Unlucky Seduction

"Yaaawn!" Yaoying yawned boredly, reached out, and grabbed the whisk in Daoist Yi Yi's hand, slowly plucking at the long, soft thousand-year Snow Silkworm threads upon it.

Seated cross-legged opposite Lin Xiao, Daoist Yi Yi smiled. He lightly swept Yaoying a glance and nodded. "Moss can actually take form as a demon? This is the first moss demon in the cultivation world. Very well. This is your fate, little friend. Let her follow you as a maid." Reaching into his sleeve, Daoist Yi Yi took out a black iron token and handed it to Yaoying. Yaoying hurriedly snatched it over and curiously turned it over in her hands.

Lin Xiao accepted a tiny teacup from Qingchu, swallowed the scalding tea in one gulp, and kept his mouth closed as he savored the rich fragrance rising from it. Then he said calmly, "Many thanks, Senior."

Daoist Yi Yi smiled lightly, glanced at Yaoying, who was grinning rather foolishly, and merely nodded. "It is nothing worth mentioning. No need for thanks."

The four sat beneath an enormous ancient tree, over fifty zhang tall, its canopy spreading a hundred zhang in every direction. Qingchu had laid out a bamboo mat beneath it, upon which sat two meditation cushions and a small tea table. Lin Xiao and Daoist Yi Yi sat cross-legged facing each other, tasting the fragrant tea Qingchu served and the two dishes of aromatic pine nuts on the table. The ancient tree was covered in white flowers Lin Xiao did not recognize. Each bloom resembled a dove and was as large as a bowl. When the breeze passed, the tree swayed and the flowers trembled. A delicate fragrance wound around their noses, leaving their entire bodies refreshed, with the feeling of transcending the dust of the mortal world in great freedom.

After swallowing another mouthful of hot tea, Lin Xiao looked up at several white petals drifting softly down and said blandly, "Tomorrow, I will open the furnace and refine Snow Gleam Pills."

"Snow Gleam Pills?" Daoist Yi Yi's long brows twitched. He asked in delighted succession, "The Snow Gleam Pill that replenishes True Essence most effectively, where one pill can instantly restore all the True Essence of a Golden Core Stage cultivator? Hm, in the pill scriptures of the Great Luo Pill Dao, that is a Cosmos Grade high-quality pill. Little friend, you..."

Lin Xiao nodded, clenching both hands into fists as he said in a deep voice, "My cultivation is sufficient, though I am still lacking somewhat in experience. But with the insights of countless patriarchs within the Great Luo Pill Scripture, I should have an eighty to ninety percent chance of refining Cosmos Grade high-quality spirit pills. It is only that the various medicinal ingredients needed will require Senior's considerable attention."

Daoist Yi Yi's long brows trembled repeatedly, and he hurriedly agreed. In just over a month, Lin Xiao had refined every last medicinal ingredient Daoist Yi Yi had plundered from Medicine Mountain—amounting to millions of jin—into spirit pills, giving the Origin Sect's depleted pill stores a fierce replenishment. The low-grade spirit pills Lin Xiao refined had stronger medicinal potency, greater effectiveness, and even brighter color than the same kinds produced by the Origin Sect's Pill Hall. The low-grade spirit pills consigned to medicine shops had sold for excellent prices. Now that he heard Lin Xiao was about to begin refining even higher-grade pills, Daoist Yi Yi was naturally overjoyed.

Snow Gleam Pills—good pills, exceptionally practical good pills! If Lin Xiao could refine Snow Gleam Pills in batches of tens of thousands just as he had refined those basic pills, Daoist Yi Yi would truly laugh his teeth right out of his mouth. No matter how well basic spirit pills sold, their profits were not high. But spirit pills such as Snow Gleam Pills, which could rapidly replenish True Essence, were always among the most sought-after and profitable kinds.

"Then it is settled." Seeing Daoist Yi Yi agree, Lin Xiao nodded calmly. He casually tossed a Snow Gleam Pill formula to Daoist Yi Yi, then closed his eyes and rested. The breeze flowed past him, and the floral fragrance drifted by. Two snow-white petals quietly landed on Lin Xiao's head, while flecks of fine white pollen stuck to the tip of his nose, staining it with several white specks. Lin Xiao's consciousness wandered within a hundred zhang around him, quietly comprehending the cycles of growth and extinction between heaven and earth.

Daoist Yi Yi nodded. He was already accustomed to Lin Xiao's indifference, even coldness. He knew that Lin Xiao carried heavy burdens in his heart, and he had no desire to console him. Cultivators possessed firm minds; if they developed inner demons, those inner demons would likewise be exceptionally stubborn. Daoist Yi Yi did not believe he possessed the attainment to dispel the knots in Lin Xiao's heart with just a few casual words. Stepping upon a cloud and floating into the sky, Daoist Yi Yi turned back to glance worriedly at Lin Xiao. "Inner demons... must still be overcome by oneself."

Yaoying clamped the black iron token marking her as an official Origin Sect disciple between her teeth and gnawed on it for a while. When she discovered that her teeth simply could not bite through the token protected by Daoist restrictions, she angrily flung it aside. Then she sprang up lightly and landed beside Qingchu. Wrapping her arms around Qingchu's waist from behind, she rubbed her little face back and forth against Qingchu's back and kept humming, "Qingchu~ Let's go eat medicine, eat medicine~ Purple Ganoderma, and Blood Ginseng, tasty." Drops of glistening drool dripped from Yaoying's mouth, soaking a large patch of Qingchu's clothes. Yaoying kept tugging Qingchu's ears and shouted, "Let's go eat medicine~ This water tastes awful!" She pointed at the teapot atop the little charcoal stove.

Qingchu pursed her lips and gave Yaoying a helpless glance. Carefully, she lifted the scalding teapot and slowly poured Lin Xiao a cup of hot tea.

Lin Xiao suddenly said, "Qingchu, take Yaoying out to play. There is nothing to do these next few days, so you need not keep following me around." Reaching out, he lightly flicked Yaoying's forehead and smiled. "Go on, go on. I'll rest here. Wake me when you return." With that, Lin Xiao flung the cushion beneath him far away, lazily lay sideways on the bamboo mat, and before long began snoring like rolling thunder. As he snored, threads of Spiritual Energy hissed into his body, and a thin layer of mist gradually enveloped him.

"Huh? That's amazing! Can his cultivation improve even while he sleeps?" Yaoying stared at Lin Xiao in astonishment, her right forefinger in her mouth as her teeth lightly nibbled it, while her eyes spun rapidly.

"Really? Brother Lin can cultivate even while sleeping? How did he learn such a method?" Qingchu also stared blankly at Lin Xiao, unable to understand how he had suddenly acquired such a marvelous ability.

Lin Xiao himself did not know that even while asleep, his body could autonomously absorb the Spiritual Energy of the outside world, and that it did so no slower than when he consciously cultivated. The Golden Core in his dantian slowly revolved, while the Black Tortoise Ring spun even faster. A pitch-black phantom of a Black Tortoise floated above the Golden Core, its great mouth opening and closing continuously as it inhaled and exhaled at the surrounding void. With each breath, the speed at which the outside Spiritual Energy flowed into Lin Xiao's body increased a little. As the Black Tortoise phantom continued breathing, tiny characters gradually emerged on the Black Tortoise Ring. The golden characters were ancient beyond measure, like little tadpoles writhing about, and appeared exceedingly mystical.

Lin Xiao was completely unaware of the changes within his body. He lay comfortably on his back atop the bamboo mat, gradually spreading his arms and legs wide as he snored sprawled in all directions. The hazy mist formed from Spiritual Energy wrapped tightly around him and was rapidly drawn into his body. After being refined by the Golden Core into Skyfire True Essence, it was sucked completely dry by the Black Tortoise Ring. The ring's luster gradually became smooth and translucent, and the little Black Tortoise phantom also steadily condensed and solidified. Suddenly, the phantom opened its mouth and sprayed out an extremely tiny black droplet, which landed upon Lin Xiao's Golden Core. The luster of Lin Xiao's Golden Core dimmed, and its size shrank slightly. Then its light blazed forth, as if it had condensed considerably further.

Qingchu and Yaoying looked at each other, shook their heads enviously at the same time, and rose to their feet as quietly as possible. Arm in arm, they tiptoed several dozen zhang away before hopping and skipping down the forest path toward the nearest flying boat docking point. They had only run a little over a li when Yaoying's body suddenly trembled and she abruptly stopped. Qingchu looked at her in surprise, but before she could ask, Yaoying grabbed her hand again and ran off swiftly. As she ran, she muttered softly to Qingchu, "Someone is hiding by the road. She smells really nice."

A strange smile filled Yaoying's face as she giggled. "She is hiding in the woods, but she can't hide from me~ There is moss beneath all those tree roots. Wherever there is moss, there are my ears and eyes."

Qingchu froze, then looked back with some concern. But Yaoying displayed the naturally crafty and ever-changing ways of a little demon. She dragged Qingchu several hundred zhang in a mad dash, then pulled her headlong into the grass beside the road. As the two little girls whispered to each other, they parted the thick grass and crawled toward the ancient tree where Lin Xiao slept. With Yaoying beside her, Qingchu found crawling through the grass exceptionally easy. Every blade of tall grass silently moved aside before her, and though her body brushed against them, it made not the slightest sound. A faint green glow shone from Yaoying's body. All the tall grass within several zhang was already under her control. This was an instinct unique to plant spirits.

Lin Xiao slept soundly. In his dream, he smelled the fragrance of roast chicken and seemed to see Yao'er's muddled little face again. Suddenly, that fair little face was smeared all over with blood.

A wrenching pain stabbed through his heart, and Lin Xiao suddenly woke from his dream. The dense Spiritual Energy around him quickly dispersed, while wisps of pale cloud rose out of thin air around the ancient tree. Lin Xiao blankly looked around. Brilliant sunlight shone through the branches and leaves, casting transparent pillars of light into the somewhat dim forest. Patches of light swayed across the ground. The woods were empty, with not a soul in sight. The bamboo mat, meditation cushions, tea table, and other objects beside him were clearly there, yet they seemed to possess a faintly unreal quality.

"Master... Mistress... Sister Hua... Yao'er..." Lin Xiao muttered the names of his former fellow disciples one after another. Clammy cold sweat continuously poured from his body, quickly soaking through his Daoist Robe and darkening a large patch across his back. Lin Xiao wiped his forehead with his sleeve, suddenly sighed, then held his head in both hands and began to sob quietly.

From far away, Qingchu and Yaoying watched Lin Xiao crying beneath the tree, unable to describe what they felt. Qingchu only felt waves of aching pain in her heart. Looking at Lin Xiao, tears also fell from her eyes, pattering down. If this young man could stop crying, Qingchu would have been willing to die for even the slightest smile from him. As for Yaoying, she somehow produced a red lingzhi mushroom, broke it apart bit by bit with her fingernails, stuffed it into her mouth, and muttered, "Brother Lin can cry too? Strange. Nobody chopped him with a sword."

Threads of thin mist suddenly emerged in the forest, winding precisely through the hundred-zhang area around Lin Xiao like an invisible wall and completely sealing off this patch of woods. Within the mist, a young woman in a long white dress slowly walked toward Lin Xiao with a timid smile. Her translucent gauze skirt outlined her exquisite body, faintly concealing and revealing it in a manner utterly enchanting. Her long black hair drifted behind her, and when the breeze blew, it fluttered in the wind, exposing more than half of her fair legs beneath her skirt.

Lin Xiao fiercely wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and looked coldly at the young woman. "County Princess Jie? If I remember correctly... why has Your Highness graced me with your presence? What instruction do you have?" Lin Xiao frowned. His strange gaze swiftly swept over the two lengths of thigh revealed beneath County Princess Jie's skirt as the breeze lifted it. Instinctively, he turned his head away, avoiding her body with his eyes.

County Princess Jie looked at Lin Xiao timidly, slowly approached to within three feet of him, and tremulously knelt on the ground. With only a light sway of her body, her slender gauze dress slipped away from her, like a bamboo shoot shedding its husk to reveal the fair, tender flesh within. County Princess Jie's slender, graceful, flawless body was completely exposed before Lin Xiao. She leaned forward, her little hands lightly winding around Lin Xiao's lower legs, and said in a soft, warbling voice, "This junior, Huang Jie'er, greets Attendant Lin Xiao."

With County Princess Jie's arms wrapped around his lower legs, Lin Xiao felt his scalp go numb. She was clearly such a beautiful and lovely young woman, yet Lin Xiao felt as though a venomous snake had coiled around him. In particular, County Princess Jie's ten fingers lightly slid and tapped against his lower legs, making his entire body tense taut.

County Princess Jie sensed the change in Lin Xiao's leg muscles, and a smug smile appeared on her lovely face. She gently raised her head to look at him and softly laughed. "Attendant, Jie'er has always loved studying the path of pills. I heard that Attendant Lin inherited the Great Luo Pill Dao's supreme pill canon, the Great Luo Pill Scripture. Therefore, Jie'er is willing to serve Attendant with her humble willow-like form, and asks Attendant to offer Jie'er some guidance." County Princess Jie gave a soft, breathy laugh, and wisps of extremely pale pink mist drifted from her mouth. The mist spread with astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, the surrounding air was filled with a cloying, sweet fragrance. County Princess Jie moaned softly, then her curled body sprang up from the ground like a nimble ape, pouncing upon Lin Xiao.

County Princess Jie opened her arms, deliberately exposing her full breasts and her waist and abdomen as she moaned in a sweet voice, "Attendant~ This junior~"

Lin Xiao let out a bizarre cry. His eyes flew wide as if he had seen a ghost, and he sprang from the ground like a released spring. He sent a flying kick crashing into County Princess Jie's chest, then spun around and ran wildly out of the forest, screaming himself hoarse. County Princess Jie's cultivation was utterly incomparable to Lin Xiao's, whose Golden Core had already formed. Lin Xiao's casual kick sent her flying nearly ten zhang backward. A large section of her ribs caved in, and mouthful after mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips, staining her chest crimson.

In the grass, Qingchu gritted her teeth and muttered, "She is a bad woman!"

As Yaoying rapidly chewed her lingzhi, she shook her head and said, "Bad woman! Yes! Bad woman~ Mm, Brother Lin is afraid of girls without clothes. I understand now! No wonder he ran so fast the morning before yesterday! Mm, afterward he even punished me by making me repair the hole smashed into the wall. Brother Lin smashed that wall. Why did he make me repair it?"

Qingchu glared at Yaoying and whispered sharply, "Little Qing, shut up! You slept without clothes on. You were the one who frightened Brother Lin!"

Yaoying glared at Qingchu indignantly and complained, "It had nothing to do with me~ Whenever I sleep, I return to my original form. I ate so much Purple Ganoderma that my original form swelled too large, waah~ My clothes were all burst apart. I did not mean to go without clothes on~" Seeing Qingchu's expression become terribly ugly, Yaoying hurriedly pointed at County Princess Jie, who lay curled on the ground vomiting blood, and whispered, "I'm still better than her. I accidentally tore my clothes, but she deliberately took all hers off~ Mm, bad woman!"

Qingchu hesitated as she looked at County Princess Jie, then said softly, "Senior Sister Jie may not be good... but... we cannot just watch her die like this, can we? Mm, I have the medicine Brother Lin gave me for injuries. If she dies, Brother Lin will be in trouble too." Qingchu considered it only briefly before her kind nature gained the upper hand, completely suppressing her resentment toward County Princess Jie. Crawling out of the grass, Qingchu walked to County Princess Jie, who was still vomiting blood. She took two white jade medicine bottles from her belt, poured out one red and one white healing pill, and fed them into County Princess Jie's mouth.

The pills Lin Xiao refined were exceptionally effective against this kind of purely physical injury. In only a short while, County Princess Jie stopped vomiting blood, and her collapsed ribs gradually healed. She weakly opened her eyes and happened to see Qingchu. County Princess Jie's eyes widened as she snapped, "It was you, you little slut, who saved this county princess? I'm so angry, so angry I could die!"

The thought that her humiliating display of throwing herself into Lin Xiao's arms only to be kicked away might have been witnessed by this ugly little freak before her made County Princess Jie so furious that her face turned purple, and she almost wished she could simply die. But in the next instant, she noticed the changes in Qingchu's face. County Princess Jie screamed, "Little slut, you ugly little freak, where is the birthmark on your face? Ah! Who would have thought that without that birthmark, you are actually a little beauty! Ha, Attendant Lin must have removed it for you, right? How many days did you sleep with Attendant Lin before he gave you such a benefit?"

A ceaseless torrent of filthy insults poured from County Princess Jie's mouth. Her words were so vulgar that even the roughest commoner in the streets would have been several times more refined.

Qingchu was so frightened by County Princess Jie's unending stream of ugly words that she retreated again and again. Feeling aggrieved and stifled, tears once more rolled down Qingchu's cheeks with a patter.

Yaoying rushed angrily to County Princess Jie's side and shouted, "You bad woman! Yaoying saved you!"

County Princess Jie sneered coldly and turned her head away in disdain. "What status does this county princess possess? Would I need saving from such a lowborn ugly freak as her? Hmph!"

Qingchu's expression turned extremely ugly. She tugged Yaoying and loudly said, "Little Qing, let's go. Ignore her! She used such an ugly method to approach Brother Lin. She definitely means no good!"

County Princess Jie gave an alluring smile and laughed loudly. "Oh my, does the little slut understand what charm is now? This county princess approached Attendant Lin only because I wanted to sample his flavor~ Heehee, enjoying alone is not as good as enjoying together. Little Qingchu, why not invite Attendant Lin out? Let us find a place and have a merry time beneath the open sky and over the open earth?"

Qingchu's face flushed red, then green, then black. She did not dare speak to County Princess Jie again. Grabbing Yaoying, she turned and fled.

Yaoying angrily looked back at County Princess Jie, who was posing on the ground in an exceedingly seductive posture. Green light flashed in Yaoying's eyes, and countless blades of tall grass suddenly sprouted from the ground all around them, surging toward County Princess Jie in dense masses. Amid County Princess Jie's terrified screams, the tough grass, like iron wires, wrapped her into a cocoon and hung her high from a great tree!

Yaoying laughed smugly several times, then ran away swiftly hand in hand with Qingchu.

Lin Xiao ran wildly through the woods like a headless fly for a while before suddenly stopping. He said in shock, "The Great Luo Pill Scripture? Why would County Princess Jie mention it? Senior Yi Yi had already issued a gag order within the sect, strictly forbidding anyone from bringing up this matter. Why would she... Hm, this matter..."

After standing beneath a tree in thought for a moment, Lin Xiao took a paper crane from his bracelet and softly spoke several words to it. He pointed a finger at the paper crane, which immediately gave a light chirp, streaked away in a flash of white light, and flew rapidly toward the northwest.

"This is Origin Sect's business. Better leave it to Origin Sect to handle."

Lin Xiao watched the direction in which the paper crane flew and nodded lightly.