Startled, Fei Fei calmed her nerves and walked toward the Old Witch with a pitiful look. “Elder, I’m unable to find one of the ingredients needed to finish the pill. Can you tell me the location —” her words were curtly interrupted by a dry crackle as discordant laughter raked in the air.

“If you can’t refine it, then you will become nutrients for my soup. I’d been experimenting if consuming human limbs with pills will replenish energy faster and allow me to breakthrough my bottleneck. Why would I help you?”

The Old Witch’s words sent a shudder down Fei Fei’s back; even Prince Zhao knitted his brows in discomfort, but he didn’t express it directly.

“The same goes for you my honorable guests,” the Old Witch laughed; “The next area is accessible through a teleportation array, but the glyph on your hand will prevent you from leaving unless I remove it, which I will only do so if you are able to refine a pill for me. I like eating them as snacks, so any pill will do. Or…” her voice paused.

As if she had conjured a funny thought, the Old Witch began cackling incessantly, wheezing in-between her breaths. “Or, you can kill me to instantly remove it. That is if you can.”

Using her wooden cane, she tapped the floor a few times before moving forward, slowly making her way to another hidden room with her wooden cane as a guide. Baihe took in the Old Witch’s peculiar actions with astute eyes. Could she be blind?

Lifting her eyes, Baihe found Prince Zhao ogling her chest. She narrowed her eyes dangerously and asked in a cold voice: “Why didn’t you try killing her? You guys should have been here for 3 days already no?”

Widening his eyes in pleasant surprise, Prince Zhao was elated to have Baihe personally take the initiative to speak to him. “I’ve tried, it’s no use. She’s one stage higher than me in cultivation and I’m already at Peak Dao Stage 4,” Prince Zhao generously disclosed.

Baihe hid the astonishment in her heart; she’d never expected this promiscuous and frivolous prince to be at such a high level of cultivation. Based on his words, the Old Witch should be at Peak Dao Stage 5 and had hit a bottleneck — unable to breakthrough to Martial Sovereign Stage 1.

Prince Zhao saw how the woman remained indifferent even after he boasted about his cultivation level; a flash of displeasure flitted across his eyes, but Baihe was no longer looking at him.

Instead, her attention was on Fei Fei. So this white lotus was an apothecary? No wonder the Huang family treated her as the pearl of their palms. A crafty look shifted pass Baihe’s limpid eyes as she gave Fei Fei a cryptic smile.

When Fei Fei saw that smile, she felt her hackles rising. Remembering the prerequisite for passing this trial, Fei Fei tilted her chin upward in a proud and arrogant manner. So what if you have a legendary phoenix? With the exceptions of the mermaids, human apothecaries are one in a million; she’d love to see how Baihe’s flesh and bones would be boiled as soup for the Old Witch when she can’t produce a pill.

In high spirits, the jubilant Fei Fei put some sway in her steps as she pulled Prince Zhao back down the hidden corridor they originally hailed from. Baihe was about to follow after them when she felt the strong arm around her waist tightened.

Leaning back on the hard surface of Fenglong’s firm chest, Baihe inclined her head upward; two pairs of eyes connected with one another. His alluring dark sapphire eyes held a trace of blame as if she’d offended him by ignoring his existence while chatting away.

His impeccable face was frozen solid like a block of ice — chilly and cold. Don’t know what possessed her, but Baihe reached out her hands and smoothed out the crease between his elegant eyebrows.

Instantly, Fenglong body turned still, rigid as a stone. His heart palpitated as the cool touch of her fingertips gently rubbed between his brows — soft and soothing; Fenglong raised his lips to expose a pleased smile. Bestowed with such a dazzling sight, his smile caught Baihe off guard when she noticed how it’d reached all the way to his eyes.

Baihe gave a light cough as she disentangled herself from him to put some distance between her and the walking paradox. Leading the way toward the same corridor Fei Fei and Prince Zhao had taken, Baihe stopped when she heard the familiar tapping noise of a wooden cane.

Her crystal-clear eyes glowed with a canny light. Purposely raising the volume of her voice, Baihe mused aloud: “Do you think Prince Zhao is taking advantage of a maiden’s heart to keep all the precious pills for himself? After all, the Huang family has connections with the best apothecary mermaids. As their beloved daughter, how could Fei Fei not be carrying any rare pills on her? With her talent, if she wanted to, she could probably even refine pills to treat blindness; yet, the two of them are still stuck here.”

Fenglong looked at the woman next to him with a twinkle in her mischievous eyes. Those words were deliberately spoken for the Old Witch to hear. The smile on his face grew wider and Fenglong happily played along with her. “Prince Zhao was known to be greedy and Huang Fei Fei was known to be a promising apothecary. Refining a pill or two to treat blindness should be an easy task for her.”

Delighted with Fenglong’s cooperation, Baihe walked peacefully together with him down the corridor. Not far away from them, the tapping from the wooden cane had long stopped as the Old Witch ardently listened to every word the two people had just exchanged.

♦

The long corridor led to a backyard garden filled with plants and fruits, but what made Baihe cautious was the weird smell lingering in the air. It was similar to scented candles, but the fragrance was a bit strange. Could it be coming from all the plants?

From a short distance, Baihe could make out two familiar figures along with a row lined with pill furnaces used by apothecaries. Remembering how the mermaid pearl necklace could greatly aid the user in pill refinement, Baihe couldn’t help but see a bright prospect for herself. If she could refine pills, money would come raining down the sky for her.

By her side, a low chuckle sounded next to her ears. Baihe turned around and saw Fenglong with a playful smile dancing in his eyes. Ignoring the bipolar man, Baihe picked up an old rusty book from a large abandoned pile on the ground. Gently blowing away the dust on the cover, Baihe flipped through the pages and was excited to find detailed pictures of medical plants with concise descriptions of their properties and effects.

The Old Witch would be so kind as to leave a bunch of beginner apothecary books for contestants?

Baihe snorted at that idea. That Old Witch looked more eager to cook them than to help them. Baihe speculated it was probably part of the rules within this formation array that forced the Old Witch to make these manuals accessible.

Canceling out the distractions — especially the big one next to her, Baihe focused her attention on the manual, diligently studying the contents. She had no idea how much time had passed, but by the time she was done, her bones were frozen and stiff, desperately in need of a good stretch.