Shen Yifei woke up. The moment he opened his eyes, he found Ye Hongling still lying beneath him, eyes open, staring straight at him.
Those eyes were still watery, except there was not a trace of springtime passion in them—only real tears!
Ye Hongling wanted to push him away, but she had no strength left at all. What she cultivated was the Hehuan Sect's top-tier technique, 《the Maiden's Yang Harvesting Art》, specially designed to harvest men's Primordial Yang for her own use.
She had harvested so many men and had never once failed. How could she possibly be reverse-harvested by a menial who didn't know anything?
Seeing Ye Hongling cry, Shen Yifei had no idea what was going on. Afraid that she might get anxious and slap him to death, he hurriedly got up and dressed.
With his back to Ye Hongling, he said, "Senior Sister, I don't know Dual Cultivation. If I did anything poorly just now, please, in your great magnanimity, spare me. In the future, I'll learn the techniques, and when I have time, I'll serve you again!"
After Shen Yifei finished dressing, he turned back to look. Ye Hongling was still lying on the ground completely naked, not moving at all.
"Senior Sister, what are you…"
"Little Dong… Junior Brother, what technique did you use?" Ye Hongling had discovered that her Realm had already fallen to Qi Refining, the same as an ordinary Outer Sect Disciple!
With her current ability, she was no match for this strong young man before her. If he strangled her to death, that would truly be an unjust end.
"Technique? Senior Sister, I really don't know any techniques!" Shen Yifei wore a look of complete innocence.
"Then what Pill did you take?"
"It was those three Bliss Pills you made me eat…"
"Before you came… what did you eat?" Ye Hongling believed he didn't know any techniques. There was only one possibility—this kid had eaten some kind of miraculous Spirit Pill!
Hearing her question, Shen Yifei actually felt a bit embarrassed. "I ate some Medicine Dregs. There was no other way, Senior Sister. I was too hungry!"
"What? You ate Medicine Dregs?"
"Yeah, I can't get enough to eat. Usually I just eat some of the Medicine Dregs from the Alchemy Furnace!"
"You… how long have you been eating them?"
"Three years!"
"Every day?"
"Yeah, every day. Senior Sister, eating these isn't a crime, right? They're going to be thrown out anyway!"
Ye Hongling closed her eyes. She never imagined she would actually lose to a waste who ate Medicine Dregs every day.
She tremblingly got up and dressed. Shen Yifei noticed that the ground beneath her was covered in wet stains.
"Junior Brother, if you breathe a single word of today's events, I'll take your life!" Ye Hongling tried hard to put on a fierce look!
Shen Yifei nodded vigorously. "Senior Sister, rest assured, my mouth is sealed tight. I won't say a single word!"
Ye Hongling didn't bother with him anymore. She hurriedly left this place, afraid he would discover the flaw of her fallen Cultivation.
"She sure ran fast." Shen Yifei muttered.
But he was also very glad he hadn't lost his life at Ye Hongling's hands. This woman was truly vicious. If you're going to Dual Cultivate, then Dual Cultivate properly—why take someone's life?
Thinking of this, he glanced at the corpse on the bed.
That Senior Brother's eyes were still open, dying with regrets.
Shen Yifei walked over and closed his eyelids.
"Senior Brother, if you're going to blame anyone, blame that woman. It has nothing to do with me."
After saying that, he began searching for Senior Brother's Storage Pouch. He quickly found it in a corner by the head of the bed!
The Storage Pouch was in hand, heavy and substantial.
Shen Yifei didn't know how to open it, but he had seen the Senior Brothers in the Alchemy Room use one. Supposedly, you just channel Spiritual Energy into it, but where would he get Spiritual Energy?
Never mind that for now. Shen Yifei tucked the Storage Pouch into his clothes and hurriedly left this troublesome place.
Back at his dwelling, a firewood shed not far from the Alchemy Room, more than half the space was filled with firewood. In one corner was a bed for him to sleep on, so thoroughly blocked by firewood that it was completely hidden.
Shen Yifei lay among the pile of firewood, staring blankly at the beam above his head.
That double-hour just now had felt like a dream.
He touched his lower abdomen. Ye Hongling had said this was the Dantian. As he kept touching it, he suddenly felt something moving inside, like a little fish swimming about, warm and cozy, indescribably comfortable.
Thinking of Ye Hongling, Shen Yifei couldn't help but swallow again.
That waist, those legs, that voice…
Shen Yifei was tasting intimacy for the first time, and he found everything so endlessly memorable.
He felt he was stronger than that dead Senior Brother—at least he hadn't lost to Ye Hongling. On the contrary, Ye Hongling had looked like she couldn't hold on anymore!
Heaven gave me talent! Heaven gave me great talent!
Excited, Shen Yifei casually waved his hand. With a "crash," a pile of firewood not far away toppled to the ground.
This startled him, and he stared at his own hand for a long while.
He had only casually waved his hand. That pile of firewood weighed at least thirty or forty catties. Normally, moving it was a struggle—how could a single wave of his hand knock it over?
He recalled that warm feeling in his lower abdomen just now, and quickly sat cross-legged on the ground. Following the method Ye Hongling had taught him, he took a deep breath and thought about sinking his qi into his Dantian.
The moment he did, it was as if a "little fish" in his lower abdomen got startled and suddenly darted upward, following his intention up through his chest, into his arm, and finally stopping in the palm of his hand.
Shen Yifei spread open his palm and looked down. There was nothing there.
But he could feel it—his palm felt like it was holding a ball of warm water, nice and toasty.
"Could this be Spiritual Energy?" Shen Yifei murmured to himself, both shocked and delighted.
He had worked in the Alchemy Room for three years and had seen countless Inner and Outer Sect Disciples come to collect medicine. Those who had Spiritual Energy walked with a swagger and spoke louder than others. As a menial, in front of them, he didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
Now, he had Spiritual Energy too?
But where did this Spiritual Energy come from? How did he suddenly have it?
Shen Yifei thought of how Ye Hongling had looked when she left—her legs were trembling, and even her way of walking was off.
Could it be that he had harvested her?
Impossible, right? He didn't know any techniques, only brute force. How could he possibly have harvested an Inner Sect Disciple?
If he couldn't figure it out, he stopped thinking about it. Shen Yifei took out the Storage Pouch from his clothes.
Since he had Spiritual Energy now, he might as well try to see if he could open the Storage Pouch.
Shen Yifei held the pouch in his palm and tried channeling Spiritual Energy into it.
The moment he had the thought, the warmth in his palm drilled into the Storage Pouch.
Shen Yifei's consciousness was immediately pulled into a space.
The space wasn't large—just over a person's height, three or four steps across. Some things were piled in a corner.
With a thought from Shen Yifei, those things appeared on the ground before him.
A pile of Spirit Stones, probably around a hundred or so, all Low-grade Spirit Stones.
Shen Yifei was ecstatic. This was the most Spirit Stones he had ever seen in his life, and now they were all his!
As far as Shen Yifei knew, in the Hehuan Sect, an Outer Sect Disciple got at most ten Low-grade Spirit Stones a month. Menials got none at all—only food and lodging.
In his three years at the Hehuan Sect, he hadn't had a single Spirit Stone, and even his meals were only half-filling.
"I'm rich, I'm rich!"
He suppressed the excitement in his heart. With a thought, he sent the Spirit Stones back into the Storage Pouch.
He understood the principle of not flaunting one's wealth. He himself had no strength to truss a chicken. If he ran into someone greedy for money, he'd have to go down and keep that Senior Brother company.
Inside the Storage Pouch there was also a silver ring, a palm-sized Pill Furnace with a fierce beast carved on its lid, its mouth wide open. After looking at it twice, Shen Yifei felt like the beast wanted to swallow him whole.
There was also a book, with 《Hehuan Sect Basic Dual Cultivation Methods》 written on the cover.
He picked up the ring. It was quite large—it could only fit on his thumb.
The moment he put it on, he felt a pain in his thumb, like being pricked by a needle. A drop of blood seeped out and dripped onto the ring.
Suddenly, the blood-stained ring vanished without a trace.