As Gu Changsheng crept toward the residence where Steward Li lived, a figure slowly appeared inside her room.
The figure was dressed in purple. Every gesture exuded elegance and composure. It was Luo Qingge.
After swallowing the pill, Steward Li began to tremble all over.
“How is this possible? Is there something wrong with this Essence-Nourishing Pill?”
Steward Li quickly sensed something wrong with the Essence-Nourishing Pill and was immediately overcome with alarm.
She hurriedly circulated her power, trying to suppress the poison.
But just then, a pale hand gently came to rest against her lower back.
The instant she felt that hand, Steward Li’s expression changed drastically. “Senior Sister Luo, why is it you?”
“Why shouldn’t it be me? Hehehe!”
“Do you think you can just take the pill I gave that servant disciple? Since you’ve brought this on yourself, I have no choice but to deal with you!”
Luo Qingge let out a cold laugh. As incantations rang out, the pill inside Steward Li underwent a drastic transformation. The mass of black mist abruptly became a gigantic Taotie maw and began devouring the blood essence within Steward Li.
The blood essence she had harvested from others—and her once-full, curvaceous figure—rapidly withered under this Devouring.
Steward Li screamed in terror.
“Please, no! I was wrong! I’ll return the pill right away. Spare me, Senior Sister Luo!”
“Return what pill? I gave it to you so you’d steal it, you fool.” Luo Qingge sneered. “Now you’re going to become my nourishment…”
“So you’re the reason so many servant disciples have gone missing from the Servant Quarters. You demon…”
Steward Li finally understood. Luo Qingge’s target had never been Chen Changsheng—it had always been her.
Luo Qingge had been certain she would steal Chen Changsheng’s Essence-Nourishing Pill, so she had poisoned it. In truth, the poison was an exceptionally vicious Human Pill curse.
Once a pill tampered with like this was swallowed, countless strands of Devouring Power would convert all the cultivation level and blood essence of the person who ate it into medicinal power and devour it.
“Only figured it out now? Too bad it’s too late!” Luo Qingge snorted coldly. She did not stop what she was doing; instead, she poured in even more power.
In less than half an incense stick’s time, Steward Li’s screams ended as she was transformed into a Human Pill. Her Fifth Level of Qi Refining cultivation level, along with all the blood essence in her body, was absorbed by the pill.
Looking at the pill, whose medicinal power had increased at least tenfold, Luo Qingge nodded with satisfaction. “Not bad. It should be enough to help me break through to Foundation Establishment Peak. Tsk, tsk.”
“I suppose I should thank that boy. If this hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have been able to use him to get the pill into this woman’s hands.”
Luo Qingge’s gentle expression turned ice-cold. After putting away the Human Pill, she raised her hand, and a flame landed on Steward Li’s body. In an instant, Steward Li was burned to ash.
And so, Steward Li—the tyrannical exploiter and licentious female cultivator—perished!
“……”
Outside Steward Li’s Cave Abode, Gu Changsheng clapped a hand over his mouth, staring at the scene in horror.
He had never expected that, after steeling himself to confront Steward Li, he would witness this terrifying moment with Luo Qingge. Steward Li, who had thrown her weight around and exploited every servant disciple, had been turned into a Human Pill and drained into a withered husk overnight.
And Senior Sister Luo, who had seemed so gentle and approachable during the day, now smiled cruelly like a demon.
Gu Changsheng regretted coming here more than anything.
He had stumbled upon Luo Qingge’s secret. If she discovered that he had seen everything she had done, he would surely die today.
Gu Changsheng did his best to hide in the darkness, not daring to move.
After finishing everything, Luo Qingge walked out of the courtyard.
She instinctively swept her gaze around. When she saw no one nearby, the icy aura faded, replaced by warmth and gentleness.
A flying sword tore through the sky, carrying Luo Qingge away from Steward Li’s residence.
“That was close. I almost got caught.”
After Luo Qingge left, Gu Changsheng ran back to his residence without looking back.
He felt as if his entire worldview had collapsed. For the first time, he realized that the world of cultivating immortality was so cruel, so utterly ruled by the law of the jungle.
Steward Li had thrown her weight around, stolen his token, and even withheld his spirit rice.
But now, this woman whom Gu Changsheng had considered a tremendous threat had been wiped out by Senior Sister Luo as easily as an ant.
Gu Changsheng ran as fast as he could, terrified someone would discover that he had been to Steward Li’s Cave Abode.
He was afraid not only that Luo Qingge would discover him, but also that Steward Li’s death would cause trouble. He feared someone would pin the blame on him.
At long last, Gu Changsheng made it back to his residence. He patted his chest and gasped for breath.
“That scared me to death…”
Just then…
A figure appeared silently behind Gu Changsheng.
“What scared you to death?”
At the sound of that gentle, friendly voice, Gu Changsheng’s scalp prickled and his whole body froze. He turned around with great effort and saw that Luo Qingge had somehow appeared inside his thatched hut.
“Senior Sister Luo, when did you get here?” Gu Changsheng turned his head, stammering.
“I just arrived. I remembered Junior Sister Ye injured you yesterday, so I came to see how you were recovering.”
Luo Qingge scrutinized Gu Changsheng and asked, “Where did you go just now? What scared you?”
Under her questioning, Gu Changsheng’s heart tightened. Forcing himself to answer, he said, “To answer Senior Sister Luo, I went to the Spirit Field again today to see what was going on there. But as soon as I arrived, I heard a voice calling my name. I remembered that I’d buried Luo Qing yesterday with my own hands. It gave me the creeps, so I ran straight back.”
“Is that so?” Luo Qingge mused, then asked, “By the way, did you take the Essence-Nourishing Pills I gave you yesterday?”
As soon as the conversation returned to the Essence-Nourishing Pills, Gu Changsheng could feel Luo Qingge’s aura change. Thinking of Steward Li’s horrific fate, he hurriedly said, “You may not know this, Senior Sister Luo, but Steward Li snatched the Essence-Nourishing Pills as soon as I got them. I only took a few spirit pills to help heal my injuries; I never took the Essence-Nourishing Pills.”
After speaking, Gu Changsheng carefully studied Luo Qingge’s expression. Her brows knitted slightly, and she seemed somewhat disappointed.
“Never mind. If you didn’t take them, then you didn’t. I don’t have any more Essence-Nourishing Pills right now. Once I’ve made some, I’ll give you two.”
Luo Qingge reached out and patted Gu Changsheng on the shoulder, speaking softly. “If anyone asks, don’t tell them Steward Li stole your Essence-Nourishing Pills. Understood? Otherwise, I’m afraid you won’t be able to get by in the Servant Quarters.”
“Understood, Senior Sister!”
If Gu Changsheng hadn’t seen Luo Qingge turn Steward Li into a Human Pill with his own eyes, hearing her gentle reminder now would have moved him to tears. He would have thought she was a Fairy descended from heaven.
But now, hearing those gentle words, Gu Changsheng felt a chill run through him…
It was obvious that Luo Qingge wanted to conceal the truth about having refined Steward Li into a Human Pill.
As long as he didn’t say that he had given the Essence-Nourishing Pill to Steward Li, her death would have nothing to do with Luo Qingge.
“Hehe. If anything comes up, you can come to me. I’ll be in secluded cultivation for a while. Once I’m out, I’ll make up for the two Essence-Nourishing Pills Steward Li stole from you.”
With that, Luo Qingge left Gu Changsheng’s room and vanished in a streak of sword light.
Gu Changsheng watched for a long while. Only after confirming that Luo Qingge had really left did he collapse onto the floor with a thud.
“This is the end…”
“Luo Qingge has her eye on me.”
“What should I do? If she hadn’t run out of the tampered Essence-Nourishing Pills, I’d probably have become a Human Pill like Steward Li today, dying without even a body left behind.”
“But even if she’s out of them today, once she absorbs the pill’s power, she’ll make more. When that happens, I’ll still be doomed…”
Gu Changsheng was so terrified that he could barely think straight.
Fortunately, Steward Li had stolen one of his Essence-Nourishing Pills, and Luo Qingge didn’t know she had only taken one.
Otherwise, if Luo Qingge knew he still had one, she wouldn’t have gently warned him today. She would have simply refined him along with it.
After wrestling with his thoughts for a long while, Gu Changsheng regained his resolve. Clenching his fists, he said:
“It looks like my only chance of survival is to raise my cultivation level to the foundation establishment realm as quickly as I can, before she comes out of secluded cultivation.”
Having made this decision, Gu Changsheng lay uneasily in bed and did not sleep all night. At daybreak, he took his spirit rice and headed for the canteen.
Gu Changsheng still had nearly ten pounds of spirit rice. Most of it came from the five pounds he had kept for himself, along with the five pounds Steward Li had brought him after Luo Qing’s death.
As for the spirit rice Steward Li had given him at the canteen, Gu Changsheng had traded it for spirit pills.
Now Gu Changsheng was going to find Liu Hu, the freckled young man, and trade for the twenty spirit pills Liu Hu had.