"Lingling." Zi Ning'er brought Ye Chuan to a cave dwelling on the Divine Pill Peak. After calling inside, a woman soon emerged, yawning, her robes loosely draped over her shoulders as she rubbed her sleepy eyes.
"Huh? Oh, it's Senior Sister Ning'er. What brings you to my cave today?"
As she spoke, she noticed Ye Chuan standing beside Zi Ning'er and gave him a once-over. "You are…?"
"My junior brother, Huang Haotian," Zi Ning'er introduced. "This is Yao Lingling, a direct disciple of the Divine Pill Peak."
"Greetings, Senior Sister Yao."
"Here to commission a pill?" Yao Lingling asked Zi Ning'er.
"No, I was hoping you could teach Junior Brother Huang how to refine pills." Zi Ning'er explained the situation. Upon hearing she was being asked to teach someone, Yao Lingling immediately lost interest.
"Pfft, no way. I don’t have time."
"Come on, Lingling, please?" Zi Ning'er even tugged at Yao Lingling’s sleeve, as if pleading like a child.
Yao Lingling seemed reluctant but eventually sighed. "Fine, but you owe me some rare herbs as payment."
"Deal." Zi Ning'er smiled, then turned to Ye Chuan. "Junior Brother, from now on, you’ll be learning pill refinement under Senior Sister Yao."
Ye Chuan nodded. "Thank you, Senior Sister."
"I have standards for taking on disciples. If you want to learn pill refinement from me, I’ll need to test your talent first." Yao Lingling pulled out a meter-tall cauldron from her storage pouch, its surface engraved with intricate metallic patterns, and set it down with a clang.
"This is a Spirit Cauldron. If you can ignite the immortal firewood inside, you’ll be qualified to learn from me."
"Just light it?"
"Yep. If the flames reach two fingers high, I’ll acknowledge your talent." Yao Lingling crossed her arms, not particularly optimistic. If this guy had any real talent for pill refinement, the Divine Pill Peak would’ve snatched him up during recruitment.
Most likely, he was just mediocre.
Hearing this, Ye Chuan directly converted his chaotic energy into spiritual flames. Before he could even release them, Yao Lingling gasped. "That’s spiritual fire?"
"Yeah." Ye Chuan toyed with the flickering flames in his palm.
"Why is it spewing black smoke?"
"Oh, probably ate too much soy sauce."
"……"
Seeing the unusual color of Ye Chuan’s flames, Yao Lingling guessed he might have a mutated fire spirit root—if so, he could actually be a decent candidate for pill refinement.
Though "decent" needed air quotes.
Pills refined with mutated fire spirit roots often had unique effects. For example, the Nine Suns Pill Sovereign’s flames had a pink hue, making every pill he refined possess aphrodisiac properties. His pills were so sought after that they were nearly impossible to buy.
Who knew what effects these black flames would bring.
"I’ve changed my mind. Even if the flames don’t reach two fingers—" Before she could finish, the black fire suddenly roared to life inside the cauldron, soaring several meters high!
"Ah…"
Ignoring Yao Lingling’s stunned expression, Ye Chuan calmly withdrew the flames. "Passable?"
"Pretty talented, right?" Zi Ning'er asked Yao Lingling.
"……" Yao Lingling couldn’t deny it—this guy was at least qualified, no… far beyond expectations when it came to flame intensity.
"Fine, you can learn pill refinement from me."
"Thank you, Senior Sister."
Yao Lingling didn’t hold back, pulling out a small manual from her storage pouch. "This contains some of my personal insights on pill refinement, along with basic medicinal and pill recipes."
Ye Chuan took it and casually stored it away.
"Alright, you two can leave now. Come back when you have time."
"Thanks, Lingling."
"Don’t mention it. I need to rest."
After bidding farewell to Yao Lingling, Ye Chuan followed Zi Ning'er out of her cave. On the way back, he was pleasantly surprised to find that Yao Lingling’s gift was actually quite useful.
He already had the basic pill recipes, but the insights were a rare treasure.
[Yao Lingling’s Insights: +10% success rate for basic pill refinement.]
Not bad—something actually practical.
"Junior Brother, make sure to learn well from Yao Lingling. She’s the most talented alchemist on Divine Pill Peak, capable of refining high-grade pills despite being less than a hundred years old."
"Understood."
"I should head back too. I have trials at the sacred grounds tomorrow." Zi Ning'er sighed.
"Senior Sister, are your injuries alright? I heard remnants of the Jade Void Sect were behind the attack?" Ye Chuan feigned concern.
"Yeah, but they’re just desperate stragglers. The Sect Master plans to use the Heavenly Water Mirror soon—it won’t take long to track them down."
Heavenly Water Mirror?
"It’s a treasure of the Qingyun Sect, capable of reviewing past events," Zi Ning'er continued. "Aside from those rats, the Sect Master also intends to use it to find the thieves who raided the Scripture Pavilion and herb garden."
Ye Chuan: "……"
That powerful? It can see the past?
Doesn’t that mean everything I’ve done will be exposed soon?
Ye Chuan pondered silently. If that’s the case, he’d have to speed things up.
Once he secured the pill recipes and treasures from the sacred grounds, he’d leave the Qingyun Sect immediately.
It’d be great if he could get his hands on that Heavenly Water Mirror, but he doubted he stood a chance against the sect’s top experts.
Qian Shuang had mentioned the Qingyun Sect Master was at the peak of the Enlightenment Realm, just a step away from the Ascension Realm.
Against that level of power, no amount of tricks would help.
After all, Ye Chuan was only at the peak of the Crystalization Realm.
"Something wrong, Junior Brother?" Zi Ning'er asked, noticing his distraction.
"Nothing, Senior Sister. I just wanted to thank you again for being so kind to me."
"Enough with the sweet talk." Zi Ning'er chuckled. "Alright, I’m heading back. You should rest early too."
"Got it."
Back in his cave, Jiu'er had already returned to her own quarters. Ye Chuan sat in contemplation, planning his next steps—he never intended to stay in the Qingyun Sect forever.
Where should he go next to grow stronger?
Unnoticed, night had fallen.
The darkness spread like thick ink, moonlight seeping through gaps in the clouds, casting scattered fragments of silver amidst the swaying trees.
"Time to hunt." Inside the cave, Ye Chuan merged with his shadowy avatar, his form turning pitch-black once more, save for his gleaming white teeth.
Time to "borrow" some pill recipes from the Pill Tower.
Using spatial jumps, his figure flickered through the night, blending seamlessly into the darkness.
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
th】 【No prior gaming knowledge required】【The First Cultivation + Game Design Novel on the Platform】 In a world where the righteous path dominates and crushes the demonic sects, Lu Ze unlocks the "Son of the Demon Path" system. Killing righteous cultivators now grants him power-ups. Wait—deaths in illusions count too? As a former game designer, Lu Ze decides to give the cultivators of this world a little—no, a massive—shock... Sect Elders: "What is this 'Escape from the Demon Sect' game? Why have all our disciples abandoned cultivation to play it??" Elite Disciples: "You're saying... mastering 'Demon Slayer' can help us counter demonic schemes?" Reclusive Masters: "Why did I leave seclusion? Ask that backstabbing rat who ambushed me in 'Eternal Strife' yesterday!" Rogue Cultivators & Civilians: "'Immortal Abyss Action' is addictive! You can even earn spirit stones by loot-running..." Sect Prodigy: "My Dao heart is unshakable... except for that cursed black hammer." Royal Scions: "Can skins have stat boosts? I’ll pay 10,000 spirit stones for one!!" Sect Leader: "WHO IS CORRUPTING MY DISCIPLES?!!!"
