After the Villainess Awakens

Xiao Mian walked slowly out of the formation, his back looking extremely carefree as he left, as if he hadn't been affected at all. Leng Mu Shi watched him go, feeling even more that she was overthinking things. Like or dislike… it was just that shallow.

But in reality, she couldn't see Xiao Mian's fingers, clenched white within his sleeves, nor could she see his eyes, red as a rabbit's.

He was only nineteen years old. All his childhood memories were lost. Since being brought to Tai Chu Mountain by his master, he had relied on his pure spiritual roots to cultivate rapidly. He was one of the few disciples with exceptional talent in the entire Tai Chu Sect and had never suffered such a heavy blow.

He… had never liked anyone either. He was originally focused on cultivating the Dao, but he had to follow his master's orders and go to the mortal world. There, he met Leng Mu Shi, this bane of his existence. He suffered no end of grievances, and in the end, he was even toyed with. How embarrassing and humiliating.

Xiao Mian went straight back to the disciple's courtyard and shut himself in. His meridians were damaged, and his heart was filled with unresolved frustration. Frantic cultivation not only failed to improve his progress but also made his Dao heart unstable, almost giving rise to inner demons.

And Leng Mu Shi, the culprit who caused all this, was completely unaware of everything. After their falling out, she didn't even go to see her little lover, Fen Lian. She returned to Cang Sheng Courtyard and worked harder than ever before, even refusing to go down the mountain for meals.

She would rather suffer from eating pills than go out and see anyone. She shut herself in the cellar, like a flower hidden by the moon, spending all day and night either consuming pills or refining them.

Hua Yan Yue originally wanted to leave the mountain and return to personally teach her how to refine pills. However, after Leng Mu Shi recently purified her spiritual roots, her spiritual power became much purer than before. Finally breaking through to the Star Accumulation realm, entering the lower level, Hua Yan Yue decided to observe her refining pills.

The lowest level Qing Ling Pill was a must-have for cultivators when they went out. It could keep the mind clear and prevent one from being easily bewitched by evil spirits.

All the steps, the herbs, the heat control, the timing, everything was deeply ingrained in Leng Mu Shi's mind. Hua Yan Yue watched from the side. She was doing very well, except her spiritual power was a little lacking. She needed to take the spiritual power replenishing Pei Ling Pill while refining to supplement her spiritual power.

One must know that spiritual power replenishing pills were of extremely high grade. Some could even reach the level of high-grade spirit stones. Using such rare pills to refine low-level Qing Ling Pills that might not even succeed, even Hua Yan Yue felt a little pained.

Leng Mu Shi, on the other hand, ate the pills like they were candy, not feeling the least bit distressed about consuming Hua Yan Yue's private stash. She ate a handful of high-grade pills before finally filling the pill furnace with spiritual power.

"You can open the furnace now," Hua Yan Yue reminded her from behind.

Leng Mu Shi was originally very excited, but now she hesitated a little. "Why do I smell something wrong? Master, do you smell that?"

"What's wrong? It's just a little burnt," Hua Yan Yue said. "As long as you control the spiritual power flow into the pills after opening the furnace, it's fine even if it's burnt. Even a ball of dung will have its intended effect."

Leng Mu Shi was easily persuaded. She ate two more Pei Ling Pills, then nervously rubbed her sweaty palms, preparing to open the furnace.

Hua Yan Yue also felt an inexplicable nervousness, even more so than when she opened the furnace for the first time. After all, Leng Mu Shi was the first disciple she had ever worried about so much. Xuan Zhu's pill refining quality had even surpassed hers in the past.

This led to the two of them acting like nervous brides on their wedding night. After a moment of excitement, encouraged by her good master, Leng Mu Shi went to open the pill furnace, ready to welcome the first batch of pills in her life.

She would definitely break free from fate and walk towards a brand new life…

"BOOM!"

A earth-shattering explosion rang out. Although Leng Mu Shi, who was opening the pill furnace, was somewhat prepared, she was still sent flying by the overwhelmingly powerful force.

Hua Yan Yue, standing far away, couldn't escape either. Fortunately, her cultivation was high, so she only stumbled two steps before stabilizing herself.

Leng Mu Shi wasn't so lucky. She was blown onto the shelf where the pills were stored in the cellar, a large, bloody wound blown open on her stomach, inlaid with several Qing Ling Pills of different sizes and strange shapes.

She even lost consciousness for a few breaths. After recovering, her stomach hurt as if it had been pierced through. She looked down, grimacing as she climbed up.

She shouted, "Master! Quick! Don't let the spiritual energy escape!"

After the furnace was opened, the spiritual energy within had to be guided into the pills. Otherwise, no matter how high the grade of the pill, it would just be a lump of mud. And the sooner this guidance was done, the better.

This was her first batch of pills! Leng Mu Shi ignored the pain, not even calling for Hua Yan Yue to save her life, but instead, to save the pills.

Hua Yan Yue?

Seeing that Leng Mu Shi wasn't going to die, she had already run out of the cellar.

She climbed outside, holding onto the door of the hut, dry heaving. The smell of the pills after the furnace was opened was simply too disgusting. She had said "dung ball" earlier, but the smell of these pills was even more pungent than that. If Hua Yan Yue didn't get out, she would be fumigated to death inside.

What kind of pill refining was this?

This was manure refining!

Hua Yan Yue couldn't believe that just those few ingredients of the Qing Ling Pill could produce such a lethal smell. Her disciple was truly a talent suitable for composting manure for farming.

Just let her be fumigated to death inside, Hua Yan Yue thought. She would pretend she never had such a disciple, lest others find out and she loses all face.

Unaware that her master had been driven to murderous intent by the smell, Leng Mu Shi saw that Hua Yan Yue wasn't coming to rescue the pills. Gritting her teeth, she got down from the pill shelf, grabbed two handfuls of healing herbs and swallowed them. She walked towards the pill furnace, picking out the pills embedded in her waist as she went.

They were covered in blood, but she couldn't bear to throw them away, so she threw them all into the pill furnace.

Then, she circulated her spiritual energy, beginning to guide the remaining spiritual energy within the pill furnace into those things that looked like some kind of dung balls… no, pills.

Her serious injuries were healed, but her body was extremely weak. She forced herself to guide the spiritual energy, blood flowing from her nose.

However, thanks to Hua Yan Yue's two months of physical and mental torture, her sensitivity to pain had been reduced to a minimum. She had endured the pain of being bitten by thousands of ants, the burning of fire within her, and the slicing of thousands of knives. What was this level of pain?

Spiritual energy depletion?

Eat pills to replenish.

Meridians can't bear the tearing?

Then let them tear! Anyway, there was plenty of Demon Spider Silk that could reconnect them.

She was like a madwoman, gritting her teeth as she guided all the spiritual energy within the pill furnace into those dung balls… no, pills.

When everything was done, Leng Mu Shi held a fist-sized pill that emitted an even more lethal stench due to the infused spiritual energy and fainted with a "hehehe" laugh.

She had successfully formed a pill.

Even in her faint, Leng Mu Shi was smiling.

She could just roll her eyes and forget about it, but Hua Yan Yue had it rough.

She finally recovered a bit and was about to go down to the cellar to see if her little disciple was dead when she saw her lying by the pill furnace, a smile on her face, holding the unknown object she had refined, looking very peaceful, as if she had died a worthy death.

Hua Yan Yue stood at the edge of the cellar, covering her nose, looking at the lingering stench of spiritual energy filling the room, then at her little disciple, and couldn't help but laugh.

Although the Qing Ling Pills had a strong taste, Leng Mu Shi's spirit reminded her of her past self.

Hua Yan Yue dragged Leng Mu Shi out and threw her directly into the medicinal pool in the backyard to soak. She then cleaned up the mess. When she took out the black Qing Ling Pills from the pill furnace, Hua Yan Yue let out a surprised "Eh?".

Then, she looked at each one in disbelief, her mouth slightly agape in astonishment.

These things, every single one of them was a successful pill.

There were even three or five stained with blood, which could actually be considered top-grade Qing Ling Pills!

Hua Yan Yue, who had originally wanted to destroy them directly, paused. She thought that these were painstakingly refined by her little disciple and were actually successful pills, so she might as well keep them.

However, when she bravely brought one of them to her nose to smell it, Hua Yan Yue retched violently and hurriedly threw it away.

Finally, she dispelled the stench from the entire cellar. It took her a whole half day, but for some reason, the smell lingered in Cang Sheng Courtyard.

Even the demonic beasts that usually tried to break through the barrier to get to the hut stayed far away. Even the demon spiders on the roof hung listlessly, their legs twitching feebly, looking as if they were on the verge of death.

Helpless, Hua Yan Yue opened the barrier above Cang Sheng Courtyard to air out the smell.

After finishing everything, she herself was also smelly. She went to the medicinal pool in the backyard to soak with Leng Mu Shi.

From noon until sunset, Hua Yan Yue finally felt that the unpleasant smell on her body had dissipated, replaced by the normal fragrance of medicine.

Leng Mu Shi, who had recovered, also woke up. The master and disciple almost started fighting in the pool, splashing water everywhere.

However, after washing up, the two began to seriously discuss the root cause of the lethal stench from the successful pill refining.

The conclusion was: inconclusive.

"But I made a pill! Master, I made a pill, which means I have talent in this area!" Leng Mu Shi said happily.

Hua Yan Yue: "…"

She very seriously tried to persuade Leng Mu Shi, "Although you succeeded, but look at this." Hua Yan Yue pointed to a pile of dung-like Qing Ling Pills on the shore, isolated by a small barrier. These were what she had collected from the pill furnace.

She originally wanted to find a place to bury them, but in the end, she didn't. She planned to use them to persuade Leng Mu Shi.

"Look at this one, it's almost as big as a human head, right?" Hua Yan Yue said. "Tell me, how do you eat such a pill?"

Leng Mu Shi: "…Just hug it and eat it, the dosage is big enough!"

"You'd be fumigated to death before you finish eating it!" Hua Yan Yue concluded.

Leng Mu Shi said again, "Then we can cut it into small pieces."

Hua Yan Yue was speechless for a moment, but after a while, she said, "This Qing Ling Pill is a medicine to keep the mind clear. Tell me, with this smell, mixed with the demonic aura, can anyone still stay conscious?"

Leng Mu Shi: "…Maybe the effect would be even better. You'd wake up from the stench before you even eat it."

Hua Yan Yue: "…"

Hua Yan Yue put her arm around Leng Mu Shi's shoulder and said to her earnestly, "My good disciple, you don't seem to be very suitable for pill refining."

"Your eldest disciple is Senior Brother Xuan Zhu, Master," Leng Mu Shi pushed Hua Yan Yue's hand away. "I'm the youngest disciple."

"I succeeded on my first try, how am I not suitable?" Leng Mu Shi looked at the pills of all sizes and shapes and found them extremely adorable. Her eyes were shining with confidence.

In the end, the master and disciple agreed that Leng Mu Shi would not refine Qing Ling Pills anymore. Only then did Hua Yan Yue give up the idea of harming her disciple.

However, this superficial peace between master and disciple ended with Leng Mu Shi's second pill refining attempt.

This time, she refined ordinary low-level Blood Clotting Pills. After the furnace was opened, Hua Yan Yue was in tears, her seven orifices burning as if she had been soaked in chili oil. She couldn't even stay in Cang Sheng Courtyard anymore.

She ran away from home and went to the Sect Master's courtyard nearby, bringing forward the trip that was supposed to happen after the disciples' preliminary test.

Hua Yan Yue was leaving tomorrow.

Leng Mu Shi was also very puzzled. She sniffed and wiped her tears as she guided the spiritual energy into the pills and skillfully dispelled the spicy smell in the cellar. As Hua Yan Yue had instructed, she opened the barrier of Cang Sheng Courtyard to air out the smell.

The demon spiders on the eaves were curled up, hanging there as if they were dead. Leng Mu Shi grabbed one and pulled its leg, but there was no reaction.

She also had a brief moment of self-doubt. The Blood Clotting Pills she refined were still uneven, often producing one the size of a fist. But this doubt completely disappeared when she found that no matter the size or strange shape, every single one of these pills was a success.

Her confidence almost burst out of her body.

One must know that even Hua Yan Yue had said that she often produced useless pills at the beginning!

Leng Mu Shi felt that she might be a genius.

However, the only thing that made her feel a little embarrassed was that Hua Yan Yue was packing her bags at night, muttering about how she couldn't stay in the courtyard she had lived in for many years, looking like she couldn't bear it anymore and was about to run away from home.

Leng Mu Shi tried to persuade her to stay, "Master, tomorrow is the preliminary test, are you really not going to watch? I won't be at the bottom. That day, Xiao Mian couldn't even catch up to me. I'm very good at running away. Maybe I can win the championship and bring you face. Do you have to leave today?"

In fact, Hua Yan Yue couldn't stand the strange smell of Leng Mu Shi's pill refining, and she also felt some restlessness in her body last night. She needed to go to that place as soon as possible…

In fact, she should have gone long ago. It was just that she couldn't let go of Leng Mu Shi, so she delayed until now. Now that Leng Mu Shi had successfully refined two batches of pills, although the smell was strange, it was a real achievement.

Now, as long as Leng Mu Shi didn't refine pills beyond her level, she didn't need to worry. If she stayed, she would only be poisoning herself.

After all, the path of alchemy was a lonely one. She had to walk it by herself eventually. The less people held her back and watched over her, the faster and steadier she would walk.

Naturally, she wouldn't say these things to Leng Mu Shi. She wasn't the kind of master who would say nice things or explain anything.

So, Hua Yan Yue said, "Since you refuse to go home and farm, and insist on staying here to refine pills, I'll give you two months. When I come back, you better have made those things normal."

Hua Yan Yue continued, "As for the competition between disciples, you don't have to compete. Just take out your dung balls and chili balls, and the other party will definitely kneel down and beg for mercy."

Leng Mu Shi felt greatly insulted. She sulked in her room and didn't even hear Hua Yan Yue's parting words, reminding her not to refine pills beyond her level.

Fen Lian wasn't there, off to meet her lover again. With Hua Yan Yue gone, the entire Cang Sheng Courtyard became quiet. Leng Mu Shi didn't even have anyone to talk to.

Late at night, Leng Mu Shi looked through the pill recipes, repeatedly checking that she hadn't missed anything. Then why did the pills she refined all have a strange smell?

"There's a plot point tomorrow," the Law suddenly spoke.

Leng Mu Shi had already decided to stay away from the plot. She didn't know how comfortable she had been this past month. She had finally gotten her life on track. She was now a 100% successful pill refiner. Who needed those low-level plots to survive?

So, she pretended not to hear it. Anyway, the pain of soul burning was no different from farting to her now.

However, after a while, the Law spoke again, "Qing Ling Pill belongs to water, and water and fire are incompatible. Your spiritual root carries fire, as well as other elements like metal, earth, and wood. Mixed spiritual energy entering the pill furnace naturally results in a strange smell."

Leng Mu Shi's hand, which was holding the pill manual, paused.

The Law continued, "Blood Clotting Pill belongs to fire. Likewise, it's the other spiritual energies entering the pill furnace that caused the strange smell. This is still a low-level pill. If it were a mid-level one… it would be fatal."

Leng Mu Shi put down the book and looked at the Law, which had already turned to ashes beside the table.

"How do you know?" Leng Mu Shi's voice was cold. She had long felt that something was wrong with the Law. She even wondered if all this nonsense about the plot was fake, and the Law was using some kind of short-term precognitive ability to deceive her.

The Law didn't explain. Instead, it said, "You follow the plot, and I can help you suppress other spiritual roots when you refine pills."

Leng Mu Shi sneered, picked up the Law and was about to throw it out the window when the Law quickly said, "I can also help you directly purify your spiritual roots! You can't even meet the spiritual energy requirements for low-level pills, so how are you going to refine high-level pills? Wait for your cultivation to increase? That's too slow."

Leng Mu Shi's hand, which was about to throw the Law, froze.

The Law sighed and said, "As long as you follow the plot, I will help you."

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