At noon, Huang Feiyu rode his sword alone to Dan Peak.
As he swept his eyes down while in midair, he saw below him a vast stretch of grassland without anyone, just the mud pit in the center that had grown a little bigger.
It seemed Li Shiyin had endured hardship these past two days, he thought to himself, though he did not know why she was not training her body today.
He went straight to the log house and knocked on the door, calling out, "Is Master Qin inside?"
After a while, there were sounds of movement upstairs on the corridor, and a wheat-skinned girl poked her head out from the railing, coldly saying, "Master is in the research building."
Hearing the noise, Huang Feiyu retreated two steps back and looked up to see that the girl who had poked her head out was Li Shiyin. He smiled, about to greet her, but he inadvertently took a close look and suddenly his smile froze and his pupils contracted, interrupting his own words.
"Foundation Establishment beginning stage...great perfection!?"
When!?
If he remembered correctly, at noon two days ago, this junior apprentice sister called Li Shiyin had not yet established her foundation.
In just two days, what had happened? She had not only successfully established her foundation, but was about to break through to the mid Foundation Establishment stage! Although he knew Li Shiyin had a solid foundation, but...
Huang Feiyu still could not understand.
"Junior apprentice sister Li!" But after all he was Huang Feiyu, and he quickly adjusted his state of mind, smiling at Li Shiyin, "I've come to collect the Ice Condensation Pills from Master Qin, and hope I have not disturbed you."
"You haven't." Li Shiyin looked down at him from above, glanced towards the research building across the river, and said, "Master is in that building over there, you can go find him there...
She paused, then added, "You can also come inside and wait for him for a bit."
Huang Feiyu thought for a moment, then replied, "I imagine Master has important matters, so as not to disturb him, I'll just wait for a while!"
Li Shiyin nodded, and her figure disappeared from the corridor, then footsteps moved leftwards. Huang Feiyu knew she was probably going downstairs.
He waited for a while longer, then the door in front of him opened, revealing Li Shiyin's tall figure.
He looked her over carefully, thinking to himself: "If her skin was fair enough, Junior Apprentice Sister Li's appearance could probably rival Tian Wenjin's."
"Please enter," Li Shiyin stepped aside, signaling for him to enter.
"Thank you, junior apprentice sister," Huang Feiyu nodded and followed her inside, also thinking to himself, this junior apprentice sister really was as frosty as winter, her voice as cold as ice, fully exhibiting the arrogance of the heavens.
"Have a seat first, master should be over soon," Li Shiyin pointed to the sofa, then asked again, "Drink? Tea? Soda? Plain water?"
"Junior apprentice sister need not go to the trouble," Huang Feiyu replied, also wondering, what was soda? He really wanted to try it.
He looked around the living room, complimenting, "Master has arranged this reception room with unique taste."
"Mm," Li Shiyin nodded, she also thought so.
So Huang Feiyu walked towards the sofa, keeping far from the other end where the Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger Zhui Feng was napping, spirit tigers were frightening demonic beasts, and he had some unpleasant memories.
Therefore a spirit tiger cub was much better, and he organized his words to continue probing, "That is...is that a Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger?"
"Yes," Li Shiyin casually replied.
"Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger!" Huang Feiyu was shocked inside, though his expression swiftly changed, finally forcing a smile as he tentatively asked, "I wonder if junior apprentice sister knows, the night before last a Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger passed by the gate of our sect, chasing after lightning..."
"I rested early and did not notice," Li Shiyin did not want to talk, so gave this perfunctory response.
Huang Feiyu secretly observed Li Shiyin, thinking what deep schemes she had.
He sat down on the side of the sofa far from Zhui Feng; spirit tigers were frightening demonic beasts, and he had some unpleasant memories.
Therefore the spirit tiger cub was very good, and he continued probing while organizing his words, "Profound Underworld Spirit Tigers can emit darkness, extremely frightening; that night it chased after the Thunder Unicorn Ox..."
"Pa!"
He was still speaking when the door was suddenly pushed open, and Qin Ran walked in with a gloomy expression on his face.
Huang Feiyu's heart jumped, and he quickly stopped speaking and stood up, bowing to Qin Ran, "Master."
After researching death all morning, Qin Ran's psychological state was somewhat problematic, and seeing Huang Feiyu when he opened the door instantly made him unhappy. He looked back at the expansive grasslands and thought to himself: "I should set up a mountain-protecting formation, otherwise my Dan Peak has become a public restroom, coming and going as they please."
As he thought this, he glanced at Huang Feiyu and said, "You've arrived?"
"Just got here..." Although Huang Feiyu had high cultivation, he maintained a very low profile, thinking to himself that the master and disciple's faces were colder than each other.
Qin Ran knew why Huang Feiyu had come. Impatiently taking out a porcelain bottle, he tossed it through the air to him, saying, "Twenty pills, medium quality."
These Ice Condensation Pills were something he had taken time yesterday afternoon to refine.
Huang Feiyu caught the bottle, wiped off the jade seal and looked inside, the pills within were all ice-blue, emitting cold air, not something that could be compared to the waste pills he had bought at a roadside stall in Zhican Valley. His heart was overjoyed, Master Qin's pill refining skills were higher than he had imagined.
He hurriedly expressed his thanks, "Thank you, Master."
"Mm," Qin Ran nodded, looking at him and waiting for something.
Huang Feiyu understood, hurriedly taking out a bag of spirit stones and respectfully presenting it with both hands, saying, "This is the fee for refining the pills, please accept it, Master."
Qin Ran was currently lacking in spirit stones, and took the bag over, testing its weight - there were probably about three hundred spirit stones inside. Along with Huang Feiyu's earlier deposit, just on spirit stones alone he had earned four hundred this pill refining session.
Whether to say it or not, pill refining was an extremely lucrative profession. To say it again, pill refiners aren't poor, except for Qin Ran - he was a shut-in.
For special pills like Ice Condensation Pills, twenty lower quality pills could sell for five hundred spirit stones; with good skills, twenty medium quality pills could sell for at least one thousand spirit stones. Yet the raw materials might have just cost a dozen or so spirit stones.
This was called robbery, moreover it was pill refiners being begged by others to rob them.
For this pill refining session, the raw materials were Huang Feiyu's, Qin Ran was only responsible for refining them, yet just the processing fee was four hundred spirit stones...and Huang Feiyu still owed him a favor, because Huang Feiyu knew this was a discounted price given their friendship.
As for any unused raw materials...that demonstrated the pill refiner's skills, and was their deserved profit.
Although he was in a bad mood, having just taken on a silly apprentice that desperately needed spirit stones, Qin Ran still said, "If you need pill refining in the future, you can still come to me. I won't charge if you have the recipe."
"Yes!" This was exactly what Huang Feiyu was waiting to hear, and he hurriedly agreed with a smile.
Holding the Ice Condensation Pills, he was rather impatient, and added, "Master, now that I have the pills, I just lack the Frost Sword technique. My senior martial brothers are waiting for me, so I must be going first."
"Since you're pressed for time, go ahead as you please," Qin Ran moved aside to open the way for Huang Feiyu to leave.
Huang Feiyu went out the door, summoned his flying sword, stepped on it, and flew halfway up before suddenly stopping and turning back around to call out, "Master..."
Qin Ran came out the door and looked up at him, asking, "What is it?"
"How did you obtain that Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger?" Huang Feiyu asked.
Qin Ran was silent and did not answer.
Huang Feiyu continued saying, "The night before last, a Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger that was chasing a Thunder Unicorn Ox passed by the gate of our sect, does Master know of this?"
"Mm," Qin Ran nodded.
"Then does Master know why?"
Why? Qin Ran had wondered, but had not figured it out. That Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger was a level seven demon king, an existence comparable to the Yuan Ying stage, how could it possibly chase prey like a common tiger all the way to human territory? That was unreasonable.
But he was too lazy, too lazy to think so much, too lazy to investigate so much.
Now that Huang Feiyu had asked this, it meant he must know the inside story, so Qin Ran just waited for him to answer.
"There are strange occurrences deep within the Hengduan Mountains," Huang Feiyu told him.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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!
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
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."
