Zhao Wanqing's injuries were actually quite serious.
Judging by her complexion alone, she had at least vomited enough blood to become anemic.
On the way back, Zhao Wanqing had also taken an emergency pill to keep her condition from worsening.
Li Xingtian had his reasons for bringing Zhao Wanqing back to the Courtyard House first.
That ritual formation was essentially identical to the one inside the Clearwind Sect's mine.
They very likely shared the same origin. Li Xingtian had felt as much the moment he saw that corner of the ritual formation in the village.
That was why Li Xingtian had suggested he memorize the ritual layout while Zhao Wanqing went inside to search for clues.
It would be best to report this to his master first, to see whether there were any hidden dangers and whether the Clearwind Sect was behind it.
Or they could simply frame the Clearwind Sect and have the Demon-Suppression Bureau wipe it out, cutting off future trouble at the root. But that step would also require careful planning.
Otherwise, the Demon-Suppression Bureau might end up tracing the investigation back to their own sect.
Whether it was Zhao Wanqing's commission or the Demon-Suppression Bureau's investigation, neither mattered as much to Li Xingtian as their little sect, which currently had only three members.
The commotion in the courtyard was considerable. Li Yingling had not gone to sleep yet, and she opened her door when she heard it.
Her gaze quickly settled on Zhao Wanqing. Her aura was unsteady and her face pale; one glance was enough to tell she was badly injured.
"Are you seriously injured?" Li Yingling asked.
Zhao Wanqing took a deep breath, suppressing the chaotic energy within her. "It's nothing too serious. The Demon-Suppression Bureau has professional physicians."
Li Yingling sounded sincere. Worried that Zhao Wanqing might refuse, she even hurried forward a few steps and took her hand.
"Since you're already here, my master's alchemy skills are second to none, especially when it comes to healing pills."
"I'm sorry to trouble you so much, Senior..."
"No trouble! My master happens to be adjusting the flavor of his pills. Helping him taste-test them would be doing him a favor." Li Yingling glanced at her junior brother beside her. "Isn't that right, Junior Brother?"
Li Xingtian was rather speechless at that, but clearly, if he did not support his senior sister now, she would have an excuse to make him eat first the next time their master concocted some bizarre pill.
Then he remembered his master's Flour Pills...
In the end, Li Xingtian spoke against his conscience. "Senior Sister is right."
"Very well. I happen to have a few new ideas." Chu Xingchen did not decline. After all, both his disciples now regarded his pills as though they were poison.
This was the perfect opportunity to prove himself.
Still holding Zhao Wanqing's hand, Li Yingling instructed her junior brother beside her.
"Junior Brother, go get the wok."
The wok? Zhao Wanqing's brows drew together slightly. What could they possibly need a wok for?
But then she saw Chu Xingchen take several spirit herbs out of his Spatial Ring.
Was he... going to make pills right here?
Li Xingtian also brought out the iron wok from the kitchen, the one reserved specifically for alchemy.
An ominous thought rose in Zhao Wanqing's mind. Was he planning to make pills in an iron wok?
She had never seen an alchemist use an iron wok to make pills.
As it turned out, good premonitions rarely came true, while bad ones hit the mark every time.
Zhao Wanqing soon witnessed quite the spectacle of iron-wok alchemy.
A large wokful of water and spirit plants was soon condensed into a small, dark green ball of liquid, wafting the spirit plants' distinctive natural scent-the rank smell of grass.
Zhao Wanqing's eyes widened. He could really make pills in an iron wok?!
Seeing Zhao Wanqing's expression, Li Yingling thought she was frightened and offered some reassurance.
"Don't be afraid."
The truly frightening part was still to come.
"Huh?" Zhao Wanqing uttered in confusion.
But this time, Chu Xingchen really had thought things through.
First of all, bitterness was a relative matter of taste. If he truly could not deal with the bitterness, he could take another path and deal with the sense of taste instead!
If you couldn't taste the bitterness, then it wasn't bitter, was it?
There were plenty of ways to eliminate the sense of taste. This time, Chu Xingchen had chosen an herb that also replenished blood.
Now he could heal injuries and replenish blood in one fell swoop.
Given Li Xingtian's utter hatred of flour, Chu Xingchen decided to leave it out this time.
"Done! Come, give it a try."
Chu Xingchen wrapped the intensely green ball of liquid in spiritual energy and brought it before Zhao Wanqing.
Zhao Wanqing had watched the entire refining process, and naturally, she recognized those spirit plants. Every one of them was used to heal injuries.
In theory, whatever he made from those ingredients should be safe to consume.
But looking at the dark green ball of liquid before her...
Zhao Wanqing steeled herself and swallowed it outright.
It did taste somewhat bitter at first, but that quickly disappeared.
As the green medicine slid down her throat, however, it triggered a violent reaction.
It was a feeling difficult to describe, a hideous sensation of her body instinctively rejecting the medicine.
From the moment she swallowed it, her body began fighting it fiercely.
Yet the medicinal effect seemed to ignore her body's resistance, barging straight into her system.
It was as vicious as a bandit kicking down a door.
And its effects really were quite good. Zhao Wanqing could clearly feel her internal organs recovering.
Only, her internal organs were also rejecting that medicinal power.
Yet she could also feel the soothing relief of recovery.
At that moment, comfort and discomfort struck simultaneously.
It was like someone tickling the sole of her left foot with a feather while someone else scratched an itch on the sole of her right.
The uncomfortable feeling of having an itch scratched, but in the wrong spot.
Zhao Wanqing had only one thought now. Why did this medicine feel even more sinister than those evil cultivators?!
After glancing at Zhao Wanqing's strange expression, Li Xingtian spoke to his senior sister beside her.
"Senior Sister, look after her for now. I have something to discuss with Master."
"No problem." Li Yingling agreed at once.
Her second junior brother clearly had something to tell their master that this woman from the Demon-Suppression Bureau could not be allowed to hear.
Naturally, Li Yingling was willing to cooperate.
Inside the room.
"Master, whether those evil cultivators belonged to the Clearwind Sect remains open to question, but their methods probably share the same origin as those of the Clearwind Sect's evil cultivators."
Li Xingtian picked up the paper and brush on the table and carefully drew the ritual formations from the mine and the village.
"Only, their use of blood qi differed somewhat from the Clearwind Sect's. The Clearwind Sect favored defense, while those evil cultivators focused on offense."
"The evil cultivators' blood qi corrosion was extremely powerful. If those people in the Clearwind Sect were acting on someone else's orders too, then another enormous force may be controlling all of this from behind the scenes."
Chu Xingchen nodded lightly at that. "Then what do you have in mind?"
"Snatching chestnuts from the fire is naturally out of the question," Li Xingtian said seriously. "The evil cultivator who ambushed us in the village today was only at foundation establishment peak, and his techniques weren't strong."
"So I think the Clearwind Sect is the big fish. If we report the Clearwind Sect..."
Li Xingtian stopped abruptly there. He had finished drawing both ritual layouts in detail.
He also marked the differences between the two formations.
The Clearwind Sect had engaged in evil cultivation practices too, so reporting it would count as a good deed.
But the Clearwind Sect had a Nascent Soul patriarch presiding over it.
A great tree was hard to topple. The Demon-Suppression Bureau in Yuzhou City might not be willing to stir up that hornet's nest.
After all, although the Clearwind Sect had done evil, it had kept its deeds fairly well hidden and avoided flaunting them.
But now that a Whole-Village Living Sacrifice had occurred, if the Black Tortoise Kingdom was willing to act, quite a few sects should be willing to join in.
Chu Xingchen looked at his second disciple, who was staring expressionlessly at the ritual formations he had drawn.
Noticing his master's gaze, Li Xingtian raised his head.
"An opportunity must not be missed. When it's time to make the cut, don't hesitate."
Before you continue