Volume One, Chapter Seventeen: Observing in the Dark

Lin Feixue and Liu Ruoxi exchanged a glance, neither speaking a word.

Su Haoming felt an immediate tightening of a nerve within him.

Something was wrong—these two women were definitely scheming against him!

“I’ll give it a try.”

Unexpectedly, Liu Ruoxi took the initiative first.

She picked up a pill, didn’t even glance at it, and swallowed it straight away.

“Ruoxi!” Su Haoming blurted out, afraid that the unknown substance might be poisonous.

Liu Ruoxi’s body trembled slightly.

Then, an uncontrollable look of delight spread across her face: “Such potent spiritual energy! This single pill almost matches a whole bottle of Qi Gathering Pills! And the medicinal power is pure without any residue!”

Watching this, Lin Feixue no longer hesitated and swallowed another pill herself.

After a short while, a change came over her face—astonishment she could no longer hide: “This pill… it’s so strange!”

Su Haoming clenched the last purple, shimmering pill in his hand, his heartbeat racing.

Glancing at Liu Ruoxi, then at Lin Feixue, he saw their reactions were genuine, not fabricated.

Damn it, he decided to take a gamble.

With this resolve, he took the pill, letting it slide down his throat.

Warmth spread first through his stomach, then swiftly turned cool, finally transforming into a gentle current of energy that cleansed his entire body.

He clearly felt the spiritual power that had been drained moments ago not only replenished rapidly but became even purer than before!

“What… is happening?”

“Not sure, but the effect is undeniable.” Lin Feixue’s tone remained calm, yet the excitement was unmistakable. “It seems we’ve accidentally created something new.”

Liu Ruoxi pondered for a moment: “Let’s try again with this formula.”

Over the next several hours, the three of them focused intently, continuously adjusting the recipe and technique.

After several failures, they finally refined seven purple pills, each with slightly different effects, all remarkably potent.

“This is truly bizarre,” Lin Feixue said seriously as she packed away the pills. “I’ve never even heard of this method of pill refinement.”

Liu Ruoxi nodded. “The key lies with you.” She looked at Su Haoming. “What exactly is going on with your spiritual power?”

Su Haoming’s heart skipped a beat. “Just a normal cultivation method—maybe it’s related to my five-element mixed spiritual roots?”

The two women clearly doubted him but didn’t press further.

“Let’s rest for now and continue tomorrow.” Liu Ruoxi stood. “The Pill Gathering three days from now—maybe we really have a chance.”

Lin Feixue rose and took her leave.

Su Haoming seized the opportunity and quietly followed.

“Hey, wait.” He called out to Lin Feixue. “I have a question.”

Lin Feixue stopped and turned, her face expressionless. “What is it?”

“What’s your relationship with Liu Ruoxi? How come you two suddenly seem like one?” Su Haoming cut straight to the point.

Lin Feixue was silent for a moment. “We just have similar cultivation paths and aligned goals.”

“Bullshit!” Su Haoming suppressed his anger. “I’m not a child! You two must have known each other before, and both have significant backgrounds! That eavesdropping device—that was your doing, wasn’t it?”

Lin Feixue’s calm seemed to crack for a moment but quickly closed again. “What eavesdropping device?”

“Don’t play dumb! The incense burner by my bedside!”

Lin Feixue frowned. “I never placed any incense burner.” She paused. “You have an incense burner in your room? What does it look like?”

Su Haoming was stunned.

Lin Feixue’s reaction didn’t seem fake.

If she didn’t plant the listening device, then who did?

“Forget it, never mind.” He decided to drop the subject for now. “I just want to know—what exactly are you two after?”

Lin Feixue met his gaze. “The Pill Gathering, foundation building, improving cultivation. Didn’t we agree on this already?”

“Is it really that simple?”

“Yes, it’s that simple.”

With that, Lin Feixue’s figure quickly vanished around the street corner.

Su Haoming remained standing, his mind full of questions.

If Lin Feixue didn’t put the spy device there, then who did?

Liu Ruoxi?

Or someone else altogether?

He turned back to the courtyard; Liu Ruoxi was nowhere to be seen.

Opening his room door cautiously, Su Haoming scanned the space; sure enough, the incense burner by his bedside was gone.

“Impossible that it just sprouted legs and walked off…”

He began to search the room meticulously.

Under the bed, inside the cabinet, on the windowsill…

Finally, beneath a floorboard, he found a hidden small compartment.

“What’s this?”

Inside lay an ancient jade slip, quietly resting, engraved with some blurred words and patterns.

“This thing isn’t mine!”

Su Haoming picked up the jade slip and instinctively tried to probe it with his spiritual sense.

The surface was unresponsive, like an ordinary stone.

Yet, on a whim, he touched it with his primordial purple energy.

Suddenly, a line of faint, tiny characters appeared on the jade slip:

“Third generation disciple of the Cold Moon Sect—Lin Feixue. Fate: Ice Soul Rebirth. Master: Lord Purple Gold. Mission: Retrieve the Heart Sutra fragments at all costs…”

The text vanished in an instant, and Su Haoming’s face turned extremely grim.

Cold Moon Sect?

The largest independent cultivation group in the Northern Wind Domain that Lin Feixue had mentioned?

Lin Feixue was a member of the Cold Moon Sect?

And who was this “Lord Purple Gold”?

What about Liu Ruoxi… what was her connection to all this?

As Su Haoming pondered, Liu Ruoxi’s voice came from the courtyard: “Su Haoming, come out for a moment.”

He hurriedly slipped the jade slip back into the secret compartment, swiftly closed the floorboard, took a deep breath, composed himself, and stepped outside.

“What is it?”

Liu Ruoxi stood in the center of the courtyard, holding a folded blue talisman.

“I just discovered something strange.”

“What strange thing?” Su Haoming’s heart tightened.

“This is a spirit-detecting talisman sent by the city lord’s mansion, supposedly for the Pill Gathering.” Liu Ruoxi pointed to the talisman. “I casually scanned the courtyard earlier and detected residual spiritual energy fluctuations—very odd, like some kind of surveillance spell.”

Su Haoming’s heartbeat accelerated sharply.

“Where?”

“Near your room.” Liu Ruoxi’s expression grew serious. “Even stranger, the spiritual energy feels familiar—somewhat like Lin Feixue’s fluctuations, but not quite the same.”

She looked at Su Haoming with a serious tone. “Have you noticed anything unusual lately?”

Su Haoming hesitated, deciding to conceal the jade slip for now.

“Nothing special, maybe… Lin Feixue came by a few times and left spiritual traces.”

Liu Ruoxi nodded but didn’t press further; Su Haoming could tell she wasn’t fully convinced.

“By the way, I’ve thought of a way to improve the pill refinement method.” Liu Ruoxi quickly changed the subject. “But it’ll require your cooperation and a much greater energy expenditure than today.”

“No problem.” Su Haoming immediately perked up, forcing a casual smile. “Being a ‘human battery’—I’m quite experienced!”

Liu Ruoxi looked up at the sky. “Before dinner, Lin Feixue should come again; we’ll try once more and get a better feel for it.”

Su Haoming nodded, though his mind was a tangled mess.

He was now utterly convinced he had been drawn into a massive whirlpool.

Far more complicated than he had imagined.

System upgrades stalling, mysterious surveillance devices, Lin Feixue’s Cold Moon Sect mission…

What earth-shattering secret lay hidden behind all this?

And for now, the only thing he could do seemed to be to continue playing the fool.

Just then, an almost imperceptible spiritual energy ripple flickered past outside the courtyard wall.

In the shadows, a pair of eyes silently watched everything happening inside the courtyard.

“Tick… tick…”