Chapter 6: 006

Debt-free and lighthearted, Yan Zhichuan dawdled for a while before finally setting off for the Death Peak, where the living went to die.

Afraid she wouldn’t be able to resist ravaging the medicinal herbs at Medicine Peak, she made sure to eat her fill beforehand.

Halfway up the mountain, a stone stele towered high.

The four bold characters “Living Go to Die”, written in a flourish of dragon and phoenix strokes, faintly emanated a fierce glow.

The Heavenly Dao System flew close to the inscription and spotted four less conspicuous small characters: Dead Stay Away.

Huh? Living go to die, dead stay away—what the hell was Medicine Peak for?

“Those were left by Medicine Peak’s two ancestors,” Yan Zhichuan explained, her eyes bright. “They had conflicting philosophies—one believed in ‘Don’t treat the living’, the other ‘Life and death are fated; ignore the dead’. In the end, ‘Don’t treat the living’ won.” She recited Nine Abyss Sect gossip like she knew it by heart.

“How did she win?” The Heavenly Dao System was an incarnation of heavenly will, but it only glimpsed Zhan Yujie’s fate to alter her trajectory. Beyond its duties, it knew nothing.

Yan Zhichuan replied, “‘Don’t Treat the Living’ True Person studied medicine while also tempering her body on the side. She conquered with brute force.”

The Heavenly Dao System: “…”

They arrived at Medicine Peak, where a thick medicinal scent wafted from the cultivated fields. Herbs and plants swayed in the breeze, rustling softly.

Little Fat Chirp perched on Yan Zhichuan’s shoulder and faintly caught voices carried on the wind.

The closest was naturally Yan Zhichuan’s own mutterings. Drooling, she brainwashed herself.

That’s not a ginseng baby; it’s a radish. Gotta taste awful.

No money and you want delivery? I’ll send you straight to the afterlife myself, you old hag.

That full-throated curse startled the Heavenly Dao System.

Thank goodness Fellow Daoist arrived in time… otherwise, the wound would’ve healed already.

Senior Sister, help me up. Feed me a pill—I need to keep researching.

Wahhh, I only memorized 789 herbs today…

Yan Zhichuan’s expression remained calm and relaxed.

Good thing she wasn’t from Medicine Peak.

No normal person could stand it there.

“We’ll swing by the medicine hall for materials, borrow some pill flame, then slip out,” Yan Zhichuan whispered. She crouched low like a thief, eyes darting sneakily.

Artifact Peak was no-money-no-entry; Medicine Peak was the same.

Aside from task-assigned items, personal supplies required Pill Jade or sect contribution points.

While Yan Zhichuan went through her routine of running a tab, it suddenly hit her: she was heading down the mountain with Zhan Yujie to exterminate demons—that counted as sect contributions.

Meeting the manager’s gaze, Yan Zhichuan immediately straightened her back.

“I’m going down the mountain with Senior Sister Zhan to slay demons. Give me one portion of each herb.”

The manager drooped her eyelids and pulled out her Heaven-Penetrating Treasure Mirror to contact Wu Jiang.

Yan Zhichuan’s sharp eyes caught Wu Jiang’s contact code. She coughed quickly and changed her order to just the herbs for Forget-Sorrow Pills and Dragon Blood Pills.

Those were her only two formulas lately.

“Have Zhan Yujie come settle the account after the mission.” The manager could approve two sets of herbs. With a flick of her lips, she pinned it on Zhan Yujie.

As for Yan Zhichuan—

She was probably just Zhan Yujie’s tag-along accessory.

After Yan Zhichuan took the herbs and left, the manager suddenly realized.

They’re not medical cultivators? Who’s refining these raw herbs? Why not take finished Forget-Sorrow Pills or Dragon Blood Pills? Full of doubts, she checked the ledger. Medicine Peak didn’t even have those two medicines.

She froze for a moment, then pulled out her Heaven-Penetrating Treasure Mirror and fired off a group message in heartache: “Junior Sister Zhan from Pacify All Under Heaven Peak needs Forget-Sorrow Pills and Dragon Blood Pills, but no one on our Medicine Peak can refine them! She took our sect’s herbs to have Miracle Hand Sect’s medical cultivators do it. If word gets out, we’ll lose all face!”

“I’ve heard of Dragon Blood Pills—lost ancient body-tempering pills for enhancing physique. What’s a Forget-Sorrow Pill?”

“Oh, it’s in the ancient book I memorized yesterday. Forget-Sorrow Pill is an upgraded painkiller powder. It’s like self-deception medicine—the pain lingers after taking it, so few bother refining it.”

“Lost Dragon Blood Pills? No way Miracle Hand Sect has them. I don’t buy it!”

Medicine Peak’s Daoists couldn’t sleep—especially Wu Jiang.

She was on good terms with Zhan Yujie and headed straight to Pacify All Under Heaven Peak without thinking.

Why would a sword cultivator need Forget-Sorrow Pills and Dragon Blood Pills? Gifting them? She knew about the demon sealed in Luofu Immortal City’s Demon Well but couldn’t figure out where these fit. Maybe Zhan Yujie saved someone from Chongxu Sect. For Liu Yanqing? She could probably use them.

Zhan Yujie: “?”

Never heard of them!

Seeing Zhan Yujie’s blank look, Wu Jiang explained, “The junior sister who came to the medicine hall for herbs said she was going down the mountain with you to exterminate demons. Said they were for that.”

Zhan Yujie’s mind quickly conjured an carefree smiling face and those skills that couldn’t even hold a sword steady. “Junior Sister Yan needs them.” Absorbing vital energy from Dan Sand wasn’t enough for breakthrough; she needed other ways to temper herself. Sword cultivators trained with swords, but Yan Zhichuan clearly had no affinity for them. Maybe she really was suited to pill refining. Thinking this, Zhan Yujie rarely showed a pleased expression.

“Junior Sister Yan? Hmm?” Wu Jiang recalled Yan Zhichuan, memories flooding back, and her face darkened. “She ate a whole tree of my spirit fruits back then. I thought she’d burst, but she bounced around fine. Those fruits would’ve gotten a pig to Foundation Establishment instantly. Why’s she still at first layer?”

Zhan Yujie: “.”

She exhaled heavily, reining in harsh words with iron self-control.

“Who’d you ask to refine them?” Wu Jiang ranted about Yan Zhichuan a bit before circling back.

Zhan Yujie lowered her gaze calmly. “Junior Sister Yan wants to refine them herself. Her dream is to become a pill refiner.”

Wu Jiang was stunned. “What? Didn’t she want to lie flat and dream her way to sword immortal? Changed her mind?”

Zhan Yujie said nothing.

It couldn’t be her who’d crushed Yan Zhichuan’s sword immortal dreams.

“Junior Sister Zhan, why not apply to Elder Zhong for a new partner?” Wu Jiang looked at her sympathetically, tapping her temple. “Lots of sect mates say Junior Sister Yan’s got issues up here.”

“Senior Sister Wu, don’t gossip behind backs,” Zhan Yujie said sternly. “Junior Sister Yan’s just too clever for it to show.”

Wu Jiang: ???

Isn’t that just dumb?

Meanwhile, oblivious to how she’d sparked cutthroat competition at Medicine Peak, Yan Zhichuan returned to Nine Abyss Peak beaming, tossed the herbs into the Medicine God Cauldron per the Dao manual’s strict steps, and conjured wisps of pill flame with streams of spell power to control the flickering fire.

“One batch makes one furnace, max nine pills per furnace. Wonder if it’ll produce a Dao Pill.” The Heavenly Dao System peered over, wary of singeing its illusory feathers, keeping its distance.

“I’ll take one, you take one,” Yan Zhichuan quipped mid-process to the Heavenly Dao System.

The Heavenly Dao System ignored her miser math, chirping twice: “Don’t get distracted.”

The Medicine God Cauldron hummed, golden light forming a vortex that pried the lid open a crack.

Rich pill fragrance billowed out like waves, assaulting outward. With a resounding dragon roar that pierced the clouds, nine radiant pills shot from the gap.

“Catch them!” The Heavenly Dao System urged.

Yan Zhichuan “oh”-ed and swiftly drew the nine pills into her palm. But they didn’t hold shape long—the pills melted into a lump, still exuding enticing aroma.

Round pills symbolized “conforming to the heavens.”

What Yan Zhichuan held barely qualified as Dragon Blood Pills, but dragon roars echoed within, and the effects remained intact.

Mysterious golden Dao patterns flowed over the lump. The Heavenly Dao System wanted to eat it but was utterly speechless.

“Told you not to get distracted!” The Heavenly Dao System nearly cried.

“It was the pill flame’s fault,” Yan Zhichuan defended staunchly. She tried kneading it into pills by hand, but no matter her efforts, it wouldn’t form proper spirit pills—though she could slice off a corner. “Does this count as nine pills or one?” she asked warily.

The Heavenly Dao System weakly held up one finger. It comforted itself: first time, a little mishap was fine. Decent start. “Myriad Treasures Pavilion has a Dao Pill you can exchange for herbs, you—”

But before it finished, Yan Zhichuan chomped a bite from the “Dragon Blood Pill cake.”

Nine into one? Bad deal. Better eat it herself.

Wind howled and dragons roared across Nine Abyss Sect—the phenomena couldn’t escape the real-time perception of the sect’s True Persons.

Yan Jizhi arrived first, followed by Sword Peak’s Zhong Zhanxi, then Medicine Peak’s True Person Fang Zhiyi manifesting.

Yan Jizhi scanned Yan Zhichuan and sighed in relief upon seeing her unharmed.

Fang Zhiyi frowned, staring at Yan Zhichuan, eyelids twitching. “Little Zhichuan, what are you eating?”

Yan Zhichuan hadn’t expected pill refining to alarm the True Persons. She wolfed down the Dragon Blood Pill cake in seconds, burped, and said, “Dragon Blood Pills.”

“That lump…” Under Fang Zhiyi’s icy stare, Zhong Zhanxi skipped descriptors and cut straight: “It had Dao charm.”

Fang Zhiyi inhaled deeply. “I can sense it.”

The Medicine God Cauldron remained, residual Dao charm lingering. Superior-grade pills couldn’t birth Dao charm. What Yan Zhichuan ate was surely a Dao Pill.

“Any left?” Fang Zhiyi suppressed the urge to smack her, forcing calm.

Yan Zhichuan blankly shook her head.

Eyes met. Fang Zhiyi declared, “Pack your things. From today, live at Medicine Peak and train under me!” After the sect master brought Yan Zhichuan back, they’d argued over whose disciple she’d be. Once grown, they saw her sword immortal obsession—no talent, no effort. Even forcing growth seemed pointless.

Yan Jizhi had said living muddled was fine.

The peak masters gave up teaching her.

But now, Yan Zhichuan refined pills on her own.

And birthed a Dao Pill first try.

Perfect for Medicine Peak.

“Senior Sister, she’s your disciple, but back when we discussed Dao with Fellow Initiate, he entrusted her to all of Nine Abyss Sect. She’s our shared pupil by rights—you won’t object?” Fang Zhiyi whipped toward lazy Yan Jizhi.

“I-I object.” A feeble voice piped up—Yan Zhichuan’s.

Wu Jiang was fierce.

Medicine Peak’s fields too tempting.

No days off at Medicine Peak.

She didn’t want to get dragged there.

Her pleading gaze flew to Yan Jizhi.

Her master wouldn’t fall asleep on the spot in front of everyone, right?

“Little Zhichuan’s going out for training,” Yan Jizhi spoke.

Fang Zhiyi looked shocked. “Training what? Can’t beat a big goose, and even my peak’s medicine mice are stronger.”

Yan Zhichuan: “?”

Damn, she was being underestimated?!