CHAPTER 26 (PART 2)

“This was all thanks to my brilliant performance—acting as if I’d been gravely wounded by a spirit beast. I managed to fool them, and even tricked those observing elders!” He discreetly pointed towards the floating cloud boat in the sky.

Seeing that Yu Youyou still hadn’t spoken, Kuang Langsheng grew uneasy and asked hesitantly, “So… can you reduce my debt by a thousand spirit stones?”

“So it turns out that was all just Kuang Daoist showcasing your exquisite acting skills,” Yu Youyou finally spoke.

She said slowly, “Then I can rest easy. I was actually quite worried earlier—thinking that you still had residual poison left in your system and was planning to refine a detoxification pill for you. But since you were just pretending, there’s no need for that now.”

“…” Kuang Langsheng’s face turned pale in an instant.

Without looking at him, Yu Youyou continued refining her pill. “You might as well be honest. What really happened?”

He had no choice but to confess, “I did intend to act. So when I saw a spider that looked exactly like the one you killed earlier, I withdrew my protective spiritual energy on purpose and crouched in the grass, waiting for it to bite me.”

Kuang Langsheng’s plan was flawless—or so he thought.

With his extensive experience in courting death, he naturally wouldn’t forget to maintain his protective spiritual energy in the Ancient Everlasting Forest.

But that time, he deliberately retracted it, just to get bitten.

Since Su Yizhi had collected spider venom yesterday, he figured that even if he got bitten, he could be cured quickly.

No life-threatening danger, while also helping the alchemists prove their foresight and exceptional medical skills!

It was a perfect plan!

After pulling off such a performance, he was sure Yu Youyou wouldn’t refuse to knock a thousand spirit stones off his debt.

However, he never expected—

The White-Browed High-Legged Spider never bit him.

Instead, a Kuang Lang Ant did.

After finishing his explanation, he heard Yu Youyou sigh. Then, she retrieved a pill from the furnace and handed it to him.

“Take it.”

Kuang Langsheng was stunned. This was the detoxification pill?

He hadn’t expected that, even after he had just tried to weasel out of his debt, Junior Sister Yu would still be willing to refine a pill for him.

Alchemists were truly kind-hearted people!

Kuang Langsheng was deeply moved and swallowed the pill immediately.

However, the moment he tasted it, he found the flavor oddly familiar—it tasted just like a Fasting Pill.

He hesitated. “Why does this not taste like a detoxification pill?”

“Mhm, because it’s a Fasting Pill.” Yu Youyou’s expression remained indifferent.

Kuang Langsheng froze. “Then… where’s my detoxification pill? Didn’t you say I still had residual poison…?”

“I lied.” The “kind-hearted” Yu Youyou responded mercilessly.

As Kuang Langsheng stood there, utterly devastated, Yu Youyou pulled out the all-too-familiar debt note.

Then, under his stunned gaze—

She crossed out the number “nine thousand.”

Kuang Langsheng’s breath caught. His mind was left with only one thought—

Junior Sister Yu is an angel!

She knew the truth, yet still forgave his lie. She understood his good intentions. She sympathized with the burden of his massive debt.

She was going to reduce his debt to eight thousand! No—she was so kind-hearted, maybe even seven thousand!

A surge of warmth filled Kuang Langsheng’s chest. He had once heard his junior brothers say that watching Yu Youyou spend spirit stones was mesmerizing, but he hadn’t understood what they meant at the time.

Now, seeing her adjust his debt note—he finally understood that damned feeling of heart-pounding admiration!

“Junior Sister Yu… no, Sister Youyou…” Kuang Langsheng called out warmly.

Yu Youyou shot him a look as if she were staring at a lunatic, then handed him the revised debt note. “It’s done. Press your fingerprint again.”

Kuang Langsheng happily responded, “Alright!” He took the note and prepared to press his fingerprint.

But the next moment—his hand froze.

He stared blankly at the numbers on the note, swallowed with difficulty, and somehow, even his voice turned hoarse. “Sister Youyou… no, Yu Daoist… why has it become ten thousand spirit stones?”

“Because I just saved your life. Normally, the Pill Cauldron Sect charges ten thousand spirit stones for treating spirit beast injuries. However, since this trial is preparation for the Four Realms Tournament, and we’re technically teammates, I’m only charging you a fraction—just an extra thousand spirit stones.”

“Of course, after being bitten by a spirit beast, your body is bound to be weakened. If you need a set of pills to restore your vitality, I can refine them for you after we return. Special friendship price—one thousand spirit stones for the full set.”

Yu Youyou’s tone remained flat, but to Kuang Langsheng, it sounded like the whisper of a devil.

“If Kuang Daoist wishes, I can add another thousand to the debt note right now.”

Tears welled up in Kuang Langsheng’s eyes as he pressed his fingerprint with lightning speed.

“Enough, enough! I can’t afford any more! I really can’t!”

….

With Kuang Langsheng’s tragic example before them, for the next two days of the trial, every cultivator was extremely diligent in maintaining their protective spiritual energy. They also kept a small group patrolling the surroundings at all times.

Meanwhile, between refining Fasting Pills, Yu Youyou and her group also took the time to concoct insect-repelling medicine.

This left the previously mocking sword cultivators speechless.

After all, when someone gives you food, it’s hard to curse them.

They even started voluntarily protecting the alchemists. Whenever the latter went out to gather herbs, three or four sword cultivators would follow closely behind.

Although this level of vigilance consumed spiritual energy, no one else was injured afterward.

Three days later, the group of young cultivators retraced their steps and finally emerged from the Ancient Everlasting Forest.

The elders had been waiting outside for a long time.

Seeing this group of disheveled young cultivators, they exchanged glances—each holding a trace of schadenfreude in their eyes.

After all, they had endured the same hardships back then.

Every disciple who participated in the Four Regions Tournament was a genius of their sect, and who among them hadn’t been harshly taught a lesson the first time they entered the Eternal Ancient Forest?

The shield cultivators had just stepped out when Elder Kuang shot his son a fierce glare and cursed, “Disgraceful!”

Kuang Langsheng had no way to explain why he had been taken down by a tiny ant, so he could only struggle to defend himself, “There’s a reason for this, Father. I’ll explain when we get back…”

Elder Kuang pointed at the group of shirtless shield cultivators standing under the sunlight and berated them without holding back, “What reason?! Isn’t it because you lot always think you have great physiques and want to show off instead of properly wearing your clothes?! If you had been dressed properly, would you have been bitten by an insect?!”

“I was bitten on the ear…”

“Then why the hell didn’t you wear ear covers?!” Elder Kuang jabbed a finger toward the nearby female sword cultivators and Yu Youyou. “Look at this! There are girls here too! Do you have no shame?! Do you think we’re still in Heaven’s Shield Sect, where there isn’t a single female disciple?!”

Yu Youyou, who had been singled out, crossed her arms and openly admired the shield cultivators’ abs, clearly feeling no shame whatsoever.

The junior sword cultivators, while not as blatant, also showed no signs of embarrassment.

“…But Father, you were the one who said not wearing clothes was better for tempering the body.”

Elder Kuang ignored him. In the end, the shield cultivators were forced to board the returning cloud vessel with tears in their eyes, covering their chests with both hands.

Elder Xu withdrew his gaze.

He was always amiable in front of his disciples, and now he looked over at the Yunhua Sword Sect disciples with a smile, speaking in an unhurried tone of reassurance, “This was your first time entering the Eternal Ancient Forest. While there were shortcomings, I trust that after learning from this experience, you won’t repeat the same mistakes in the Four Regions Tournament.”

Jiang Yuan lowered his head and cupped his hands in salute without saying a word.

He had originally wanted to slay an exotic beast to bring honor to his master, but three days was too short, and they had only been on the outskirts of the Eternal Ancient Forest. To protect his junior brothers and sisters, he hadn’t dared to venture recklessly into the deeper woods.

In every Four Regions Tournament, shield cultivators and pill cultivators primarily played a supporting role for the sword cultivators.

Since rankings were determined based on the number of spirit beasts slain, sword cultivators—who were the strongest in the path of slaughter—were naturally the main force and the undisputed protagonists.

However, this time, the sword cultivators had merely followed behind the pill cultivators, protecting them while they gathered herbs, or patrolled alongside the shield cultivators. Not a single one of them had slain even the weakest spirit beast.

The pill cultivators, on the other hand, had harvested quite a few exotic beasts.

Oh, no, that wasn’t right. They had harvested quite a few exotic insects.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, the loud voice of Elder Ma from the Pill Cauldron Sect rang out—

“Haha! Not bad, not bad! Even though you three little brats are just the bottom-tier scrubs we brought along to make up the numbers, and there are hundreds of disciples stronger than you back at the sect, based on this trial alone, you lot turned out to be the most reliable!”

Elder Ma reached out to slap Yu Youyou on the shoulder, but she subtly avoided it without a trace.

As a result, Qi Nanfeng and Su Yizhi ended up with two greasy handprints on their shoulders.

Elder Ma’s voice grew even louder—

“Ah, really now! Even though you’re only at the Qi Refining stage and your cultivation is a whole tier lower than disciples from the other two sects, and compared to those formidable sword cultivators you’re as weak as newborn chicks, you still managed to kill a few exotic beasts. You’ve really come a long way!”

The sword cultivators: “…”

Although Elder Ma hadn’t uttered a single word explicitly mocking them, it still felt like their hearts had been stabbed a thousand times.