Hua Lian, Jade Maiden Sect's Chief Disciple

Xiao Yu naturally sensed that gloomy killing intent as well.

He hurriedly dropped to one knee, cupped his fists, and shouted, "Master! While fleeing for my life yesterday, this disciple picked up two senior brothers' storage pouches. This is all this disciple owns... Please accept them with a smile!"

As he spoke, he took out the two storage pouches.

Seeing Xiao Yu put on such an act, Elder Wu impatiently waved a hand.

"This old man has no use for your scraps of broken copper and rotten iron. Go grind the medicinal ingredients in the back. This old man is heading out!"

After saying that, Wu Chang released the Jade Gourd again and flew away.

Xiao Yu bowed with a smiling face. Only after the other man had vanished did he finally let out a breath.

That old bastard had probably gone looking for fresh Human Pill materials again. His life was hanging by a thread once more.

Thinking of the reward for that herb-gathering mission he had accepted before, it seemed to have been a Human Pill?

Could that mission have been issued by Elder Wu...?

To be safe, he should just honestly go grind the medicinal ingredients.

But he could not tell any of those herbs apart at all. Looking at basket after basket of the stuff, he immediately asked Bai Yue in the Judgment Room.

When Bai Yue heard that Xiao Yu had been captured and brought back to the Hehuan Sect, her face darkened at once. "You still couldn't escape? What use do I have for you?!"

With an irritated expression, Xiao Yu stepped forward and slapped her again. "You fucking want to start this again?"

Bai Yue had just been about to beg forgiveness and admit her mistake.

Then Xiao Yu...

Half an hour later...

Xiao Yu looked at the speechless Bai Yue and spoke again. "That man has left. The situation doesn't look good. If I don't finish grinding the herbs before he returns, he'll probably use me as medicine!"

At this point, Bai Yue stopped hiding anything. "I'm a third-grade Alchemist! I'll teach you! If you get the chance, you must take me away. If the Hehuan Sect's experts discover me, you definitely won't be able to keep me..."

Xiao Yu chuckled softly. "Naturally. I'm still quite reluctant to part with you, Sect Master Bai Yue~ Teach me alchemy properly. Later, I still need to settle the score with your disciple Ye Zhirou!"

Now the two of them were truly grasshoppers tied to the same rope.

Still, Xiao Yu did not dare release Bai Yue. He had seen just how sharp Elder Wu's nose was.

He could only hold up the herbs himself, describe their appearance and scent, then activate the Judgment Room's communication function so Bai Yue inside could hear what was happening outside.

That way, she could teach him!

"This is Profound Yin Grass. Sort it out and place it somewhere cool and shaded!"

"The fragrance goes straight down your throat. This should be Alluring Fragrance Grass. Put it in a wooden box to keep its scent from leaking out!"

Xiao Yu's nerves remained taut the whole time.

He studied with absolute focus, terrified of making a mistake.

Just as he was fully absorbed in grinding the ingredients,

he suddenly heard some strange movement coming from the storeroom behind him.

Bai Yue in the Judgment Room heard it too.

And why did that sound seem somewhat familiar to her?

Xiao Yu had not wanted to meddle in other people's business.

He only wanted to grind the herbs.

Bai Yue cocked her ear to listen. After confirming it again and again, her voice suddenly trembled. "Lian'er? Is that Lian'er?"

She rose to her feet in boundless anticipation. "Quick... go take a look! It should be my disciple, Hua Lian!"

Xiao Yu immediately became unwilling. "You want me to wander around now? If that old fellow finds out, we'll both be finished..."

Listening to the sound, Bai Yue began pleading at once. "I, Bai Yue, have never begged anyone in my life... That person must be my poor disciple. I beg you, help her..."

"I... I'm willing to teach you alchemy! I'll teach you cultivation. Please, help Lian'er..."

Xiao Yu looked around after hearing that, clearly unwilling to go.

But just then, the system suddenly sounded.

[New wicked woman detected. Host, proceed to unlock the mission!]

Xiao Yu immediately stood up. Another one?

Following the sound to the storeroom in the back,

Xiao Yu's expression instantly turned uneasy.

Before he even entered, he smelled blood...

An incomparably foul, fishy stench of blood.

The moment he entered the storeroom, his eyes turned cold.

Right in front of him stood more than ten massive medicine vats, each one exuding a strange medicinal odor.

Then he suddenly saw a woman in a long azure robe hanging from the wall ahead.

Her features were like jade, her skin fair and her beauty exquisite.

Her graceful curves looked like a work of art!

[New wicked woman detected!]

[Name] Hua Lian

[Age] 18

[Cultivation] Foundation Establishment, Fourth Layer (crippled)

[Appearance] Beauty score: 97 points; height: 172 cm; weight: 48.5 kg

[Aptitude] Supreme Ice Spirit Root.

[Personality] Overbearing and unreasonable, spoiled and willful, places extreme importance on her reputation. For the sake of her reputation, she can slaughter innocents without restraint. She admires the immortal seedlings of great righteous cultivation clans.

[Background] The Jade Maiden Sect Master's chief disciple, a candidate for the next generation's righteous saintess, an orphan.

[Mission to judge wicked woman Hua Lian activated. Host must ensure her safety. After completing the mission to judge Bai Yue, unlock the second Judgment Room! Each Judgment Room can only contain one person!]

Xiao Yu slowly raised his head and only then discovered that blood covered the woman's facial features.

The corners of her eyes, the corners of her mouth, her nose!

All of it was blood!

Yet this woman did not seem to have been among the people who had tried to kill him yesterday.

Looking at Hua Lian's state, Xiao Yu said in a low voice, "Could Elder Wu have fed her a Prison Phoenix Pill? If she doesn't find a man... it'll probably keep burning her blood until she dies!"

Although Bai Yue could not see outside,

based on her instincts forged over many years, she could vaguely guess what was out there.

"You... what is beside you?"

Looking at the more than ten medicine vats, Xiao Yu subconsciously swallowed. "Your disciple's pipa bones are hooked by two steel hooks. She's hanging on the wall like that. The Prison Phoenix Pill has probably been acting up for a long time. If it isn't dealt with soon, she may die..."

"There are more than ten large medicine vats beside her... Your disciple's blood is dripping onto the floor and flowing toward those vats..."

Bai Yue's entire body trembled beyond recognition after hearing that.

She could roughly guess what was inside those medicine vats...

When Hua Lian heard a man's voice, she instantly twisted violently.

She frantically tugged at the steel hooks embedded in her body, causing blood to spray out.

Xiao Yu's heart leaped into his throat at the sight. "Don't move!! If you keep struggling, you'll die!"

As if she were deaf, Hua Lian shrieked hysterically in Xiao Yu's direction.

Bai Yue in the Judgment Room cried out with a face full of despair, "Help her... Help my disciple! Hurry..."

Xiao Yu frowned at her words. After thinking it over, he still made his move.

Half an hour later.

Hua Lian opened her eyes with some difficulty.

She felt the piercing agony from the steel hooks through her body.

She had not even noticed what Xiao Yu had done to her.

Seeing that she had stopped moving, Xiao Yu

quickly followed Bai Yue's instructions and found a Blood-Staunching Pill.

Elder Wu probably would not notice one pill missing, right?

"Don't move. Take this Blood-Staunching Pill!"

As Xiao Yu spoke, he brought the pill over.

The moment Hua Lian saw Xiao Yu, her face twisted savagely.

At that instant, she finally realized something.

"You demonic-path scoundrel!"

"Damned lecherous thief—! You actually... actually..."

She kicked at him at once, but the steel hooks yanked her back.

[Wicked woman Hua Lian detected repaying kindness with enmity. The host risked his life to save her, yet she attacked the host. Her sin value has risen to 15%!]

Xiao Yu could not be bothered to explain.

He grabbed the Blood-Staunching Pill and forcefully slapped it straight into her mouth.

With her cultivation crippled, Hua Lian was no match for Xiao Yu at all.

She immediately coughed and swallowed the Blood-Staunching Pill.

Bai Yue shouted anxiously from the Judgment Room, "Lian'er? Quickly tell her not to move around! Think of something! Tell her I sent you!"

Xiao Yu had learned his lesson. The system only assigned him missions; it did not care about his personal safety.

He certainly could not just save her like this!

He had no way to take her in now. One Judgment Room could only hold one person, so he had to judge Bai Yue first to obtain the second Judgment Room.

Moreover, if he wanted to take in Hua Lian, he had to raise her sin value to 100%!

Bai Yue could be taken in directly only because she had been the system's initial reward.

Xiao Yu immediately rejected Bai Yue's suggestion. "Don't be stupid! What if she betrays us?"

Bai Yue panicked at once. "No! My disciple won't hurt you... I watched her grow up!"

Xiao Yu sneered coldly. "I don't want to take any more risks. Who knows whether she'll sell us out just to survive?"

"I can only help your disciple this much! I need to go grind the herbs!"

After saying that, Xiao Yu shut the storeroom door.

Hua Lian continued cursing inside.

Her shouts never ceased.

Xiao Yu simply ground all the medicinal ingredients.

Not only that, he even cleaned the alchemy room from top to bottom.

If he wanted to live, he could only curry favor with that old fellow.

After thinking about it, he ran to the kitchen and started cooking.

Why not show off some modern cooking skills?

If Elder Wu ate happily, perhaps he would not kill him?

He heated oil in the wok and fired up the stove.

Bai Yue wore a melancholy expression in the Judgment Room.

She began recalling the first time she had met Hua Lian, when the girl had still been a small child.

Bai Yue had picked her up from a pile of corpses in the mortal world.

She had always raised Hua Lian as though she were her own daughter.

"Master! Lian'er will become an outstanding cultivator like Master someday too! Admired by tens of thousands!"

Bai Yue blankly recalled all the moments from the past.

If she had not mistakenly trusted her second disciple, their Jade Maiden Sect would never have been ambushed.

She had always regarded Lian'er as her own daughter.

She knew the girl had not chosen to kill herself perhaps because she wanted to avenge her...

Everyone thought Bai Yue was already dead.

But what face did she have left to go out and acknowledge her now?

She was in agony...

Many of her other disciples had chosen suicide rather than suffer humiliation.

As for the rest, some probably no longer even had the chance to take their own lives.

As their master, she had to find a way to save them!

She had to find a way...

Just then, she seemed to smell a fragrance drifting in from outside.

Such fragrant dishes!

Though it smelled wonderful, she had no appetite.

All she wanted now was to save Hua Lian.

Listening to the sounds of cooking outside, Bai Yue pleaded with a trembling face, "Help... help Lian'er! You did obtain her primordial yin, after all... Don't be so heartless and ungrateful..."

"As long as you save my disciple, I... I'll teach you cultivation techniques..."

Before she could finish, a shout suddenly rang out from outside. "Where are the people from the alchemy room? Elder Wu has met with an accident!"

"Hurry, someone come!!!"