Legend of the Great Sage

age of peace.
He just did not want other people connecting this with the underground.

Ru Xin said, “The academy isn’t as safe as you imagine it to be.
The school leaders might not be able to do anything to us, but what about pressure from even higher up? The reason why you decided against working with the Han family was not because they’re too powerful, but because I’m a loner, right?”

Li Qingshan could not help but admit to that.
He could trust Han Qiongzhi, but he could not trust the entire Han family.
As for Ru Xin, she did not come from a clan, and her background was blank too.
Apparently, she did not even come from the Clear River prefecture.
Even her current master, the leader of the school of Medicine, Hua Ci, was a strange, eccentric old man.
This also meant that once this matter became exposed, even Ru Xin would not be able to keep the True Spirit pills.

“Sorry.
As it’s very important, I can’t place complete trust in anybody.” If it were not for the few months they had spent together, Li Qingshan would have never vested this much trust in her.

“I can understand.
If you really were a person who trusted others so easily, then I’d only look down on you.
I’ll tell you a secret too then!” Ru Xin took out an alchemy cauldron from her hundred treasures pouch.

“A supreme grade spiritual artifact cauldron!” Li Qingshan blurted out.
This was not a regular supreme grade spiritual artifact, but a rare alchemy cauldron.
And, the design of the cauldron was extremely strange.
At first glance, it seemed more like a furnace, and from the complicated patterns on it, he could immediately tell from everything he had learnt about alchemy recently that it was not a product of the Green province.
Instead, it came from the Mist province further south.

However, Li Qingshan did not mention that.
The people of the Mist province had always been denounced as savages by the people of the Green province.
Although they were both under the rule of Great Xia, the skirmishes between the two vassal states had never stopped throughout history.
The borders were stationed heavily with soldiers, and the Hawkwolf Guard always sustained its greatest losses there.

The vassal kings of the two provinces had feuded throughout history.
If it were not for the empire’s restraint, they would have declared war against each other long ago.
Was Ru Xin a spy from the Mist province?

As for Ru Xin, how was it possible for her to not guess that the Blue Butterfly flowers originated from underground? There were only a handful of organisations in possession of Blue Butterfly fields, which were protected by layers upon layers of formations.
Even Foundation Establishment cultivators would not be able to pluck a single flower.
However, how did a mere Qi Practitioner like him manage to venture so deep underground?

Before they knew it, both of them had revealed a fraction of their secrets to one another.
However, neither of them planned to probe any deeper, but they seemed to grow slightly closer to one another.

Then, Ru Xin said, “I’ve accumulated quite a lot of spiritual herbs.
Some of them can be used for refining True Spirit pills, so there’s no need to specially gather them.”

Li Qingshan smiled.
“What a coincidence.”

In the end, the two of them managed to produce seven types of spiritual herbs for refining True Spirit pills, two from Li Qingshan and five from Ru Xin, all amounting to extremely large quantities.
It went without saying that they were obviously specialties of the underground and the Mist province respectively.

And, most of the spiritual herbs that originated from these two places were relatively more precious.
As for the remaining spiritual herbs, Ru Xin was responsible for collecting them.
As the primary disciple of the school of Medicine, she was in charge of the medicinal material store rooms, so she could easily fetch a few spiritual herbs under the name of refining other pills without much difficulty at all.

In the afternoon of the next day, Li Qingshan arrived in the alchemy room again.
Ru Xin took out a formation scroll and set up the formation, ensuring that no one could peer into this place.

Li Qingshan asked, “How’s it?”

Ru Xin said with a sunken expression, “My master has already found out about this!”

“What!?” Li Qingshan was overwhelmed by surprise and fury.
He strode over and grabbed her by the shoulder.

“I’m kidding! Hey, it hurts!” Ru Xin furrowed her brows slightly, like a saddened beauty.
It was quite a melancholic and enchanting sight.

“You-” Li Qingshan became even more irritated.
What an improper woman, but he did loosen his hand.

Their faces were inches apart.
Ever since parting yesterday, they had wondered about each other’s identity very much.
In the past few months, they had not had any more bodily contact, so it suddenly became rather awkward now.

Li Qingshan let go of her shoulder.
“Now is not the time to be joking around.”

Ru Xin said, “I’m trying to get you to relax a little.
Otherwise, we look like thieves!”

Li Qingshan said, “We’re not thieves.
We’re adulterers!”

Ru Xin placed her hand on Li Qingshan’s shoulder with a smile.
“That’s not completely impossible.
I like rich men the most.
How about you throw first young miss Han aside? Don’t forget to retrieve the Heavenly Maiden Scatters the Blossoms from her too and give it to me instead.
I’ll give you the cauldron I normally use in exchange.” She also normally used a high grade spiritual artifact cauldron.

Li Qingshan said, “Don’t even think about it.
Show me the spiritual herbs.
Why are there so few?”

Ru Xin said, “It’s enough for now.
If I take too much at once, people will find it strange.
We can take it easy.”

Li Qingshan expressed that he had understood.

Ru Xin said, “Then, let’s begin!”

“Oh right, what’s this cauldron of yours called?”

“The Crystal Resin cauldron.”

Ru Xin shrank the Crystal Resin cauldron to the size of her hand before placing in spiritual herbs one by one in a particular order.
Finally, she placed in a single Blue Butterfly flower.

The only objective of her first attempt was to experiment around and gain experience.
She was only aiming for a single True Spirit pill, and she was not expecting to succeed.

Ru Xin sat with her legs crossed in utter focus.
She was no longer as relaxed as when she normally practised alchemy.

Li Qingshan sat to one side.
He was afraid of disturbing her, so he meditated instead.

Over four hours later, the cauldron opened, and an exotic fragrance wafted out.

“Succeeded as a fluke.
Here.” Ru Xin picked up a violet pill from within the cauldron.
It was exactly the same as what he had seen before.

Li Qingshan closed her hand.
“This is for you.” Then he rocked it gently.
“For a smooth cooperation!”

However, the second pill ended in failure, wasting a Blue Butterfly flower.
Ru Xin could not help but sigh gently.

On the other hand, Li Qingshan remained unfazed because he had obtained these Blue Butterfly flowers just too easily.
He said, “Just continue.” He made Ru Xin lament inside.
Wealthy people really are different.

“Though, you’d better go back and rest up so that I can tidy through my thoughts.
We can continue tomorrow.” Ru Xin stowed the Crystal Resin cauldron away and revoked the formation.
She suddenly smiled.
“If you stay here, young miss Han might really think we’re adulterers.”

“I almost forgot.
I’ll see you tomorrow then!” Li Qingshan made his way out of the alchemy room, but he admired the correctness of his choice.
Even with Ru Xin’s many years of experience and a supreme grade spiritual artifact cauldron, the success rate so far was only around half.
If Li Qingshan refined it instead with his half-assed alchemy, he probably could not even achieve a success rate of a half.

Han Qiongzhi was waiting by the lake.
It was currently snowing gently, and the sky had dimmed a long time ago.
She questioned, “Why were you so late today?”

Li Qingshan felt rather apologetic.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
“Alchemy took some time.
You must have waited for quite some time now.
Where do you want to go today?” Today, she wore a large, red hooded cloak, with the brim of the hood embellished with white fur.
Standing among the snow, she seemed like a red ball of fire, warming his heart.

After a busy day, they would spend time together like only they existed in the world.
It was their favourite moment of the day.
Their tracks were no longer limited to just the academy and Clear River city.
It had reached other places with beautiful scenery in the surrounding region too.

Han Qiongzhi’s face reddened slightly.
“Let’s go boating!”

Li Qingshan’s eyes lit up.
Going boating had already become a special signal between the two of them.

The white catkins stretched for kilometers, and the snowflakes in the air blanketed everything.

Within the remote reeds was a small boat, causing the water to ripple gently.
The enchanting gasps of a woman rang out softly.

The cabin was layered with a thick, embroidered quilt, and the red cloak was casually tossed aside.

Li Qingshan laid atop Han Qiongzhi, deeply kissing his beloved woman.
His left arm wrapped around her body, fondling her left breast through her clothes while his right hand stroked her body recklessly, moving from her perfectly round legs to her perky bottom.

The coldness in the air was unable to affect their scorching passion.

Refusing to be blocked by the barrier that the clothes formed, Li Qingshan stuck his hand into her clothes.

Han Qiongzhi immediately grabbed his hand.
Her eyes seemed like she was about to melt away as she smiled at him.
“Sex fiend!” Afterwards, she wrapped her arms around his neck and began kissing him again.
She felt a large, warm hand slide into her clothes, clutching her full figure, which made her let out a moan.

The soft breasts felt like water in his hands, yet it was also surprisingly supple.
Li Qingshan would mould their shape or play around with the two slightly hardened beans as he wished.

But very soon, he no longer felt satisfied.
The narrow space prevented him from doing anything else.
He wanted to see them with his own eyes.
In the past, she would stop his greedy behaviour, but it seemed to be rather different today.

Under Li Qingshan’s astounded gaze, Han Qiongzhi propped herself up and took off her layers.
Only when her red undergarment remained did she stop.
She turned away with a reddened expression.
“Do it yourself!”

A large portion of snow-white skin appeared before Li Qingshan.
Sure enough, her figure was as thin as it had felt like, while the deep gully sucked his attention away.