The Herb Garden

The night was as dark as ink, with the Qingyun Sect enveloped in tranquility, dotted by countless stars adorning the deep expanse of the sky.

Ye Chuan, who had entered this world of adventure, sat inside his cave dwelling. The flickering light of a dim candle stretched his shadow across the stone wall, elongating and shrinking it intermittently.

"Senior Brother Huang?"

A clear voice came from behind. Ye Chuan turned to see the maidservant Jiu'er standing timidly, her eyes filled with a mix of confusion and concern.

After all, Ye Chuan had been completely still just moments ago, only to suddenly shudder and then burst into laughter.

It was a little strange.

"Dark night and high winds—perfect for, ahem, cultivation," Ye Chuan remarked before asking Jiu'er, "Junior Sister, has anything significant happened in the Qingyun Sect recently?"

"Since the last thunderstorm, the Flying Sword Peak has been busy repairing the damaged structures. Nothing major has occurred within the sect," Jiu'er replied, then seemed to recall something. "Senior Brother Huang, in a few days, the senior brothers who attended the grand assembly will be returning."

"Grand assembly?" Ye Chuan's expression turned puzzled.

Jiu'er explained, "Yes, not long ago was the Ten Great Sects' competition. The sect master, the elders, and most of the inner disciples left to participate."

"Oh~" Ye Chuan drew out the sound, deep in thought.

Fewer people around? Even better.

Wouldn’t that make things much more convenient?

After Jiu'er retreated to another part of the cave dwelling to rest, Ye Chuan took out his phone and opened the alchemy interface. Sure enough, the recipe for the Soul Revival Pill had been unlocked.

[No materials detected in inventory. Spend 5 million to purchase materials?]

Ye Chuan: "?"

A question mark slowly appeared on Ye Chuan's face.

Five million?

How much?!

Ye Chuan took a slow, deep breath—this was the first time he had encountered such an exorbitantly priced material. He never expected that refining a single Soul Revival Pill would require five million worth of ingredients.

And—

The failure rate was as high as thirty percent.

"Damn it, that expensive?" Ye Chuan frowned, feeling a bit speechless.

Though the Soul Revival Pill had miraculous effects, at the moment, Ye Chuan simply couldn’t afford it—five million per attempt, with a thirty percent chance of failure.

And he had already upgraded his alchemy furnace multiple times before. Yet, the failure rate remained stubbornly high.

As Ye Chuan pondered, Jiu'er returned with a cup of tea. "Senior Brother Huang, here’s some tea."

"Thanks."

Ye Chuan accepted the cup, then suddenly had a thought. "Junior Sister, let me ask you something."

"Mhm."

"Have you heard of the Soul Revival Pill?"

"The Soul Revival Pill… Yes, the elders of the Divine Pill Peak have refined it before," Jiu'er answered after a moment of thought. "I heard it’s a pill that can restore one’s soul. It’s extremely difficult to refine and requires rare spiritual herbs."

"Oh? So there are elders in the sect who can refine it?" Ye Chuan suddenly grinned. "Those elders must have a dedicated herb garden, right?"

"Of course, but only disciples and elders of the Divine Pill Peak are allowed inside," Jiu'er continued. "And the disciples of the Divine Pill Peak hold esteemed status within the sect. Disciples from other peaks generally don’t dare provoke them."

"I see—" After digesting this information, Ye Chuan abruptly changed the subject.

"Junior Sister, I’m going into seclusion. Don’t disturb me for the next few days. You can go rest now."

"Understood, Senior Brother." Jiu'er nodded.

Before she left, however, Ye Chuan retrieved a manual from his storage space—the Clearwater Sword Technique. "Take this cultivation manual. Train well."

"T-This is a high-grade sword technique?" Jiu'er was so startled she shook her head repeatedly. "T-This is too valuable! I can’t accept it, Senior Brother!"

"Just take it. I’ll have many favors to ask of you in the future." Ye Chuan knew full well that Jiu'er’s intel would be crucial for his future plans. To him, this high-grade sword technique was nothing more than a trivial item—after all, he had already mastered all the supreme-grade techniques in the sect’s archives.

He had even grown tired of learning supreme-grade techniques, let alone high-grade ones.

Better to use it to win loyalty.

Jiu'er stared at the sword technique manual in her hands, her eyes brimming with longing and gratitude.

A high-grade sword technique was an unattainable treasure for a mere servant disciple like her—something she couldn’t earn even after a hundred years of labor.

In the end, with trembling hands, she accepted the generous gift. After expressing her thanks profusely, she left the cave dwelling.

Once Jiu'er’s presence had completely faded, Ye Chuan paced back and forth inside the cave, contemplating his next move.

Suddenly, his spiritual sense twitched faintly, as if detecting something unusual.

"Huh?"

Ye Chuan raised a hand and released a surge of purple energy—activating his magic detection spell. Soon, a faint window materialized before him:

[Recording Array

Function: Logs the entry and exit times of targets within the cave dwelling.]

Ye Chuan’s gaze sharpened as he quickly located the hidden array tucked away in a discreet corner of the cave.

"This level of craftsmanship is clearly beyond Jiu'er’s Qi Refining abilities," he mused to himself, swiftly deducing the culprit—Elder Ziyun, his so-called master.

"That old fox still suspects me. No wonder he secretly planted this surveillance array."

This array recorded his comings and goings. If he were to cause trouble again and the timings matched, Elder Ziyun would undoubtedly grow suspicious—or even take punitive action.

"If only I could kill him. But he’s at the Nascent Soul stage—two major realms above me. A bit tricky."

Though only a bit.

If he had Della, the Rider of the End, intervene, it might not be impossible.

But for now, Ye Chuan wasn’t keen on meeting an early demise within the Qingyun Sect. After all, taking out just Elder Ziyun alone didn’t seem worth it.

Better to go all out and make it count.

After some deliberation, Ye Chuan unleashed a surge of chaotic energy to envelop the array.

"With the chaotic energy isolating it, the array will be rendered useless. Now I can go out and take care of business."

He then summoned a doppelgänger to cloak his body. Wrapped in the inky darkness of the shadow, he still flashed a bright, pearly-white grin.

Perfect.

This time, his target—

The herb garden of the Divine Pill Peak.

Since the elders of the Divine Pill Peak could refine the Soul Revival Pill, there was a high chance the herb garden contained the necessary spiritual herbs. Might as well plunder them outright.

Under the cover of night, Ye Chuan flickered through space with successive teleportations.

Clad in an undetectable, pitch-black guise, he melded seamlessly into the darkness.

With the map Jiu'er had provided, Ye Chuan soon arrived within the Divine Pill Peak. At this hour, few disciples were about—most were either refining pills or cultivating in their own caves.

"Hmm… the herb garden. Ah, over here."

Ye Chuan quickly spotted a signboard bearing the words "Herb Garden," guarded by several disciples.

Not only that, but a restrictive barrier also hovered above, preventing anyone from flying over.

Naturally, this barrier was useless against Ye Chuan. Though his spiritual sense couldn’t penetrate it to teleport inside, he simply ignored the restriction and strode in boldly.