Mi Lu gathered his thoughts, lifted his foot, and cautiously pushed at the door.

To his surprise, it opened effortlessly!

The door parted from the frame with a dull creak.

Looking inside, all he could see was a pitch-black corridor. The corridor was long, stretching into the unknown, with the end reduced to a tiny point of light, seemingly swallowed by the endless passage.

Mi Lu squinted, staring at the dot of light for a while. Uncertain, he turned back to HuLü Yan and asked, “Should we just go in?”

HuLü Yan spoke with confidence, “Yes, go in.”

This was the Medical Hall, so there were bound to be more than just a few people inside. The likely outcome of barging in unannounced was that they would be caught on the spot.

Although the people in the Medical Hall generally didn’t have high cultivation levels, and most were experts in strange practices like raising venomous creatures, concocting poisons, or refining corpses, they had the advantage of numbers and being on their home turf. Going against them would be no easy task.

Especially since Mi Lu was only at the Qi Refining stage.

He even suspected that when the people from the Medical Hall surrounded them, he wouldn’t even have the chance to fight back.

Mi Lu originally intended to observe the situation around the Medical Hall for a few days before making a move, but HuLü Yan seemed too impatient to wait.

After hesitating for a moment, Mi Lu clenched his teeth and stepped inside.

HuLü Yan carried Ming Sui and followed behind.

Once they stepped into the corridor, the door behind them closed on its own with a soft click, even though there was no wind.

Strangely, despite the door closing, the corridor wasn’t as pitch-dark as it had appeared earlier. Though there was no visible light source, Mi Lu could still see the path beneath his feet.

He didn’t need to feel along the walls to find his way; he could walk straight ahead, guided by the distant point of light.

Unexpectedly, though the corridor seemed long, it only took about the time it takes to burn half a stick of incense to walk through it.

As soon as they exited the corridor, the sky brightened before them. The sunlight was bright and warm, like a thin veil gently draped by invisible hands.

The first thing that met their eyes was a vast sea of flowers, vibrant and wild. The plants grew chaotically, with no discernible order, yet they exuded an undeniable vitality.

Mi Lu was momentarily dazzled by the riot of colors, but he quickly noticed that someone had spotted them. Footsteps approached, and a voice rang out sharply, “Who are you? How did you get in here?”

The speaker was a young man, but he was as thin as a withered skeleton, like the embodiment of a deadly poison, his eyes darting around as he stared warily at Mi Lu.

Mi Lu quickly said, “We’re friends of Young Lord Ming. We’ve come to bring him back.”

“Friends of the Young Lord? Since when did the Young Lord have friends like you?” The man glanced at HuLü Yan and then, his face changing, exclaimed, “Young Lord?”

He rushed forward and carefully took Ming Sui from HuLü Yan’s shoulder.

Ming Sui was badly injured, his once white clothing now caked with dried blood. His head had a large bump from repeated blows, and blood had matted much of his hair.

“Young Lord!” The man gently laid Ming Sui on the ground, then turned angrily to Mi Lu, “What did you do to him?”

“Don’t you dare slander us! We didn’t do anything to Young Lord Ming. In fact, we saved him,” Mi Lu said. “If we hadn’t come across him in the Thousands Serpent Pit, he’d probably be inside some beast’s stomach by now.”

“Thousands Serpent Pit?”

“Yes, the Thousands Serpent Pit.” Mi Lu replied airily, “How could you not know your own Young Lord had gone to such a dangerous place?”

“I…” The man was at a loss for words.

Despite the many questions in his mind, the fact remained that these two strangers had brought their Young Lord back.

Ping Rong, the man, weighed his options for a moment and finally chose not to press further. He pulled a few elixirs from his pouch and fed them to Ming Sui before rushing off to get help.

Mi Lu and HuLü Yan stayed where they were, waiting.

Before they entered, they had taken elixirs to alter their appearances and physiques. Judging from Ming Sui’s injuries, he wouldn’t wake up for at least a day or two, so there was no immediate worry about the people of the Medical Hall figuring anything out.

But after a day or two?

Mi Lu wasn’t sure. He didn’t know what HuLü Yan was planning.

They hadn’t waited long when Ping Rong returned, leading five or six other men, all equally gaunt and skeletal.

Suddenly, the air around Mi Lu was filled with panicked voices.

“Oh heavens! What happened to the Young Lord?”

“I heard he was found in the Thousands Serpent Pit,” Ping Rong replied.

“The Thousands Serpent Pit? Of course! That snake-hearted Lady Wan must have used her charms again. She must have tricked our Young Lord into that pit!” one man growled, his eyes flashing with malice.

Ping Rong echoed his anger, “The Young Lord is innocent and naive, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. Ever since he met Lady Wan in Jiu Yao County, he’s been completely under her spell. I won’t rest easy until she’s dealt with!”

Mi Lu: “…”

He wanted to say, “You really think your Young Lord is that innocent? Not only does he know all about affairs between men and women, but he’s also well-versed in affairs between men.”

When it came to that stuff, there wasn’t much the Young Lord didn’t know.

But those words circled in Mi Lu’s mind before he silently swallowed them back.

He watched quietly as the people from the Medical Hall hurriedly carried Ming Sui away, leaving only Ping Rong, the one who had first noticed them.

Ping Rong studied them from head to toe, then clasped his hands and said, “Thank you both for bringing our Young Lord back. My name is Ping Rong. If you don’t mind, please come inside for some tea.”

Mi Lu hadn’t yet replied when he heard HuLü Yan beside him mutter a soft “hmm.”

Ping Rong raised his hand, “Please, follow me.”

However, HuLü Yan didn’t move forward. Instead, he tugged on Mi Lu’s sleeve.

Mi Lu rarely saw HuLü Yan take such initiative, but now wasn’t the time for curiosity. He suppressed his feelings and took HuLü Yan’s hand in return.

Surprisingly, HuLü Yan’s body stiffened noticeably, and the hand being held instinctively recoiled slightly.

Mi Lu frowned, glancing down at HuLü Yan’s awkward hand.

Soon, HuLü Yan seemed to realize their situation. After a brief internal struggle, he begrudgingly placed his hand back in Mi Lu’s.

Mi Lu pressed his lips into a smile and led HuLü Yan forward.

Ha.

Avoiding him like the plague these past two days, but now that he needed something, it’s a different story.

But seriously, what was HuLü Yan thinking? Could he be going through puberty?

The thoughts of a teenager truly were hard to figure out.

Mi Lu sighed inwardly.

The Medical Hall was far larger than Mi Lu had imagined. As they walked, all he could see was an endless expanse of wildflowers.

The farther they went, the more people they encountered.

But what was strange was that everyone looked troubled, as if something was weighing heavily on them. A sense of tension permeated the entire Medical Hall.

Mi Lu asked Ping Rong directly, “Is something going on in your sect? Why does everyone seem so downcast?”

Hearing this, Ping Rong immediately grew cautious, casting a sidelong glance at Mi Lu, “Nothing’s wrong.”

Mi Lu wasn’t bothered by Ping Rong’s guarded response and tossed out another direct question, “Is Hall Master Ming here? Since we’re already here, it wouldn’t be proper not to pay our respects to him.”

As expected, upon hearing the words “Hall Master Ming,” Ping Rong’s carefully maintained calm cracked for a moment. He reflexively replied in a loud voice, “Our Hall Master is very busy and often away. You’ve come at a bad time.”

“Oh,” Mi Lu smiled slightly, “Could you tell me when Hall Master Ming will return?”

Ping Rong said, “That’s hard to say.”

Seeing this, Mi Lu quickly pieced the situation together.

Ming De Yi’s disappearance had thrown the entire Medical Hall into disarray. Now, with Ming Sui unconscious, the sect was leaderless and in chaos, leaving everyone uneasy.

Ping Rong, already on edge from Mi Lu’s probing questions, was terrified of slipping up. He tried to read something from Mi Lu’s expression, but Mi Lu maintained an indifferent smile, betraying nothing.

After thinking for a moment, Ping Rong decided to take back control of the conversation, asking, “How did you come to know our Young Lord? Why was he so badly injured and bound by his Life-bound Magical Artifact? And why didn’t you heal him along the way…”

Before Ping Rong could finish, HuLü Yan coldly interrupted, “I know where Ming De Yi is.”

The words were so direct that they left Ping Rong stunned for a long time, struggling to regain his composure amidst the rush of blood and ringing in his ears.

“W-What did you say?!”

HuLü Yan’s voice was cold and hoarse, “Take me to the Cold Pool, and I’ll let you see Ming De Yi.”

In that instant, Ping Rong’s suspicions exploded. He could no longer even pretend to stay calm, hastily backing away two steps, his eyes locked on HuLü Yan, “What do you mean by that? Where is our Hall Master?!”

HuLü Yan’s expression didn’t change, and he spoke slowly, “I want to go to the Cold Pool.”

“How do you know about the Cold Pool?” Ping Rong shouted angrily, “And where is our Hall Master?!”

Ping Rong’s raised voice drew the attention of everyone nearby, and they quickly surrounded them.

Not long after, a voice as ancient as time cut through the crowd, “What’s going on?”

As the voice fell, the disciples of the Medical Hall fearfully parted, making way.

An elderly man, seemingly in his seventies, stepped forward. His face was parched, full of deep wrinkles from a lack of moisture, and his clouded eyes showed hints of white. His back was hunched, and he looked so dry and withered that he resembled a corpse dug up from the ground. He was a frightening sight.

It was clear the old man held a high position within the Medical Hall, as even the previously loud Ping Rong fell silent like a quail upon seeing him.

HuLü Yan seemed to sense the old man’s presence and, still facing him, repeated, “I want to go to the Cold Pool.”

The old man quickly assessed their cultivation levels.

One at the middle stage of Qi Refining.

One ordinary person.

In his eyes, they were nothing more than insignificant ants. And yet, these two dared to cause trouble in the Medical Hall?

Author’s note:

Mi Lu: There’s something floating in the air… Oh, it’s cannon fodder. So much cannon fodder~