Pill Dao Jade Maiden

Gao Shi's tone caught. He froze before the Sword-Casting Furnace, the fiery red glow of the furnace shining on that carefree, childish face as if magma had been smeared over it.

"This..."

Xiao Ran felt he had spoken too harshly, so he pointed him toward a clear path.

"Senior Brother could go to Ten Thousand Beasts Valley to take a look; perhaps you might find something new there."

For hundreds of years, Gao Shi had been forcibly pinned to Sword-Tempering Mountain by True Person Moxia, ears deaf to affairs beyond the window, heart devoted only to being a sword-polisher.

At most, he went to Main Peak for meetings and secretly slipped off to Little Qiong Peak in private. As for Ten Thousand Beasts Valley, he had only gone there once when he had first entered the sect, and only knew True Person Guiyan.

Could Ten Thousand Beasts Valley have recruited quite a few new female disciples? From Xiao Ran's meaning, it seemed there was a target suited to him.

"Junior Brother, please give me a way in."

Xiao Ran was brimming with confidence. He patted his chest and said, "Use my name and go find Junior Sister Zhehui."

Wow... I can work with that name! In an instant, the firelight on Gao Shi's face turned into spring light.

Wait!

"Could it be that Junior Brother and Junior Sister Zhehui..."

Xiao Ran hurriedly cut him off.

"Don't let your imagination run wild. I'm not interested in ordinary women."

That one sentence struck right into Gao Shi's heart—what he wanted was ordinary women. Only when facing ordinary women did he have a sliver of a chance at success!

"Junior Brother, not bad. If you run into trouble in the sect in the future, just come find me. Though I don't go out much, if you come to me, wouldn't I just... My status in the sect isn't low. I won't say a hundred respond to one call, but even the elders have to give me some face."

You nearly let that slip, you know?

If I don't come find you, would you even have a chance to go out? You don't even dare take off the iron ring!

After obtaining the Fungus Stone and getting more familiar with Gao Shi, Xiao Ran tried to keep his tone as natural as possible and suddenly asked, probing, "I don't have complete confidence in this Sword Inheritance Assembly, but I can try to use a special Cultivation Method to borrow the power of the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array. So I want to study the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array in advance. I wonder if there's anyone in the sect skilled in formations. I'd like to go ask for guidance."

The reason he asked this was because Little Mist was extremely skilled in formations.

"Formations?"

Gao Shi turned sideways and paced, the furnace light shining on his tall back, dragging out a long shadow.

"Although my master is responsible for the main repair work and has studied formations quite deeply, the one more proficient in the power of the grand array is actually Senior Brother Bo Yunzi."

"Bo Yunzi?"

Bo Yun, Little Mist... the parallelism is pretty neat! Xiao Ran's thoughts ran wild.

Gao Shi turned back and said, "That's right. Ever since he lost to the Sword-Wielding Elder five hundred years ago, he has devoted himself to studying formation power. If they competed again today within the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array, I'd guess he might not necessarily lose to the Sword-Wielding Elder."

"Really? I don't believe it."

Xiao Ran smiled, transforming into Lu Yu.

In his heart, Master was invincible. The Tidal Force Sword Art was a Heaven Tier sword art; how could she lose to a defeated opponent from five hundred years ago?

After losing in swordsmanship, instead of bitterly training his sword art, he had turned to studying formations. That was the sign of a shattered Dao Heart. There was absolutely no possibility he could defeat Master again.

Unless he was Little Mist!

Gao Shi's tone suddenly turned faint and distant. "However, you have to be careful if you go looking for Senior Brother Bo Yunzi."

Xiao Ran's heart tightened.

"Mm?"

Gao Shi sighed faintly.

"Senior Brother has a penchant for men; you must take precautions."

Xiao Ran:

"..."

On the way back from Sword-Tempering Mountain, Xiao Ran was bored with nothing to do, so he browsed the group again and discovered two more unread group messages.

No Money Get Lost: This Direct Disciple really does deserve to die, but there is no free slaughter under heaven. If Senior Mad Hunt is suffering from being unable to find an employer, this little brother can provide you with an employer-finding service, charging only twenty percent of the commission, letting you receive high-value murder orders without taking a single step outside.

Mad Hunt: Get lost.

He returned to Hundred Herbs Peak.

True Person Yinyue had already gone to the Pill Chamber to refine medicine.

Xiao Ran opened up a long, narrow plot of land in the forest for Chunwa and Qiuchan, planting some strawberries, grapes, and watermelons.

Afterward, seeing that True Person Yinyue still had not finished refining the medicine, he prepared to return to Sword-Wielding Mountain first.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard a faint, searching voice come from the underground Pill Chamber.

"Enter the Pill Chamber."

Xiao Ran listened until his scalp tingled and his hair stood on end. For a moment, he froze in the woods, hesitating over whether he should go in.

True Person Yinyue called out again, "It will be over soon."

Only then did Xiao Ran enter from the Bamboo House path and cautiously step into the Pill Chamber.

To prevent the medicinal power from dispersing, the path had been designed extremely narrow, allowing at most one person through. The rock walls were covered in Medicinal Fold Stone that absorbed medicinal power and blocked flowing air, making the hidden passage dark and damp, yet filled with an alluring fragrance.

He had thought that after the winding path led into seclusion, the view would suddenly open up, but when he walked down and looked, he discovered that the Pill Chamber was not large either.

It was a small Pill Chamber shaped somewhat like a round drum, designed with extreme ingenuity. The four walls were engraved with complex, eerie floral patterns that faintly carried a charm of the Great Dao.

In the center stood the Earthfire Altar, and upon the altar rested a huge Profound Iron Pill Furnace. Above the furnace cauldron floated a reversed Eight Trigrams Array, emitting a lingering green light.

Because the Pill Chamber was damp and scorching hot, even though True Person Yinyue wore fabric that was sheer and sweat-absorbent, fine sweat still covered her forehead, and the heat had burned her skin red.

It was a far cry from her usual elegant, gentle image; she actually paid no attention at all to her own appearance.

But her eyes sparkled with endless starlight, fixed straight on the pill furnace, without even glancing at Xiao Ran.

"Your pairing of the medicines was too perfect!"

She spoke in a daze, the starlight in her eyes as if it had drifted into the divine kingdom of pills.

Only then did Xiao Ran realize that elegant bearing was merely an exterior; those who truly cared about appearances could never touch the true essence of science.

"Unfortunately, the grade of the Ewe Hide is too low. It's difficult to reach the theoretical medicinal effect."

"This is also why I had you come down."

True Person Yinyue rose, lightly wiped away her fine sweat, and dried her clothes with the wind.

"I have an idea that may raise the grade of the finished medicine, but it may also blow up the furnace, so I called you down because I wanted to ask your opinion."

"Martial Aunt is too modest."

Xiao Ran could tell that Martial Aunt Yinyue already regarded him as a senior in the field of alchemy, not as her disciple's disciple.

It seemed that conquering women did not rely on brute force, but on knowledge and technique.

"Add three parts heat at the Zhen Position, five spoons of Refined Dui Red Crown Crane Poison..."

Xiao Ran's scalp tingled as he listened. There was nothing wrong with his max-level pharmacology knowledge, but when it came to Spirit Rune alchemy and control of high-level medicinal power, he was far lacking.

He only said with utter conviction:

"No problem."

A quarter of an hour later.

Xiao Ran was unbearably damp and hot, but Martial Aunt only grew braver the more she refined.

The furnace did not explode. One Dark Red Pill after another, each the size of a corn kernel, settled and piled up at the bottom of the furnace...

The pills were formed!

True Person Yinyue's medicine refining was aggressive and risky, with an extremely high furnace-explosion rate. This time, the furnace unexpectedly did not explode; in her view, it had to be Xiao Ran's contribution.

Xiao Ran looked and saw that she had really taken the risk and refined perfect-quality pills.

Looking again at Martial Aunt Yinyue, her thin purple gauze clung to her crystal-clear, slightly flushed skin because of the fine sweat. Her delicate, lovely face and star-tinted eyes looked softly at him, unexpectedly revealing a trace of a young girl's charm.

Ah, this...

You're already over ten thousand years old. Acting this girlish really isn't suitable.

Xiao Ran hurriedly took out the Purple Beast Hunting Jade Slip and handed it to Martial Aunt Yinyue.

True Person Yinyue looked and detected that the jade slip had once endured the continuous attacks of a Golden Core Realm Spirit Beast. If it had been an ordinary Ten Thousand Beasts Valley jade slip, Xiao Ran might have been injured.

"Are you certain you don't need it anymore?"

Xiao Ran stood upright and solemn, his eyes looking straight ahead.

"It won't be too late to take it again when I need it."

"That's fine too."

True Person Yinyue then put away all the pills, stored them in a Silver Jade Bottle printed with a crescent moon, and stuffed it into Xiao Ran's hands.

Xiao Ran put away the jade bottle and asked again, "Martial Aunt, what about the mutton?"

True Person Yinyue shot him an annoyed, reproachful look.

"You child, you're far too biased toward your Master. Martial Aunt is a woman too. Black Ewe Mutton is greatly nourishing to a female body. You won't leave even a little for your Martial Aunt?"

Only then did Xiao Ran remember how hard Martial Aunt had worked and hurriedly said, "Martial Aunt has worked hard. Most of the mutton will go to you. I'll separately take ten jin back to make hotpot with thin-sliced mutton, so Martial Aunt can taste my cooking."

True Person Yinyue was slightly startled. Although she was extremely cautious and abstinent when it came to food, she felt an inexplicable interest in Xiao Ran's cooking.

"You know culinary arts as well?"

"A little."

"Is there anything you don't know?"

"I don't know how to pursue girls."

"Heh."