Arranged by Senior Brother

Arranged by Senior Brother

That spendthrift little junior sister!

Against Shrimp Demons with combat power barely different from mortals, she had actually used up a full eighty percent of the Poison Powder he had prepared for her...

That amount would have been enough to bring down an army of a hundred thousand in the Mortal World!

Looking at the thirteen nearly empty Storage Magic Tools laid out before him, Li Changshou's forehead darkened with lines as he muttered under his breath, seemingly brewing a storm.

Lan Ling'e knelt on the Meditation Cushion before him, two tear tracks hanging at the corners of her eyes as she attempted to escape her eldest senior brother's righteous judgment with a pitiful display.

The corner of Li Changshou's mouth twitched. Holding up a pouch, he asked, "Did you go kill a great demon of the East Sea?"

"Well, Senior Brother said... to use these whenever I encountered danger...

I was almost hacked by those Shrimp Soldiers, so I scattered it without thinking!"

Li Changshou's face darkened. "As I recall, I prepared nine jars of this for you, didn't I?"

"I was almost hacked so many times..."

Lan Ling'e pursed her little lips, tears threatening to spill as she explained aggrievedly, "Don't be angry, Senior Brother. I know it takes a lot out of you to make these things. I didn't mean to waste them."

Faced with his little junior sister looking like this, Li Changshou could not truly lose his temper. He merely sighed. "The effort is a small matter. The materials are difficult to obtain.

There are very few people in the Du Xian Sect who make Poison Pills. I traded for all of these bit by bit using my monthly allowance."

"Senior Brother, I thought of that too."

Lan Ling'e blinked and lightly patted the sash around her slender waist, taking out another seven or eight simple Storage Magic Tools.

"So I exchanged all the rewards I could receive this time for Poisonous Herbs and Poisons that could be found within the sect!

We definitely didn't lose out this time. We might even make quite a profit!"

Li Changshou did not know whether to laugh or cry. As he gazed into Lan Ling'e's gemlike eyes, he caught a hint of... evasiveness within them.

This little girl...

"Is there anything else you need to confess? Say it all at once, while I'm still in a fairly good mood."

Lan Ling'e drew in a breath, suddenly raised both hands, then bent down hard and lowered her head. Her forehead and palms struck the floor together, while her long black hair spilled to either side.

Kowtow, admit, fault!

She squeezed her eyes shut and shouted in one breath:

"Senior Brother! Ling'e has let you down!

Two Martial Uncles in the sect became interested in the Poison Powder you made, and they took several jars of the strongest poisons from me!

I truly didn't know how to refuse them. I accidentally exposed the fact that your Poison Refining skill is incredibly high!"

The room instantly became so quiet that a needle dropping could be heard;

Lan Ling'e's shoulders trembled lightly.

She was not afraid that her senior brother would beat or scold her. She even wished more that he would give her a beating to vent his anger.

He had taught her himself, and she understood his principles. That was why she was so nervous, afraid that he would 'abandon' her from now on and draw a clear line between them.

Why was it so quiet...

It was over, it was over. Senior Brother must have been utterly disappointed in her!

Lan Ling'e, Lan Ling'e, how could you lose all restraint and composure the moment you went out? You had even deliberately shown off before others, only to be noticed by the sect's seniors...

What kind of person was her senior brother? Perhaps no one in the world understood better than she, his junior sister.

If he could hide ninety points out of a hundred as hidden cards, he would. He kept a low profile in all things and would never involve himself in any unnecessary karma;

The only reason she had received his care was because she was his sole true junior sister under the same master. Otherwise, Senior Brother would never have spared her even a single glance!

Ling'e said in a choked voice, "Senior Brother, it's fine if you beat me. Just don't ignore me from now on...

I know I was wrong. I'll never go around showing off these things again!"

She felt a large hand reach toward her from the front, and Lan Ling'e instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.

Since entering the sect, was she finally about to suffer her first physical punishment and be severely beaten by Senior Brother?

A beating would be good too. At least Senior Brother could punish her that way...

That large hand which had plucked three thousand strands of black hair descended straight down. Instead of striking her, it turned at the last moment, pinched her ear, and shook it from side to side.

"Mmm, Senior Brother, be gentler... It hurts... My ear is going to fall off..."

"Don't use that tone. If Master hears it, he might think I did something to you."

Li Changshou released that small, delicate ear and said calmly, "Get up. This isn't such a big deal."

Lan Ling'e instantly sat up straight, her graceful figure revealed in full through that bow and rise.

She looked at her eldest senior brother in confusion and asked softly, "Senior Brother, you're not hiding anymore? Are you going to lay your cards on the table with the sect?"

"Lay what cards on the table? What cards do I even have to lay out?"

Li Changshou was somewhat between laughter and tears. "Do you think I don't understand your temperament?

Since I gave you that Poison Powder for self-defense, I had already thought through what sort of commotion you might cause. In fact, I deliberately let you reveal these things. There are several other considerations involved as well.

Come back and sit.

Among the two seniors who took Poison Powder from you, was one Elder Wan Linjun of Pill Cauldron Peak?

His left leg is injured, and he uses a Bronze-skinned Walking Stick. He looks rather cold, but whenever he speaks to others, he always puts on a stiff smile."

He had deliberately let her reveal it?

Several considerations?

Lan Ling'e froze at his words. "How did you know, Senior Brother? That senior was indeed one of them. Didn't you only return tonight?

The first to ask for Poison Powder was Elder Ge, the one presiding over the Training Assembly. Then, at noon the day before yesterday, that old man with the walking stick came. He gave me a lot of herbs and took those...

Senior Brother!"

Lan Ling'e reacted swiftly. Looking into Li Changshou's deep eyes, she gritted her teeth. "You planned it all!"

"What planning is there to speak of between senior brother and junior sister? This is benevolent protection. The more you know, the heavier your mental burden becomes."

Li Changshou waved a hand calmly and smiled. "The Poison Powder I gave you all focuses on the combinations of various herbs and poison principles. There are no particularly difficult refining techniques involved, so it does not matter if people notice them.

The formulas are in the Outer Hall of the Daoist Scripture Pavilion, which disciples from every peak may visit. The herbs can all be found at the Hall of Hundred Affairs.

Nowadays, within the sect—or rather, among the cultivation sects of the Five Continents—most people look down on poison. They consider it a dishonorable method, and those skilled in poison are often ostracized and prejudiced against.

So even if people discover that I can refine poison and am rather skilled at it, it is nothing. Not only will it not draw too much attention, they will instead think that a disciple of ordinary aptitude like me has gone down a crooked road."

After a pause, a faintly meaningful smile appeared on Li Changshou's lips.

"Furthermore, several types of strange poisons among the Poison Powder I gave you came from a Poison Scripture I copied in the Daoist Scripture Pavilion. The author of that Poison Scripture was Elder Wan Linjun.

He should be the senior in our Du Xian Sect with the deepest understanding of the Way of Poison.

If we can use this opportunity to form a good connection with him, perhaps we may receive his guidance in Poison Refining in the future."

"Senior Brother," Lan Ling'e complained with some displeasure, "did you have to calculate even me into it?

If it was something like this, couldn't you have simply instructed me directly?

To arrange even your own gentle and adorable junior sister like this is simply... too much..."

Li Changshou glanced at her. "Don't change the subject. We are discussing your waste of Poison Pills.

You must suffer a little hardship and remember this lesson.

Tomorrow, you are to go to the back mountain to chop wood and clear land. You may not use Dao arts or spiritual power."

"Then I'll chop wood. What's so terrible about that?" Lan Ling'e obediently agreed, her pretty face filled with the words 'follow one's heart.'

Still, she could not help asking, "What are we clearing land for?"

"To build an alchemy room for refining pills and poisons.

By using you this time to let the sect's higher-ups know that I am skilled in Poison Refining, I will be able to properly tinker with these things on Lesser Qiong Peak from now on. I won't have to play hide-and-seek every time."

With that, Li Changshou rose to his feet, gathered up all the medicine pouches on the table, and stretched lazily. "After I finish meditating at noon, I'll look for a suitable place to build the alchemy room."

"Senior Brother, you obviously just want to be lazy yourself! How can you make such a delicate little junior sister chop wood?"

Lan Ling'e made a face at his retreating back and complained in dissatisfaction.

"This is for you, delicate Qi Refiner."

Li Changshou, who had already reached the door, suddenly seemed to recall something. He casually took a Jade box from his sleeve and tossed it to his junior sister.

"A gift?"

Lan Ling'e immediately forgot her earlier gloom and happily hugged the Jade box.

Just as she was about to open it, she seemed to think of something. She used spiritual power to suspend the Jade box in the air a full yard away before opening it from a distance.

A faint fragrance washed over her. Inside the Jade box lay a six-petaled white flower in quiet repose.

A herb? She had thought it would be jewelry or something.

Lan Ling'e was just about to complain when Li Changshou had already left the room. Within the array formations, only his somewhat weary voice remained:

"Put it in warm water before your next bath. It can help expand your meridians, purge toxins, nourish your complexion, and make your skin more radiant.

See you tomorrow."

"All right, thank you, Senior Brother. See you tomorrow..."

Huff—

Lan Ling'e let out a long breath and slumped into her round-backed chair, then broke into a smug smile.

She had passed safely!

Senior Brother still doted on her. She had thought that after wasting so much Poison Powder, she would at least receive a fierce scolding. Who would have thought he had only twisted her ear?

But regarding the Training Assembly, from beginning to end, it seemed that Senior Brother had arranged everything for her perfectly.

It did make her a little unhappy. It always felt as though Senior Brother still did not trust her...

Forget it. That was simply his nature.

He would burn even cut hair with True Fire until not a scrap remained, dissolve even trimmed nail clippings completely with Poisonous Liquid, and could even bind a junior sister who had deliberately gotten drunk to the bed with an Immortal-Binding Lock before tucking the blanket around her...

Uh, she seemed to have accidentally revealed something.

Ling'e's pretty face reddened. That time last year, she had not deliberately gotten drunk!

After returning to his grass hut, Li Changshou sat cross-legged beside his bed, planning the layout of the alchemy room in his heart.

Previously, he had refined poisons using a small Medicine Cauldron he carried with him, but it could no longer meet his needs. Moreover, to refine Melting Immortal Pills and stronger Poison Pills, he would need a larger and better-quality Medicine Cauldron.

He would first build the alchemy room, then go to the Hall of Hundred Affairs and ask the Martial Uncles and Martial Elders he knew well.

A good Medicine Cauldron could only be encountered by chance, not sought after; he could only rely on luck for that.

It would be best if he could find some old discarded Medicine Cauldrons and try to salvage them himself, to see whether great strength might produce a miracle...

He had actually considered the matter of an alchemy room for thirty or forty years, but had always hesitated.

Ordinary was the best camouflage.

From the Isolation Array Formations covering the place where master and disciples lived, to the arrays outside his and his little junior sister's grass huts, to every mountain, stream, blade of grass, and tree on Lesser Qiong Peak, everything was perfectly ordinary and held nothing unique.

Yet once he built an alchemy room, he would inevitably need to set up all manner of arrangements inside and outside it, lest anyone discover some of his 'little tricks' while refining pills and poisons.

Li Changshou had understood from the very beginning that when his cultivation had only just started, no deliberate disguise could deceive the observation of true experts. Instead, it would draw those experts' extra attention.

Being noticed by such experts did not necessarily bring good things;

If they did not notice him, then bad things beyond his control were less likely to happen—at the very least, the chances of trouble would be much lower.

"The alchemy room cannot be too close to the residence, in case poisonous fumes leak out..."

Li Changshou murmured softly. From his robes, he took out a Storage Magic Tool specially used to store books and jade slips, then withdrew a thick stack of Parchment.

Upon them were array diagrams and architectural plans, every sheet bearing traces of repeated revisions. On the oldest sheets of Parchment, the drawn lines had already faded greatly.