“What did you say? The pill of youth and immortality? Is there such a thing?” Chang Sheng Huo asked. Yu Lin trembled as she brought her knees to her face. 

“Yes. There is such a thing, and it is forbidden... for anyone to make that pill.” Yu Lin said barely audible. 

“Why?” 

“The ingredients of that pill… it’s too inhumane…” 

“What? Inhumane? Why?” 

“To create this pill you need four cups. Gather the blood of one thousand trolls, there is your first cup. Gather the souls of ten thousand human, there is your second cup. Gather three, five thousand year old orb, there is your third cup. And lastly, sacrifice yourself to lock everything together, there is your last cup.” Yu Lin shivered as the words escaped her lips. 

“What?! She… what… huh?!” Chang Sheng Huo was in disbelief. Yu Lin let out a deep sigh as she gripped onto her white hair. Yu Lin bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes as she tried to process her thoughts. ‘Maybe… this shouldn’t be… but it’s the only plausible explanation…’ 

In her previous life, Yu Lin had got the chance to go through a translated, ancient dark witch alchemy book, when she was looking for ways to create pills and better potions to help people. Although there were some useful information on plants, it was mostly filled with dark alchemy recipes which required gruesome ingredients such as organs and blood of many creatures.

 Out of all the recipes she had only remembered the pill to youth and immortality for it had the most gruesome ingredients, and not only that, but because other humans had attempted the recipe and failed. 

“Hey kid! If that is true, then we need to get out of here now!” Chang Sheng Huo shouted out. Yu Lin stood up from where she was and walked back up to the wood that was keeping her and He Lan locked up. “Hey, are you listening?” Yu Lin ignored Chang Sheng Huo obvious statements as she stared at the wood. 

“Do you know anything about Kijin wood?” Yu Lin asked after a while as she placed her hand on the wood.

“Ahh, Kijin wood! Of course I know. That wo- wait. They’re coming back. Talk to you later!” The light from the orb quickly vanished and Yu Lin squinted her eyes but the orb was nowhere in sight as if it crawled its way back into the rock. 

“Hey!” Yu Lin whispered and yell at the same time. 

Yu Lin heard a loud sound ringing out before she saw Din and Xin strolling in, one carrying a huge deer, and the other carrying two rabbits. ‘Why did you have to come now?’ Yu Lin let out a deep sigh. 

“It’s not as good as human meat, but it will do for now.” Din said as he set the deer next to the rock that Chang Sheng Huo was in. 

“Can’t we just eat the boy, brother? I like human meat more!” Xin complained as he started walking over to the cage. 

“Do you want to die?” Din roared. Xin shivered before shaking his head.

“No.” He replied back. Din teared off the front leg of the deer as if it took now strength, and started munching on it. Xin threw the two rabbits in between the gaps of the bars. 

“You eat. He eat.” Xin snarled at Yu Lin before turning back to pull off a front leg from the deer. 

Yu Lin looked at the rabbits in front of her. She picked them up from the ground with her left hand and examined the meat for any discoloration just in case the trolls had decided to poison her and He Lan. When she saw nothing out of the ordinary she set them down. ‘Better to eat the food they give me to stay strong, then to be stubborn and starve.’ She thought. She looked up to see the two trolls busily chewing away at the deer before she raised her right arm up. 

Yu Lin skinned the rabbits with a wooden knife she created, and gutted it before setting fire to the blocks that she had made earlier. She created a two long wooden sticks and pierced them through the rabbit before sticking them into the ground, so that the rabbit could hover over the fire. When it was just about done she turned and walked up to He Lan. She shook him, and He Lan’s eyes slowly opened.

“Huh? What? Yu-” Yu Lin clamped his mouth shut before he could say anything else. 

“Did you forget already?” She whispered into his ear. He Lan’s eyes grew before he quickly nod his head. Yu Lin let out a sigh before she lifted her hand and walked back to the campfire she made. 

“Wha-”

“Come eat.” Yu Lin sat herself on the ground. He Lan’s eyes landed on the rabbit and he swallowed his saliva. He followed Yu Lin and sat down on the ground as Yu Lin handed him a rabbit leg. 

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Thank you.” He said as he gobbled down the rabbit leg. 

“I’m only giving you this much today. We don’t know how much they are going to feed us, so we have to leave some aside just in case.” Yu Lin teared another leg off for herself and ate it slowly. He Lan nodded as he also started to eat a slower pace. 

“Do you have a plan, to get out of here Yu- Yang Rou?” He Lan asked. Yu Lin paused for a moment, before continuing on with her rabbit leg. 

“Not yet, but I will come up with one... soon.” Yu Lin answered as she looked into He Lan’s eyes. He Lan saw her determined eyes and then nodded his head, understanding. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yo Mei bursted into one of the room that held the villagers who were the victims of the dark witch. Some cried when they saw Yo Mei, and others curled into balls. 

“No… no… leave us alone!” One of them cried out.

“We didn’t do anything! Spare us!” Another cried out.

“Mrs. Du!” Chief Chu walked in right after her. “The villagers are still in a shaken state, please, let them re-” 

“Please take me where you guys came from. Please help me! My daughter was caught by the same person who caught you guys. ” Yo Mei cried out. “Please help me!” Tears ran down her face. The villager hid their faces behind their thin arms. 

“Go away!” One of them cried. 

“We trusted her, but she betrayed us! You are one of her, how can we trust you?” Someone threw a vase at her. 

“Mrs. Du!” Chief Chu pulled Yo Mei back as he caught the vase in his hand. “Please, leave Mrs-” 

“I will not leave. I will not leave until one of them agrees to help me Chief Chu.”

“Mrs. Du!” Chief Chu said sternly. Yo Mei fell to her knee and hung her head low. 

“I beg of you. Please help me! Please… help me…” She bowed to them as her forehead touched the cold, stone floor. 

“Mrs. Du, please.” Chief Chu tried to pull Yo Mei up, but Yo Mei wouldn’t budge. “Mrs. Du…” Chief Chu looked at her with a deep sadness in his eyes. He didn’t know what to do. He was the chief of the village, however he was torn between helping victims from a terrifying experience, or a mother who had lost her child. He also wanted to ask for the villagers help for He Lan was also taken with Yu Lin, however he didn’t know if it was the right thing to do. 

“Please help me! Please!” Yo Mei begged as her tear dripped onto the floor. The villagers all looked at each other, unsure of what to do for each time they saw Yo Mei’s face they would remember the other woman’s face, and they would remember all the screams they heard when they were in the cage. 

“I will lead you there.” A low voice spoke up. Yo Mei looked up to see who the voice belonged to and so did Chief Chu. A man walked out to the front of the crowd, and it was the same man who had told Chief Chu during the previous day what had happened to them. “I will help you so please stop crying.” The man looked at Yo Mei with gentle eyes. Yo Mei wiped her tears away before she grabbed the man’s hands and bowed her head repeatedly.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“It’s alright,” the man gave Yo Mei a small head nod, “please do not bow to me.” 

“Young master! You cannot return there, she will kil-”

“Silence,” the man sternly said to the villager who spoke up, “this dark elf, is not that dark witch. This dark elf is a mother who has lost her child, and it will be my responsibility to help her get her child back.” Chief Chu saw the man’s virtue, and his respect for the man grew. 

“Then, I will also be counting on you to help me get my grandson back.” Chief Chu bowed to the man. 

“Please, don’t bow to me. You were kind enough to take all of us in, it is only fair that I return the favor.” The man bowed to Chief Chu. Chief Chu smiled at the man as he placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. 

“Please, tell me your name.” 

“My name is, Chen Tian Kong.” The man replied to Chief Chu. 

“Well then Mr. Chen, I and Mrs. Du will have to count on you to help us then.” 

“Thank you, Mr. Chen.” Yo Mei bowed her head to the man.

“It’s alright besides, we have unfinished business anyways, that woman and I.” Tian Kong had a dark look in his eyes as he said this.