The more she spoke, the uglier the expressions of the Taiqing Pavilion cultivators became.
Who were they going to deal with? Who else could it be?
The Nine Saints Hall was already completely powerless to resist, and the entire Tianshu Realm had now fallen into the hands of their two sects.
Before they had taken action, it had been clearly agreed that they would temporarily focus on reforming the Nine Saints Hall's cultivators and disciples. Once Pavilion Master Ye finished his business and arrived, they would then handle the distribution and punishments.
Yet Feng Qing was showing such wild ambitions. If she could hide secret arts from her allies to pocket them today, there was no guarantee she wouldn't turn around and bite Taiqing Pavilion tomorrow.
Ye Linchong's face grew as dark as if it were covered in a layer of frost. Only after a long silence did he slowly speak to Song Yao. “Not a single word of what you said today is to be leaked. If even a whisper of this gets out, you should know the consequences.”
Song Yao immediately declared her loyalty. “How could I say anything? If they find out I leaked this information, they definitely won't let me off, even if you want to protect me.”
“This is utterly outrageous!”
Ye Linchong was absolutely furious. With a violent wave of his sleeve, he barked, “If they want to touch you, they'd better have the guts first! Enough! You may leave now! We will handle the rest!”
“Alright.”
Before getting up, Song Yao didn't forget to take a couple of sips of her tea, looking completely detached and relaxed. “Then I'll head back to the Pill Pavilion. If you need anything, just come find me there.”
Hearing her mention the Pill Pavilion, a cultivator suddenly thought of something and said hurriedly, “Second Elder, if her pill recipe falls into the hands of the Beiyao Sect, it will be extremely detrimental to our Taiqing Pavilion!”
Ye Linchong frowned. “Why is that?”
The cultivator lowered his voice. “Her pills require very few and simple medicinal herbs, yet they can replenish spiritual energy, heal wounds, and detoxify—they can do almost anything. With such a recipe in hand, the entire alchemical landscape of the Tianshu Realm will undergo an earth-shaking change. If we ever clash with the Beiyao Sect, they will have an endless supply of pills to use.”
Ye Linchong cast an incredulous glance at Song Yao.
How old was this frail, slightly sickly-looking girl? Could she really have created a pill recipe that even Mingdan Pavilion couldn't match?
Truly, appearances could be deceiving.
No wonder even he had heard her name mentioned quite a few times.
He knitted his brows and asked, “If that's the case, why didn't the Nine Saints Hall use these pills?”
The cultivator replied, “I heard the side effects are rather troublesome.”
Song Yao was just reaching the door when she turned back upon hearing this, complaining with a touch of melancholy, “Sect Master Feng locked me in the Pill Pavilion precisely to force me to modify the recipe and eliminate those side effects.”
A thoughtful expression crossed Ye Linchong's face, and he quickly came to a decision. He spoke up, “Little friend, how about making a deal with this old man?”
Song Yao's hand on the door paused. A faint smile flickered deep in her eyes, though her face remained completely expressionless. “A deal? What kind of deal?”
“Continue to play along with them and stay in the Pill Pavilion to modify the recipe. Once you succeed, hand the finalized recipe to our Taiqing Pavilion first. When the matter is resolved, I will make sure you take charge of the Nine Saints Hall's Pill Pavilion as its leader. Your close fellow disciples and mentors can all move into the Pill Pavilion to live with you. I guarantee no one will ever dare to force you to undergo training or receive punishment, and no one will be able to dispose of you at will.”
Having said this, his tone became slightly more polite. “What do you think?”
With her hand resting on the doorframe, Song Yao stopped at the threshold, a trace of hesitation appearing on her face. “But Sect Master Feng also said that once I modify the recipe, she'll let me become the leader of the Pill Pavilion.”
Ye Linchong sneered immediately, his voice filled with undisguised contempt. “Her promise? She has to have the ability to fulfill it for it to count. The Tianshu Realm is not a place where Feng Qing can block out the sky with one hand. Besides, given her actions this time, it remains to be seen whether our Taiqing Pavilion will even spare her. Do you trust her, or do you trust us?”
Song Yao blinked, thought for a moment, and then raised her hand to point at Wen Wumian, who was standing to the side. “I trust him.”
Everyone was startled. Wen Wumian also looked up, a very faint trace of astonishment flitting through his cold eyes.
Ye Linchong's brow furrowed even tighter. “You trust him?”
“Yes.”
Song Yao nodded, casually spouting nonsense with a deadpan face. “Junior Brother Wen and I have met many times at the Wen family. I trust the members of the Wen family, so naturally, I trust him too.”
Wen Wumian pursed his lips, his fingers inside his sleeve unconsciously rubbing against each other. Ye Linchong's gaze swept back and forth between the two, and his wariness toward this girl suddenly lessened quite a bit.
Though she possessed talent in alchemy, her vision was narrow.
Instead of trusting him, she chose to trust a young inner disciple.
But this was fine too. With Wen Wumian alone, they could easily keep her under control, which made things much more convenient.
He gave Wen Wumian a look. After a brief hesitation, Wen Wumian took half a step forward and nodded. “Do not worry. Taiqing Pavilion will never go back on its word.”
Song Yao curved her eyes at him, a bright smile spreading across her face as she replied crisply, “Great.”
Wen Wumian's body stiffened slightly. His Adam's apple bobbed, but for a moment, he found himself unable to speak.
It wasn't until Song Yao turned and walked out, the sound of the closing door settling and her footsteps fading into the distance, that he finally snapped back to his senses, a faint blush quietly spreading over the tips of his ears.
Ye Linchong witnessed this scene but paid it little mind, only saying in a deep voice, “Wumian, keep a close eye on the Pill Pavilion in the coming days. Make sure to obtain the modified recipe before the Beiyao Sect does.”
Wen Wumian slightly bowed his stiff back. “Yes, Elder.”
The expressions of the other cultivators in the pavilion, however, were not very good.
The leading cultivator stepped forward, bowing with cupped hands, his tone carrying a hint of confusion and frustration. “Second Elder, now that the Nine Saints Hall has fallen, why hasn't the Pavilion Master personally come to oversee things? Instead, we are letting Feng Qing lord over this place and press us down at every turn. Furthermore... our Young Master is still in Wen Tang's hands. Are we really just going to keep standing by like this?”
Several nearby cultivators nodded in agreement, a fire of resentment burning in their eyes.
It was supposed to be an alliance of two families sharing the remnants of the Nine Saints Hall. In the end, the high-rank spiritual herbs, pill recipes, and secret techniques were all grasped by the Beiyao Sect, and their own young master was still held hostage. No one would feel pleased about this.
Another cultivator added, “If this continues, once the Beiyao Sect masters the Nine Saints Hall's sword techniques and spells, their strength will rise to another level. It will be incredibly difficult for us to snatch anything from their hands then!”
A dark gloom settled over Ye Linchong's features, and he spoke in a cold, authoritative voice that brooked no argument. “A mere Beiyao Sect hoping to surpass us solely on a few days of cultivation? Absolutely impossible. Keep your composure and do not alert the enemy. Once this old man has discussed everything thoroughly with the Pavilion Master, we won't let them bounce around for much longer!”
...
As Song Yao strolled out of the pavilion, she casually plucked a fruit from a tree in the courtyard and began to munch on it.
She had barely taken two bites when a couple of sharp, shrill screeches suddenly echoed from a distant mountain valley, drifting over with the wind alongside the laughter and shouting of some youths.
This sounded like...
The Black Bird's voice?
She immediately turned on her heel and headed toward the sound.
Poking her head out from behind an old scholar tree, she saw the Black Bird, its entire body covered in pale gold feathers, bound tightly by dozens of ropes. Its wings were tied so securely that it couldn't move, and it was thrashing helplessly on the grass.
About a dozen young disciples wearing the robes of Taiqing Pavilion and the Beiyao Sect were gathered together, seemingly attempting to tame it.
Fury burned in the Black Bird's dark gold, round eyes as its sharp beak pecked fiercely at the ropes. Its feathers puffed up into a fluffy ball out of sheer anger, and its cries were both urgent and indignant.
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