40: A Night Visit to the Pill Hall: My First Meeting with My Aunt

The sound of the water clock at midnight, like silver needles dipped in a cold pond, pierced through the mist of the Star Moon Sect, one by one. Lin Yang lay on the chiwen of the Pill Hall's eaves, his Dark-colored Tight-fitting Suit blending with the dense night. Only his eyes, faintly glinting with a grey-gold hue from the faint light of the chaos star core, remained visible. From the cracks in the window lattices of the Pill Hall below the eaves, wisps of warm light from the pill fire escaped, mixed with the scent of herbs, making his fingertips clench slightly.

Liu Qingluan's wound was still bleeding. During the conflict in the Spirit Qi Tower earlier in the day, Zhao Qian's lingering Burning Gold Art energy had entered Liu Hongluan's Meridians through the back of her ear, causing her to cough for half the night. Without the nourishment of a third-grade essence condensing pill, those Meridians would completely wither within three days. Lin Yang touched the warm Jade Bottle in his embrace. Inside was the Restriction-breaking Talisman that Su Qingyue had quietly given him during the day. At this moment, the chaos star core was gently pulsating against the talisman paper, deciphering the three-layered Restriction of the Pill Hall as clearly as palm lines.

“Click.”

The first layer of the Five Elements Lock was unlocked with a click under the guidance of the chaos star core. Lin Yang tapped the copper bell on the eaves with his toes, using the wind to glide towards the second-story window lattice, his movements as light as a falling leaf. But just as his fingertips were about to touch the window paper, the copper bell on the eaves suddenly rang without wind, a crisp "ding" piercing the silence. Lin Yang's hairs stood on end, and the chaos star core suddenly issued a warning. He instinctively retreated three steps; his toes had barely left the ground when the green tile where he had stood exploded with a "boom." The pulverized dust still contained unscattered ice energy, which had frozen fine cracks into the green bricks.

“According to Star Moon Sect rules, anyone who trespasses the Pill Hall at night will have their cultivation crippled and be expelled from the Sect.”

A figure in black slowly emerged from the shadows. The woman was tall, with a veil covering most of her face down to her collarbone, revealing only a section of her sharp jawline. The withered branches and cold plum blossoms embroidered on her sleeves shimmered with the cold light of silver threads under the moonlight. Even more striking were the seven ice needles suspended at her fingertips. The needles were as fine as ox hair, and the faint blue glow emanating from their tips was precisely the same ice-soul luster as the jade pendant, a relic from his mother, that Lin Yang kept close to his body!

Lin Yang's Dantian suddenly vibrated violently. The chaos star core spun wildly out of control, and a grey-gold aura spread from his Meridians to his skin, dissecting the woman's aura into countless tiny specks of light: the trajectory of the ice needles, the flow of true Qi, and even the rhythm of each breath, were all identical to the "Cold Plum Blossom Reflecting Snow Needles" drawn in his mother's diary! This was a self-defense technique his mother had created in her youth, and no one else knew it besides her!

“Senior, are you Elder Mo?” Lin Yang deliberately took a wrong step, tilting his left shoulder slightly towards the ice needles. He remembered Su Qingyue mentioning that there was a mysterious Elder Mo in the Pill Hall, who had an eccentric temperament, unfathomable cultivation, but never participated in Sect disputes. At this moment, he was gambling on the connection behind these ice needles. The anticipated stinging pain did not arrive. The seven ice needles suddenly transformed into warm currents before touching his shoulder blade, flowing through his Meridians and completely clearing the stagnant true Qi that had built up when he had forcefully deciphered the Restriction earlier.

The woman's gaze finally moved. Her breathing under the veil seemed to pause for half a beat. She raised her hand and pointed at Lin Yang's chest, her voice as cold as crushed ice: “Why do you… have her aura on you?”

“My mother once said that if I ever saw the Cold Plum Blossom Reflecting Snow Needles, I should greet them with the Star Moon Confluence Rei.” Lin Yang did not answer. Instead, he joined his fingers and drew a half-arc in front of him. Grey-gold true Qi condensed in the night sky, gradually forming an incomplete star map. This was a secret code drawn on the last page of his mother's diary, stating that if he met a trustworthy person, this would serve as proof, and that person would protect him.

“Puff!”

The seven ice needles suddenly fell to the ground, bouncing with a crisp sound on the bluestone slab. Elder Mo abruptly grabbed the window lattice, her knuckles turning white from the force, almost causing the cold plum blossoms on her sleeves to snap. “You are… Lin Wan’s child?” A faint sob caught in her throat, but she forcefully suppressed it into a cold tone, “Leave this place quickly! The Zhao family has been watching the Pill Hall for a long time. Today, they deliberately buried Soul Devouring Gu under the essence condensing pill's Pill Furnace. As soon as someone touches the pill shelf, the Gu will drill into their Dantian through their true Qi!”

Just then, a muffled "crackle" sounded from the southeast, like a giant stone turning a mechanism. The chaos star core in Lin Yang's embrace suddenly grew hot, and its buzzing warning grew more urgent. This frequency was exactly the same as the Misty Immortal Palace communication talisman he had intercepted three days ago!

“It’s too late!” Elder Mo suddenly threw out three pills. The pills, contained in a red lacquer wooden box, still carried the residual warmth of the Pill Furnace when they hit Lin Yang’s chest. With a sweep of her sleeve, Lin Yang felt a gentle yet irresistible force pull him backward, sending him flying out the door like a kite with a broken string. “Take these three essence condensing pills! Remember, next time you encounter the Cold Plum Blossom Needles, don’t hold back—”

The last half of the sentence was swallowed by the suddenly closed Formation. Lin Yang stumbled and landed under an old locust tree outside the Pill Hall. The pill box in his palm still carried Elder Mo's body temperature. Inside a hidden compartment of the wooden box for one of the pills, there was a piece of fine silk. He unfolded it in the moonlight; the handwriting on the silk was delicate but hurried: “Your mother is trapped in the Misty Forbidden Land, the Grand Elder is not to be trusted.”

“Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!”

The partridge whistle of the Shadow Guard Camp suddenly sounded, three urgent chirps, signaling an enemy invasion of the Sect. Immediately after, a sky-piercing blue light erupted from the southeast corner of the Pill Hall. Twisted spatial patterns could vaguely be seen within the light. Lin Yang's heart sank. The moment he crushed the fine silk, the grey-gold true Qi swallowed the ink, but he heard a very faint tapping sound from inside the wall: “Tap, tap-tap, tap—”

This was the Morse code his mother taught him. When he was little and got lost, his mother would use this rhythm to call him home. Now, these three short and one long taps had only one meaning:

“Leave quickly.”

Lin Yang clutched the pill box in his embrace and turned to disappear into the mist. Behind him, the blue light from the Pill Hall grew increasingly intense. He could vaguely hear the exclamations of the Zhao family Disciples, and the clinking of the Misty Immortal Palace's unique cloud-patterned tokens. He knew that his trip to the Pill Hall tonight had not only secured him the essence condensing pill but also revealed clues to his mother's disappearance. However, the conspiracy involving the Star Moon Sect and the Misty Immortal Palace behind these clues was deeper than he had imagined.

And that wooden box containing the essence condensing pill with the hidden silk was now pressed against the chaos star core, faintly warm. The faint light from the star core shone through the wooden box, vaguely revealing the outline of half a map in the hidden compartment, with the symbol of the Misty Immortal Palace Forbidden Ground drawn at its corner.