Lan Xue was sitting beside the bed, a worn-out book in her hand, her concentration fully attached to reading and revisiting old knowledge. The warm light of the afternoon sun illuminated the room in the Medical Hall. In due time, the book was completed, and Lan turned her attention to her little junior lying unconscious on the bed.

  At first, she had just taken a thousand spirit stones from Xiaomeng for fun. The plan was to return them just before her Master discovered it. By that time, he would already have been blamed for being the cheapskate he was. But after the arduous problems of the past three days, she was seriously contemplating charging them as a fine for wasting her time.

  Just three days ago, when she had gone to visit Xiaomeng in the morning after she entered the first layer of Qi Refinement, she had received no reply. Even after waiting for some time, there was no response. Suspecting something was wrong, she had used the secret mechanism to open the door.

  And lo behold, the girl who seemed fine just last night was lying unconscious in her courtyard. Although there were no external injuries, her pale face told a different story.

  Lan Xue quickly got closer to Xiaomeng and, picking up her hand, checked her pulse. It was faint, but it was still there. Letting out a relieved sigh, she released tension she didn't know she had even accumulated. Then she spread her own qi into Xiaomeng's body to check her condition. Soon she got a good idea of what had transpired.

  This girl had tried to cultivate even after warnings from her and gone overboard, nearly destroying her meridians. Lan Xue could never have imagined that the little girl had actually nearly died and was only saved due to their Sect Master's intervention. Picking up the half-dead Xiaomeng, she went to the Medicinal Hall. Since the medicinal hall also dealt extensively in herbs, it was also located on the Fourth Peak. Most of its members were also alchemists or former members of the Pill Refinement Hall.

  Examining the unconscious girl, a Golden Core Healer had told her that she was out of danger and would wake up after a day or two. And now, even after three days, Xiaomeng had not woken up, and Lan Xue was stuck looking after her. She really wanted to bolt out of this place, which smelled only of dried herbs and bitter concoctions, but her Master would not take it lightly, so she had to endure it.

  While glaring at Xiaomeng's little face, she saw a flutter of eyelashes. She quickly went into her Senior Sister Mode and made a serious expression.

  Opening her eyes, the first thing Xiaomeng saw was Senior Sister Lan staring back at her with an unconcerned look. She tried to get up, but the Senior Sister pushed her down. "Senior Sister?" she gave a questioning look.

  Lan Xue looked at Xiaomeng, who was trying to get up. "Just rest for now. The healers have said that you should get ample rest for the foreseeable future." Hearing her words, the little girl stopped struggling.

  "So, what happened that night after I was gone?" Lan Xue asked without beating around the bush.

  "That—" Xiaomeng had a conflicted expression for a moment. But after some time, as if resolved to something, she said in an aggrieved voice, "I just wanted to advance faster than others. And to do so, I tried to cultivate faster and more than others. And in doing so, the internal qi went haywire, and I suffered a backlash. Just at the last second, I think I broke the second acupoint and fainted." Seeing her dramatic acting, even Lan Xue was easily fooled. When she had first checked Xiaomeng, it was true that she had found the second acupoint open, and this explanation perfectly filled any gaps in the incident. Who would imagine that Xiaomeng's spiritual root was actually fake and had just gone out of control?

  Talking about this, Xiaomeng suddenly remembered something. Looking at her Senior Sister Lan with sparkling eyes, she asked, "Senior Sister, I must be the first one to reach the Second Layer of Qi Refinement, right?"

  Looking at the expectant eyes, Lan Xue could only steel her heart and break the fragile hope of a young child. She gently shook her head, her gesture speaking louder than words. The excited mood of Xiaomeng suddenly deflated. But slightly clenching her hand, she asked, "Then I must be second, right?"

  But Lan Xue again shook her head. Xiaomeng's face fell further, her voice getting smaller. "At least the third?" she timidly asked.

  Lan Xue could only shake her head. This girl was always causing trouble for her but was quite pitiful herself. She would just charge half the price for taking care of her.

  Finally, Xiaomeng asked Lan Xue with a determined face, "Senior Sister, exactly how many of them reached the Second Layer?"

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  Lan Xue hesitated for a moment, showing Xiaomeng a rare look of worry, yet still decided to answer, "Eleven."

  "Eleven," Xiaomeng subconsciously muttered. It took some time for her brain to process those words. And after some time, she finally understood the meaning of those words.

  She felt her world was crashing down at once. What Nascent Soul Cultivator? What hiding her talent? With such monsters roaming all around, how would she even survive this sect? If her small memory was not wrong, then it would take at least two to three days even for talented disciples in major sects from the Upper Realm to go from the First Layer to the Second Layer.

  Only the Holy Sons or Holy Daughters could do it in one day, and that too in secret, cultivating in Spiritual Lands. But here, even in a spiritually deficient environment, the number of people doing it was more than her fingers could count. She would have to pull out all the stops now and showcase her talent to just barely keep up with them. And added to that was her fake spiritual root; she would have to put in double the effort for half the reward. She didn't know what she was feeling herself. Was it jealousy or competitiveness?

  Looking at the distraught look on Xiaomeng's face, Lan Xue grew worried. What if this girl was experiencing some flare-up of an injury? If something happened to her, even she would have to stay here longer. She quickly went out of the white medical room to bring in a healer.

  At the same time, while Xiaomeng was having an identity crisis, Lu Wenchang was leisurely drinking liquor at a very faraway inn. The taste was subpar at best, but he was not a picky drinker. Just as he finished the third bowl, the person he was waiting for entered the inn.

  Looking at the familiar face, Lu Wancheng felt his stomach churn, and in his mind, he praised Tieshan. How could that boy bear to spend even one more breath with the man in front of him? Right then, the reason for his discomfort found him and moved to sit before him.

  Lu Wancheng was barely able to control himself from jumping out and running away or beating him. He really didn't discriminate on looks, but the black aura on this man was certainly not something a good person would ever have.

  "So, I heard that my disciple succeeded at the sect, and you have come here to deliver the gift from him?" Tieshan's so-called master asked.

  Lu Wancheng just nodded at this and smiled. "Before giving the gift, I have to confirm a few things first." The sleazy man before him made a slight nod in acknowledgement and said in a reminiscent voice, "That boy. Finally giving something back to his master. You can ask right away."

  And Lu Wancheng felt that the courtesy was over. For the past few days, the world's will had gone silent, and he had to take matters into his own hands. He had easily gotten Tieshan's master's address and made his way here. And this man was ticking all the wrong boxes in his head, making him more and more irritated.

  Suddenly, the sleazy man and Lu Wancheng disappeared from the inn. Being slammed against a wall and a strong pressure encompassing his whole body, the sleazy man could only squeal like a pig on a chopping block. His ears were ringing, and his lungs were pressed against the wall, an invisible force holding him in place.

  "If you don't shut up, I don't mind breaking a few bones." Hearing the words, the voice in the man's throat died down.

  "Good." Lu Wancheng continued, "Now tell me honestly where you met that boy."

  With great difficulty, the man opened his mouth. "A few months ago. I was just scavenging the river near here. I saw something floating and brought it to shore. But instead of a treasure or something valuable, it turned out to be a baby."

  Suddenly, the pressure on the man's body increased, and it became even harder for him to breathe or move. "Tell the truth. Does the boy who entered the sect look like a baby to you?"

  The man spoke in a small, broken, ragged voice. "I am telling the truth. It was really a baby at first. But every single day, it was aging like a normal baby would age in a month or two. In just two weeks, it was walking, and in three, properly talking. And thereafter, this speed continued until he reached his current self in just four months. After that, the growth halted."

  Lu Wancheng ruminated on these words for a moment. It was not unheard of for some species to grow up so quickly and stabilize at a certain point. But the Tieshan he had examined three days ago was clearly human. There must be something that the world's will was hiding from him. Looking down at the sleazy man, he spoke.

  "You don't seem like a man who would readily take care of an abandoned child. From the black aura radiating from you, it would be lucky if the child was not thrown to the wolves." Suddenly, Lu Wancheng's voice grew colder. "So, pray tell me, why were you even raising him?"

  The man suddenly went silent, not making a noise. Lu Wancheng increased the pressure on his body with a single thought. The noise of bones creaking and cracking was heard. Unable to bear the pain, the man shouted, "The slave market!"

  "Where?" Lu Wancheng asked.

  "I don't know," the man was barely able to reply due to the elevated pressure. "It's said that on a new moon night every six months, a secret gathering is held in the black markets of the nearest city. But in just a few months, the boy had grown up and joined the Jade River Sect. So now even I don't know much about it."

  Lu Wancheng lifted the pressure completely from the man's body. The exhausted man plopped down on his back, blood streaming from his nose. Throwing him a pouch, Lu Wancheng said, "If I find you involved in something illegal ever again, say farewell to your pathetic life," and disappeared.

  The sleazy man picked up the pouch with trembling hands. Inside were some ointments and a few dozen gold coins.

  Lu Wancheng would have killed this man normally. But with that boy Tieshan added to the mix, he held back and let him off the hook with a warning. If he still didn't correct himself, then he truly deserved to die.

  Reaching the city, Lu Wancheng blended with the crowd. And after two nights, there were loud fireworks heard during nighttime inside the black market. All the demonic cultivators and slave traders who had gone there had mysteriously disappeared.