Two Male and Female Furnaces

Zhang Xiaohua slipped out of Ou Yan's courtyard and headed straight for the summit. It had been dark last night, and he had wanted to avoid the eyes and ears of the Yi Xiang Peak disciples. Yet who would have thought that his own eyes and ears would fail him too? He had not even found the pill room Zhang Xiaohu had described in such detail. Today, he could only take a certain risk and search for a pill room where he could refine pills.

After walking upward from the manor for a while, he came upon several barren herb fields. Though there were still some ordinary herbs in them, the weeds were even more luxuriant, having long since smothered the herbs from sight. They had probably once been planted by Pill-Refining Hall disciples. Later, after Misty Hall took over this place, perhaps there were too few disciples to tend them, or perhaps, because this was the back mountain and Ou Yan lived here, the Misty Hall disciples were forbidden from coming. That was likely why they had fallen into ruin.

Seeing that there were no Yi Xiang Peak disciples around, Zhang Xiaohua emerged from underground and traveled close to the ground, using the lightness skill of Misty Steps to make his way upward bit by bit. Since this had once been Pill-Refining Hall territory, its layout was surely similar to Tianmu Peak's. Once he saw herb fields, this had to be the territory of the Herb Department. If he continued upward for a while, he might reach the Pill Department's territory.

Sure enough, before long, he saw many level, neatly cleared platforms, with quite a few caves plainly visible before him. Zhang Xiaohua was overjoyed. He hurried forward a few steps, chose a cave, and slipped inside. Yet once