Yun Heng felt very strange.
He had clearly just taken a nap. He hadn’t been possessed, and his memories were perfectly intact, so why did the atmosphere around him suddenly become so incomprehensible after he woke up?
“This is the egg yolk. It’s good for your health.”
“No!”
“Behave. Also, these are vegetables. You need to eat more of them. Don’t always just eat meat, or you’ll have a nutritional imbalance.”
“I hate them!”
“How can you be such a picky eater? No wonder you’re shorter than me and look so fragile.”
“Back at you!”
Yun Heng chewed on the grains of rice in his white porridge, his heart stirring slightly.
He remembered that when he took in Ling Yao in his past life, Jiang Keke had been just as disgusted at first.
Since Ling Yao was a proud person, she naturally wouldn’t lower herself to build a good relationship with Jiang Keke, so their relationship remained frozen.
It was only after several consecutive accidental dangers where they saved each other a few times that the ice slowly broke.
It had probably taken… more than twenty years.
However, although Yun Heng didn’t understand how the relationship between the two girls had become so harmonious in just one night, it meant he no longer had to exhaust himself with “internal mediation” as he had in his past life. This was truly a wonderful thing.
“Keke, we will be heading deep into the heart of the Flowing Fire Prefecture next. So before that, I need you to enter Foundation Establishment.”
Only after Jiang Keke finally managed to feed the cabbage into the young girl’s mouth did Yun Heng set down his chopsticks and say, “And to deal with Xuan Sun, we will likely set off to return to Penglai this evening.”
The price he had quoted to the Heavenly Way Academy was very high—a full 300,000 high-grade spirit stones.
Judging by the straight-line distance between Liuli Valley and the Langhuan Continent, he estimated that the Heavenly Way Academy could arrive by noon.
As for the medicinal herbs and elixirs Master Rong Yu had promised to prepare, Yun Heng estimated they would arrive in the afternoon.
For one, those herbs were already ones Yun Heng had planned to “borrow,” and they could be gathered within the Alchemist Association.
Secondly, refining two Marrow Cleansing Pills was completely effortless for a Rank 7 Alchemist.
“Huh?”
Jiang Keke blinked, looking at Yun Heng in confusion. “Young Master, why do I not understand what you mean at all?”
The Flowing Fire Prefecture was part of the Lower Three Continents, an area with a harsh environment and scarce resources, consisting mostly of deserts, gobis, and poisonous marshes.
The two of them had actually gone to the Flowing Fire Prefecture a month ago, but they only stayed on the periphery for five days.
The main purpose was for Yun Heng to use combat experience against rogue cultivators and demon beasts to strengthen Jiang Keke’s adaptability.
It was also during those five days that Jiang Keke leaped from Level 3 Qi Refining to become a Level 4 Qi Refining expert.
As for Penglai, it was the only territory of the human race in the Upper Three Provinces. All the top immortal families and sects, such as the Changsheng Yun family, were located there.
Regardless of what this had to do with Xuan Sun, the distance between these two destinations… was not something that could be measured by any flying artifact.
“We need to make a trip to the Demon Inspection Department…”
“Are you crazy?!”
With a *thud*, Jiang Keke jumped up from her seat. Her voice was so loud it nearly blew the roof off, making Yun Heng’s ears ring.
“‘The Chief Constable of the Southern Prefecture counts no kills when slaying demons’—that’s a proverb we’ve all heard since we were kids! When I was little, I couldn’t even sleep at night just hearing that name…”
“Stop… listen to me first.”
Yun Heng hurriedly interrupted “Mother Jiang’s” incessant nagging and held up one finger.
“First, we won’t meet the Chief Constable. He is one of the Four Crazies and a very busy man. Forget about me; even my father might not know where he is off to hunting demons.”
Hearing this, Jiang Keke relaxed slightly.
“Second,” Yun Heng raised a second finger, “Xuan Sun is, in a sense, very similar to the Chief Constable. But he doesn’t have that ‘so righteous it’s eerie’ feeling the Chief Constable has, so he’s much easier to deal with.”
Yun Heng looked at Jiang Keke. “I told you before, this matter very likely involves a political game between the high-levels of the human race and the dragon race.”
“To maneuver through it, we must strike first and turn the surrounding ‘environment’ into ‘terrain’ that favors us before we completely attract the attention of the high-levels.”
“…I don’t really get it,” Jiang Keke said honestly.
“It’s fine. There is still plenty of time this morning. I will explain it to you slowly.”
Yun Heng smiled faintly.
***
Quarter to noon.
“Young Master Yun, these are the herbs and elixirs Rong Yu asked me to bring…”
When Yan Qingli pushed open the door to the cave dwelling where the three were resting, she couldn’t help but be startled by Jiang Keke—steam was rising from the girl’s head, as if water were boiling inside.
If Yun Heng hadn’t been leisurely drinking tea while the young girl napped on his lap, Yan Qingli would have thought Jiang Keke had been hit by some kind of “mental attack.”
“Thank you for your trouble, Sect Master Yan.”
Yun Heng set down his teacup and patted the girl’s head, signaling her to “relinquish her position” for a moment, then walked over to Yan Qingli and performed a salute.
“It’s a small matter.” Yan Qingli gave a bitter smile. “I’m the one who is truly troubling Young Master Yun.”
To be honest, she didn’t know how Yun Heng intended to deal with Xuan Sun, the Demon Inspection Department behind him, and the high-levels of the dragon race.
In any case, if it were her, she truly couldn’t think of any way other than fighting Xuan Sun to the death.
“Actually, it’s very simple. You just need to raise your strength to the level of the Four Crazies.” Yun Heng saw what Yan Qingli was thinking and chuckled.
“Although I know most civilized cultivators aren’t very willing to use those four words to describe the cultivation world, the truth is that as long as you are strong enough, you can do anything you want.”
“The logic is sound…” Yan Qingli smiled.
Even a three-year-old child knew that as long as one reached the peak of the Great Convergence stage, they could act willfully throughout the Nine Provinces.
But throughout history, those who could reach that level were always a mere few.
Yun Heng shook his head but said nothing more.
Yan Qingli didn’t understand him, and he didn’t understand Yan Qingli either.
Even if Yun Heng tried to guide her using his “half-step to Venerable” insights from his past life, it would only be treated as the “innocent babble of a child.”
After all, his early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation was right there for everyone to see.
“Young Master, your plan is so long… I feel like I can’t digest it all…” Jiang Keke came to Yun Heng’s side with tearful eyes, pouring out her grievances.
“It’s fine, as long as I can digest it.” Yun Heng laughed, also patting Jiang Keke’s head. “Telling you those things was mainly just to organize my own thoughts while I was at it.”
Yan Qingli was surprised. “Could it be that Young Master Yun has already thought of a countermeasure?”
“The success rate is about 60%.”
The young girl was not quite the same as Ling Yao. In his past life, Yun Heng only had to deal with Demon Inspection Teams at the level of Lu Wenbo.
After all, Ling Yao was just an ordinary member of the flood dragon race with a bounty, whereas the one hunting this girl was the dragon race itself.
“A true hero from a young age…” Yan Qingli lamented.
Just then, the jade slip at her waist suddenly vibrated twice.
“It seems the people from the Heavenly Way Academy have arrived. It’s perfect timing for me to go meet them with you,” Yun Heng said after Yan Qingli finished receiving the message.
Yan Qingli suddenly looked at Yun Heng with a somewhat strange expression.
“Hmm? What is it?” Yun Heng asked, puzzled.
Yan Qingli seemed to find it difficult to speak, hesitating for a long time. “The eldest Miss of the Su family seems to have come as well…”
“So soon?” Yun Heng was somewhat surprised.
After considering for a moment, Yun Heng decided to go out and meet them.
After all, although Su Zhenxue was a source of trouble, there were still some trivial matters he needed to instruct the Heavenly Way Academy about.
By comparison, Yun Heng would rather spend some effort dealing with Su Zhenxue.
However, just as Yun Heng was about to say “it’s no matter,” Yan Qingli’s next words nearly caused him to break into a cold sweat.
“Not only that, there is also a woman and an old lady outside Liuli Valley. That woman said… her name is Ling Yao.”