Ghost Elephant Mountain.
“Ouch——”
A cry of pain rang out, followed by a figure crashing to the ground.
From the mountain gate onward, countless figures lay sprawled across the ground, groaning in agony.
Continuing further in, one arrived at a massive plaza. The dozen-meter-tall stone statue at the plaza’s center was severed at the waist. On any normal day, this place would be bustling with people, but now, apart from those lying on the ground, not a single person was standing.
At the main peak of Ghost Elephant Mountain, inside a pavilion, two beautiful women took the seats of honor, leisurely sipping tea. Beneath their feet, many figures knelt.
“Is your ancestor not here?”
Lu Qian’s tone was rather displeased. Just moments ago, she had been like a cleaver hacking through live wires—sparks and lightning all the way—charging from the foot of the mountain all the way up here in one go. Even the Heavenly Unity Stage Sect Master of Ghost Elephant Mountain was no match for even a single exchange.
She had originally planned to drag out the Ghost Elephant Mountain’s ancestor and make him behave, to keep him from scheming behind everyone’s backs. But after fighting her way up here, she learned the man wasn’t even present.
Wan Haitao, the Sect Master of Ghost Elephant Mountain, beaten black and blue, said humbly:
“Reporting to Senior, our ancestor suddenly had urgent business and left a few days ago. If you wish to see our ancestor, I will surely notify you, Senior, the moment he returns.”
Wan Haitao looked at the two beautiful women before him and nearly blacked out. The woman in red he recognized: Chu Jiujiu. Whether in the Wildlands or the entire Southern Region, she was one of the few Transcendence Stage Great Powers.
As for the other woman in green beside Chu Jiujiu, he didn’t recognize her. Although he didn’t know her, the woman in green’s combat strength was terrifyingly powerful. The two of them—both Heavenly Unity Stage—could have held their own against a Transcendence Stage cultivator for at least a few exchanges, yet they hadn’t lasted even one.
Too terrifying. Even more terrifying than their own ancestor!
Wan Haitao’s Dao Heart had nearly shattered. To this day, he still couldn’t forget: upon receiving news that someone had come to challenge the sect, he had just been about to head out when the Second Elder flew over and slammed headfirst into the ground. Fortunately, the Second Elder’s cultivation was sturdy enough, so even crashing in entirely wasn’t a problem.
Lu Qian looked at the trembling Sect Master of Ghost Elephant Mountain and tapped her finger lightly.
“Since your ancestor isn’t here, then…”
“This debt… you still have to repay it.”
As her words fell, her True Qi Pressure swept outward, immediately suffocating everyone present.
“Wait! Senior…”
boom
News that Ghost Elephant Mountain had been visited by a mysterious powerful expert, its mountain gate mostly destroyed, and its Sect Master severely injured spread. But that was a matter for a few days later.
***
glug glug
Inside a great cauldron, water boiled. Beside it, a young man held a medicine box and was adding herbs into it. However, the herbs were somewhat peculiar.
“Carrots, white radishes, potatoes, tomatoes…”
Qin Mu recited the dan prescription that Sister Mengyu had translated, tossing the corresponding “herbs” in one by one. Though calling them ingredients was more accurate.
The dan prescription the Divine Dragon Senior had given him earlier… how to put it? It had the aesthetic beauty of a doctor’s handwriting. Chinese-to-Chinese translation: incomprehensible.
Originally, Qin Mu had thought it would require some precious, rare spiritual herbs. But this? Just this?
‘Tears welling up. I really shouldn’t have held any hope for the Divine Dragon Senior. Expecting the Divine Dragon Senior to be reliable is like waiting for the day a fish climbs a tree.’
“Hey, Qin Mu, where did you get this dan prescription? You didn’t mix up a recipe with a dan prescription, did you?”
Lu Shuanger looked at the ingredients churning in the cauldron. An enticing aroma whetted one’s appetite.
Qin Mu couldn’t refute Lu Shuanger’s words, because the more he looked at it, the more it seemed like cooking. He even had to stir clockwise from time to time, then counterclockwise.
Sister Ruoshuang would occasionally add firewood beneath the cauldron to maintain the heat, while Sister Mengyu prepared the… “herbs.”
Once the soup was fully cooked… ahem, once the medicine was properly boiled, it was time for the next step.
But this step, Qin Mu was somewhat reluctant to do.
Take off his clothes and jump into the medicinal decoction to absorb the medicinal strength.
‘Good heavens, are they preparing to blanch meat?’
Qin Mu wanted to question the Divine Dragon Senior, but the other party was offline. No matter how much he called out, it was useless.
Others were stewed in iron woks; he was stewing himself in a great cauldron.
“Mu’er, come, take this.”
Qin Mengyu walked over, holding a pill that emitted a chill.
“Take this pill, and once you go in, you won’t feel the heat anymore.”
Hearing this, Qin Mu wanted to say: if I’m cooked through, I wouldn’t feel the heat either.
But he trusted Sister Mengyu. Compared to some unreliable golden-haired girl, Sister Mengyu’s words carried more of a sense of security.
Seeing Mu’er’s hesitant expression, Qin Mengyu gently patted Mu’er’s little head and said softly:
“Don’t worry, Big Sister is right here. If anything happens, Big Sister will guarantee Mu’er’s safety.”
“Yeah! Then Sister Mengyu, I’m going in!”
With an attitude of facing death as if returning home, Qin Mu swallowed the pill and resolutely entered the great cauldron.
First, he lightly touched the water’s surface with his fingertip. Mm, a warm sensation. The temperature was just right. It seemed Sister Mengyu’s pill was indeed reliable!
After Qin Mu settled fully inside, he accidentally took a sip of the medicinal decoction. The saltiness was also just right, and the flavor was delicious. It seemed his cooking skills weren’t bad. The soup was quite tasty.
Circulating his True Qi, the spiritual energy in the medicinal decoction was gradually absorbed into his body. After cycling through the Major and Minor Heavenly Cycles, it ultimately transformed into True Qi, becoming his cultivation.
‘There’s hope!’ Qin Mu rejoiced inwardly. ‘So the Divine Dragon Senior is merely unreliable—at least the effect of restoring cultivation wasn’t a lie to him.’
This was only after absorbing just a bit of the spiritual energy in the decoction. If he fully absorbed it all, Qin Mu had enough confidence to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage again!
Seeing that the dan prescription was truly effective, Qin Mengyu also breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly, she couldn’t determine whether the dan prescription was completely reliable. But examining it, there was nothing abnormal about it. With a try-it-and-see attitude, if it didn’t work, she had the strength to save Mu’er.
Qin Ruoshuang, meanwhile, continued adding firewood. Splitting firewood was something she excelled at. Holding her long sword, she lightly tapped the wood, and it instantly split into several pieces.
Lu Shuanger, on the other hand, was somewhat astonished. She had never imagined that combining these ingredients with the Body-Tempering Milk and boiling them together would produce this effect!
No way, she had to memorize this recipe… dan prescription. It seemed this year’s Gu Tribe Innovation Award was destined to be hers!
Gradually, sweat began to form on Qin Mu’s forehead. It wasn’t from weakness. Although with Aunt Lu and the sisters around, he had been forced to “output” quite a bit, he was also being heavily nourished every day, eating until he almost got nosebleeds.
With both output and intake, they balanced each other out.
As Qin Mu began absorbing, he slowly noticed something was off.
‘My cultivation is rising, but why is it rising so slowly!? That shouldn’t be the case!’
With doubt in his mind, Qin Mu sank his consciousness and indeed discovered something was absorbing the spiritual energy.
Following the path of his True Qi, Qin Mu traced the source step by step. Before his eyes, he saw a golden-haired girl lying on the ground, her eyes tightly shut, her body gently rising and falling with each breath.
Around the golden-haired girl, wisps of Lingqi coiled around her before burrowing into her body. It seemed this golden-haired girl was the one secretly siphoning off a portion of the spiritual energy from the medicinal decoction.
As for who the golden-haired girl was, I believe everyone knew. Qin Mu was also very familiar with her.
‘Divine Dragon Senior!!!’
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