring to use the water method without a spirit spring?"

*Daoyan Neiwai Mijue Quanshu*, *Jindan Dayao*, *Penglai Shan Dongxi Zao Huandan Jing*, *Jindan Dacheng Ji*, *Baopuzi*...

Expressionless, he picked them up one by one, threw them all into the mourning basin, then also threw in the pills his father had refined.

The flames immediately roared.

"I have already found the true scriptures. In a while, I will send the true scriptures to you."

The firelight reflected on his cheeks, like unmelting solid ice.

"Read less of this useless stuff, read more web novels, so you can be reborn into the Profound Mirror to cultivate in your next life."

Then he punched and smashed the alchemy furnace!

It wasn't that Jiang Changshou had an awakening, repented, or was persuaded to give up alchemy and cultivation.

It was because he ate the immortality pill he refined and almost died.

So he got scared.

Jiang Si picked up an incense stick, lit it, blew on it.

Stuck it into the burning mourning basin.

Then took a fruit knife from the altar table, unconcernedly reached his hand directly into the fire of the mourning basin, took out some still-burning ashes, and smeared them on the fruit knife, heating it until red.

Then, he breathed on the blade, blowing away the dust.

Police sirens sounded outside. Police pushed open the door, followed by a crowd of neighbors and relatives, including that younger brother he wasn't familiar with.

"Put down the knife! Put it down!"

Amidst the exclamations, Jiang Si just held the fruit knife, looking at his father's face.

"Dad."

He said calmly:

"Back then, your Dao Heart was not steady enough, and not ruthless enough!"

With that, he fiercely stabbed the knife into his own chest, then gave it a hard pull!

Blood spurted out!

Almost dyeing his father's memorial photo crimson!

Not to mention ordinary people, even the police shuddered, startled!

Yet Jiang Si remained expressionless, one hand plunged into his chest, grabbing his still-beating heart.

Veins on his neck nearly bulged, sweat poured from his temples like rain, yet Jiang Si forcibly pulled his heart out from his chest!

"Let me use my Dao Heart to refine a true pill for you."

His hand clenched slightly, and the heart burst open in his grasp!

Amidst the splattering blood and screams, purple light spilled from between his fingers!

Extremely dazzling!

"This pill is named—

"Seed of Miracle."