"You..."
At her words, the princess hurriedly pushed the cup back onto the table and looked at Lin Changheng with a mixture of embarrassment and indignation.
This time, she was genuinely shy, without the slightest pretense.
From childhood to adulthood, she had been a golden bough and jade leaf, a beloved daughter of the imperial household. No man had ever dared approach her. Now that she had entered the immortal path and severed herself halfway from the mortal world, she still had never had much contact with men.
Lin Changheng was the only exception, and even then, he had always been courteous and proper.
Yet now, she had inadvertently shared a cup of tea with the male cultivator before her. Was that not the same as indirectly...
No, no!
Before this unfamiliar barrier between men and women, the usually quick-witted and composed Dantai Feiyue found herself slightly thrown into disarray.
Thus, evil rose in her heart and gave her courage. She immediately sprang to her feet, braced both hands against the stone table, and leaned toward Lin Changheng. Forcing a fierce expression onto her face, her fingertips nearly dug into the stone tabletop. "You... if you dare tell anyone about us sharing a cup today—"
Then she suddenly realized that their noses were less than three inches apart. Lin Changheng's gentle smile was plainly visible beneath the sunlight, and the latter half of her weak threat caught in her throat.
"I promise you, I will never speak of what happened today."
Lin Changheng put away his smile and nodded solemnly.
Only then did the princess relax. She nodded haughtily, clearly quite satisfied with Lin Changheng's response. Yet the tips of her ears still felt slightly hot. After sitting for a while longer, she took her leave.
Lin Changheng merely smiled and let it pass.
Lin Changheng checked the pills, spirit stones, and other assets in his possession. They were truly abundant.
His storage pouch, which had shriveled after purchasing a mid-grade artifact and a low-grade artifact last time, had swollen once more after the sale of standard-grade pills.
There were more than four hundred spirit stones.
The Premium Grade pills on him had risen from more than three hundred to over six hundred and seventy!
This was after subtracting the portion Lin Changheng had used for cultivation and exchanged with Dantai Feiyue.
Even so, the quantity was still astonishing.
He had also acquired thirty or forty [Spirit Locking Talismans] through various channels and affixed them to wooden boxes, ensuring that the medicinal potency of the pills would not dissipate.
"Now that I have the Earth Escape Strange Technique, I can try leaving home and sell off some of these Premium Grade pills."
"Stockpiling too much may not necessarily be a good thing..."
This was the first time Lin Changheng had considered going out.
Besides,
It was worth mentioning that after Lin Changheng broke through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage, his speed of refining medicinal power had more than doubled, while the effects of Premium Grade [Crimson Flame Pills] had declined in tandem.
After all, the Qi Refining Middle Stage corresponded to first-tier mid-grade pills. Standard-grade low-grade pills had almost negligible effects, while only Premium Grade pills still had decent results—but even those had been halved.
Thus, in his monthly cultivation, Lin Changheng had raised the number of Premium Grade pills he consumed to five, only barely maintaining his previous cultivation speed.
The gap between grades was there for all to see.
Fortunately, Premium Grade pills contained very few impurities and little pill poison. Moreover, Lin Changheng had discovered that the "Clear Insight" realm of the Poison Neutralization Art suppressed pill poison, while "Ascend to Truth" could even refine away the impurities along with it.
Only then did he dare consume them without concern.
But this could not go on forever. Refining Premium Grade mid-grade pills as soon as possible was the true path.
Yet the mid-grade Pill Dao was truly complicated.
Igniting the fire, heating the furnace, adding the herbs, Refining Wash, liquefying, combining the medicines, simmering the refinement, condensing the pill, retrieving the pill—an entire series of steps.
The pill formulas involved were even more intricate. In three of the core steps alone, there were more than a hundred and twenty pill formulas to perform.
In other words, refining a first-tier mid-grade pill required roughly more than eight hundred formulas in total!
Nearly three times that of low-grade pills!
Furthermore, the crucial formulas were even more complicated and obscure, enough to make Lin Changheng scratch his head at times.
Therefore, his refinement of mid-grade pills remained stuck at the final hurdle for the time being.
He had previously consulted Master Mo and received some inspiration and guidance, but these last few kicks at the gate were not easy to ask about again.
On one hand, he needed to keep his progress secret. On the other, he feared putting Master Mo in a difficult position.
After all, he had only ever been an apprentice under Master Mo. Master Mo might not necessarily be willing to impart everything he knew.
But fortunately, the Origin Treasure Seed was nearly complete!
[Spirit Snatch:94/100]
With his comprehension enhanced, everything would surely fall into place like a blade splitting bamboo.
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Two major events occurred in the outside world.
Outside Wilderness Valley, the Xu Family and the Chen Family were locked in a battle of spells and slaughter. The Xu Family had already gained an overwhelming advantage, while the Chen Family's defeat was plain to see—yet they showed no alarm.
Instead, they charged forward and entangled the Xu Family cultivators.
This was extremely abnormal.
At that moment, a group of cultivators suddenly came racing from afar.
Their momentum was immense.
They too wore robes embroidered with the Chen Family insignia.
But an elder of the Xu Family recognized the leader at once. He was unmistakably a cultivator of the Qiu Family of Flying Cloud Valley, a man with a face full of beard named Qiu Changhe, a Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivator. His artifact was raised, his gaze cold and indifferent.
The newly established Foundation Establishment family—the Qiu Family!
Sure enough, answering the Chen Family's plea, they had disguised themselves as Chen Family cultivators and intended to intervene!
"Hahaha! You will all die today, and the Xu Family will suffer grievous losses as well!"
A late-stage Qi Refining elder of the Chen Family seemed as though he had been injected with chicken blood. He threw back his head in laughter and shouted wildly. At last, this moment had arrived.
He wanted to throw the Xu Family's ranks into chaos, force them to reveal an opening, and then charge in to slaughter them.
Yet the Xu Family cultivators heard him and saw the scene, but they did not panic much. Instead, it gave that late-stage Qi Refining elder a start, and a sense of foreboding immediately began to grow in his heart.
Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh! ...
The next instant, a dense burst of violent wind-rending sounds erupted from behind the Xu Family's flank.
Then, from behind the hill, a group of cultivators bearing the Xu Family insignia rushed out. Ignoring the battlefield, they moved with a clear objective, heading straight for the Flying Cloud Valley Qiu Family's group.
"Liu Yunlang!"
Qiu Changhe raised a hand to halt his group's advance and confronted the newcomers from afar. At the same time, he called out a name with an ugly expression.
"Qiu Changhe? No, that is not right. Since you are wearing Chen Family clothes, you ought to change your name to Chen Changhe."
Liu Yunlang also called his group to a stop. Unlike his scholarly appearance, his words were sharp mockery.
Meanwhile,
The Chen Family elder's face darkened. "The Spirit Fox Mountain Liu Family? The Liu Family with two Foundation Establishment cultivators! Damn it, when did the Xu Family quietly forge ties with the Liu Family?"
He had no time to think further, nor was anyone going to answer him, because a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator from the Xu Family had already stepped forward to fight him.
After a fierce spell battle, the Chen Family elder's spiritual power was nearly exhausted, and he could no longer hold on. He immediately turned his head, hoping the Qiu Family would act, only to witness a scene that made his eyes split with rage.
Qiu Changhe had actually turned and fled without even looking back. He had contributed not a shred of strength, abandoning everything without a care.
The entire group of Qiu Family cultivators followed suit, casting aside their promise and leaving. The Chen Family cultivators, who had been fighting drenched in blood, stood rooted to the spot in stunned confusion.
"Hahaha!"
Liu Yunlang's laughter answered them. Then the Liu Family cultivators joined the battle, and the Chen Family's defeat came crashing down like a mountain collapse.
Apart from a few fish that slipped through the net, nearly all of them died, leaving behind pairs of unwilling eyes that could not close even in death.
Thus, the Xu Family occupied the valley and named it "Dustless Valley." The war that had lasted many years finally came to an end.
They also publicly announced that half the gains would be shared with the Foundation Establishment Liu Family.
This was the first major event.
The other major event was this:
Having lost much of its fighting strength on the battlefield, the Purple Maple Bay Chen Family's residence was suddenly attacked by a band of rogue cultivators one night.
Their great formation was breached, and their entire clan was annihilated.
Before you continue