?
Time held no meaning within the cave; in the blink of an eye, more than two more months passed.
Today was the last day of the tenth month.
He had been trapped here for nearly four months.
By now, he had successfully opened fifty-six acupoints in his seventh Qi meridian, truly reaching the late stage of the seventh level of Qi Refining. This meant he had finally stepped into the ranks of high-level Qi Refining cultivators.
Advancing from the fifth to the seventh level of Qi Refining had only taken him a little over half a year. Setting aside his Nine Spirit Roots, even a cultivator with heavenly spiritual roots could never achieve such speed through normal cultivation.
This was the terrifying efficacy of the Piercing Acupoint Pill.
His only regret was that he had exhausted his supply of Piercing Acupoint Pills, and only twenty-seven Meridian-Nourishing Pills remained. If he wanted to refine more of either Pill, he would have to wait until the Scarlet Flame Fruits and Photinia grass in the Medicine Garden matured to the first tier once again.
Despite reaching the seventh level of Qi Refining, Lu Li was in no mood to celebrate. He still had not found a way to escape this place.
The words Wu Liu had spoken still hung over his head like a blade, making him restless day and night.
Over the past few months, the young girl named Yue frequently sought him out. By slipping questions into their conversations, Lu Li managed to gather some useful information, but this knowledge only gave him a worsening headache.
According to Yue, there was only one way out of the Corpse Sect: the very same grand gate they had entered through.
However, a special restrictive formation was placed upon that gate. It required a specific incantation paired with a restriction token to open. In other words, simply stealing the token was useless; he needed the incantation as well.
Ordinary guards possessed neither. Only the guard captain held both.
A guard captain's cultivation was at the sixth level of Qi Refining or higher, and every single one of them was a fiercely loyal death warrior of the Corpse Sect. Without the Grand Elder's pass token, they would never open the gate's restrictive formation.
This was exactly why Lu Li found the situation so thorny. Death warriors were incredibly troublesome. Even if he killed the captain and snatched the restriction token, he would still be unable to open the stone gate, because such a man would take the incantation to his grave.
Every time he reached this conclusion, Lu Li sighed in deep depression.
"Do I really have to target Mo Shang and scheme for his pass token?"
With Mo Shang's token in hand, the guards would obediently open the gate. But snatching a pass from Mo Shang was harder than ascending to the heavens.
"Master Qin, what are you doing?"
A playful voice broke his train of thought as the stone door opened. Yue leaned into the room, glancing left and right before giggling and walking over. "You don't seem very happy."
Perhaps the Jade Skin Pill had taken effect. Although Yue was still dressed in stark black, her face now held a rosy, delicate charm.
Lu Li offered a faint smile and sat up straight. "It's nothing. But you keep running to my quarters every few days—aren't you afraid someone will strike out at me in jealousy?"
The man pursuing her, Wu Yi, was currently in Secluded Cultivation, but his followers had grown incredibly hostile toward Lu Li. Had they not feared the Grand Elder's wrath, they would have likely made a move against him long ago.
Whenever he went to sit in the public square, someone would inevitably come to provoke him. It left Lu Li utterly speechless.
"Don't worry, they wouldn't dare!" Yue said confidently. "I guarantee, if anyone dares to kill you, Master will definitely make them wish they were dead."
"Hah. So I ought to thank your Master, then?"
"Shouldn't you?"
"I suppose." Lu Li rolled his eyes. If my Pill refining techniques weren't up to par, that old monster would have slaughtered me by now. Why would I be grateful to him?
He let his expression shift into one of deep sorrow and fell silent.
Yue leaned on the stone table, staring into his eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Ah..." Lu Li let out a long sigh. He turned away, secretly smearing a bit of spit onto his face, and then turned back, pretending to wipe a tear. "It's nothing. I just... I miss my mother."
"My mother suffered through endless hardships to raise me. Now she is bedridden, unable to take a single step, while I am trapped here. I worry for her day and night but can do nothing. I am truly a failure of a son..."
As he spoke, he stole a glance at her face. Seeing Yue's expression grow sorrowful, he struck while the iron was hot, his voice choking with feigned emotion:
"I have been gone for three or four months. She likely hasn't had a single hot meal. I don't even know if she will still be alive when we next meet..."
"Sniff..."
Lu Li wanted to keep going, but Yue actually began to weep, her lips quivering. "Your... your mother is so pitiful... I'll ask Master to bring her here... so you can live together... sniff... sob..."
"What!"
Lu Li froze, his mind turning utterly blank.
What kind of twisted logic is that?
Couldn't she just suggest letting me go back to visit her?!
While Lu Li sat in speechless horror, Yue stood up and marched outside, scrubbing at her tears. "Wait right here. I'm going to find Master."
"Wait, don't—"
Clang.
The stone door sealed shut just as Lu Li reached it. He slumped against the stone table, his face turning an ugly shade. "Fuck, this is a disaster!"
This had gone entirely off script. He had truly shot himself in the foot.
Meanwhile.
At the Mo Cloud Residence.
"Yue, why are you crying?" Mo Shang looked at her with obvious concern, completely flustered.
"It's... it's Master Qin. I heard his mother..." Yue sat in a stone chair and slowly recounted the sob story.
"Him."
Mo Shang frowned, looking at Yue with a touch of suspicion before walking over to comfort her. "Don't cry, Yue. Master promises you, I will send someone to fetch his mother."
"Really?" Yue's face instantly lit up with a brilliant smile. "Master is the best!"
"Hehe, of course."
Once Yue departed, Mo Shang's expression cooled in thought. This boy actually has worldly attachments? Excellent. Now I have another bargaining chip to control him.
About seven or eight minutes later.
A tall, slender man in black robes and a purple, fanged mask arrived outside the residence. Bowing respectfully toward the study where Mo Shang was reading, he called out, "Wu Qi, reporting for orders."
Mo Shang set down his book and walked out unhurriedly. He drew a palm-sized black token and handed it to Wu Qi. "I was highly dissatisfied with your previous performance. If you fail me again this time, you know the consequences."
The word 'Pass' could be faintly seen etched into the black metal.
Wu Qi trembled, burying his head even lower. "Please give your orders, Grand Elder."
"It is said that Qin Shouren's mother is still alive. Go find him, interrogate him for her exact location, and bring the woman back to the Corpse Sect. There must not be the slightest mistake. Do you... understand?" A chilling glint flashed in Mo Shang's eyes, leaving no doubt that this was a deadly serious matter.
"U-understood!"
Suffocated by the spiritual pressure radiating from Mo Shang, Wu Qi could barely breathe.