I missed you!

"What is it?"

Ye Fei took the Storage Pouch, looking somewhat puzzled.

"I didn't look."

Jiang Yiyun spoke with an innocent expression.

Her answer left Ye Fei speechless, and he could only shake his head helplessly.

Then, with a thought, he sent a wisp of divine sense sweeping inside.

There were only two things inside: a bronze Pill Furnace and a book titled the Pill Canon.

How extravagant. She could have just handed them to me. Why bother with a Storage Pouch?

Ye Fei grumbled inwardly, marveling at the lavish wealth of a Nascent Soul Cultivator.

After all, ninety-nine percent of the outer disciples of the Free and Easy Gate still carried their swords on their backs.

He had once been the same.

Yet even a casual gift from Jiang Mengyun came packed in a Storage Pouch.

The gulf between them was truly enormous.

"Senior Brother Ye, where will I stay? Are we going to live together?"

After looking around the Cave Abode again, Jiang Yiyun asked somewhat shyly.

Only now did she notice that there was just one stone chamber.

"How could the two of us live together!"

"Junior Sister Yiyun, sit here and wait. I'll carve out another stone chamber for you."

Her words left Ye Fei thoroughly embarrassed. He hurriedly stood and carved out another stone chamber on the other side of the sitting room.

He truly could not understand why Jiang Mengyun had agreed to this arrangement.

To put more distance between them, Ye Fei even made a corridor about twenty feet long between the stone chamber and the sitting room.

Sitting on the stone stool, Jiang Yiyun watched him bustle about with adoration in her eyes, her heart fluttering nonstop.

At that moment, she felt blissfully happy.

Never before in her life had she experienced this feeling.

"Junior Sister Yiyun, you can furnish the room yourself. I'm going to check the Herb Garden."

Once he finished carving out the chamber, Ye Fei left as though fleeing.

How could Jiang Yiyun's expression have escaped his notice?

It made him feel rather uneasy.

He did not want to linger in that cramped space.

After leaving the Cave Abode, Ye Fei took out the Jade Slip he had bought from the Flowing Cloud Merchant Association with a thought.

After scanning its contents with his divine sense, he followed the small path beside the Medicine Field uphill.

Silverleaf Grass, dark frost flower, Golden Ginseng, jadeblood vine, purpleleaf sunflower...

As he walked, Ye Fei identified the spirit herbs before him using the information in the Jade Slip.

After walking several hundred yards uphill, Ye Fei discovered the pattern in how the herbs were planted.

The higher he went, the higher the grade of the spirit herbs.

By the time Ye Fei neared the summit, the herbs he encountered were all supreme-grade spirit herbs.

According to the Jade Slip, these spirit herbs were exceptionally rare throughout the Cultivation World.

"Uncle-Master Jiang really is wealthy."

Thinking of all the spirit herbs he had seen along the way, Ye Fei could not help sighing in admiration.

If they were all exchanged for Spirit Stones, they would fetch at least several million.

"Since my assignment is to tend the Herb Garden, I might as well start now."

After marveling for a while, Ye Fei stretched, then reached out with his right hand and pulled a wooden bucket from the Azure Dragon Sword.

He had stored it inside the Azure Dragon Sword to water his spirit herb fields, and now it came in handy.

Using his divine sense, Ye Fei drew bucket after bucket of pool water from the Azure Dragon Sword.

Then he poured all that water onto the Medicine Field before him.

In this way, Ye Fei worked downhill, watering the Medicine Field bit by bit.

Since he did everything with his divine sense, he worked quickly. Watering the entire Herb Garden took only four hours.

"Senior Brother Ye, you're finally back."

The moment Ye Fei returned to the Cave Abode, Jiang Yiyun hurried over to greet him.

"Do you need something, Junior Sister Yiyun?"

Having seen Jiang Yiyun sitting in a daze on the stone stool in the sitting room, Ye Fei asked curiously.

"I missed you!"

Jiang Yiyun's pretty face flushed slightly, and there was even a wheedling note in her voice.

She truly meant what she said. Whenever she recalled how Ye Fei had risked his life for her, excitement surged through her heart. She had experienced many similar situations, but none of those other people had cared whether she lived or died; they had only fled for their own lives. Ye Fei alone had not only saved her twice in succession, but had even been willing to sacrifice himself to buy her time to escape. In Jiang Yiyun's eyes, only a man like Ye Fei was a true man, someone she could entrust her entire life to.

"Junior Sister Yiyun, I need to study how to refine pills. I'll head back to the Cultivation Room."

Ye Fei had no idea what Jiang Yiyun was thinking. Hearing such blunt words from her, he instantly lost his composure.

He glanced toward Jiang Mengyun's Cave Abode, instinctively shrank back, then dashed into his own stone chamber.

Good heavens!

What am I supposed to do if this keeps up?

Sitting on the stone bed, Ye Fei wailed inwardly at the thought of Jiang Yiyun outside.

He truly had no interest in this girl whatsoever.

Besides, apart from her mouth, there really was nothing about Jiang Yiyun that interested him.

She had neither breasts nor a backside to speak of.

But if it were Uncle-Master Jiang...

As Jiang Mengyun's towering curves, too ample for one hand to grasp, surfaced in Ye Fei's mind, his eyes instantly took on an entranced look.

"Pah, pah, pah!"

Nothing but these filthy thoughts.

The moment those thoughts surfaced, shame washed over Ye Fei. He hurriedly spat several times and cast aside his distracting thoughts.

Better to focus on proper business.

Ye Fei forced himself to calm down, then took out all three things Jiang Mengyun had given him with a thought.

The Alchemy Formula Jade Slip, the Pill Canon, and the Bronze Alchemy Furnace.

Looking at the three objects before him, Ye Fei held his breath and focused, picking up the Alchemy Formula Jade Slip first.

With a single sweep of his divine sense, all the contents of the Jade Slip appeared in his mind.

There was not much inside. It introduced the various steps of pill refinement and the things to watch out for in each one.

Overall, pill refinement had five steps: Spirit Herb Liquefaction, Spirit Liquid Purification, Medicinal Liquid Fusion, Medicine Condensation and Shaping, and Pill Formation and Extraction.

Each step seemed simple, yet every one posed considerable difficulties.

Take Spirit Herb Liquefaction, for instance. Poor heat control would cause the main components to be lost, reducing the number of pills produced.

Purification went without saying. If the medicinal liquid was impure, the furnace could easily explode during fusion.

Even if its purity was high enough, combining the liquids in the wrong order would cause their medicinal properties to clash and still blow up the furnace.

Medicine Condensation and Shaping was even harder.

It tested not only heat control, but also how precisely the medicine was divided. Increasing the number of pills while ensuring sufficient potency was the true test of an Alchemist's skill.

Pill Formation and Extraction was no simple matter either.

There were countless pill-forming hand techniques, and pills of different attributes required different techniques and numbers of hand seals.

Merely mastering those techniques was no easy task.

The slightest carelessness could cause medicinal potency to leak away at best, or shatter the pills and explode the furnace at worst.

"This really isn't simple."

After studying everything carefully, Ye Fei could not help drawing a deep breath.

Pill refinement was far more difficult than he had imagined.

After committing these Alchemy Formulas to memory, Ye Fei took out the Pill Canon.

It recorded formulas for various pills, along with the medicinal properties and principles of every spirit herb used in them, as well as some possible substitutes.

The contents were extremely detailed, and Ye Fei memorized them all.

"I still can't refine pills yet!"

Looking at those complicated pill-forming hand seals, Ye Fei shook his head helplessly.

Without mastering the hand seals, pill refinement was nothing but empty talk.

Although Ye Fei had memorized all the formulas, he could not perform the pill-forming hand techniques without practicing them.

Even after practicing, a lack of proficiency could still cause the furnace to explode.

Fortunately, Ye Fei had watered all the Medicine Fields beforehand. With the pool water's heaven-defying effects, they would not need tending for a while.

Thus, Ye Fei sat cross-legged inside the Cave Abode and patiently began practicing the various pill-forming hand techniques.

It was a tedious process with no shortcuts. All Ye Fei could do was practice repeatedly.

Time passed quickly, and half a month flew by in the blink of an eye.

"Senior Brother Ye, are you still cultivating?"

Seeing that Ye Fei had not even stepped outside his stone chamber for half a month, Jiang Yiyun grew anxious and could not help calling from outside.

"Do you need something, Junior Sister Yiyun?"

Hearing her call, Ye Fei had no choice but to stop and leave the secluded chamber.

"You're truly a cultivation maniac. You haven't even come out for half a month. Don't you need to eat?"

Jiang Yiyun pouted, looking somewhat angry.

"I bought some Grain-Avoidance Pills when I went out, so I don't need food."

Ye Fei explained sheepishly.

"You were brought here to look after the Medicine Field. Aren't you going to water it or pull some weeds?"

Jiang Yiyun continued searching for excuses.

"I watered the Medicine Field before. It should be growing quite well now, shouldn't it?"

Ye Fei asked doubtfully.

With that, he walked straight out of the Cave Abode and looked toward the Medicine Field.

"Look, the Medicine Field is flourishing much more than when I arrived."

Ye Fei pointed at the spirit herbs, which had clearly grown taller since then.

"Hmph! You big jerk! All you do is find excuses to avoid me."

To his surprise, Jiang Yiyun stamped her foot angrily at his words, gave a cold huff, and ran toward Jiang Mengyun's Cave Abode.

What's wrong?

I haven't done anything wrong, have I?

Ye Fei scratched his head, utterly baffled.

"Auntie! Ye Fei is a big jerk. Find some way to teach him a lesson."

Inside Jiang Mengyun's Cave Abode, Jiang Yiyun sat beside her aunt, fuming.

"You're a young lady. Why can't you show a little restraint?"

"Acting like this will only scare Ye Fei away."

Jiang Mengyun shook her head gently, looking exasperated at her failure to live up to expectations.

"Then what should I do so Ye Fei won't avoid me?"

Hearing Jiang Mengyun say that, Jiang Yiyun immediately grew anxious.

"Raise your cultivation as quickly as you can. With your aptitude, reaching qi refining perfection within a year will be no problem at all."

"Then you can enter the Divine Feather Secret Realm with Ye Fei and fight shoulder to shoulder. Spend time together gradually, and you'll find a place in his heart."

Jiang Mengyun patiently reassured her.

"But I can't settle down to cultivate!"

Jiang Yiyun glanced toward the North Peak, feeling troubled.

For the past half month, her heart had been filled with thoughts of Ye Fei, leaving her unable to calm down.

Yet Ye Fei kept avoiding her and would not even see her, which infuriated her.

"If you can't, return to Divine Feather City for now. Once you reach qi refining perfection, I'll come get you."

"The path to immortality stretches into the mist. A man doesn't want an empty showpiece, but a woman who can keep walking beside him."

"So, if you truly want to become Ye Fei's Dao companion, you absolutely must not let your cultivation fall behind."

Jiang Mengyun sighed softly and explained patiently.

"All right, I'll listen to you, Auntie. I'll return to Divine Feather City."

Hearing this, Jiang Yiyun lightly bit her red lip, her gaze firm.