Chapter 161: Perilla Immortal

Outside the window, the sky was just beginning to lighten.

Xie Jinhuan leaned against the pillow, gazing at the canopy of the bed frame, feeling that the martial artists of this world were actually quite prone to going berserk.

Yesterday, he taught Wan Yi the cultivation technique; the result was that as soon as he entered the room, the girl with glasses dove under the table to find medicine for him, making him almost forget his own surname...

After calming down for a moment, the chaotic thoughts in his heart were gradually suppressed. He turned his head and saw Wan Yi lying blissfully on the inner side, her skin becoming increasingly moist and dewy; judging by her appearance, she wouldn't get up until the sun had dried the moon.

Xie Jinhuan did not disturb his patron's rest. He rose quietly, put on his robe, and then took a stack of silver notes from his bosom, placing them on the pillow.

Yesterday, he had returned to the Wang Fu with Seeing Mo Mo, intending to visit the landlady, but the Princess was currently under house arrest, not yet released, making it inconvenient to contact outsiders, so they failed to meet.

For this reason, he spent a couple of hours with Seeing Mo Mo, applying medicine, launching surprise attacks, and exchanging sweet words; as the night deepened and Seeing Mo Mo returned to her room to sleep, he left alone to go to the Carefree Cave to collect money.

The result was an unexpected discovery: the fur shop was empty, as if the owner had fled with the funds. He caught a well-meaning medicine peddler, learned Bu Hanying's new hideout, and, posing as the Thief Saint Bai Zhan, went to the door and retrieved the silver.

Most of the silver notes had come from Wan Yi; to avoid suspicion, he also used the identity of Wei Kun to find the well-meaning citizen Yang Sichen to launder the money.

Since these were all ordinary matters of Jianghu human relations, there was no need to dwell on the details.

After tidying up, seeing that the big cat had not yet woken, Xie Jinhuan bent down, leaned close, and gave two pecks before quietly opening the door and stepping into the courtyard.

In recent days, the Dry Emperor has been unwell; the Imperial Hospital is on standby, the father-in-law my lord is not at the residence, and the mother-in-law my lord has not risen early to brew medicine.

Xie Jinhuan crept quietly to the outside of the alchemy room in the front residence. Inside, the floor was shrouded in mist, resembling the alchemy room of Taishang Laojun, while the pitch-black Meiqiu stood within, with only the top of her head visible swaying back and forth, making it unclear what she was doing.

Meanwhile, the pale and beautiful Perilla Immortal, having stayed up all night refining pills, showed no sign of fatigue. At this moment, she stood beside the alchemy furnace, a malt lollipop of unknown origin dangling from her mouth, holding a book and reading intently.

Because the scene looked so mysterious, Xie Jinhuan instinctively held his breath to avoid disrupting the qi mechanism within the alchemy room. After a brief glance, he saw the book read:

"Xie Lang returns to his hometown. Empress Dowager Guo sits alone in the deep palace, weeping silently, just like rain beating on withered lotuses, wind destroying willows in the cold mist, geese flying beyond the sky, love letters hard to send..."

Oh, the secret history of Empress Dowager Guo...

It's already been published so quickly?!

Xie Jinhuan's serious gaze was shocked. He made a shushing gesture to Meiqiu, crept quietly behind Perilla, and together they examined the newly released unofficial history. Discovering some borderline content, he coughed lightly:

"Ahem~"

"Ah~!"

Lin Zisu, caught off guard, shuddered her shoulders and turned around quickly. Seeing Xie Jinhuan smiling brightly, her expression froze. She hid the book behind her waist and took out the malt candy:

"Xie Lang... pfft~ Young Master Xie? You aren't accompanying Little Aunt?"

Xie Jinhuan did not dare to snatch the Perilla Immortal's lollipop; he merely smiled and said:

"I just came from the Wang Fu. Seeing Physician Lin hadn't risen, I came to check. How is the pill situation? Why is the whole room filled with water mist?"

Lin Zisu shuffled backward in small steps to the wall and hid the miscellaneous book in the Hundred-Child Cabinet:

"I just put the Sixty-Year Lotus into the pot; it won't condense into a pill until afternoon. These aren't water mist; they are the heaven and earth essence leaking from the Sixty-Year Lotus."

"Oh?"

Xie Jinhuan truly hadn't noticed. At this moment, sensing slightly, he discovered the spiritual qi in the room was extremely abundant, feeling a bit pained:

"So much leaking out, is there still medicinal potency?"

Lin Zisu explained seriously: "The Sixty-Year Lotus must be nurtured in a spiritual cave heaven for sixty years to mature. Just the lotus flowers and seeds blooming annually are rare medicinal materials, let alone the roots and stems nourished for sixty years. Ordinary super-grade cultivators with unstable bone structures dare not use this medicine."

Xie Jinhuan thought of Perilla's style and hesitated slightly: "I am only at the Second Grade now. Miss Perilla, are you sure nothing bad will happen?"

Lin Zisu puffed out her chest, which was already taking shape:

"Rest assured. This formula is my pride and joy, refined over several years. Since the medicinal materials Young Master Xie found are flawless, there will definitely be no mishaps. After eating it, Young Master Xie's bones, muscles, and tendons will be like dragons and pythons, his qi channels smooth as skin lotion, um... also the strength of a bear, the speed of a leopard, the eyes of an eagle, the ears of a wolf, the donkey's... the..."

Perhaps feeling the adjectives were wrong, Lin Zisu blinked her large eyes:

"Perseverance!"

"?"

Xie Jinhuan understood the meaning—it wasn't about becoming a four-legged beast, but rather the human physique suddenly becoming like that of a demon.

But this donkey's perseverance at the end...

Isn't that just a stubborn donkey...

Or the donkey from 'Pan, Donkey, Deng, Small, Leisure'...

Xie Jinhuan pondered slightly:

"Will it be like the demon Dao body cultivators, so strong that they don't need to use their brains?"

Lin Zisu said with full confidence:

"No. This pill comprehensively enhances the martial artist's physique. At most, it will make your elbows harder, thicker, and more fierce when exerting force, and your recovery ability will be very strong. Demon Dao cultivators rely on amplifying desires to stimulate the physique and absorbing blood qi to heal injuries; that is not the same path as mine."

"Oh..."

Xie Jinhuan did not understand the Dao of Alchemy very well. Seeing this, he stopped speculating like an outsider and instead asked:

"Does Miss Perilla still have the Yin-Yang Sarcastic Powder?"

Hearing this, Lin Zisu perked up, took a bottle of Soft Girl Powder from the Hundred-Child Cabinet, and handed it to Xie Jinhuan:

"The Yin-Yang Sarcastic Powder treats the symptoms but not the root cause. After hearing Young Master Xie speak last time, I have been researching a new medicine. It will be finished in at most three days and can directly eradicate the Yang Poison!"

"Oh?"

Xie Jinhuan's serious gaze intensified:

"Then, what is the price..."

"The price is definitely better than death, and it can absolutely be resolved. However, it is not finished yet; I will tell Young Master Xie when the time comes."

Xie Jinhuan believed in the Perilla Immortal's power; if she said it could be resolved, it could be resolved. As for the price, that could be discussed later. For now, he ceased to disturb her:

"Miss Perilla, continue refining pills first. When you have free time, mix more Yin-Yang Sarcastic Powder. By the way, consider this payment for your labor hours. I won't tell your Little Aunt."

He handed over a stack of silver notes.

Seeing the amount was too large and fearing her mother would beat her, Lin Zisu hesitated and said:

"I am just practicing my craft. Young Master Xie, I should be thanking you for finding so many medicinal materials for me. I cannot accept the silver."

"If you don't accept the labor fee, how can I have the face to ask you to refine pills for me in the future?"

"Hee-hee~"

Lin Zisu felt embarrassed to take so much, so she symbolically picked one, then pulled out a malt candy shaped like Meiqiu:

"This~ I made it myself. It's not poisonous."

"Hehe~"

Xie Jinhuan took the malt candy and popped it into his mouth, then scooped up Meiqiu, who had been wandering blindly in the mist, and looked her over. Thinking Zisu would be bored alone, he left Meiqiu behind and exited the room first.

As a result, Meiqiu, who was too happy to miss Xie Jinhuan, didn't even say goodbye, and just searched for small dried meat snacks within the misty secret realm...

——

Near the Fengyi River, inside a tea house.

The sky had just brightened. Nangong Ye sat by the street-facing window, with the imperial court's investigation progress laid out before him. He was examining it carefully, his brow furrowed slightly, giving off an aura of imposing authority without needing to show anger.

Vice Sect Leader Zhang Guan, having personally participated in the incident, had been running around contacting various parties these past two days to assist the Sect Leader, who was physically inconvenienced. He now said:

"The ghost cultivators from the Sword Pavilion are too stubborn. Knowing they face certain death, they exhausted all secret methods but yielded no intelligence.

"However, regarding the blood qi shooting into the sky at Mount Zihui, that ghost cultivator did respond, firmly denying it was the Mingshen Sect's doing.

"Judging from the conduct and objectives of this wave of demon bandits from Jingcheng, I also feel they wouldn't bother making such a huge commotion inside Mount Zihui. If it were a feint to cover their tracks, they would have taken the opportunity to massacre a city for a blood sacrifice..."

Mount Zihui stretches for over seven hundred li. The source of the blood qi, its motives, and the damage caused remain unclear to this day.

Now that the Mingshen Sect has been uprooted, and the black and white accounts have been reconciled, certain unspeakable matters have naturally surfaced.

Nangong Ye had been in the Southern Border at the time and was unaware of the situation, so he asked:

"Could it be a misjudgment by the All-Enlightening Array?"

"No. On the ninth night of the eighth lunar month, a sudden downpour caused an anomaly in the celestial phenomena. At the very least, it was half-step to Super Rank; anything above that is boundless. The scale cannot be faked."

Zhang Guan stroked his beard and continued:

"Our sect's lineage spans six hundred years, but Mount Zihui has stood in the Central Plains for tens of thousands of years. Could it be an ancient remnant monster?"

As Sect Leader, Nangong Ye was intimately familiar with the sect's history. He shook his head and said:

"Master Tongtian's cultivation was such that demons and spirits could not hide before him. It is impossible he failed to thoroughly search the seven-hundred-li Mount Zihui. Either there was nothing, or he simply didn't tell the senior brothers."

Zhang Guan had actually never met True Person Qixia either. He sighed:

"Then this matter is troublesome. I will go back and investigate thoroughly. By the way, regarding the Fanyun Temple incident, how does the Sect Leader plan to arrange it? Monk Jinghai has only recently stepped into Super Rank. The Zen Meditation School is good at defense but poor at offense. If the Sect Leader were at full strength, he would have confidence in breaking his Vajra Unmoving Zen, but now, I fear even the Golden Bell Shield cannot be shattered."

Nangong Ye felt the Wu Sect's demoness was simply causing harm. He pondered slightly:

"What is the cultivation level of Fanyun Temple's most powerful disciple?"

Zhang Guan blinked his eyes: "Does the Sect Leader mean to send a disciple to debate the Dao? That would also follow the rules, but Fanyun Temple's eldest disciple seems to have already entered Rank 1. As for our Mount Zihui's most powerful disciples, it is still my foolish disciple, currently at the late stage of Rank 2. We cannot break his defense..."

At this point, Zhang Guan suddenly had a flash of inspiration:

"Right, the Sect Leader is Xie Jinhuan's guardian, which makes him half a master..."

"Ahem!"

Hearing this, Nangong Ye felt a surge of guilt. He spoke earnestly:

"Master-disciple lineage is not just a matter of words; it requires formal transmission. Xie Jinhuan is a pure martial artist. It might be possible to call him a direct disciple of the Daoist elders who practice both immortality and martial arts, but our Mount Zihui possesses the utmost yang qi. There is no way we could be counted as master and disciple."

"Then how about forming a Daoist couple? Wei Wu Yi could support Lady's natal family, Zhiyun Valley, so we could too..."

?

Nangong Ye's phoenix eyes, beautiful and sharp, shifted slightly: "Senior Brother Zhang is talking about Linghu Qingmo?"

Zhang Guan looked confused:

"Who else?"

Nangong Ye nodded slightly: "Matters of a Daoist couple depend on Linghu Qingmo's wishes. We elders cannot force it. Let us discuss this matter later."

"Oh..."

After discussing the sect's important matters, Zhang Guan had to rush to Yunling County to direct the sect members. He took his leave and departed.

Nangong Ye also rose to return to his secret base, but before he even reached the vicinity of his residence, he discovered a cold, handsome Young Master in a white robe standing before the door, one hand clasped behind his back. His aura was so handsome it seemed unlike that of a mere youth...

?!

Nangong Ye instinctively halted, his hand retreating slightly into his sleeve. A ripple appeared in his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it, detoured, and quietly returned to his quarters...

———

I've been staying up too long and can't hold on much longer. One chapter remains unfinished. Everyone will have to wait an hour or two. or2

(End of this chapter)