Le Qingping beamed. “Thank you, Senior.”
The youth and the woman leaped lightly into the hollow giant tree, one after the other.
The youth searched briefly, found a suitable nest entrance to breach, and beckoned Le Qingping inside.
Only after they had been gone for a quarter of an hour did Xie Linlang emerge from his hiding spot inside the cave.
His expression was somewhat dazed.
So Le Qingping had been pursuing Shen He?
Xie Linlang felt rare annoyance. The formula he had given Shen He was one he had developed himself, though its origins were indeed tied to the Nine Spirits Sect.
It was from long ago. Pei Ji had befriended Cultivator Xu from the Nine Spirits Sect and become enamored with the Spirit Beasts that Xu reared, constantly praising how wonderful they were and how captivating.
Xie Linlang’s mood soured terribly. It wasn’t that he couldn’t stand Pei Ji making friends or having other interests—it was that Pei Ji’s favorites were snakes!
Before cultivating, while playing at home, Xie Linlang had been bitten by a Grass Snake. Though non-venomous, he had endured medicine for a long time.
Now immersed in the cultivation path, Xie Linlang no longer feared snakes. He could even calmly slay far more terrifying Demon Beasts, skinning and deboning them for one-stop pill refining service.
But… during intimate moments with his senior brother, he had mentioned his childhood incident. Pei Ji knew he had been bitten by a snake, yet still went on about how well that Xu fellow raised them—wasn’t that deliberately provoking him?
In a fit of anger, when Pei Ji once again sighed that Brother Xu’s snakes were glossy, sleek, fat, and tender, Xie Linlang kept a straight face but secretly purchased some Superior Beast Feed Pills used by the Nine Spirits Sect for rearing Demon Beasts.
Xie Linlang possessed exceptional talent in pill refining. He quickly reverse-engineered eighty percent of the pill’s formula from the Superior Beast Feed Pills.
Of course, the specific refining method and main ingredients differed, but in terms of effects, it was indistinguishable from the Nine Spirits Sect’s version.
Then Xie Linlang bought a batch of low-rank Spirit Snakes and nurtured a crate of them using his self-developed feed pills.
At the time, Pei Ji had hesitated to speak, not understanding why Xie Linlang did this.
Only when Xie Linlang finally selected the finest Spirit Snake from the crate and gifted it to Pei Ji did Pei Ji understand.
Pei Ji laughed uncontrollably. He hugged Xie Linlang tightly, his chest vibrating against him from the laughter. Xie Linlang paid no mind, thinking Pei Ji was mocking him.
“My good junior brother, how are you so ador—cough, considerate? Alright, the truth is, I went to Brother Xu to see those snakes because they looked so appetizing…”
Pei Ji had never imagined Xie Linlang would get angry over this, even going so far as to raise a whole crate of snakes out of stubbornness.
“Those snakes bullied you once. I just wanted to eat them.”
Pei Ji’s dark, bright gaze seemed to gain profound weight as it traced Xie Linlang’s embarrassed, flushed cheeks inch by inch. “Since you’ve raised a whole crate… your senior brother won’t hold back!”
What followed was too wonderful and sweet to recount.
Pei Ji chopped off the snake heads, removed the bones, skinned them, and turned the crate into snake meat stew. After devouring it, brimming with vigor, the two brothers frolicked in Tanghua Valley for a full day and night.
Xie Linlang remembered that day as a kaleidoscope of blooming flowers, wondrous and brilliant.
As for the culprit, Cultivator Xu, Xie Linlang had long forgotten him and naturally paid no further attention to refining the modified feed formula.
These precious, beautiful memories had been buried deep in Xie Linlang’s heart. Who would have thought a casually given formula would draw suspicion from Silent Night Palace’s higher-ups onto Shen He?
From Silent Night Palace’s actions—merely dispatching Le Qingping to track Shen He’s whereabouts rather than sending a sect powerhouse for soul-searching techniques—they clearly did not take it too seriously.
Cultivators stumbling upon strange Cultivation Methods by chance happened far too often.
Moreover, Shen He’s formula differed somewhat from the Nine Spirits Sect’s, and his background was clean and verifiable. His cultivation was low, not even at Core Formation, so Silent Night Palace merely kept an eye on him.
Xie Linlang reminded himself to act even more cautiously in the future.
He was now just a Qi Refining Cultivator, no longer the former Soul Transformation expert, without Jiuxia Mountain’s protection. He had revived to find Pei Ji and did not want to perish midway again due to arrogance or careless oversights.
“But is Silent Night Palace so concerned about its disciples’ affairs?”
Xie Linlang remained puzzled. Silent Night Palace was an ancient major sect with countless years of heritage—did they really need to fixate on such a minor matter?
It was just a pill that calmed the bloodline power in Demon Beasts, inducing a euphoric, obedient state. Why was Silent Night Palace so vigilant?
Xie Linlang noted this inwardly. He composed himself, leaped lightly, and soundlessly reached a certain entrance to the divine tree’s nest—the same one Senior Ying and Le Qingping had used earlier.
Xie Linlang followed their trail swiftly yet cautiously.
That call lay ahead.
He was determined to see just what treasure warranted a Soul Transformation cultivator dispatching a Foundation Establishment-level puppet to personally probe the secret realm.
