Five days later.

A few thatched cottages were built in the cave and were divided between the team. Yin Molan chose the one near the river, while Bai Jing, an “outsider” like Yin, built her cottage right next to the one of Qing Zhui and Jiang Yu. As the neighbor of Ning Tao, she could hear Ning Tao’s footsteps as soon as he stepped inside Qing Zhui’s house.

Apart from the cottage for living, Ning Tao also found a karst cave in the mountain that served as a perfect place for practice and refining pills. Though Sky Clinic was the best choice for gathering spiritual energy and refining pills, one could hardly practice kung fu in such a narrow space. When it came to common pill refining, it was better to be done in place with spiritual energy so that the pills could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Obviously Sky Clinic wasn’t meant for that. They could refine pills without the spiritual field but that would be a waste of spiritual material. The damage outweighed the gain.

With a spacious bottom and narrow ceiling, the water-drop cave wasn’t big. A large smooth rock lied at the bottom of the cave, decorated with a few puddles and white stalactites. The spiritual energy was denser in the cave, perfect for kung fu and refining pills.

Crack, crack, crack…

Ning Tao sat cross-legged next to a delicately perfumed tripod. Both hands posed as Incredible Sword Finger, he stuck them one by one into the tripod, bringing out Heavenly Gem threads. Some balls of Heavenly Gem threads lie on the ground, they were all raw material for Heavenly Gem Cloth, earned finger by finger.

The cave stored much spiritual material, most of them were precious medicinal herbs or material gathered from Pointe-Noire. Dozens of these treasures were recently brought by Chen Pingdao. They were all valuable ingredients for the new Ancestor-seeking Elixir.

Yet not all of the spiritual material was collected by Chen Pingdao in the forest, a large sum of the material was his own stock. As a cultivating doctor who lived for more than two thousand years and dug into health care, it was natural for him to keep some spiritual material at hand.

Ning Tao suspected that Chen Pingdao had a secret basement for spiritual material, and had beat around the bush for information, but Chen Pingdao absolutely denied it and cut the inquiry short. Ning Tao couldn’t ask for more as it was already a big favor for Chen Pingdao to give him so much natural material.

The only ingredient missing was The Authentic Ambergris which was also the hardest one to collect. Once it was gathered, Ning Tao could begin making the new Ancestor-seeking Elixir.

He had one last thing to handle before setting off to Monster Village in the Southern Island.

Without taking a break, Ning Tao began knitting cloth as soon as the last ball of Heavenly Gem thread was collected.

Ning Tao returned to his cottage after an hour.

Spiritual energy surrounded the cottages of all three females where the sound of splashing of water could be heard. They were bathing with Body Cleanse Elixir to cleanse dirty energy and enhance physical strength. This was very beneficial for their cultivation.

Neither Hu Xiaoji nor Howling Celestial Dog was at their home. Ning Tao supposed they went to Chen Pingdao’s place. Chen Pingdao welcomed Howling Celestial Dog more than its owner, greeting the dog with savory dishes cooked with spiritual material and various wild game. Naturally, Hu Xiaoji and Howling Celestial Dog preferred hanging out at Chen Pingdao’s place to staying here with three women bathing. Ning Tao thought this way was better because Hu Xiaoji was prevented from considering studying, even better if she enjoyed herself and decided not to study at all.

To get to his room, Ning Tao needed to pass Bai Jing, Qing Zhui, and Jiang Hao’s room in order. Just when he passed Bai Jing’s door, her soft voice came through. “Brother-in-law, could you come in for a second? I have something important to discuss with you.”

Ning Tao was stuck in the ground as if his legs were trapped by ropes. He forced a smile. “Just say it. I can hear you from here.”

Bai Jing’s voice was filled with discontent, “Are you worried that I will bite you, or that a tigress would?”

“Bai Jing, who’s the tigress?” Jiang Hao’s voice came behind the door. “Are you looking for trouble? Qing Zhui is afraid of you but I’m not!”

Ning Tao felt things getting tricky and tried to escape. “Emm, whatever it is, it can wait until I come back.”

“Oh well, never mind then,” Bai Jing’s voice came in response. “I had planned to tell you a method I just thought of that can earn a large sum of merit of good intention. Since you won’t even come inside, I won’t bother to say it. It’s now or never.”

A method that can earn a great deal of merit of good intention?

Ning Tao was tempted. He wanted to turn back and talk with Bai Jing in her room, but he gave up the thought as soon as he glanced at Jiang Hao’s door. He could promise that he wouldn’t be turned on even if Bai Jing was naked in the bath and only talking about business, whether Bai Jing would be decent was uncertain. If Bai Jing flirted with him or touched him, Jiang Hao would hear everything from the next door. It would be a disaster if she got jealous.

“Well, I’ll talk with you later.” Ning Tao left and eventually entered his room.

After taking a few minutes to freshen up, Ning Tao returned to Sky Clinic.

Both good and evil energy surrounded the good-evil tripod. The person on the tripod shut his eyes and seemed to be asleep as usual.

Wu Yue must have sent the person to check the clinic, but Ning Tao wasn’t worried at all. Even the key to the clinic couldn’t be destroyed, let alone the clinic itself.

Ning Tao put a small medicine chest on the table and walked directly through the first gate of the Scriptures & Scrolls Store. He glanced at the spiritual field before he opened the second gate.

Sun Lanxiang sat cross-legged on the floor in the middle of Scriptures & Scrolls Store with both palms facing up lying on her knees. She appeared to be meditating. She couldn’t cultivate spiritual energy in Sky Clinic so all she could practice was her heart. Judging by her frowny face, she wasn’t doing well.

Sun Lanxiang opened her eyes as soon as Ning Tao walked in, her cold eyes dripping hatred.

Ning Tao had gotten used to her look because he came to check up on her every few days. He would take a look outside, not to find traces of Nicholas or Wu Yue but to see if Sun Pingchuan was waiting outside for a deal.

Sadly, Sun Pingchuan wasn’t spotted around the clinic for the last five days. The cell phone of Sun Lanxiang placed on the table had received no calls. This upset Ning Tao as well as shook his belief that Sun Pingchuan would negotiate with him.

Ning Tao walked to Sun Lanxiang and put a bag in front of her.

There was some roasted meat brought back from Pointe-Noire in the bag, as well as some wild fruits and a bottle of water. Sun Lanxiang had eaten nothing in the past few days.

Ning Tao walked towards a corner where a green plastic pot stood after he put down the food.

That was the chamber pot he had prepared for her.

The plastic chamber pot was empty with no sign of feces, clean enough to make Korean kimchi.

Ning Tao frowned, turning his eyes on her. “Have you eaten anything these days?”

Ning Tao had hardly finished his sentences before Sun Lanxiang grabbed fruits from the bag and rubbed them in her palms. They were turned into powder and fell from her hands. Then she grabbed the bottle of water and poured it on the ground.

Both the powder and water penetrated the ground and disappeared in a blink.

Ning Tao didn’t know where the powder and fruit went, but he realized that Sun Lanxiang had destroyed all the food he sent and had eaten nothing in the past five days. No wonder the pot was empty. If she had meals there should be some urine at least.

“Going on a hunger strike against me?” Ning Tao stopped in front of Sun Lanxiang and raised up his hand.

Sun Lanxiang held her head up high and gave him a cold-eyed stare. “Even death can’t fear me, not to mention you. Beat me then. If I frown even a little I’ll eat my head off.”

“Aren’t you afraid that I might use a plucking talisman?” Ning Tao asked.

Fear flashed across Sun Lanxiang’s eyes but she pulled up a brave face. “You’ve already seen everything and I don’t give a damn anymore. If you want to take off my clothes then go ahead. I don’t care if you use your hands or talisman, neither do I care about the plucking talisman that can transfer blood and flesh to another place. I only seek death. Does it make any difference in how I look when I die?”

“A dead mouse feels no cold?” Ning Tao asked.

Sun Lanxiang suddenly got angry. “You’re a dead mouse!”

“Didn’t think you’d get mad. That means you haven’t reached the state of desperation and you aren’t determined to die.” Ning Tao laughed. “Keep up the act. I’ll sort you out after I finish my business.”

Sun Lanxiang bit her lips as if she wished she was biting Ning Tao, so hard that she could smell his blood.

“Looks like you aren’t that important to your grandpa after all. Wu Yue didn’t send anyone to rescue you either. You said that you worked for her for hundreds of years? Look what you get?” Ning Tao kept irritating her.

Out of sight, out of mind. Sun Lanxiang closed her eyes but her trembling lips gave her out.

“I’m tired of talking nonsense with you. There’s meat in the bag. Suit yourself. But I need to remind you, don’t be dead when I finally let you free. ” Ning Tao walked away after speaking.

The door of Scriptures & Scrolls Store was shut tight.

Sun Lanxiang opened her eyes and took the meat out of the bag. She must have hesitated for a few minutes at least before she had a tiny bite.

Back to the clinic, Ning Tao walked to the door and opened it a crack to take a peek.

There were people walking around in the alley but they were ordinary citizens, none of them looked suspicious.

“Damn it, that’s your granddaughter. You’ve already lost your son. Aren’t you going to save your only granddaughter?” Ning Tao couldn’t help cursing, with a dull feeling in his heart.

Beep, beep, beep…

A text alert came from behind.

Ning Tao had a feeling and hurried to the table where Sun Lanxiang’s phone and charger were left. He grabbed both items in his hands.

Sun Lanxiang’s phone, which only cost a hundred yuan, was as old-fashioned as herself. There was no such thing as a password for her phone. It was unlocked straight away.

There was a new message in her inbox: “Let’s meet up.”

Clearly the message wasn’t directed to Sun Lanxiang, but to Ning Tao.

A faint smile flickered across Ning Tao’s lips, he replied: “Sure, I’ll decide when and where.”

The other party soon replied: “I’ll decide the time and location. Wait for my message.”

Ning Tao replied: “Okay.”

No new message was received.

It was a new number; Ning Tao could guess out its identity without a name.

Sun Pingchuan couldn’t last any longer.

Putting away Sun Lanxiang’s phone, Ning Tao walked to a lock wall, carrying a small medicine chest. He opened up a blood lock and walked into the convenient door which had appeared.