Shen Guan ran far, and when he confirmed that no one was chasing him, he found a quiet spot, stuffed all the flowers into a preservation jade box, then quickly returned to the inn. The whole process went perfectly, not a single hiccup.

Xiao Wan was quietly cultivating in the room. When he saw Shen Guan return, he glanced behind him and asked, “Where’s my daddy?”

Shen Guan said, “He’ll be back a bit later. Don’t worry, he’s fine.”

Xiao Xueman dared to act so bold because, honestly, he had the power to back it up.

With Daddy not back yet, Xiao Wan couldn’t focus on cultivating. He got off the bed, sat on a chair, and stared eagerly at the door, waiting.

Xiao Xueman came back soon after. As soon as he walked in, he bent down and hugged his son, giving him a kiss. Then he turned to Shen Guan and said, “I overestimated them. So many people and not one caught up. Lost them real quick. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have troubled you at all.”

Shen Guan: “…”

You talk like this, it’s really easy to get punched, you know?

Good thing no one in this city could beat Xiao Xueman.

“But you snatched the whole swamp’s worth of flowers. How are we gonna sell them?” Shen Guan showed him the spoils and then looked a little worried. “Taking just one would’ve been fine, but now that we’ve got them all, when they get sold, people will definitely figure out it was us.”

Layer-Born Epiphyllum wasn’t exclusive to one location, but near Frostwind City, there was only that one patch. Judging by how fresh these were, even a random person could guess. Yeah… they’d definitely drawn too much attention.

Xiao Xueman looked at him like he’d just said something weird. “We’re not selling the flowers. What are you thinking? When did I say we were gonna sell the flowers directly?”

Shen Guan was momentarily confused—if they weren’t selling the flowers, then where was the money coming from?

“Obviously, we’re making Peiyuan Pills and selling those—that’s where the big money is,” Xiao Xueman said, sitting down and taking a sip of tea, laying the plan out clearly. “Pills don’t show whether the ingredients are fresh or not. They’re easy to store, and we can sell them one by one without drawing any attention.”

Spiritual herbs and instruments were ranked from one to nine stars. Back in the Seventeenth Heaven, the hemostatic powder they’d sold didn’t even count as a spiritual herb—just basic healing herbs. That’s why Shen Guan had been able to mess around with it too, once he knew the steps. But to make spiritual medicine—even the lowest tier, one-star—required a proper spiritual alchemist.

Peiyuan Pills were two-star pills, and even in the Fifteenth Heaven—and all of the Lower Realm—they were extremely valuable. They were top-tier among two-star pills. After all, anything that could boost spiritual power without side effects was highly sought after by cultivators. A single pill could sell for over a hundred spiritual crystals, which meant tens of thousands of spirit jades, and there was still more demand than supply.

Shen Guan was once again hit by a massive wave of shock.

“You’re a spiritual alchemist?” He felt like his voice was floating in the sky. “How come I never knew this before?”

Xiao Xueman thought for a bit, then said, “I was busy back then, and I didn’t really do alchemy anymore. Besides, you never asked.”

Shen Guan: “…”

He was struggling to breathe and was honestly starting to feel a little broken inside.

“Xiao Xueman,” he inhaled deeply and then asked the question from his soul, “is there anything you can’t do?”

Even as his friend, he couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous.

Xiao Xueman hugged his son and blinked at him, confused. “Why are you so surprised? Wood-type cultivators are more likely to become alchemists. I was just born with it.”

True, when it came to fighting ability, wood-type wasn’t the strongest, but it was way more likely to produce rare spiritual alchemists—just like metal-type was more likely to produce artifact refiners. Their elemental affinity was higher than other types. But even so, “more likely” was relative. A wood-type cultivator becoming an alchemist might be one in ten thousand, while other types might be one in a million. So yeah—technically, “more likely.”

Shen Guan was still reeling from Xiao Xueman’s divine-level character setting when the next morning arrived, and his worldview was once again shaken to the core.

Since he was going to refine pills, Xiao Xueman needed an alchemy furnace. So after breakfast with his son, he lazily wandered outside and came back not long after with a second-hand, basic furnace in tow.

Shen Guan looked closely—it really was a basic furnace. The kind you’d see sitting out on the street, the type even pharmacy apprentices would sneer at.

“So expensive,” Xiao Xueman even grumbled. “This thing cost me twenty spirit jades. Everything in the Fifteenth Heaven is overpriced.”

You’re gonna make pills worth tens of thousands of spirit jades using a furnace that cost twenty jades—doesn’t that seem just a bit reckless?!

Then Shen Guan witnessed Xiao Xueman’s entire pill refining process—and it was exactly the same as when they made that hemostatic powder back in the Seventeenth Heaven. He just casually took out the Layer-Born Epiphyllum, tossed them into the furnace one by one like he was throwing away trash, then dumped all the supporting ingredients in one go.

Shen Guan wasn’t an alchemist, but he’d seen alchemists work before. High-level ones might make two-star pills with ease, but they still followed proper sequences and never lost focus. No one else just tossed stuff in like they were cooking porridge.

Xiao Wan was definitely his biological child. Shen Guan felt this more and more. That one-of-a-kind multitasking cultivation method of his had to be inherited from Xiao Xueman.

Now that he’d been open about his dual-type spiritual power and a bunch of other stuff, Xiao Xueman no longer avoided doing things in front of Xiao Wan. But Xiao Wan had never seen anyone else refine pills, so to him, everything his dad did was absolute truth.

A little while later, the casual-looking alchemy session came to an end. The furnace was too basic and couldn’t handle the intensity. Once Xiao Xueman withdrew his spiritual power, it crumbled into powder.

But his reflexes were sharp—he caught the finished pills right on time. He counted them and didn’t look too satisfied.

“The spiritual power in the Fifteenth Heaven still isn’t strong enough. Otherwise, I could’ve made more,” he sighed, then added, “But it’s fine. I’ve got nine. As long as it sells for enough, we’re good.”

They had eight flowers, so considering the failure rate of alchemy, this was already a miracle. Not only did Xiao Xueman not fail once—he even managed to squeeze out an extra pill. That only happened when a spiritual alchemist used their materials to the absolute limit. But when Shen Guan recalled the sloppy process he’d just witnessed, he found himself completely speechless.

Whatever. He told himself again: Xiao Xueman just doesn’t follow logic. This wasn’t the first time he’d been left speechless by him. Better get used to it.

They weren’t planning to sell all the pills at once. They still had enough money to last a while, so they waited nearly a month until the heat around the Layer-Born Epiphyllum died down before doing anything. This thing was hard currency across all six heavens of the Lower Realm. Shen Guan put on a bulky outfit to hide his identity and figure, and sold two pills to the Chamber of Commerce. As soon as they saw they were Peiyuan Pills, the staff’s attitude changed instantly. After verifying the goods, they didn’t ask a single question and paid up on the spot.

That money was enough for them to live comfortably in Frostwind City for years. With no more worries about daily survival, Xiao Xueman turned his attention to getting Xiao Wan enrolled in school.

Frostwind City’s academy wasn’t the same as the one in the Sixteenth Heaven. This one was actually among the best academies in the Fifteenth Heaven. When Xiao Xueman looked at the notice board by the entrance, it was full of outstanding alumni and lists of teachers.

He gave it a quick glance and saw that they taught cultural subjects quite thoroughly, too. The instructors looked experienced, and the school’s library was huge with lots of books. That checked all his boxes.

But when he was out strolling with Xiao Wan, they overheard a bunch of gossip floating around the city.

Like how someone had wiped out the whole Layer-Born Epiphyllum patch people had been guarding for ages. The Mercenary Guild had even posted a bounty, but a month had gone by with no leads. Or how the city’s auction house was planning to auction off two rare Peiyuan Pills at the end of the month, and tons of people—even big families from other cities—were coming just to get them.

Xiao Wan listened quietly, not saying a word. He was being carried by Xiao Xueman, head resting on his daddy’s shoulder, still holding the sweet-and-sour candy he’d just been given. He knew exactly who had done all these things—he’d seen it with his own eyes.

Daddy… probably had a lot of past stories, maybe even things Uncle Shen didn’t know. Even if he wanted to tell them, it might not be something that could be said in just a few words.

That thought only made Xiao Wan’s willpower burn stronger. While Xiao Xueman and Shen Guan were busy earning money, he hadn’t been idle either.

The spiritual energy in the Fifteenth Heaven was denser. While Xiao Wan was refining and adjusting the spiritual power inside his body, he also actively absorbed more from the surroundings. During this time, his control over his dual-type power became even more refined.

While waiting for school to start, he broke through quickly—finally surpassing spirit practitioner and formally turning his spirit force into spiritual power.

Before, when he didn’t know what that meant, he had set spirit practitioner as a long-term goal. But after breaking through so fast, his eyes started looking much further ahead.

Maybe even First Heaven wasn’t so far away.

Daddy hadn’t said much, but Xiao Wan could guess—that was probably where he and Uncle Shen used to live.

There were a lot of stories behind all this. Xiao Wan figured it was fine not to know them. What mattered most to him was making sure the people he loved never got hurt. For that goal, he had endless motivation.

“Enrollment is the day after tomorrow,” Xiao Xueman gently patted his back. “With your current condition, you’ll definitely stand out in the Lower Realm. Once you’re in school, it’s normal that people will notice you. But you haven’t fully refined your inner spiritual power yet, so you’ll still need to suppress it a bit. We’re also not going to climb too high for now. All things considered, the Fifteenth Heaven is the most suitable place right now.”

Xiao Wan licked his candy, nodded, and said, “I’ll be good.”

“Mm, but you don’t have to be too good,” Xiao Xueman thought for a moment. “This place isn’t like the Seventeenth Heaven. There are a lot more students here, and not all of them are little kids anymore. It’s not as simple as your old elementary school. If someone really tries to mess with you, you don’t need to take it lying down.”

Xiao Wan blinked but didn’t say anything.

He really hadn’t been bullied before. His daddy spoiled him, his teachers liked him, and his classmates were all tiny radish-heads. Even if someone got upset, they couldn’t say anything too harsh. So he didn’t take that comment too seriously.

But once school started, he began to get it.

He had to go through a test upon entry—spirit practitioner level. A five-year-old spirit practitioner was incredibly rare in the Fifteenth Heaven. Xiao Wan was placed in a special class, kind of like an elite track. Only the most gifted kids in the city could get in.

Of course, that “most gifted” was relative. Compared to Xiao Wan, it didn’t amount to much—especially considering how young he was.

The moment he joined, it was like some kind of balance had been shattered.