Shu Tiantian fell silent. She murmured, “If you had a notebook that recorded many ideas, but it was a half-finished product, filled with your assumptions, yet the gap between assumption and reality was enormous…”

“For example, developing a pill that could make one’s skin as smooth as congealed fat.”

“But because the principle was softening hair follicles and shrinking pores… while making one’s skin as smooth as congealed fat, it would cause irreversible hair loss.”

Making your bald head shine as bright as daylight.

“For example, developing a pill that could allow one to quickly restore spiritual qi.”

“But because the principle was drawing away the surrounding air to frantically absorb spiritual qi… while allowing one to quickly restore spiritual qi, it would cause suffocation.”

So that your enemy would not even need to make a move— you would faint from lack of oxygen.

“Invisibility pills, because the principle is the refraction of light, turning spiritual qi for a short time into a solar reflective panel that covers your entire body.”

“So, at night, that solar reflective panel would be like a spotlight…”

With a swish, turning you— wearing your invisibility cloak— into the brightest one in the entire venue.

Listen to this— this was simply a genius fusion of science and mysticism!

These failed products were half-finished creations made by Shu Tiantian when she had lost one soul, once wandering at the boundary between science and mysticism. Because of her genius-level medical cultivation talent, and also because of her hell-level emotional intelligence and nightmare-level obliviousness, during that period, what Shu Tiantian produced was basically all this kind of thing.

Fortunately, after selling just one pill and being chased and beaten for three months, she— having lost one soul and covered in bumps— realized that these ideas would provoke others’ fury and cause turmoil in the cultivation world, and so she discarded those genius ideas.

So much so that Shu Tiantian had forgotten all about it, until hearing that familiar pill formula. The memory of being beaten surged up, causing her to straighten up in conditioned reflex.

Dragon: ……

Sword: ……

The three of them simultaneously looked toward the pill formulas on the auction stage and fell into silence.

The place where Shu Tiantian had thrown that little notebook was near the Sword Peak cave dwelling where she lived. She had even dug a large pit to bury it, to avoid one day it appearing out of nowhere to bring disaster upon the world… except it seemed she had forgotten to bury it.

She racked her brains to recall the original plot, yet no matter how she thought about it, she could not remember any storyline where the female lead picked up a secret manual of pill formulas. But thinking about the rule that protagonists who fall into pits or off cliffs would always encounter fortuitous opportunities, Shu Tiantian felt relieved.

After all, the female lead was Heaven’s chosen one. Having lost the golden finger of the Medicine God Bell, it was perfectly normal for the Heavenly Dao to compensate her.

But… Shu Tiantian looked toward the pink-clad girl sitting below beside the envoy from the Upper Realm.

The envoy from the Upper Realm was the one who raised his bidding plaque the most. Perhaps he had originally been half-believing and half-doubting Ling Ruoshui’s identity as the Medicine God’s Daughter. After seeing the pill formulas, his attitude changed considerably. He even seemed to praise Ling Ruoshui a few times. She lowered her head shyly, not showing the slightest unnaturalness.

Logically speaking, Ling Ruoshui should know that she would appear on this occasion, and yet she was able to naturally take out Shu Tiantian’s pill formulas. There was only one explanation: Ling Ruoshui probably truly believed this was her own fortuitous opportunity.

Shu Tiantian’s guess was not wrong. At this very moment, Ling Ruoshui was recalling the notebook she had picked up, revealing an expression of relief.

There were quite a few pill formulas in that notebook— a thick volume full of them.

Ling Ruoshui, who had always felt that her talent was not considered outstanding, was determined to secure the position of the Medicine God’s Daughter. Without these exquisite pill formulas, how could the envoy from the Upper Realm have believed her so easily?

Now this pill formula manual was like divine assistance, giving her sufficient confidence— of course Ling Ruoshui let out a sigh of relief.

Only, she had not thought deeply about one question: if the pill formulas were so good, why would someone just throw them away?

Moreover, that pit was less than three meters from Shu Tiantian’s cave dwelling. On the entire mountainside, Shu Tiantian was the only resident. The traces of digging were very recent, and even the handwriting looked especially familiar— as long as Ling Ruoshui went to the medicine hall to compare, she would have discovered it.

But she overlooked all those suspicious points. After picking up the notebook, she very naturally felt that this was her own fortuitous opportunity.

It could only be said that Shu Tiantian’s genius ideas were too ingenious— if they were buried and lost, even the Heavenly Dao would not be able to bear watching. These treasures simply had to see the light of day and bring disaster upon countless cultivators.

Shu Tiantian touched her little head that had once been beaten up, looked in Ling Ruoshui’s direction, and several times wanted to speak but stopped herself.

Digging up her notebook just three meters from her cave dwelling and then calmly treating it as one’s own and publicly presenting it— in a certain sense, that was plagiarism.

There was a saying: let go of the urge to help others, respect others’ fate.

But Shu Tiantian was still full of worry. What if one day Ling Ruoshui got beaten up and revealed the place where she dug the pit? Then the people beating her— would they also beat Shu Tiantian up too?

The Dragon Bone Sword quietly shrank back into its master’s sleeve, trembling. Suddenly it felt that although everyone said the sinful dragon was a world-destroying demon, how did it feel like the little medical cultivator also had that kind of talent?

It glanced again at its master, who seemed to be smiling yet not smiling. Thinking about it— one who killed and set fires, the other outwardly radiating holy light while secretly using pills to harm the world…

The Tianji Sect, who had delivered this great weapon of destruction—the little medical cultivator—to the side of the sinful dragon, was truly guilty of a monstrous crime.

Even after the auction ended, Shu Tiantian was still thinking about whether she had signed her name on the pill formulas… until she was called to stop by Immortal Lord Chixiao.

Shu Tiantian secretly tugged at the Old Ancestor’s robe hem and went over. Ji Wushu turned back absentmindedly, gathering his cloak as he stood quietly in place. His golden pupils narrowed, sizing up Chixiao Immortal Lord, who was dressed entirely in watery blue, then he let out a snort of laughter, too impatient to wait for her to return.

Calm and composed, slightly impatient— very much the bearing of a Dragon God.

Who could have imagined that the Dragon Bone Sword had already been leisurely kneaded by its master into countless tiny sleeve-arrow clones, ready to be fired in a volley that could casually pierce to death quite a number of Nascent Soul cultivators like Chixiao?

The Dragon Bone Sword was also in despair, letting out whimpering cries without the slightest dignity.

The first thing Immortal Lord Chixiao said upon seeing her was, “You are doing well by his side.”

It was a declarative sentence. Chixiao was not just anyone— he had watched Shu Tiantian grow up. Thus, what might deceive others could not deceive Immortal Lord Chixiao.

The Void Abyss Old Ancestor was the sect’s mortal enemy, yet at present there was no reproach in his tone, and even his expression was calm. He was naturally not someone who could not distinguish right from wrong. The sect had treated Shu Tiantian without benevolence or righteousness; her making such a choice was probably within his expectations.

But he still could not simply leave it alone. He reached out and handed Shu Tiantian an exquisitely beautiful memory pearl, saying in an extremely calm tone, “This is your Grandmaster’s memory pearl. Ji Wushu is sinister and cunning, and moreover not of our kind. Now he has become the target of all. If you look at this pearl, you will understand why we have gathered all our strength and gone to such lengths to kill him.”

“He hates the human race— it is a hatred that cannot coexist under the same sky. Either you die, or I live.”

Shu Tiantian listened obediently and asked him, “Master, then… do you want me to return to the Tianji Sect with you?”

Chixiao smiled. His face had always been stern and cold, but at this moment it was like ice and snow melting. He handed her his storage pouch.

“Inside are the spirit stones Tianji Sect owes you, and the things your master left for you.”

“Tianji Sect is your master’s choice, not yours.”

“Take these and leave. Before the Millennium Calamity arrives, leave this place. Do not touch anything related to that sinful dragon ever again. From now on, the sky is high and the sea vast— go pursue your own Dao. Do not get entangled in these matters anymore.”

Shu Tiantian asked him, “Master, are you truly going to… fight that dragon, fight Ji Wushu, until one side dies?”

Immortal Lord Chixiao keenly noticed that she had separated “the dragon” and “Ji Wushu,” but heard her continue, “Because of the miasma?”

Immortal Lord Chixiao nodded. He seemed about to speak but stopped, when he heard Shu Tiantian say, “What if I say… it isn’t because of the black dragon?”

“If I say that if you don’t pursue extermination to the very end, then the world-destroying catastrophe three thousand years later might not exist at all?”

But Chixiao shook his head, because this was an irreversible common understanding— dragon miasma, dragon miasma. Without the birth of the black dragon that symbolizes world destruction, how could dragon miasma exist in the world?

“All things in the world wax and wane, such is the law. Miasma devours vitality. But Master, where did that vitality go?”

“If you say that the vitality within the miasma is used by Ji Wushu, used by the dragon, then why were they trapped in Void Abyss for two thousand years?”

“Vitality gives rise to spiritual qi. Three thousand years ago, the spiritual qi of the Upper Realm surged greatly, spontaneously giving birth to a realm called the Upper Realm.”

“Do you remember? Three thousand years ago was precisely when the black dragon descended into the world, when dragon miasma was born.”

“The vitality that can nurture an entire realm— only a god could accomplish that, right? But you want to question this injured god, why did he bring miasma?”

The endless miasma devoured the god’s vitality. The people on the land he nourished enjoyed it for a thousand years. When that dying god lost his surging vitality, and the miasma began to attack indiscriminately and spread across the world, those same people still questioned that god— the miasma exists because of you, so why do you have the right to live?

“I also want to ask, why?”

Miasma is born from human evil desire. It is the evil consequence created by the people of this world themselves.

Her voice was extremely soft, yet it was like a thunderclap, leaving Immortal Lord Chixiao frozen in place.

Shu Tiantian wiped her eyes, took a snuff bottle out from her sleeve, and handed it to Immortal Lord Chixiao. “I bought Elder Bu Nanxing’s snuff bottle back. Help me return it to him. Tell him I hope the old man can teach a disciple even more capable than me in the future.”

Immortal Lord Chixiao had not yet recovered from what Shu Tiantian had just said.

“Right and wrong, truth and falsehood— one day all will be revealed to the world.”

“This disciple only wants to ask Master, do you truly believe the path you walk is the Great Dao?”

Defame him, destroy him, kill him, exterminate him— and in the end, all living beings collapse, the three thousand worlds turn to dust.

“To heal the world and aid all living beings, to bring the dying back with skillful hands and a compassionate heart.”

Her words rang out firm and resolute, “Your Dao is to kill, to destroy. My Dao… is to save.”