CHAPTER 21 (PART 2)

Su Yizhi fell silent for a moment before realizing the reason. “Oh, right. You have a top-tier wood spirit root, so it makes sense you’d be familiar with herbs.”

But just as Qi Nanfeng was about to leave, he turned back and casually added, “Actually, it’s not just me. Little Yu memorized everything too.”

“…”

Su Yizhi clutched his knees in despair as he trudged toward the alchemy room.

The disciples quickly decided on their destinations, leaving only Yu Youyou squatting on the bridge, dozing off.

She hadn’t been sleeping at night lately, relying on stimulant pills to stay awake. But she must have taken too many, because now the effects weren’t working as well.

Yawning, she stood up.

Elder Niu from the library smiled and waved at her. “Yu girl, you haven’t been here in a month. You must’ve forgotten everything on the jade tokens, right?”

Yu Youyou answered honestly, “Elder Niu, my memory is pretty good. I haven’t forgotten anything.”

Elder Niu: “…”

Before the other two elders could speak, a loud, irritable voice rang out in the distance—

“If you keep dawdling, I’m not giving you any more crane… chicken drumsticks!”

The moment that voice echoed, the elders collectively fell silent, watching Yu Youyou bid them farewell before lazily making her way toward Elder Ma, who was stationed at the farthest peak.

“Sigh.” Elder Niu let out a long sigh, reminiscing about the diligent girl who used to spend days in the library. “What a waste of talent. She’s completely led astray now.”

Elder Ji, however, remained calm. “It’s not so bad. She still comes to me every night to ask about exotic beasts. She’s quite diligent.”

Elder Yang merely glanced over and said nothing.

Elder Niu was curious. “You were the loudest just now. Why aren’t you fighting for her anymore? And if I’m not mistaken, that girl has never set foot in your alchemy room.”

There was a hint of disappointment and schadenfreude in his tone.

Elder Yang lazily lifted his eyelids. “She’s already been taken by that old bastard Ma. What’s the point in fighting? You think you can beat him?”

“…” No, he couldn’t.

There was one thing Elder Yang hadn’t mentioned.

Yu Youyou had visited the alchemy room a few times. Thinking she was lazy and unmotivated, he deliberately made things difficult by having her refine a second-grade spirit pill.

A second-grade pill required an immense amount of ingredients and was notoriously difficult to refine, typically only attempted by experienced Foundation Establishment cultivators.

To his surprise, the girl actually succeeded on her third try.

Though the pill was hideous beyond belief, its potency was incredibly strong.

More importantly, once she succeeded, she never failed at refining that type of pill again.

Elder Niu sighed, his voice tinged with regret. “This batch of disciples has very few promising ones. I thought Yu Youyou had potential, but in the end, she strayed from the right path.”

“This time, our Pill Cauldron Sect… will probably become a laughingstock again, just like three years ago.”

….

After a lengthy selection process, where the sect struggled to pick the least mediocre among a group of weaklings, the final disciples chosen to participate in the Four Realms Tournament were, unsurprisingly, Yu Youyou, Su Yizhi, and Qi Nanfeng.

Yu Youyou and Su Yizhi needed no explanation—both had extraordinary alchemy talent. Despite still being in the Qi Refinement stage, they could already refine second-grade spirit pills.

Although Qi Nanfeng’s alchemy skills were clumsy, he had an almost terrifying ability to identify medicinal herbs. Even with his eyes closed, he could determine the maturity of two different herbs just by their scent, making him a walking encyclopedia of medicinal plants.

As a result of their grueling training, even the elders—who had little hope for this Four Realms Tournament—began to nurture a sliver of expectation.

The night before departure, the three of them lay side by side on Qi Nanfeng’s enormous, soft bed, chatting.

Qi Nanfeng enthusiastically invited them, “I’m going home for a bit later to bid farewell to my family. Do you want to visit my house?”

Su Yizhi gladly accepted.

However, Yu Youyou didn’t agree. She had somewhere else to go.

Silently, she made her way back to the small alley where she had once lived.

The night was still young. An old man sat in a rattan chair cooling off, telling stories to the grandchildren gathered around him. In the distance, Aunt Hua was collecting laundry, loudly calling for her children to herd the chickens back into the coop.

No one recognized Yu Youyou as she passed through the alley. Even Aunt Hua, who had watched her grow up, only gave a curious glance at the pretty young girl before continuing with her chores.

She had changed drastically. Compared to a year ago, she was practically a different person.

The small courtyard where she had once lived with Granny Zhang was tightly locked. The ground in front of the door was swept clean, as if someone regularly came to maintain it.

Just as Yu Youyou was about to leave, she noticed something placed behind a broken flowerpot at the door.

Back then, Granny Zhang had always mistreated her. Aunt Hua, feeling sorry for her, would secretly leave food in this hidden spot, afraid of being caught. Only Yu Youyou had known about this little hiding place.

But today, what was left there wasn’t food—it was a clay jar filled with clear water.

At the bottom of the jar was a rough yellow piece of paper, with crooked and childish handwriting that Yu Youyou immediately recognized as belonging to Aunt Hua’s eldest son, who had just started learning to write.

“Sister Yu, my mom says this well water is spirit water. If you drink it, your stomach won’t hurt. She’s afraid the well might lose its effect later, so she had me fill a jar for you in advance. If you come home, remember to drink it all.”

Yu Youyou crouched down and smiled.

Every time she left the Pill Cauldron Sect, she would visit this alley.

Sometimes, she would toss a few Qi-nourishing spirit pills into the well. Other times, she would drop in some calming spirit herbs. It seemed her efforts hadn’t been in vain.

She took the yellow paper, held the clay jar at the base, and tilted her head back, drinking the water in big gulps.

Not far away, Gou Dan came running over, wagging his tail, sniffing at her while rubbing against her leg.

“Here, I promised you a meat pie. But the outer sect only has steamed buns now, so this one’s from the inner sect. I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know if it’s any good.”

Gou Dan buried his head and chomped down on the meat pie. Judging by how he was eating, it seemed the inner sect’s meat pies weren’t bad at all.

Yu Youyou patted the dog’s head, tossed another spirit pill into the old well, then stood up and lightly stepped into the night.

In the courtyard, Aunt Hua seemed to sense something. She wiped her hands and peeked outside.

But there was no one there.

She only vaguely caught a glimpse of a pale blue and white dress hem lifting in the breeze, and a tuft of soft fur drifting under the moonlight, like a dandelion floating away on the wind.

“How strange… Why did that pretty girl seem a little familiar?”

….

After fulfilling her promise to Gou Dan, Yu Youyou made it back to the Pill Cauldron Sect right on time.

The Cloudflower Sword Sect was quite far from Tonghua County, and there was no large teleportation array between the two sects. So, she, Qi Nanfeng, Su Yizhi, Senior Sister Qu Qingmiao, and the elders would be taking a cloudship to get there.

Sure enough, a massive cloudship was already hovering in front of the sect’s mountain gate, with several elders and inner sect disciples standing beneath it.

Qi Nanfeng spotted Yu Youyou from a distance, but for some reason, instead of shouting, he merely kept winking at her.

As Yu Youyou walked closer, she quickly understood why.

A group of tall, imposing shield cultivators stood before the elders, their shoulders and backs straight like an unmovable wall.

The morning light reflected off their metallic shields, casting a dazzling glow that complemented their bronzed skin, making it hard to look away.

At the front stood Kuang Langsheng.

He politely cupped his hands in greeting. “We heard that an exotic beast was spotted in Tonghua County. My junior brothers and I were concerned for your sect’s safety, so we’ve come to escort you to the Cloudflower Sword Sect. We apologize for any inconvenience we may cause aboard the cloudship.”

Hearing this, Yu Youyou stumbled slightly and gave Kuang Langsheng a strange look.

Across from her, Su Yizhi and Qi Nanfeng were barely holding back their laughter.

Su Yizhi whispered, “If I’m not mistaken, they ran out of money for the cloudship after redeeming their spatial pouches and artifacts.”

Unaware of the truth, the elders of the Pill Cauldron Sect were deeply moved by the shield cultivators’ supposed goodwill and readily invited them aboard.

But with ten extra people, the cloudship suddenly felt a little cramped.

Yu Youyou and her companions sat directly across from Kuang Langsheng and his group.

She studied the legs of the shield cultivators and was quite satisfied with her handiwork.

Good. No lingering injuries. Those were legs she had personally treated back to health, one by one.

The shield cultivators, however, felt extremely uncomfortable under her stare.

One of them whispered to Kuang Langsheng, “Senior Brother, why aren’t they saying anything? Are all pill cultivators this aloof?”

Kuang Langsheng pondered for a moment. To ease the awkward atmosphere, he cupped his hands in greeting, “We will be relying on you during the Four Realms Tournament. May I ask for your esteemed names?”

Qi Nanfeng and Su Yizhi introduced themselves. Kuang Langsheng found their voices somewhat familiar but couldn’t quite place them.

Then Yu Youyou spoke.

Kuang Langsheng’s expression grew even more peculiar.

“Fellow Daoist… have we met before?”