Breaking into the Courtyard

Seeking the Dao in the Mortal World

Qin Yi wasn't asleep; he was still compounding medicine. Liu Su claimed many herbs needed moonlight, forcing him to stay up all night.

"Red Firefly Grass, only take the top inch; Cold Mat Flower, only take the center of the stamen. Add three drops of Golden Toad Pus, mix with Moonlight Dew, and pound repeatedly... Qin Yi, you bastard, don't use me to pound medicine!"

"It's good enough I'm not feeding you toad shit! What the hell is Golden Toad Pus? Adding it will make an itching powder, not a body-tempering liquid!"

"What do you know? This is called sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy, balancing Yin and Yang..."

"Cut the crap! Last time you taught me to make Stone Skin Water, you added some Ghost Head Rock Powder, making me itch for three days and three nights! And the time before that..."

Liu Su interrupted righteously, "To temper your body and skin, you must endure what others cannot. Do you think cultivating martial arts is like eating and sleeping?"

"I'll believe your evil!" Qin Yi indignantly dripped three drops of pus, picked up the Wolf Tooth Club, and pounded it into the stone mortar. He automatically imagined pressing someone's head into it and smashing, with their legs kicking outside the mortar, as a small comfort.

"Qin Yi, you bastard!"

"Shut up, you smelly club!"

He had been studying pharmacology and alchemy for some time now. As his knowledge of pharmacology deepened, Qin Yi had long suspected that some things weren't necessary at all. He thought this stubborn club was deliberately making him add some additives that were troublesome but had no major consequences, as revenge for him ruining its attempt at possession. Even the so-called borrowing moonlight sounded unreliable; he wondered if even that was fake.

But an intern ultimately lacked the confidence to overturn the mentor's guidance, so he could only follow Liu Su's prescriptions and be tricked day after day.

Qin Yi was currently refining body-tempering medicine.

Although he hadn't learned any immortal cultivation methods, he was learning martial arts.

The martial arts didn't come from Liu Su's teaching, but were inherent to the original owner of the body, who even had a secret manual. However, it seemed he hadn't grasped the method and wasn't practicing well. Yet, Liu Su knew many advanced techniques, even club techniques...

The original owner of this body was mediocre at martial arts, but his blood could open Liu Su's strange space. Qin Yi knew there must be something fishy here, and perhaps even the villagers weren't as simple as they appeared. Liu Su should know something, but no matter how he asked Liu Su, the response was always evasive.

With a whole basket of secrets hidden, it would be a miracle to trust this smelly club.

"Pound repeatedly eighty-one times, making the medicinal liquid uniform and a pale red paste, then open the furnace to refine?"

"Hmm... refine, refine your head... hmm..." The Wolf Tooth Club moved in and out of the stone mortar, struggling, "At most, you can refine the medicinal embryo first. You're still missing a Purple Lotus Root as the main ingredient!"

Qin Yi was startled. "Purple Lotus Root..."

"Do you think this broken mountain has all the medicinal herbs? Even the county town doesn't have much good stuff. You should go out, kid, go to a big place, a place of immortal spirits. What future is there in this broken place? You have nothing you need. Are you going to refine alchemy by dreaming?"

Qin Yi stopped pounding the medicine, pursed his lips, and was somewhat lost in thought. After a long time, he said, "Let's talk about it after solving the mountain problem."

He didn't say anything more, picked up a bucket of water, sprinkled some of the previously mixed Stone Skin Water, and mixed it into a body-tempering liquid. Then he stripped naked and slowly soaked in the water in the courtyard, coordinating with the moonlight.

Not long after he soaked in, before the medicinal power had time to spread, the courtyard gate was kicked open with a "bang." Li Qingjun, holding a spear in one hand and a wild rabbit in the other, kicked the door open and entered. "Liar..."

Before she finished speaking, a water pouch on the door frame above her head suddenly burst open, and a strange milky white liquid poured down, covering her head and face. Li Qingjun subconsciously wanted to rush forward to dodge, but how could she dodge water falling from less than a foot away? It plastered her head and face thoroughly, soaking her all over.

This wasn't the end. As she subconsciously rushed forward, she stepped on something, and a vine directly wrapped tightly around her ankle. Li Qingjun suddenly exerted force, trying to break the vine, but found that the water she was drenched in was problematic. She was actually weak all over and couldn't muster any strength, and this vine was also specially made somehow. Her weakened true qi could no longer break it.

With a "swish," the vine pulled up, accompanied by a scream. Li Qingjun didn't have time to take a second self-rescue measure before she was completely hung upside down, suspended on the door frame, swaying back and forth.

At the same time she was hung upside down, two more vines came through from the left and right, wrapping her hands tightly as well.

"Qin..." Li Qingjun gritted her teeth and just opened her mouth when the liquid that had been plastered on her chin poured back into her mouth, leaving only "mmph mmph" sounds.

Her eyes were also smeared messily. Looking upside down, she could vaguely see Qin Yi seemingly shrunk in the bucket, staring at her dumbfounded.

From the moment she burst through the door to being hung upside down, it was only a breath's time. Qin Yi himself didn't even react before there was a girl hanging upside down at his doorway...

Yes, it was clearly a girl. After being drenched, her figure was obviously slender, especially her delicate waist, which could never belong to a man.

Her tied-up hair had come undone, and her long hair hung down, still like a waterfall. Her face was flushed with anger, her silver teeth clenched, her eyes spitting fire, looking like an unyielding, virtuous woman...

"Why are you looking at me with such a chaste expression?" Qin Yi hugged his shoulders and shrank in the tub. "I'm taking a bath in my own home. Is it okay for you to break in and watch me?"

Li Qingjun hung upside down, glaring angrily, biting her teeth without saying a word.

She had never been so embarrassed in her fifteen years of life. She was afraid that if she spoke, she wouldn't be able to stop the tears from falling.

Qin Yi also stopped talking. The current situation was a bit awkward... Li Qingjun was hanging upside down facing the courtyard, directly opposite his bathtub. It was awkward whether he got up or not.

The two stared at each other for a long time, big eyes meeting small, before Li Qingjun finally gritted her teeth and said, "Let go of me!"

Qin Yi had no choice but to say, "Close your eyes first."

Li Qingjun was wary. "What do you want to do!"

"..." Qin Yi slowly picked up the Wolf Tooth Club leaning against the tub.

Li Qingjun was both ashamed and angry. She hadn't cried even when she was hung up, but this time she really cried. Tears welled up in her eyes, and as soon as she closed them, they fell out.

Liu Su's laughter came from Qin Yi's sea of consciousness. "This girl is fun."

Qin Yi ignored it; he couldn't communicate through souls yet.

There was a splashing sound of water. After a while, footsteps came, and it seemed someone was standing in front of her. Li Qingjun kept her eyes tightly shut, waiting for a long time but not seeing Qin Yi release her. The thought of his gaze scanning her body sent shivers down her spine. She couldn't help but feel a surge of panic. "You, you mustn't do anything rash. My brother will be here soon, and he'll kill you!"

Qin Yi tilted his head and admired the beauty hanging upside down for a while. The tightly clenched spear shaft highlighted the little girl's panic.

Li Qingjun suddenly opened her eyes, glaring furiously.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that Qin Yi was fully dressed and two feet away from her. Her heart settled a little, and she said angrily, "Put me down!"

Qin Yi suddenly struck, tapping Li Qingjun's acupoints.

Li Qingjun was startled. "You!"

Qin Yi, however, slowly began to untie the vines. "Without some precautions, if you come down and give me a hole, I can't afford it. Please don't be offended."

Li Qingjun swallowed the words she was about to say and asked coldly, "You added Tendon Weakening Powder to this water, and you still need to tap my acupoints and block my meridians?"

"It doesn't hurt to be careful." Qin Yi reached out and pushed her shoulder, while his other hand pulled her ankle. Without any excessive touching or hugging, he easily turned her body upright.

Li Qingjun had been prepared to be taken advantage of. Qin Yi's actions surprised her a little. Someone who seemed to be a smooth talker was actually quite courteous? Her full heart of shame and anger was somewhat diminished by this action.

As soon as she landed, the vines wrapped around her left, right, up, and down disappeared with a "whoosh," making the scene a bit dreamlike. Li Qingjun watched silently, rubbing her wrists, and said nothing.

At least this person was definitely not an ordinary villager. An ordinary villager wouldn't set traps at their own doorstep, nor could they set up this kind of trap that incorporated some kind of formation.

Qin Yi casually pulled over a chair for her and said leisurely, "Miss, you broke into my courtyard. Now, can you tell me why?"