76: Chapter 76 Locked! The Treasure-Hunting Rat Outside the Hidden Cave

The morning in Medicine Valley always carried the moist, fresh scent of vegetation.

As Valley Master Yan Shuyao successfully reached the Soul Transformation Early Stage, the thick clouds that had gathered above the Medicine Valley due to the Spiritual Qi vortex completely dispersed at this moment. A red sun cast its warm morning light upon the tiered eaves of the medicine huts.

Gu Yi pushed open the heavy stone door of the Heaven-Grade Pharmacy and stretched languidly.

The Creation Immortal Body not only allowed his severe injuries to heal within a few days, but after the top-tier Dual Cultivation session last night, the True Qi in his body, which had just entered the Nascent Soul Early Stage, was completely refined and consolidated, showing faint signs of advancing toward the Middle Stage.

Outside the door, the chill peculiar to the morning still lingered in the air.

After days of high tension, this rare moment of relaxation put Gu Yi in a rather good mood.

He was in no rush to find his Revered Master and Elder Liu. Valley Master Yan Shuyao had just made a Breakthrough and needed to stabilize her Realm on the jade bed for a few hours, so he decided to take advantage of this leisure time to walk around the Medicine Valley alone.

Following the bluestone-paved path, Gu Yi seemed to wander aimlessly through the building complex of the Medicine Valley.

Medicine Valley was indeed the premier medical Holy Land in the Central Region; everything he saw along the way consisted of rare flowers and plants seldom seen in the outside world.

However, for Gu Yi, who had just obtained the cheat-level divine object known as the Myriad Spirit Medicine Garden from the System, these treasures, which were highly valued by ordinary Disciples, could no longer pique his interest.

Unknowingly, he had walked out of the prosperous core area of the Medicine Valley and arrived at a slightly dilapidated peripheral zone that emitted a faint stench of Spirit Beast excrement.

In front of him was a patch of cracked spiritual fields, sparsely planted with some Red Flame Grass of extremely poor quality.

"To think that a place with such thin Spiritual Qi, where even the Spirit Gathering Formation has fallen into disrepair, is actually considered part of the Medicine Valley?"

Gu Yi raised an eyebrow slightly. Such places were usually only assigned to those low-level Utility Disciples who had committed grave mistakes or possessed zero talent for cultivation.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, not wanting that foul stench to dirty his clothes, he saw something.

A gray, frail figure, carrying two heavy wooden buckets, was limping from the end of that dilapidated spiritual field toward the deep, desolate primitive forest behind the mountain.

It was a young man wearing the uniform of a Medicine Valley Utility Disciple.

From a distance of several dozen zhang, Gu Yi's gaze swept casually over the back of the Utility Disciple.

However, it was this inadvertent glance that caused Gu Yi's deep black eyes to narrow slightly, and the footsteps he had been about to turn around with came to a sudden halt.

Interesting.

Relying on the keen intuition of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and the Creation Immortal Body's almost instinctive insight into the flow of heaven and earth energy, Gu Yi immediately sensed that something was wrong with that Utility Disciple.

The Utility Disciple walked with a limp, his breathing was heavy, and his back was hunched; he looked just like a Mortal completely crushed by life.

However, with every step he took, his seemingly unsteady footwork faintly revealed a highly sophisticated technique for concealing one's aura.

More importantly, when a breeze had just blown by, lifting the tattered hem of the Utility Disciple's clothes, Gu Yi had vaguely caught a glimpse of a faint fluorescent glow that did not belong to this place of depleted Spiritual Qi.

The light was very faint, so faint that even a Golden Core Stage Cultivator might not have noticed it, but it exuded an extremely pure aura of vegetation creation.

How could a low-level piece of trash shoveling excrement in the Spirit Medicine Garden possess an aura of this level?

[Target Locked! System scan triggered.]

[Name: Ye Fan.]

[Current Identity: Medicine Valley Utility Disciple / Child of Destiny of the 'Gou Dao' Path.]

[Realm: Surface level Qi Refining Third Layer (Actually has secretly reached Foundation Establishment, and can break through at any time).]

[Core Intelligence 1: He wears an object close to his chest called the 'Ripening Little Green Bottle'. Every few days, it can condense a drop of Creation Spiritual Liquid, which can ignore the Laws of heaven and earth and forcibly ripen any Spiritual Plant in the world.]

[Core Intelligence 2: The target is secretly cultivating a 'Nine Nether Yellow Springs Grass' inside a hidden, abandoned cave behind the Medicine Valley. Under the continuous ripening of the Little Green Bottle, this Immortal Plant will break through the ten-thousand-year mark and fully mature at the Hour of the Rat tonight.]

[Core Intelligence 3: The target has an extremely patient yet arrogant personality and has a secret crush on the Medicine Valley Revered Master, Valley Master Yan Shuyao. He foolishly intends to conquer her with the demeanor of a peerless Prodigy after the Immortal Plant matures and he breaks through to the Nascent Soul Stage.]

Watching the golden characters appear line by line on his retina, the curve of Gu Yi's mouth widened bit by bit, eventually turning into a look of undisguised mockery and coldness.

"A 'Gou Dao' Path treasure-hunting rat, a Ripening Little Green Bottle, a ten-thousand-year Immortal Plant... and this disgusting 'toad lusting after a swan' scenario."

Gu Yi sneered inwardly.

He had thought the suicidal former Sword Emperor from Sword King City was already top-tier, but he hadn't expected that in the cesspit of this Medicine Valley, there was such a fat, oil-dripping sheep waiting to be sheared.

"A ten-thousand-year Immortal Plant is a decent snack. As for that Little Green Bottle, it can be thrown into my Myriad Spirit Medicine Garden to serve as a watering can."

Gu Yi stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze lingering on Ye Fan's back as it was about to disappear into the depths of the dense forest.

He did not follow immediately.

There were still several hours until the Immortal Plant fully matured. For this kind of 'Gou Dao' Path protagonist who thought he grasped the creation of heaven and earth and treated everyone else like a fool, slapping him to death immediately would be too much of a waste.

Killing someone is never as satisfying as crushing their heart.

Since this little rat was obsessively dreaming of showing off in front of the woman he had just conquered, if he didn't go along with it and set up a stage for him, letting him see with his own eyes what true despair was, wouldn't that be failing to appreciate the romance of the situation?

A plan filled with malicious fun quickly took shape in Gu Yi's mind.

He withdrew his gaze and no longer paid attention to the figure crawling toward the hidden cave behind the mountain. Instead, he turned around and walked back toward the Heaven-Grade Pharmacy along the bluestone path he had come from.

...

Two hours later.

The cold pressure caused by the Breakthrough inside the Heaven-Grade Pharmacy had completely subsided.

Accompanied by a faint sound of jade rubbing against jade, Valley Master Yan Shuyao had dressed and walked out of the inner chamber.

Having shed that provocative moon-white inner garment, she had now changed into a cyan wide-sleeved fairy dress symbolizing her status as Valley Revered Master. The hem of the skirt was embroidered with lifelike dark patterns of medicinal herbs in silver thread, and her three thousand strands of blue-black hair were pinned high with a white jade hairpin. Her entire person had returned to that dignified, beautiful, and gentle intellectual posture.

However, if one looked closely, one could still find that the fair cheeks of this newly promoted Soul Transformation expert still retained a hint of blush that had not yet faded. Her eyes and brows carried an extra touch of the charm of a woman who had been thoroughly nourished.

"Gu Lang."

Seeing Gu Yi sitting in the outer hall sipping tea, Valley Master Yan Shuyao's dignified pace quickened slightly. She walked to Gu Yi's side and naturally picked up the purple clay teapot to refill his empty teacup with warm spiritual tea.

This call of "Gu Lang" was melodious and tender, lacking her previous reserve, and instead carrying a wife-like obedience.

"Is your Realm stabilized?" Gu Yi put down the teacup, naturally reached out to wrap his arm around her slender waist, and pulled her to sit on his lap.

Valley Master Yan Shuyao let out a soft exclamation, leaned obediently against Gu Yi's embrace, and nodded gently.

"Thanks to Gu Lang's Pure Yang Qi, Shuyao has not only stabilized her Realm but even the old hidden injuries in her body have healed." Valley Master Yan Shuyao looked up, her gentle eyes filled with attachment and gratitude.

Gu Yi's long fingers gently combed through her hair, and a gentle smile curled the corners of his mouth.

"Since you've come out of seclusion, why not accompany me for a walk? I've been cooped up in this pharmacy for these past few days and feel like I'm about to mold. Coincidentally, while I was out walking earlier, I saw a cliff at the back of the mountain from a distance. The scenery there seems nice, and I could faintly see a wild Spiritual Plant of extremely rare quality."

Gu Yi's voice was low and casual, just like proposing a common outing.

"A wild Spiritual Plant?" A trace of professional curiosity as a medical immortal flashed in Valley Master Yan Shuyao's eyes.

Although the back of the Medicine Valley was vast, most of it was covered by Formations, and the things growing inside were just common medicinal materials used for refining ordinary Medicinal Pills. Truly rare Spiritual Plants usually only existed in those ancient Secret Realms or dangerous places inaccessible to humans.

"A Spiritual Plant that even Gu Lang finds rare must be extraordinary." Valley Master Yan Shuyao had no defenses; she stood up and naturally took Gu Yi's hand. "Since Gu Lang is in the mood, Shuyao will accompany you to the back mountain. It just so happens that I'd like to see what kind of rare item it is."

Gu Yi held back that soft, boneless jade hand, and a chill-inducing mockery flashed deep within his dark, deep eyes.

"Good, then let's go and have a good discussion about this 'rare' Spiritual Plant."