From a Cold Palace Princess to the Heavenly Empress: Chapter 13

"Eight pills with seventy percent purity, two with eighty percent purity!"

Xiao Minghuang murmured.

Ye Ruoshui smiled shyly and pressed her lips together. "It was my first time refining pills, so I didn't control the heat very well. This servant will definitely work hard and refine pills of perfect purity!"

Hearing this, Xiao Minghuang's eyes widened, her pupils revealing three parts helplessness and seven parts astonishment.

"You refined pills with eighty percent purity on your first try, and you're still not satisfied?"

Ye Ruoshui furrowed her delicate brows, her tone carrying a touch of uncertainty.

"This servant followed the instructions in the book step by step. Th-this should be very simple, right?"

"Pounding the herbs, rolling them into pellets, lighting the fire, refining..."

Ye Ruoshui recited the pill-refining process with great fluency and ease, without the slightest pause, as though she knew it by heart.

Xiao Minghuang sighed. She finally understood why the little girl's cultivation progress was so slow and why she could never focus her attention.

"When Heaven closes a door for you, it opens a window for you."

"???"

Ye Ruoshui looked utterly bewildered.

"Don't mind that saying. I'll accept this box of pills." Xiao Minghuang took the box of pills.

"I'm giving it back to you now."

[ Ding! ]

[Detected that the host has successfully gifted an opportunity!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have triggered a tenfold critical-hit compensation and obtained Qi Replenishing Pill*100!]

Hearing the system's voice ring out in her mind, Xiao Minghuang stuffed the Brocade Box back into Ye Ruoshui's hands.

Ye Ruoshui became even more confused.

"As expected, I still like this gift very much."

Xiao Minghuang took the box back again and tucked it into her robes.

After that whole sequence of actions, it seemed as though two constantly spinning circles had appeared in Ye Ruoshui's beautiful eyes. She had no idea what Xiao Minghuang was doing.

With one hundred high-purity Qi Replenishing Pills in hand, Xiao Minghuang's heart blossomed with joy.

The higher a pill's purity, the fewer impurities it contained, the faster it could be refined, and the richer its medicinal effects.

A pill with eighty percent purity had at least twice the medicinal efficacy of one with seventy percent purity!

Compared with the sixty-percent-purity pills bestowed by Emperor Xia, its medicinal efficacy was a full two times greater!

Although Qi Replenishing Pills were merely Low-grade Yellow Tier pills, with an extremely low rank, the spiritual herbs and medicinal plants required to refine them were common and cheap.

If Ye Ruoshui refined high-purity Qi Replenishing Pills in large quantities, and she then obtained massive compensation through the system...

A flash of delight passed through Xiao Minghuang's eyes. She seemed to have found a new road to wealth and prosperity.

Moreover, Ye Ruoshui undoubtedly possessed an exceptionally high talent for pill refinement. On her very first attempt, she had refined pills of such high purity.

With such talent, what would happen if she refined pills of a higher tier?

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Xiao Minghuang's mind.

The next moment, she licked her red lips, her gaze toward Ye Ruoshui carrying a hint of ravenous desire.

Under that gaze, Ye Ruoshui lowered her head shyly and timidly.

"Your Highness truly likes the gift I gave you. It seems I must work harder and strive to refine pills of perfect purity sooner!"

Ye Ruoshui knew that her mistress's cultivation would only grow stronger, while her own cultivation talent was truly lacking. If she wanted to raise her cultivation and keep pace with Xiao Minghuang, that would undoubtedly be a fool's dream.

Therefore, she had to find another path. Only by making Xiao Minghuang unable to leave her from another angle could she occupy Xiao Minghuang's heart for a long time.

Without question, she had succeeded.

At that moment, Xiao Minghuang felt that she would never be able to leave Ye Ruoshui, this little girl, again.

For no reason at all, she leaned down slightly and drew close to Ye Ruoshui. Hearing the girl's heart pounding wildly, she lightly pecked the corner of her soft pink lips like a dragonfly skimming the water.

"Chu!"

Ye Ruoshui, caught by that "sudden attack," had her brain crash in an instant. She froze completely, her little face turning bright red as wisps of white steam rose from above her head.

Her Highness kissed me! Her Highness kissed me! Her Highness kissed me! Her Highness kissed me! Her Highness kissed me!

At that moment, Ye Ruoshui's mind was blank. Those words filled her head, repeating endlessly, never stopping.

Who knew how long that went on.

The sun set in the west.

The carriage drove into a forest.

Xiao Minghuang glanced at Ye Ruoshui, whose pupils were filled with pink bubbles and who still had not come back to her senses, then reached out and tapped the little girl on the forehead.

"Stop swooning and wake up!"

With her forehead suddenly knocked, Ye Ruoshui clutched her head and whimpered,

"Your Highness is bullying me again, wuwuwu~"

Xiao Minghuang's face darkened with black lines. Why did she feel that this little girl was becoming better and better at acting?

"I'll go catch a few wild rabbits. We may have to spend the night in the forest."

As they drew closer and closer to Beiyang City, the villages and towns along the road became increasingly scarce. There was not even a household where they could stay for the night.

Although Xiao Minghuang had entered the Qi Refining Realm, she would need to reach the Spring Gushing Realm before she could fear neither cold nor heat and live without eating grains.

As for Ye Ruoshui, who was in the Body Tempering Realm, she needed to eat large amounts of meat to replenish her blood and qi.

At the words "wild rabbits," Ye Ruoshui's stomach immediately began to rumble. In truth, she had been hungry for a long time, but she had held on until now only by relying on her mistress's peerless beauty.

"This servant will begin preparing right away."

Xiao Minghuang nodded and turned toward the depths of the forest.

As she ventured deeper into the forest, the sun completely sank below the horizon. The light grew dimmer and dimmer until she could not see her own hand before her face.

Xiao Minghuang looked up at the sky. Towering ancient trees filled her view. If she had not already gained the ability to see at night, she would surely have gotten lost.

"I need to hurry. Ruoshui is probably starving."

<Sickly Idol, Transforms into the Strongest Female Character>

A sickly female idol was despised by her manager. "Her body is weaker than anyone's, but her temper is more stubborn than a bull's." She was tossed into a live-action adaptation that not even dogs would watch, Violet Evergarden: Live-Action Version.

By playing the female lead, Violet Evergarden, she could obtain some of the anime female character's abilities.

Violet's adorable airheadedness, extraordinary insight, explosive power, combat strength... Could she even walk on water?

So who would the next female character be?

<Sickly Idol, Transforms into the Strongest Female Character>

19. The Compass Shook, a Heretical Cultivator Stronghold

Within the gloomy, dense forest, an incomparably beautiful girl in a bright yellow dress darted swiftly through the shadows. Beneath the pitch-black night, she seemed dreamlike and illusory.

"My luck is pretty good. I caught a Body Tempering Realm ferocious beast. It should be enough for Ruoshui to eat."

With delight on her face, Xiao Minghuang returned to the campsite.

Ye Ruoshui had already set up the tent, lit the bonfire, and arranged all the pots, bowls, and utensils. She was merely waiting for Xiao Minghuang to return with prey.

The moment she saw her figure appear, the little girl immediately hurried over.

"Your luck is good. You caught a Body Tempering Realm ferocious beast!"

Xiao Minghuang smiled faintly and took the ferocious beast's corpse from her storage bag.

"Your Highness has worked hard. Rest for a while!"

Ye Ruoshui took the ingredients and softly reminded her.

Yet Xiao Minghuang shook her head.

"The surroundings are unfamiliar. It may not be safe, so I need to patrol the area."

"Your Highness, please be careful."

Xiao Minghuang nodded, turned, and departed, her figure vanishing into the dense forest.

In truth, aside from patrolling, she had a more important purpose.

Ever since the Destiny Guidance Compass had been activated, it had discovered an opportunity only once in the Great Xia Capital. After that, it had remained silent.

But just now, while she was catching prey, the long-silent compass had suddenly begun to shake, pointing in a certain direction.

After settling Ye Ruoshui down, Xiao Minghuang immediately followed the compass's guidance.

After exploring for some time, Xiao Minghuang arrived inside a hidden cave.

The cave was thick with dampness, and its stone walls were covered in slick moss, as though they had long been soaked in water.

As she continued deeper, she finally discovered the treasure hidden inside.

It was a century-old Water Ganoderma.

It grew within a cold pool. A damp, warm aura washed over her, its leaves crystalline and translucent, its roots pure white and flawless. One glance was enough to tell that its medicinal potency was abundant.

"What a fine thing!"

Xiao Minghuang picked the Water Ganoderma and placed it in her storage bag, a smile on her face.

"It seems I should travel more often in the future. If I stay at home and never come out, it'll be difficult to encounter opportunities."

Just as Xiao Minghuang was preparing to return, the compass moved again.

"There's another opportunity!"

Xiao Minghuang's expression paused before she immediately reacted.

She promptly continued onward, following the compass's guidance.

This opportunity was farther away. Xiao Minghuang walked for nearly half an hour and still had not arrived.

"This opportunity is probably at the very edge of the compass's detection range."

As Xiao Minghuang continued forward, the compass finally stopped turning.

Before her stood a cave more than a man's height tall, hidden behind a massive boulder. It was extremely well concealed. If not for the compass's guidance, Xiao Minghuang would never have found this place.

Xiao Minghuang entered the cave and guessed to herself,

"Could it be another spiritual herb?"

After only a few steps, a burst of noisy voices reached her ears.

After entering the Qi Refining Realm, Xiao Minghuang's spiritual sense had improved, allowing her to hear the voices deep within the cave with perfect clarity.

"Second Brother, among the people captured this time, there's a woman at the Body Tempering Realm Seventh Level. You must reward her to your little brother. The cultivation technique I practice most needs the primordial yin of women with cultivation."

"At worst, your little brother won't take a share next time!"

"Third Brother, as long as Eldest Brother agrees, your Second Brother will have no objections!"

Hearing the words coming from within the cave, Xiao Minghuang frowned slightly.

"This place seems to be a den of thieves?"