Chapter 455: Seven Stars Pond

“You really know how to write your own name!”

Wang Yu witnessed this scene, surprised yet somewhat speechless.

“Forget it, go call Big Green back for me.” Wang Yu, through the spiritual pact in his soul, knew the other beast was unharmed and could faintly sense it somewhere over ten miles away, and immediately ordered Xiao Bai.

Xiao Bai hissed softly, leapt off the large bed, transformed into a white blur, and pierced straight through the wall, vanishing from sight.

Huh, what kind of teleportation technique is that?

Wang Yu, witnessing this, paused slightly.

It seemed that during the three years he had been away from the cultivation world, Xiao Bai—the mutated iron-headed crocodile infused with gray dragon blood—had learned a new skill.

But he quickly retracted his gaze and turned back to the jade slip in his hand, sending a thread of spiritual awareness into it.

Since he had returned to the cultivation world, the first thing he must do was determine exactly where in the Eastern Wastelands he now stood.

…

In a town formed by a row of wooden houses along the riverbank, a green-clad figure descended from the sky, stepping upon white clouds before a tall wooden hall.

It was Shi Qiuping, this beautiful young woman.

She glanced at the dozen or so ragged commoners lined up before the hall, frowned slightly, yet walked straight inside.

“Immortal!”

The commoners lined up before the hall, seeing the young woman approach, respectfully stepped back several paces, clearing a path.

Above the hall hung a black sign bearing three large characters: “Hong Yao Tang,” and a faint medicinal scent drifted from within.

Inside the hall, the young woman saw a girl dressed in pale pink robes sitting beside a wooden table, holding the wrist of an elderly woman with a sickly face, shaking her head as she took her pulse.

The girl looked no more than sixteen or seventeen, with delicate features and two faint dimples on each cheek, giving her a strangely mischievous, sprite-like charm; upon seeing the young woman enter, she exclaimed joyfully:

“Sister, what are you doing here?”

“Little sister, come with me—the elder we found has awakened and specifically requested to see you,” Shi Qiuping said solemnly to the girl in pink.

“What? The elder has awakened? Fine, I’ll go right away.”

“Aunt Li, your condition isn’t serious—just weakened from age. I’ll write you a prescription; go to the nearby pharmacy, get the herbs, and take them home to strengthen yourself.” The girl in pink, startled, immediately responded, then turned kindly to the old woman beside her, picked up pen and paper, swiftly wrote a prescription, and handed it over.

“Thank you, Medicine Immortal! Thank you, Medicine Immortal!” The old woman wept with gratitude, bowed repeatedly, took the prescription, and slowly left the hall.

“Little sister, why do you insist on this? You keep coming here to treat commoners every few days—no spirit stones, no cultivation progress, only wasting your own cultivation time,” Shi Qiuping sighed, watching this.

“Sister, you know as well as I do—our pharmacy lineage requires us to treat many people in the mortal world to deepen our understanding of medicinal Dao. Does it matter if they’re commoners or not?”

“Besides, there are no doctors here. If I don’t treat them, these commoners will just die when they fall seriously ill. And if the commoners dwindle, the number of spirit fish we can harvest will drop drastically.” The girl in pink replied with a grin, utterly unconcerned.

“I know your role as a pharmacist is vital—otherwise we couldn’t have treated that Foundation Establishment elder, and we’d have been driven out long ago.”

“But right now, the most important thing for us sisters is to please this Foundation Establishment elder. Even a mere verbal promise from him would be enough to intimidate others and bring us endless benefits,” Shi Qiuping whispered.

“That’s true—if not for the elder’s two spirit beasts, we’d have been driven away long ago and couldn’t have stayed in Spirit Creek Bay,” Shi Hongyao nodded vigorously.

“Good. When you meet the elder, be sure to act humble. If we’re allowed to accompany him, that would be even better—we’d finally have a protector and wouldn’t have to live in constant fear anymore,” Shi Qiuping said with deep implication.

“Understood. I’ll hang up the ‘Closed for Consultation’ sign first, then head straight to pay respects to the elder,” the girl in pink replied, then walked to a side hall, fetched a “Closed for Consultation” sign, and hung it outside the hall.

The commoners waiting outside, seeing this, mostly looked disappointed, yet none caused trouble—only dispersed quietly.

The two women then left the hall, formed hand seals, and white clouds formed beneath their feet as they soared into the air toward the pile of jagged rocks.

…

At the same moment.

In another of the town’s few tall wooden buildings, on the second floor, two men in coarse cloth robes sat at a table drinking and speaking in low tones.

When they saw the two women flying through the air, the man dressed as a fisherman, with dark-red skin, turned to his companion in surprise:

“What are the Shi sisters up to? They seem in such a hurry—did something happen at Spirit Creek? Or did the Qixing Tan group come to cause trouble again?”

“If Qixing Tan came to cause trouble, Shi friend would have sent us the summoning signal. And Spirit Creek is guarded by Green Qin, a late Qi Refining spirit beast—nothing should happen there,” replied the man across from him, whose hands were thick and calloused, clad in a fur robe with a pale green short axe at his waist—clearly a woodcutter by trade. He too looked puzzled.

“Whatever’s happening, since Shi friend hasn’t sent a signal, it’s probably nothing serious. We can ask when we return to our quarters tonight,” said the fisherman, scratching his head and forcibly suppressing his curiosity.

“True. Spirit Creek Bay is such a tiny place—there isn’t even a single late Qi Refining cultivator among us. Shi friend is already the strongest among us. If even she and Bai Li can’t handle it, our going wouldn’t help.” The woodcutter sighed.

“With Bai Li’s power, if she were willing to strike out, Qixing Tan’s lot would’ve been driven off long ago. But sadly, she refuses to leave even a step from that stone house.” The woodcutter also looked helpless.

“Qixing Tan has long coveted Spirit Creek Bay. If not for Bai Li and Green Qin appearing suddenly three years ago, we’d have been driven out already,” said the fisherman, his voice turning cold.

“Though the spirit vein in Spirit Creek is incomplete, it’s still Mianqiang a Rank One spirit vein—tiny, yes, but it can support spirit fish and barely sustain our daily cultivation. Even without Qixing Tan, other cultivators would eventually eye this place.”

“Now we only hope Bai Li breaks through to become a Rank Two spirit beast—or that the elder awakens. Only Rank Two power can truly cut off outside Kuishi and legitimately claim this spirit domain,” replied the woodcutter, a hint of longing in his eyes.