Page 23

Even after Qin Shu left the Transmission Hall, her mind was still a mess. How did she dare to ask the senior brother for help with alchemy? What baffled her even more was the fact that he actually agreed!

Qin Shu couldn't make sense of Cheng Yan's thought process, and frankly, neither could Cheng Yan himself.

He stared at the ten sets of materials for the Vitality-Enhancing Pill in front of him, lost in thought.

These materials combined weren't even worth a few spiritual stones, and he had agreed to a 30-70 split...

Oh well, consider it helping a junior sister out.

The next day, Cheng Yan didn't need to attend the Transmission Hall. Sitting in his grass hut, he thought for half a day before finally deciding to set up his alchemy furnace.

"Well, well. Even senior brother is doing sect missions now?" Wen Chi's voice floated in and out of the air.

Cheng Yan ignored him. Wen Chi, undeterred, appeared gradually in the courtyard.

He wrinkled his nose and clicked his tongue twice. "It really is Vitality-Enhancing Pills. Senior brother, you've been behind on your alchemy missions for sixty years. Since you're at it today, why not make my share too?"

Cheng Yan's hands didn't stop moving. He raised his hand to cast a spell, sealing the furnace lid, before responding casually, "What brings you here?"

No sooner had he spoken than a scroll came flying toward him. He caught it midair and heard Wen Chi say, "You've been assigned as the leader for this year's disciples' trial. Here's the name scroll. Write down the eligible disciples, and they'll gain entry."

Cheng Yan tossed the scroll back. "Not going."

Wen Chi's figure vanished once again, but his voice lingered in the air, "This is an order from the master. If you don't want to go, tell him yourself."

A golden light flashed briefly between Cheng Yan's brows, and the scroll hovered in front of him.

Frowning slightly, he thought for a moment before reluctantly taking the scroll.

At that moment, a refreshing pill fragrance wafted from the alchemy furnace before him. With a spell, he opened the lid, letting a jade bottle fly out to collect ten pills.

He repeated this process ten times, producing a total of one hundred pills, each of supreme quality.

By the time he finished, the sun was already high in the sky.

Cheng Yan squinted, contemplating why he suddenly felt like he'd been bewitched. Why had he willingly spent an entire morning making pills for a junior sister he'd only met twice?

Recalling her bun-like hair, her face caught between fear and forced bravery... Cheng Yan suddenly felt at peace. Maybe it was just because she was different from other girls.

Rising to his feet, he vanished from the courtyard in a flash.

When he reappeared, he was standing outside Master Lingxu's cave.

"Master, disciple Cheng Yan requests an audience."

Moments after he spoke, the barrier to the cave lifted.

Entering, Cheng Yan was immediately met with Lingxu's question, "I hear from Wen Chi you've been making Vitality-Enhancing Pills?"

Cheng Yan replied lightly, "Yes."

Lingxu raised an eyebrow. "For missions?"

"Yes."

Lingxu scoffed, "You're lying."

Cheng Yan didn't deny it. "It was part of an agreement. Not really a lie."

It was for a mission, just not his own.

Intrigued, Lingxu asked, "Oh? Who managed to convince you?"

Cheng Yan didn't indulge his curiosity further and instead spun the scroll in his hand.

"Master, please assign someone else to lead the trial."

Lingxu waved a sleeve and sent him flying out of the cave. "Not a chance!"

In the blink of an eye, the cave's stone door shut firmly.

Realizing his master's decision was final, Cheng Yan knew there was no escaping this trial.

The trial for new disciples was nothing more than child's play. It lasted ten days, during which he could do nothing but wait at the entrance for their return.

Wen Chi suddenly appeared out of nowhere, clearly amused by Cheng Yan's defeated expression.

"Senior brother, you're barely over a hundred, but you act like you're eight hundred. Spending time with these young disciples might bring back some youthful vigor. Remember when you first joined the sect? Back then, you were so bright-eyed and full of life—not like this grumpy old man I see now."

Cheng Yan shot him a cold glare. "Still better than someone who cried the first time they left home."

Wen Chi: "..."

He immediately exploded, "I didn't cry! My cousin slipped me a tear-inducing pill!"

Cheng Yan smirked skeptically before flying off.

Enraged, Wen Chi followed.

He was determined to uncover who had managed to convince Cheng Yan to make low-tier Vitality-Enhancing Pills!

The next morning, Qin Shu finished her cultivation as the moon dipped below the horizon.

Her spiritual energy was now more solidified, and she began tempering her Governor Vessel, preparing to advance to the third level of Qi Refinement.

Opening her eyes, she used her cultivated spiritual energy, converted into wood elemental energy, to heal the small black snake on her wrist.

After consuming 20% of her spiritual energy, she stopped, hopped off her mat, and opened her wooden hut's door, heading toward the Transmission Hall.

When she arrived, Cheng Yan was not yet there.

Squatting on the ground, she doodled with a twig while muttering to herself.

Encouraging Qin Mian to commit murder already made her a bad person. Why did she trust him again? Now she might end up with no pills or herbs.

Her drawing skills were abysmal, and her stick figures were unrecognizable.

Suddenly, a pair of boots appeared before her, startling her. She looked up, her pupils shrinking as she quickly stood and rubbed out her drawings with her foot.

She forced a sheepish smile. "Senior brother, you're here."

Cheng Yan's expression remained unchanged. "You don't trust me."

It wasn't a question; it was a statement. Qin Shu's face scrunched up in guilt.

Indeed, this was a world of cultivation, far more mysterious than the modern world. Talking behind someone's back was clearly bad luck.

"Well, it's not that, just..."

She tried to dodge the issue with vague words, but Cheng Yan didn't interrupt her, simply watching and waiting.

Her shoulders slumped, and the bun on her head seemed to droop too.

"It's just that you hadn't shown up, and I thought you were joking yesterday."

Cheng Yan raised a hand, and ten bottles of pills appeared before her.

"Take them."

Qin Shu's eyes lit up as she eagerly opened one bottle. The rich aroma was intoxicating.

Then Cheng Yan added, "I made one hundred pills with the ten sets of materials. Seventy go to the sect. The remaining thirty, we split three to seven. You get nine, I take twenty-one."

His meticulous calculations completely reshaped Qin Shu's impression of him.

The great senior brother of the alchemy sect? Was he really that desperate for a few extra pills?

Just twenty-one Vitality-Enhancing Pills—did he think she was the type to renege on such a trivial deal?