Shuddering, Xu Henshui swallowed his hatred and placed the herbs inside the medicinal cabinet. However, Ji Liuli still wasn’t satisfied and nodded at another empty cabinet.

The beautiful man produced a small but exquisite-looking box from his pocket next. It was covered in orchid patterns. When he removed the cover, Wei Yuan saw that it contained a couple of black, grain-like objects. He had no idea what kind of herb they were, but judging from the tremor affecting the corner of Xu Henshui’s mouth, they had to be far more valuable than they appeared.

Suddenly, the beautiful man turned around and glared at Ji Liuli. This was the first time Wei Yuan saw his face in full, and it was more gorgeous than most women’s faces. The man was fuming right now, but his expression only made him look even more attractive. He definitely resembled his Dao Foundation in this regard.

Xu Henshui gritted his teeth and growled, “Enough is enough!”

“What. Did. You. Just. Say. To. Me?”

Ji Liuli peeled off a petal every time she said a word. At the end, she pinched the stigma between her fingers and gave it a gentle twist[1]. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

“Ah~~~”

Xu Henshui turned limp and nearly collapsed to the floor. While grabbing the medicinal cabinet to support himself, he bit his bottom lip and said, “... You’re ruthless!”

When the beautiful man placed the black grains into the medicinal cabinet, Ji Liuli finally nodded in satisfaction and let go of the orchid. It instantly disappeared into thin air.

Xu Henshui looked like he wanted to strangle her, but the woman remarked uncaringly, “Stingy man. It’s not like I’m not paying you!”

The beautiful man exploded in anger, “As if you can buy these with money! If you think otherwise, why don’t I foot the bill, and you buy some for me?! Besides, are you seriously calling the chump change you gave me payment?!”

This time, Ji Liuli looked a bit embarrassed. She argued, “It’s not my fault that the Skyblue Hall hasn’t repaid its debts!”

Xu Henshui grunted and waved his sleeve dismissively. “That’s between you and the Skyblue Hall! Why are you dragging me into this?”

The woman grinned. “Because you and I share karma, of course!”

“Pah! Who wants to share karma with you?!” The beautiful man spat in disgust before stomping off. He didn’t want to stay in the same room as Ji Liuli for even a moment longer.

But before he left, he came to a stop beside Wei Yuan and watched him for a moment. He then remarked, “You’re a promising talent just like your shifu was. It’s too bad you’re stuck with that pile of dung known as the Skyblue Hall!”

Wei Yuan was confused to say the least. What on earth did the Skyblue Hall do that everyone was criticizing them? Even if the Skyblue Hall really was as bad as they claimed, why did they always reveal only half of the story?

Ji Liuli gave him a happy look and declared, “We have the ingredients. Today’s gonna be something potent!”

Wei Yuan subconsciously shivered. This wasn’t the first time Ji Liuli had given him “something potent”, and each time he felt like he was a hair’s breadth away from death. However, Big Senior Sister Ji Liuli never negotiated; only informed.

Wei Yuan stripped naked after Ji Liuli set up the wooden barrel. It had become instinct after several years of “training”. If he dilly-dallied, then his big senior sister would strip him herself. He would rather save himself the indignity. In truth, there was a spell called Strip. It sounded like a heretical spell and, in fact, functioned like one. It allowed one to strip their enemies of their mystic robes, battle armor, and personal artifacts during combat. His big senior sister didn’t seem to know the spell, though. She preferred a hands-on approach.

Three years had passed, and Wei Yuan had once again grown in height. Now, he was almost as tall as Ji Liuli. Just like before, the woman had “rubbed” a pill into existence and tossed it into the wooden barrel. The medicinal bath was prepared in just the blink of an eye.

Wei Yuan knew that his big senior sister wasn’t joking the moment he entered the wooden barrel. He felt like he was submerging himself in molten lava. The heat pierced his body like needles and swam everywhere like tadpoles, causing minute changes in every inch of his body. He was growing at least dozens of times faster than normal.

Wei Yuan felt itchy all over like a million ants were crawling inside his body. On top of that, he felt feverish and hot in a way that could not be vented. As the feeling worsened over time, he felt the irrational urge to break something or fight the disciples of the Traditional Party. He was sure that their punches and kicks would help him alleviate some of this build-up.

Two hours passed slowly and painfully. When the “soup” turned into clear water, and Wei Yuan climbed out of the barrel with some difficulty, he abruptly discovered that he was a couple inches taller than before!

Ji Liuli scanned his whole body so that she could prepare a prescription for their next session as per usual. This particular refinement process went so well that even she was deeply satisfied by the results. But when her gaze swept across his abdomen, she suddenly noticed a fine black line running down his bellybutton. She tried rubbing it with her fingers, but it wasn’t a stain or anything. She didn’t sense any spirit qi reaction from it either. It was as if he was born with it.

At her level, her memory was more or less eidetic. Thus, she was certain that no such line existed on his body before. This was no trivial matter.

She was still thinking when she accidentally caught a glimpse of a half-limp “bird” out of the corner of her eye. She had seen the little bird countless times across the past few years, and right now she found it to be an eyesore. So, she gave it a careless flick.

The little bird wasn’t expecting to be flicked in the head at all. Suddenly filled with indescribable rage, it stretched its wings, arched its neck, and transformed into a proud hawk!

For a moment, neither Ji Liuli nor Wei Yuan could say a word. However, Big Senior Sister Liuli was experienced and knowledgeable. She immediately got up to her feet as if nothing was happening and tossed her junior brother his clothes. As for Wei Yuan himself, his mind remained blank even though his body was instinctively putting his clothes back on. The hawk would not settle down even after he was finished. Clearly, it was a stubborn one.

Wei Yuan didn’t return to his house immediately after leaving the Council Hall. Instead, he traveled to the Broad Reflection Hall. For a long time, he just stammered before his senior brother while failing miserably to convey his meaning. Thankfully, his senior brother was also an experienced and knowledgeable one and quickly figured out his intentions from the bits and pieces. He told him to wait before leaving for the inner hall.

A few moments before returning with a whole stack of jade papers. They were all about the great Dao of yin and yang and the secret arts of dual cultivation. Wei Yuan wasn’t sure whether to accept it or not, but his senior brother, with the look of someone who had been there before, shoved it all into his hands and even waived half of the rental fee. It was quite the thoughtful gesture. Unable to turn down such a show of goodwill, the boy ultimately accepted the offer and hid the jade papers carefully. Then, he went back to his house.

Upon entering his room, Wei Yuan was faced with a new conundrum—where should he hide the jade papers? Obviously, he couldn’t just leave them out in the open. He couldn’t just destroy the evidence either; they were borrowed materials that had to be returned at a later date. Thus, Wei Yuan activated his brain and scoured his entire house for a good hiding spot. The joists, the bottom of his bed, the kitchen, the bathroom. He researched all of them.

He even considered leaving the jade papers on bookshelves, but thought that it was too much of a gamble. What if Zhang Sheng randomly picked something from the bookshelves to read? He definitely had such a habit.

Much wrangling later, Wei Yuan finally hid the jade papers in certain corners that his master normally didn’t check. His heart was racing, and he was sweating all over by the time he was finally done.

From that day onward, the boy no longer just swallowed lunar essences. He also became a diligent student of the secret texts. Unfortunately, he only managed to finish a small portion of them despite several days of hard work, and he only understood some of what was described. He could not help but bemoan that the great Dao of yin and yang was truly deep and abstruse. No wonder that the Yin Yang Qi alone was enough to be ranked as an Earth-tier Dao Foundation.

That said, Wei Yuan wasn’t the type to bow his head to difficult circumstances. The more abstruse it was, the more he wanted to study it. He wasn’t a boy who feared hardships.

One night, Wei Yuan took out a piece of jade paper. He was just about to throw himself into his studies when a hand reached out from behind and took it from him. Then, Zhang Sheng’s questioning voice came, “What are you reading?”

1. I shouldn’t need to explain to you what all this is alluding to right? ☜