Out of the Player’s expectations, after Elder Fu returned this time, he never came back to visit.
Suspecting she had overstimulated him, the Player reflected a little.
What if she had damaged her gentle and soft capture target, or even stimulated a heart demon out of him? That wouldn’t be good.
After reflecting, Li Yin changed her plans. Since Elder Fu wasn’t coming, she would have to go disturb him herself.
She vaguely remembered the location of the Medicine Hut, but after transmigrating into the game and with so many years passed, it might not be accurate.
As usual, the Player decided to scout the route first.
Among the apology gifts from her conquest target, there were many items. She roughly looked through them and found an item for the art of disguise—a jade bracelet.
After a slight hesitation, Li Yin put on the jade bracelet to try it. Her master’s hand reached over and rested on her shoulder.
“The hairpin has already been retrieved,” Yao Guanheng reminded her softly.
Li Yin turned her head and saw her master smiling gently.
“Then Master, help me put it on,” she said, avoiding the topic of the bracelet.
Yao Guanheng lowered his gaze and glanced at the jade bracelet, confirming there were no unusual fluctuations on it. He said nothing more and personally put the hairpin on for her.
The Young Lord of Jade Ecstasy Palace had spent a day with him— she should be content with that.
Once everything was settled, Li Yin turned back and saw that her master wasn’t speaking. The man simply turned silently, picked up her two spirit beasts, and stroked them idly.
He sat down, cradling the two little animals in his arms, and took out some snacks to feed them.
The two spirit beasts had been raised for some time now and had gained a bit of worldly knowledge. Though they still had childlike temperaments, they could recognize people and knew he was “Master.”
After the good-person elder, now there was a good-person master. The two little animals chirped a few times at the “good-person Master.”
Li Yin sensed their fondness for her master.
The elder who fed them was a good person, and the master who fed them was also a good person.
Little animals’ favor was so simple.
She fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist while watching her good-person master’s actions, which extended his fondness for her to her pets.
He lowered his gaze to watch the little animals munch on their food, his fingertips smoothing their fur. Suddenly, he spoke up. “Although that Elder Fu has a good reputation, when you’re out traveling, you must be on guard against others. Neither you nor these two little ones should casually eat things from strangers.”
Her master was lecturing her. Li Yin looked at him with innocent eyes, as if spotting some selfish motives in the man.
Yao Guanheng seemed oblivious to her gaze and continued. “Also, many sect disciples have gathered here recently, including those from Azure Profound Sect. That Ji Little Dao Lord… he has learned his master’s style.”
【Young Lord, please be careful and guard against him.】
He sent her a transmission, his expression looking gentle and considerate. Li Yin had no doubts and nodded in strong agreement.
Only after this special warning did Yao Guanheng mention other things. “These two little ones have eaten too much lately. Their spiritual energy is a bit stagnant and blocked—they’ll probably need to sleep for a while to refine the spiritual materials.”
“Eating too many pills isn’t good. Pill toxins can easily clog the meridians, and the cultivation base becomes unstable.”
Her beautiful master spoke in gentle tones, pointing out the downsides of pills. The little disciple nodded obediently.
Li Yin: “Mm-hmm.”
Aside from certain selfish motives, her master’s judgment was sound.
Soon after, the two overfed little animals grew drowsy. Li Yin stored them separately into the Spirit Beast Box.
She didn’t forget the plant spirit either and fairly added a pill for the one in the Spirit Beast Box.
The Seven Star Sword Flower had nurtured a strand of body integration stage sword qi not long ago and was now nurturing a second strand of sword qi.
With everything packed up, Li Yin bid farewell to her master and contacted Senior Sister Xia to head to the Pill Assembly for some fun.
The Pill Assembly venue was set up near a tall building. At a glance, the nearby cultivators nearly matched the colors of all the sect disciples.
“Little Junior Sister, over here.” In the crowd, Xia Erruo waved at her.
Li Yin walked over and scanned around. She didn’t see Fat Senior Brother—only Xia Erruo and Zhang Baille.
Zhang Baille: “Senior Brother Zheng went to test some pills.”
Li Yin: “Oh.”
“Is it okay for him to test pills alone?”
Xia Erruo: “No problem. There are plenty of medical cultivators here. If something goes wrong, they can treat it on the spot.”
Hearing this, Li Yin thought to herself, Safe travels, Senior Brother. She looked around again, carefully observing the other cultivators nearby. “Which ones are the medical cultivators from Medical Poison Valley?”
Xia Erruo nodded. “Medical Poison Valley cultivates both medicine and poison paths, but not every disciple dual-cultivates both. From what I know, those in purple robes with white inner layers mainly cultivate the medical path, while those with black mainly cultivate the poison path.”
“There’s even a saying: You can offend the white-and-purple medical cultivators, but not the black-and-purple poison cultivators.”
She shared this odd bit of knowledge from her travels with Little Junior Sister, who absorbed it.
Disciples from Medical Poison Valley all had silver sachets hanging from their waists, making them easy to distinguish. As Senior Sister said, their outer robes were all purple, with white or black as the inner layer colors.
She vaguely remembered that the capture target from Medical Poison Valley wore black and purple.
Indeed, best not to provoke.
The Player muttered to herself inwardly, keeping a straight face as she strolled the venue with her senior sister and brother.
With Senior Sister Xia explaining beside her, she listened obediently and gradually understood this gathering that didn’t exist in the game.
The Pill Assembly was Pill Cauldron Sect’s assessment for their own disciples. Outside cultivators could join the fun but couldn’t enter the pill-refining rooms to avoid disturbing the pill cultivators. However, they could check out the new pill formulas and finished pills on the outer plaza.
Some disciples even set up furnaces to refine pills on the plaza for practice or to sell at stalls.
Knowledgeable ones like Medical Poison Valley disciples mostly discussed and exchanged ideas on-site with Pill Cauldron Sect disciples. As for the clueless, their purposes varied wildly.
“Like us from Myriad Beasts Sect—we mostly come looking for better wisdom pills or calming powders to raise spirit beasts. Or if we have spiritual materials on hand, we commission pill cultivators to refine them.”
Little Junior Sister extrapolated: “Then Hidden Sword Mountain and Azure Profound Sect are probably here for better healing medicines? Or spirit pills for breakthroughs and advancements. Oh, and sword cultivators might need to reforge their lifebound swords.”
As a transmigrator, the Player knew little about Cultivation World common sense and had to rely on her senior sister’s beginner’s guide to localize gradually.
Xia Erruo gave an affirming look. “Those sword cultivators and law cultivators are great fighters, so they must have plenty of spiritual materials. Plus, they can team up with pill cultivators for adventures. In Pill Cauldron Sect territory, several secret realms are opening soon, and they can split the gains.”
The Player felt she completely understood now.
Just as she thought she’d finished the beginner tutorial, nearby, a Joyous Union Sect disciple was haggling with a pill cultivator disciple.
“Give me a discount—twenty spirit stones and it’s mine.”
“Twenty? Immortal, my spiritual materials alone cost more than that, not to mention the spiritual power and effort. Fifty mid-grade spirit stones, no less.”
“This joyful affection incense of yours looks like ordinary quality to me. Twenty, or no deal.”
“These aphrodisiac incenses and arousal aids are products you have to use to know the effects. Plus, my blend is improved with a secret formula no one else has. Seeing you’re sincerely interested, forty is the lowest…”
Aphrodisiac incense?
Arousal aids?
These sounded like terms she’d heard in her Joyous Union Sect save files.
Little Junior Sister looked puzzled and turned to her senior sister and brother.
Did Pill Cauldron Sect do this kind of business too?
Xia Erruo moved her lips, and Zhang Baille looked awkward, unsure how to explain to her.
“There are too many types of pills, and Joyous Union Sect does have needs like this, given it’s the joyous union dao,” Senior Sister Xia said vaguely. “But I’m not too familiar with it.”
Little Junior Sister nodded.
Mentioning aphrodisiac incense inexplicably reminded her of the scent on Elder Fu.
Recalling her main business, the Player casually asked about Senior Sister Mo’s location and suggested going to take a look.
Her senior sister and brother had no objections, so they went together. Senior Sister Mo was refining pills with her furnace open, a small protective array flag set up beside her to indicate no disturbances.
Li Yin didn’t go up to bother her and watched from a distance.
Senior Sister Mo had been timid at first sight, but now there was no trace of it. She focused intently, her gaze steady as she guided the spiritual materials in the furnace, blending their medicinal properties and adjusting the heat.
The spiritual fire under the pill furnace flickered nonstop, but suddenly, something changed. The originally stable pill furnace began to shake.
The Player was all too familiar with this situation.
The furnace was about to explode.
Mo Xiangwei knew it too. Sweat slid down her forehead, but she didn’t panic. She raised her hand, formed several spell seals, and slapped them into the pill furnace and fire, trying to stabilize it.
Li Yin recalled her innovation—adding sword qi as the main ingredient—and figured the explosion would be impressive.
“Senior Sister, step back a bit,” Little Junior Sister suddenly suggested in a low voice. Xia Erruo trusted her and instinctively stepped back a few paces.
By the time they retreated, the pill furnace’s shaking intensified, and in the blink of an eye, it happened.
Boom! With a massive bang, the spiritual power inside the pill furnace instantly collapsed. The over-compressed spiritual power rebounded in an explosion, and the strand of sword qi inside shot out violently, slicing through the air.
In an instant, Mo Xiangwei let out a small scream. She’d focused on the furnace explosion and forgotten the sword qi would explode too.
The protective array flag was shattered by the sword qi, which headed straight for her—definitely drawing blood.
The people around retreated a few steps, afraid of being hit by stray sword qi. Only a familiar figure stepped forward, using nimble body movements to grab her and pull her aside.
“Senior Sister Mo.” Li Yin pulled her to safety, dodging the rampaging sword qi. “Can this sword qi be recovered?”
Mo Xiangwei snapped back and summoned a magical treasure to retrieve the refined sword qi.
“Another furnace explosion.” She looked sad as she cast spells to clean up the mess.
The pill cultivator’s pain was evident. Little Junior Sister sympathized.
The Player understood all too well—daily failure judgments in the game leading to furnace explosions.
She patted Senior Sister Mo’s back comfortingly.
Mo Xiangwei then noticed that the erupting sword qi had sliced their clothing hems.
Li Yin saw it too. “It’s fine. This is just ordinary clothing—it’s bound to tear easily.”
Senior Sister Mo looked even sadder. “There’s a side room nearby. Later, I’ll take you to change clothes together.”
Little Junior Sister nodded and patted her again.
With the sword qi recovered, Xia Erruo came over to ask about the situation. “…That really scared me. Luckily no one was hurt. But Little Junior Sister, your reaction was so quick—like you knew the furnace was about to explode.”
She had missed the Player’s competition in the Sword Tomb and didn’t know about Little Junior Sister’s “genius insights.”
The Cultivation World was full of profound and mysterious things, so Li Yin just said, “Maybe my intuition is sharper?”
Her senior sister and brother naturally believed her.
Soon, Li Yin and Senior Sister Mo went to change clothes together and scout for information along the way.
“That Elder Fu seems to be absent. I missed him earlier and thought I’d see him today,” the girl brought up, feigning regret.
Full of thoughts about what to do next, she didn’t notice startling a small purple butterfly from the roadside flowers.
The shimmering purple butterfly fluttered up and down, followed her for two steps, then flitted away.
“Elder Fu?” Mo Xiangwei thought for a moment. “I heard he’s in secluded cultivation.”
“Secluded cultivation?” Li Yin feigned surprise. “Doesn’t that mean he won’t appear for a while?”
Mo Xiangwei nodded. “Probably. With Elder Fu’s cultivation level, once he enters seclusion, it’ll be some time before he emerges. But…”
She paused, finding it odd. “Elder Fu rarely goes into seclusion, let alone during the Pill Assembly. I wonder what’s up this time.”
The Player suspected she was the culprit.
Oh no, had she really overstimulated him?
Feeling guilty, Li Yin stiffly probed. “By the way, are pill cultivators’ cultivation chambers different from other cultivators’? Elder Fu’s cave abode must be quite grand, right?”
Luckily, Mo Xiangwei was simple-minded and didn’t notice her discomfort. “Not really. Elder Fu’s cultivation place is no different from an ordinary pill cultivator’s. If anything, the plants and vegetation are lush, tended more carefully than elsewhere, and there are probably some high-grade protective arrays.”
Little Junior Sister decisively pressed, showing a curious expression like she wanted to see it.
Senior Sister Mo didn’t disappoint and pointed out the direction for her. “You can’t get too close—it would disturb the elder’s cultivation. If you’re really interested, Junior Sister, you can take a distant look.”
As the two talked, the little butterfly that had passed by flew straight away in a certain direction.
Along the way, some Medical Poison Valley disciples spotted it and all stopped, watching the purple butterfly respectfully.
Though small, the butterfly was the valley lord’s lifebound gu and an extension of the valley lord’s body.
Moments later, the lifebound gu finally returned to its master.
The purple butterfly’s wings slowly stopped as it landed on the man’s pale fingertip.
He was laced with poison—his fingers pale, but his nails inked with a layer of eerie, bewitching black tattoos.
The scent of that lady again.
“Hmph.” The man sneered coldly. “This place is a bit interesting.”
A Medical Poison Valley disciple behind him asked puzzledly, “Valley Master?”
The Valley Master had a strange temper and ignored him. The disciple was used to it.
However, as he gazed into the distance, he noticed mist rising from the flat ground, gradually encircling the plaza from outside.
The Valley Master transformed into butterflies, countless purple butterflies fluttering as they flew out of the pavilion.
The disciple was somewhat dazed. The Valley Master had left. He turned to ask another person in charge: “Chief?”
The Medical Poison Valley’s Chief had a cold and reticent personality. Hearing this, the female cultivator glanced at her flustered fellow disciple, shook her head, and continued sorting through the pill formulas they had collected and exchanged.
She wasn’t sure either; better to wait for the elders to handle it.
In the distance, around the plaza, the mist thickened in the blink of an eye. The heavy mist barrier took on a purple hue, looking exceptionally dangerous.
The disciples on the plaza noticed the anomaly, their voices clamoring nonstop. When someone touched the mist, their spiritual power was instantly paralyzed, and they collapsed unconscious. The crowd immediately descended into chaos.
“Poison mist! It’s poison mist!”
The poison mist spread, enveloping and sealing off the plaza.
“Fog is rising?” Li Yin gazed afar at Elder Fu’s cave dwelling. Her former residence seemed largely unchanged.
She had only glanced a few times when a mist suddenly rose in her field of vision.
Immediately after, the game panel suddenly appeared in her sight—
【”Valley Master Ci Yuan’s” lifebound gu has faintly sensed your aura. “Valley Master Ci Yuan” suspects someone is playing tricks here; the success rate of his lifebound gu tracking you is at least: 60】
【Would you like to use Directed Random?】
【Countdown: 10】
【9, 8, 7…】
Li Yin: “……?”
The game panel had appeared out of nowhere and entered countdown. In the moment she was stunned, the mist had thickened into purple.
In the poison mist, faint lights flickered and pulsed at the frequency of butterfly wings flapping. Not only that, intermittent bell sounds drifted vaguely, accompanied by rustling noises like a hundred gu on the move, as if poisonous creatures were approaching.
The player easily recalled the memories.
It was like those little poisonous insects and snakes raised by her ex-husband!
The player held her breath, screaming endlessly in her heart.
No time to wonder where things had gone wrong—she immediately selected the item.
【Directed Random used successfully!】
In the mist, the ethereal bell sound suddenly stilled.
Before Li Yin could relax, the next second, that faintly discernible bell sound resumed.
The sound grew more urgent, more clear.
That person was getting closer and closer!
———————–