"Workshop owner," the scholar in white bowed respectfully to the girl in yellow.

"Tell me in detail about the conversations and behavior of those two people after they entered Hundred Pills Square," said the girl in yellow, which would help her deduce the origins of Yuan Ming and his companion.

The scholar in white complied and recounted word for word the dialogue and actions he had observed from Yuan Ming and his companion. He naturally omitted the part where he was scared to tears and lost control of his bladder by a mere glance from Yuan Ming, referring to it instead as being controlled in speech and action by Yuan Ming's look.

After all, that incident was too embarrassing to share. If people knew, he couldn't show his face in Hundred Pills Square any longer.

"Controlled by a mere look? It must be an illusion technique of some kind," the girl in yellow mused before falling into deep thought, then began descending the stairs.

Seeing this, the scholar in white followed two steps behind.

In the elegant room on the third floor, Yuan Ming sat with his eyes closed in meditation, then suddenly, he opened them, a look of surprise crossing his face.

His Divine Sense had detected the yellow-clothed girl descending the stairs along with the respectfully following scholar in white. Could this girl be the master of Hundred Pills Square?

Before long, the door creaked open, and the girl in yellow walked in, while the scholar in white did not follow but turned and went downstairs to attend to business.

"The two Fellow Daoists have been waiting for some time. I am Yan Sijing, the master of Hundred Pills Square. May I know the esteemed names of the Fellow Daoists?" The girl in yellow looked at Yuan Ming and bowed slightly.

"Yuan Ming," Yuan Ming replied, sizing up the person before him.

So, the girl truly was the master of Hundred Pills Square. Now that he had seen her true face, things would be easier from here on out.

Yan Sijing had a cultivation at the Late Foundation Establishment stage. Later, with the help of Black Incense Possession, he would be able to easily plant a Soul Seal on her to control her actions. Combined with Hua Zhi and the soul crow, obtaining a vial of Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid should be an easy feat.

Yan Sijing was also assessing Yuan Ming, thinking to herself about the existence of Cultivation Families with the surname Yuan in Zhao Country, or perhaps even in Qin Country, but failing to draw any conclusions. Rather than worrying herself over it, she left the matter to others in the square to analyze.

"So you are Fellow Daoist Yuan. Have you come to purchase some Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid?" She maintained a smile as she asked.

"Indeed," Yuan Ming answered succinctly.

"I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you, our square..." Yan Sijing began, shaking her head, but her speech suddenly halted as her face showed a look of surprise.

Yuan Ming had seen Yan Sijing's expression. He was about to politely excuse himself and leave when he noticed her reaction, causing him to pause slightly.

"Cough! Thank you for bestowing us with your presence, Fellow Daoist Yuan. The Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid is a secret treasure of Hundred Pills Square; it is extremely rare and usually reserved well in advance by distinguished clients. Normally, it would definitely not be available for immediate purchase. However, your luck is quite good— I've just received news that a customer had a mishap and returned a portion of the Spirit Liquid. If Fellow Daoist Yuan is willing to help our square with a matter, we can offer the Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid at half price," Yan Sijing said after a cough, her tone changing suddenly.

Yuan Ming frowned. Yan Sijing's speech was all over the place, and he wasn't sure what play she was acting in. However, it seemed that things had taken a fortunate turn. If he could obtain the Spirit Liquid through official channels, he had no desire to resort to subterfuge. With the Five Thunder Sect presiding over Purple Thunder City, causing trouble when unnecessary was best avoided.

"What matter does Fellow Daoist Yan wish for me to attend to?" Yuan Ming asked at an unhurried pace.

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Yuan, it's not a complicated matter. Three days from now, our square needs to transport a batch of goods to Black Moon City. Lately, bandits have grown rampant in the Black Wind Desert. Recently, one of our caravans was attacked, suffering heavy losses, and we can't spare enough manpower at the moment. Hence, we'd like to ask Fellow Daoist Yuan to accompany the caravan. What do you think?" Yan Sijing said with a smile.

Yuan Ming's eyebrows raised slightly. Escorting goods didn't seem like a difficult task after all.

Still, if it were merely an ordinary escort mission, Yan Sijing shouldn't need to offer the precious Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid as compensation, should she?

"Agreed," Yuan Ming replied after a moment of contemplation.

With his current strength, plus Vajra, Hua Zhi, and Lei Yu, he could retreat unscathed even against one or two Core Formation Cultivators, or even slay them. There wasn't much need to worry, and even if he were no match, he had the means to escape.

"Then I thank you, Fellow Daoist Yuan," Yan Sijing said, her smile beaming.

The two of them then discussed the specifics of the task, and Yuan Ming took his leave at once.

After seeing Yuan Ming and his companion downstairs, Yan Sijing turned and walked up. She quickly returned to the door of the offset hall on the fourth floor of Hundred Pills Square and pushed the door open to enter.

A woman in white sat quietly inside, playing with a white Jade Scroll.

The woman appeared to be in her early twenties, with well-shaped eyebrows, a delicate nose, fair skin, and she bore a resemblance to Yan Sijing by about seventy to eighty percent. However, while Yan Sijing's face carried the freshness of youth and a hint of naivety, the woman in white had a more mature aura, with a curvaceous figure exuding a mature and seductive charm.

Yet the woman's eyes were vacant, devoid of spirit – she was blind.

A tall yellow wooden bookshelf stood beside the woman, reaching nearly to the ceiling with ten layers, each marked with a year, the very top one being the current year.

There were no books on the shelf; instead, each layer was filled with Jade Scrolls, stacked one after another, with the sparsest layer having at least several hundred and the most exceeding a thousand.

The lady in white beckoned with her jade hand, and a jade scroll flew out from the second to the last shelf above, landing in the woman's hand.

"Sister, why did you have me agree to sell Yuan Ming a Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid? The experts we've recruited for this mission are already sufficient. The Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid is difficult to refine, and demand is high; we may not be able to spare it," Yan Sijing sat down beside the woman in white, took her arm, and said in a coquettish voice.

"This Yuan Ming is not simple, just look at this message," the woman in white passed the jade scroll she had just taken down.

Yan Sijing took the jade scroll, activated her Divine Sense to inspect it, and said, "The intelligence on the robbery of the Flame Phosphorus Ore at Guiyuan Sect a year ago? The Nether Moon God? It's probably just some cultivator bluffing and deceiving. Sister, do you think this has something to do with that Yuan Ming we just met?"

"Mmm, Flame Phosphorus Ore is a scarce material. Uncle Qian from our sect specifically investigated this matter. After much effort, we finally obtained the likeness of that self-proclaimed Nether Moon God cultivator a while ago. Take a look," the woman in white took another jade scroll from the first layer of the huanghuali bookshelf and handed it over.

"This likeness, it looks a lot like the one that was just called Yuan Ming," Yan Sijing's eyes lit up.

"Based on past intelligence, the Nether Moon God who robbed the Flame Scale Ore excels in divine soul attacks. According to Manager Huo's description, the Yuan Ming we met earlier also excels in this respect. With such overlapping information, it is very likely the same person," the woman in white said slowly.

"Looking at it this way, it indeed seems very possible. This Yuan Ming was able to rob a Guiyuan Sect's mine and overpower a Core Formation Stage elder by himself—a formidable strength. With him joining, this mission should not be a problem," Yan Sijing nodded thoughtfully.

"Mmm, my intuition also tells me that his addition will bring us a certain positive impact," the woman in white touched her brow with her fingertip and said.

"Really? That's great," Yan Sijing said happily.

"With his addition, some adjustments will need to be made to our previous arrangements. Do as it says on this one," the woman in white handed over another jade scroll she was holding.

"Alright," Yan Sijing took the jade scroll and said without even looking at it.

The woman in white was her biological older sister, named Yan Siyun, born blind but blessed with a keen mind, extreme intelligence, never forgetting any information she heard, and particularly adept at analyzing situations and predicting the future.

The jade scrolls on the huanghuali bookshelf recorded intelligence collected by Hundred Pills Square, including personal information on key figures among the various forces in the Black Wind Desert, events that occurred elsewhere, bounties, and so on.

With the information she collected, Yan Siyun was able to deduce many things.

The woman also possessed a special superpower, an extremely sharp intuition, even to the extent that she could vaguely predict good or bad luck.

Using her deductive skills, combined with the superpower to predict fortunes, Yan Siyun's predictions were highly accurate.

Though the owner of Hundred Pills Square was Yan Sijing, she was only responsible for refining elixirs and handling affairs day-to-day. The real decisions and major strategizing were actually done by her sister.

Yan Sijing refining elixirs and Yan Siyun calculating prospects; the two sisters worked together, allowing Hundred Pills Square to quickly grow and expand over the years.

...

Yuan Ming found an inn near Hundred Pills Square to stay, while Xu Che returned to the tea house to bring Zuo Qinghui and the others over.

In his room at the inn, Yuan Ming set up a Barrier, took out some Black Incense and inserted it into the Stealing Heaven Tripod, lit it, then closed his eyes and began trying to possess Yan Sijing.

At this moment, Yan Sijing was alone in the Alchemy Room.

She exhaled a white flame from her mouth, enveloping the base of a cyan Pill Furnace, her hands rapidly forming signs, in the midst of refining an elixir.

"To think that she's an alchemist—no, she's clearly only at the late stages of Foundation Establishment, so how can she spit out Pill Fire?" Yuan Ming expressed his surprise.

Though he hadn't been distracted by learning alchemy, he was far from unfamiliar with it. Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage generally relied on Spiritual Fires provided by arrays or Earth Fire to refine elixirs.

Only when one's Cultivation reaches the Core Formation Stage, fostering their own Pill Fire, can they refine independently without relying on external flame sources.

"Could it be that Yan Sijing has a Spiritual Body constitution with innate Spiritual Fire?" Yuan Ming suddenly thought of a possibility.

In the Cultivation World, some naturally gifted individuals possess unique Spiritual Body constitutions with inherent superpowers. There are many types of Spiritual Bodies; some people are born with the ability to control the power of the Five Elements, others can communicate with spirit beasts or control ghosts, and so on.

Some individuals with a Fire Attribute Spiritual Body inherently contain Spiritual Fire. Even before reaching Core Formation, the power of their Spiritual Fire is no less than that of a Core Formation Stage Cultivator's Pill Fire, which grants them a significant advantage in Alchemy and Artifact Refining.

As Yuan Ming pondered, Yan Sijing's hands flew, continuously feeding materials into the furnace, her technique expertly refined, clearly showing her level of proficiency in alchemy was far from low.

Yuan Ming hesitated. He possessed Yan Sijing with the intention of investigating the inner workings of Hundred Pills Square's escort mission, but now discovered she was in the midst of refining elixirs.

Over the years, Yuan Ming had been occupied with cultivation, but he also harbored interest in alchemy; it's just that he hadn't found the right person to learn from, and he was too entangled with various matters to divert his attention.

Seeing that Yan Sijing's skills in Alchemy Technique were strong, he recognized a rare opportunity presenting itself.

"Forget it, I'll send the first soul to infiltrate Hundred Pills Square later to further investigate this escort task," Yuan Ming quickly made a decision, settled his mind, and through Yan Sijing's perspective, keenly understood the alchemy process unfolding before him.

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