Alchemist Assessment

Fearing that something unexpected might happen, Shi Yu did not dare delay. She immediately executed her movement technique, the 《Swallow Walking Art》, and flew toward the village entrance.

The moment she crossed the village entrance, a strong sense of severance washed over her.

The feeling was bizarre, as though the instant she turned to leave, the village was permanently left in a location completely unrelated to this world, beyond all reach.

Suppressing this strange sensation, Shi Yu rushed forward several hundred meters before bringing herself to a halt and looking back toward Changxu Village.

In her sight, the village grew increasingly blurred, its reality rapidly dissolving. It was as if an invisible force was concealing it, making it impossible to confirm whether it still existed.

“What on earth is going on here...?”

Shi Yu's eyes narrowed as she tightened her grip on the Hidden Hatred Flute.

There was undoubtedly some incident and secret hidden within Changxu Village.

She cast a deep look at the hazy village, pondered for a moment, and decided to continue on her journey first.

This village gave her a very bad feeling, carrying a subtle aura of extreme danger. It would be better to wait until she reached the main city to see if she could inquire about any relevant information.

Having made up her mind, she no longer hesitated, choosing an alternate path to detour forward.

...

Traveling while cultivating, she pressed forward continuously for over a month until the main city of Lingtai Prefecture was finally within reach.

Checking her map, Shi Yu muttered, “Roughly fifty or sixty li remaining.”

Dusk was approaching, making traveling at night inconvenient. Furthermore, looking at the dark clouds gathering in the sky, rain seemed imminent.

Her destination was right in front of her; arriving a day earlier or later made little difference. There was no need to rush, so she decided to find a place to take shelter from the rain and get a good night's rest first.

As usual, she searched for a cave nearby to rest temporarily.

Vines veiled the entrance of the cave, and mottled moss covered the stone walls. Pushing aside the vines and stepping inside, she found the interior space to be quite spacious. However, there seemed to be cracks in the ceiling of the cave, dripping water down from time to time, making the ground very damp.

Shi Yu stopped at a higher spot deeper inside where no water had accumulated. She laid out a hide to sit and rest for a moment, then pulled out several remaining pieces of Gansong Charcoal from the Fate-Tapping Bell, flicking a flame out with her finger.

The fire flared up, instantly dispelling much of the dampness.

At that moment, the pitter-patter of rain began to echo outside the cave.

Since she was not overly exhausted, she planned to cultivate for an hour first before preparing some food to satisfy her hunger.

Taking out her Spirit-Gathering array plate, she sat cross-legged inside with her eyes closed to absorb spiritual energy. But before she could complete a single minor circuit, faint sounds reached her from outside. Upon hearing them, Shi Yu immediately opened her eyes, halted her cultivation, and waved her hand to stow away the Spirit-Gathering array plate.

By now, the light rain outside had turned into a torrential downpour. Gusts of wind howled inside accompanied by raindrops, soaking the entrance of the cave. Fortunately, the rain had not reached where she sat.

Shi Yu looked toward the entrance, frowning slightly.

After practicing the 《Soul Tempering Art》, her five senses had become increasingly keen. During her cultivation just now, she had caught the sound of several rushed, chaotic footsteps.

Now that the footsteps were drawing closer, they were likely heading toward the cave she occupied.

Sure enough, several voices engaged in conversation drifted in.

“Why is it raining so heavily all of a sudden?” a woman's complaining voice sounded.

Beside her, another young man huffed softly. “It's all your fault! Eldest Brother already said we should find a place to stay the night, but you insisted on rushing through the night as if you couldn't wait. Look what happened!”

The woman grew annoyed and argued back, “How is it my fault? Didn't you want to reach the main city early too? When I suggested traveling overnight, who was nodding along beside me?”

“You!”

“Alright, alright, stop arguing,” a mellow, gentle voice chimed in. “There's a cave ahead. Let's head there to take shelter first.”

Hearing their conversation, Shi Yu knew she could not avoid them and wore a look of helplessness.

Only when the three drew near did they notice a faint red glow flickering within the cave.

The man whom the other two addressed as Eldest Brother said, “There's firelight inside. Is someone in the cave?”

The younger youth said nonchalantly, “Who cares who it is? Just chase them out.”

“Zhou Shuo!” the older man reprimanded in a low voice. Only then did the youth named Zhou Shuo curl his lips, huffing into silence.

The older man shot his younger brother and sister a warning glance before stepping forward and calling out, “Fellow Daoist, it is difficult to find shelter at night, and the rain is cold. Would you mind sharing the space?”

Not knowing whether the newcomers were friend or foe, but since they had already run into each other... Shi Yu replied calmly, “Of course. Please come in.”

As her voice fell, three young people walked into the cave—two men and one woman. The eldest man appeared to be around twenty-five or twenty-six, while the other two looked under twenty.

The three shared a resemblance in their facial features, likely siblings.

In particular, the two younger ones bore striking similarities, likely fraternal twins.

When the three saw only a young girl with childish features who appeared to be no more than fifteen or sixteen sitting inside, they could not help but feel surprised, sizing her up secretly.

The leading eldest brother did not look down on Shi Yu just because of her young age. He smiled and said, “Fellow Daoist, my name is Zhou Yang. This is my second younger brother, Zhou Shuo, and my third younger sister, Zhou Yue. Apologies for intruding.”

“When camping out in the wilderness, there is no need to speak of intrusion.” Seeing his gentle expression and lack of malice, Shi Yu nodded and replied, “My name is Shi Yu.”

Noticing that her expression was somewhat distant, Zhou Yang tactfully refrained from further conversation, leading his siblings to sit down in another corner of the cave.

Shi Yu simply acted as if the three did not exist. Since her cultivation had been interrupted, she decided to eat a little and rest, planning to set off as soon as the rain stopped the next morning.

However, her supply of White Jade Rice stored inside the Fate-Tapping Bell had finally hit rock bottom. After traveling for over twenty days, not a single grain of spiritual grain remained.

She thought to herself, I'll reach the main city tomorrow and buy some then. Tonight, I'll just make do.

So she pulled out a few strips of tough jerky instead and began to roast them over the fire.

The other two had even less inclination to strike up a conversation with Shi Yu. Rubbing her arms, Zhou Yue pulled out a pile of charcoal from her storage bag and kicked Zhou Shuo next to her. “Hurry up and start a fire to cook. I'm starving.”

Zhou Shuo rolled his eyes. Perhaps he too was hungry, so he did not argue with her and struck out a streak of fire elemental Qi to ignite the charcoal.

Acting as the eldest brother, Zhou Yang spread out a blanket and told the two to sit and rest first. He then set up a small pot, pulled out some spiritual grain, and poured two handfuls inside.

Sitting on the blanket, Zhou Yue waited eagerly for the spiritual grain to boil. Looking over, she noticed that Shi Yu had only taken out a few pieces of jerky to roast over the fire, and a look of disdain immediately flushed across her face.

Beside her, Zhou Shuo also noticed the jerky in Shi Yu's hand and made his judgment: A poor rogue cultivator.

He looked closely at Shi Yu's face for a moment. Suddenly, he felt that although this young girl seemed plain at first glance, her demeanor was quite extraordinary, possessing a subtle, refined elegance.

Thus, he spoke up, “Hey, do you want to join us and eat together?”

It was rare for him to show kindness to a stranger and generously share spiritual grain. Zhou Shuo assumed the young girl would beam with joy, come sit with them, and thank them repeatedly.

Unexpectedly, Shi Yu merely lowered her eyelids and gave a cold shake of her head.

Zhou Shuo suddenly felt bored and shrugged. “This is spiritual grain.”

He suspected that the poor rogue cultivator in front of him had simply never seen spiritual grain before and failed to recognize what they were eating, which was why she had declined.

Beside him, Zhou Yue let out a snicker.

“...” Shi Yu was somewhat speechless.

She had not missed the trace of arrogance and condescension in Zhou Shuo's eyes, which displeased her.

Zhou Yang, who was simmering the spiritual grain, knew his siblings' temperaments well. He frowned, intending to remind them not to be impolite and offend someone.

Yet feeling it was inappropriate to say such things in front of Shi Yu, he changed the subject: “A-Shuo, are you confident in this Tier-1 alchemist assessment?”

Zhou Shuo answered vaguely, “More or less.”

“What do you mean 'more or less'!” Zhou Yue chimed in. “Don't drop the ball at the crucial moment of the assessment, or we won't be able to attend the Xie Clan's auction this time.”

Shi Yu was currently roasting her jerky. Hearing this, her eyelashes lifted slightly.

She kept an ear out, silently paying attention to the trio's conversation.