Ding Yu thought for a moment, quickly went to the table, lifted his weak hand, arduously took some paper, grabbed a charcoal pen, and began writing the secret codes of the Golden Wing Pavilion.

Yes, the Songhe Temple was previously under the Golden Wing Pavilion and also had its own set of special cipher symbols.

This set of codes could only be recognized by the people of Songhe Temple; to others, it was just a bunch of scribbles, smeared like the useless waste paper of a child's handwriting practice.

A few minutes later, Ding Yu wrote more than a dozen copies, carefully rolled up the papers, and placed them in his sleeve.

Then he got up and pushed the door open to leave.

Over the past few days, he had observed that outside the stone room was a corridor, and beyond the corridor was a network of underground stone halls.

This stone hall connected the rest of the underground space.

None of this was important; what mattered was the wind blowing from the stone hall over there.

Ding Yu carefully sensed the changes and flow of the wind.

Then, at the stone room door, he inspected carefully above, below, left, and right.

The bedroom where Lan Siyi stayed definitely had a vent nearby.

In a living space, it's impossible not to have an extra outlet for airflow.

Otherwise, in an underground base like this, anyone could block one exit, release poison, and kill everyone inside.

Therefore, there couldn't be just one vent here; for safety, there must be multiple vents.

Ding Yu moved stealthily and quietly listened to the surroundings to make sure no one was passing by.

He then followed the direction of the faint wind and slowly moved to the left.

Before long, he suddenly paused and looked up.

Above him, a piece of gray stone wall was slightly different from the other stone walls.

This stone wall slightly indented inward, forming a concave structure with the surrounding.

Wind... was coming from here!

Ding Yu felt a surge of energy.

But he still had poison in his body, making him unable to exert any strength, and his Super Grade capability seemed to vanish.

He thought for a moment, judged the height of the ventilation opening.

He walked back and forth underneath a few times, observing carefully.

He finally noticed that there were several black thin cracks on the inside of the stone wall, and the airflow came through these cracks.

He silently noted this in his heart, then returned to the bedroom to continue patiently waiting for an opportunity.

The letter was hidden by him; he would have to think of another way to see how to send it out.

Time passed day by day.

Ding Yu stayed honestly in the room, eating, sleeping, and the service attitude got better and better.

This also made Lan Siyi more and more trusting of him.

Finally, after another week,

Under Ding Yu's persistent pestering, he got the chance to go out briefly for fresh air.

And the person responsible for taking him out was one of Lan Siyi's direct disciples—Zhou Yuan.

On December 25th, the weather was clear.

Above the Five Cauldrons Sect headquarters, the forest floor was full of raised roots and vines.

From somewhere in the bushes, there was a continuous rustling sound.

Before long, the bushes were parted by someone.

A dark-skinned, curvy black-haired woman emerged, lifting her pants, her face satisfied.

"Alright, hurry up and come out, don't let Master catch us." She looked around, a bit guilty like a thief.

Ever since she heard that Master got some fine goods, she had been waiting to see when Master would tire of it and pass it onto her.

But unexpectedly, she had waited for so many days and still hadn't gotten bored.

Finally getting a chance to go out for air with this fine good, she found the opportunity this time to have a go with the man.

The taste was indeed quite nice.

Zhou Yuan started considering whether to go back and take medicine.

This time, the goods were reportedly gifted, so maybe going back, she could even have an exceptionally gifted child.

In Dan Province, in many places, the only way many people could change their social stratum was through the talents of the children they bore.

This also led to many people guarding their male favorites tightly.

"Finished yet?!" Zhou Yuan waited for a while and saw no one coming out, getting impatient, she shouted.

"If you don't come out soon, I'll beat you to death!" she impatiently slapped a tree trunk next to her, which shook slightly, with a dark purple handprint appearing where she hit it.

"Alright, alright..." Ding Yu panted heavily, slowly supporting himself as he walked out from the bushes.

"Time's about up, is there anything you want, so I can bring it out for you?" As compensation, Zhou Yuan had already promised Ding Yu earlier that she could help bring back something he wanted from the city.

"I want osmanthus mung bean cake!" Ding Yu quickly replied. "Sister Yuanyuan, you're still the best to me!"

His face showed a touching look.

"Don't give me that!" Zhou Yuan was about to scold, but involuntarily thinking of the recent sensation, her tone softened a bit.

"If you think I'm good, just be better to Master, then you'll have more chances to come out for air."

"Definitely, after all these days, so many people—the best to me is Sister Yuanyuan, really...." At this, Ding Yu's tiger-like eyes brimmed with tears, truly recalling the miserable experiences of recent days, sorrow welled up inside him.

"Okay, don't cry..." Zhou Yuan opened her mouth, and in the end, didn't scold further. She went over, patted Ding Yu's back gently, softly comforting him.

"Let's go back."

"Hmm."

The two leaned on each other, slowly heading back toward the underground headquarters.

However, Zhou Yuan didn't notice that the letters filled with dense writing were crumpled and quietly left in the distant grassland.

If someone were to find the letter and open it, they would see a line of small characters at the beginning.

'If this letter can be delivered to one of the following addresses, a reward of ten taels of silver can be earned!'

*

*

*

Atop the Treasure Harmony Pavilion in Black Dragon City.

Zhang Rongfang stood on the balcony, overlooking most of the city.

Below, the crowd was bustling; from time to time someone lifted a cart curtain and sang loudly.

In the distance, a grand theater had been set up, where people kept going up to compete in singing.

Some sang well, while others were met with nothing but boos.

Those booed off the stage left in embarrassment.

While those who sang well remained to defend their spot.

Those who stayed till the end received money and flowers from many handsome men in the audience.

Yes, the singers here are all women, and those gifting flowers are mostly men...

Zhang Rongfang withdrew his gaze, unconsciously shaking his head slightly.

News of Ding Yu and the Five Cauldrons Sect was still elusive, but unexpectedly, he discovered a clue about the formation of the Blood Lotus.

These days, he had gained three attribute points, which he distributed one by one to his lifeforce value.

Then he carefully observed the process of the Blood Lotus's condensation.

He found that the condensation of the Blood Lotus primarily involved a concentrated change within the entire blood vessel network on his back.

The Blood Lotus was not part of his original bloodstream and blood vessels.

Instead, it was a newly created blood vessel network!

"Why does this blood vessel network appear naturally?"

He pondered over this question.

He closed his eyes.

It seemed he could reenact the previous formation process of the Blood Lotus.

The vascular network on his back branched like tree limbs, growing, extending, and continuing to bifurcate.

Why did the blood vessels grow in a predetermined shape, as if guided by something?

Zhang Rongfang closed his eyes and carefully recalled, playing back the entire process of lifeforce flowing into the Blood Lotus repeatedly.

His memory now was much stronger than before.

And his thinking was much clearer.

The formation process of the Blood Lotus replayed in his mind like a video, over and over again.

He had done this many times over the past few days.

But this time, listening to the singing outside, Zhang Rongfang suddenly trembled and noticed something different.

Rhythm!

After adding lifeforce points, his lifeforce split into two streams; one strengthened his body, while the other formed the Blood Lotus.

Both streams of lifeforce, while flowing, experienced mostly the same influences.

Yet, the only subtle difference lay in....

The rhythm of Cultivation of Literature!!

Suddenly, Zhang Rongfang opened his eyes wide.

He saw...

The lifeforce forming the Blood Lotus, during its flow, was naturally influenced by the rhythmic inner cycle of Cultivation of Literature.

"Cultivation of Literature....."

Zhang Rongfang instantly recalled, once more, all the numerous contents of the Cultivation of Literature doctrines.

He had once specifically consulted Yue Shi and other major figures in Cultivation of Literature for guidance.

Now, having reached an unprecedented state of Refining God Completion, surveying everything past and present, many things suddenly became clear.

"Cultivation of Literature enhances lifeforce for longevity, but what if... it could strengthen oneself instead?"

"When I practiced Cultivation of Literature, I intentionally guided the practice. Yet, the formation of the Blood Lotus happened with no guidance, solely influenced naturally by Cultivation of Literature..."

"And this direction...." Zhang Rongfang carefully recalled each detail.

Crash!

Suddenly, his expression changed slightly, as he seemed to have realized something extremely shocking.

He took several steps back, knocking over the bottles of poison on the ground without even noticing.

"What is this....!?"

His breathing became rapid, and his palms clenched unconsciously.

"What on earth is...!?"

*

*

*

In the mountains and forests.

Two herbalists, each carrying bamboo baskets, carefully searched the grass with their herb trowels.

This woodland was rife with poisonous insects. Even though they carried incense bags to repel them, one careless slip could spell trouble.

Fortunately, while there were many poisonous insects, there were fewer people gathering herbs, leaving plenty of mature wild medicinal ingredients.

Though risky, for those in urgent need of money, it was undoubtedly a shortcut.

Suddenly, as one bent over to brush aside a tuft of grass, he saw a grayish-white wad of paper within it.

"What's this?"

He carefully prodded the wad of paper with his herb trowel.

He then used gloved hands to pick it up and gently unfold it.

"Bro, take a look. What's written on this?"

The herbalist was illiterate and turned to seek help from the other person.

The other man, hearing this, stood up and walked over, taking the wad of paper for a look.

"This....." his expression changed, immediately recalling many things.

Unlike his younger brother, he had once been involved in a gang, knowing the trouble and danger these things could bring.

"Don't touch it! Once attached, such troublesome affairs might be impossible to shake off! It could even ruin families and cause deaths!"

He instinctively wanted to discard the wad of paper.

But... his mother's illness was severely worsening, with no money for treatment, and he recalled her violently coughing blood.

His hand suddenly stopped.

"Bro? Bro?"

"It's okay. I'll handle this, you don't need to worry. We... let's head back first." The elder brother gritted his teeth, what if it's real?

This kind of thing.... If done carefully... it might be possible....