Chapter 57: Profound Nether Pill

"Since you do not wish to be treated, I won't bother with you anymore!" Mo Xuan pretended to be casual and made a move to leave.

Faced with this action, Bai Mei suddenly panicked. With her eyes lowered, she looked as though she had committed a wrong and was awaiting a scolding. She stepped forward, bowed deeply, and apologized, "I'm sorry, I was wrong. I'll go back."

...

The Bai Family!

Mengyao had arrived very early, yet after sitting there for almost the entire morning, she hadn't even caught a glimpse of anyone. Angered, she muttered, "I really don't know where you ran off to, and that fellow Mo Xuan has vanished as well. Could the two of you have gone off to dally somewhere?"

Just at that moment, the two of them returned together. Mo Xuan appeared completely natural, but Bai Mei wore a radiant, glowing expression. Mengyao instantly turned green with jealousy and felt extremely upset. Oh, so it's like this! I've been waiting here for so long, and you two—hmpf!

Stepping forward, she interrogated them, "Where on earth have you two been? I've been waiting here for nearly the entire morning! Tell me, are you hiding something from me?"

"We were just taking a look at the scenery in the middle of the lake!" Bai Mei explained in a fluster, her words becoming more tangled the more she spoke.

That was hardly "just taking a look"—it was clearly a deliberate outing.

"You—you two are making me furious! Wuwuwu, you're playing with me!" Unable to suppress her anger, Mengyao suddenly felt aggrieved and burst into tears. "And here I endured and held myself back from looking earlier, coming over here so early, only to find out you went behind my back without telling me!"

Furious, Mengyao resolved to quit and walked away, but after taking only a few steps, she turned right back around. Perhaps she realized that leaving just like that would let Bai Mei off far too easily.

Only then did Mo Xuan remember that Mengyao also lived in Huanxi Town and must have passed right by that lake on her way here, so he hurriedly stepped forward to offer apologies.

Bai Mei, standing nearby, hadn't expected Mengyao to take it to heart so deeply and felt a sudden wave of guilt. Fortunately, after much talking and coaxing from both of them, Mengyao finally calmed down.

Her condition, however, was that from then on, Mengyao would take full charge of the treatment process from start to finish, while Mo Xuan was restricted to waiting outside!

"This..." Beads of sweat instantly popped up on Bai Mei's forehead. Yet, acting on a sudden impulse of sympathy, she actually agreed.

As a result, Mengyao's desire for revenge proved formidable. She put Bai Mei through absolute torment, occasionally intentionally messing up an insignificant step just so she could force the process to restart.

The treatment process was already an agonizing ordeal from beginning to end, but she deliberately dragged out the duration.

Coupled with her inherently unpolished technique—where she understood many steps only vaguely—she managed to stretch what should have been a single morning's treatment all the way into the evening.

Bai Mei grew genuinely terrified of Lin Mengyao. Yet, she was remarkably resilient and incredibly enduring; while she might surrender verbally, her actions remained entirely defiant, seeking out Mo Xuan at every possible opportunity.

Fortunately, Mengyao possessed a solid foundation and caused no major disasters. Unexpectedly, under this chaotic and haphazard treatment, Bai Mei actually recovered at an even faster pace.

Especially regarding her Zijin Scorching Heart Flame—Mengyao would occasionally and abruptly increase the intensity of the flames. Although the process was excruciating—or rather, painful enough to make one wish for death—the therapeutic results turned out even better.

In a mere seven days, the venom layered deep within Bai Mei's bones was completely and thoroughly cleansed!

Next came the poison residing in her blood and physical flesh!

This phase proved much simpler and comparatively far less agonizing.

As for City Lord Luo's blockage issue, Mo Xuan, having found inspiration while on that small boat, successfully refined a superior grade-three medicinal elixir that resolved the problem without a hitch.

Moreover, confined within a secret chamber at the Wolinma Auction House for seven days, City Lord Luo emerged with his cultivation soaring directly to the second stage of the Earth Nether Realm, adding another bargaining chip to the alliance.

At the very least, concerning high-end battle strength—in the absence of Lan Bing—they stood on equal footing against the Chen family. As for lower-end battle strength, it went without saying that the Chen family could never hope to contend against such a vast alliance of families.

Furthermore, having received such a monumental favor, City Lord Luo truly resolved to stand firmly on Mo Xuan's side, solemnly promising to look after the Mo family after Mo Xuan's departure.

Naturally, Tian Xi's efforts in bridging and connecting these relationships played an indispensable role.

Surprisingly, Mo Xuan had not seen Lan Bing for several days. Had Mengyao not mentioned that she had left for a short period, he might well have gone out searching for her.

Having lived through that past incident, Mo Xuan had developed a genuine terror. Until encountering someone of the Heavenly Third Realm, Lan Bing had always remained an invincible existence in Mo Xuan's heart.

With her present, Mo Xuan felt secure and at ease; now, going a single day without seeing her led him to suspect she might have been snatched away by some mysterious individual.

These past few days had been quite leisurely. With Mengyao around, the daily trips to the Bai family to purge the poison from Bai Mei were almost entirely delegated to her.

Although Mengyao applied herself with a tiny bit too much zeal, the final results remained exceptionally good. Though Bai Mei approached Mo Xuan on several occasions, begging him to stop Mengyao from treating her because she was practically dying, Mo Xuan simply replied, "You were the one who insisted on the treatment. What did you say back then? Could it be that you can't even endure a few days?!"

Thus, he paid her no mind, though he still accompanied Bai Mei on her walks to clear her mind.

In the end, Bai Mei managed to endure it. In truth, she was not an exceptionally tough girl; her prior words stemmed entirely from her past experiences and, naturally, a desire to impress Mo Xuan. Since the person administering the treatment turned out not to be Mo Xuan, she remained deeply disappointed.

Perhaps, had Mengyao not intervened, she might genuinely have pledged herself to him in marriage, even though they had not yet reached marriageable age.

Through observation, Mo Xuan had indeed harbored doubts about Mengyao's alchemical skills at the beginning.

As time progressed, however, he gradually came to acknowledge her!

She was indeed an alchemist, and not of a low rank either—at least grade three!

Her techniques might have been somewhat unpolished, but one thing caught him entirely off guard: while Mengyao usually appeared rash and careless, when faced with these meticulous tasks, she showed not a shred of sloppiness, handling every single step with utmost caution and rarely making a mistake.

After hitting a wall over this matter, the Chen family quieted down for nearly a month.

Everyone assumed the Chen family had truly grown fearful; after all, they were but a single household—how could they possibly contend against a coalition of multiple families?

Unexpectedly, a few days ago, news arrived from the Ai family: overnight, the main ancestral estate of the Ai family was breached. Fortunately, half of the Ai family's combat strength was stationed at the alliance headquarters at the time, leaving behind mostly lower-tier forces at the main residence, which narrowly prevented a fatal blow to their foundations.

Yet, for such a prominent family to suffer an incident of this scale right within the city without a single sound leaking out—not even during the annihilation of the Yue family had a similar situation occurred.

A sense of tension instantly gripped everyone, prompting speculations regarding the internal state of the Chen family. They personally dispatched people to inspect the ruined courtyards and corpses, yet uncovered no clues; the attacks appeared ordinary, while the fatal blows were mostly inflicted by powerful offensive techniques.

Finding the Chen family's arrogance intolerable, the alliance intended to dispatch forces to wipe out several of the Chen family's strongholds in retaliation.

With two practitioners of the Earth Nether Realm overseeing them, alongside the one by Mo Xuan's side, a total of three Nether Realm experts anchored their forces, filling the alliance with confidence.

They consequently planned to launch a counteroffensive in the near future.

Meanwhile, terror gripped the Bai family as well. Among the four major families, the Bai family now seemed to be the only one untouched by disaster, making them the most probable next target!

The Bai family thus resolved to follow the Ai family's example by secretly moving all of their top-tier combat strength directly into the alliance headquarters.

Leaving oneself a backup plan was always a wise course of action. They secretly constructed a teleportation array in a secluded location so that any emergency could be reported instantly.

They had originally intended to transfer the more talented younger generation of the family out as well, knowing these individuals could offer no assistance once full-scale war erupted.

However, given Bai Mei's special circumstances—as the most gifted member of the Bai family at present—they naturally could not abandon her. Instead, they dispatched a protector at the tenth stage of the Earth Profound Realm to guard her personally, ensuring she would be whisked away at the very first sign of danger.

Moreover, Bai Mei's condition would be basically cured in a dozen more days or so, making her departure then entirely timely.

Lan Bing had also returned. To ensure Mo Xuan's safety, she had truly spared no expense!

Upon her return this time, she had grown even stronger. Having ingested who knows what medicinal marvels, her cultivation had actually broken through to the peak of the eleventh stage of the Earth Profound Realm!

And this was after only a few days!

Fearing that Lan Bing might have consumed some spiritual herbs designed for rapid cultivation enhancement, Mo Xuan demanded to inspect her condition.

"It's fine, it's fine, absolutely not, the source is completely legitimate!" Lan Bing offered solemn guarantees, yet adamantly refused to let Mo Xuan check her.

"Is that so?" Mo Xuan refused to believe it for a single second. It had taken him this long to barely advance a single stage, and even Mengyao had only reached the seventh stage, yet Lan Bing had somehow leapt forward by nearly two stages while in the Earth Profound Realm. How could anyone find peace of mind with that?

"I'm not lying! Fine, I'll let you check, alright?!" Lan Bing extended both hands for Mo Xuan to examine.

Her pulse was normal, her aura was normal, and her cultivation was likewise normal with zero signs of turbulence—yet why had her spiritual energy become somewhat floaty? Mo Xuan's immediate reaction: "Did you take an elixir?"

"I—sigh, I won't hide it from you. It's nothing major. I went to the Peach Forest and retrieved a Profound Nether Pill. It was originally meant to be taken when attempting to break through to the Earth Nether Realm, but I simply used it ahead of time!"

Lan Bing spoke with fidgety unease, seemingly terrified of being found out by Mo Xuan.

It was actually a Profound Nether Pill—a fifth-grade spiritual elixir usable in both the Earth Profound and Earth Nether Realms, though most commonly utilized right between the two.

Regarding this, Mo Xuan felt a pang of guilt. Comparatively speaking, the barrier between the peak of the Earth Profound Realm and the Earth Nether Realm was far more difficult to cross; by doing this, she was entirely forsaking a greater future gain for a temporary one: "I'm sorry, I will return a Heavenly Heart Pill to you in the future!"

"Ah! Heh, actually, you don't need to mind it. With how talented I am, a mere barrier like that could never stump me, haha." Lan Bing suddenly stared blankly, never expecting Mo Xuan to make such a pledge.

Seeing that Lan Bing had sacrificed an opportunity to breach the next realm,

a first-time stirring of heartfelt emotion welled up continuously within him.

Though the person before him was an acquaintance met by chance, her presence marked nearly every single step of Mo Xuan's cultivation path. Without her guidance from the sidelines, Mo Xuan could never have achieved his current progress.

At times, he truly wished the person before him was his own biological sister.

Gazing at her, Mo Xuan was filled with profound emotion!