Translation: Aerial Rain Translation (aerialrain.com) by koffeam

IOU?

Chu Tianfeng took the bamboo slip. It was only a finger length, smooth like jade, and very comfortable to hold in one palm. With one glance, he could read the whole content written on it: ‘On this day Chu Tianfeng owes Meng Qi five pieces of sixth-grade spirit stones and nine pieces of first-grade spirit stones. The deadline for payment is one month, and for every month overdue, he would have to pay 50 percent interest.’

This was the first IOU the Fentian Palace young master ever see in his life. With a loud ‘clack’, the small excitement and appreciation that just had been ignited inside his heart were completely wiped out. Clenching his teeth, he left his spiritual mark on the bamboo slip.

Chu Tianfeng returned the bamboo slips to Meng Qi, then he turned around and walked towards the residential area of Qingfeng Valley.

Meng Qi returned the bamboo slips to her storage bracelet. She did not leave immediately. After taking another spring warmth pill, she sat cross-legged by the cold lake. One day and one night of continuous treatment had consumed too much of her energy, yet she also gained a lot. This world has never been peaceful, even on the surface. Thus, she needed to become stronger, little by little.

…

The moon shifted, and the stars slanted, then a new day rose. Meng Qi’s long eyelashes flickered twice, slowly opening her eyes. The sunlight fell on her white cheeks. Yesterday she repeatedly used her spiritual aura until completely exhausted, then waited until it refilled before once again emptying it. And her opponent was the poison from a fifth-rank devil beast. After one day and one night, her cultivation, originally on the eighth realm of the Qi Condensation stage, has reached the peak, directly promoted into the ninth realm.

Meng Qi nodded with satisfaction and stood up. Half of Chu Tianfeng’s poison still not been solved. She needed several herbs, which can be found in the mountain area around Qingfeng Valley, next to Demon Realm’s border. Now, that area was still safe to explore.

Meng Qi had done similar treatment in her previous life. But at that time, she had no experience. Moreover, her Qingfeng spell was one level lower than in her current life, so it took her ten days and ten nights to cure Chu Tianfeng. With the progress now, it should take only five days.

But first, Meng Qi returned to the sect. It was quiet and peaceful in Qingfeng Valley. Before noon was the time for the morning class, and the disciples were cultivating individually. Meng Qi had a personal small bamboo house located halfway to the peak. She packed up her simple traveling bag and prepared to forage medicinal plants. As soon as she went out, her senior sister Lan Zhuxuan stopped her.

“Junior Sister Meng.” Lan Zhuxuan folded her arms across the chest and examining Meng Qi from head to toes. “You haven’t returned last night?” Her eyes fell on the blue robe on Meng Qi’s body. Lan Zhuxuan raised her lips and chuckled gloatingly: “I heard that last night, Fentian Palace’s Young Master has returned alone.”

“Really?” Meng Qi responded indifferently.

“Of course.” Lan Zhuxuan rolled her eyes. “As soon as he came back, he went to visit Junior Sister Lu Qingran.”

“You know, Junior Sister Lu still hasn’t wake up yet, and Young Master Chu stayed by her side overnight.” She continued with a smile: “Everyone said that Young Master Chu really likes Junior Sister Lu.”

“Yes.” Meng Qi nodded. Of course, she knew that. Otherwise, she would not directly extort Chu Tianfeng ten times a normal price.

“Where is Junior Sister going?” Meng Qi’s calm face annoyed Lan Zhuxuan, “Don’t say this Senior Sister never remind you. Now Young Master Chu was still staying at sister Lu’s room. Even if you go looking for him, I’m afraid you’ll only annoy him.”

Lan Zhuxuan raised her jaw. “It seems that Junior Sister still hasn’t cured Young Master Chu. I heard the Sect Leader and Elder Yan said that the Young Master is still poisoned.”

“Junior Sister is really smart. At that time when you came forward, whether you really could cure Young Master Chu or not, he would still be impressed by you. Just…” Lan Zhuxuan laughed: “I don’t know, is it a good or bad impression?”

“Senior Sister Lan.” Meng Qi fully understood her intention. “This Three Thousand Worlds was full of danger. If you have time, Senior Sister should concentrate on cultivating and make yourself stronger.” She sincerely added: “Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to survive in the future.”

Meng Qi nodded at Lan Zhuxuan: “I have something to do, so I need to leave the sect for one day. I’ll go then.”

“Humph!” Lan Zhuxuan looked at Meng Qi’s back figure, “What is her problem?!”

She pursed her lips and fiddled with her hair. In her heart, Lan Zhuxuan was convinced that this junior sister has failed to cure Fentian Palace’s young master. The young man’s expression was ugly, so maybe he has blamed Meng Qi. So when the other party was still in this sect, she was too ashamed to face him. Thus she went out for hiding.

Lan Zhuxuan pouted. She wouldn’t let it be like Meng Qi’s intention. She turned around, and after just a few steps, met a fellow male disciple. The two of them were fairly familiar. After simple greetings, Lan Zhuxuan immediately said: “I saw Junior Sister Meng Qi hurriedly left the sect, do you know where she is going?” Pretended to be innocent, she continued: “I need to find Junior Sister Meng for some matter, but she didn’t stop even after I called her several times.”

“I don’t know.” The male disciple shook his head.

“Isn’t it…” Lan Zhuxuan blinked. “Because the Sect Leader and Fentian Palace Young Master found out that she lied to them, so she got frightened and ran away to avoid the blame?”

“Hehe.” The disciple couldn’t help laughing. “It’s really possible. Two days ago, I saw Junior Sister Meng Qi was so confident that she stood up and said she wanted to take payment. I thought she really has the ability.”

“Hush! Don’t say that. Doesn’t Elder Yan really proud of junior sister’s talent? Maybe she really thinks a small Qi Condensation cultivator can cure the poison that even makes our Sect Leader helpless.”

“Haha, I think she is looking at Young Master Chu. Fentian Palace’s Young Master is so handsome and from a big sect. No wonder she lost herself.”

“I don’t think Junior Sister is such a person … “The two kept chatting while walking away.

Meng Qi did not know, that in just one day of absence, she became a shameless woman who tried to stick herself to the young palace master of Fentian Palace by deceiving him and the sect leader. Such a rumor instantly spread throughout Qingfeng Valley.

Meng Qi’s memory was excellent. In her previous life, she also went to pick some medicinal plants. Counting her previous life’s memory, it was several years ago. But she still remembered the approximate location. With prior experience, the time she spent on the road was greatly reduced. At noon the next day, she already returned to Qingfeng Valley.

The medicinal plants she gathered weren’t rare, only in first or second grade, just like the Qingfeng spell. In her previous life, the further Meng Qi walked throughout the medical path, the more she became enlightened that, whether it were medical techniques, arts, or pills, their real healing ability didn’t exactly depend on a higher grade. Since she could use the first-grade, fourth-realm Qingfeng spell to resolve half the poison from a fifth-rank devil beast, she could also use a second-grade pill to remove the remaining poison from Chu Tianfeng’s body.

The concept of grade classifying was, in fact, might sometimes hindering one’s progress.

Right at the midday of the second day, Meng Qi carried a large bag of herbs back into Qingfeng Valley. The disciples had just finished their morning class and were discussing cultivation’s insight in small groups.

Meng Qi first went back to her bamboo house. Chu Tianfeng should still be at Lu Qingran’s place now. According to the memory from her previous life, Lu Qingran would not wake up until she completely resolved Chu Tianfeng’s poison.

But that wouldn’t do.

Because the later stage of the detoxification process would only become more and more difficult, Meng Qi was very worried that she would be too exhausted and fainted again. If Lu Qingran woke up at the time she was unconscious and couldn’t justify herself, it would be troublesome if she once again being falsely accused. Although this time, she took spirit stones from Chu Tianfeng, Meng Qi still wasn’t sure whether she could really cut off their karmic relationship completely.

Just in case, she also picked up a few strands of heart cleansing herbs on her way back. On the flying paper crane she used as a transportation tool, she also refined some Heart Cleansing pill.

This pill was actually also available in Qingfeng Valley. The sect leader already fed the pill to Lu Qingran right after she came back unconscious. But although she was just being frightened, Lu Qingran still inhaled the devil aura from the fifth-rank devil beast. The harmful aura invaded her body, and as a cultivator still in the Foundation Establishment stage, she was still unconscious even after several days.

Meng Qi walked towards Lu Qingran’s room, politely nodded to the disciples she passed along the way. But she soon discovered that the fellow disciples she met all looked at her with weird gazes. Several people even sneered at her mockingly.

Meng Qi also heard people spoke from behind: “She still has a face to come back!”

“She didn’t think that this matter will simply be over after Fentian Palace’s Young Master left, did she?”

“Her skin is very thick.”

“That day, she dared to do such a thing in public. What an amazing feat!”

“Don’t know what kind of mood would she be when she saw Young Master Chu is still so obsessed with Junior Sister Lu.”

Meng Qi blinked. She quickly turned around and looked at the fellow disciples who were happily gathering not far from her to ‘chat with a small voice.’ When the disciples saw her looking at them, they quickly left. However, those words were obviously intended for her ears.

Meng Qi frowned. Although she felt something was wrong, she quickly walked towards Lu Qingran’s room.

As the most valued disciple of the sect leader, Lu Qingran’s room was located in the area with the thickest aura, although not as good as the cold pond. Various spiritual herbs and flowers bloomed in the courtyard, very pleasant to the eyes.

Meng Qi walked into the courtyard. People in Lu Qingran’s room were shocked by her sudden entrance. Qingfeng Valley’s sect leader came out of the room. Her eyes fell on Meng Qi’s face. In these two days, she also heard some rumors.

The sect leader didn’t believe that Meng Qi was such a person. But these several days, Lu Qingran still unconscious, and the poison on Chu Tianfeng’s body was still not cured yet, attacking him every hour. He never told other people how much the pain was, so no one could tell the difference. And he also didn’t mention what happened at the cold pond that day.

In addition, as soon as Meng Qi came back, she directly went outside. The sect leader was preoccupied with her own disciple, so she had no intention to restrain the circulating rumors. But when she now saw Meng Qi’s calm face and clear eyes, she suddenly felt guilty.

“Sect Leader.” Meng Qi saluted.

Her voice just fell, and Chu Tianfeng, who heard her coming, also walked out of the room. Still wearing that black robe, the young man’s eyes were as dark as ink, and his black and long hair was tied up with a small ebony headdress. Although his face was still pale, it was already better than the day he returned with Lu Qingran.

When his eyes met Meng Qi’s, he immediately retracted his gaze.

Meng Qi stepped into the room: “Is Senior Sister Lu still unconscious?”

“What do you want to do?!” Without even thinking, Chu Tianfeng had jumped in front of Meng Qi in a flash, blocking the door with his body.

Meng Qi: “…”

She stared at the young man whose bright eyes were full of alertness against herself.

“I brought a few Heart Cleansing pills.” Meng Qi explained: “Senior Sister still unconscious after several days, she must be affected by the devil beast’s aura.”

“Heart Cleansing pill?” Chu Tianfeng stunned, “Qingfeng Valley also has that.”

“Yes.” Meng Qi nodded. “But when I refined these pills, I added two herbs to increase the medicinal effect by 80%.”

This was the method she learned from an expert.

Cultivators in Three Thousand Worlds were roughly divided into spell cultivators and sword cultivators. Besides that two, only medical cultivation and tool refinery cultivation could be regarded as major cultivation paths. The rest was mostly regarded as supplemental.

In the past life, Meng Qi encountered an expert who was extremely proficient in refinery techniques. Like Meng Qi, the man was also very dedicated in his expertise, so they soon clicked together.

Under his influences, she started to use tool refining techniques when refining medicines.

When creating a magic tool, a refiner could imbue spells into the tool. Just like that, Meng Qi and the man she later called Master came up with a method to imbued spells into medicinal pills.

However, Meng Qi died too early and too suddenly. Even if she understood the theory, she could only used it on low-level, first-grade pills. Thinking back, this was probably the thing she regretted the most in her previous life. Of course, she couldn’t tell these things to Chu Tianfeng. Meng Qi herself was a medical cultivator, so she was extremely clear how much shock this method would bring to the entire medical society.

“Let me see.” The sect leader hurriedly came and took the pills from Meng Qi’s palm. She inclined her head and sniffed the pill. No problems found. As for the efficacy….

“Then try it.” She sighed softly.

She was just the leader of a small sect. Her ability was limited. In this Three Thousand Worlds, to put it bluntly, she was just a tiny ant. Many things would make her helpless. For example, now her disciple was still unconscious, yet she could do nothing.

The pill was quickly fed to Lu Qingran.

Meng Qi turned to Chu Tianfeng: “After Senior Sister wakes up, we’ll continue your treatment.”

“You ……” The sect leader finally able to ask, “Meng Qi, how is Fellow Daoist Chu’s poison?”

“Still not cured yet.” Meng Qi answered bluntly.

Chu Tianfeng frowned slightly. He despised Meng Qi’s love for money, but she really did relieve half of his poison.

“Half cured.” Chu Tianfeng said coldly.

“Really?” The sect leader was amazed. She agreed to let Meng Qi try, in fact, just willing to accept anything as a last resort. After all, when the whole Qingfeng Valley was helpless, only Meng Qi dared to come forward.

After Chu Tianfeng spoke, he sat aside in silence. Meng Qi also did not explain further. The next phase of treatment was the most dangerous, so she also found a chair to sit down and began to close her eyes and recuperate.

The room instantly became quiet. After a while, they heard a small movement. Lu Qingran, who had been unconscious for several days, slowly opened her eyes.

Chu Tianfeng, who sat the farthest, was the quickest to move. He jumped and quickly strode to the bed. “Qingran!” He leaned his body to the bed.

The girl’s pear eyes were still dazed, but they instantly widened upon seeing the young man’s face, “Tianfeng?”

Lu Qingran sat up at once: “You are fine!”

She suddenly rushed into Chu Tianfeng’s arms, hugging his waist tightly: “I thought… I thought we are going to die…”

“It’s all right now.” Chu Tianfeng lowered his head and gently patted her shoulder. He was going to comfort the beautiful woman in his arms when a sharp pain suddenly attacked. “Uh …” Chu Tianfeng reached out to press his forehead, his body staggered backward.

“Tianfeng?!” Lu Qingran didn’t care about her still lethargic body and quickly reached out to support him. “What’s wrong with you?”

Meng Qi stepped forward: “He’s poisoned! Hurry! Help him sit down.”

Meng Qi quickly activated a spell with her right hand and touched Chu Tianfeng’s head. Lu Qingran’s eyes widened in surprise. She kept looking at this somewhat unfamiliar junior sister’s smooth movement and calm face.

“Qingran…” The sect leader called her.

“Master.” Lu Qingran quickly turned her head. Her eyes instantly reddened when she saw the sect leader. Throwing herself into her master’s arms, Lu Qingran wept bitterly, “This…this disciple thought she would never see you again.”

“It’s okay.” The sect leader sighed in relief and patted her shoulder.

“This… Junior Sister Meng Qi…” After hugging her master for a while, Lu Qingran tilted her head to look at Meng Qi, “She…”

“She is treating Fellow Daoist Chu’s poison.” The sect leader appeased Lu Qingran, “It’s good nothing happens to you.”

“But isn’t Junior Sister Meng still in Qi Condensation stage?” Lu Qingran was even more surprised.

She suddenly opened her eyes widely: “Master, I remember that when we met the devil beast, this disciple seemed to see a girl wearing Qingfeng Valley’s uniform together with the beast. This disciple didn’t mean to accuse Junior Sister, but she….she…” Lu Qingran was bewildered: “That devil beast was fifth-rank, and Junior Sister is still in the Qi Condensation stage. How can she be able to detoxify… This disciple is not doubting her, but Tianfeng… if in any case…”

As expected!

Although Meng Qi was still busy treating Chu Tianfeng, she could hear it clearly. Fortunately, she already prepared and let Lu Qingran woke up earlier. Otherwise, she most probably would once again get unjustly locked up for three months. Meng Qi sighed and withdrew her hand from Chu Tianfeng’s shoulder. Before she had any chance to speak, another voice suddenly interrupted.

“Not her!”

Eh?

Meng Qi froze. She subconsciously looked at Chu Tianfeng.

No one knew when the young man opened his eyes. Although he looked calmer than before, his gaze became a little more complicated, especially when looking at Meng Qi.

Facing Meng Qi’s gaze, Chu Tianfeng quickly turned his head away. He took a deep breath and firmly said: “Meng… Meng Qi is definitely not that kind of person!”