Minor mishaps continued throughout the Pillfire Conference. Every so often, someone failed to refine their pill and left with a look of utter frustration.
Yu Qingtang felt that the trial tested far more than pill-refining skill. It also demanded nerves of steel. Someone like him, already guilty as a thief, was liable to jump at every little disturbance. If he had not had two experts guarding him from beside and behind, he would probably have exposed himself long ago.
Despite the scares, the pill refining proceeded safely into its latter half. One liquid after another went into his furnace. Now all he had to do was wait until the proper moment, open the furnace, and place the pill Du Heng had prepared inside.
Then he would be done.
Yu Qingtang peered through the crowd at Du Heng’s back.
With his head full of golden hairpins, Du Heng looked like a peony made of wealth and splendor, impossible to overlook. Yu Qingtang was hardly the only one watching him. Quite a few others were stealing glances as well.
It was not merely because of Du Heng’s appearance and clothing. A strange fragrance had begun drifting from his furnace, making it obvious that the pill inside was no ordinary item.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Du Heng opened his eyes and raised a hand to lift the furnace lid.
A fragrant breeze surged outward.
The expressions of everyone nearby immediately relaxed, and several people involuntarily revealed looks of intoxicated delight.
Du Heng exhaled softly. A trace of smugness appeared in his smile.
“It’s done.”
Even the chief examiner could not resist walking over for a closer look. After carefully examining the pill, a strange light flashed through his eyes.
“A Hundred Flowers Pill.”
“Precisely.” Du Heng made no attempt to hide his pride. With just the right amount of arrogance, he explained, “I extracted spiritual liquid from the nectar and dew of a hundred flowers, then supplemented it with...”
The examiner listened intently.
Du Heng paused, however, and cut himself off with a smile.
The examiner froze before realizing what had happened. He cleared his throat.
“This Hundred Flowers Pill of yours appears somewhat different from the usual kind.”
“Naturally.” Du Heng chuckled. “If it were exactly the same, I would hardly have the confidence to make Fire Cauldron Sect regard me differently.”
He did not conceal his ambition.
“Nor would I dare hope to enter the inner sect and meet Senior Tianyuan Pill King.”
The examiner narrowed his eyes. “You wish to meet the sect master?”
This was where Du Heng ought to have offered a few flattering words. Unfortunately, the thought clearly disgusted him. He paused before saying, “I have always wanted only the best.”
“Since I came here, naturally I came for...”
Only then did the examiner laugh. “Of course.”
He picked up the Hundred Flowers Pill and inspected it closely, putting on a show of appraising it as though he might discover what exactly made it different.
Evidently, he failed.
He glanced at Du Heng, then checked his registration record.
“Huang Jinyu. Good.”
Raising the pill for everyone to see, he announced loudly, “One high-grade Hundred Flowers Pill. Inner sect!”
Many people craned their necks for a better look.
Yu Qingtang seized the opportunity to switch the pills, slipping the one Du Heng had refined into his furnace. Pretending he had just taken it out, he turned and called over another examiner.
“Sir, I’m finished too!”
He put on his sweetest smile and presented the fruit of his “refining.”
“A Beast-Illusion Pill.”
This examiner had also been eager to crane his neck and look at the Hundred Flowers Pill, so he had little interest in examining Yu Qingtang’s pill carefully.
He glanced at Yu Qingtang’s registration record, let his gaze linger on his face for two extra seconds, then finally looked at the pill.
“The quality is decent. What kind of spirit beast does it transform the user into?”
Yu Qingtang offered a polite yet visibly awkward smile.
“Well...”
The examiner stared at him in silence, then snorted.
“As expected.”
“The greatest flaw of the Beast-Illusion Pill is that the transformed species cannot be fixed. If the result is random, who can guarantee the pill will be useful when needed?”
Yu Qingtang lowered his head and obediently listened as the examiner lectured him. Only when the man finally finished did he cautiously look up.
“Then... did I fail?”
The examiner smacked his lips.
Yu Qingtang was just beginning to wonder whether he ought to slip him a bribe when the man waved his hand in disgust.
“Forget it. I’ll count it as a pass. But with those five spiritual roots of yours... outer disciple.”
He also raised the pill in his hand and announced, “One mid-grade Beast-Illusion Pill. Outer disciple.”
Naturally, this attracted far less attention than Du Heng’s result.
Still, Yu Qingtang had successfully muddled his way through Fire Cauldron Sect’s gates.
He breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed the Coursing Wolf’s head beside him before glancing back at Qingzhu.
Qingzhu nodded lightly. His gaze swept across the others present before he followed Yu Qingtang toward the outer disciples’ quarters.
Today was only the first day of the Pillfire Conference. The trials would continue for half a month.
That meant the disciples admitted on the first day would have roughly half a month with nothing to do.
This was exactly the kind of free time they needed. With Yu Qingtang’s embarrassingly superficial pill-refining ability, he could not possibly study under a teacher. The moment he tried exchanging pointers with anyone, his deception would be exposed.
Du Heng had gone to meet the Tianyuan Pill King, braving danger in [N O V E L I G H T] pursuit of opportunity.
Over the next few days, Yu Qingtang used the excuse of familiarizing himself with the sect to wander through every place an outer disciple was permitted to visit. Although he found no important clues, he at least learned the layout.
Along the way, he also managed to meet Xueleng and Xuenuan of the Lunar Jade Rabbit clan.
Their circumstances were far better than those of the demonfolk who had entered the sect earlier. They appeared to have the protection of an inner disciple, and even their living quarters were better than those of ordinary outer disciples.
As for the others...
According to rumor, they had all been driven into the medicine storeroom, where they spent day and night sorting medicinal ingredients.
There had still been no progress in finding the old Pill King, so Yu Qingtang decided to visit the medicine storeroom on their behalf and see whether he could encounter the other rabbit demons.
The senior brother guarding the storeroom habitually looked down his nose at everyone.
Perhaps it was the general atmosphere of Fire Cauldron Sect, but every disciple here seemed more unpleasant than the last. They were all snobs. If one grabbed ten disciples at random and punched each of them once, only one would likely have been wronged.
“An outer disciple?” The man sneered. “You only just arrived, and you’re already coming to the medicine storeroom? Forget the fact that formal instruction hasn’t even begun. Even after it does, you have contributed nothing to the sect. You’ll still have to buy your own ingredients.”
Before Yu Qingtang could speak, Qingzhu tossed a pouch of spirit stones onto the counter.
The senior brother froze.
His arrogance did not diminish. If anything, his sneer deepened.
“What? Do you think I’ve never seen spirit stones before? You expect to dismiss me with this paltry amount?”
Qingzhu raised his eyes. “Then how much do you want?”
“No amount will do.” The senior brother sneered. “Throwing spirit stones in front of me like that—what an ill-mannered wild girl. A face like yours is nowhere near enough to excuse such audacity!”
“Either kneel and kowtow in apology, or...”
His expression grew haughty.
“Whenever I am on duty from now on, neither of you will receive so much as a single medicinal ingredient from me!”
Qingzhu narrowed his eyes.
Ye Chenyan had already extended his claws.
Afraid these two great figures might overturn the entire medicine storeroom over a single disagreement, Yu Qingtang hurriedly grabbed them both and put on a spoiled, imperious act.
“Fine, then don’t give us anything! I can afford to buy ingredients outside! Once I’ve taken a master, let’s see whether you still dare speak to me like that!”
Yu Qingtang tugged them away.
The senior brother, however, flew into a rage.
“Stop right there! You only just entered the sect, and you already dare—who was that?!”
He reached out to grab Yu Qingtang, but before his fingers could touch the hem of his clothes, someone bumped into him from behind and sent him stumbling.
He spun around angrily.
“Are you blind?!”
“I’m sorry!”
A thin, timid voice answered.
The young man was not particularly small, but his cowardly posture made him appear shrunken in on himself. With his head lowered, he said, “Junior Brother, today’s medicinal ingredients have all been sorted...”
At the words “sorted the medicinal ingredients,” Yu Qingtang studied him carefully.
Although the young man had concealed all demonfolk traits and assumed a human form, both his appearance and his bearing unmistakably marked him as a product of the Lunar Jade Rabbit clan.
The other man was also looking at him.
Almost imperceptibly, he shook his head.
Yu Qingtang caught the signal and, while the senior brother was still raging, quietly slipped out through the doorway.
Once outside the medicine storeroom, Yu Qingtang turned a familiar corner and began climbing the courtyard wall.
“He came from inside. The other two must be in there as well!”
“That is reasonable. However...”
Qingzhu looked him over, seized him by the back of his clothes, and flew upward. He landed gracefully inside the courtyard, then released him.
“A music cultivator must pay attention to bearing. If you can fly, do not climb. It is far too crude.”
Yu Qingtang looked at Qingzhu’s white dress and inexplicably sensed some deep conviction behind those words.
Filled with respect, he nodded earnestly.
“Yes! I’ll remember!”
Then he turned around.
“Ye Chenyan is still...”
The enormous wolf sprang lightly into the air. The tips of his claws touched the top of the wall, and he landed on the other side with effortless grace.
Yu Qingtang lowered his eyes to look at him, his expression turning strange.
You took that advice to heart too, didn’t you? How are you still such a show-off when you aren’t even human right now?
“Someone’s coming.”
Qingzhu looked toward a girl pushing open the warehouse door.
She jumped in fright when she saw them and stumbled back several steps.
“Y-you... how did you get in? You’re not allowed to enter this place without permission!”
At that moment, the rabbit-demon youth they had just seen returned.
He reminded her in a low voice, “Don’t shout, Xueyan.”
“Let them come inside.”
The girl obediently stepped back and allowed them into the warehouse.
All kinds of medicinal ingredients were piled haphazardly inside.
The rabbit youth explained, “Most of what is stored here consists of cheap ingredients kept in large quantities. Truly rare materials would obviously never be stored like this.”
“Our daily work is to sort these ingredients and arrange them by category.”
“My reply to the clan should have been clear. Why did the clan leader still send people here?”
Yu Qingtang froze. “Hm? How did you know we...”
“The smell.” The young man rubbed his nose lightly. “Demonfolk are more sensitive to scents, especially those of their own kind.”
“I have not smelled anyone from my clan in a very long time.”
At his words, Xueyan also twitched her nose. She visibly relaxed.
“It truly is the scent of our clan. Xueleng and Xuenuan came!”
“You can tell that much from smell alone?” Yu Qingtang stared in shock and sniffed at himself.
All he could smell was face powder.
He then held his hand beneath Ye Chenyan’s nose.
“Can you smell it?”
Ye Chenyan stared at him wordlessly, then took his entire hand into his mouth.
“Hey, hey, hey!”
Yu Qingtang hurriedly pried his jaws open.
“They said three people came last time,” Ye Chenyan said, ignoring everyone’s startled expressions. “Why are there only two of you?”
A shadow crossed the young man’s face.
Xueyan glanced at him before speaking softly.
“Only Xuexiang and I remain.”
“Xueran...”
“He has a fierce temper and talked back to a senior brother,” Xuexiang said, lowering his eyes. “After they took him away, he never returned.”
Yu Qingtang sucked in a sharp breath.
“Could he have...”
“No, he’s still alive!” Xueyan denied it urgently. “His life jade hasn’t shattered, so he must still be alive. We just don’t know what condition he’s in...”
Her eyes reddened as she spoke, making her appear even more pitiful.
“I heard humans have all kinds of ways to torture demonfolk.”
“Don’t panic. As long as he’s alive, there is still a way.” Yu Qingtang comforted them, then took a parcel from his storage ring and handed it over. “Xueleng and Xuenuan asked us to bring you this.”
“And there is good news—Madam Xueyao is now a Demon King. Even Fire Cauldron Sect will have to show her at least some respect.”
Xuexiang raised his head, a strange light flashing in his eyes.
“The clan leader broke through? That’s wonderful...”
He looked visibly relieved.
“If that is the case, perhaps Xueran will be returned soon.”
“Madam Xueyao also left you instructions.” Yu Qingtang nodded to them. “Eight words: the situation has changed; observe quietly and wait.”
“And one more thing. Provided you can protect yourselves, help us a little.”
Xuexiang frowned thoughtfully, then nodded.
“What do you need us to do?”
He pointed at the disorderly piles of medicinal ingredients around them.
“At most, I can spare you some ingredients.”
Yu Qingtang shook his head. “We don’t want those. We want to see the old Pill King.”
Xuexiang froze and glanced warily behind them.
“...That will be difficult.”
“Ever since the old Pill King entered seclusion, we have never seen him again. The Tianyuan Pill King does not allow anyone to visit him.”
Xueyan quietly reminded him, “Don’t they send food to the old Pill King?”
Qingzhu narrowed his eyes. “Food?”
Xueyan nodded gently.
“One of the kitchen helpers sometimes complains to me. The Tianyuan Pill King orders them to prepare medicinal meals for the old Pill King every day, yet no one ever sees any of it being eaten...”
“Absurd.” Qingzhu sneered. “Who eats while in seclusion?”
Xuexiang looked at Yu Qingtang.
“Senior Brother Bajiao from the inner sect is responsible for delivering the meals. But if you intend to approach him, you will need to be careful.”
Yu Qingtang asked nervously, “Is he very powerful?”
Xuexiang answered, “He is extremely lecherous.”
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