Chapter 27

"Stop!"

The two were walking when a stern voice suddenly came from behind. Lu Yaoxiang sighed deeply and turned to say, "Lu Dan, what's wrong again?"

"You two don't stay in the hall, always running around everywhere, making it hard to find you." Lu Dan stood behind them with his hands behind his back, looking serious. Over the past five years, he had grown from a young boy into a stern man, taller than Lu Yaoxiang by a head.

Originally, he was introverted, and now he had no expression other than a stern face. The scars on his face made him look even more severe. The medicine boys and disciples were all afraid of him, often being scolded by him and not daring to retort.

"Of course, we're going hunting. I have to earn some crystal beans, after all." Lu Yaoxiang lifted her chin, indicating for him to look at the contents of the tripod.

"I know you want to buy the Purple Four-Leaf, but how long will it take for you to earn enough to buy it?" Lu Dan said coldly.

Lu Yaoxiang raised an eyebrow and replied with a sneer, "Master Brother, do you want to help me go hunting? Who will manage the Heavenly Pill Hall? Master is now fully focused on refining pills and has no time to manage other affairs. Everything has to be managed by you."

Lu Dan frowned. He indeed had no time to go hunting. All the affairs of the Heavenly Pill Hall were handled by him. If he went out with Lu Yaoxiang and the others, the Heavenly Pill Hall would be in chaos. Next year, Master would attend the Pill Conference and must focus on refining pills.

"Alright, I and Little Ding have saved quite a few crystal fruits. In a few more days, we can buy the Purple Four-Leaf." Lu Yaoxiang said indifferently, indicating that he didn't need to worry about it.

"No, the Foundation Establishment Pill is something I owe you. I will help you ask Master for another one." Lu Dan ignored her and had his own plan.

This made Lu Yaoxiang's face turn cold, "You are the Master Brother of the Heavenly Pill Hall, don't trouble Master. The Foundation Establishment Pills are all recorded now. Each year, they are allocated to the disciples who need to establish their foundation. Master has no time to refine more. If he can't produce a sixth-grade pill for the Pill Conference, you might only have thirty junior brothers."

Mentioning the allocation of the Foundation Establishment Pills, Lu Dan's face turned grim. Last year, Yu Xiudan had privately collected Purple Four-Leaf and carefully refined two Foundation Establishment Pills, which he gave to Lu Dan and Lu Yaoxiang. Now, the spirit herbs used in the Heavenly Pill Hall were provided by the sect, and each batch was recorded, making it difficult to secretly keep a few.

Yu Xiudan was not that kind of person. He was now fully focused on refining pills, studying the pill formulas given to him by Lu Xiaoding day and night. He had no thoughts of earning wealth for himself. He refined a batch of pills to help Lu Xiaoding and Lu Yaoxiang establish their foundation. After completing this task, he had been in seclusion for a year.

Lu Dan established his foundation last year. He took a Foundation Establishment Pill and tried to break through in his room. However, for some reason, despite his excellent spirit veins, he did not advance after taking the pill. Instead, he was stuck, waiting for the effects to wear off and failing to advance.

Seeing this, Lu Yaoxiang, who was guarding outside his room, took out her own Foundation Establishment Pill and forced Lu Dan to take it. With the effects of two Foundation Establishment Pills, he finally succeeded in advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage.

Lu Yaoxiang, however, lost her Foundation Establishment Pill. With Master in seclusion, she couldn't ask for another one. So, she went hunting to earn crystal beans and then exchanged them for crystal fruits. The Purple Four-Leaf, the main ingredient for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill, was not sold for crystal beans.

Lu Dan always felt indebted to Lu Yaoxiang for the pill and the favor. He wanted to repay her but had no time to earn crystal fruits. After Master went into seclusion, all the affairs of the Heavenly Pill Hall were handed over to him. Besides guiding the junior brothers, he also had to manage the medicine boys. Even the yield of the medicinal fields, the types of spirit herbs planted, and their growth had to be managed, keeping him busy.

"Junior Sister, your talent is even lower than mine. Even if you get a Foundation Establishment Pill, you might not be able to advance. Wait a bit, I'll think of a way." Now that he had established his foundation, he knew more about the scarcity of the Foundation Establishment Pills.

No pill was as hard to buy on the market as the Foundation Establishment Pill. Advancing from the Qi Condensation stage to the Foundation Establishment stage was a crucial point. Only reaching the Foundation Establishment stage could prove that one had the ability to cultivate. Otherwise, one was just an ordinary person who could perform a few minor spells.

The number of Foundation Establishment cultivators in each sect determined how many high-level cultivators they could produce in the future. The Purple Four-Leaf, the main ingredient for the Foundation Establishment Pill, was not rare, but its price was very high. The market's medicine shops almost never had it, and most of it was sold at high prices to surrounding sects. The medicine shops within the sect's territory were controlled by the local sects.

If an individual wanted to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill or Purple Four-Leaf, they had to go to the black market. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators often paid crystal fruits but couldn't bring back the goods. Unless they went to black markets controlled by dark forces, they could auction for what they wanted. But even Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't enter such places, let alone a Qi Condensation cultivator like Lu Yaoxiang.

Hearing this, Lu Yaoxiang sighed and said helplessly, "Don't feel guilty about that Foundation Establishment Pill. Master has only been at the Golden Core stage for six years, and the quality of the pills he refines is not good. So, the Foundation Establishment Pill's effects are weak, and you had to take two to advance. If it were a Foundation Establishment Pill with no loss of effect, even with spirit veins less than half, one could advance after taking it."

"That's just a waste pill, so don't worry about it. Don't think too much." Lu Yaoxiang waved her hand, indicating that Lu Dan was too serious about a small matter. He was always thinking about repaying her, even though he had no time.

Moreover, one couldn't judge talent by appearance. She secretly criticized this. At that time, the Heavenly Marrow Pill refined by Lu Xiaoding had opened sixty-eight of her spirit veins, plus the original thirteen, totaling eighty-one. The rest would be opened later.

However, in others' eyes, Lu Yaoxiang had only forty-nine spirit veins, the rest being hidden. This was not something she wanted, but the mark on her forehead did the work.

On the day of the spirit vein cleansing, the mark almost broke. The senior was far away in the tripod and couldn't strengthen the mark in time. The mark then produced a self-protection effect, freezing thirty-two spirit veins, preventing her from breaking through the mark's restriction.

The effect of this was that Lu Yaoxiang had the ability to transform spirit into ice but couldn't use those thirty-two spirit veins. Once she found someone to let the senior possess, the mark would disappear, and those thirty-two spirit veins could be used, and the ability to transform spirit into ice would also disappear.

Seeing her disobedience, Lu Dan shouted in anger, "Lu Yaoxiang!"

"Why are you shouting so loud! I'm not deaf yet." Lu Yaoxiang's cold temper didn't tolerate this, and she shouted back with a cold face.

At this moment, a smacking sound came from behind Lu Dan. It seemed like something was licking something. He turned around and saw that Lu Xiaoding had somehow appeared behind him, squatting on the ground and holding the spirit sword hanging from his waist. She had the Reverse Sword's blade in her mouth, and the scabbard was covered in her saliva.

His scalp tingled, and he quickly snatched the sword, shouting, "Xiaoding, what are you doing!"

Seeing her sword being taken away after licking it for a while, Lu Xiaoding pouted and said, "Sister, why didn't you distract him? I almost succeeded!"

"What does that have to do with me? Don't make it sound like I was intentionally arguing with him." Lu Yaoxiang crossed her arms and glared at her.

"What did you succeed in?" Lu Dan looked at Lu Xiaoding, puzzled. What was she trying to do by licking his spirit sword like that!

Seeing his confusion, Lu Xiaoding pointed at his pair of swords and said, "Your swords have sword spirits, and they look so tasty. Every time I see them entwined, I wonder if they are a couple."

Lu Dan looked at her in horror, almost speechless, "You! You actually wanted to eat my sword spirits!"

The sword spirit is the life of the spirit sword. Without a sword spirit, a spirit sword is just a somewhat sharp weapon. A sword cultivator would rather give up their life than lose their sword spirit. He glared at Lu Xiaoding for a long time, then suddenly realized that she couldn't possibly have swallowed the sword spirit.

He huffed in anger and, seeing the scabbard covered in saliva, quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe it, saying, "Xiaoding, you're not allowed to lick my sword anymore. It's dirty."

Hearing this, Lu Xiaoding was indignant, putting her hands on her hips and accusing him, "Lu Dan, you're being unreasonable. You know it's dirty and don't wash the scabbard. What if I get diarrhea from eating it!"

Lu Dan scolded her angrily, "I'm saying you made my scabbard dirty, not that it was dirty! This is a spirit sword, not a lollipop. You should eat spirit herbs, not swords."

"Hmph, if you weren't my junior brother, I wouldn't just lick it." Lu Xiaoding said unhappily, then stared at the pair of Reverse and Affection swords. The red and white sword spirits, which had been huddled on the Reverse Sword, had now fled to the Affection Sword.

The sword spirits were still too weak and had not yet formed a human shape. Only Lu Xiaoding could see the red and white colors. As the sword master, Lu Dan could only sense the connection with the sword spirits through his divine sense and heart, but he had never seen what they looked like.

"What did you do to them!" Lu Dan was almost driven to madness by her. He suddenly remembered that since he got the pair of swords last year, Lu Xiaoding had often come to look at them. He thought she was just curious, but now he realized she must have already done something to his swords.

"What could I do? Just licked a few times to taste them. I'm not interested in eating such weak sword spirits." Lu Xiaoding made a face at him, then ran back to Lu Yaoxiang, sticking out her tongue at him.

Lu Dan took a deep breath and said to Lu Yaoxiang, "Look, Xiaoding is such an innocent child, and now she's been corrupted by you. I wonder if it was all just an illusion before. Where did that innocent and cute Xiaoding go!"

"What does that have to do with me? She was fine before you came. Maybe it's something you did to her that made her like this." Lu Yaoxiang felt wronged. This had nothing to do with her. Only the heavens knew why Lu Xiaoding had become like this. However, she knew about the desire to eat sword spirits. The senior had told her that, whether it was a spirit soul formed by heaven and earth or a spirit soul refined by a cultivator, they could all devour each other.

Xiaoding was a spirit soul. Her instinct to want to devour the sword spirits was natural. Other spirit souls and essence souls would also want to devour her, just like the Wind Gold Horn Snake five years ago.

In the Cloud Sword Sect, sword spirits were everywhere, and the sect leaders had powerful magical treasures. The reason these sword spirits hadn't discovered Xiaoding was that the senior had used a spell to mask her scent. Only high-level demon beasts or essence souls of heaven and earth would notice her.

If the senior wasn't in the tripod, Xiaoding would have been devoured by the sword spirits long ago.

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