As his voice faded, the courtyard fell silent.

Seeing things were taking a bad turn, Zhao Ping excused himself and left.

CRACK!

Li Hong’s fingers clenched into a fist, his eyes burning with resentment.

"That brat actually ruined my plans!"

Tributor Li’s words had just raised his hopes, but before he could even act on them...

Meng Qingxuan had actually left.

As a Steward of Jinyun Valley, he had the perfect excuse to get close to and protect her. Once she left, what chance would he have?

"A Tier Two Elixir!"

Tributor Li, surrounded by a Mountain of Books and Sea of Knowledge, fell silent for a moment. He let out a long, turbid breath and gave a bitter laugh, a sense of powerlessness washing over him.

"I was forty-nine when I refined my first Tier Two Elixir! I still remember how overjoyed I was."

"Yet to this day, I’ve only mastered a mere four or five types of Tier Two Elixirs."

Tributor Li closed his eyes, emotions churning within him.

’I must reach Foundation Establishment!’

Hearing the note of defeat in his brother’s voice, Li Hong’s face darkened. Without power, everything else was just an illusion.

"It is good you have such resolve."

Tributor Li reined in his emotions, rose slowly, and carefully rolled up the bamboo slips before him.

"Brother?"

Seeing Tributor Li walk toward the door, Li Hong was taken aback.

"Where are you going...?"

Tributor Li didn’t spare him a glance. "To see the Valley Master."

Every day, he was required to report his progress on the Pill Formula.

"Valley Master!"

Before long, Tributor Li arrived at the grand hall. Facing Ye Jingzhou, who was seated cross-legged on a Lotus Platform, he respectfully raised the bamboo slips high above his head.

Instantly, the bamboo slips lifted into the air and flew into the other man’s hand.

RUSTLE!

Ye Jingzhou opened the bamboo slips, his eyes sweeping over them briefly. His voice betrayed no emotion.

"Your progress is a bit slow..."

Tributor Li kept his head bowed, not daring to argue.

Completing a Pill Formula required a vast number of similar formulas as a foundation. Then, one had to deduce the rest step by step, based on the medicinal properties of the ingredients. Although this formula was seventy percent complete, progress was slow due to a lack of sufficient examples.

But that was no excuse.

Tributor Li kept his head bowed. In the deathly silence of the grand hall, he could even hear his own heart thundering in his chest.

After a moment, Ye Jingzhou’s voice came from above. "Return."

Tributor Li, however, did not leave. Instead, he spoke.

"Today, Chen Che refined a Tier Two Cold Resistance Pill for Meng Qingxuan. With his participation, we might be able to speed up the process!"

Completing and deducing a Pill Formula was not a task limited to a single Pill Master.

Involving multiple Pill Masters could improve efficiency.

"Are you telling me how to do things?" Ye Jingzhou’s voice turned sharp and cold.

"I wouldn’t dare!"

Tributor Li was instantly terrified.

"The Pill Formula is a matter of great importance and should not be widely circulated. He may be able to refine Tier Two Elixirs, but he is still inexperienced—far more so than you. Besides, Jinyun Valley must maintain its normal operations; we cannot have all our Pill Masters devoted to this matter..."

Having said his piece, Ye Jingzhou looked away, his eyelids drooping slightly.

"Go."

"...Yes."

Tributor Li bowed and turned to leave. Just before stepping out of the grand hall, he furtively raised his head to glance at Ye Jingzhou on the Lotus Platform.

The Valley Master’s eyes were downcast, his face completely swallowed by the shadows.

...

...

「Earth Element Star.」

ZZZ...

Chen Che snored softly at his desk.

In the blink of an eye since Meng Qingxuan’s departure, the end of the month had arrived, bringing with it the monthly exam day that every high school student loathed. Worse, this exam was not only their final but also a city-wide scholastic assessment—everyone was taking the same test.

All students were seated according to their grade-wide ranking.

’Xiaoming finds a Pill Formula...’

’Xiaoming gets poisoned...’

’Please save Xiaoming...’

"Dammit, Xiaoming, can you just stop picking up random Pill Formulas..."

An annoyed curse echoed from a corner of the room.

A ripple of laughter went through the classroom before it quickly subsided.

Chen Che, still half-asleep, vaguely sensed someone take something from his desk. He glanced up to see the proctor picking up his test paper to check his answers. Seeing that he had woken Chen Che, the teacher sounded a little apologetic.

"Did I wake you? You can sleep a little longer if you want."

Envious gazes came from all around.

In all of First Middle School, Chen Che was the only one who could get away with sleeping during an exam and still be treated gently by the teacher.

He had advanced in both the practical combat and pill-refining competitions.

His Realm had reached the Mid-stage Sixth Layer.

His academic performance, once a slight weakness, had improved by leaps and bounds with the awakening of his Divine Sense. He now maintained a score above five hundred fifty on every exam and was consistently ranked among the top three in his grade. In his teachers’ words, he was a prime candidate for the Four Great Dao-ist Schools.

Other students occasionally needed to be pushed, but Chen Che required no such encouragement.

"I’m done sleeping. I’ll turn in my test."

Chen Che yawned and stood up.

He walked out of the classroom.

As the cold wind blew against him, the last vestiges of sleepiness vanished from his mind.

Lately, aside from his daily Cultivation, he had poured nearly all his mental energy into analyzing the ’Leopard Embryo Elixir’. Fortunately, the Pill Formula was complete, and he had a vast reserve of reference materials, so his progress wasn’t slow. Still, after half a month of nonstop work, even a body of iron would start to break down.

That was why he had passed out on his desk the moment he finished his test...

’I’ve worked on it for so long, but the analysis is finally complete! There’s nothing wrong with this formula. Next, I just need to buy the materials and refine the pill. If that step also goes smoothly...’

...then the ’Leopard Embryo Elixir’ would be ready for use.

The thought of being able to completely open his meridians before even reaching Foundation Establishment, becoming truly invincible beyond his Realm—Chen Che could barely keep the smile off his face.

After all, everyone was learning within the same framework of knowledge.

Right now, he was, at best, a "small-town exam whiz." There was still a significant gap between him and the true geniuses of the world.

’Sounds like someone’s talking.’

Carried on the wind, he faintly heard the sounds of students talking.

With a flick of his will, his Divine Sense shot out.

Instantly, Chen Che ’saw’ Zong Yudao leaning against the hallway railing, bragging to a few other students.

"During the city-level combat competition, Chen Che and I were just steamrolling everyone. Nobody could even touch us!"

He chuckled to himself and expanded his Divine Sense further.

He saw.

He saw a giant ginkgo tree on the athletic field, which had shed a carpet of golden leaves. Beneath the tree, two stray dogs were locked together. In the classroom behind him, students were still scribbling furiously on their papers.

As his Divine Sense continued to expand, Chen Che wondered to himself:

’Tributor Li is still trying to complete a Pill Formula. I wonder what kind of formula it is.’

He had heard from Hu Yao that Tributor Li reported his progress to Ye Jingzhou daily.

During this period, Tributor Li had even started drinking Rejuvenating Water, allowing him to work almost day and night without rest.

’I wonder how long it’ll take him to finish it.’

’The good news is that the Market has been quiet recently. In another year or two, once I succeed in my Foundation Establishment, I’ll be considered a person of some consequence, at least in the Yunzhou region. I won’t have to be so on edge all the time.’

Just as he was thinking, his Divine Sense suddenly brushed against a corner of the campus, and an furious thought slammed into his mind:

"I’m taking a piss! Who the hell is spreading their Divine Sense around? Yan Jun, is that you...?"

Chen Che froze, hastily retracting his Divine Sense.

"Teacher Li, I’m sorry!"

But the man’s Divine Sense immediately followed his. "Come to the office. I need to talk to you about something!"