Stealing an Immortal Back to the Demon Realm Chapter 9

It wasn’t until midday that Qin Ziyan appeared before Mu Qiuhan and the others.

She and Su Sheng had gone deeper into the forest, so naturally, they returned later.

Qin Ziyan led Liao Lan and Mu Qiuhan to her dwelling and briefly explained the contact signals usually used among Dongtian Peak disciples.

Afterward, she took out the antidote that was originally supposed to be distributed uniformly on the fifth day of each month, giving it to them early.

She said, “I accepted a sect mission and will be heading out with a few senior brothers in a few days. I might not be able to return in time. Since you two are new here, you must remember to act cautiously.”

Seeing Liao Lan staring at the pills in her hand with a look of terror, Qin Ziyan opened her palm and extended it towards them.

“Take them. Remember to take them on time.”

Mu Qiuhan accepted the pills from her hand and casually asked, “Sister, what happens if we take them early because we’re afraid of losing them?”

Qin Ziyan glanced at her and said calmly, “The effect of these pills only lasts for a month. If you take them early, you’ll just have to suffer for the remaining days.”

Her words turned Liao Lan’s face pale with fright.

She quickly put the pill into her storage ring, fearing she might accidentally lose this life-saving item if she wasn’t careful.

Mu Qiuhan also put away her pill.

Seeing that Qin Ziyan seemed to have finished her instructions, she casually asked another question, “Sister, what does Elder Shang look like? Have you ever seen her?”

Qin Ziyan was stunned by the question.

She suddenly sighed, then opened her mouth to speak to the two of them, “Follow me.”

She led Mu Qiuhan and the other woman to the courtyard next door.

Some plants and trees were planted in the courtyard, growing quite lushly, but it looked like they hadn’t been pruned in a long time.

Qin Ziyan reached out and pushed open the door of the side room located on the right side of the courtyard, pointing to the portrait hanging by the headboard at the back of the room for them to see.

“The person in this painting is Shang Ningye. Go ahead and take a look.”

Although the room was tidy, as soon as the door was opened, the air that rushed out carried the scent of dust from being unoccupied for a long time.

The three of them took a few steps forward.

Liao Lan looked at the portrait and asked Qin Ziyan with some curiosity, “Sister, was this Senior Sister Shu Hualan’s former dwelling?”

Qin Ziyan hummed in response.

Liao Lan then asked, “Was this painting also done by Senior Sister Shu Hualan?”

Qin Ziyan frowned, looking at her with clear displeasure, “What exactly are you trying to say?”

At the entrance of the courtyard, Shu Hualan’s nameplate had not yet been removed. They couldn’t have missed it walking in. And the lower right corner of the painting clearly bore Shu Hualan’s seal.

Liao Lan stammered for a moment before finally saying, “Nothing. I just thought it was a little strange that Senior Sister Shu Hualan would hang a painting like this by her bed.”

Mu Qiuhan also realized it at this point.

Before, she had been focused only on the person in the painting and hadn’t paid attention to these details. Now it seemed that this person named Shu Hualan either deeply hated Shang Ningye or had other intentions towards her.

Whichever it was, it was very interesting.

Shang Ningye…

It was indeed her.

Last night, when the spiritual beast spoke human words and called that woman “Little Ye,” Mu Qiuhan had already had a faint guess in her heart.

Her deliberately asking Qin Ziyan just now was merely to confirm her thoughts.

Qin Ziyan cast a faint, indifferent glance at Liao Lan.

“What’s so strange about it?”

“Shang Ningye’s whereabouts are uncertain, and she is extremely cold. In these past ten years, I’ve only seen her a few times in total, and they were all during the ‘Warm Herb Grand Ceremony’ each year. Let alone getting close to her, there were very few opportunities to even speak with her.”

“If Senior Sister Shu Hualan hadn’t kept this person in her heart day and night, she probably wouldn’t have had the chance to receive guidance from her several times.”

“It’s just a pity that Senior Sister cultivated diligently day and night, finally making it to the main peak. Just as she was about to get closer to Shang Ningye, she unexpectedly suffered a lingering illness…”

Hearing this, Mu Qiuhan sneered inwardly.

After just two days of interaction, Qin Ziyan’s attitude was quite intriguing.

It seemed this person wasn’t particularly invested in the plan assigned by Master Yu Yang; instead, she seemed to be brooding over Senior Sister Shu Hualan’s death.

She subtly glanced at Qin Ziyan.

Could it be that she isn’t worried about the so-called ‘spiritual heart blockage’ of Dongtian Peak?

As she was pondering, she heard Liao Lan ask again, “Sister, what is the Warm Herb Grand Ceremony?”

Qin Ziyan seemed a little impatient. She huffed but eventually explained, “The various medicinal herbs collected by the disciples of our Jade Dragon Peak usually need the senior and junior brothers of Crimson Cloud Peak to control fire before they can be refined into pills.”

“The disciples of Crimson Cloud Peak have no problem refining ordinary pills, but the formation of high-grade pills requires powerful wood spiritual energy.”

“Therefore, every year, the elders of Crimson Cloud Peak invite the elders of our Jade Dragon Peak to assist them in refining high-level pills.”

“Over time, this led to the Warm Herb Grand Ceremony. Firstly, it’s needed for refining pills, and secondly, it also has a competitive aspect.”

“High-level pills?”

Liao Lan murmured, repeating the words, seemingly yearning for the high-grade pills Qin Ziyan spoke of.

Mu Qiuhan also chimed in at this moment, “Sister, can ordinary disciples like us have a chance to obtain those high-level pills?”

Qin Ziyan looked at the two people in front of her whose eyes were shining and chuckled lightly.

“Of course you can. As long as you have enough contribution points, let alone high-level pills, even high-level cultivation techniques are within reach.”

She seemed to have run out of patience. She waved her hand at the two of them and said, “Alright, it’s getting late. Hurry back and don’t let Bu Qinglan find out and become suspicious.”

Mu Qiuhan had achieved her goal, so she left as she was told.

After returning to her room, she locked the door and began to study the cultivation technique.

Mu Qiuhan had extremely high comprehension and had previously dabbled slightly in the techniques of immortal sects, so the entry-level wood spiritual energy cultivation techniques in her storage ring had long since been thoroughly studied.

However, the one in her hand involved both metal and wood spiritual energy and was different from the ordinary ones.

There were still some points of doubt that she hadn’t figured out, so she planned to go to the Scripture Pavilion later to seek answers.

Mu Qiuhan read very carefully, completely unaware of the passage of time.

It wasn’t until Bu Qinglan came and knocked on her door, telling her to get ready to head to the back mountain again, that she realized it was already nearing dusk.

Mu Qiuhan declined Bu Qinglan’s invitation, using the excuse of not feeling well.

After the large-scale search by all the disciples last night, she didn’t think there would be many Qingling Grass left in the forest that had been missed.

Furthermore, the amount she had already gathered was enough for her needs, and she didn’t want to waste any more time on it.

After Bu Qinglan left, Mu Qiuhan set off for the Scripture Pavilion.

The Scripture Pavilion was located on the east side of Violet Sun Hall and was no longer within the territory of Jade Dragon Peak.

Last time, Perfected Yuji brought her, so it was very fast from Violet Sun Hall.

However, this time, Mu Qiuhan walked for about an hour.

She cast a spell on herself to conceal her original appearance, then walked and took notes, memorizing the structure of the immortal sect’s interior clearly.

When she reached the Scripture Pavilion, Mu Qiuhan was stopped by the two disciples guarding the entrance.

One of them held out her hand towards her, seeming to ask for something.

Seeing that Mu Qiuhan had no reaction, that person finally spoke, “This junior sister must be new, right? Then I’ll explain the rules here in detail.”

“Entering this Heaven-One Pavilion requires paying 200 contribution points. After entering, if you need to use the cultivation chambers within the pavilion, you need to pay another 10 contribution points daily.”

Mu Qiuhan was startled upon hearing this.

After calculating in her mind, she took out the name token she had received in front of Violet Sun Hall from her embrace and handed it to the person.

This jade slip contained the 500 contribution points the sect had issued to new disciples.

Adding the 50 points she had just exchanged for the stalk of Qingling Grass today, it was enough for her to stay in the pavilion for a month.

Upon entering the pavilion, Mu Qiuhan realized she had been greatly mistaken.

All the books within the pavilion required additional contribution points if one wished to borrow them.

The disciple outside the door hadn’t mentioned this earlier, likely because the difference in price among these books was too great.

Mu Qiuhan had seen that ordinary entry-level cultivation techniques were generally between 20 and 50 points, while those one level higher cost over 100 points.

If she encountered high-level cultivation techniques, it would cost at least tens of thousands of contribution points.

At this moment, Mu Qiuhan seemed to somewhat understand why that Qin Ziyan was so keen on taking on all sorts of sect missions – it was simply because the contribution points weren’t enough!

Come to think of it, if all disciples were only keen on cultivation, who would manage the various matters, big and small, within the sect?

Mu Qiuhan selected several scrolls of entry-level cultivation techniques for metal spiritual energy and fire spiritual energy, and also found a scroll of pill recipes and a scroll of a herb manual.

She originally wanted to take a few others, but remembering that these books could only be read within the pavilion and that she still needed to leave some contribution points to pay for the daily use of the cultivation chamber, she could only give up.

Holding a pile of selected books, she also paid 10 days’ worth of contribution points. Just as she was about to enter the cultivation chamber to study them carefully, she heard a familiar voice.

That woman named Shang Ningye was actually here too.

Mu Qiuhan guessed that Shang Ningye probably wouldn’t recognize her now, so she secretly observed her.

Last night in the forest, although she had a light source, her entire focus had been on her own safety, and she hadn’t paid too much attention to the other person’s appearance.

Looking now, the woman was beautiful, but her skin was excessively pale.

Mu Qiuhan noticed the scroll in her hand.

This scroll of medical scripture should be one of those high-level books. She still had some impression of the name; it seemed to be a booklet discussing poisons and methods of detoxification.

Thinking of the woman’s unusually pale complexion, Mu Qiuhan frowned.

Could it be that she’s poisoned?