Shao Jiao sat in the inn room, the rusty bronze furnace before him already extinguished, mirroring his mood perfectly.
The door was pushed open from outside.
Yin Wuji strode in, wrapped in the night wind, and without even removing his cloak, he turned and closed the door tightly behind him.
“What do you mean, someone found out?”
Yin Wuji turned his head, his face dark.
Shao Jiao didn’t look up.
He simply recounted what had happened outside the plaza today.
Yin Wuji stopped pacing and turned to Shao Jiao.
“Is the other party aware of our plan?”
“I don’t know.”
Shao Jiao finally lifted his eyes, and they were filled with exhaustion.
“He just sat beside me for a while, talked about this furnace, talked about alchemy. He didn’t interrogate me about anything, nor did he press me for anything. I even felt… he wasn’t here to scrutinize me.”
“Not here to scrutinize you?”
Yin Wuji’s brow furrowed even deeper.
“A man from the judges’ seat, instead of returning to his lodgings, goes out of his way to find a corner to chat with an unknown rogue cultivator like you? Shao Jiao, are you really naive, or are you pretending? He was testing you, probing you.”
Shao Jiao didn’t refute him.
He just lowered his eyelids.
“You underestimated him too much.”
Yin Wuji’s voice dropped.
“There are only two reasons why he didn’t expose you on the spot. Either he doesn’t have solid evidence and doesn’t dare act rashly; or he’s wary of the power behind us and wants to play the long game. Do you think he wouldn’t make a move without evidence? I’m afraid the latter is more likely.”
“The plan for tomorrow remains unchanged.”
Yin Wuji stopped and regained his composure.
“Proceed according to the plan. Don’t worry about anything else.”
“What is the purpose of all this I’m doing?”
Shao Jiao couldn’t help but ask.
Yin Wuji stared at him for a long moment, then spoke slowly.
“You don’t need to know. You just need to handle your part. Once this is done, I will fulfill what I promised you.”
Shao Jiao asked no more.
He only lowered his head and looked at the bronze furnace before him.
The Blood Lotus Sect had promised that after the matter was settled, they would take the Wuyue Sect under their protection, ensuring the safety of everyone in the sect.
His master, his junior brothers and sisters, those fellow disciples who had endured the poverty of Wuyue Sect together with him—all their lives were in Yin Wuji’s hands.
This deed, he could not refuse.
But during the day, on those steps, he had exposed a fake dan formula for a stranger, a rogue cultivator he had never met.
That feeling of standing on the side of justice—he hadn’t experienced it in a very, very long time.
The last time… how long ago was that?
It was before the Wuyue Sect had been targeted by the Blood Lotus Sect, back when he could still sit before his furnace and refine pills with a clear mind.
Shao Jiao closed his eyes.
In his mind, he saw Lai Li’an’s figure walking out of the plaza under the moonlight.
That back was calm and straightforward, exuding an ease that didn’t need to be explained to anyone.
The door closed behind him.
The sound of Yin Wuji’s footsteps gradually faded down the hallway.
Shao Jiao sat alone before the extinguished furnace.
He reached out and touched the worn patterns on the bronze furnace wall.
‘Fire Heart Connection,’ left to him by his master.
He desperately wanted to use it once, even if just to feel the legendary Realm of Fire Control.
But did he still deserve that right?
Wind rustled outside the door.
The night was heavy.
Yin Wuji walked out of the inn and turned into a narrow alley.
The fingers hidden in his sleeve tightened slightly.
Someone had gone to probe Shao Jiao.
This matter in itself was far more serious than Shao Jiao had described.
Shao Jiao himself might not realize it, but Yin Wuji understood perfectly.
The other party had been able to pinpoint Shao Jiao precisely, which meant they were at least keeping an eye on him.
They might even know there was someone behind him.
Who was that person?
Yin Wuji quickly ran through the faces of the judges in his mind.
If the other party was from the Dan Sect or the Enforcement Hall, that would actually be easier to handle.
Large powers acted by rules, leaving traces.
But if the other party was nothing at all, just a rogue cultivator… those were the hardest to deal with.
Because he didn’t know where the other party’s bottom line was, nor how much the other party held in their hands.
However, no matter who he was, he couldn’t stop tomorrow’s plan.
That chance to ‘Question the Way’—Yin Wuji was determined to have it.
As long as Shao Jiao won the championship and secured the opportunity to ask the Heaven-Gazing Mirror one question, he would be able to find that person’s whereabouts.
Yin Wuji stopped walking and looked up at the night sky.
Moonlight fell on his face, illuminating the deep murderous intent in his eyes.
Originally, he had planned for cheating during the competition.
Since the path had been blocked, he would take another route.
Meng Qiuran was a core disciple of the Branch Sect of Alchemy, with no telling how many Guardian Dao Protectors shadowing him, overtly and covertly.
Attacking him would cost too much, and if the Dan Sect pursued the matter, Yin Wuji might not be able to escape.
This person was not easy to deal with.
So he would have to settle things on the Alchemy Path.
Meng Qiuran’s style was to play it safe.
Refining a fourth-grade pill was almost guaranteed, but fourth-grade was still fourth-grade.
As long as Shao Jiao maintained a stable output of fifth-grade pills, his advantage would still hold.
The real problem was Ruan Se.
That female cultivator had been able to refine an ultimate-grade Cold Dew Pill at the brink of spiritual power exhaustion.
Her skill in the Alchemy Path was already unfathomably profound, coupled with a temperament that grew sharper in adversity.
In the Free Refining round of the finals, no one knew what she could produce.
If she made it to the finals…
A trace of killing intent flickered in Yin Wuji’s eyes.
No need to wait for the finals.
Have her disappear before the finals.
A Foundation Establishment stage alchemist in a chaotic place like Yunze Market, meeting with some kind of accident, was perfectly normal.
Such incidents occurred several times a year in Yunze Market.
The Enforcement Hall couldn’t investigate them all.
He pulled a Message Talisman from his sleeve, quickly traced a few runes across its surface with his fingertip, and then flicked it lightly.
The talisman transformed into a faint light, silently sinking into the night.
Although he, as an Early Golden Core cultivator, had more than enough power to deal with a Foundation Establishment female cultivator, Yunze Market was still the Enforcement Hall’s territory.
During today’s competition, experts had gathered in the market.
The Spiritual Sense of just those old monsters on the judges’ panel alone could cover half the market.
He had to act quickly and decisively, without alarming anyone.
Calling one more person was an extra layer of insurance.
After sending the Message Talisman, Yin Wuji adjusted his cloak.
His figure flickered and vanished at the end of the narrow alley.
***
At the same time, Ruan Se, in her room, was completely unaware of all this.
Ruan Qin had just left a short while ago.
Ruan Se had finished feeding Su Wan’er her daily dose of Meridian Nurturing Decoction, and was now sitting by the low couch, wiping the thin sweat from the girl’s forehead with a fine silk cloth.
The medicinal power of the Changchun Life-Prolonging Pill had stabilized.
Su Wan’er’s complexion was much better than in previous days, and her breathing was steady and long, as if she were merely deep in sleep.
Ruan Se tucked the silk cloth back into her sleeve, stood up, and gently closed the door.
In the courtyard, the white crane was already curled up asleep beside the stone trough, its long neck buried under its wing.
Occasionally, it would flutter a feather when the moonlight passed over it.
She stood under the eaves for a moment, gazing up at the crescent moon in the night sky, lost in thought.
Seeing that person sitting in the judges’ seat waving at her in the plaza today had indeed startled her.
But after the shock passed, she felt there was nothing particularly strange about it.
That person always seemed to have such unexpected things happening around him.
Ruan Se pulled her thoughts back, turned, and headed for the alchemy room.
Tomorrow was the final competition.
She had every step of the Green Wood Harmonizing Qi Pill memorized, but she still wanted to go through the entire process once more tonight.
She pushed open the alchemy room door and was about to raise her hand to light the Firestone…
Behind her, a sharp palm wind struck without warning.
In that instant, Ruan Se’s pupils contracted sharply.
She didn’t even have time to turn her head before her body instinctively dodged.
The series of movements was fluid and natural—a reflexive reaction honed through years of facing furnace explosions at the alchemy table.
The shockwave of a furnace detonation was more unpredictable than an ambush.
Someone who had come through dozens of explosions unscathed had this reaction speed etched into their bones.
But her attacker was a Golden Core cultivator.
She was inevitably grazed.
Ruan Se let out a muffled grunt.
Her entire body was sent flying, crashing into the medicine cabinet.
The wooden shelves collapsed with a roar, shattering jade boxes and porcelain bottles of all sizes, scattering medicinal herbs like rain.
She hit the ground, spat out a mouthful of blood, and pushed herself up with her left arm, struggling to lift her head.
At the alchemy room door stood a person.
The figure was wrapped in a dark gray cloak, the hood pulled very low, completely hiding their face in shadow.
But even without seeing the face, from the aura of that palm strike and its timing, she could tell that this person was no ordinary wandering cultivator.
“Who… are you?”
Ruan Se gritted her teeth, her left hand secretly reaching for the opening of her storage bag at her waist.
The figure gave no answer, only stepped slowly into the alchemy room.
The lamplight illuminated a corner of their robe revealed beneath the cloak, glinting with a deep, muted luster under the moonlight.
Ruan Se’s pupils shrank.
She had seen this kind of fabric somewhere before.
No time to think.
Her left hand whipped three Fire Thunder Talismans out of the storage bag and hurled them at the figure, while she shouted, “Explode!”
The Fire Thunder Talismans detonated simultaneously.
Crimson flames instantly engulfed the alchemy room, billowing with thick smoke.
Ruan Se staggered toward the side door of the alchemy room.
If she could just get through that door, she could release a distress signal and bring the Enforcement Hall here.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from the smoke and precisely seized the back of her neck.
That hand was cold as ice.
The five fingers tightened, lifting her entire body off the ground.
“Good reflexes. Pity your cultivation rank is too low. The defensive trinkets an alchemist carries are only so-so.”
Ruan Se was choked by the grip on her throat.
Her consciousness began to fade.