Danger Appears

Mengshan City, Mystic Fire Pill Shop.

"Not bad, not bad, very not bad."

Guan Sheng shifted his gaze from the jade bottles on the table to Han Yi, the appreciation in his eyes utterly undisguised.

Deep in his eyes, a faint, inscrutable glimmer lay hidden.

"Twenty sets of raw materials, and you successfully refined three batches. Their quality meets the average standard as well."

"A fifteen percent success rate for Evil Warding Pills. For your first time refining pills, not only did you avoid a loss, you even made a small profit."

"I never expected Junior Brother Han's pill-refining skills to be so superb."

"This time, I truly made the right bet."

Guan Sheng's praises came one after another, and Han Yi, standing before him, was equally delighted.

"To be honest, Senior Brother, after coming down the mountain, the pressure I used to have is gone. I feel completely relaxed."

"My state of mind is different when I refine pills now. I've found that everything comes more naturally to hand."

"A lucky accident, just luck, just luck."

Han Yi said with a smile. It counted as a reason, at least.

"Junior Brother Han, with your pill-refining skills, if not for the sect's rule that dispatched disciples must wait a year before applying to return, you would absolutely be qualified to pass the Return-to-Sect Assessment right now."

"Once you return to the sect, you'll surely stun everyone with a single brilliant feat."

"Don't forget to look after the Guan family more in the future."

After exchanging a few modest words, Han Yi began settling the accounts and purchasing new materials.

For the fifty-eight Qi Nourishing Pills and part of the proceeds from refining Evil Warding Pills, Guan Sheng ultimately gave him a total of one hundred spirit stones.

This was the first time in his life that he had possessed the enormous sum of one hundred spirit stones. He was so happy that he nearly burst into tears.

Of those hundred spirit stones, he took out forty to buy materials for Qi Nourishing Pills, directly buying out the main ingredient among Mystic Fire Pill Shop's Qi Nourishing Pill materials.

Next, he exchanged some spirit sand by the pound, along with other medicinal pills and daily necessities, such as fasting pills.

Then, after putting the twenty sets of Evil Warding Pill ingredients Guan Sheng had given him into his storage bag, he left the pill shop with a satisfied expression.

Behind Han Yi, Guan Sheng stood by the medicine cabinet, his gaze flickering.

"That kid really is a pill-refining prodigy."

"I'm almost reluctant to use him to fill the hole."

The moment that thought surfaced in his heart, he shook his head again.

"No. It's precisely someone like him who is best suited to fill the hole—and can even make my plan seamless and flawless."

"Fortunately, there's still some time. I'll let that kid refine pills for me for free for another half year."

With a fortune tucked away on his person, Han Yi's mood remained much better all the way.

Mystic Fire Pill Shop was not far from his courtyard. It was about five streets away, only a ten-minute walk.

After passing through one street, his steps abruptly halted, and he suddenly spun around to look behind him.

Behind him, the street was crowded with people and bustling with life. There was not the slightest abnormality.

Yet Han Yi felt as if he had been doused in cold water. The hairs on his body stood on end, and after stopping for an instant, his heart suddenly began pounding wildly.

"There's killing intent."

That naked, undisguised killing intent made his expression change sharply.

Only then did he suddenly remember.

This world was a cultivation world, not the peaceful world of law and order from his previous life.

Since transmigrating, he had only stayed in a few fixed locations.

Within the Mystic Pill Sect, he stayed in the courtyard on Little Spirit Void Peak, where the courtyard's restrictions kept him very safe.

After coming down the mountain to Mengshan City, he had only traveled back and forth between his courtyard and Mystic Fire Pill Shop, never going anywhere else.

In the terms of his previous life, he was a bona fide homebody cultivator.

Thus, although he had remained somewhat vigilant during this time, he had never gained the most direct, most personal understanding of the dangers of the cultivation world.

At this moment.

This sudden killing intent descending upon him awakened his sense of danger.

The killing intent was so heavy, carrying within it the threat of death.

Though its source was unknown, he trusted his instincts. His realm might be low, but he had already stepped into the Qi Refining realm of cultivation. His sense for killing intent could not be wrong.

With that thought.

He swiftly turned around, but rather than heading toward the courtyard where he lived, he turned to the other side and merged into a street with even more pedestrian traffic. Without slowing his pace, he squeezed his way wherever there were more people.

He was fortunate that he happened to be inside the city. As a city within the Great Qian Immortal Kingdom, Mengshan City had immortal cultivators stationed there. Ordinarily, at least on the surface, immortal cultivators were forbidden from casually killing mortals.

Of course, this prohibition existed to preserve the stability of the Immortal Kingdom.

If immortal cultivators killed people in secret, then so long as they were not discovered, no one would truly pursue the matter.

But under the watchful eyes of the public, if an immortal cultivator truly carried out a wholesale slaughter, made it onto Great Qian's wanted list, and was captured, they would have to take a trip to the Immortal Execution Platform.

So, after Han Yi realized this just now, he had not hesitated to turn and dart into the crowd.

Sure enough.

After weaving through several streets packed with people, the killing intent he had sensed—the kind that made every hair on his body stand on end—finally vanished completely.

Near the street where he had first sensed that killing intent, a figure stood in a corner, his gaze sweeping over the passing crowds, his face so dark it looked ready to drip water.

The man had a swarthy complexion, and a peculiar pill aura clung to his body, unique to alchemists—much like the smell of smoke that lingered on a chain smoker.

This man was none other than Jiang De.

"This kid is that alert?"

"Hmph. Consider yourself lucky this time. Next time, you won't be so fortunate."

Naturally, Jiang De did not dare make a move against Han Yi in broad daylight.

Moreover, while harboring killing intent toward Han Yi, he was also deeply wary of Guan Sheng, and had already been wavering inwardly.

That was why, at some point while following Han Yi, he had carelessly allowed a wisp of killing intent to leak out, whereupon Han Yi detected it.

Elsewhere.

After circling through several streets and confirming that the killing intent had dispersed, Han Yi rushed toward his courtyard at top speed.

Along the way, he worried that whoever had been following him might know where he lived and be lying in ambush near his courtyard. He kept himself at the height of vigilance, guarding against an attack that could appear at any moment.

It was not as though he had not considered turning back and taking a roundabout route to the Mystic Fire Pill Shop. But the killing intent had come too suddenly, and he had been unable to find its source.

After weighing his options, he still decided to return to the courtyard first.

The courtyard had array restrictions, so its safety could be guaranteed.

He made up his mind that if he sensed killing intent again on the way, he would immediately turn and flee to the Mystic Fire Pill Shop to seek shelter.

To his relief, however, nothing else unusual happened along the way.

Upon reaching the entrance to his courtyard, he swiftly used the Array Disk to open it. Only after locking it with his magic power did Han Yi finally relax completely.

Only then—

did he discover that his back was drenched through.

He had been too tense along the way to notice it, and only now did he feel the dampness behind him.

With a slight circulation of the Fire Pill Profound Art, he dried his clothes.

A moment later.

Han Yi sat in the Meditation Chamber, his heart finally settling into complete calm.

Yet rather than immediately immersing himself in cultivation or alchemy, he furrowed his brow and began to calculate and review the situation in his mind.

In his previous life, his habit of analysis and reflection had helped him avoid many crooked paths.

In this life, ever since transmigrating, he had continued to uphold that good habit from his previous life.

"That wisp of killing intent was aimed at me. Since it concerns my life and safety, I'd rather believe it exists than believe it doesn't."

"Then who was it?"

"I came out of the Mystic Fire Pill Shop. The most likely possibility is that someone was waiting outside the shop, intending to intercept and kill immortal cultivators who had completed transactions there."

"If that's the case, then I was merely targeted this time. It wasn't someone specifically coming after me."

"In that case, as long as I'm more careful next time, it should be fine."

"There is another possibility: someone has specifically set their sights on me. Though the likelihood is small, I cannot afford not to guard against it."

"All in all, for the sake of safety, I need to raise my strength."

Han Yi looked at the two sections on the panel displaying his realm and skills. His eyes flickered as he came to a decision.