Dan Yao

When she arrived at the place where the monthly stipend was distributed, she found it was just an ordinary hall, nothing special.

However, the one overseeing it was a Golden Core elder, and the faint pressure of his cultivation swept over the hall, making all the inner-sect disciples behave themselves, not daring to act out.

Those busy at the counters were ordinary stewards with Foundation-Building cultivation.

The process of receiving the stipend was simple: step forward, present one’s identity token, have it checked, and then collect the stipend.

Disciples from different peaks received different stipends.

It was not that the sect played favorites, but rather a long-standing rule of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect.

Every ten years, the sect held a grand disciples’ tournament.

Outer-sect disciples could only watch, while the main participants were the inner-sect disciples, especially those above the Foundation-Building stage.

Since it was a competition, there would naturally be winners and losers.

The disciples who placed in the top ten not only received generous rewards but also determined the stipends for all the peaks for the next ten years.

In recent years, the Talisman Peak had been lacking in talent, and in the previous competition only one disciple barely entered the top ten.

As a result, the Talisman Peak’s stipend had been the lowest for the past decade.

Even so, when Cao Xueyan saw a few familiar senior brothers and sisters ahead of her in line receive their stipends, their faces were full of excitement.

They moved briskly, eager to return to their caves to cultivate.

Some of the Foundation-Building disciples even summoned their flying swords on the spot to depart, only to be shouted down by the overseeing Golden Core elder.

“Impudent! How many times have I said it—no flying swords in this area! Do you take the sect’s rules and my words as nothing but wind in your ears?”

The disciple fell to the ground in embarrassment, quickly bowing and apologizing several times.

Seeing his sincerity, the elder only snorted coldly and waved his hand, letting him off.

After that incident, the other disciples in line became even more cautious, knowing that the monthly stipend was important for their cultivation and could not be treated carelessly.

Cao Xueyan had come a bit late and so queued at the back.

Nearby, several senior brothers and sisters whispered quietly to each other.

As long as they were not too noisy, the elder merely turned a blind eye.

One of them stared at Cao Xueyan for a while, first surprised by her graceful appearance, then curious because her face seemed unfamiliar.

“This junior sister, how should I address you? Ah, I mean no offense—your face just seems new to me,” the female disciple asked politely.

Cao Xueyan answered with equal courtesy, “I am Cao Xueyan, a disciple of the Talisman Peak.”

“So you’re Junior Sister Cao from the Talisman Peak,” the senior sister said in surprise.

“I can sense your steady aura and solid spiritual power—your cultivation seems quite high. Since when has the Talisman Peak had such a promising young talent?”

“I’m hardly a talent. I’ve only been cultivating for a short while, that much is true,” Cao Xueyan replied.

She was not trying to hide her abilities; among inner-sect disciples, being at the ninth level of Qi-Refining was not particularly outstanding.

The senior sister in front of her, for example, also seemed to be at the ninth level of Qi-Refining and had clearly stayed at this stage for some time, only lacking the proper spiritual object to break through to Foundation-Building.

“Junior Sister, you’re too modest. When I was your age… I was still struggling around the seventh or eighth level of Qi-Refining,” the senior sister recalled with a wry smile.

Comparisons were discouraging—this Junior Sister Cao looked no older than twenty, yet her cultivation had already reached the ninth level of Qi-Refining.

Moreover, her aura was stable, showing that her foundation was solid and not the result of a hasty breakthrough.

At such an age and with such cultivation, even the personal disciples of the Golden Core elders would be no better.

As for the peak lords… those were figures most ordinary disciples could hardly even hope to meet, let alone compare with.

Through their conversation, Cao Xueyan learned that the senior sister came from the Pill Peak.

That was not surprising; even the herb patterns on the storage pouch at her waist were a giveaway.

Moreover, since earlier, Cao Xueyan had noticed a faint, pleasant fragrance of medicinal herbs around her, which naturally inspired a sense of warmth and goodwill.

As the line ahead grew shorter and their turn approached, the senior sister took out something from her storage pouch and said, “It’s rare fate that we’ve met. Once we return to our cultivation, it may be hard to see each other again. Why don’t we exchange keepsakes so we can recognize each other in the future?”

She produced a small, delicate porcelain vial.

From the sound, there seemed to be a few pills inside.

“These are some pills I refined myself. They’re not valuable, just a token of goodwill,” the senior sister said with a smile.

“Oh, by the way, we’ve been talking all this time, but you don’t know my name yet. I’m called Dan Yao, and I live in the Fire-Refining Palace of Pill Peak.”

Cao Xueyan had just taken the vial when she heard the words “Fire-Refining Palace” and quickly made the connection.

Just like the Moon-Inviting Palace of Talisman Peak where Xiao Menglan resided as peak lord, the Fire-Refining Palace was the residence of Pill Peak’s lord, Zhao Yunlu.

Could it be that this senior sister was…

“I’m not the peak lord’s personal disciple,” Dan Yao said with a wry smile.

“In both cultivation and pill-refining, I can’t match others. I’m only able to stay there because of a bit of luck and connection.

In fact, I may soon be reassigned to instruct new disciples, which will leave me with little time for my own cultivation.

Building my Foundation will become an even more distant dream.”

Hearing this, Cao Xueyan could see that Dan Yao’s smile was forced and her worries ran deep.

Feeling sympathetic, she accepted the vial of pills and thought about what she could give in return.

Searching her own storage pouch, she brought out a set of talisman slips that Xiao Menglan had personally refined in front of her days ago.

These talismans could be used even by Qi-Refining cultivators and were not especially rare.

She chose a few, bundled them together, and placed them in Dan Yao’s hand.

Dan Yao’s eyes lit up with interest.

“I didn’t expect Junior Sister Cao to not only have strong cultivation but also such skill in talismans. I underestimated you earlier.”

Cao Xueyan did not say that the talismans had been made by Xiao Menglan, fearing that Dan Yao might then refuse the gift.

After a while, Dan Yao received her stipend as well.

She seemed to have something urgent to attend to, so after packing her things she bid farewell to Cao Xueyan and left.

Cao Xueyan watched her leave until she disappeared from sight.

Only then did a senior brother nearby speak up.

“Junior Sister, if I’m not mistaken, that was a vial of pills Dan Yao gave you, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was,” Cao Xueyan replied.

“Ah, then before you take any of them, make sure to examine them carefully—see if they have any flaws!” the senior brother said in a knowing tone, though his words were puzzling.

Flawed pills?

Would such things even qualify as real pills?

Defective pills were usually discarded as waste as soon as they came out of the furnace.

Even the most unscrupulous merchants would never use such things to deceive others—waste pills were practically poisonous and could be life-threatening.

Hearing this, Cao Xueyan’s expression darkened.

She poured out the pills from the vial to inspect them.

Their fragrance was rich and their shape was smooth and round, showing no sign of defects.

The senior brother leaned in for a look and then said confidently, “So they’re good pills after all? Then this vial definitely wasn’t made by Dan Yao herself.”

“Why do you say that?” Cao Xueyan asked, a little displeased at hearing him speak ill of someone behind her back.

The senior brother shook his head and explained, “I’m not saying it to belittle her.

But there’s something strange about that girl.

She’s a genius in pill-refining—she masters every technique and formula with ease, and she knows the properties of herbs better than anyone.

Yet whenever she actually refines a batch of pills, she can only produce Heaven-Deficient Pills, as if cursed by the heavens themselves.

It’s truly a pity.”