Mu Yanxi bit down hard on her own arm.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
The next evening, secretly cultivating the Purple Star Heavenly Heart Great Art in a corner of the Spiritual Spring, Mu Yanxi successfully broke through the 18th layer of Qi Refining and advanced to the 19th layer with the help of the Spiritual Spring.
Her mana overflowed and burst, pushing the surrounding Spiritual Spring water back several meters.
It was really not easy to find a secluded corner. She didn’t dare cultivate in the dormitory—if her fellow disciples saw her, she would be socially dead.
“Entering sage mode?”
“That’s not right. I cultivated this art to dissolve desire, so why has it become active cultivation?”
It was only then that Mu Yanxi realized something seemed off.
After several times of double cultivating the Lingyue Art and being forced to circulate the Purple Star Heavenly Heart Great Art, Mu Yanxi had become completely familiar with this mystical heart method. Converting desire into mana was indeed a genius design.
The Purple Star Heavenly Heart Great Art also came with several cultivation postures—standing, lying flat, bending over, and kneeling and prostrating—similar to the eight brocades or yoga.
As long as she assumed these postures for cultivation, it would increase her training efficiency, and Mu Yanxi had mastered all of them.
Tonight, Mu Yanxi came to the public bathhouse, intending to use the power of the Spiritual Spring to break through to the 19th layer in one go, but she always felt that she was just a little short.
The quality of the Spiritual Spring in the Female Immortal Bathhouse was insufficient; she needed a higher-grade Spiritual Spring to help her break through.
But the higher-grade Spiritual Spring was occupied by senior sisters above the 20th layer of Qi Refining, so if she dared to go up, it would be somewhat overstepping.
So Mu Yanxi found a secluded spot as if possessed, secretly circulated the Purple Star Heavenly Heart Great Art, and sure enough, she succeeded in breaking through in one fell swoop.
“Something’s off, very off. I must restrain myself from now on. I can’t use this art recklessly.”
Mu Yanxi said to herself seriously. Originally, she had practiced this art only to deal with the problem of her desire not being naturally resolved, but once she could convert desire into mana, it could become a main cultivation art.
But this was not quite right. If she relied too much on the Purple Star Heavenly Heart Great Art to cultivate and break through, it would sooner or later lead to a situation—if desire could be converted into mana, but now there wasn’t enough desire, and she still needed mana to cultivate, what should she do?
The answer would certainly become: then just actively seek out desire, right?
For example, orally taking high-potency aphrodisiacs—this was also recorded in the list of auxiliary cultivation materials for the Purple Star Heavenly Heart Great Art.
That would completely put the cart before the horse.
A technique originally used to dissolve desire had become a means to actively seek it out—what kind of state was that?
No wonder that orthodox sect had been unwilling to admit that the Purple Star Heavenly Heart Great Art was their own technique.
Mu Yanxi stayed in the Spiritual Spring for a while longer, absorbing the spiritual energy in the water to replenish the mana lost during the breakthrough, while also consolidating her newly ascended realm.
While she was cultivating, she heard rustling sounds coming from the surrounding bamboo grove.
‘Could it be another body tempering medicine transaction?’
‘What a coincidence?’
Mu Yanxi thought, but it might not be a coincidence. After all, she had been coming to soak in the Spiritual Spring these days, often choosing secluded spots, and would lie there for hours. It wouldn’t be strange to encounter a second transaction.
Mu Yanxi remained half-submerged in the water, secretly observing.
Sure enough, it was another private transaction.
The girl making the transaction this time was a different senior sister, but the one delivering the medicine was still the same person.
The deal was still one side giving spirit stones and the other giving a key.
But after the transaction, the two did not leave immediately. The girl buying the medicine asked pleadingly:
“Senior Sister, can you tell me, where exactly can I get the goods?”
The senior sister delivering the medicine said coldly.
“Telling you is useless. I’m just a distributor, how could I know the channel the medicine comes in? You might as well go ask the teacher.”
“How would I dare ask the teacher about something like this?”
The girl buying the medicine asked excitedly.
“Well, there you go? I don’t dare ask the teacher either. He’s the one who actively provides it to us. I don’t even know which specific teacher, or which few teachers.”
The senior sister selling the medicine said.
Mu Yanxi’s heart turned cold. Shangguan Yun had really been right. The source of these non-compliant body tempering medicines really was the teacher.
“But, I’m out of money now. This medicine is too expensive. Senior Sister, next time you see the teacher, can you ask him to lower the price a bit?”
The girl buying the medicine pleaded beseechingly.
“No chance. I always give spirit stones and then pick up the goods. The teacher never accepts bargaining. If I don’t buy, someone else will, and I’m taking a big risk, so it’s only fair I collect a middleman fee.”
“Senior Sister, can’t you take me to see the teacher, so I can buy medicine directly from him?”
The girl buying the medicine continued to plead.
“Absolutely impossible. The teacher only deals with the most trusted female disciples. If I take you, we’ll both lose the chance to see him. I can’t even mention it.”
“Is there really no way? I truly have no money left. If the medicine is cut off, my physical condition might regress.”
The girl buying the medicine was still playing the sympathy card.
“I have a way to solve your immediate need. Go on the Dao web and look for student loans or micro-loans, borrow some spirit stones, and repay them when you’ve earned some later.”
The senior sister selling the medicine said.
“Ah?! That’s possible?”
The girl buying the medicine asked in surprise. Then she raised a worried question:
“But can I really borrow? What if I can’t repay?”
“What’s hard about borrowing? Just mortgage something. If it comes to it, you can even mortgage yourself. Even if you can’t repay, it’ll be fine—at worst, you’ll work to pay it back. Are disciples of the Spiritual Moon Sect afraid of having no work?”
The girl selling the medicine said disdainfully:
“If you don’t even have the courage to take a loan, it shows your determination for immortality cultivation is no more than this. You might as well stop trying and just lie flat.”
Mu Yanxi, eavesdropping nearby, felt a chill in her heart.
Loans, and even mortgaging oneself—this wasn’t something to take lightly.
And where was there a job that could casually earn so many spirit stones?
Was the job she worked legitimate? While Mu Yanxi was deep in thought, the two girls had already left the hot spring.
Mu Yanxi wanted to try following the senior sister selling the medicine this time, but she walked toward the upper level of the Hot Spring Mountain.
If Mu Yanxi followed, it would be too conspicuous, so she had to give up.
After returning, Mu Yanxi told Shangguan Yun about this matter again.
This time, unlike before, she didn’t say she would stay out of it and not touch it. Instead, she said:
“I heard that in the next couple of days, Yangxin Hall will send a representative to the Spiritual Moon Sect to investigate the medicine smuggling. I’ll go report to the student council and have them explain the situation to that representative.”
“I won’t say you told me, and you must not show that you know anything. This matter may be very big and dangerous. If you get targeted, it could be extremely dangerous.”