Chapter 68: The Journey

Three days later, Tai Lingxuan piloted the flying boat, carrying Chen Yuyang and the others toward the lands of the Pill Sect.

This journey to the Pill Gathering, besides their master leading the team and Chen Yuyang as a contestant, only Junior Sister Lingxi would be accompanying them.

The senior sisters had no intention of going; they had all already witnessed grand events like the Pill Gathering and the Heaven’s Chosen Ranking battles before.

Being away for several months was, to them, simply a waste of time.

Gu Qiushui had originally wanted to go, but she was currently engrossed in researching that divine technique, having just made some progress and reached a critical moment where she couldn’t afford any distractions.

What surprised Chen Yuyang most was that Junior Sister Yunlian said she wasn’t going, claiming she wanted to enter seclusion for a period of focused cultivation.

It wasn’t that Chen Yuyang especially wanted her to go—he simply felt there was something odd about it.

Still, Chen Yuyang didn’t dwell on it.

The journey ahead was long, and even with the flying boat, it would take ten days.

During this time, Chen Yuyang put on a show of refining pills in the cabin.

It was a good opportunity, since the pill furnace that Master had purchased specially for him needed a proper trial by fire, so he could familiarize himself with its characteristics.

Even Chen Yuyang, when faced with a completely unfamiliar pill furnace, could easily make some rookie mistakes.

Seeing Chen Yuyang focusing on alchemy, both Tai Lingxuan and Lingxi didn’t disturb him, instead giving him the peace he wanted.

During this period, Chen Yuyang also pondered the way of alchemy.

But it wasn’t about further improving the quality of his pills—rather, it was about how to make the flames under his control a little less pure, so the medicinal efficacy of the materials he refined would drop slightly.

Chen Yuyang was well aware that if he refined pills as usual, even if he had no intention to win, he would surely rank first in the initial round.

Thus, even if his performance in the second or third rounds was mediocre, his name would already be well known.

But he only agreed to join the Pill Gathering so as not to disappoint Tai Lingxuan; he had no need to vie for any top ranking.

As long as he placed within the top five hundred, that was enough.

Therefore, Chen Yuyang needed to strike a balance.

A level where he wouldn’t achieve too high a rank, but also wouldn’t be eliminated in the very first round.

Previously, he only needed to give it his all in alchemy, with no need to consider anything else.

Now, though, he specifically needed to practice the Essence Decline Technique.

As he was studying the effect of mixing impurities on the final pill, Chen Yuyang suddenly sensed the flying boat slowing down.

Poking his head out of the cabin, he saw the flying boat descending slowly.

“Oh?”

Chen Yuyang raised an eyebrow, just in time to see Lingxi on the deck, so he called out: “Junior Sister, why are we stopping? Have we arrived already?”

“Master has been steering the flying boat for six days straight. Her spiritual power is nearly half depleted, so we’ll rest here for a night,” Lingxi replied.

Chen Yuyang nodded.

The Tai Huan Sect’s flying boat was only five zhang long and two zhang wide, but it still counted as a large magical artifact.

Keeping it going took a lot out of them.

Onboard, only Tai Lingxuan could control the vessel—there was no one else to take over—so long-term operation naturally required rest.

Chen Yuyang was struck by a sudden thought.

Aren’t flying boats usually powered by formation arrays with spirit stones?

Leaving his room, the youth saw, on the deck at the bow, a woman in purple, tall and graceful, concentrating as she guided the flying boat down.

This place was remote.

Yet, a few li ahead, he could see a hundred or so scattered homes.

“Master.”

Chen Yuyang walked up, cupping his hands.

Seeing him come out, a gentle smile appeared on Tai Lingxuan’s face.

“Yuyang, you’re out.”

“How did your pill refining go?”

Chen Yuyang nodded and replied as usual, “It was decent.”

“That’s good.”

Tai Lingxuan nodded again.

“Master, speaking of which, doesn’t our Tai Huan Sect’s flying boat have a spirit stone-driven array?”

“It does,” Tai Lingxuan nodded, sounding a bit embarrassed, “but part of the formation is damaged, and repairing it would cost a lot. So I just drive it myself with spiritual power.”

“Besides, using the array for a single round trip burns up dozens of top-grade spirit stones. I really don’t think it’s worth it.”

Chen Yuyang fell silent.

Previously, the journeys were short—only half a day—so he hadn’t noticed this.

Now, hearing it from Tai Lingxuan herself, he finally understood.

Thinking about it, he felt a pang of sympathy for Tai Lingxuan.

All to save a few spirit stones, she’d rather not hire anyone to repair the flying boat and would rather tire herself out… And thinking of those spirit mines in his own Sumeru Consciousness Sea…

Sadly, he couldn’t reveal too much right now, or it would only bring trouble to both him and her.

He’d have to think of another way to improve the sect’s finances…

Lost in thought, Chen Yuyang kept silent.

The flying boat slowly stopped in an open area, and Tai Lingxuan immediately returned to her room to meditate and recover her spiritual power.

“Senior—brother!”

Drawing out the words, Lingxi sidled up cheerfully, squinting at him.

“What is it?”

Chen Yuyang asked.

“Master needs a whole night to recover. Since we’re stuck here in the wilderness, why not check out that village?”

Lingxi suggested with interest.

“What’s the point? They’re ordinary folk—you don’t want to scare them,” Chen Yuyang frowned slightly, speaking sternly.

“Oh, come on, what’s the harm? We’ll just act like passing travelers, nothing more.”

“I just want to look around. You know, staying in the sect all the time, cultivating every day, it gets so dull.”

Chen Yuyang shook his head helplessly.

His junior sister was just too playful.

But, given her age, he could understand.

Just wandering around a bit—in a place with thin spiritual energy, there shouldn’t be any danger.

So Chen Yuyang didn’t bother notifying Tai Lingxuan, and followed Lingxi off the boat, riding the air slowly toward the village.

“By the way, Junior Sister, you were originally from the mortal world, right?”

Suddenly, Chen Yuyang thought of something and glanced at Lingxi.

“That’s right.”

“How did you end up joining the sect?”

Chen Yuyang didn’t know the details and had never asked before.

He only knew that eight years ago, Master brought back a dirty little girl from a trip and gave her the name Lingxi.

Hearing Chen Yuyang’s question, the young girl paused.

“If it’s inconvenient, you don’t have to say.”

Noticing her silence, Chen Yuyang quickly added.

Lingxi gave a bright smile and said, “It’s not that I mind, I just thought Senior Brother would never care about these things.”

“I… I don’t know who my biological parents are.”

“I was bought by my adoptive parents. They had no children, so they raised me only in hopes I’d care for them in their old age. They beat or scolded me every day and dumped all the chores on me.”

“One day, I couldn’t take it anymore and managed to run away.”

“But I was only eight then. Even though I’d escaped, I didn’t know where to go. I was scared to go back, afraid of being beaten, so I hid in the woods all night.”

“Later, I was so hungry I decided to return, but when I got back, the village had been attacked by bandits. Everyone was dead except me.”

“I had nowhere left to go and no idea what to do, so I wandered around the corpse-filled village.”

“Not long after, Master passed by the village, noticed something was off, and came to investigate. She found me pitiful and took me in, teaching me cultivation.”

Lingxi told it simply, with a smile on her face, leaving Chen Yuyang unable to guess what she was really feeling.

“By the way, Senior Brother, don’t you also not know your biological parents?” the girl asked in turn.

Chen Yuyang nodded.

He was indeed an orphan.

Even putting aside his current identity, his first life had been the same.

In that first life, he’d been lucky; though he didn’t know his parents, he grew up in the village, eating from many households, and eventually joined a mid-tier sect as a menial worker.

After two centuries of bitter cultivation, he finally reached the Nascent Soul stage.

But his talent was limited, and that was his ceiling.

Only then did he accidentally acquire and cultivate the Hundred Refinements Condensing Yang Technique.

“Hehe, Senior Brother, have you ever wondered what kind of people your parents might have been?”

Lingxi grinned and pressed him further.

“At this point, we’re both grown. What’s the point in dwelling on such things? It only leads to needless troubles.”

Chen Yuyang spoke calmly.

This was his advice to his junior sister—and his true feelings.

“But sometimes I wonder if maybe it wasn’t my real parents who sold me. Maybe I was kidnapped by traffickers…”

Chen Yuyang shook his head and said seriously: “No need for all those ‘maybes,’ Lingxi. All you need to know is that now you have Master, your senior sisters, and me. That’s enough.”

Lingxi glanced at his solemn face, then broke into a carefree laugh.

“Alright, alright, I know~ I was just saying, I’m not planning to do anything about it.” “Anyway, we’re here, Senior Brother.”

“Do you think we could beg for some food? I haven’t had regular food in so long, I kind of miss it.”

After reaching Foundation Establishment, one could live off spiritual energy, no longer needing to eat.

Not only had Lingxi gone years without eating, Chen Yuyang himself hadn’t had a meal in a long time.

Hearing Lingxi mention it, he felt the same.

It wouldn’t hurt to have a taste.

Cultivators, after all, still had worldly desires and attachments.

But just as Chen Yuyang was about to agree, his brows suddenly furrowed.

He grabbed Lingxi’s hand, stopping her midair.

“Something’s not right, Junior Sister Lingxi.”

Lingxi froze, but first noticed him holding her hand, her face flushing as she asked, “Wh-what is it, Senior Brother?”

Chen Yuyang stared solemnly at the village ahead, his eyes narrowing.

“It’s already dusk, but in a village with a hundred households, there’s not a single wisp of cooking smoke rising. Something’s off!”

Hearing this, Lingxi snapped to alertness, her eyes filling with vigilance.

“Did bandits attack the village?”

Chen Yuyang shook his head, “I’m afraid… it’s not that simple.”