After a brief moment of thought, Jiyin pulled a small booklet from his robes and tossed it to Song Wen.

"This contains my personal experiences in cultivating Spirit Medicine. Take it back and study it carefully. Starting today, you will be responsible for the Spirit Field to the east. As long as you manage it well, the entire Spirit Field will be handed over to your care in half a month's time. When that day comes, your Master will bestow a tremendous benefit upon you."

The Spirit Field to the west grew Red Arrow and Yuan Flower. These were auxiliary herbs for refining Blood Qi Pills, easily found in the deep mountains of Yancheng, and thus not considered precious.

Jiyin felt completely at ease letting Song Wen use them for practice.

As for the promised benefit, it was nothing more than an empty deception. In Jiyin's eyes, allowing Song Wen to live for two more years was already a tremendous blessing.

"Thank you, Master. This disciple will definitely do his utmost to cultivate them and will not fail Master's expectations."

Song Wen accepted the manual and spoke with utmost respect.

Leaving the second floor with the two books in hand, Song Wen couldn't immediately judge whether taking on this Spirit Medicine farming duty was a good or bad thing.

"I'll just focus on growing the Spirit Grass well. Perhaps this will delay the day I become a test subject."

Song Wen muttered in his heart.

After returning to his room, Song Wen first read the manual detailing Jiyin's cultivation experience. Jiyin only grew a total of eight types of Spirit Medicine, all of which were required to refine Blood Qi Pills.

He then flipped through the Detailed Explanation of Low-Grade Spirit Grass Cultivation, locating the eight types of Spirit Grass Jiyin grew. He cross-referenced them one by one, silently pondering the methods for cultivating Spirit Grass.

Once he had built a solid theoretical foundation in his mind, Song Wen headed to the medicine field in the east.

This medicine field was not large, roughly half a mu in size.

Jiyin had taken good care of the Spirit Field. It was neatly divided into rows and ridges, sparsely planted with thirty stalks each of Red Arrow and Yuan Flower.

Song Wen carefully inspected the Spirit Field, pulling out a few stray weeds along the way.

He examined the Spirit Medicine stalk by stalk, numbering them and recording them in a booklet. He kept a detailed log of the growth and watering schedule for each individual plant.

Ten days later, Jiyin, having observed all of this, handed the entire medicine field over to Song Wen's care.

Jiyin himself entered Secluded Cultivation once again. It was time to refine another batch of Blood Qi Pills.

After repeatedly and sternly instructing Song Wen to take perfect care of the Crimson Blood Vine, Jiyin entered the alchemy cave dwelling and sealed the heavy stone door behind him.

The Crimson Blood Vine was the primary ingredient for refining the Blood Qi Pill, and also the hardest Spirit Medicine to find. Back then, to secure a Crimson Blood Vine, he had mobilized the forces of the Heavenly Fiend Gang and scoured through more than half of the Qian Kingdom before finally unearthing this single fifty-year-old specimen. Every time he refined pills, he only dared to clip a few small branches, terrified of hindering the vine's growth.

Having learned from Er Niu that Jiyin's Secluded Cultivation sessions for alchemy always lasted at least ten days, Song Wen felt a surge of excitement. He sensed that his opportunity to escape had finally arrived.

Without showing any outward reaction, Song Wen walked into the small wooden shack in the medicine field. This was where the farming tools for cultivating Spirit Medicine were kept.

Song Wen rummaged through the shack, hoping to find some tools that could aid his escape. However, after turning the place upside down, he found nothing useful aside from the standard farming implements.

However, he did find a twenty-centimeter-long dagger.

The dagger was sheathed in leather. Drawing it out revealed a pitch-black blade that gleamed with a sharp, chilling light, striking fear into the heart.

"What a fine blade!"

Song Wen cheered inwardly. Gripping the hilt tightly, he slashed at a stray piece of wood inside the shack.

Snap! An inch-thick wooden stick was cleanly severed in an instant.

A bright gleam flashed repeatedly in Song Wen's eyes. This dagger was absolutely a Top Grade weapon, a perfect tool for self-defense.

Song Wen slid the dagger back into its scabbard and tucked it securely into his boot.

After doing one last sweep of the shack and finding nothing else of value, Song Wen shouldered a hoe and walked back outside.

While tilling the Spirit Field, his eyes would occasionally dart between the alchemy cave dwelling and the western cliff face.

The lowest point of the cliff wall was at least five zhang high, while the highest peaks exceeded ten zhang. The entire rock face was completely bare, devoid of a single tree or weed, though it was covered in large patches of damp moss.

The abundance of moss would clearly make climbing much more difficult.

Song Wen considered using tools to scale the rock face, but he hadn't found a single usable rope in the entire courtyard. If he tried to chop down wood to build a ladder, it would be almost impossible to escape the notice of the guards and Er Niu.

"Do I need to team up with Er Niu and Zhang Cheng? But I have no idea what they're actually thinking. Judging by how much they revere Jiyin, I highly doubt I can persuade them. Reaching out might just expose my intentions."

Having finally waited until Jiyin entered Secluded Cultivation to seize an opportunity to escape, only to find himself trapped by the terrain, Song Wen grew increasingly anxious.

His grip on the hoe slipped. Instead of striking a weed, he narrowly avoided chopping a stalk of Spirit Medicine in half.

Song Wen jolted to his senses. He realized he was acting far too rashly today.

Those who accomplish great things must possess absolute patience.

After calming his state of mind, Song Wen refocused on seriously tending to the Spirit Field.

That night.

Song Wen tossed and turned in his bed, finding it impossible to sleep.

He slipped out of bed, stealthily opened his door, and stepped outside.

The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. All was dead silent.

Song Wen stared at the cliff face, lost in thought. He never expected this five-zhang-high wall of rock to become an insurmountable chasm blocking his escape.

In the corner of his eye, Song Wen suddenly noticed what looked like flickering firelight at the summit.

"Someone is up there?"

Song Wen was startled. Looking more closely, he could indeed see a cluster of flames appearing and disappearing on the mountaintop.

"Does the Heavenly Fiend Gang have guards stationed on the summit?"

Song Wen seemed to have uncovered yet another massive obstacle.

Thinking it over, it made perfect sense for the Heavenly Fiend Gang to station men at the peak.

The Heavenly Fiend Gang had built their entire territory into an impregnable fortress. The perimeter even featured a scaled-down version of a city wall, heavily guarded by troops. There was no reason for them to leave this mountain completely unguarded.

Moreover, establishing an outpost at the summit would be perfect for monitoring all movements within Yancheng. In the event that a large army arrived to encircle and suppress the Heavenly Fiend Gang, the sentries could both provide timely intelligence and secure an escape route for the gang.

Realizing this, Song Wen completely abandoned his plan of escaping through the back mountain. Given his current strength, which was only slightly greater than that of an ordinary mortal, it would be absolutely impossible to slip past a blockade of well-trained Heavenly Fiend Gang members in mountainous terrain-let alone the martial arts experts mixed in among them.

Disheartened, Song Wen returned to his room. He abandoned the idea of sleeping and immediately began his cultivation.

Only by accumulating enough power would he have any chance of escaping the Heavenly Fiend Gang.

In the blink of an eye, another ten days passed.

Through relentless, day-and-night cultivation, Song Wen's cultivation base had quietly reached the middle stage of the first layer of Qi Condensation.

Today, while laboring in the medicine field, Song Wen suddenly saw the heavy stone doors of the alchemy cave dwelling swing open. Jiyin walked out, practically beaming with triumph.

Song Wen's expression shifted slightly, his heart filling with a deep sense of dread.

"It seems a new round of medicine testing is about to begin. I just don't know who the test subject will be this time. Will I be the one dragged off to test the medicine?"