195: Chapter 195 Even the Holy Maiden Has Fallen

Outside the mountain gate of the Heavenly River Sword Sect, a purple storm surged once again.

This time, there was no arrogance of nine dragons pulling a carriage, nor the roar of a Golden Core Elder.

Only a streamlined Purple Jade Flying Boat, emitting a faint, cold fragrance, silently pierced through the clouds.

Standing on the flying boat was a woman dressed in a pale purple flowing immortal dress. Her skin was fairer than snow, her features were as beautiful as a painting, and her temperament was as cold and aloof as a Fairy from the Lunar Palace. Around her were no burly Dao protectors, but only a few maidservants carrying flower baskets and musical instruments.

She was the Purple Mansion Saintess, Ji Qingyue.

If Xiao Tianjiao was the "martial face" of the Zifu Holy Land, then she was its "beauty representative." In the Cultivation World of the Central Plains, she was the white moonlight in the hearts of countless male Cultivators, consistently ranking in the top three of the "Hundred Flowers List."

But at this moment, a trace of deep worry hung between the Saintess's brows.

"Senior Brother Xiao... has lost contact."

Ji Qingyue looked down at the Heavenly River Sword Sect, which was enveloped by a wall of golden text (the Test Question Wall), and an ominous premonition rose in her heart.

Three days ago, Xiao Tianjiao had brought Elder Zhao Wuji with an aggressive Aura to "subdue" this small peripheral Sect.

Three days later, although the Soul Lamp had not gone out, the transmission Jade Slip yielded no response.

Even Elder Zhao's Soul Lamp had become flickering and dim, as if... it had been buried in some airtight place.

"Could it be that there's an old monster at the Soul Transformation Stage presiding over the Heavenly River Sword Sect?"

Ji Qingyue bit her red lips.

She hadn't come here to fight (she wasn't good at it), but to save someone. She had brought half of the Holy Land's stock of Top-Grade Spirit Stones, prepared for a "monetary ransom."

"Descend."

Ji Qingyue commanded softly.

The Purple Jade Flying Boat slowly landed in front of the mountain gate.

There were no expected Formation attacks, nor any fierce-looking gate-keeping Disciples.

Only a... dog.

That Big Yellow Dog, wearing glasses frames, was lying in front of a blackboard at the entrance, drawing circles on a blueprint with its paws, a pen held in its mouth. Seeing Ji Qingyue descend, the Big Yellow Dog merely lifted its eyelids, adjusted its glasses, and then patted a wooden sign with its paw:

【Visitor Registration.】

【Name, Gender, Cultivation Level, Purpose of Visit (Whether carrying prohibited items such as: traditional Medicinal Pills, low-IQ Magic Treasures).】

Ji Qingyue: "..."

How does a dog from this Sect look more educated than her own Elders?

Suppressing the sense of strangeness, she had her maidservant fill out the form.

The Big Yellow Dog scanned it, and when it saw the four characters for "Purple Mansion Saintess," its dog eyes lit up. It pulled out a flyer from behind its back and stuffed it into Ji Qingyue's hand.

The flyer read:

Tianhe First Spirit Beast Primary School Enrollment Brochure: Let your pet win at the starting line》

《Not just acting cute, but also knowing how to calculate: On the market premium of high-IQ spirit pets》

Ji Qingyue held the flyer, feeling a crack appear in her worldview.

She took a deep breath, maintained her Saintess's poise, and walked into the mountain gate.

...

Upon entering the mountain gate, Ji Qingyue was stunned by the sight before her.

How was this a cultivation Sect?

This was clearly a giant... construction site? No, a madhouse?

On the plaza, a group of Disciples wearing rubber suits and sporting afros were arguing incessantly around a giant iron lump (an Electromagnetic Gun prototype).

"The voltage isn't enough! We need to add two more sets of Heavenly Tribulation batteries!"

"Heat dissipation! You idiot! According to the second law of thermodynamics, where does the heat that doesn't do work go? Did it burn your butt to a crisp?"

From the distant woods, sounds of massive explosions and pink smoke drifted over from time to time.

A woman's wild laughter could be faintly heard: "Art! This is art! The brilliance of yield shines upon the earth!"

"Crazy... they're all crazy..."

Ji Qingyue's face paled.

No wonder there was no news from Senior Brother Xiao; this place was simply a devil's den!

She quickened her pace, her Divine Sense scanning frantically, and finally sensed Xiao Tianjiao's Aura by a mud pit in the back mountain.

"Senior Brother Xiao!"

Ji Qingyue was overjoyed and immediately flew over on the wind.

However, the moment she saw Xiao Tianjiao, she froze.

Her tears were forced back.

By the mud pit.

The once elegantly dressed and arrogant Purple Mansion Holy Son was now wearing a tattered rubber suit, his hair as messy as a bird's nest, and his face covered in mud spots.

He was squatting on the ground, holding a twig, staring blankly at a... frog in the mud pit.

The frog jumped once.

Xiao Tianjiao drew a line on the ground with the twig.

The frog jumped again.

He drew another line.

He was still muttering to himself, his voice raspy like a ghost's:

"Initial velocity v0... gravitational acceleration g... air resistance coefficient k..."

"The parabola of this jump isn't perfect enough... the force angle of its hind legs is off by 3 degrees... if a wind-based Spell correction is added at the moment of takeoff..."

"Senior Brother Xiao?"

Ji Qingyue called out tentatively.

Xiao Tianjiao ignored her.

He remained staring intently at the frog, the fervor in his eyes stronger than if he were looking at a peerless beauty.

"Jump! Jump again! I need to calculate your maximum range!"

"Senior Brother Xiao! It's me, Qingyue!"

Ji Qingyue grew anxious and stepped forward, wanting to grab his arm.

"You've suffered! Did that Devil Head beat you into stupidity? I'll take you home right now!"

"Don't touch me!"

Xiao Tianjiao suddenly roared, violently shaking off Ji Qingyue's hand.

He turned his head, his eyes bloodshot, with a look as if he wanted to devour someone.

"You're blocking the light!"

"Do you know how difficult this 'Biological Ballistics' problem is? I've been squatting for three hours just to wait for it to jump this perfect parabola! Your blocking has messed up all the data!"

Ji Qingyue stood there stunned.

She looked in disbelief at this Senior Brother who had once been so attentive to her.

In the past, even if she lost a single strand of hair, he would be distressed for a long time.

Now, just to watch a frog dive, he was shouting at her?

"Senior Brother Xiao... are you... have you really gone mad?"

Ji Qingyue asked with a tremble, "I'm here to save you! Let's go back to the Zifu Holy Land, we'll find the best Medicinal Pill masters to treat your brain..."

"Medicinal Pill masters?"

Xiao Tianjiao sneered, revealing a mouth of white teeth.

"That bunch of frauds who only know about 'using like to supplement like'? What the hell do they know!"

"Do they know the energy conversion rate of a frog's dive? Do they know how to use differential equations to calculate the tension of muscle fibers?"

"Qingyue, you are too shallow."

Xiao Tianjiao shook his head, his eyes full of disappointment.

"I used to think you were beautiful. Now..."

He looked Ji Qingyue up and down.

"I only see a pile of unoptimized carbon-based biological tissue full of redundant data."

"Your dress has too much wind resistance; it's not conducive to flying."

"Your hairpin's center of gravity is unstable, affecting the stress on your cervical spine."

"Go away, don't disturb me while I'm doing problems. I'm about to calculate the optimal angle for a 'frog's Ascension'!"

Finished, he turned back and continued to drool over the frog.

Ji Qingyue: "..."

She felt her Dao Heart crack.

That elegant Senior Brother Xiao was dead.

The one who survived was a... problem-solving freak contaminated by knowledge.

"It seems the Saintess is not very satisfied with our teaching results?"

Just as Ji Qingyue was questioning her life, a gentle voice sounded behind her.

Ji Qingyue spun around abruptly.

She saw a man wearing a white lab coat and gold-rimmed glasses, holding a thermos, looking at her with a smile.

There were no fluctuations of spiritual power on him, but that Aura of being in control of everything made Ji Qingyue instinctively shudder.

"You... you are that Devil Head?"

Ji Qingyue summoned her Lifebound Treasure—a Purple Silk Immortal Ribbon—and stood on guard.

"What did you do to Senior Brother Xiao? What kind of bewitching drug did you give him?"

"Bewitching drug? No, no, no."

Li Mo pushed up his glasses.

"That is the fragrance of knowledge. He is simply immersed in the ocean of truth and cannot extricate himself."

"As for you..."

Li Mo looked Ji Qingyue up and down.

His gaze didn't hold that repulsive lust, but rather seemed to be... examining a pile of experimental Materials.

"Purple Mansion Saintess, Ji Qingyue."

"Third on the Central Plains' Hundred Flowers List."

"Famous for her age-defying techniques and jade-like skin."

Li Mo nodded.

"You are indeed quite beautiful. However..."

He suddenly changed his tone.

"Has your face been... oxidizing a bit lately?"

Ji Qingyue was taken aback and instinctively touched her face.

"You... what did you say? Oxidizing?"

"It means turning yellow, getting spots, and having fine lines."

Li Mo heartlessly pointed out several problems that even a Fairy could not avoid (actually just because she hadn't rested well during her journey).

"Nonsense!"

Ji Qingyue was furious, "I take Top-Grade 'Face-Preserving Pills' every day, my skin is fairer than snow, how could there be fine lines!"

"Face-Preserving Pills?"

Li Mo sneered and pulled a test paper from his robe.

This time it wasn't a physics or math problem.

It was a pink test paper emitting a faint fragrance.

【Tianhe Tutorial Class · Chemistry Elective (Beauty Specialization)】

"Saintess, do you know what the main ingredients in the Face-Preserving Pills you take are?"

Li Mo asked unhurriedly.

"Of course, it's Thousand-Year Cinnabar Fruit, deep-sea pearl powder, and..."

"And cinnabar (mercuric sulfide), and lead powder."

Li Mo coldly interrupted her.

"Your so-called face preservation is nothing more than using heavy metal toxins to 'poison' and stiffen the skin cells, thereby temporarily keeping them from decaying."

"This isn't called face preservation; it's called preservative treatment. It's no different from making cured meat."

"Moreover, heavy metals will deposit in your body. Your liver is probably already half-black by now, isn't it?"

"You..."

Ji Qingyue's face turned deathly pale.

As a Cultivator, she could naturally perform internal inspection. She indeed found that during recent Cultivation, her liver area had a faint dull pain, and although her skin was white, it did indeed have a... lifeless, ghastly pallor.

She had always thought it was an issue with her Cultivation Technique.

"Then... then what should I do?"

She asked instinctively.

After asking, she regretted it. How could she seek advice from an enemy?

But Li Mo had already handed the test paper to her.

"Look at this problem."

【Question: The essence of human aging is the oxidative damage of cells by 'free radicals.' Please write the molecular formula of an 'antioxidant' that can effectively clear free radicals (e.g., Vitamin C, Hyaluronic Acid, Astaxanthin), and analyze its reduction reaction mechanism.】

"Free radicals? Oxidation? Reduction?"

Ji Qingyue looked at these unfamiliar terms, yet inexplicably felt an impressive sense of high-level sophistication.

"So-called aging is essentially you being 'rusted' by the air."

Li Mo took out an apple and cut it in half.

A moment later, the cut surface of the apple turned brown.

"See that? This is oxidation. Your face is undergoing this process."

"And what we need to do is not 'paint' it like Face-Preserving Pills (heavy metal coverage)."

"But to block this 'rusting' process at the molecular level."

Li Mo took a small glass bottle from his robe.

It contained a transparent, slightly viscous liquid.

This was a byproduct Liu Qingqing had accidentally created while failing to research explosives—high-purity spiritual Hyaluronic Acid + L-ascorbic Vitamin C essence.

"This is a sample."

"Apply a little and try it."

Ji Qingyue hesitated.

But her anxiety about her appearance (and her fear of "rusting") triumphed over her reason.

She carefully dabbed a bit and applied it to the back of her hand.

It was cool and moisturizing.

It didn't have the dry heat of those Medicinal Pills.

After only a few breaths.

She was surprised to find that the patch of skin had visibly become hydrated and plump, even emitting a healthy glow!

That glow wasn't something cast on by a Spell, but... vitality at the cellular level.

"This... what kind of divine medicine is this?"

Ji Qingyue's eyes instantly lit up, even brighter than Xiao Tianjiao's when he looked at the frog.

"This is called scientific skincare."

Li Mo said indifferently.

"In the Heavenly River Sword Sect, we don't refine those heavy metal Medicinal Pills."

"We study 'Collagen Regeneration Engineering,' 'Melanin Inhibition Principles,' and 'Balancing Water and Oil by Adjusting pH Levels.'"

"Saintess."

Li Mo's voice was full of temptation.

"Do you want to know why your skin gets oily?"

"Do you want to know how to completely eradicate blackheads?"

"Do you want to know... how to truly achieve 'reverse aging' and return to eighteen at the cellular level?"

"Sign this enrollment application."

"Complete this chemistry test."

「This bottle of 【Supreme Version · Fairy Water】 is your enrollment gift pack.」

Ji Qingyue looked at the bottle of water, then at the test paper covered in "molecular formulas" and "chemical bonds."

A battle raged within her.

On one side was the dignity of the Holy Land.

On the other side... was eternal beauty.

For a female Cultivator.

There was simply no choice to be made.

"I'll sign!"

Ji Qingyue snatched the pen and signed her name heavily on the "Tianhe Tutorial Class Enrollment Agreement."

The handwriting was flamboyant, with the force of the strokes penetrating the paper.

"But I have one condition!"

Ji Qingyue looked up, her gaze firm.

"Besides this bottle of water, I want to learn that... that 'free radical clearing technique'!"

"I want to learn how to formulate this water myself! No one shall stop me from conducting scientific research!"

Li Mo smiled.

He smiled like a salesman who had just signed a major deal.

"No problem."

"Welcome to the Chemistry Department, Student Ji."

"Oh, by the way."

Li Mo pointed to Xiao Tianjiao nearby.

"Since you've enrolled, are you still taking this... Student Xiao from the Physics Department with you?"

Ji Qingyue glanced at Xiao Tianjiao, who was still drooling over the frog, and frowned in disgust.

"Why would I take him?"

"His head is full of nothing but parabolas now; he has no sense of aesthetics at all."

"Let him stay here squatting."

"I'm going to class. Teacher, which way to the chemistry lab?"

...

Watching the back of Ji Qingyue lifting her skirt and rushing toward Dan Ding Peak (now the First Pharmaceutical Factory).

Li Mo satisfiedly checked another box in his small notebook.

【Captured S-rank student: Ji Qingyue.】

【Major: Biochemistry/Medical Beauty R&D.】

【Expected outcome: The Cultivation World's first line of 'Fairy Water' skincare products.】

“Squeak. (Boss, you're running a pyramid scheme.)”

Squeak poked its head out of Li Mo's pocket, clicking its tongue in wonder.

“You've even bluffed the Saintess into a daze.”

“This is called precision marketing.”

Li Mo put away the test paper.

“Men are boys until they die (love playing with cannons), and women are girls until they die (love beauty).”

“Once you've grasped the pain points, there's no course you can't sell.”

“Let's go.”

“Both the Saint and Saintess have fallen.”

“Next, it's time to let those ‘leeks’ who are still watching from the sidelines witness what is called... the surge of knowledge payment.”

Outside the window, the weather was fine.

After “Cyber-Cultivation,” the style of the Heavenly River Sword Sect had gained a hint of the charming atmosphere of a “beauty salon.”

It was only hard on those frogs, whose legs had grown weak from jumping lately.