30 Collective Advancement

After a fulfilling day, Cui Huai went through her usual routine of reciting those wretched English words that deserved to be struck by lightning. Since entering the Qi Refining stage, her spiritual sense had grown significantly stronger, and her speed had improved by more than just a notch.

Just as she closed that detestable Level 6 vocabulary book, Cui Huai suddenly felt a scorching heat in her Dantian. It felt as if a small furnace were baking her lower abdomen. Soon, this heat spread from her Dantian throughout her entire body, leaving her parched and restless. While memorizing vocabulary was annoying, it shouldn't have made her this agitated.

Cui Huai’s room didn't have much of a window, and since the house was drafty, opening it further felt like sleeping in the wilderness. The breeze drifting in was no longer enough to cool her down, so she got up and pushed the window open. Gusts of air rushed through the wide opening and the cracks in the walls, yet after a while, she still felt feverish. It was late summer, and the night air outside was much cooler than indoors, so she decided to go for a walk.

She had barely pushed open her door and taken a few steps when she ran into Jiang Xuan. Cui Huai was immediately suspicious. Aside from a few days recently when he had been spurred on by her to work hard, Jiang Xuan usually slept like a log and extinguished his lights early every night. Why was he wandering outside at this hour?

"Senior Brother, are you out for a walk too?"

Jiang Xuan’s face was flushed, and he fanned himself with his hand. "Yes. I don't know why, but I felt incredibly hot today. I was so restless I had to come out for some air."

Hearing this, Cui Huai turned serious. Her millennium of survival experience told her this was not simple. She immediately confronted the system in her mind: "I didn't think you were this depraved. To get me to conquer Jiang Xuan, you’d go as far as drugging us both? You are truly despicable and shameless!"

System: "?"

Not knowing why it had been unfairly blamed, it argued, "I didn't do anything! I don't even know what you're talking about."

Cui Huai: "Hah! I've lived for a thousand years. Do you really think you can hide such cheap tricks from me?"

Just as the system was rambling on to prove its innocence, Zhao Zhixu appeared. Seeing them, she walked over, her own face flushed. "I felt hot today, so I came out for a stroll. You two are here as well?"

Cui Huai’s psychological defenses completely collapsed. She scolded the system furiously in her mind: "You told me this wasn't a harem novel! To advance the plot, have you really become so deranged that you'd involve three people? I advise you to stop immediately. Not only will you fail to achieve your goal, but if you persist, I will drag you down with me to mutual destruction..."

Before Cui Huai could awaken the system’s lost conscience, another figure approached from afar—Fu Qin. He strolled leisurely toward them. "You all came out to catch the breeze, too?"

Cui Huai was stunned. "System? Four people?"

Before she could curse the system with all the profanities she had learned over the last millennium, Jiang Xuan suddenly clutched his lower abdomen with a confused expression. Was he about to lose control and act like a beast? Cui Huai pulled her Senior Sister back several steps, keeping a safe distance from Jiang Xuan. Although such an act would likely be involuntary, if he dared to get out of line, she would knock him unconscious with one punch!

Unaware that he was on the verge of being knocked out, Jiang Xuan felt the circulation of spiritual energy in his Dantian. "Why does it feel like my spiritual energy has suddenly surged?"

Zhao Zhixu, who had been dragged along, also pressed a hand to her Dantian. "I think mine has increased as well."

***

The next morning, Cui Huai finished her session, concluding a night of meditation. She had advanced from the first level of Qi Refining to the second. Seeing that she was awake, the system burst into tears. "I will never forgive you! You cold-hearted person! Is that all I am to you? Your thousand years of experience told you it must be me doing something filthy? Let me tell you, Cui Huai, you are just inherently suspicious!"

Under the system’s accusations, Cui Huai felt a bit awkward. Although it was always up to no good, she had indeed misunderstood it this time; her millennium of experience had suffered a slight deviation. "Walking through this world, being cautious is never a mistake, is it? If I hadn't been, I would have died long before you arrived, and you’d only be binding my remains," Cui Huai reasoned, appealing to both emotion and logic. Under her explanation, the system’s sulky mood calmed, and the two reached a temporary truce.

Shortly after Cui Huai finished her practice, Jiang Xuan opened his eyes. Yes, the four of them had indeed spent the night together—practicing together. By morning, each of them had advanced one level, except for Fu Qin, who had advanced two.

Senior Sister sighed with emotion, "Senior Lingxu is truly kind. He gave us those dishes that boosted our cultivation just like that. Who would have thought that despite the taste, the effects would be so potent?"

Fu Qin’s ability to advance two levels at once was likely due to his strength gradually recovering and the fact that the shopkeeper’s ingredients happened to perfectly match his Fire and Wood dual spiritual roots.

Jiang Xuan was also full of praise: "One should never judge a book by its cover! These dishes from the Senior are even more effective than a Ten-Complete Vitality Pill!"

Immortal Lingxu, currently on his way, suddenly had a feeling that someone was talking about him. It must be those little ones from yesterday. He had told them his dishes used high-end ingredients—high-level beast meat—and extreme cooking methods—a Heavenly-grade alchemy furnace. For a few juniors, the results were bound to be miraculous. They had pushed the food away at the time; they must regret not eating more!

After praising Immortal Lingxu, Jiang Xuan turned to praise his idol: "When the spiritual energy surged, I simultaneously channeled the special cultivation method of the Yanchi Immortal, the third greatest treasure of your clan, Junior Sister. I benefited immensely!"

Zhao Zhixu agreed. Honestly, she already suspected that her Junior Sister’s clan was a branch of the Yanchi Immortal’s lineage; otherwise, how could her secret manuals be as common as wholesale goods?

The group was immersed in the joy of their advancement. The sky had brightened, and it was time for morning lessons. Zhu Yu walked over, carrying his small medicine chest and humming a tune, only to see his Senior Brother and sisters looking as if they had just spent the entire night in deep conversation.

His foot, just crossing the threshold, suddenly felt heavy as lead. He asked in disbelief, "You four played together without me? You’re collectively isolating me?"

Zhu Yu was a mortal without spiritual roots. The ingredients that boosted the others’ cultivation had simply improved his physical health, leaving him with a good night's sleep and no other sensations.

Before they could explain to their Junior Brother, Zhao Zhixu heard the word "isolate" and, in a flash of lightning, recalled something. She asked, "I just remembered something. When Senior Lingxu left, did he send a message to the Luoxia Sect?"

Cui Huai thought for a moment and shook her head. "No."

Zhao Zhixu: "Then did he lift the restrictions on those Luoxia Sect disciples?"

Fu Qin replied with certainty: "No."

Jiang Xuan: "We're done for!"

Just as Jiang Xuan prepared to rush off to save them, Zhu Yu quickly recovered from his feeling of being isolated and stopped him. "Have you forgotten? Before the Senior left, he left this matter for us to handle. Why don't you hurry up and send a letter to the Luoxia Sect? Tell them to prepare their spirit stones to come and redeem their people."

Jiang Xuan thought to himself: *He was wrong. He previously thought the Senior was a policeman of the cultivation world, but now it’s clear—the Junior Brother is obviously a kidnapper!*