CHAPTER 8: Baili Kongshan

Before Yu Changan could explain, Yu Nianrou had already swatted his hand away with force and unsheathed her spiritual sword.

“Elder Wan, today I demand someone from your Pill Cauldron Sect.” She raised her chin slightly, her beautiful eyes filled with palpable disgust as they landed on Yu Youyou.

Elder Wan immediately sensed something was wrong. “That is not allowed!”

But Yu Nianrou merely let out a cold scoff, not even considering an outer sect elder at the Golden Core stage worthy of her attention. Back when Yu Bumie wanted to please her, who knew how many Golden Core cultivators he had slaughtered?

Casually, she tossed out a high-grade talisman. Elder Wan and Qi Nanfeng, who had intended to step in, were instantly trapped.

The next moment, Yu Nianrou weighed her sword in her hand and walked toward Yu Youyou with a sweet yet chilling smile. Her tone was innocent yet serious.

“I’m not going to kill you—I wouldn’t want to dirty my sword.”

She flicked her blade, and a crisp, melodious hum echoed through the air.

“You’ve got a sharp tongue, you keep getting in my way, and worst of all, you dirtied Changan’s hand. I need to take you back to the Yunhua Sword Sect and teach you a proper lesson.”

Yu Nianrou unfastened a small ornament from her sword scabbard—a fluffy little trinket barely the length of a finger. Infused with spiritual energy, it instantly transformed into a silver cord that shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight, breathtakingly beautiful.

This was a high-grade spiritual artifact given to her by her father. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator would be bound if caught by it. Today, she would leash Yu Youyou and drag her back like a dog, utterly humiliating this little beggar!

She flicked the silver cord lightly, and like a dragon in flight, it shot toward Yu Youyou, who was about to make a run for it.

Then—

Plop.

The cord landed right in Yu Youyou’s hand, lying motionless as if it had lost all spiritual energy.

Yu Youyou, who had been mid-stride in her escape, froze: “…”

What kind of technique was this?

Yu Nianrou also paused in confusion. This was the first time she had ever failed at something in public. Worse still, the person she had tried to restrain was just a mere mortal!

Clenching her silver teeth, her face flushed hot with embarrassment. What was initially meant as humiliation immediately turned into pure murderous intent.

Yu Nianrou raised her spiritual sword. Yu Changan, alarmed, shouted, “Sister, you mustn’t!”

This was the Pill Cauldron Sect—not the Yunhua Sword Sect, where she could act however she pleased!

But his words only made Yu Nianrou’s expression turn colder. “You’re pleading for a beggar? Don’t worry—I’ll only take one of her hands!”

At that moment, a clear, resonant sword cry rang out like a phoenix’s call, echoing across the sky.

Yu Nianrou’s face went pale in an instant. Her hands trembled uncontrollably, and her spiritual sword dropped heavily to the ground.

“The Jinghong Sword… Why is he here?”

Yu Changan sighed. “A Nascent Soul-level beast appeared in Tonghua County. Junior Uncle Baili probably came to slay it—and to take us back.”

He said no more, simply watching the horizon with reverence.

Above the Pill Cauldron Sect, the swirling clouds were suddenly sliced apart by an intense sword aura, carving a visible sword mark across the sky.

A lone figure stood atop that mark.

Backlit by the sun, his face remained obscured.

But one thing was clear—the sword he held in a reverse grip dripped with fresh, sticky blood, staining the entire blade a ghastly red.

He made no move to clean it, allowing the blood to drip freely.

Yu Youyou blinked, then instinctively turned her head to glance at the leaves of a nearby tree.

Dark green leaves were now speckled with small droplets of deep red—not rain, but blood.

The man did not step into the Pill Cauldron Sect’s protective formation. Instead, he remained outside, silent.

Somewhere within the sect, a powerful figure let out a long sigh and spoke in a weary tone:

“Baili Daoist Friend, your sect’s junior disciples are going too far.”

The man gripping the blood-stained sword let out a cold chuckle before replying lazily, “Understood. I’ll clean up the mess now.”

Yu Nianrou was livid. “You dare?! My father—”

“I’m not your damn father.” The man cut her off impatiently. “Get up here and take your beating.”

Even Jiang Yuan did not dare shield his junior sister this time. He obediently flew toward the man, while the rest of the Yunhua Sword Sect disciples stiffened and lined up in an orderly row.

At the end of the line, Yu Nianrou lowered her head and saw Yu Youyou on the ground. The latter was currently stuffing that beautiful silver rope into her pocket.

Yu Nianrou panicked—after all, that was the most powerful spiritual artifact she carried.

“You little beggar, give it back—”

But before Yu Nianrou could even finish her sentence, a sharp burst of sword energy suddenly struck down from above, forcibly pressing her just-raised head back down.

The force was merciless, making Yu Nianrou tear up on the spot.

The sword cultivator gave a cold warning: “Shut up.”

Yu Nianrou bit back her tears. For some reason, all her arrogance and confidence vanished, and she followed obediently like a quail.

The ruthless sword cultivator only lingered for a moment. Once he confirmed he had retrieved the person he was after, he immediately soared away on his sword. With that, the mighty figures of the Pill Cauldron Sect also fell silent.

The sunlight, which had been obscured by the sword energy, returned. If not for the lingering droplets of blood on the leaves, Yu Youyou would have thought she had imagined the whole thing.

Qi Nanfeng, who had just witnessed such a spectacle, could hardly contain his excitement. “Who was that just now?”

Elder Wan wore an odd expression, clearly unwilling to discuss it. After being pestered incessantly, he begrudgingly spat out a single phrase: “Baili Kongshan, the… madman of Yunhua Sword Sect.”

He spoke vaguely and swiftly, as if avoiding a plague.

When saying the last two words, he even snuck a wary glance in the direction where that figure had disappeared.

Yu Youyou, having been distracted, didn’t catch the name clearly. Puzzled, she asked, “Elder, what did you just say?”

But Elder Wan refused to repeat it.

He looked at Yu Youyou and let out a long sigh. “I had thought you could become a new pillar of our Pill Cauldron Sect. But you’ve provoked the daughter of the Immortal Sword God… Sigh, let’s just hope her father doesn’t storm into the sect this time.”

Shaking his head, Elder Wan walked away.

Qi Nanfeng suddenly sneezed several times in a row before exclaiming, “Huh?”

A tuft of white fur had drifted onto his face in the wind. He picked it up, observed it for a moment, and then disdainfully tossed it at Yu Youyou. “Ugh, the weather’s getting warmer. Are you shedding?”

He had never seen Yu Youyou’s tail before, so he instinctively assumed the fur had come from her.

“…”

Yu Youyou replied, “No. Get lost.”

This fur was pure white, soft, sleek, and even shimmered with a glossy sheen—clearly not something that had fallen from her tail.

Her own tail fur was dry and coarse. In fact, due to malnutrition, it shed excessively and even had a few bald patches.

More importantly, her tail fur was gray.

Perhaps because she was such a background character, the original novel never specified what kind of half-demon she was. When she first arrived in this world, she had even suspected she might be a rat demon—if not for the sheer size and length of her tail.

“Probably just some stray cat or dog’s fur.”

Casually, Yu Youyou stuffed the enviably soft tuft of fur into her pocket, planning to examine it later to figure out why others had such superior fur quality.

….

Although Elder Wan suspected that Yu Bumie might storm into the Pill Cauldron Sect, he still allowed Yu Youyou to enter the outer sect.

The outer sect of the Pill Cauldron Sect was different from what Yu Youyou had imagined.

As the foremost alchemy sect of the Eastern Territory, she had expected to witness awe-inspiring scenes of celestial figures soaring among the clouds.

But as soon as she crossed the mountain ridge and arrived at the outer sect, what greeted her was an endless stretch of medicinal fields. In the distance stood rows of simple wooden houses, and several people with their pant legs rolled up were busy working in the fields. If not for recognizing the blue-and-white outer sect robes they wore, Yu Youyou would have suspected she had wandered into a farming village.

In a way, it was still quite the shock.

Some senior brothers and sisters, noticing the two new faces, immediately shouldered their hoes and walked over with warm smiles. “Are you new here?”

Yu Youyou nodded.

They immediately fell into step beside her, enthusiastically leading the way. “We’ll take you to pick out your residence first. But you guys arrived pretty late, so all the good spots are probably taken.”

Yu Youyou had assumed they would be taken to the row of wooden houses. However, instead of heading there, the senior brothers led them toward a teleportation array at the edge of the medicinal fields.

After a brief moment of dizziness, Yu Youyou opened her eyes to find herself standing in a thriving mountain landscape.

Describing a mountain as “thriving” might seem odd, but it was the only fitting word.

Lush, verdant peaks were covered in blooming trees. Small courtyards were built at intervals—some nestled beside streams, others tucked under trees—each with an elegant and refined design.

“Newcomers all stay at the foot of the mountain. Just pick any empty courtyard. Also, elders hold lectures in the grand hall at the mountain summit every day—don’t be late.”

Both of them looked up toward the mountaintop, but all they could see was churning mist.

Realizing that their residence would be at the foot of the mountain while classes were at the peak, both of them fell silent.

“It’s fine, we’ll just wake up earlier every day. It’ll be good exercise, so it’s not a loss,” Qi Nanfeng forced himself to think optimistically.

Yu Youyou turned to the senior brother and asked seriously, “Can I sleep on the ground at the summit?”

The senior brother gave her a strange smile. “You can, but the dining hall is at the foot of the mountain. If you really want to sleep up there, you’d better bring a good supply of fasting pills.”

Yu Youyou immediately dismissed the idea.

All the courtyards were similar, so she took her time choosing. In the end, she picked the most barren one.

It had neither trees nor flowers and looked rather plain compared to the others. Even Qi Nanfeng found it unappealing. “Why are you choosing this place? There’s not even a tree for shade.”

But Yu Youyou was quite satisfied. She pointed to the overgrown patch of weeds in the yard. “I can clear this out and plant herbs here.”

The sect’s medicinal fields couldn’t be harvested at will, but herbs grown in one’s own courtyard were a different matter. Having lived in a post-apocalyptic world, Yu Youyou deeply understood the importance of agriculture, and she immediately recognized this spot as a prime location.

Qi Nanfeng was enlightened by her words. Unfortunately, only Yu Youyou’s courtyard was barren enough to plant herbs freely. After some thought, he boldly began considering the possibility of uprooting all the flowers and plants in the neighboring courtyards.

Yu Youyou had no luggage, but fortunately, the Pill Cauldron Sect took good care of newcomers. Even the outer sect residences were stocked with essential supplies. Compared to the empty, icy cave she had previously lived in, this place actually felt more like home.

After tidying up, Yu Youyou went to the dining hall with Qi Nanfeng for a meal.

There were quite a few familiar faces who had passed the assessment, and upon seeing Yu Youyou, they greeted her with a mix of curiosity and admiration.

Scattered discussions arose among the crowd—

“Who is she?”

“Yu Youyou.”

“Who’s Yu Youyou?”

“The one who defeated Su Yizhi.”

“Oh… Now I know who you’re talking about.”

In a corner, Su Yizhi, who was quietly eating his meal, felt a twinge in his knee again. He silently picked up his bowl and decided to eat back at his courtyard.

The dining hall buzzed with various small conversations, and before long, someone brought up the topic of courtyards.

One disciple smirked with schadenfreude. “Good thing I arrived early. I just saw that someone actually moved into that bald courtyard that nobody wanted.”

“That’s tragic. Who’s unlucky enough to live in that wretched place?”

“I kind of want to see who picked it.”

…

Yu Youyou ate her meal without paying any attention to the term “bald courtyard,” never once associating it with her own residence. She even eagerly whispered to Qi Nanfeng, “They keep talking about this ‘bald courtyard’—what kind of place is it? Sounds impressive. Want to go check it out?”

That was, until the group sitting next to her encountered her again—right in front of her courtyard.

“…”

“…”

Everyone stared at each other awkwardly before forcing a polite smile and quickly excusing themselves. “Sorry for the disturbance.”

Qi Nanfeng looked at her sympathetically. “So the bald courtyard is actually your home, huh?”

Yu Youyou: “…Shut up, please.”

….

In the bald courtyard, Yu Youyou had the best sleep she’d had since arriving in this world.

But before the stars in the sky had even faded, she rolled out of bed, grabbed a stone, and tossed it over the wall into the neighboring courtyard.

Qi Nanfeng cursed but still got up.

They had to climb the mountain to attend Elder’s lessons.

The mountain path was steep and winding, and the sky before dawn was pitch black. Every step Yu Youyou took drained her energy, her calves aching as if they were about to give out.

Qi Nanfeng, though also exhausted, glanced back at her with concern. “Want me to carry you?”

“No need.”

Yu Youyou panted as she shook her head, fumbling out a medicinal pill to replenish her strength before forcing herself forward.

Thankfully, she had brought some pills out from the stone chamber; otherwise, she might have collapsed on the way.

She pushed through to the mountain peak, and surprisingly, she didn’t get a nosebleed. Perhaps the intense physical exertion had allowed her body to absorb the medicine faster.

Without even sparing a glance at the grand hall at the summit, Yu Youyou slumped into a corner, still sucking on a pill.

The first lesson was taught by a familiar face—Elder Wan.

He smiled warmly as he addressed the disciples. “Now that you are officially outer disciples of the Pill Cauldron Sect, your studies as alchemists begin today.”

“In addition to medicinal herbology and basic pill refinement, you also have another mandatory course.”

With a wave of his hand, dozens of hoes appeared in midair and flew toward the gathered disciples.

“These are your medicinal hoes. Starting today, you will learn how to cultivate spiritual herbs in the medicine fields.”

Yu Youyou was thrilled. She had grown many medicinal herbs in the post-apocalyptic world, but she had never learned how to cultivate spiritual herbs. This was perfect—she had been wondering how to manage her bald courtyard!

A small hoe floated above her head.

She eagerly reached out to grab it—only to be slammed to the ground with a loud thud.

Damn!

Why was it so heavy?!