Chapter 25: That Despicable Skinflint Qi!

With ten days remaining before the closing of the secret realm, the six of them, having completed their training, decided to wander around to gather some spiritual plants. Their original plan to head to Cloudshore Cliff had been to reunite with one another, but since they had already found each other, that trip was no longer necessary. The jade tokens they carried could be crushed to trigger an immediate exit; this mechanism was specifically designed for disciples who might accidentally lose their tokens and find themselves trapped.

"The Hidden Dragon Secret Realm is home to Dragon-Saliva Grass, the primary ingredient for refining Body-Tempering Pills. I wonder if we can find any," Mu Qianqian said. She had studied many records regarding the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm and knew everything about it like the back of her hand, though the texts never specified the exact locations of such rare treasures. Then again, if they were marked, they would have been snatched up long ago.

Yun Zhao crouched on the ground, digging for herbs. "Senior Sister, where does Dragon-Saliva Grass grow? Since we have a few days left, why don't we go looking for it?"

Mu Qianqian spread her hands. "I don't know. I'm not an alchemist, and the records didn't mention it."

Lin Shu raised his hand tentatively. "Um, I am."

Yun Zhao slapped her forehead. "Oh, I forgot!"

In truth, Lin Shu wasn't entirely certain either, but he possessed a comprehensive encyclopedia of spiritual plants. After flipping through it, he found the entry: "Dragon-Saliva Grass usually grows on cliffs. It is golden in color, sprouts small white flowers, and its fruit..." He explained, "Body-Tempering Pills are not commonly used; they are generally only used by cultivators undergoing a massive breakthrough of four or five stages at once to help stabilize their physical foundation. But as far as I know, no cultivator has ever advanced that many stages at once."

As he finished speaking, Yun Zhao and the others turned to look at Qi Yan. Mu Qianqian enlightened Lin Shu: "Little Lin, we have one now. Our Junior Brother Qi here jumped straight from the Qi Refinement stage all the way to the fourth level of the Golden Core stage!"

Lin Shu gasped, "Really?!"

Shuangxue and Shuangyue stepped in to provide proof: "It's true! The lightning tribulation when Junior Brother Qi formed his core nearly scared us to death!"

Lin Shu scratched his head. "That powerful? It's a pity I was in closed-door cultivation and didn't see it."

Yun Zhao, caught between laughter and tears, repeated the explanation she had given to the Sect Master and the others earlier. Lin Shu finally let out a sigh of relief. He had been wondering how anyone could possibly advance so much in one go! Still, he added, "Advancing five stages at once is still incredibly impressive!"

Yun Zhao pondered for a moment. "Senior Brother Lin, could Ah Yan use those pills?"

Lin Shu nodded. "Yes, if Junior Brother Qi takes this pill, he won't have to worry about his foundation becoming unstable from such a rapid breakthrough. However," he added, "a cultivator can only take one such pill every hundred years; taking more is useless."

"That's fine, too," Yun Zhao said pleasantly surprised. "Ah Yan only had that one sudden breakthrough; he will surely cultivate step-by-step from now on. By the way," Yun Zhao looked at Qi Yan, "Ah Yan, why did you jump straight to the fourth level of Golden Core last time?"

Qi Yan thought for a moment. "It might have been due to the lightning tribulation."

Yun Zhao thought that made sense.

Thinking of this, Yun Zhao decided to go and find the Dragon-Saliva Grass. "If it's on a cliff, that would be Cloudshore Cliff, right?" Yun Zhao asked. "Senior Sister, are there any other cliffs in the secret realm?"

"No, that's the only one."

The six immediately decided to head to Cloudshore Cliff. After two days of travel, they reached the base of the mountain.

"It's so tall," Mu Qianqian said, looking up at the summit. "Are we going to climb it?"

"No way," Yun Zhao groaned. "Walking on flat ground is already exhausting enough, and now we have to climb a mountain..." Sword flight was forbidden in the secret realm, which was enough to drive someone as lazy as her to despair.

Mu Qianqian couldn't help but laugh. "Already tired? Well, you never took the Body-Tempering course, so it's no surprise."

Yun Zhao was surprised. "The sect has a Body-Tempering course?" It was only then that she noticed everyone else looked relaxed, as if they hadn't been trekking for two days, but had been resting instead.

"Senior Sister Zhaozhao," Shuangxue said in disbelief, "you didn't know about the Body-Tempering course?"

Shuangyue added, "Everyone from the Sect Master down to the newest disciples should know about it."

Yun Zhao looked at Qi Yan, who blinked. "I knew about it."

"Well," Yun Zhao coughed, feeling awkward, "I was quite busy before..."

Mu Qianqian chimed in, "That's right, busy chasing Song Zhiyuan..."

As soon as the words left her lips, Mu Qianqian regretted it. Seeing the "I want to die" look in Yun Zhao's eyes, she quickly added, "Pfft, why did I bring him up? Let's rest for a moment and then start the climb."

The topic change was clumsy, but Qi Yan acted as if he hadn't heard what she said, his expression unchanged. "Do you want some water?" He pulled out a flask. "It's cold."

Yun Zhao took it and had a sip. "It's sweet. Did you add honey?"

Qi Yan absentmindedly plucked a blade of grass and toyed with it. Hearing her, he looked at her. "I didn't."

Yun Zhao frowned and took another sip. "Hmm, maybe it's just the water you prepared, Ah Yan. It's so sweet even without anything added. Thank you, Ah Yan~" Her tone was cloyingly sweet.

Qi Yan threw away the mangled blade of grass in his hand. Was it sweet? He didn't think so. It couldn't compare to a single word of her sweet talk.

"Actually, there's no need to look for Dragon-Saliva Grass," Qi Yan said, lowering his head. "My foundation isn't unstable."

"But it would take you a long time to solidify your current realm," Yun Zhao said earnestly. "If you have the Body-Tempering Pill, you can continue your cultivation and advance much faster." She hummed softly, "I'm waiting for you to surpass *that someone* and become the most powerful disciple of the younger generation, so I can use your status to... oh, no, so I can throw my weight around."

Qi Yan: "..." Neither of those phrases were particularly flattering!

After a moment of silence, Qi Yan looked up, his eyes flickering. "That's fine."

"Huh?" Yun Zhao asked, confused. "What's fine?"

"You can use my status to throw your weight around," he tilted his head. "That's fine, too."

Listening to their sickeningly sweet exchange and the romantic tension between them, Mu Qianqian shivered. Was this what falling in love looked like? She couldn't understand it.

A quarter of an hour later, they prepared to ascend. Yun Zhao took a deep breath, but after only two steps, her hand was caught by Qi Yan.

"Don't wear such a 'death-defying' expression," Qi Yan chuckled. "I have a way for us to get up there without any effort."

Yun Zhao's eyes lit up. "What way!"

Qi Yan summoned Yin Xue. As soon as the creature appeared, it dove into Yun Zhao's arms, eagerly begging for affection. *Sister, I haven't seen you in so long, I missed you so much!*

Yun Zhao stroked its soft fur, cooing, "I missed you too." She suddenly had a guess and asked in disbelief, "You don't mean to ride Yin Xue up, do you?"

Qi Yan nodded. "You guessed it."

Yun Zhao gulped. "You... you... how could you bear it?!"

Qi Yan shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be able to bear it?"

"What a sin!" Yun Zhao looked heartbroken. She clutched Yin Xue tightly and glared at Qi Yan as if he were a villain. "It's just such a tiny little thing! You're employing child labor!"

It was still just a cub! That detestable, exploitative Qi!