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Only now did she understand that sometimes she couldn't even trust herself, let alone anyone else.

So for now, she chose to trust her instincts. Pei Ling was dangerous, but not in the same way as Qi Zhuoyu's

scheming

nature. Whatever the difference, she just needed to be careful and keep her distance. As long as her medical skills remained useful, she had value. Surely no one would kill her that easily.

What she couldn't understand was why that person had stabbed her to death in her previous life. Her medical skills had been quite good then, and she'd been useful enough.

Refining the Elixirs Pei Ling needed wouldn't take three days. She just wanted time to turn the scraps into something else. With materials so scarce, she'd become adept at putting medicinal dregs and leftovers to use.

Besides, custom dictated that anyone asking a Pill Master to refine Elixirs should provide at least two sets of spirit plants. Success wasn't guaranteed, nor was the number of pills produced. If the Pill Master succeeded on the first try, the remaining spirit plants became part of their payment. They'd earned them with their skill.

Judging by the spirit plants Pei Ling had prepared, he didn't know that rule.

Her cultivation was low, making it hard to refine pills using only the spiritual power stored in her body. Her talent wasn't good enough to draw on it from her surroundings on the spot, either. At times like this, she usually relied on formations and talismans. She could carve a formation directly into the floor, though it would be much less effective. She couldn't afford talismans, so she had to do without them.

Carving the formation she needed into the floor of her room, stroke by stroke, took her an entire day.

After a whole day of gnawing on Grain-Bigone Pills, Qiao Ranran felt so hungry she could have eaten anything. Reaching the Qi Refining Stage had increased her need for food, and all that exertion only made her hungrier.

The Profound Heart Sect was rather cruel in that respect. It didn't even have a disciples' dining hall where she could scrounge a meal. If she wanted food, she had to find it herself. Her cultivation was the lowest on the entire mountain; everyone else had long since stopped needing to eat. Perhaps they thought Grain-Bigone Pills were enough for her?

But she was a simple person. For a decent meal, she reckoned she could get up and keep going!

Qi Zhuoyu had pointed her toward the Back Mountain. She'd asked him before what she could eat besides Grain-Bigone Pills, and Senior Brother Qi had generously said she could eat anything there—as long as she could hunt it down.

She'd suspected then that Qi Zhuoyu was up to no good. In a place as rich in spiritual qi as the Profound Heart Sect, there were bound to be no ordinary, adorable little animals like those in the mortal world. If there were animals at all, they would be demon beasts. Even the most common small demon beast could crush her bones with its steel teeth.

So Qi Zhuoyu's meaning had been clear: she could eat anything she could hunt down.

Qiao Ranran considered herself fairly experienced at hunting. After wandering around the Back Mountain for a while, she found signs of a nest of small demon beasts and took out a Hundred-Beast Pill.

Spirit Jade Rabbits were terribly cute. If they didn't bare their steel teeth, their docile, dopey looks could fool most people. But Spirit Jade Rabbits living in groups were even more frightening. When the whole group went on a rampage, they left nothing growing in their wake and could chew up and swallow every last bone.

Spirit Jade Rabbits weren't especially intelligent, but every group had one or two clever ones.

Qiao Ranran knew how to pick out the most important rabbit's tracks from all the others. She'd learned that in her previous life, because Spirit Jade Rabbits were delicious.

Spirit Jade Rabbits were so cute. Braised, cooked in spicy sauce, or even grilled, they were perfect—slurp.

The scent of the Hundred-Beast Pill spread, and soon there was movement in the surrounding grass. Whatever was hiding there milled about at a cautious distance instead of rushing out at her. That made her all the more certain this group had a leader.

She took out a Water Ginseng. It wasn't worth much and looked like a white radish, but it was crisp and sweet. Spirit Jade Rabbits loved Water Ginseng even more than Hundred-Beast Pills. The moment she took it out, the rustling around her grew louder.

Then a lop-eared rabbit as tall as a person hopped in front of her. If it hadn't been so big that she was afraid to approach it, she would have thought it rather adorable. Its fur was too long for her to see its eyes, but she could tell its attention was fixed on the Water Ginseng in her hand.

The Water Ginseng was thicker than her arm, and she'd have struggled to gnaw through it. To the enormous lop-eared rabbit before her, though, it probably wouldn't be enough for one bite. She glanced at her arm. That wouldn't even get stuck between its teeth.

And here she was, coveting its little rabbits.

Qiao Ranran held the Water Ginseng a little farther out. The Spirit Jade Rabbit leader didn't move. Smart enough to know humans were up to no good, it refused to accept this human's "kindness" without caution. Instead, it shifted its gaze from the Water Ginseng to Qiao Ranran, trying to work out what she wanted.

Demon beasts with some intelligence generally couldn't speak, but they could understand simple words.

"I came looking for something to eat around here, but your whole family seems to be the only thing nearby. This"—she hefted the Water Ginseng in her hand—"is a gift to introduce myself. I hope we can get along?"

The Spirit Jade Rabbit's large ears twitched. It understood. This human had come looking for food, spotted them, and decided to use the Water Ginseng to win them over?

But what did she want to win them over for?

An individual Spirit Jade Rabbit wasn't particularly strong. Their formidable destructive power only emerged when they acted as a group, so they were extremely close-knit. In other words, the greatest virtue of Spirit Jade Rabbits with no brains to speak of was that they obeyed orders. They didn't need brains. Their one leader did the thinking for all of them.

The Spirit Jade Rabbit leader suddenly reached out and poked Qiao Ranran, nearly knocking her over before she could brace herself. She could have sworn she'd just caught a disdainful look through the gaps in its fur!

Qiao Ranran set the Hundred-Beast Pill and Water Ginseng on the ground, stepped back, and said, "I'm not trying to hurt you. I just wanted to ask whether there's any prey nearby I could hunt."

Ranking List

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Transmigration into a Book

Sweet Romance Novel

Transmigration and Rebirth Romance

Dahei Loves Fish

Dual Rebirth

Xianxia Fiction