Approval gleamed in Qingquan’s eyes. Though Li Xunmiao could not see her expression through the thin veil, she could hear the satisfaction in her voice.
“As expected of my disciple. With just a bit of guidance, you have made a breakthrough in only a few days.”
‘He’s much more worry-free than that little rascal Gu Ze!’
Reflecting on it, Qingquan realized she didn’t need to be wary of Li Xunmiao at all. Her disciple was one of her own; the two of them should form a united front.
The ones she needed to guard against were the bad women outside Biluo Peak!
“Xunmiao, remember my instructions. In the future, your cultivation must surpass Gu Ze’s. Never give him another chance to overtake you!”
Qingquan raised her hand, wrapping herself in Purple Qi as she pushed aside the veil and stepped out, stopping before Li Xunmiao with an imposing aura.
Her tone brooked no argument, and a faint sense of battle intent radiated from her. Li Xunmiao’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, and she tilted her head.
“Why, Master?”
Qingquan cleared her throat and said slowly, “Think about it. If your cultivation is always inferior to his, he won’t take you seriously at all. When the two of you go out together, what if he is snatched away by some powerful, wicked woman?”
“If you can stay one step ahead of him, he will have to follow your lead in everything. If you stay on Biluo Peak to cultivate, would he dare to run around recklessly? Naturally, he wouldn’t encounter any bad women outside then.”
Li Xunmiao’s eyes flickered as she stared at her master’s figure.
‘Something is wrong!’
Based on her sharp intuition, Li Xunmiao immediately guessed that the ‘bad woman’ her master kept mentioning was Lian Yue.
But why was her master deliberately warning her about Lian Yue? Her master clearly didn’t even agree with her becoming Gu Ze’s Dao companion.
“Master, please forgive your disciple for disagreeing with your view. Even if my cultivation is lower than Senior Brother Gu’s, he will still value me.”
“Moreover, he will protect me with all his heart and accompany me to the end of the immortal path. Besides, even though my cultivation isn’t as high as his, if we truly fought and he didn’t use an Artifact, he wouldn’t be my match.”
“Where Senior Brother wants to go is his freedom. Although I’m a bit unwilling… if I can’t keep him by my side at all times, it must be because my charm is insufficient,” Li Xunmiao said weakly, her fingers twisting together.
Qingquan was momentarily choked by her words. What on earth had Gu Ze done to coax her disciple into this state? After only two sentences, Li Xunmiao was already siding with him.
As expected, she shouldn’t have left Li Xunmiao with Gu Ze while she was in seclusion for her breakthrough.
‘Wait, could it be that Gu Ze gave me the Innate Rootless Water for my breakthrough just to lure me away from Xunmiao so he could take the opportunity to conquer her heart?’
‘No, that’s not very likely.’ Qingquan immediately dismissed the unreliable thought.
“In any case, you’d better find a way to keep your senior brother. It’s not just for you, but also… for me,” Qingquan said, her tone carrying a hint of grievance.
The sealed fate thread on her body still pointed toward the distant Gu Ze. She was still conflicted about whether to properly manage this relationship.
Qingquan had never loved anyone, nor had she ever been loved. Her current embarrassment and blushing were merely the result of internal chaos.
If she couldn’t make her own marriage work, she would simply go into seclusion for several decades and wait for the fate thread to dissipate on its own. Along the way, she might as well help Li Xunmiao and Gu Ze.
If she couldn’t have him, why bother breaking up the couple?
If this disciple turned against her because of it… Qingquan was unwilling to think further.
Hearing the disappointment in Qingquan’s voice, Li Xunmiao didn’t argue further.
To keep Gu Ze on Biluo Peak and by her side for her master’s sake? Li Xunmiao’s mind raced as she reached a conclusion.
‘Yes, Master must want to take Senior Brother Gu as a disciple, but she’s just too embarrassed to say it.’
Speaking of which, where was her senior brother now? Now that she had reached a breakthrough, she thought about waiting in Gu Ze’s courtyard to give him a surprise.
Li Xunmiao’s mind drifted far away.
***
On the other side of the Cloudsea.
As he got closer to Dan Yin Peak, Gu Ze began to feel a bit nervous.
After mentally organizing his plan once more, he shook his head to relax and stared at the black-and-gold prow of the ship. Suddenly, he realized a problem.
Wang Xiao had just perished because of Qingquan, and now he was visiting Dan Yin Peak in a vehicle that symbolized Qingquan’s status.
It didn’t seem quite right. No matter how one looked at it, it seemed like he was there to pick a fight—or rather, asking for a beating.
He slowed down slightly, hesitating over whether he should switch to traveling on foot, but then his thoughts shifted. What was he afraid of? The ones who should be afraid were the cultivators of Dan Yin Peak.
Currently, Qingquan was at the height of her power, having advanced to Immortal Emperor.
If Gu Ze arrived in Qingquan’s vehicle, who would dare to provoke him? No one would be foolish enough to cross someone so closely connected to an Immortal Emperor.
As the highly conspicuous Star Chaser immortal boat rapidly approached, several Golden Core elders of Dan Yin Peak sensed it and immediately rushed out of their caves.
“Oh no! That’s Qingquan’s immortal boat!”
“What is she doing here? Does she think Dan Yin Peak isn’t messy enough?”
“The Peak Lord is dead. Now she is unstoppable…”
“She wasn’t stopped even when the Peak Lord was alive.”
The crowd buzzed with discussion, all believing that Qingquan herself had come for revenge. Surely, after becoming an Immortal Emperor, the first thing she would do was use Dan Yin Peak to set an example.
With the mountain protection array now shattered, the elders were as tense as if facing a great enemy.
As Gu Ze slowly descended, he immediately felt several powerful auras closing in. There were not only Golden Core elders but also several Foundation Establishment disciples.
Everyone surrounded the immortal boat from a distance, not even daring to use their divine sense to check the situation on board.
If a Nascent Soul expert caught a divine sense scan, they could instantly destroy the intruder’s mind in retaliation.
Gu Ze stepped off the boat and calmly stored the Star Chaser away, shrinking it to the size of a palm before tucking it into his storage bag.
The elders stared at each other in awkward silence. Where was the Immortal Emperor? Who said Immortal Emperor Qingquan was coming?
“Gu… Senior Brother Gu?” Among the gathered disciples, Qiaogu Immortal Lord was present.
Seeing Gu Ze step off the boat, he couldn’t help but feel surprised. He instinctively spoke up to confirm if the person was indeed Gu Ze.
“Senior Brother Qiaogu, I hope you have been well.” Gu Ze smiled faintly. His gaze swept over the unpleasant expressions of several old men before he calmly walked toward Qiaogu.
After only a few steps, a Golden Core divine sense landed on him. A faint pressure, like two vines, wrapped around his ankles, causing his footsteps to falter.
The person who had acted was the second-in-command of Dan Yin Peak, the Great Elder, a man of high status.
“The Acting Peak Lord of Biluo Peak… wait, Qingquan has returned to Biluo Peak, so you shouldn’t be the Acting Peak Lord anymore. What are you doing at my Dan Yin Peak? Did Qingquan send you?” he demanded.
The wrinkles on the Great Elder’s face were bunched together; he was clearly in a foul mood.
“No. My visit has nothing to do with the Peak Lord. I simply wish to purchase some medicinal herbs.”
“Medicinal herbs? Ridiculous. Coming here at a time like this, you clearly have ill intentions. Regardless of what herbs you want, my Dan Yin Peak refuses to provide them,” he immediately countered.
Besides, the Cloudsea Immortal Pavilion was vast. Was it necessary for Gu Ze to fly over thousands of mountains and rivers to the farthest peak from Biluo Peak just to buy herbs? Clearly, there was an ulterior motive.
Gu Ze also knew his excuse was flimsy. Fortunately, he had already thought of how to talk his way out of it.
“Don’t be so hasty. Previously, Wang Xiao Immortal Lord agreed to restore the supply of pills to Biluo Peak. Shouldn’t you be open for business now?”
“Even he didn’t care that I am a Biluo Peak cultivator and was willing to bury the hatchet. Why must you make things difficult for me? If Wang Xiao Immortal Lord’s spirit in heaven knew of this, he surely wouldn’t be pleased. Moreover, I don’t plan to use Lingshi to buy the herbs.”
The Great Elder’s brow furrowed. “What? Do you intend to steal them?”
“Not at all. I believe the seniors of Dan Yin Peak know their treasures. I plan to trade with pills.” Gu Ze finally laid out his price, opening his palm.
In his hand was a translucent, pale blue pill—a **Supreme Spirit-Gathering Pill** he had refined not long ago.
It was an essential item for Qi Refining cultivators to aid their cultivation, and its supreme quality made it exceptionally valuable.
Gu Ze hadn’t been lying entirely; he really did need to purchase a batch of herbs, or he wouldn’t even have enough materials to refine more Spirit Gathering Pills.
The Great Elder stared at the pill and hesitated. Gu Ze’s offer was so sincere that he almost wanted to take back what he had just said.
There were 8,000,000 disciples in the Cloudsea Immortal Pavilion, ninety-nine percent of whom were in the Qi Refinement stage. The consumption of Spirit Gathering Pills was massive.
A **Supreme Spirit-Gathering Pill** was usually reserved for the personal disciple of the Peak Master or disciples of excellent character who had completed many Zongmen missions.
They were extremely rare and constantly out of stock.
Was Biluo Peak so wealthy that they could produce a **Supreme Spirit-Gathering Pill** for trade?
The Great Elder stroked his chin, convinced that Gu Ze hadn’t come here on Qingquan’s orders. Qingquan wouldn’t do such a good deed—at least not for Dan Yin Peak.
“Gu Ze, if you only want to trade for herbs, I can agree. But how many of these **Supreme Spirit-Gathering Pills** can you provide? Don’t tell me you only have this one.”
The corners of Gu Ze’s mouth curled upward. As expected, as long as one applied the right remedy, winning a negotiation was smooth.
Cultivators of Dan Yin Peak found it hard to refuse supreme-grade pills, just as he found it hard to refuse a jiyuan brought to his door.
“If the materials are sufficient, I can refine them at any time.”
“Oh? Does that mean you refined this Spirit Gathering Pill yourself? Then I must take a good look at your methods.” The Great Elder signaled to a nearby disciple.
Qiaogu hurried to take out five portions of materials for Spirit Gathering Pills from his storage bag and handed them to Gu Ze. Qiaogu also wanted to see the talent of this junior brother who had taught himself alchemy.
A crowd gathered around, their eyes filled with curiosity, contempt, and the desire to expose his lies.
A **Supreme Spirit-Gathering Pill**? Refined on the spot? The biggest taboo for an alchemist was being disturbed; even a slight distraction could affect the quality of the pill.
This desolate place was specifically for visiting immortal boats to dock—though not exactly a wasteland, the lingqi here was thin. In the words of an alchemist, the ‘feng shui’ was bad, and refining pills here would be difficult.
Gu Ze feigned taking out a high-grade artifact furnace that had been gathering dust in a corner of his storage bag, rather than using his internal spirit furnace.
Adding a wisp of white soul fire, Gu Ze threw the five portions of materials in simultaneously.
The soul fire automatically extracted the essence from the herbs, incinerating the excess. Some realized the flame was extraordinary but could not identify its type.
The soul fire tumbled within the furnace, merging the medicinal power before dividing it into several parts, gradually condensing into six small blue spheres.