But even so, could she really calm her heart enough to cultivate today?
Only after Shui Qianrou left did the two young women begin whispering to each other.
"Big Sister, did you notice that Master has an extra ring on her left hand? She clearly didn't have it before she went into the pill-refining room with Senior Brother."
A glint of shrewd light flashed through Lu Tingni's eyes.
"Huh?"
Lu Fuyao was clearly a bit muddled. She looked at her younger sister beside her with a bewildered expression.
Seeing that look, Lu Tingni could only shake her head helplessly.
Her own older sister had been somewhat absent-minded ever since earlier, and she had no idea what she was thinking about.
...
Time gradually approached nightfall.
After finishing a full day of trials, Ye Chen returned to the Inner Hall of the Taihuang Holy Land, his entire body filled with exhaustion.
Reeking with a stench of blood and sweat, the moment he stepped into the hall, he immediately drew a wave of frowns from the people around him.
Ye Chen turned a blind eye to it and walked straight to the center of the hall.
"I'm here to submit a mission. This is the Windsilk Spirit Radiant Bamboo."
His tone was calm, yet it immediately triggered an uproar among the surrounding crowd.
"Windsilk Spirit Radiant Bamboo? If I remember correctly, that spiritual herb was guarded by an early Fourth Heaven Devour-Thunder Wolf, wasn't it?"
"Exactly! Ever since the mission was released a few days ago, over a dozen senior brothers at the Third Heaven level took it one after another—yet not a single one managed to complete it."
"This kid looks like he's only at the early Third Heaven, right? And yet he actually pulled it off?"
"Heh, this guy is Ye Chen—the one who dared to challenge Senior Brother Chu, the Holy Lord's direct disciple!"
"Hiss! No wonder he has such guts—he really does have some ability!"
"This mission was issued by Elder Shui. Not only is the spirit-stone reward generous, it also comes with a chance to have Elder Shui personally refine a batch of pills! This kid is really enviable!"
Listening to the surrounding chatter, a disdainful smile curled at the corner of Ye Chen's mouth.
During this period, he had been continually tempering himself in the Taihuang Hunting Grounds. His cultivation had already broken through to the Third Heaven over ten days ago.
Not only that, he had also forged an aberrant spiritual seed that suited his physique perfectly.
Although the Devour-Thunder Wolf was at the Fourth Heaven, he possessed a King Body, and his battle prowess was extraordinary.
Coupled with the spiritual arts he had learned from the remnant soul in his mind, although he could not kill the Devour-Thunder Wolf, snatching the spiritual herb posed no problem at all.
"Ye Chen, right? Come with me to receive the spirit stones for this mission."
The administrative disciple at the center of the hall spoke indifferently.
Ye Chen frowned upon hearing this.
"I remember this mission had optional rewards, didn't it? What I want isn't spirit stones—I want to ask Elder Shui to personally refine a batch of pills for me."
Ye Chen's brow furrowed even more deeply.
He hadn't completed this mission for the sake of spirit stones at all.
"Oh, you mean that? Half an hour ago, Elder Shui sent word that this spiritual herb is no longer needed."
"However, Elder Shui is concerned for the juniors and didn't cancel the mission. Instead, the reward has been changed to double spirit stones."
"You kid are quite lucky!"
As he spoke, the disciple even showed a look of envy on his face.
In his eyes, the reward of having Elder Shui refine pills was inferior to double the spirit stones.
After all, even if you asked Elder Shui to refine pills, you would still have to gather the materials yourself.
For pills of too high a grade, they couldn't even obtain the materials. As for lower-grade ones, they could be bought directly in the market.
With that time and effort, it was far better to simply buy pills with spirit stones—it would save a lot of trouble, and with careful calculation, you could even save a sum of spirit stones.
But what he didn't know was that what Ye Chen needed was not ordinary pills at all—
but ancient pills that could not be found on the market and whose formulas had long since been lost. Such pills could only be refined by a highly skilled alchemy master!