Chapter 51 Part 2

“They could have just killed me outright. Why did they always coax me first, then harm me?”

“In the end, I couldn’t repay the kindness, and I couldn’t avenge the hatred either.”

“Wei Mingyi, tell me—am I ungrateful?”

“No.” Wei Mingyi answered without a second thought. When recounting the past, Shizun hadn’t said a word about what she had done for the Grand Elder, for the Wu Clan—but she believed that, given Shizun’s nature, she had done much and simply didn’t wish to speak of it.

Besides, she didn’t quite believe in the “goodness of Spirit Mountain” Shizun mentioned. From everything she’d shown, it was clear she’d never received enough care.

“After leaving Spirit Mountain, I finally saw the world of the Nine Provinces with my own eyes.”

Every glance brought to mind everything Wu Weiheng had told her. Again and again, her understanding was battered by the realities of the world—mixed with the Wither and Flourish poison, with memories of grace and hatred, deceit and betrayal, kith turned kin… She had indeed crossed the life-or-death Emotion-Severing Bridge of Spirit Mountain. Under Wu Jianhuan’s protection, she had broken through the killing formation.

She hadn’t died, but she didn’t feel alive either.

Meager words could never sum up a hundred years of experience. Listening, Wei Mingyi felt her heart ache and swell. She opened her mouth, then found she had nothing to say. After a heavy silence, she managed, “Let’s cure the Wither and Flourish Poison first.”

Wu Chongyun’s gaze was fixed unwaveringly on Wei Mingyi. She asked coldly, “Why do you demand nothing?”

Having opened her heart, Wu Chongyun didn’t seem soft and gentle as before—instead, she bristled with thorns. Wei Mingyi, so used to their intimacy, felt momentarily unaccustomed to this sharp chill. But she knew that the emotion wasn’t aimed at her—it was the remnant of old wounds. Spirit Mountain’s Wu Clan, after all, was the place she’d lived for two hundred years. Could she simply call them strangers and let it all go?

With a quiet inward sigh, Wei Mingyi reached out and embraced Wu Chongyun. Smiling, her tone light and cheerful, she said, “Because I’ve already gained the happiness I wanted.”

The body in her arms stiffened at first, then slowly softened.

Wu Chongyun still loved Wei Mingyi’s embrace. In that warmth, she could forget everything of the past.

“I don’t like people,” Wu Chongyun murmured by Wei Mingyi’s ear.

“I don’t like noise either.”

Wei Mingyi: “Mm-hmm. I’m so annoying.”

Wu Chongyun was silent for a moment, then laughed softly, tightening her arms around Wei Mingyi’s waist. She sighed. “You are annoying.”

The heavy stone in Wei Mingyi’s heart fell away.

Coaxed back to calm again.

She was a master of smoothing ruffled feathers.

The Evil Tide was someone else’s problem in the Wild Domain. Wei Mingyi pulled Wu Chongyun along and swiftly returned to the sect, rushing straight for the Revival Furnace with barely contained urgency.

The first thing she saw was a green snake, belly-up on the ground, its bean-like eyes carrying an almost human look of innocence.

Wei Mingyi: “?” Carefully stepping over the snake, she heard the sound of quarreling from inside. In the courtyard, Mo Xuanxiao was drying herbs with a look of practiced indifference.

“Senior Sister Mo?” Wei Mingyi called out.

“Junior Sister,” Mo Xuanxiao replied with a stretch. “Another quarter hour and the furnace opens. They’ll probably stop arguing by then.” Perfected One Xie certainly knew her medicines, but she and Shizun weren’t on the same path—one used poisons, the other used cures. It’d be weird if they didn’t clash.

“I’ve got a solution for the Wither and Flourish antidote,” Wei Mingyi said.

“Hm?” Mo Xuanxiao’s eyes lit up.

The arguing inside stopped at once. Xie Xianqing and Hua Xiaozhu swept out one after another. Even the green snake that had been flopped on the ground perked up, slithering over and twining itself back around Xie Xianqing. It was very fond of Hua Xiaozhu and raised its head toward her, only to receive a heartless smack.

“I got a heaven-tier artifact from the Three Sects. Assistant Master, go ahead and start refining without worry,” Wei Mingyi said. As for exactly how the process would go with the artifact, Wei Mingyi didn’t explain—after all, she didn’t know either. All she could do was drag that attribute onto the Revival Furnace.

Hua Xiaozhu didn’t doubt Wei Mingyi’s words in the least. The Wither and Flourish poison was what Wei Mingyi cared about most; she had tracked down every ingredient herself and wouldn’t joke about this. “Tomorrow,” Hua Xiaozhu said. She needed tonight to adjust her state.

The next day.

Hearing that Hua Xiaozhu and Xie Xianqing were going to refine a heaven-tier pill, Daoists from the sect all came to watch the excitement—only to be chased off one by one by a stone-faced Mo Xuanxiao, leaving just Wei Mingyi and Wu Chongyun.

“It shouldn’t take long, right?” Wei Mingyi, tense, paced back and forth around Wu Chongyun.

“The scriptures say refining a heaven-tier pill takes at least a month,” Mo Xuanxiao said. As for whether it was actually true, she didn’t know either.

Wei Mingyi: “?” Shouldn’t it go snap and be done? She turned to Wu Chongyun, who gave a faint “Mm.” All her tension dissolved into melancholy. Not what she’d pictured—but on second thought, the timeframe made sense. If it could be finished in a flash, why would magical power ever run short?

Inside the Revival Furnace.

This wasn’t the first time Hua Xiaozhu and Xie Xianqing had cooperated on pill refinement, but this time both felt unusually solemn. Even the green snake had found a corner to settle in, instead of hissing and scaring people.

The greatest obstacle for them wasn’t forming the hand seals—it was the lack of the corresponding vast magical power. The Revival Furnace, as a heaven-tier pill furnace, could indeed boost refinement efficiency, but it couldn’t instantly elevate a pill to heaven-tier. Hua Xiaozhu and Xie Xianqing planned to start by testing with a small portion. But the moment they actually began forming the seals, they both sensed something unusual. The magical power brimming within them seemed to suffer no loss at all when the seals were cast. Cultivators often had premonitions; following that inner prompting often led to greater clarity. After exchanging a glance, they didn’t hesitate and tossed in all the ingredients.

If the pill could form, they’d get the best possible result.

The Wild Domain, the Lifeless Land.

The Lifeless Bell’s toll reverberated overhead, only one gate left open for outside Daoists to return. However, because of the previous intelligent wicked wraith, the screening this time was extremely strict. Suspicious Daoists were simply barred from re-entering. Even those from major clans, the Heavenly Alliance stewards dared not let through lightly. Yet if someone offered a sufficient payment, they could use that as an excuse to block those who were innocent, too.

Though this Evil Tide’s timing didn’t match the projections, the Daoists living here weren’t as tense and uneasy as before—their hearts were somewhat lighter. The Daoists hadn’t had the chance to meet the Grotto-Heaven Perfected One, but they could all sense the vast, majestic presence shrouding the Lifeless Land. With such a powerhouse holding the line, there wouldn’t be massive losses.

Yet the four Ministers of the alliance felt heavy-hearted. The Grotto-Heaven Perfected One’s appearance—even if only an incarnation—pointed to one thing: the situation in the Wild Domain was continuing to deteriorate, to the point where someone of that level was needed.

But hadn’t it been said that the Perfected One from Heavenly Evolution Mountain would come? Why was the one from the Cloud Realm the one appearing?

“The depths are still impenetrable; the Breath of Chaos is extremely dense. One thing can be confirmed: the coming Evil Tides will only grow more frequent. In the future, even the Lifeless Bell may not ring in time to warn us,” said the Grotto-Heaven Perfected One on the seat, their form like a cloud, only a vague human outline visible.

The four Ministers felt their hearts clench at these words.

The Perfected One continued, “That wicked wraiths are gaining intelligence is no isolated case. In the future, it’s such beings we’ll have to face. I’ve already looked at Yangchun Terrace. If the other party possesses base camps in the Wild Domain, we must foster good relations with them.”

The Lifeless Land’s forbidden arrays could resist the Evil Tide, but they themselves were on the verge of collapse. No one could say how long they’d last. Tearing them down and rebuilding would take time, and with the Tides growing ever more frequent, the Grotto-Heaven Perfected One could no longer destroy the old—only maintain them as best as possible.

Inside the Celestial Overseer Hall, silence reigned.

After several breaths, Wu Weiye spoke: “Dare I ask, Perfected One, is Yangchun Terrace connected to that person?”

The alliance had already received word: Wei Wuwang of Yangchun Terrace was the one who had seized the championship at the Paragon Debate. In everyone’s minds, a suspicion resurfaced—was she connected to the Sword Devil? Otherwise, how could she use Heavenly Evolution Mountain’s formations and employ the Ink of World Purification? If that person stood behind Yangchun Terrace, the relationship between the aristocratic clans and that party would be hard to maintain.

“No connection.” The Grotto-Heaven from the Cloud Realm had come precisely for this speculation. But at Yangchun Terrace, she had detected no aura related to that person.

The Perfected One said no more. The Minister from the Cloud Realm spoke: “The Eternal Cosmos Heavenly Realm is a Taiyi ruin. Is it so strange to obtain something from there?”

The other three didn’t respond, only silently grumbling: seeing and learning were entirely different things. But since the Perfected One had said so, it must be so. As for who stood behind Chongyuan Sect—that was actually already beyond their level. They were only a step from Grotto-Heaven, but that step was a divine chasm, one perhaps they would never cross.

“Yangchun Terrace does not wish to establish deeper cooperation with us.” This was harmful to the alliance’s authority. It had already been discovered that the “Thousand Autumns Enterprise” outside Yangchun Terrace only sold a few fixed types of pills and elixirs. Anything beyond that still had to come through the alliance—but imperceptibly, it had already nibbled away at the alliance’s revenues somewhat. The alliance didn’t care about that bit of Pill Jade and Merit Points, but its authority had been diminished, because the Daoists of the Wild Domain now knew that survival didn’t necessarily depend on the alliance. It was just that, from birth, every aspect of their lives was tied to the alliance; the Wild Domain was only a corner, so they couldn’t yet break those chains.

But the Grotto-Heaven Perfected One couldn’t be bothered with such trivialities. No sooner had the words been spoken than the ethereal figure on the seat vanished, leaving not a wisp of cloud behind.

The Minister from the Cloud Realm looked a bit sheepish and coughed lightly. “As long as they haven’t sided with the master-disciple lineage, it’s not so bad. They’re selling land, aren’t they? As long as there’s land, we can send people to buy it.”

Yu Zhiyi, the Minister from Heavenly Evolution Mountain, said, “Very bad.” It was now confirmed that whoever signed a contract with Chongyuan Sect, that land was theirs—the rights couldn’t be transferred. Were they supposed to have every clan member go buy land individually? If they let other families do it, who could guarantee those families wouldn’t develop disloyal thoughts? The sudden emergence of Chongyuan Sect meant the upheaval had arrived.

Wu Weiye: “… Yu, don’t talk.”

While the Wild Domain was busy resisting the Evil Tide, over at Chongyuan Sect, that furnace of Nine-Revolution Soul-Returning Elixir had finally succeeded!

The time needed to refine a heaven-tier pill was unpredictable. Wei Mingyi had plenty of patience, making daily visits outside the Revival Furnace to check on progress.

After the first month, when she saw the attribute attached to the furnace vanish, she simultaneously heard a creaking sound.

Before Wei Mingyi could even make out who was emerging, a bottle of pills was thrust into her arms.

Xie Xianqing shot off like a whirlwind and vanished. Hua Xiaozhu also disappeared without a trace, leaving only the words: “Read the dosing instructions carefully.”

This time, the boost from the heaven-tier artifact had let the two of them glimpse things beyond their current realm. Though most was forgotten the moment it passed, what remained, once digested, could advance their cultivation. Refining pills was itself a form of improvement—so the moment the pill came out of the furnace, they both needed to enter seclusion immediately to absorb what they’d gained.

Wei Mingyi: “…”

She looked down at the small slip pasted on the jade bottle: take at the zi and wu hours.

Wei Mingyi tilted her head up—the wu hour was about to arrive. Like the wind, she flew back to their little courtyard!