A New Journey and a Miraculous Clam

The next day.

Having spent the entire night in a frenzy, neither woman had yet awoken.

Xia Yi, therefore, had no choice but to seek out the Sect Master alone to tender his resignation.

Upon learning that Xia Yi, Pei Yunxiang, and Fei Miaoyun intended to depart, the Sect Master of the Star-Moon Sect merely sighed, offering no further words.

He was acutely aware that, given Xia Yi’s prodigious talent, it was impossible for him to remain indefinitely within the confines of their small Star-Moon Sect.

Furthermore, with both Pei Yunxiang and Fei Miaoyun having successfully advanced to the Core Formation realm, it was indeed time for them to leave.

He simply told Xia Yi to remember to return and visit the Star-Moon Sect, then allowed them to depart.

Xia Yi, too, knew that the Star-Moon Sect had shown him kindness, yet he also had compelling reasons for his departure.

Finally, he bowed respectfully to the Sect Master of the Star-Moon Sect before taking his leave.

Upon returning to Spirit Sword Peak, Pei Yunxiang and Fei Miaoyun had also risen.

The two women had already packed everything, awaiting Xia Yi’s return to set off.

Without hesitation, Xia Yi stepped onto Pei Yunxiang’s flying sword, leaving behind the Star-Moon Sect where he had lived for over a decade.

They embarked on the journey toward Hanhai City, where Bing Yingying resided.

****

“Miaoyun!”

“Leave it to me, Senior Sister! Hah!”

By a lake in a forest along the route to Hanhai City, Pei Yunxiang and Fei Miaoyun were working together to herd a Flying Snow Silver Ice

Clam onto the shore.

Pei Yunxiang, being a dragon, was naturally adept in water and took charge of herding, while Fei Miaoyun remained on shore, ready to capture.

One might wonder why the two women were expending such great effort to capture this third-tier Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam alive.

In truth, their efforts were solely for the Beauty-Enhancing Nourishing Pearl contained within its body.

The very name of the Beauty-Enhancing Nourishing Pearl hinted at its primary effects: to beautify the complexion and replenish yin, and when combined with certain spiritual herbs, it could be refined into the long-lost Beauty-Enhancing Pill.

As they passed this lake, Pei Yunxiang, leveraging her unique sensitivity to demonic beasts, easily detected the presence of the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam.

Initially, her interest was not particularly strong; a third-tier Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam’s Beauty-Enhancing Nourishing Pearl would, at most, offer a hydrating effect to two women already in the Core Formation realm.

But as fate would have it, Xia Yi casually mentioned that he knew how to refine this lost Beauty-Enhancing Pill.

This was because the ‘Alchemy Compendium One (I)’ provided by the Book of World Cleansing contained records of the Beauty-Enhancing

Pill’s formula and its refining method.

The eyes of both women immediately widened, fixed with fervent desire!

It was important to remember that Pei Yunxiang and Fei Miaoyun were already mature women.

While their mature age had bestowed upon them figures of unparalleled grace, it had also, inevitably, etched subtle traces upon their countenances.

Though in Xia Yi’s eyes, they were both stunning, peerless celestial beauties.

He could discern no flaw whatsoever, yet an innate desire for beauty is woven into the very fabric of a woman’s nature.

After learning that Xia Yi possessed the method for refining the Beauty-Enhancing Pill, this unfortunate Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam became the absolute target of the two women.

The requirement to capture it alive stemmed from the fact that the Beauty-Enhancing Pill needed fresh Beauty-Enhancing Nourishing Pearls, extracted directly from the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam, for its refinement.

Moreover, the other spiritual herbs also needed to be steeped for ten days in the ‘flying snow’ — essentially, the clam’s ‘saliva’ (TL Note: The original text uses ‘口水’, meaning saliva or drool, humorously implying the clam’s secretions.) — expelled by the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam before they could be placed into the cauldron for refining.

Upon hearing Xia Yi’s explanation, Pei Yunxiang couldn’t help but exclaim in wonder.

‘It was no wonder, then, that the formula for this Beauty-Enhancing Pill had been lost to time. Who could possibly have imagined the need to steep the ingredients in the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam’s ‘saliva’? The alchemist who invented this pill must have been nothing short of a genius, or perhaps a madman.’

It must be said that not only was the refining method for the Beauty-Enhancing Pill tricky, but one of its crucial ingredients, the Flying Snow

Silver Ice Clam, was also exceedingly difficult to catch.

Even in her dragon-human form, Pei Yunxiang couldn’t match the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam’s escape speed in water, unless she were to unleash her true form.

Otherwise, she would only be left to choke on its ‘tail fumes,’ which was precisely why the two women needed to cooperate to herd the Flying

Snow Silver Ice Clam onto the shore.

Once on land, the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam was, for all intents and purposes, at their mercy.

Fei Miaoyun easily cast a spell to trap the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam.

“Quick, pry open its shell!”

The ‘Alchemy Compendium One (I)’ provided by the Book of World Cleansing not only documented the effects and refining methods of pills but also recorded where and how to find related materials.

When it came to something as miraculous as the fresh, on-the-spot extraction of a Beauty-Enhancing Nourishing Pearl, this ‘Alchemy

Compendium One (I)’ even included methods for taming and breeding such creatures!

In fact, taming a Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam was quite simple: one merely needed to capture it and feed it a drop of blood from a demonic beast of a higher tier, or even the blood of certain divine bodies.

After being fed, it would obediently follow the commands of the person who fed it, even agreeing to a s*ave contract without issue.

After all, it possessed little combat prowess, only a useless skill of swift movement underwater.

The higher the quality of the blood fed, the better the Beauty-Enhancing Nourishing Pearls it would produce in the future.

Thus, the task of feeding the blood naturally fell to Pei Yunxiang, who was herself a dragon.

“It’s pried open!”

For the sake of the Beauty-Enhancing Pill, Fei Miaoyun was fully committed.

She directly used her spiritual sword as a holy sword of physics.

Of course, the intention wasn’t to completely pry open the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam’s shell, but merely to create a small opening large enough for a drop of blood to enter.

“Miaoyun, well done! Hmph, this little creature is getting off easy.”

With those words, Pei Yunxiang did not hesitate; a drop of pale golden dragon blood flew into the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam’s mouth through the opening Fei Miaoyun had created.

Before Pei Yunxiang retrieved her dragon blood, Xia Yi had already opened the token’s barrier, ensuring their auras would not leak out.

Indeed, the moment it sensed the aura of Pei Yunxiang’s true dragon blood, the clam stopped struggling and even voluntarily opened its shell wider.

This caused Fei Miaoyun, who was prying the shell with her spiritual sword, to lose her balance and nearly fall, fortunately, Xia Yi was quick to catch her.

Having consumed the dragon blood, the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam trembled violently, emitting bursts of golden light.

Moments later, the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam calmed down.

Its previously mottled shell, interspersed with a few impurities, was completely transformed by the dragon blood, becoming pure white and smooth, adorned with silver patterns reminiscent of ocean waves.

The entire clam’s aura underwent a dramatic transformation, like Cinderella becoming Snow White, appearing much more noble.

At the same time, Pei Yunxiang could sense a subtle connection forming between herself and this Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam.

“So it’s a little mother clam after all. Alright, you’ll come with us from now on.”

The Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam humanistically swayed its shell up and down, as if nodding.

Then, it began to shrink, transforming into a necklace the size of a baby’s fist, which hung around Pei Yunxiang’s neck.

“Yay! We successfully tamed the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam!”

Seeing Pei Yunxiang successfully tame the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam, Fei Miaoyun excitedly jumped up and down.

As long as they had this Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam, she and Pei Yunxiang would have a steady supply of Beauty-Enhancing Pills.

The Beauty-Enhancing Pill was the only type of pill that did not develop resistance even with repeated consumption.

Moreover, the higher the grade of the Beauty-Enhancing Pill, the better its effects. It was rumored that a ninth-grade Beauty-Enhancing Pill could eternally preserve youthful vitality in the physical body.

Even if one’s lifespan was nearing its end, they would still retain their beautiful appearance, and their physical vitality would remain similar to their youth, meaning one could even enjoy a final passionate encounter before death without any issues.

Of course, such a seemingly less useful pill was not something many ninth-tier alchemy grandmasters would bother refining for amusement.

Given that much free time to refine Beauty-Enhancing Pills, wouldn’t it be better to refine a pill that could increase lifespan?

Furthermore, it would be quite uneconomical to spend a large amount of spiritual herbs to cultivate a ninth-tier Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam.

Nevertheless, this did not dampen the two women’s joy at having tamed the Flying Snow Silver Ice Clam, as having this third-tier little clam would ensure a stable production of Beauty-Enhancing Nourishing Pearls.

And a third-tier clam only required a small amount of inexpensive first or second-grade spiritual herbs to sustain.

For Xia Yi and his companions, who currently had two third-grade alchemists, it was quite easy to provide for.

“Master, please take this token with you. It will better help conceal your identities.”

Saying this, Xia Yi placed Xinghuo’s token into Pei Yunxiang’s hand, under her tender, loving gaze.
“Yi’er…”

Under Fei Miaoyun’s displeased gaze, Pei Yunxiang directly kissed Xia Yi.

Pei Yunxiang deeply understood the power of this token, and indeed, it was immensely useful to her.

For Hanhai City, where Xia Yi was headed next, was not a small sect like the Star-Moon Sect.

At the very least, Xia Yi knew that Hanhai City had Golden Core experts guarding it, so entrusting the token to Pei Yunxiang for use was the safest approach to guard against any unforeseen circumstances.