Chapter 69 — The Third Pair of Eyes, Four Red Beans

On the fourth day after their rest, the disciples of the four major sects packed up and prepared to depart for South Vermilion.

Since some sects had brought too much stuff when they arrived, their journey was split into two parts: one day to transport materials, and another to send people.

Coincidentally, it had been snowing heavily for the past two days. Aside from the Returning Immortal Sect disciples, the others from the three great sects were unwilling to go outside, as they’d be turned into snowmen the moment they stepped out. As a result, there were hardly any people left on Elegant Seasons Peak.

Lian Mu had also been holed up in her bamboo hut lately, reading the Alchemy Cultivator’s Spiritual Plant Record that Ji Mingyue had shoved into her hands, barely stepping outside at all.

But staying in the hut for too long came with one downside—she was forced to watch Green Bean bounce around.

It hadn’t eaten any magical beast materials in a while, and it was so hungry that its eyes glowed green. Every night, it would climb to her bedside and stare at her. The furniture made from magical beast parts had nearly all been gnawed through. Only one broom remained untouched, which Lian Mu had hidden in her spatial pouch.

While Lian Mu was reading, Green Bean crept over and made a move to bite down on the book’s page. But she caught it just in time and flicked it away with lightning speed.

“If you keep eating, the house is going to collapse. No eating anything in here. Go outside and find some bugs.”

Lian Mu stared it down. Green Bean blinked at her, dazed, as if it understood. Then it slowly turned and crawled out the door.

“…”

There was just no helping it. This scorpion had an insatiable appetite.

She had almost emptied her stash of magical beast materials feeding it, yet it remained like a bottomless pit—never full.

She really had to sell it off soon.

Once Green Bean left, Lian Mu returned to her book.

This Alchemy Cultivator’s Spiritual Plant Record was quite disorganized, with no clear classifications. One page would talk about spiritual plants in the West White Tiger region, and the next would suddenly jump to the North Black Tortoise. Most plant books would start with one region and gradually expand, but this one had its entries ordered by the date of discovery, as shown in the footnotes at the bottom of each page.

Lian Mu had a good memory. After these past few days, she had memorized about two-thirds of it. After finishing the first half, a thought occurred to her: since spiritual plants could be used in alchemy, why couldn’t magical beasts?

All the books she had read only included spiritual plants in pill recipes. The only exception was a book she found in the library, Supplemental Records of the Feng Clan’s Secret Techniques, which mentioned that the core of a magical beast could be used in alchemy to replenish spiritual energy.

Just hearing the name made it obvious the book had been written by someone from the Feng family. And since the Returning Immortal Sect had only ever produced one famous Feng-named alchemy cultivator, Feng Tianche, it was likely written by him.

Since she had studied artifact refinement, Lian Mu knew that the part of a magical beast richest in spiritual energy wasn’t necessarily its core. For instance, a golden beast would reveal spiritual armor to defend against external attacks, and the energy in the armor far surpassed that of the core.

At first, there were no magical beasts in this world—only spiritual beasts, which were gentle and harmless. But something happened, and a great number of them were corrupted by a foul aura, mutating into magical beasts.

Magical beasts were violent and reproduced quickly, and within centuries, they overtook the habitats of spiritual beasts. The latter dwindled to near extinction, leaving only harmful magical beasts behind.

But since magical beasts originated from spiritual beasts, aside from the foul aura, their essence was still pure—a high-quality material for artifact refining.

Yet no one had ever thought to use magical beasts for pill-making.

Likewise, she’d never heard of anyone using spiritual plants in artifact crafting.

Spiritual plants were for alchemy. Magical beast materials were for artifacts. This had always been the way, like two opposing lines that never crossed.

But if a magical beast’s core could be used for alchemy, why couldn’t other parts?

Lian Mu closed the book, her mind sparked with the urge to experiment. She had one leg left from a seventh-rank Earth centipede beast. Originally, she’d kept it as a last-resort meal for Green Bean, but now she had no choice but to use it early.

She set aside the Spiritual Plant Record, picked a random recipe for a seventh-rank replenishing pill, and headed to the nearby alchemy room to give it a try.

Just as she stood up, a scream rang out from outside:

“Ahhhh!!!”

“There’s something crawling on the ground… a scorpion!”

A bad feeling hit Lian Mu. She immediately pushed open the door.

At the hut diagonally across from hers, a few white-robed disciples were gathered out front. One of them, dressed like a body cultivator, had screamed and hidden behind the others.

“Feng Yunyi, stomp it to death!”

Feng Yunyi, who had an arm locked around his neck, looked speechless. He turned to Gu Qingyu and said, “It’s just a scorpion. I’m right here. It’s not gonna kill you.”

A sword cultivator stood next to them—it was Ying You. His eyelashes lowered as he studied the black scorpion waving its pincers in the snow. Then he drew his sword and nudged the scorpion with the tip.

Green Bean stared at Ying You, pincers frozen in place.

Feng Yunyi frowned. “This scorpion looks familiar… isn’t it the one from before—”

Before he could finish, the black scorpion bit down hard on Ying You’s sword.

A flicker of surprise flashed in Ying You’s eyes, and he quickly flicked it off.

Then he looked up—meeting Lian Mu’s eyes from across the snow.

Lian Mu: “…”

Before she could speak, Ying You spoke first. His voice was clear, polite, and gentle: “Fellow cultivator, is this your spirit pet?”

Lian Mu replied, “Yes, it’s mine. It ran off just now. Sorry for the disturbance.”

She immediately used her spiritual link to summon Green Bean back.

Ying You gave a slight nod. “It’s fine. We’re just temporary guests—it’s not a big deal.”

Lian Mu glanced at his sword, which he hadn’t yet sheathed. Green Bean had left bite marks on the tip, but that didn’t stop her from admiring the sword from afar.

Green Bean obediently scuttled back. Lian Mu picked it up, bid them farewell, and shut the door.

Four eyes locked. Green Bean didn’t move, lying flat in her palm at last, finally calm.

“…”

She had only told it to go find a bug. Who would’ve guessed it was so hungry it went berserk and gnawed on someone’s sword.

It was probably because the Azure Profound Sect’s lead disciples had gathered outside to talk, and Ying You just happened to be carrying his sword, which drew Green Bean’s attention.

Lian Mu pulled out the last centipede leg from her spatial pouch. “Here, have something to fill your stomach. Don’t run off again. I’ll find you some food tonight.”

Good thing she had stored Prosperity in the pouch. Otherwise, by morning, only the hilt would’ve been left.

The centipede leg was devoured. So much for refining a pill today.

Lian Mu placed Green Bean on the table and turned to rummage through boxes and drawers, hoping to find something it could eat.

Green Bean lay on the table munching away. In no time, it finished the leg.

When Lian Mu turned back, she saw it crawling toward the fluorite. Its stinger twitched slightly. Then, slowly, a second pair of red eyes opened on its sides.

Lian Mu: “?”

Only then did she realize—it had a pair of green eyes on its head, and another pair of red ones on its sides.

Then its back split open, revealing a third pair of red eyes.

Now they were eight eyes locked together. Lian Mu paused and said, “How many eyes do you even have?”

Green Bean stared blankly at her, its gaze dazed and confused.

She reached out and tested its spiritual power—it was clearly stronger than before.

Lian Mu had a suspicion in her heart. The sudden increase in Green Bean’s appetite might be due to it, like her, trying to find a way to replenish its spiritual energy.

Suddenly growing two pairs of eyes… No, the pair of red eyes on its side were obviously already there, but she hadn’t noticed. They might have appeared after the trip to the Fire Melting Cave.

The pair on its back, perhaps, only grew after it bit the sword of the Azure Profound Sect’s chief.

The chief’s sword was of the first-grade rank, naturally much better than the lower-level magical beast materials she had been feeding it.

Lian Mu flipped Green Bean over, making its belly face up, and discovered two small holes on its belly.

“…”

So this pair of eyes, once opened, was its true form?

Lian Mu recalled what she had learned, and in her memory, no magical beast had ever grown stronger by eating the bodies of its own kind.

Lian Mu flipped it back and poked its pincers. The six eyes turned, and Green Bean hugged her finger.

It seemed that she would need to find Xu Xianxing to ask what was going on.