Chapter 15: 015

Wei Mingyi was eager to join the excitement of blowing up the vein. She hadn’t set foot outside the sect since arriving in the world of cultivation in the Nine Provinces. But Hua Xiaozhu refused. Not only her—even Mo Xuanxiao was ordered to remain in the sect, as neither had reached Foundation Establishment and couldn’t easily resist the dangers of the outside world.

Wei Mingyi felt a pang of regret, but glancing down at her Shizun, who had once again removed herself from worldly concerns, she let it go. Her Shizun still needed looking after. Ah, her sickly Shizun. Though she said nothing, she actually had a clingy streak and couldn’t bear to be left alone for even a moment.

After Hua Xiaozhu left the sect, Wei Mingyi accompanied Wu Chongyun to the Meridian Opening Pool, her mind mulling over ways to become stronger. She now held one hundred Achievement Points and three Talent Points. What could she do? She browsed the System shop’s functional buildings—there was an Artifact Refining Room with an Earthfire Celestial Furnace, the Body Tempering location known as Wind Blades and Frost Swords, a Boundless Sea of Artifacts similar to the sword tombs in novels… She couldn’t afford a single one. Prices were either in the thousands or tens of thousands! Looking at it this way, the one-hundred-point Meridian Opening Pool seemed like a newcomer’s welfare gift given to her for free.

“System, livestream the Assistant Master and the ‘Azure Dye Sand’ for me,” Wei Mingyi mused after a moment of lament, her thoughts returning to the main matter.

The System didn’t respond.

Wei Mingyi clicked her tongue.

Alright, she understood now. The System currently lacked that function.

But if Cangwu City became her territory, could she watch then?

“Shizun, is there a way to rapidly increase my cultivation?” Wei Mingyi turned toward the screen and asked.

A moment later, Wu Chongyun’s voice drifted from behind the screen: “Haste makes waste.”

Wei Mingyi refused to give up and rephrased her question: “Then is there a method to stimulate one’s own potential?” The Cheat Item was excellent, but currently, it couldn’t be used efficiently. Moreover, an increase in cultivation base didn’t necessarily mean an increase in combat ability. The latter would likely require her own training.

Wu Chongyun was silent for a beat before replying, “Life-and-death situations. The Wild Domain.”

Wei Mingyi lowered her gaze, thoughtful.

In the “Pure Domain” controlled by the Heavenly Dao Alliance, the only possible opponents were the clans. But the clans’ power was intertwined like a cockroach nest—poke one and another would appear, unless you grabbed them and cut them down in some unnoticed place, all while guarding against protective talismans placed by their elders. For the Master-Disciple Lineage to train, it was truly difficult. To avoid those troubles, one could only go slaughter Wicked Wraiths in the Wild Domain.

For an ordinary Daoist of a master-disciple lineage, going to the Wild Domain was harder than ascending to heaven. Relying on the great clans’ power would, imperceptibly, lead to being controlled and coerced, and over time, assimilated by them. But they didn’t have that worry. As long as she gathered enough Achievement Points, she could unlock a plot of land in the Wild Domain and possess a brand-new foundation!

All plots in the Wild Domain were priced the same in the System shop. She wasn’t sure about their sizes. The biggest problem, however, was how to scrape together one thousand Achievement Points. Faction hatred yielded two hundred points per instance. Should she go stir up five more feuds? But doing so felt somewhat wicked. Creating too many enemies for the Chongyuan Sect wasn’t worth it. Then they’d just have to wait for the Lu Clan’s collapse. Once Cangwu City was reclaimed, she would automatically inherit the Lu Clan’s Reputation as a 4th-Rate Clan. One thousand Achievement Points would be effortlessly obtained!

Outside the screen.

Wu Chongyun’s gaze fell on the incense burner on the long table, her eyes quickly growing vacant, as if veiled with a shadow. It wasn’t until a peculiar laugh echoed from the Meridian Opening Pool that her expression became animated again, showing a hint of confusion. The wheels of her chair rolled, moving past the screen. Wu Chongyun raised her eyes towards the Meridian Opening Pool, obscured by hazy mist, only a blurry silhouette visible.

“Shizun, what is it?” Wei Mingyi reined in her wandering thoughts.

Wu Chongyun said, “When the mind monkeys and will horses run unchecked, external wickedness breeds.”

Wei Mingyi: “…” She was just idly fantasizing about a comfortable life after getting “rich.” Was even that not allowed?

She didn’t understand, but she obeyed.

Wei Mingyi answered obediently, “Understood, Shizun.”

Wu Chongyun didn’t bother discerning how much sincerity lay in Wei Mingyi’s words. She glanced at Wei Mingyi, then lowered her eyelids, as if falling asleep.

The Meridian Opening Pool was filled with swirling clouds and mist, but looking outward from within, one’s view was unobstructed.

Wei Mingyi looked up to find Wu Chongyun completely motionless, curled in her wheelchair. She endured it for a while, but after finishing her meridian cleansing and marrow washing, she couldn’t help herself. She hurried over to Wu Chongyun and reached out, placing a finger under her nose.

She was genuinely terrified that Wu Chongyun might suddenly just… be gone.

Wu Chongyun didn’t open her eyes.

But she tilted her head away.

Wei Mingyi’s fingers brushed against Wu Chongyun’s skin. She curled them back, unable to resist asking, “Shizun, do you really not know the antidote to ‘Wither and Flourish’ either?” The Sect Leader and Assistant Master were only at Golden Core. But before her injury, her Shizun had already been a Nascent Soul Perfected One. Her breadth of insight didn’t seem like that of someone from a small sect or minor clan.

“Shizun, have you fallen asleep?”

“Shizun, you mustn’t stay silent. We have to find a way to break this poison, then take our revenge!”

…

As Wei Mingyi chattered on and on, Wu Chongyun finally opened her eyes. Within those deathly still eyes flickered a faint, subtle trace of inquiry. But the emotion vanished in an instant, quickly subsiding back into stillness and languid exhaustion.

“I don’t know,” Wu Chongyun replied, her tone indifferent, as if Wei Mingyi hadn’t been speaking about her own body.

Wei Mingyi frowned.

For a split second, she felt her Shizun was lying.

Her gaze, full of probing curiosity, settled on Wu Chongyun’s face. A few breaths later, the wheelchair rolled backward with a rumbling sound. Startled for a moment, Wei Mingyi chased after it in a few steps, quickly pressing down on the chair to stop Wu Chongyun from leaving. A radiant smile bloomed on her lips as she said softly, “Where does Shizun want to go?”

Wu Chongyun said nothing again.

Wei Mingyi didn’t mind either. She nonchalantly began pushing Wu Chongyun out.

“Shizun, let’s go see how Senior Sister Mo’s planting is coming along. Maybe a few miraculous medicinal herbs have suddenly sprouted.”

Wu Chongyun finally deigned to speak: “Are you dreaming?”

Wei Mingyi: “…”

Did she really have to speak up right at that moment?

Indeed, things that didn’t exist couldn’t simply grow out of the soil.

The types of herbs planted in the Yellow-Tier Spirit Fields on Second Peak weren’t abundant, mostly raw materials for refining “Fasting Pills,” “Blood Coagulation Pills,” and “Yuan Restoration Pills.” These three were the most basic pills, effortless for someone like Hua Xiaozhu. Even Mo Xuanxiao could refine them batch after batch. It wasn’t that they couldn’t refine others, but the top-tier pills were tightly controlled by the clans and the Heavenly Dao Alliance. Refining them would make them extremely difficult to offload. Even if worth thousands of Pill Jades, what use was value if it remained stuck in one’s hands? Only the most basic pills were overlooked, leaving those tiny gaps to be exploited.

“Even mortals could gather Azure Dye Sand. Couldn’t mortals be hired for watering and turning the soil?” Wei Mingyi asked, watching Mo Xuanxiao tirelessly working in the field.

“Technically, yes,” Mo Xuanxiao sighed despondently. “But, Junior Sister, do we look like we can support a dependent population? Before you came, we almost couldn’t get by. It was the Assistant Master—your Shizun—who pawned her few valuables to get some Pill Jades.”

Wei Mingyi: “.”

So poor she was about to cry.