“Which master refined these pills?” A hunched-back old man raised a small white pill in his hands and looked over its smooth, shiny white surface.

Sitting opposite him was a woman with long-black hair and a pendant tied around her neck.

“Wu Xing Jin. His mortal niece drops off his stuff to us every month or so. We also have a trade agreement with him. Why?” She replied.

“Could you pass me over the pill bottle, Yu Er?” The old man smiled at her with a loving smile.

“Of course, Grandfather,” Yu Er smiled as she passed them to him.

Pouring the pills into a large wooden tray sat before him, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. As the old man sorted through the pills and inspected them one by one, he asked an off-handed question.

“When did Master Xing begin trading with us?” He asked.

“Over a year ago.”

At this, the old man stopped what he was doing and slowly raised his head.

He blinked his eyes a few times in a lost gaze before asking kindly, “Yu Er, could you get someone to fetch out past records with this… Wu Xing Jin?”

“Just a moment,” The woman pulled out a blank talisman before whispering into it. After, she let it go and it shot into the air in a streak of white light.

As the pair waited in patience, the old man continuing to peruse over the pills before him, a black-robed man arrived before them in a blur. He presented a small book to the pair with a bow. The woman took it from him and then sent him off with a nod. The black-robed man disappeared again in a blur.

She flipped through the pages until she found the first transaction.

“Says here that he bought ingredients for five Qi Gathering Pills and Five Lotus Explosion Pills. He also bought a Herb Holding Cabinet. Then, he sold us Four Qi Gathering Pills and Four Lotus Explosion Pills. After that…”

The woman went through all of the transactions as the old man listened on. After several minutes, she finished listing out them all and the old man had a disgruntled expression on his face.

“Over a year ago, he was selling third-rate pills. Correct?”

“Yes.” Yu Er nodded.

“And now he is selling us first-rate pills?”

Yu Er paused as she realised the same thing as her grandfather.

The old man explained, “To bridge the gap between third-rate and second-rate requires several years of training. And even decades to bridge the gap between second and first-rate. Now these are only grade one pills but the same principle follows all the other ones. One can’t become a Pill Refining Master overnight. But…”

He paused, unable to believe what he was about to say.

“If one person has been refining all these pills since the start, which I suspect to be the case, then something strange is happening,” The old man said.

“What should we do?” Yu Er asked with a worried expression.

The old man deliberated for a moment before he decided. “Find out who his master is. In a year, your Great Ancestors should come out of closed-door cultivation. When that happens, they will help us.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

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“All three of you lost to a single mortal?” Ge Yifeng could not believe what he had heard.

All three young boys nodded their heads with hesitation. They were all ashamed to what they were confessing. One of them was even looking the other way.

“I can’t believe it. When did this happen?” Ge Yifeng asked.

The one standing at the front answered, “Over a year ago. We haven’t told anyone else about this either.”

“I thought you beat him up and took all his stuff!” Ge Yifeng raised his voice, staring at the trio with wide eyes. The aura of his cultivation technique spilled over, scaring them even more. Some of it even coalesced, forming red tendrils around his eyes.

The three suddenly bowed with cupped fists.

“Senior, we beg your forgiveness.”

Instead of punishing them, sending them away, or letting them go, he asked, “Where does he live?”

As soon as they finished explaining where he lived, he shoved past them and out the door.

“I’ll take care of him myself,” Ge Yifeng tsked in annoyance.

Stomping past other disciples who feared his reputation as Wu Jia’s right-hand man, the recently declared number one outer sect disciple, he made his way down from Gestation Mountain. Once outside of its perimeter, he flew up onto his flying sword and into the sky.

He flew through the air like an arrow, fueled by the anger coursing through him.

That damn trash. He dares bully my juniors? The only way he could’ve won that fight was by using tricks. He must have expended some of his lifespan using some of those attacks. I’m sure of it! There is no other way for such a little bastard to eke out a full-blown, one-sided victory. By the time I’m finished with you, even your mother won’t be able to recognise you!

Harsh, anger-driven words coursed through his mind, veins popping out of his head and neck, his fists clenched tightly. Soon, his eyes locked onto a particular mountain. On it was a large wooden house. It was rectangular-shaped and had several spacious rooms, dozens of wooden chairs and long desks in each.

An abandoned school?

Hmph, this trash is really freeloading off an abandoned building. Let’s see his face when I destroy the only place he calls home!

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Xing Yi was in a trance as he skipped forward with Dragon Whips Its Tail. Each touchdown was followed by an immediate leap forward. Just a few months ago, he had left deep footprints on the ground when using the first form of the Southern Dragon Fist.

But now he barely rustled the surface soil.

He was like a ghost as he zoomed forward with another step that would’ve been equivalent to the several dozens of a mortal man walking on foot.

A rustling wind was left in his wake, brushing against the leaves of the trees, bushes, and the grass.

The wind seemed to slide past him as he seemed to fly through the air, his hair blowing in the wind. He held his hands hand behinds his back as he did so, a mesmerised expression on his face as he focused closely on his movement.

A year had passed since he had began training under Que Zhi. He had made leaps in bounds in strength in such a short amount of time and was now at the 9th layer of Meridian Cleansing.

It was like a dream!

Everyday, he was excited to wake up and couldn’t wait to begin training and grow stronger.

In addition, he had also fully exhausted the first herbal bath. It no longer worked on him.

But it wasn’t something to be sad about as he had built an incredible physique and now possessed supernatural strength. He could lift boulders with one hand, jumped tens of meters high into the air with a single tap of his foot, and could tread water if he was sprinting!

Everyday, he would be stunned again and again at what he could do. He imagined what his parents would think if they knew how strong he was. They would be shocked.

He chuckled to himself as he thought about this.

Circulating his inner qi was now completely subconscious for him and he had finally reached Minor Comprehension to all six form of both Southern Dragon Fist and Flying Baboon Style! He had a still long way to go, but even having only reached the Minor Comprehension realm, he felt like both were second-nature, as if he truly was a dragon or baboon.

But his happy mood was interrupted as he noticed a strange sound from in the distance. He was just about to arrive home too.

Could someone be there waiting for him?

Continuing forward, his expression grew worried as he recognised these sounds to be the smashing of wood and rock being split in half. Xing Yi accelerated the circulation of his qi and moved forward.

With furrowed eyes, he came out onto the other side of the thick jungle and felt his heart drop.

Long wooden boards were strewn across the ground. Yellow bricks were torn in half, small rocks laying beside them. A large portion of the nearby forest had been upturned, several trees split in half. Small craters dotted the area and the walls of his courtyard had been crumbled into debris.

And standing on it all was a tall youth with long black hair.

Noticing Xing Yi, they turned around and smiled. They had ugly, crooked yellow teeth.

For a few moments, Xing Yi didn’t say anything as he scanned the wreckage. When he came to the reality of the situation, his face turned cold.

Xing Yi made the first move without hesitation