At the same time.
Outside the room, Lu Zhiyun was completely unaware, engrossed in scribbling furiously in her little notebook.
After a while, once she had written down everything she had just heard and thought, she finally tucked the notebook back into her pocket.
Recalling the bland daily life of the past month, Lu Zhiyun could only feel guilty.
Her aptitude for cultivating immortality was truly abysmal—neither her physique nor her spiritual root was outstanding.
That was the reason she couldn’t enter the sect in the first place.
Jiang Chenyin, for her sake, had even given her a priceless Qingmu Immortal Fruit, which could purify one’s spiritual root, just so she could meet the standards to enter Tianque Sect.
The price the other party had paid was so steep that Lu Zhiyun was deeply grateful, naturally wishing to make achievements as soon as possible in order to repay her.
But ever since joining the sect, she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of her investigative target.
For the entire month, only a Puppet had been moving around on Qingluan Peak.
The Puppet claimed it was crafted by Lin Shu, and acted and spoke in bizarre ways.
When Lu Zhiyun first arrived on the mountain, the Puppet had immediately rattled off a string of things she couldn’t understand.
Things like, “Welcome to Qingluan Peak, I’m your novice village guide. To help you quickly adapt to cultivation life, I’ll be assigning you newbie tasks!”
And so… under the Puppet’s guidance, Lu Zhiyun learned her first lesson in the path of immortality—”How to Brew a Good Pot of Tea.”
Her daily routine consisted of wandering around the mountain to get familiar with the environment, then brewing tea, steeping tea, and serving tea under the Puppet’s instruction…
Every night, whenever Lu Zhiyun thought of Jiang Chenyin’s expectations for her, she felt so guilty that she couldn’t sleep.
What exactly was she doing!!!
Fortunately, today there was finally a clue!
Feeling the solid presence of the “evidence” in her pocket, Lu Zhiyun felt much more at ease.
Just as a smug smile crept up her lips, a “jié jié jié” laugh suddenly echoed in her ear, accompanied by the warm breath on her cheek.
“Jié jié jié! Little Junior Sister, what are you doing here?”
The voice was warm and smooth as jade, but paired with that laughter, it was truly unsettling.
Lu Zhiyun was startled, instinctively clutching the “evidence” in her pocket.
She turned around and met those smiling peach-blossom eyes head-on.
Their gazes locked, and Lu Zhiyun froze!
Handsome!
No wonder the Grand Preceptor said His Majesty would be bewitched—he really did have the makings of a royal favorite.
No! Lu Zhiyun, snap out of it!
The Grand Preceptor warned you not to be swayed by appearances!
This could be an illusion cast by a demonic cultivator!
Lu Zhiyun shut her eyes and shook her head, then gave herself a hard slap, trying to clear her mind.
Much better! Now she wouldn’t have any strange thoughts!
Lin Shu watched his little junior sister’s antics and was taken aback.
Could it be that this child isn’t right in the head?
And she’s trying to cultivate immortality like this?
Such tenacity despite her shortcomings!
After a brief silence, Lin Shu hesitated, unsure how to start the conversation.
Just as he was about to speak, a creepy smile crept onto his lips again.
“Jié jié jié!”
Seeing that sinister smile, Lu Zhiyun finally realized that the other party had approached her without her noticing at all.
Had Lin Shu seen what she wrote?
Or… had she just discovered a clue about him, and now he wanted to silence her?
Cold sweat slid down Lu Zhiyun’s forehead as her legs began to tremble.
She had only just made some progress on her mission—was she really going to die here?
No! She had to find a way to turn this around!
“Se… Senior Brother, hello!”
Lu Zhiyun did her best to muster a cutesy smile.
But in Lin Shu’s eyes, her pitiful attempt at feigning weakness looked just like a frightened rabbit before being cooked.
Of course, the rabbit still got roasted in the end—acting cute didn’t help.
Lin Shu thought it over and instantly understood: she must be scared as a side effect of his poisoning.
His little junior sister seemed so pure—if he scared her, that wouldn’t be good.
His gaze drifted to the steaming tea at the door.
He walked over, poured himself a cup, and started to drink.
“Se… Senior Brother?”
Lu Zhiyun looked puzzled.
“Good tea!”
Lin Shu caressed the cup and praised, “The toxicity in this tea is just right! Junior Sister, you really have talent!”
Toxicity?
Lu Zhiyun was totally confused—she had no idea what he was talking about.
Lin Shu began to explain, “The tea you brewed—if you just put in Dao Comprehension Leaves, any cultivator drinking it would benefit: increased cultivation, improved enlightenment, easier to grasp mind arts.”
“But! Do you remember those extra ingredients I told you to add?”
Of course Lu Zhiyun remembered.
Those supplementary ingredients were special—the Puppet had emphasized that they had to be added one by one during brewing, and the order couldn’t be messed up.
“Once you add those ingredients, the tea takes on some toxicity. It becomes poison tea!”
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhiyun broke out in a cold sweat again.
She had unwittingly helped this demonic cultivator brew poison tea… did that make her an accomplice?
Worse yet, the Puppet had insisted she taste the tea herself—so she had also been poisoned!
Lin Shu noticed her worry and hurriedly explained, “Don’t be scared, don’t be scared! The poison is very mild, and it’s actually good for both of us. The tea…”
Halfway through his sentence, a familiar frame popped up in front of him.
[Explain in detail, make everything clear. Physique +10000]
[Scare Little Junior Sister, exaggerate things. Spirit +10000]
[Hop left and right around Junior Sister, then give a ‘you know what I mean’ brilliant white-toothed smile, and say nothing at all. Special Attribute +1]
Special attribute?
This was the first time Lin Shu had seen such a reward.
Could it be that all the previous rewards were basic attributes?
But right now, what he couldn’t figure out was: who on earth was his junior sister, that she could make the system dish out rewards like [+10000] and [+10000]?
[+5] was already enough to nearly cost him his life—he couldn’t even imagine what [+10000] would do.
Pick the third one, pick the third one! Don’t hesitate!
So, without another thought, he began hopping left and right around his junior sister under her terrified gaze, then gave her a ‘you know what I mean’ friendly smile.
But to Lu Zhiyun, this scene took on a whole different meaning.
Why was he suddenly hopping around her, stopping her from making any move?
Wasn’t that a warning for her not to act rashly?
And that sly smile—wasn’t he telling her to behave, since he held the antidote…
He! Had he already become suspicious and was using this method to control her?
Lu Zhiyun lowered her head, tears welling up in her eyes.
After a moment, she resigned herself to her fate.
Since he hadn’t exposed her identity but was using poison tea to control her, that meant Lin Shu didn’t have concrete evidence.
All she had to do was keep her head down and never admit anything, maybe even flatter him a little to lower his guard.
“Se… Senior Brother, you’re amazing, I… I believe you! I’ll be good, I promise!”
Lu Zhiyun replied, trembling.
Lin Shu nodded in satisfaction.
This junior sister was great!
She actually trusted him so much!
His original purpose in brewing this tea was to use poison to fight poison, to counteract the toxins in the food made by his little martial aunt.
Despite his best efforts at increasing his “poison resistance,” his little martial aunt was a true genius at this sort of thing—she always managed to surprise him with some new trick!
Lin Shu had no choice but to regularly drink some poison tea to detoxify himself.
Of course, he hadn’t finished speaking—he’d specially told the Puppet to remind his junior sister to drink some tea, not to harm her.
After the Ascension Conference, his little martial aunt had informed him that this junior sister had taken the Qingmu Immortal Fruit.
If she cultivated too soon, she would likely suffer from side effects due to the fruit’s incomplete absorption and its rejection by spiritual energy.
But the tea Lin Shu had concocted could just catalyze the absorption of the Immortal Fruit, so after a few days, she’d be able to start her cultivation for real.
Seeing the frame display [Enlightenment +1], Lin Shu realized his mission was accomplished.
But what exactly was the difference between this [Enlightenment] and drinking enlightenment tea?
Lin Shu was puzzled.
But there was no rush—he vaguely sensed this was a passive skill, and probably a good one!
Having such a junior sister was pure luck!
Lin Shu reached out and patted Lu Zhiyun’s head, straightening her messy hair.
Lu Zhiyun squeezed her eyes shut in anxiety.
Only after his hand left did she dare to open them.
“Haven’t had lunch yet? Want to come with me to Peiyun Peak for a meal?”
Lin Shu asked with a smile.
Peiyun Peak.
Tianque Sect’s main hub for artifact forging, the territory of Elder Pei.
By rights, a place focused on forging shouldn’t be responsible for the sect’s meals, but the cooking skills of Immortal Lady Yingxue from the neighboring Shuiyun Peak were so infamously toxic that Peiyun Peak had to take on the role of dining hall, reasoning that “forging and cooking are of a kind.”
Seeing her own cooking skills so unappreciated, Immortal Lady Yingxue only worked harder to develop new dishes.
Finally, after tireless effort and her unparalleled, world-shaking “talent,” she refined a pot that would never explode, no matter what.
Elder Pei, a master of forging, still couldn’t figure out how the pot was made so indestructible and impervious to poison.
He nearly went mad trying to understand it, almost losing his Dao heart.
And so, one pursued the culinary path further and further through the art of forging; the other, feeling ashamed, simply devoted himself to being the chef.
“Ye… Yes! I’ll do whatever Senior Brother says!”
Lu Zhiyun answered obediently.
Right now, she was at his mercy—best to play along!
Seeing that she agreed, Lin Shu led her toward the mid-mountain teleportation array, but as they walked, he couldn’t help but ask something that had puzzled him for a long time.
“By the way, Junior Sister, have you ever killed anyone?”