151: Hidden genius

【Meaty, waiting outside the door, paced back and forth anxiously, unable to sit still.】

【Three days later, the door creaked open, and you walked out with a look of exhaustion on your face.】

【Behind you followed Nangong Xueyu, her face rosy and her complexion significantly improved.】

【Meaty inspected Nangong Xueyu repeatedly, excitedly pushed you aside, and grabbed her hand: "Wow, Sister, you actually reached Nascent Soul Perfection? How did you do it?"】

【Nangong Xueyu glanced at you, her ears slightly red, and said softly: "I must thank Junior Brother Qin for this... He not only helped me detoxify but also taught me a Cultivation Technique... That is why my cultivation has improved."】

【You felt somewhat helpless inwardly—it turned out that after you helped Nangong Xueyu detoxify, you discovered she still had a large amount of unrefined Nascent Soul Power within her, so you grew greedy.】

【You tried circulating the "Yin and Yang Five Elements Art" to absorb this energy, and as a result, Nangong Xueyu started learning it along with you—】

【Unexpectedly, she ended up refining the majority of the residual energy, reaching Nascent Soul Perfection in one go.】

【While you only refined a small portion of the energy, just enough to reach the second level of the Nascent Soul.】

【Not only that, but you were also exhausted to the point of collapse and felt weak all over.】

【You didn't want to stay any longer, so you looked at Meaty and warned: "Meaty, I heard from Senior Sister that you possess the Spotless Sword Body. Remember, you must never let anyone know about this Physique."】

【Meaty glared unhappily at Nangong Xueyu and pouted: "How could you tell him about this!"】

【Nangong Xueyu smiled: "Junior Brother Qin is not an outsider; there is no need to keep it from him."】

【Meaty nodded and said to you: "Don't worry, only those close to me know."】

【You nodded, and just happened to catch the way Nangong Xueyu was looking at you—her eyes were filled with tenderness.】

【"Ahem," you coughed lightly and immediately said, "I am planning to return. You two should keep a low profile recently and not expose your strength. I suspect there are still some high-level members within the Sect who have issues."】

【Nangong Xueyu nodded: "Don't worry."】

【Seeing that the timing was right, you looked at Meaty and said: "By the way, Meaty, could you give me a vial of your essence blood? I want to check if there is any residual dragon saliva purple gallbladder poison left in your body."】

【"When I was treating Senior Sister Nangong these past few days, I discovered that she still had residual dragon saliva purple gallbladder in her body, which led to some unexpected situations."】

【These words were naturally made up on the spot, but they hit the nail on the head.】

【Meaty frowned slightly upon hearing this—essence blood was a very private and important thing; she would never give it easily to someone she didn't completely trust.】

【Seeing this, Nangong Xueyu smiled at Meaty: "Junior Brother Qin is right. Don't worry, he is trustworthy."】

【After speaking, she took out a jade vial and handed it to Meaty.】

【Meaty nodded, immediately slit her wrist, let the fresh blood flow until the entire vial was full, and then handed it to you.】

【You suppressed the excitement in your heart, took the jade vial, cupped your hands in a salute, and left.】

【But you had only walked two steps—】

【"Crack—!"】

【"Ouch!"】

【You cried out in pain as you sprained your waist.】

【You endured the pain, took flight, and transformed into a stream of light as you flew away.】

【Meaty watched you leave with wide eyes, then turned to ask Nangong Xueyu with a puzzled expression: "What's wrong with him? How could he sprain his waist?"】

【Nangong Xueyu only smiled and said: "It's nothing. He helped me detoxify these past few days, which is why he sprained his waist."】

【"Oh..." Meaty nodded, then asked again, "By the way, Sister Nangong, I heard you groaning and moaning very loudly outside the room these past few days. Was the detoxification very painful?"】

【Upon hearing this, Nangong Xueyu's face turned beet red: "You little brat, don't ask about things you shouldn't."】

【Meaty frowned: "I am already seventy years old, yet you still treat me like a child."】

【Nangong Xueyu smiled without replying, turned to the side, and opened her palm, revealing an antidote pill—it turned out she hadn't taken it at all.】

【Looking at this antidote pill, she revealed a satisfied smile, and thinking of everything that had happened over the past few days, she couldn't help but tremble all over.】

【Naturally, you didn't know why Nangong Xueyu hadn't taken the antidote pill. At the time, the situation was urgent, and you didn't have time to think too much, so you could only detoxify her yourself.】

【Little did you know—that antidote pill carried your aura, and she had risked it and planned to delay taking it to verify her own suspicions.】

【After returning to the Immortal Cave, the more you thought about it, the stranger it felt—】

【"That's not right. Logically, the antidote pill should have been effective."】

【"And that 'Yin and Yang Five Elements Art', how did she learn it just by looking at it?"】

【You couldn't figure it out, but you didn't dwell on it anymore. Regardless, you had taken advantage of the situation and gained benefits.】

【After all, your cultivation had also increased by one level.】

【You estimated that this had saved you at least a hundred years of hard cultivation.】

【However, such an Opportunity was truly rare—being able to refine Nascent Soul energy together with a female Nascent Soul cultivator was, after all, not a common occurrence.】

【This method of Cultivation was truly too attractive to you.】

【Especially when thinking about your ordinary Aptitude, this kind of improvement was hard to resist.】

【You remembered that the three-year agreement had arrived, and it was time to return.】

【However, before leaving, you still had one thing to do.】

【After regulating your breath for a week, you headed to the Heavenly Sword Sect branch in Ziyang Immortal City to find Pang Jia.】

【Pang Jia seemed to have known your intentions long ago and directly led you to a private seat on the top floor of the pavilion to sit down.】

【Wasn't this top floor only accessible to the branch manager?】

【He brought you here, clearly having already guessed your purpose.】

【You didn't beat around the bush and asked directly: "The person who took away Lan Yuting's Nascent Soul last time was you, right?"】

【Pang Jia poured you a cup of tea and smiled: "Fellow Daoist Qin, please keep my strength a secret. After all, I didn't expose you either, right?"】

【You nodded with a smile and asked curiously: "With your cultivation, why are you willing to live incognito and hide behind the scenes?"】

【Pang Jia did not hide anything and said directly: "Actually, I have been a member of the Heavenly Sword Sect since I was young. It was just that after the Sect Master discovered my Heaven-Defying Aptitude, he reported it to the Old Ancestor. The Old Ancestor was worried about me being exposed too early, so he kept me cultivating in secret until I broke through to the Nascent Soul stage before returning to the Sect..."】

【So this Pang Jia was a hidden Genius of the Heavenly Sword Sect. In fact, this kind of secret talent cultivation existed in every major Sect.】

【He picked up his teacup, drank it in one gulp, and continued: "But after returning to the Sect, the Old Ancestor still had me keep a low profile, because he discovered that quite a few spies had infiltrated, and some high-level members also had issues..."】

【Seeing that his expression didn't look like he was lying, you asked: "Then why do you trust me?"】

【"You?" Pang Jia smiled, "You are different from those spies. Although they can hide their identities, their eyes and manners occasionally reveal contempt for the Heavenly Sword Sect, so it is not hard to guess who they are."】

【You suddenly remembered the matter of the "gale essence" and Chu Yan—Chu Yan only had Foundation Establishment cultivation, so how could he possibly have escaped safely to Ziyang Immortal City with such a supreme treasure?】

【Therefore, you asked: "Could it be that Chu Yan and the gale essence were arranged by you all?"】