Chapter 26

Five years later, the Fangjing Mountain Range's Split Valley.

In the usually quiet valley, there was now an unprecedented clamor, with the roars and fighting sounds of demonic beasts echoing continuously. A nearly three-zhang-tall double-browed sharp-haired rabbit darted out of the forest, leaped lightly by the stream, and then quickly fled forward, jumping nearly ten zhang in one bound.

Following closely behind, a woman in light green robes emerged from the forest, brandishing a silver-threaded sword and shouting, "Xiaoding, it's heading your way, block it quickly!"

"Hmm... This herb won't do. It has no toxicity, no medicinal properties, it's truly useless," said Lu Xiaoding, who was now eighteen, sitting on a large cauldron and tasting the herb in her hand. She only looked up at the sound of the shout and saw a double-browed sharp-haired rabbit with red eyes charging at her, baring its fangs.

With a flick of her wrist, a pink pill fell from her sleeve and she calmly threw it at the sharp-haired rabbit. The pill exploded in mid-air before it even touched the rabbit, filling the air with pink smoke. The sharp-haired rabbit, unable to control its leaping form, plunged right into it.

It then crashed to the ground, rolled over twice, and stopped by the cauldron. Its body trembled uncontrollably, and after a few convulsions of its powerful hind legs, it lay still.

"Waiting by the cauldron for the rabbit, this move is really effective. This is the third rabbit today," said Lu Xiaoding, seeing the sharp-haired rabbit dead. She jumped off the cauldron, walked over to it, and took out a gourd from her waist. She opened the stopper and poured the contents into the rabbit's mouth.

After doing all this, she watched the rabbit's eyes, which had turned black from the poison, return to their red color before hanging the gourd back on her waist. She then looked at the woman standing far away, covering her nose and mouth, and said, "Senior Sister, why are you standing so far away? You've taken the antidote before."

Lu Yaohxiang frowned and reluctantly walked over, still complaining, "Can't you make some other kind of medicine? The effect is too fast, just from the smell."

"It's just for rabbits. It doesn't work that quickly on humans. Especially cultivators can expel the poison, and even at the Qi Condensation stage, they won't die immediately. They can detoxify themselves after a cup of tea's time," Lu Xiaoding waved her hand and said indifferently.

"Your detoxifying water is quite effective. Even dead rabbits can be revived with it," said Lu Yaohxiang, pulling out a short knife, infusing it with spiritual energy, and stabbing it into the forehead of the double-browed sharp-haired rabbit, easily removing the bone. She was now at the late Qi Condensation stage, and infusing spiritual energy into a magical tool was a trivial matter.

Then, she placed her palm on the spot and sucked hard, extracting the demon core of the double-browed sharp-haired rabbit. It was a thumb-sized, transparent, and white demon core, just like the rabbit's fur.

Lu Xiaoding, receiving her praise, humbly said, "It's not that good, it can only detoxify the Pink Peach poison. And the Pink Peach only works well on double-browed sharp-haired rabbits. For other demonic beasts, we need to use other medicines."

Hearing this, Lu Yaohxiang, who was about to skin the rabbit, stopped and asked, "Last time I asked you to make a medicine to deal with the Black-Scaled Python, have you finished it?"

"I've made it, but Senior Sister, the Black-Scaled Python stays in the water all year round, making it hard to poison. If we pour the medicine into the water, the fish and shrimp will die with it, and I don't know when the pond water will be drinkable again. What if we accidentally poison the senior disciples who bathe after their wild encounters?" Lu Xiaoding said, troubled. She didn't want to harm anyone by mistake.

"Where did you hear such filthy things? You never learn anything good," Lu Yaohxiang immediately scolded her. She didn't know where she picked up such things, and if others heard, they would laugh at her. So she said, "They wouldn't choose Black Python Pond for wild encounters. The Black Pythons there eat people. If the disciples want to have wild encounters, they usually choose the Peach Source Three Peaks in the east, where there are no fierce demonic beasts."

Lu Xiaoding nodded seriously, "I'll remember that. Senior Sister, you really know a lot."

Lu Yaohxiang rolled her eyes and instructed her to finish making the medicine to deal with the Black-Scaled Python, then continued to skin the giant rabbit. When the double-browed sharp-haired rabbit was alive, its white fur was like steel needles. Only after it died did the fur on its chest become soft, making it a good material for making warm clothing.

Not only female cultivators liked to use it to make capes, but male cultivators also found it popular. Besides its excellent warmth, the biggest advantage was that when infused with spiritual energy, the soft rabbit fur would turn back into steel needles, like a suit of armor, providing protection.

However, despite the rabbit's large size, the chest fur that could become soft was only about three to four feet wide, and it took at least two or three pieces to make a cape. That's why the price was high, and it was their main source of income.

Lu Yaohxiang was responsible for finding the rabbits and driving them over. Lu Xiaoding would wait on the open ground, ready with the poison, and the effect of killing the rabbits was excellent.

They no longer sold pills, as they couldn't even feed themselves, and Lu Xiaoding couldn't cultivate a spiritual vein. To have self-protection, it was better to make some pills.

Her memory didn't have any poison pill formulas, and the dozens of medicines she had now were all made from her own experiments with various herbs and the blood and bones of demonic beasts. No one else had the formulas for these pills.

They were very effective against low-level cultivators and demonic beasts, and even if they couldn't kill the opponent, they could cause a lot of trouble. Lu Xiaoding was now a troublesome opponent.

After Lu Yaohxiang skinned the rabbit's chest fur, she opened the cauldron and threw the bloody fur inside. The cauldron already contained the chest fur of the two rabbits they had killed earlier, along with various other items, making it her storage space, always full.

"Let's go. We'll process the rabbit fur today and deliver the order we received last time tomorrow," she said, closing the cauldron and patting it twice.

Lu Xiaoding, seeing her small actions, couldn't help but complain, "Senior Sister, you're too lazy. You always let me carry these things, while you run fast with your hands free."

"I'm just letting you build up your strength, to make your body as strong as the cauldron," Lu Yaohxiang said, walking away with her hands behind her back.

"As long as the cauldron is strong enough, I'll be strong enough," Lu Xiaoding glanced at her, squatted down, and quietly muttered as she lifted the cauldron.

Lu Yaohxiang just smiled and continued walking, swinging her hands. Over the past five years, they had almost spent all the crystal beans they earned. They didn't realize how expensive it was to upgrade the cauldron from the lowest-grade black iron magical tool to a spirit tool.

This was just for the cauldron. If they wanted to make a spirit sword, it would take decades. Therefore, the disciples of the Cloud Sword Sect used store-bought items before the Foundation Establishment stage, waiting to choose a spirit sword with a sword soul from the Sword Tomb during the Foundation Establishment stage.

Such spirit swords were both useful and free, and some children were sent to the Cloud Sword Sect because of this. The spirit swords of the Cloud Sword Sect were made by cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage or higher, and there was a mandatory rule that within a hundred years of advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, they must contribute three spirit swords to the Sword Tomb. After that, it was up to them, but for the sake of the younger disciples, they would also contribute any extra and good spirit swords they obtained to the Sword Tomb. The minimum standard for spirit swords in the tomb was a spirit tool, and even without a sword soul, they would naturally develop one in the tomb.

Why the swords in the tomb would develop a soul was explained by the Cloud Sword Sect as being because it was a graveyard, and the swords placed there would naturally develop a soul. No one believed this, but the Cloud Sword Sect wouldn't tell the truth, and they couldn't force others to reveal it.

Compared to other major sects, the Cloud Sword Sect was quite poor, with no particularly eye-catching treasures. Plus, any sect that primarily cultivated swords had sword tombs of varying sizes, so no one would think of robbing them.

Lu Yaohxiang was still using the silver-threaded sword, waiting to choose a spirit sword from the Sword Tomb after the Foundation Establishment stage. Like Lu Dan, who had advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage last year and obtained a pair of swords named "Niqing" from the Sword Tomb, a name with romantic and tragic connotations, which she and Lu Xiaoding had mocked for a long time.

Now, they weren't as poor, and walking back would be a waste of time, so Lu Yaohxiang spent a lot of crystal beans to buy a spirit paper boat. It was indeed made of paper, but the cultivator who made it had drawn symbols on it, allowing it to carry people and fly when infused with spiritual energy.

The boat was waterproof but not fireproof, and it could easily carry two people and a cauldron, though it was prone to damage. But it was much better than walking.

They stopped at the Immortal Landing Platform, quickly put away the spirit paper boat, and headed back. Along the way, the medicine boys and disciples they met all called Lu Yaohxiang "Senior Sister," showing great respect, as if she were the eldest disciple, Lu Dan.

Over the past five years, the Tian Dan Peak, which had a Golden Core cultivator, had selected thirty disciples with some talent suitable for learning alchemy, taught by Yu Xiudan.

While they were said to have talent, they were only slightly better than ordinary cultivators. Compared to the alchemy disciples of other major sects, they were far behind. Yu Xiudan, who was not yet famous, needed to build his reputation to attract better disciples.

The number of medicine boys was much larger. The medicine boys of the Wu Yao Hall also had to take turns working on the Tian Dan Peak, planting the spiritual herbs there. The number of medicinal fields had long surpassed that of the Wu Yao Hall, and the number of medicine boys had reached three hundred.

On the entire Tian Dan Peak, besides the eldest disciple, Lu Dan, who had advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage at an incredible speed due to his excellent talent and his master's medicinal infusions, Lu Yaohxiang had the highest cultivation. Although she was just a medicine boy and had a cold personality, she was very generous to everyone.

She would teach a few spells or answer questions about cultivation without any issues, and if she was in a good mood, she would even share the Taihe Pills with everyone. With such a generous person, being the eldest senior sister was no problem, and even the thirty disciples had taken many of her pills.