Chapter 146 Sword and Pill Dual Cultivation — One Net Encompasses the Heavens, Divine Eye Peers into Fate…

Back at Star-Plucking Tower, the moment Lian Mu stepped out of the Transmission Mirror, every cultivator on the floor turned to look at her.

“Congratulations, young friend. You’re the only demon hunter to take this bounty and come back alive.” A guard beamed at her. “What about the one who went in with you?”

Lian Mu was just about to say he was still alive when Ning Xun suddenly tumbled out of the Transmission Mirror in a rather undignified pose.

He awkwardly scratched his head. “Sorry to startle you. I rushed a bit on the way out.”

The surrounding onlookers swept their gazes over him, faces full of doubt: “…”

The two bounty hunters who’d gone in bickering came out one after the other, yet neither showed any sign of a fight.

Everyone outside had seen it clearly: once inside, their red threads tied together and stayed so until “Cultivation Is Just a Money Grab” slew the bounty target — meaning they’d stuck together the whole time.

They’d fought so fiercely to get in, yet came out like old friends?

The guard sized them up. “According to the rules, she killed the bounty beast, so the reward is hers. That corpse flower is hers too — that was your own agreement. You have no objections, do you?”

Ning Xun said, “I lose, I accept it. But in the Third Domain, I already negotiated with this lady to buy half the leaves of the corpse flower with my own money.”

The guard nodded. “Fine, come with me.”

At his words, everyone’s eyes drifted to the sword cultivator standing next to him.

“Interesting.”

A masked sword cultivator stepped forward and held out a sword hilt to Lian Mu.

“So you’re ‘Cultivation Is Just a Money Grab’? Seeing is believing. I’ve long heard you’re the fiercest sword cultivator from the lowest levels, able to spar evenly with Bai Lingque from the Flying Sea Pavilion. You take on bounties even the elites won’t touch and succeed in one go — your reputation is well-earned. May I have the honor of exchanging a few blows with you?”

Lian Mu ignored him and followed the guard.

“You—!”

The man froze.

The crowd chuckled.

“Worthy of a master — proud as ever.”

“Hey Second, she didn’t even look at you. Leave her alone.”

“Star-Plucking Tower strictly forbids private duels. Careful you don’t get thrown out.”

Everyone who could stand on this floor was among the top demon hunters in the Tower — it was rare for a newcomer to catch their eye, and this was the first time one had brushed them off like that.

Ning Xun kept close behind Lian Mu, listening to the chatter behind them. He quietly reminded her, “Miss, everyone here is a big shot.”

Lian Mu said, “I can tell. But I don’t want to know them.”

She knew that posture all too well — eager to fight her for three days and nights, just like back in the Returning Immortal Sect. She had no interest in wasting time and energy on these people. Ignoring them from the start was best.

“This way — here’s the corpse flower.” The guard led them to the collection room, took out the last remaining box, and handed it to Lian Mu. “You don’t need to pay for this corpse flower. As for the bounty reward, you know where to collect it.”

Having explained, he left the two alone.

When Lian Mu opened the box, a foul stench of rotting flesh filled the room.

“Ugh—!”

Ning Xun gagged.

Lian Mu plucked a leaf from the plant. “Here’s what you wanted. Where’s the money?”

Ning Xun’s hand trembled as he caught the leaf, then stuffed it into his spatial pouch. Only when the box was shut did the stench fade a little.

“I don’t have any money on me.”

Lian Mu: “?”

Lian Mu: “No money? Then you’re not leaving today.”

“I—I don’t have it, but my friend does. Wait a moment.”

Ning Xun was so nauseated he stammered. Just as he fumbled for a talisman to contact someone, a man burst through the door.

“Y-Young master, why are you here? I’ve been looking all over for you. The people sent by the family have already reached Black Tortoise North — we need to run!”

Ning Xun instantly grabbed the man’s collar. “My friend’s here. Ah Lin, hand over two hundred fifty thousand to this lady.”

The man frowned. “Young master, spending recklessly again? Weren’t you going to be self-reliant? If you keep this up, we’ll be begging in the streets again.”

Lian Mu: “…”

So this was yet another runaway young lord seeking freedom? Damn it — why was she always the only one who was truly broke?

The man reluctantly produced a money pouch and handed it to Lian Mu. She counted it — exactly two hundred fifty thousand spirit stones.

“Miss, I have other matters to attend to. I’ll take my leave. Until we meet again.” Ning Xun pinched his nose shut and tugged the man out. “About the Heaven-Net Formation I taught you — don’t mention my name when you speak of it to others.”

“Got it.” Lian Mu’s face was blank.

“Miss, let me share one more secret: if you manage to draw out this formation in the future, it’ll be of great use.”

Ning Xun leaned in and whispered a few words. Lian Mu paused in surprise.

“…With that skill, you didn’t ambush me back in the Third Domain?”

Ning Xun gave a slight smile, then opened a window and pulled out a transmission talisman. “You are my benefactor — without you, I wouldn’t have gotten what I wanted. Consider this secret my thanks for protecting me back there. If fate allows, I hope to learn your true name one day.”

He finished speaking, and his body dissolved into mist, taking the man with him.

Lian Mu stared at the wooden box for a moment, then turned and went upstairs to find the auction floor staff for her other goods.

……

……

Top floor of Star-Plucking Tower.

On an image-recording stone, corpses littered the ground and blood ran like a river.

Behind a screen, a man sat in a wheelchair, black hair loose, half his silver mask glinting coldly.

“Tower Master, the moment she entered the Third Domain she stirred up trouble. This time she colluded with some unknown talisman cultivator to clear out the entire forest where the bounty target was. All other bounties were nullified, we didn’t get any beast materials, and we lost a fortune.” A man in black knelt on one knee.

Muzhou stared at the figure in the recording. They had watched it several times but the Tower Master had said nothing.

He hadn’t expected this sword cultivator really could kill the scale-hoofed two-headed deer — and the talisman cultivator who helped her was obviously no ordinary person either.

“Tower Master, this sword cultivator is too strange. Shall we probe her a bit?”

The Tower Master finally moved a finger. “I didn’t rush back from afar just to scare them away.”

His gaze fell on the youth in the image. He pondered for a moment, murmuring, “The Heaven-Net Formation… One Net Encompasses the Heavens, Divine Eye Peers into Fate. This child’s background is no small matter — likely from Azure Dragon East. Our shabby temple here really attracts plenty of big fish.”

“Could he be…” Muzhou’s eyes widened in shock. “Impossible. Rumor says that one is a deaf, mute, blind cripple. This kid seems normal.”

“Of course it’s not him… but maybe he’s the chosen successor.”

The Tower Master snuffed out the image-recording stone, tilted his head slightly, and changed the subject. “What about the matter I asked you to investigate?”

A man in black handed over a brocade pouch and a half-dead silver butterfly. “We searched every place ‘Cultivation Is Just a Money Grab’ visited while she was in the lower floors, and questioned everyone she interacted with. We found these by chance in the forest outside the Tower.”

“It seems she corresponded with an alchemy cultivator in the Tower’s lower levels. They exchanged letters via the pill refining room, and that alchemist seems to want to befriend her — he left a gift and a messenger butterfly in the forest.”

The Star-Plucking Tower master took the silver butterfly, examined it carefully, and said, “A puppet butterfly from the poison gu tribe of the southwestern Mist Ridge—it seems to be from the Ji family… I heard that the current young master of the Ji family broke family rules and entered the Returning Immortal Sect alone. Even the Ji family’s young master has chosen to enter the mortal world—looks like the demon race is about to rise again.”

“What does that have to do with us?” Muzhou said. “If the demon race resurfaces, the four great sects will handle it. What matters more now is our business—Flying Sea Pavilion is trying to suppress us. If this keeps up, we won’t be able to hold out for long. That ‘Cultivation is Robbing Money’ girl is quite skilled; she can fight Flying Sea Pavilion’s people to a draw. Why don’t we recruit her into the Star-Plucking Tower…”

“No. She belongs to the Returning Immortal Sect. In the past, it wasn’t unheard of for disciples of immortal sects to come to the Star-Plucking Tower to make some extra money—since nothing ever happened, the sects turned a blind eye. But she’s different.”

“Hanging at her waist is the supreme-grade alchemy furnace that Feng Tianche once used. She cultivates both sword and alchemy, and she’s the favored disciple of that dead man. If anything happens to her in the Star-Plucking Tower, the Returning Immortal Sect will never forgive us.”

Muzhou said, “Sword and alchemy dual cultivation? She…”

The Star-Plucking Tower master said calmly, “That dead man would never take a pure sword cultivator as a disciple. She carries a sword yet associates closely with alchemy cultivators—there’s no other explanation besides dual cultivation.”

He clenched the brocade pouch in his hand. “There’s only one pill in here, and it’s likely her work. In short, do not act rashly—her identity and strength are not ordinary. When she comes again, I will speak with her personally.”