"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.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
o a martial world and obtained a system that allowed him to draw one entry per year. Unfortunately, all he drew were useless white-tier entries. The probability for high-quality entries was extremely low, with the highest-tier mythic entry having a mere 0.001% chance! To increase the probability, he had to improve his martial realm, but he lacked the innate talent for cultivation. At the age of eighteen, Chen Yi fell into the hands of a gang and was forced into hard labor. Just as his life seemed destined for a bleak end, on his 18th entry draw, he actually pulled a mythic entry—Simulator! In the simulation, he could also draw one entry every year that passed, and upon ending the simulation, he would inherit all entries and his martial realm! In his first simulation, Chen Yi struggled desperately just to survive, knowing that living one more year meant one more entry draw! Finally, with hair turned white, he drew the entry he had longed for—Low-Grade Innate Talent! "Hahaha! Don't bully the old and poor! Time to cultivate and inherit my cultivation base!" ... From then on, Chen Yi continuously simulated and drew entries, his martial realm soaring higher and higher! Epic, legendary, and even mythic entries were gathered into his collection one after another! "What demon race or devil race? What dark turmoil? I don't know anything about that. They just charged at me screaming 'How can you possibly ascend to immortality?!' and got stuck to my fists, unable to be shaken off. Blind spots, speed bumps... go talk to my simulator. We're all struggling to survive out here. I'm trying so hard, so how are they still alive?"
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
orn and Humiliation】【Forced Love】 In his past life, Lin Ran was betrayed and murdered by his girlfriend and family, while the yandere female aristocrat, who had treated him as a mere plaything, avenged him by doing in his enemies. Upon seeing the yandere female aristocrat lying in the same coffin, ready to die with him, Lin Ran realized how profoundly mistaken he had been. Reborn, he abandoned the fickle campus beauty and wholeheartedly embraced the yandere female aristocrat's arms. "Ran! If I dig out your eyes and turn them into a specimen, you'll only be able to look at me!" Lin Ran: "Darling, kiss me!" "Ran! If I break your legs, you won't run away anymore, right?" Lin Ran: "Love, hold me tight!" "Ran! If..." Lin Ran: "Hush now! Love me more!" Luo Yao: ... Seeing his scumbag dad: "Take him out!" Seeing his stepmother: "Get rid of her!" Seeing his brother: "Eliminate him!" Seeing his white moonlight: "Send that to Southeast Asia!"
