Uncle-Master's Keeper

This small building stood ten zhang tall and had two floors. From afar, it looked like a large gourd. "Chief Designer" Li Changshou had likely drawn his inspiration from Jiu Jiu's accompanying magic treasure, the Evil-Slaying Ruyi Sword.

—That large gourd that could grow or shrink at will and carry people through the skies.

The small building stood in the middle of a pool. Directly opposite its entrance, eighty zhang away, was another well, with the pool and well connected by waterways.

Viewed from above, a Taiji Diagram a hundred zhang across was embedded within the forest. The pool formed the shape of the yin-yang fish, while the small building and the well were its two yin-yang eyes.

This was a feng shui array, capable of suppressing fortune and warding off evil. Moreover, Du Xian Sect belonged to the Human Teaching lineage, so the Yin-Yang Taiji Diagram carried its own significance.

Upon landing before the small building, one could look up and see a wooden plaque bearing five large characters: Lesser Qiong Peak Alchemy Room.

A closer look revealed two vertical lines of smaller characters beneath the plaque: Approved by the Hall of Hundred Affairs, permitted to construct an alchemy building.

Simply put, this was a properly licensed, code-compliant building!

Entering through the main doors, one was greeted by a wooden screen. Behind it stood a massive alchemy furnace six zhang tall.

The furnace occupied a vast area, broad at the bottom and narrow at the top. It had been forged from great blocks of Purple Gold, engraved with auspicious clouds and a hundred herbs, and was itself covered in numerous restrictions.

However, the upper half of the furnace was covered in a great many "patches," making it look somewhat shabby.

This had originally been an abandoned alchemy furnace. Only its upper half had exploded apart, and Li Changshou had used spirit fish to pull some strings and acquire it from the Hall of Hundred Affairs. After spending half a year repairing it without pause, he had finally restored it to working order.

The furnace had three legs and two handles, with a round, plump belly. Yin-yang fish-shaped "windows" opened on all four sides, while its major restrictions below—the Fire-Gathering Array, Spirit-Balancing Array, and the like—remained fully intact.

After Li Changshou's repairs, its current power was only thirty percent weaker than before it had been damaged.

Even more rarely, acquiring this furnace had cost practically nothing.

Large blocks of Purple Gold could naturally suppress the medicinal properties of the vast majority of Spiritual Medicine. This furnace was now considered the most valuable treasure on Lesser Qiong Peak.

The entire small building had been constructed around the alchemy furnace.

Several rows of shelves surrounded it, filled with jade bottles, gourds, and jade boxes of all sizes. Inside were many medicinal pills refined in this furnace, though they were all standard varieties.

Lan Ling'e had kept this place exceptionally tidy. The junior sister was currently also in Secluded Cultivation, striving to raise her cultivation realm.

When Jiu Jiu jumped in from outside, Li Changshou, dressed in a light-blue robe, was standing beside the furnace. More than ten pale golden pills floated above his palm as he reflected upon the insights he had gained from his recent alchemy.

"Little Changshou, what new pills have you refined this time?" Jiu Jiu eagerly leaned closer.

"Would Uncle-Master like to try them? I just refined some Calming the Heart and Concentrating the Spirit Pills. I improved the flavor a little, and their effects should be quite good as well."

Li Changshou asked casually. Two spirit pills slowly flew before Jiu Jiu, who popped them straight into her mouth and crunched away. Before long, she let out a satisfied burp and exhaled a breath of fresh fragrance.

"So sweet." Jiu Jiu held out her right hand. "Give me a few more!"

Li Changshou casually drew over a white jade Porcelain bottle, placed all the pills inside, and sent the bottle into Jiu Jiu's hand.

Jiu Jiu's little hand remained outstretched. "This month's Divine Immortal's Brew and Charm of the Beauty!"

"Rest assured, Uncle-Master. I haven't forgotten."

Li Changshou chuckled and obediently handed over two palm-sized Jade Pots.

Jiu Jiu impatiently opened them and took a sniff, releasing a deeply satisfied sigh.

"Not bad. Changshou, your skill in alchemy has now fully kept pace with your skill in brewing wine.

Do you need my help with anything today?

You haven't been setting up arrays these past two months. I can't just keep taking food and drink from you for nothing."

"Not today," Li Changshou said with a smile. "Twenty days from now, I plan to open the furnace and refine a relatively difficult immortal pill. I would like to ask Uncle-Master to assist me."

Jiu Jiu patted her chest readily, making her short hemp shirt sway.

"No problem! Leave it to me!

Twenty days from now, right?"

"That's right, twenty days from now." Li Changshou turned serious. "The pill I will refine this time is extremely important to this disciple, and once preparations begin, they cannot be stopped.

If Uncle-Master will not have time then, please inform this disciple promptly.

Also, may I ask Uncle-Master to keep this matter confidential?"

"What pill is so mysterious?"

"A poison pill called the Melting Immortal Pill."

Jiu Jiu was startled as well. "The Melting Immortal Pill? Isn't this thing said to be able to poison True Immortals to death?

I seem to remember Fifth Senior Brother mentioning it a long time ago. What are you refining that thing for?"

Li Changshou smiled. "Poison is also a kind of medicinal property, just as food may be sour, sweet, or spicy.

Poison pills can be used to kill people, but they can also save people.

Uncle-Master, rest assured. This disciple has no enemies and loves the life of cultivation. I would never do anything that wounds heaven and harms reason.

If I successfully refine the Melting Immortal Pill, I will offer Uncle-Master a year's worth of Charm of the Beauty as thanks, separate from our agreement."

"Deal!"

Jiu Jiu clenched her right fist and held it out before Li Changshou. Li Changshou raised his own fist and lightly bumped it against hers, and Jiu Jiu immediately beamed.

"I'll come by again in twenty days."

"Take care, Uncle-Master."

Amid laughter, Jiu Jiu rode her Large Gourd skyward, flying into the air above Lesser Qiong Peak.

She looked back and saw wisps of mist rising throughout the forest she had just left. In the blink of an eye, the thin fog enveloped the entire woods, yet after a breeze passed through, the white mist vanished completely.

The Dense forest within a radius of thirty li appeared no different from before, but Jiu Jiu knew that the layers upon layers of great arrays within had already begun operating.

"If I want to prank Old Seven and Old Eight later, I can trick them into coming here."

Jiu Jiu murmured softly. But then she thought of Li Changshou's ever-serious face. I should still give that fellow a heads-up first. Otherwise, he'll start passionately lecturing about some grand principle again.

Shaking her head, Jiu Jiu rode her Large Gourd through the air. She soon returned to the rear mountain of Sky-Breaking Peak, flying into several overlapping grand arrays and disappearing from sight.

That was where Venerable Wangqing's nine disciples cultivated in seclusion. A continuous stretch of pavilion buildings had been built along the mountain's contours.

Although the "Nine Immortals of the Wine Character" were merely a branch lineage of Sky-Breaking Peak, even Jiu Jiu, the one with the lowest cultivation and shortest time in the sect, was in the True Immortal Realm. Naturally, their treatment could not compare with that of Qi Yuan and his three disciples.

Not only was there an exceptional spirit-gathering grand array here, there were also many servant disciples. Several Grand Protection Arrays forbidden by the Sect Rules had even been erected around the pavilions, making it an ideal place for cultivation.

Jiu Jiu was the youngest and greatly doted upon by her senior brothers and sisters. Her residence was near Jiu Wu's, and faintly sheltered by the residences of her other senior brothers and sisters.

If Jiu Jiu entered Secluded Cultivation, the others would naturally assume the posture of guarding her seclusion.

Under the furtive gazes of several servant disciples, Jiu Jiu flew back into her pavilion on her own. She kicked off her cloth shoes, jumped barefoot onto the bed carved from green jade, and hugged the two Jade Pots she had just received, letting out a string of delighted chuckles...

"Which one should I drink first? Which one should I drink first?

Little Shou Shou is really wonderful. He can actually make something this good.

The three years are almost over. That 'Ganges Water Old Bai Gan' he buried before is about to be unearthed too. When the time comes, I have to drink to my heart's content!

Slurp... Today, I'll favor Charm of the Beauty first."

"Cough! Cough cough!"

Outside the pavilion, the five-foot-tall short Daoist coughed several times. Jiu Jiu, who had been sprawled on the bed, immediately covered the two Jade Pots in her hands. She glared alertly outside, then relaxed slightly upon seeing who had arrived.

"Fifth Senior Brother, you could've just come in. I didn't activate the array."

"Didn't Eldest Senior Sister just scold me before? We may be close, but we still need to observe propriety." Jiu Wu smiled as he spoke. He took two steps forward, then abruptly stopped.

There was simply nowhere to step.

Seeing the wine jars, short shirts, bellybands... tossed everywhere before him, Jiu Wu slapped his forehead and complained, "Little Jiu, you're already eight or nine hundred years old. You still don't know how to clean your room?"

Jiu Jiu sniffed a few times and waved her hand. "There's no strange smell or anything. It's fine."

She casually put the Jade Pots into her Storage magic treasure and sat cross-legged upon the bed.

Jiu Wu laboriously cleared a path through the pile of clutter on the floor and sat down beside the low table, pondering for a while.

"Lately, Jiu Jiu, you've been going to Lesser Qiong Peak rather often," Jiu Wu said with a smile. "What exactly do you go there for?"

"Just to play. What else could I do?" Jiu Jiu blinked. "Why are you suddenly asking, Fifth Senior Brother?"

"Nothing, nothing." Jiu Wu repeatedly waved his hands, then scratched his head. Thinking of the task his senior and junior sisters had assigned him, he found himself unable to speak.

How was he supposed to say this?

He couldn't exactly ask his junior sister outright whether she had developed springtime feelings for someone on Lesser Qiong Peak, could he?

Jiu Wu rallied himself. "Cough! I remember that during the first few decades after you joined the sect, you were quite close with Junior Brother Qi Yuan of Lesser Qiong Peak."

"That's right." Jiu Jiu nodded. "Senior Brother Qi Yuan took good care of me back then."

Jiu Wu hesitated. "Then you... are you perhaps..."

Jiu Jiu frowned. "What's wrong with you today, Fifth Senior Brother? Why are you hemming and hawing?"

"I, I... sigh!"

Jiu Wu stamped his foot. "Then I'll ask plainly!

Lately, Little Jiu, you've been running to Lesser Qiong Peak every day. Even while being punished with a drinking ban, you're still so energetic every day!

Your senior sisters have been wondering whether... well, whether..."

"Whether what?"

"You!"

"Me?" Jiu Jiu's brows knitted tightly, her eyes filled with bafflement.

Jiu Wu drew in a breath all the way to the tip of his throat. Steeling his Dao heart, he turned it into a question.

"Have you perhaps!

Made some kind of breakthrough..."

"How could a breakthrough be so easy?" Jiu Jiu rolled her eyes. "Tell my senior sisters not to worry. If I encounter a bottleneck, I'll ask you all for advice. I won't rashly try to force my way through it alone."

"That's good, that's good. Then I'll head back first. You focus on your cultivation."

Jiu Wu fled in disarray. He rose and hurried to the door, then turned back to ask, "Oh, right, Little Jiu. I raised those two nests of spiders you brought back from Lesser Qiong Peak before, but they all died. Ask that Martial Nephew Changshou whether he has any more. I'll trade him treasures or pills for them."

"Mm, got it. I'll ask for you next time I go over."

Jiu Wu immediately smiled faintly.

Tsk. Ever since Jiu Jiu had brought back a nest of Three-Eyed Heavy-Pupil Spiders two years ago, he had obtained their spider silk, which allowed him to see things from afar. Life had suddenly gained many new pleasures.

Especially when he set up the spider silk beside the pool where his Dao companion often bathed—the sight...

"Tsk tsk." Jiu Wu lowered his head and hurried away, wind whistling around him all the way.

"Fifth Senior Brother was so strange today. Forget it, he probably had a fight with Fourth Senior Sister."

Jiu Jiu shook her head, then activated the array outside the pavilion. Lying on the bed, she took out the two Jade Pots and once more sank into her happily agonizing dilemma.

Inside the Lesser Qiong Peak Alchemy Room.

Li Changshou stood before the alchemy furnace. He had already placed the medicinal ingredients for the next batch inside and turned toward the Meditation Cushion on the left.

Holding a Jade Card in his left hand, he carefully sensed the changes throughout the grand array. After repeatedly confirming that there was no danger, he casually activated the furnace's restrictions, and several flames immediately appeared inside it.

He then moved to sit on the Meditation Cushion to the furnace's left. But as he lowered himself, a puff of green smoke burst around him, and his body vanished in an instant, leaving behind only a paper figure.

The paper figure within the green smoke transformed into Li Changshou's appearance in the blink of an eye, while that wisp of green smoke swiftly seeped into a small hole beneath the Meditation Cushion and disappeared.

The Illusionary Form Technique—Old Daoist Qi Yuan's "specialty." As his chief disciple, Li Changshou had naturally learned it long ago.

In fact, the things he could transform into now outnumbered his master's by... several times.

PS: The recent chapters have all been quite long. The new book hasn't been out for long, yet its word count is already charging toward a hundred thousand.

Well... if you big shots don't give me more votes or something, I'll start controlling the length of each chapter (I humbly beg for recommendation votes and bookmarks~).