Yang Che sighed inwardly.

At this point, he had to explain himself clearly.

So, he recounted how that night in Wulong Valley, Wang Yue and the male Cultivator Chen had first tried to extort and rob him, and how the male Cultivator Chen had tried to kill him but was instead fortunately killed by him.

Upon hearing this, Xing Yao's pretty face was filled with disbelief.

She immediately checked Yang Che's identity token.

After confirming that the young man was indeed also a Wulong Valley Disciple, she couldn't help but freeze, her heart a mix of emotions.

Emotionally, she naturally thought the young man was quibbling and slandering her Junior Brother and Junior Sister.

But she could also clearly sense that the young man in front of her did not seem to be lying.

Xing Yao was silent, and the stone hall fell into quiet.

After a long while, Xing Yao finally spoke, “I cannot discern whether what you said is true or false right now. However, I, Wen Xingyao, am a person who clearly distinguishes between favors and grievances.”

After a slight pause, she continued, “Earlier, I asked you for help and made you a promise, and you contributed a lot to slaying the demonic Cultivator who attempted Possession on my Junior Sister. Given this, I will temporarily not pursue the matter of Junior Brother Chen. However, if I discover in the future that you have lied, I will certainly kill you.”

Yang Che felt a slight relief in his heart upon hearing this.

Although it was definitely unfair to him, at least this Senior Sister named Wen Xingyao would not act against him for now.

“However, that metal disk must be handed over to the Sect once we leave this place.”

Wen Xingyao’s tone was firm, making Yang Che realize that there was no room for discussion on this matter.

What else could Yang Che do? Even though he felt extremely unwilling, he was helpless.

After all, Wen Xingyao already knew that he was also a Wulong Valley Disciple.

As fellow Wulong Valley Disciples, Wen Xingyao could consider the Sect’s interests; if he refused, the trouble would surely be endless.

Seeing the unwillingness and grievance on Yang Che’s face, Wen Xingyao pondered for a moment, and her voice became less cold, instead saying blandly:

“You may continue to gather Medicinal Plants for one more day. After a day, we will meet at the stone gate.”

After speaking, she left the stone hall.

Yang Che immediately wasted no time, dragging his still-unhealed body, and quickly continued to gather Medicinal Plants.

In particular, ‘Earth Cloud Peony’ had to be gathered.

…

A day later, Yang Che arrived at the stone gate and found that Wen Xingyao was already there.

Seeing Yang Che arrive, Wen Xingyao directly took out Spirit Stones and filled the grooves in the stone gate, then extended her slender, jade-like hand towards Yang Che.

Yang Che, of course, knew that Wen Xingyao was certainly not trying to hold his hand, but rather wanted the metal disk.

With a pained expression, Yang Che extremely unwillingly handed the metal disk to Wen Xingyao…

When the two appeared at the cliff waterfall, Wen Xingyao asked Yang Che to return to the Sect with her to report.

Yang Che was worried that the Spirit Medicine and Spiritual Plants he had painstakingly gathered would not be safe, especially the secret of the Spiritual Soil being exposed, plus he was used to being alone, so he simply said:

“Senior Sister Wen, since I have handed over this metal disk, you can go back and report by yourself. Please, Senior Sister, do not mention me, and I will also keep silent about what happened here.”

Wen Xingyao thought for a while and felt that Yang Che’s suggestion was quite good, as it would save a lot of trouble for everyone. So, after nodding in agreement, she took out a Flying Magical Artifact and flew towards Wulong Valley alone.

Yang Che spent some time sightseeing, and after estimating that enough time had passed, he quietly returned to Wulong Valley.

Wangxi Residence in Sunset Gorge.

After Yang Che returned, he went straight to the kitchen, made two bowls of scallion oil noodles and a few scallion pancakes, ate and drank to his fill with great satisfaction, then slept for a day and a night.

After recharging his spirit, Yang Che began to tally his gains from this trip.

The biggest gain was naturally that piece of ‘Spiritual Soil’.

According to the Alchemy Notes, Spiritual Soil is a Spiritual Object naturally born between heaven and earth, and it is extremely rare.

Spiritual Soil is divided into grades, from low to high, currently known as Yellow, Profound, Earth, and Heaven.

Spiritual Soil can be advanced. For example, Yellow Rank Spiritual Soil, if nourished with enough Spirit Fertilizer and spirit liquid, has a certain chance of advancing to the Profound Rank.

Spiritual Soil can be placed in a Storage Pouch, but no Spiritual Plants can be cultivated on the Spiritual Soil while it is in the Storage Pouch.

When he received his Storage Pouch, the attending Senior Brother also explained that Low Grade Storage Pouches have limited storage space, cannot be bound to a master, and cannot store any living creatures, so naturally, they cannot be used to Cultivate any Spirit Medicine or Spiritual Plants.

He took out the Spiritual Soil, preparing to place it in the small nursery in the backyard.

Yang Che unexpectedly found that the ‘Pseudo Immortal Plant’ whose red fruit he had picked and eaten, and which had withered, had its roots, stems, and leaves almost integrated into the Spiritual Soil.

“This is great! What this ‘Pseudo Immortal Plant’ turned into after withering is Spirit Fertilizer.”

Yang Che beamed with joy, carefully placing the Spiritual Soil into the nursery. After several careful identifications, he finally determined that this piece of Spiritual Soil was the lowest grade, Yellow Rank Spiritual Soil.

Although it was only the lowest grade of Spiritual Soil, and only one zhang in length and width, Yang Che was still very happy.

With this piece of Spiritual Soil, the growth rate of the nine-leaf dark yang fruit would surely be greatly increased.

After transplanting the nine-leaf dark yang fruit into the Spiritual Soil, Yang Che, to make it more concealed, specially built many wooden frames and planted some small Medicinal Plant seedlings he had excavated from that mysterious place, as well as some melon and wild vegetable Seeds he had found in the mountains, next to it.

After doing all this, Yang Che began to prepare for the Alchemy of the ‘Eight Treasures Pill’.

According to the Alchemy Notes, the Eight Treasures Pill belongs to Elementary Medicinal Pills. Alchemy of Elementary Medicinal Pills requires an ordinary Pill Furnace, special charcoal, and some auxiliary tools for baking and sifting.

He had already inquired about all these at the ‘Cloud Bamboo Workshop’ that day.

A complete set would cost at least fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

The Pill Furnace was the main expense; even a slightly better Pill Furnace cost nearly forty Spirit Stones.

However, to avoid attracting attention, Yang Che decided to suppress his eagerness, recuperate his injuries, and Cultivate the ‘Fireball Technique’.

A month later, Yang Che’s injuries finally healed, and his Fireball Technique was also successfully Cultivated.

Speaking of the Fireball Technique, Yang Che vaguely noticed that after his Cultivation entered the fifth layer of Qi Refining, the speed of learning basic Spells also significantly increased, and the previous sense of obscurity and difficulty greatly diminished.

Over this past month, Yang Che secretly sold some temporarily unused Medicinal Plants in different workshops in batches, gradually accumulating nearly a hundred Spirit Stones, after which he stopped selling Medicinal Plants.

For the next month, Yang Che consolidated his Cultivation while also intermittently acquiring a Pill Furnace, charcoal, and auxiliary tools.

At the same time, he also frequently visited the free reading area in the scripture storage building to continue reading and expand his knowledge and horizons.

Half a year later, the already sixteen-year-old Yang Che was tall and straight, introverted and steady.

He had made all the preparations, and the extensive reading during this period also further increased his knowledge of Medicinal Pills and Medicinal Plants.

Wangxi Residence.

In the backyard.

Yang Che confidently took out the Pill Furnace, then placed the burning charcoal into the furnace chamber.

In the past six months, he had learned in Wulong Valley that bottom-level Disciples like him would not be noticed by anyone at all.

Especially this Sunset Gorge, which was originally arranged for Disciples below the third layer of Qi Refinement, but those Disciples who were truly below the third layer of Qi Refinement could easily arrange for a better place to live with a little effort. Who would want to live in this place with the worst and most remote Spiritual Qi?

It was truly difficult to find a second ‘honest person’ like Yang Che in Wulong Valley.

However, Yang Che was happy with this; such a reclusive Cultivation life suited him perfectly.

At this moment, the temperature inside the Pill Furnace had slowly risen.

Yang Che immediately took out a Spiritual Plant and threw it in, controlling it with Spiritual Qi, and began to refine the spirit liquid using appropriate high temperatures.

At this time, the function of the Pill Furnace was only this.

In fact, there were other methods to make spirit liquid, but only by using a Pill Furnace could the essence of the Medicinal Materials be extracted to the greatest extent through baking and refining.

…

Half a month later.

Yang Che had a pained expression.

After wasting a large amount of Medicinal Plants and summarizing countless failed experiences, Yang Che finally found the knack.

This was also thanks to the Alchemy Notes; otherwise, he would have taken many more detours.

Another half a month passed.

Yang Che finally successfully refined the first ‘Eight Treasures Pill’.

Thus, Yang Che immersed himself in the fervor of Alchemy while taking Eight Treasures Pills to continue Cultivating.

In a flash, two years passed.

Yang Che’s Cultivation also continuously saw Breakthroughs under the effect of a large number of Eight Treasures Pills, reaching the eighth layer of the Qi Refinement Stage.

At this time, Yang Che already felt that the effect of the Eight Treasures Pill seemed to be getting smaller and smaller.

One day, after Cultivating, Yang Che routinely came to check the nursery, and his eyes suddenly narrowed, and he couldn't help but freeze.