Who let him join the Sword Sect?!

According to the tiger's own account in the diary, it only gained intelligence and embarked on the path of cultivation after devouring a wounded and dying demon path cultivator in Jiangyou.

The tiger then received the demon path cultivator's legacy and started practicing the Ghost-Controlling Spirit Devouring evil technique.

Later, it was pursued by righteous path cultivators and, by a stroke of luck, escaped to the Cyan Thorn's Ivory Mountain to save its life.

Because practicing the evil technique required blood sacrifices, at an opportune moment, it encountered the Fan family father and son hunting in the mountains, and tasked them with capturing people from outside the mountains.

The events following that are mundane, essentially the tiger's daily grievances and insights into practicing evil techniques.

The diary does not record much about the Fan family father and son with He Xi.

Now that all three are dead, dwelling on it is meaningless.

Zhang Ze flipped through the diary from start to finish but found no records related to the Stone Pill, indicating that the tiger truly knew nothing about it.

Aside from some evil cultivator magical artifacts, the tiger's chest also contained nothing related to the Stone Pill. Zhang Ze surmised that the Stone Pill was likely obtained by Fan Dachui from elsewhere and merely happened to be placed in that jar.

The gold and silver in the jar, stained with blood, were likely taken from the victims.

After searching the cave mansion again, Zhang Ze took the two corpses out of the cave, burned the tiger's body with fire, and buried He Xi's on the spot.

Everything settled, Zhang Ze found an unfrozen mountain stream. He took out the jar, packed the Stone Pill and Bone Token, then tossed the rest of the gold and silver into the stream.

By the time he returned to Ivory Mountain Village, the sky was already a bit bright.

Fourth Zhao was still standing at the village entrance.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Ze asked.

Fourth Zhao looked a bit embarrassed, "Got kicked out by the wife, just getting some fresh air here."

Since it was a household matter, Zhang Ze refrained from asking further and instead asked Fourth Zhao, "Could you gather a few sensible people over? I have some questions about Fan Dachui for you all."

Fourth Zhao promptly agreed and soon brought Liu Xiong and Xie Kun to his house.

Zhang Ze handed the tiger's diary to them and briefly explained the situation with Little He and the Fan family father and son.

"I was wondering why Fan Dachui left the village every half a month; turns out it was to harm others, sigh." Xie Kun sighed while stroking his chin.

Liu Xiong and Xie Kun simply sighed, but Fourth Zhao was filled with fear.

Fortunately, his son wasn't in the village at the time, otherwise his son might have been among the dead.

After discussing the tiger demon's situation, Zhang Ze finally posed his question, "Do you know where Fan Dachui went before returning to the village?"

The three thought for a while and started talking about things related to Fan Dachui, but they couldn't seem to get to the main point.

Village chief Fourth Zhao spoke vaguely, often veering off-topic, and whenever he did, the stuttering Liu Xiong would argue with him.

As they argued, Xie Kun would stir the pot until Zhang Ze intervened several times, at which point Xie Kun remembered something useful.

"I recall once Fan Dachui, drunk and cursing at me, mentioned he had been with the Divine Pill Gang, was a big shot in the north, and mentioned something about an Immortal Pill."

After providing this useful information, Xie Kun continued to discuss village affairs.

Though the village was small, it had its share of issues. As they chatted, he began sowing discord, planning to collude with Liu Xiong to overthrow Fourth Zhao's position as village chief, and replace him.

Feeling he'd gotten enough information, Zhang Ze didn't disturb their idle chatter further and, after informing Fourth Zhao's wife, left the Zhao family.

Retrieving the Merit Expiation Machine from the Fan family courtyard, he sent a message to Lin Feng.

"Brother Feng, are you there?"

Lin Feng, now overseeing a motley crew mixed with Jianghu people, could help investigate the Divine Pill Gang incident.

The Sound Transmission Jade quickly connected; from Lin Feng's side, it seemed a fight was ongoing, as the shouts of battle were quite loud.

After a while, the noise subsided, whether due to people being dealt with or Lin Feng finding a secluded spot, and Lin Feng spoke, "What can I do for you, Senior Brother?"

"I need help finding a gang called the Divine Pill Gang."

"Divine Pill Gang? I think I know them. Hold on, Senior Brother."

Following that, there came sounds of flipping pages from Lin Feng's side.

"They're in an area north of Cold City. Although a gang, their leader is said to be formidable, on par with some small sect leaders," Lin Feng explained.

"Are they an evil cult or righteous path?" Zhang Ze asked.

"Not sure, north of Cold City is near the demon race territory, outside Six Sect's jurisdiction. I only know some Jianghu rumors."

Lin Feng chose his words carefully, "Probably good people, I think."

Zhang Ze acknowledged and asked Lin Feng to investigate more detailed information about the Divine Pill Gang if he found the time.

Putting away the Sound Transmission Jade, Zhang Ze yawned and stretched languidly.

"Time to head home."

...

Upon returning to the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion, Zhang Ze found Xiaoxuan and seven Big Heads squatting on the steps, resting their chins in their hands and staring blankly ahead, seemingly a bit disheartened.

"What's wrong with you all?" Zhang Ze asked as he approached.

Xiaoxuan raised her head to look at Zhang Ze, and after a moment of silence, she asked in a rational voice, "What is happiness?"

"Huh?" Zhang Ze found this question a bit philosophical, leaving him somewhat at a loss for words.

"Happiness is... well, happiness is like, um, a cat eating fish, a dog eating meat, braised beef with potatoes, yeah, that's happiness," Zhang Ze improvised.

Xiaoxuan sighed, "That joke isn't funny."

"It's not a joke. Never mind, what's going on with you?" Zhang Ze asked as he sat next to Xiaoxuan.

Big Head and Xiaoxuan began to relay the situation to Zhang Ze.

As it turned out, due to their high intelligence levels and excessive rationality, they had lost much of their joy.

Xiaoxuan found Zhang Ze's novels uninteresting, and wheelchair races dull.

The Big Heads were no longer interested in digging in the dirt...

In short, they were unhappy.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Ze said, "Then why don't you all split up?"

"But wouldn't that trouble you?" Taoist Jin asked.

"What about the research on the Thousand Mechanism Technique?" Xiaoxuan asked, looking at Zhang Ze.

"It's not like you can't take a break. You're not a mechanical puppet or parts of the Thousand Mechanism Armor; there's no reason to work endlessly.

Our pavilion's Thousand Mechanism Cultivators also don't constantly research the Thousand Mechanism Technique; they spend time cultivating themselves, shopping, and living their lives.

You all can do the same, be smart for a while, separate for a while, and when you feel dumb... um, I mean, childlike, tired, reunite to be smart again."

Xiaoxuan and the Big Heads thought it over and agreed it made sense.

"Makes sense. How about we relax one day a month? How does that sound?" Xiaoxuan asked.

Looking at Xiaoxuan, who possessed the Innate Ox and Horse Saint Body, Zhang Ze pondered it and thought it wasn't ideal.

Zhang Ze fabricated a rationale, "Seven Taoists, corresponding to metal, wood, water, fire, earth, yin, and yang. So, let's make it a seven-day cycle, you... be smart for four days, rest for three days. I'll call it the four-day workweek."

"And if you have nothing going on, rest as long as you want. This is called a flexible rest system."

Xiaoxuan and the Big Heads discussed it and finally said in unison.

"Sounds reasonable."

Then Xiaoxuan started tinkering with the Thousand Mechanism Armor on herself.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Ze asked.

"While helping Lily with experiments, we took the opportunity to study ourselves and discovered something interesting. Our intelligence, or rather consciousness, is located in this area on the chest."

"Corresponding to a cultivator's sea of consciousness, I call it the Sea of Stone, 'stone' for stone. So by using an array to shield this area, this phenomenon you call the Murphy network intelligence resonance will..."

Before she finished speaking, Xiaoxuan activated the array, and her intelligence ebbed away like a tide.

The Stone Girl returned to her childlike state, rediscovering joy.

"Wow! Wheelchair race!"

The seven Big Heads cheered alongside, and they ascended into the air, following Xiaoxuan as she transformed and flew towards the rear mountain.

"For some reason, it always feels like an older sister from the senior kindergarten class leading her silly younger brothers from a junior kindergarten class," Zhang Ze muttered to himself.

Watching them leave, Zhang Ze returned to his residence and found Li reading a book.

Li was reading 'Sword Sect's Famous Sword List'

Reading while drooling.

"Here, take a look at something," Zhang Ze said, pulling out the Stone Pill he obtained from Ivory Mountain Village.

"What do you think this Stone Pill might hatch? Maybe there's a dragon inside; you two could become brothers."

Li lifted his head from the book and stared at the Stone Pill in Zhang Ze's hand for a while, then suddenly spoke.

"This Stone Pill is empty, inside... there's nothing."