Listening to the fading footsteps of the outer disciple, Li Meng stood by the bed in his bedroom, fastening his robes. He then strolled leisurely out of the room. Though his body felt a bit weary, he still had important matters to attend to today.

Leaving the bedroom, Li Meng headed straight for the alchemy chamber. The Foundation Pill was a second-grade pill; there was no need to rush its refinement. With his sub-profession advancing to the second grade, several new second-grade pill formulas had appeared in his Treasure Pavilion: Spirit Stabilizing Pill, Spirit Cultivation Pill, Spirit Restoration Pill, second-grade Soul Nourishing Pill, Foundation Pill, True Spirit Pill, Antidote Pill, and many more. There were dozens of second-grade formulas in total. Among them were quite a few strange and unusual recipes, not all of which were for cultivation assistance. The talisman section also gained many new offensive-type talismans.

“Light the furnace!”

Under the moonlight, Little Bamboo Peak seemed particularly quiet. In the alchemy chamber, only Li Meng’s soft command could be heard before a wave of scorching heat erupted.

Beside the pill furnace, Li Meng’s face was pale, his aura chaotic. Looking at the jade vial in his hand, he wore a bitter smile. Refining a second-grade pill was still too demanding for a Qi Condensation cultivator.

“To think I’d ever run out of Mana while refining pills myself!”

Although his Five Spirit Roots waste-body resulted in slow cultivation speed, it had one advantage: his Mana reserves far surpassed those of cultivators at the same level. In the past, Li Meng could refine three furnaces of pills consecutively with his Mana reserves. But refining even one furnace of second-grade pills was a tremendous struggle this time. If he hadn’t taken several Spirit Recovery Pills midway, his first attempt at a second-grade pill would have undoubtedly failed due to insufficient Mana.

The older the spirit herb, the more violent its medicinal potency became, requiring significantly more Mana to control the flames and refine it. The effort and time spent refining far exceeded that needed for century-old herbs.

Li Meng rose to his feet and walked out.

“Strange, why didn’t Senior Qu come tonight? Could she be out on a mission?”

Seeing the bedroom empty, he thought to himself. Without dwelling on it further, he sat cross-legged on the bed to meditate and regulate his breathing.

The next morning.

Li Meng opened his eyes as he sat cross-legged on the bed.

“It seems Senior Qu really is out on a mission!”

If Senior Qu were within the sect, she definitely wouldn’t have broken their agreement.

Feeling refreshed, Li Meng got out of bed, left the bedroom, and entered his study. Junior Sister Chen was coming in the morning, and alchemy refinement could easily be interrupted. While talisman creation also required focused effort in one go, it took far less time than pill refinement.

That morning, Junior Sister Chen did not break her promise either.

“Senior Brother, what’s wrong?”

The two sat opposite each other at the tea table in the courtyard. A delicate aroma of tea drifted through the air. Noticing that Senior Brother Li seemed preoccupied, Chen Lan inquired curiously.

“Junior Sister, do you know Senior Qu Rou?”

Li Meng felt that Senior Qu’s absence last night surely meant something had happened. If she were going on an external mission, she should have informed him beforehand.

“Of course I know her. Yesterday, Senior Qu had a duel with Senior Su at the Martial Arena. The news has already spread.”

Li Meng’s brow furrowed slightly. The Martial Arena was not a good place. It was where conflicts were resolved. While killing was forbidden, one could establish wagers to force the other party’s compliance. Such wagers were overseen by the Enforcement Hall.

“What was the wager?”

“Senior Su wanted Senior Qu as his Dao Companion, so he challenged Senior Qu’s current Dao Companion, Senior Chen. Senior Chen was no match and lost narrowly to Senior Su. To fulfill the wager with Senior Su, Senior Chen voluntarily terminated his Dao Companion relationship with Senior Qu. After that came the wager between Senior Qu and Senior Su. Senior Qu refused to become Senior Su’s Dao Companion, so Senior Su challenged her directly. Senior Qu accepted the challenge. If Senior Qu won, Senior Su could no longer harass her. If Senior Su won, Senior Qu would have to become his Dao Companion.”

“And the result?”

Li Meng felt a knot of tension in his heart. He had already come to think of Senior Qu as his woman. He could accept her engaging in “Dao Exchange” with others—that was all he could tolerate. Senior Chen was an exception because he was technically the third party in that arrangement. But now that this “second party,” Senior Chen, was gone… that made him the second party.

“Senior Qu is a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator at Great Perfection; naturally, she had the upper hand. She won the wager. I heard both sustained serious injuries—a mutual defeat.”

Mutual defeat?

“What is this Senior Su’s full name?”

“I think it’s Su Can!”

Su Can! Li Meng committed that name to memory. Once he broke through to Foundation Establishment, he would definitely have a proper ‘meeting’ with him.

Sect rules stated that one could not refuse a challenge from another disciple. After being challenged once, one could refuse any further challenges for ten years. One could also apply to the Enforcement Hall for a “truce” period by secluding oneself for cultivation behind closed mountains. However, this “truce” could not exceed twenty years. This rule prevented anyone from exploiting loopholes to challenge a single person indefinitely.

While challenges couldn’t be refused outright, the terms of any wager were negotiable. A wager could not be forced; it required mutual agreement from both parties. If either side disagreed, the wager was invalid.

Often, those who started trouble didn’t care much about wagers anyway and would aim for a crippling blow on the Martial Arena stage itself—not necessarily killing their opponent but damaging their Dao Foundation severely enough to cause lasting harm, known as a Dao Injury. However, doing so would also incur severe punishment from the Enforcement Hall elders supervising on-site.

The result would either be bankrupting oneself to pay for healing the victim’s Dao Injury or receiving an equivalent punishment from the Enforcement Hall directly.

Conflicts among Joyous Union Sect disciples were fierce and frequent; duels over Dao Companions erupted on the Martial Arena daily. While some tried using loopholes to avoid being challenged altogether, such tactics usually earned them ridicule and scorn throughout their community instead!

After Junior Sister Chen left later on during their conversation (and subsequent activities), Li Meng hurried into his alchemy chamber once more.

“If they’re seriously injured, then a Dao Injury is inevitable… Are there any second-grade pills for recovering from such damage?”

He began searching through formulas within the Treasure Pavilion again until finding one called ‘Dao Origin Pill’.

“Dao Origin Pill? You’ll do!”

He glanced over the list of required spirit herbs needed to refine this particular pill—it came in two variants: the Yang-aligned version healed male cultivators’ injuries, while the Yin-aligned version healed female cultivators’.

“Still missing one ingredient: Mystic Yin Grass.”

Getting up quickly, he headed outside immediately after gathering his thoughts, flying off atop his sword toward the Market City located near Joyous Union Sect territory.

That afternoon found him arriving at the bustling marketplace filled with noise and activity typical of a large sect trading hub where many Rogue Cultivators passed through regularly to browse the wares available. Due to the reputation of good order maintained by the host sect, buyers didn’t need to worry about being robbed inside the city limits (though leaving afterward became a different story entirely, but any banditry occurring then was definitely officially unrelated).

Entering the main gate of the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, he was greeted warmly by the attendant downstairs who recognized him.

“Immortal Li! You’ve returned!”

Chuckling politely and nodding in acknowledgment, he ascended the stairs spryly despite his aged appearance. Today’s receptionist on the second floor wasn’t the same Junior Sister he met yesterday, but rather a male cultivator at the eighth layer of Qi Condensation accompanied by an elderly guard stationed nearby instead of the young woman previously seen.

“I require five-hundred-year-old Mystic Yin Grass; does your establishment have any available?”

“Yes, we do, Elder Brother. Please wait a moment.”

He was directed toward a seating area where several other customers, mostly Foundation Establishment cultivators, were already present, sipping tea quietly while waiting their turns.