Chapter 261

Jiang Ye swept a faint glance at Yin Qingqing; there was no extra emotion in those aged eyes, yet it made Yin Qingqing's heart shudder violently, and all the hairs on her body stood up.

"Master, please wait a moment, I will go get them immediately!"

She almost ran to another hidden corner of the courtyard, squatted down, and skillfully moved a seemingly unremarkable blue brick, from which she took out another bulging cloth bag.

"You have quite a few good things hidden in this courtyard."

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow slightly, smiling faintly with a playful expression.

This woman actually understood the principle of a "cunning rabbit having three burrows," not hiding everything in the same place.

The "Yin-Yang Harmonizing Qi Method" from earlier had been taken from under a hidden brick in the wall corner, and this cloth bag was hidden in another completely different corner.

Yin Qingqing lowered her head, carefully offering the cloth bag with both hands: "Master, the items are all inside here."

Jiang Ye took the cloth bag, untied the string, and took out several disguise masks as thin as cicada wings and a few slender branches.

The branches were dark purple throughout, their skin as smooth as wax, emitting a peculiar, faint fragrance identical to the strange scent he had smelled on the mountain path, though the concentration was much lower, not enough to make someone fall victim to it.

"Is this the bewitching incense?!"

Jiang Ye's gaze swept over the disguise masks and finally landed on the slender branches, a strange look flashing in his eyes.

Yin Qingqing hurriedly looked up to explain:

"Master, these branches are taken from a strange tree deep in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains of Miaozhou; this tree naturally emits a strange fragrance that bewitches the heart."

"After Qingqing obtained these branches, I specifically soaked them in secret medicine, further enhancing their effectiveness."

"One only needs to ignite them with true qi, and the strange fragrance will disperse on its own, making it impossible to guard against."

"Martial artists below the Primordial Realm, once they inhale this fragrance, will inevitably have a sense of trance as if they are in a dream, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion."

She paused, then cleverly added at the end:

"Master is the only person Qingqing has ever seen who can remain clear-headed in this strange fragrance."

Jiang Ye ignored her deliberate flattery, continuing to examine the disguise masks and branches in his hand, calculating secretly.

When it came to the art of disguise, his Ape-Form True Intent, "Spirit Ape Thousand Changes," was undoubtedly the top-tier method.

By controlling the two hundred and six bones in his body, he could change his appearance and posture at will.

But the only drawback of the Ape-Form True Intent at present was its inability to change the state of his skin.

His current skin state, after all, could not be compared to that of a young person.

And these disguise masks of Yin Qingqing's happened to compensate for this drawback.

The material was as thin as cicada wings, and one could barely feel the weight when it covered the face; with just a little coordination from the Ape-Form True Intent to adjust the bone contours, it was enough to pass for the real thing.

As for this bewitching incense, Jiang Ye had experienced it personally; it was indeed impossible to guard against.

Even an old hand like him had almost fallen for it.

Ordinary Divine Qi Realm martial artists would find it even harder to resist.

"It will come in handy soon enough."

Jiang Ye looked in the direction where Zheng Lin's back had disappeared, the corners of his mouth curling into an ambiguous arc.

He calmly tucked all the disguise masks and bewitching incense branches into his sleeves, then said faintly: "Very well, this old man will head back now."

Seeing that Jiang Ye finally intended to leave, Yin Qingqing felt a weight lift from her heart; the heart that had been hanging in her chest for who knows how long finally landed, and every cell in her body was cheering.

This damn old thing was finally leaving.

She could finally catch her breath.

Although she thought this in her heart, Yin Qingqing still forced a look of "reluctance," her two dimples barely squeezed out, and she spoke in a soft, sweet voice: "Is Master leaving already? Qingqing is truly reluctant to see you go; I haven't had the chance to properly entertain Master yet..."

Jiang Ye replied with a calm expression: "Then this old man won't leave."

The "reluctance" on Yin Qingqing's face instantly froze there, the corners of her mouth twitching uncontrollably, and the two dimples she had just squeezed out remained comically frozen on her cheeks.

Seeing this, Jiang Ye chuckled, turned around, and walked toward the courtyard gate with his hands behind his back.

Yin Qingqing hurried to follow, her hands folded in front of her, trailing behind him step by step, her voice filled with a hint of obsequiousness:

"Master, walk slowly, Qingqing will see you off..."

Not until Jiang Ye's figure completely disappeared at the end of the mountain path of Danling Peak did Yin Qingqing dare to return to her own courtyard.

She slammed the courtyard gate shut, leaned her back against the door panel, and let out a long, turbid breath, then her legs went soft and she slid to the ground, her hands tightly covering her buttocks, an irrepressible sob of pain escaping her lips:

"This is killing me..."

"So painful!!!"

"I won't be able to eat anything for the next few days..."

After Jiang Ye returned to his courtyard on Heavenly Cloud Peak, he did not delay, swallowing a Tempering Qi Pill and sitting cross-legged directly beside the Green Flame Herb field, beginning to temper and polish his divine qi.

Days passed one by one.

The heaven and earth spiritual energy surrounding Jiang Ye, who sat cross-legged beside the Green Flame Herb field, became increasingly dense, and his aura grew more and more scorching.

Among the Five Elements True Qi, the Great Sun Heavenly Flame True Qi was the most tyrannical.

At this moment, under his repeated tempering, the crimson-gold divine qi pill in his dantian was becoming more refined at a speed visible to the naked eye, the tiny impurity patterns on the pill's surface being stripped away layer by layer, leaving only the purest crimson-gold radiance.

On this day.

When that crimson-gold pill was finally tempered to a certain threshold.

Boom—

An invisible wave of scorching heat expanded violently, centered on Jiang Ye's courtyard.

Within a radius of nearly a thousand meters, the temperature climbed simultaneously at this instant.

The morning dew among the pine forest evaporated into white mist instantly.

Several disciples cultivating in nearby courtyards only felt a wave of heat rushing toward them, their robes on their backs soaked through with sweat within a few short breaths.

"This aura..."

Wen Yueyao, who was nurturing the furnace fire beside her cauldron, opened her eyes instantly, a brilliant light flowing in her bright, beautiful eyes; she looked toward Jiang Ye's courtyard with burning intensity, exclaiming with excitement that she could not hide:

"Old Master Jiang has had another breakthrough!"

At this moment, not only her, but the Zheng siblings, Chen Lili, and Lu Ming all looked toward Jiang Ye's courtyard instinctively, expressions of excitement appearing on their faces.

At the same time, inside the courtyard.

Jiang Ye, sitting cross-legged on the ground, slowly opened his eyes; within them, crimson-gold flames burned and rose, as if they were two miniature suns that would never be extinguished.

The aura radiating from his body was like the scorching sun at noon, pressing down so hard that the surrounding Green Flame Herbs, known for loving fire, all drooped their heads.

If it weren't for the fact that these Green Flame Herbs possessed considerable fire-element resistance by nature, the aura Jiang Ye was exuding at this moment would have been enough to burn them to ashes.

Feeling the surging, refined-to-the-extreme Great Sun Heavenly Flame True Qi in his dantian, the corners of Jiang Ye's mouth slowly curled into a satisfied arc.

Fire-element True Qi, Great Success!