Gu Ze had not been invited this time, yet he was still led by Qiaogu to stay in the same alchemy room he had lived in before.
A faint frost coated the bricks and tiles, making the place feel even lonelier than the last time he came.
Chen Xin still lived next door. They had never been particularly friendly neighbors, and now they had become competitors.
Not long after Gu Ze saw her enter, wisps of white smoke rose from her room. Clearly, she had already lit her furnace to refine pills.
Gu Ze was a little worried that Chen Xin might blow up her furnace again and drag him into it, but since he was already here, he might as well accept it. If she really did explode it now, it would actually benefit him.
He did not waste time and shut his door to study improvements to the Foundation Building Pill.
Gu Ze had never attempted to refine one before.
Although the spirit furnace combined with soul fire made pill refinement extremely efficient, he still had to master the ratios of materials himself and determine when each ingredient should be refined to unleash the greatest medicinal effect.
After studying all night, Gu Ze finally managed to successfully refine a Foundation Building Pill. It could only be considered the completion of preliminary groundwork.
Two early-rising gray sparrows landed on the black-tiled eaves, chirping as they briefly pulled his mind out of its absorbed state.
Stretching, Gu Ze’s ears twitched.
Outside, faint footsteps seemed to approach over frost, treading along the stone steps hardened by the cold, then lightly knocking on his door.
His divine sense swept outward. Gu Ze raised a brow slightly, put away his soul fire, and went to open it.
“Xunmiao? What brings you here?”
Outside, Li Xunmiao stood tall in the biting mountain wind, cloaked in chill like a branch of winter plum.
One arm crossed her chest as she lightly brushed aside wind-tousled strands of hair. When she saw Gu Ze, her eyes brightened instantly and she revealed a sweet smile.
“Senior Brother hasn’t returned for several days. Xunmiao missed you, so I came to find you,” she said softly.
Though only a few days had passed, Li Xunmiao’s aura had grown sharper than before.
Gu Ze had not yet noticed the change and felt a little surprised. He had not told anyone he was coming to Dan Yin Peak, so Li Xunmiao should not have known he was here.
But on second thought, with Qingquan’s current cultivation, a sweep of her divine sense would make it impossible for Gu Ze to hide anywhere within the Cloudsea Immortal Pavilion.
Li Xunmiao’s arrival must have been more or less directed by Qingquan.
Could Qingquan also be here? Gu Ze glanced around, a trace of helplessness flashing across his face.
If she did not want to show herself, then even if he searched every corner of this mountain, he would never find her.
Seeing him look around, Li Xunmiao poked his elbow. “Senior Brother, it’s so cold outside. Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
Without waiting for his response, her slender figure slipped past him into the room.
She slowed her steps and carefully observed everything inside. Only after confirming that the place bore traces of Gu Ze alone did her brows relax slightly.
Hearing the door close behind her, Li Xunmiao clasped her hands behind her back, bent slightly, turned around, and leaned against Gu Ze’s shoulder to sniff.
Noticing her action, Gu Ze’s heart tightened.
A trace of disgust rose in her eyes. Li Xunmiao quickly stepped back two paces, pinched her delicate nose, and parted her lips.
“Senior Brother smells like that vixen Lian Yue. You must have stayed with her for a long time yesterday. Hmph.”
Never expecting the first thing she would do here was catch him in the act, Gu Ze let his arms hang helplessly and could only press his lips together and nod, resignedly looking at the girl before him.
“Senior Brother doesn’t need to feel guilty. That vixen may be full of seduction, but her feelings for you are genuine. You can play around, but don’t get addicted,” Li Xunmiao said.
She tugged her cloud sleeve, confirmed there was not a wrinkle in her clothing, and then opened her arms.
Gu Ze froze. He had never expected her to say something like that.
Perhaps because Li Xunmiao often acted coquettish, her delicate and cute appearance always misled him into subconsciously thinking her mind was simple.
‘That’s right. I must never forget how meticulous her thoughts are,’ Gu Ze reminded himself. ‘Unless absolutely necessary, it’s better not to lie to her.’
However, the “play around” she mentioned probably meant something different from what he imagined.
She raised her arms, lifting her chin slightly, waiting for him to pull her into his embrace.
“Senior Brother should know what to do to wash away the lingering scent on you. I don’t need to say it, right?”
A trace of embarrassment appeared on Gu Ze’s face as he turned his head aside. “Ahem, your Master has already come out of seclusion.”
Qingquan had warned him before that he was not allowed to touch Li Xunmiao.
After all, Li Xunmiao was her most important disciple, and Qingquan would never allow such a precious cabbage to be casually ruined by outsiders.
When Qingquan was not around, their intimacy felt pleasant enough. But now they were completely within the range of her divine sense. If they acted recklessly, she really might get angry.
Seeing that Gu Ze did not move, Li Xunmiao rose onto her toes.
“Hurry.”
Gu Ze still hesitated and shook his head. “The Peak Lord’s divine sense can see this place.”
Li Xunmiao puffed her cheeks. “Hurry. If Senior Brother doesn’t hug me, I’ll just stand here all day without moving.”
Having no reason to refuse, Gu Ze stepped forward, wrapped an arm around her slender waist, and gently pushed her so her back rested against the golden pillar inside the room, almost enclosing her entirely in his arms.
Although she could easily break free from his restraint, she had no desire to resist the weight of his body pressing down. She softened completely, her pretty face wearing a foolishly blissful smile.
“I just like being close to Senior Brother. Master can’t control me now. She praised my cultivation for improving quickly and allowed me to come out and do whatever I want.”
As she spoke, her chin neared his shoulder. She thought for a moment but did not kiss or bite him.
‘Mm, I shouldn’t go too far,’ Li Xunmiao thought secretly. ‘Master must have a red line in mind for how she defines intimacy between us. As long as I don’t cross it, being affectionate with Gu Ze won’t be a problem.’
Gu Ze naturally had no idea what the girl was thinking. Instead, he was astonished by her cultivation.
He had been too delighted to see her earlier and had not noticed the change.
They had not seen each other for only a few days, and she had broken through again? Gu Ze felt pressure rise in his heart once more.
“Junior Sister broke through so quickly this time. Did you obtain some opportunity?” he asked doubtfully. If Li Xunmiao had truly gained some unknown fortune, the system should have notified him.
“Mhm. Master used Benyuan Zhi Shui to cleanse my divine sense and meridians. With that benefit, I didn’t need to accumulate much spiritual energy to break through this time,” she said without hiding anything.
A trace of envy flashed in Gu Ze’s eyes.
Although Qingquan’s Benyuan Zhi Shui had not been judged by the system as an opportunity, its value alone rivaled system rewards.
Now that Qingquan had reached the Nascent Soul stage, the profundity contained within her Benyuan Zhi Shui had risen to another level. Gu Ze thought that if he could obtain some, his own innate talent would surely improve.
He looked up at the sky and muttered to the empty heavens, “If only I had a Daoist friend to help me.”
The moment his words fell, Qingquan’s voice transmitted directly into his mind.
“Dream on! You dare scheme against me again?! And if you don’t let go of Xunmiao right now, once we return to Biluo Peak, I’ll… I’ll hang you from a tree for public display so everyone knows you’re the representative of Biluo Peak’s ill-behaved disciples.”
Qingquan’s voice carried a trace of anger, yet the ending tone held an indescribable grievance.
With warm fragrance and soft jade in his arms, Gu Ze did not release the warm-bodied Li Xunmiao just because of a single threat.
Protected by divine fire, Li Xunmiao could dispel the cold with a single thought.
Gu Ze was silent for two seconds, then cautiously replied in his mind, “Daoist friend… could it be that you’re jealous?”
In an instant, the entire Dan Yin Peak mountain shook violently.
Birds scattered in alarm, boulders tumbled down, and cracks appeared atop the auspicious beast stone statues that suppressed the Earth Meridian in all directions.
Several low-cultivation Qi Refinement disciples fled in terror. “Is it an earthquake?”
“Could it be Immortal Lords fighting? This vibration isn’t right.”
The mountain protection array faintly lit up, then shattered with a boom.
Hu Meng, who had been repairing the array, watched the formation he had just condensed break apart. His beard nearly bristled with rage.
His divine sense swept out, sensing that the source of the disturbance was Qingquan, and his fury intensified. He had already turned a blind eye when Qingquan secretly followed them to Dan Yin Peak.
But what was wrong with her now? Wang Xiao was already dead. There was no need for her to come here and wreak havoc on Dan Yin Peak again.
Feeling that something was off, Hu Meng held his breath and calculated with his fingers.
Gradually, his expression shifted from solemn anger to relaxation, and finally to something strange.
“Gu Ze, you really are something,” Hu Meng muttered. In nearly a thousand years roaming the Immortal Realm, he had never seen the sealed fate thread of a Nascent Soul cultivator connect to someone at the Qi Refinement stage.
So in the end, it was still a Love Tribulation.
Hu Meng silently added the debt for damaging the mountain protection array a second time onto Gu Ze’s account. If Gu Ze really managed to take over Dan Yin Peak, Hu Meng would not mind collecting that debt from him thoroughly.