Chapter 96 — Exposed: Are You Hiding Something from Me?

When Lian Mu returned to the Azure Profound Sect, night had already fallen. It was the sect’s Quiet Night, so there were far fewer people out and about. The dueling grounds were completely silent.

She slipped quietly back to her quarters. Just as she stepped into the courtyard, she spotted a dark figure sneaking around in front of her door, suspiciously fiddling with the doorframe, trying to jiggle the lock.

Lian Mu immediately went on alert. Without a word, she lunged forward, pinned the person down, and was ready to knock them out with two quick punches.

“Ow!”

A cry of pain stopped her mid-strike. The voice sounded oddly familiar. She pulled out her fluorite lamp to take a look—turns out, it was Xu Xianxing.

“What are you doing sneaking around at night?” Lian Mu let go of his collar.

Xu Xianxing rubbed the side of his face, which was nearly disfigured, and said through gritted teeth, “You’ve got some nerve blaming me. We were looking all over for you to have dinner together tonight. We searched the entire Azure Profound Sect and couldn’t find you. I thought something had happened to you.”

So he’d waited by her door, hoping to catch her when she came back.

“Where did you go earlier?”

Lian Mu replied casually, “Had nothing to do, just went for a walk. Took in the sights and scenery around the sect.”

She noticed he was carrying a wooden box in his hand. Xu Xianxing said, “There’s nothing to see outside the sect. The place is crawling with venomous bugs. Last time Baili Que went home, he came back covered in bites. I don’t even dare step beyond the sect barrier.”

“Baili Que went home?” Lian Mu hadn’t known his family lived in Vermilion Bird South too.

“He has this annoying cousin who kept pestering him. He finally snapped and beat the guy up, so his family called him back for a lecture.”

Lian Mu said, “Aren’t they from different sects? Getting into fights seems normal. They called him back for something that minor?”

“The Baili family is strict. They value kinship a lot. No matter where you are, you’re not allowed to harm your own blood.” Xu Xianxing explained. “Anyway, forget about them. Since you didn’t show up for dinner, I brought you some pastries I found pretty good.”

Lian Mu hadn’t eaten yet. She’d been too preoccupied with her sword these past few days, barely getting by on food and drink. She took the food box and said, “Thanks.”

Xu Xianxing added, “It’s cold outside. Let me inside for a bit… You’ve got chairs now, right?”

Lian Mu opened the door. The room was still nearly bare—just a bed and a table, so spartan it was almost painful to look at.

Xu Xianxing: “?”

Lian Mu sheepishly rubbed her nose. “Uh… you can sit on my bed.”

The chairs, benches, and cabinets in the room had all been gnawed apart by Green Bean. It even had its sights on the table, but luckily, Lian Mu had caught it in time to prevent total destruction.

Xu Xianxing went quiet, then sat silently on the edge of the bed. “…Didn’t expect the Azure Profound Sect to be so discriminatory. A three-spiritual-root disciple gets a room this pathetic—this is cruel.”

Lian Mu: “…”

She said nothing, but reached into her sleeve and gave Green Bean a good squeeze. The little thing didn’t dare resist, letting her pinch its shell in silence.

Lian Mu pulled the table closer and opened the food box, discovering a second layer beneath—various bottles and jars in all colors.

Xu Xianxing said, “These are from Ji Mingyue. She left in a rush and didn’t have time to find you, so she asked me to pass these pills along. Is something wrong with your body? Why so many pills?”

Lian Mu opened one of the bottles and took a sniff. A strong, bitter smell hit her. These were all third-grade or higher, clearly refined from the high-level spiritual herbs Bai Su had given her. Judging by the timing, this was probably the final batch—those herbs were almost used up.

“I’m fine.” Xu Xianxing still didn’t know about her dantian problem. Lian Mu instinctively tried to hide it. “They’re for a friend. She’s in poor health and needs to take medicine regularly. You know I don’t have much money—no way I could afford pills like these.”

Xu Xianxing thought about it. That actually made sense. The pills were all high-grade and definitely expensive. Lian Mu couldn’t have bought so many all at once.

He didn’t press the issue, and Lian Mu smoothly changed the topic. “Why did Ji Mingyue leave in such a hurry? I haven’t seen her since that night.”

“Family issues again. Ji Mingyue’s family situation is messy. Did she ever tell you?”

Lian Mu shook her head. “She said she ran away because she didn’t want to be forced into a political marriage.”

Xu Xianxing snorted. “Who even does forced marriages anymore? She’s the Ji clan’s heir—if she doesn’t want to marry, no one can force her. The real reason she came to the Returning Immortal Sect was because she’d heard rumors of demons showing up here a few years ago. She needed demon-related info.”

“Seven years ago, her parents were severely injured by demons. They’re still clinging to life, and showing signs of demonization. If she doesn’t find the one who did it, they won’t last much longer.”

At this, Xu Xianxing chuckled bitterly. “You remember, right? It was during the time we first met.”

Of course Lian Mu remembered. Xu Xianxing had been a total edgelord as a kid, insisting on running off to the back mountain to catch magical beasts. He’d ended up triggering a demon disturbance that broke a seal in the lake, and she had to save three people by herself. Her ears nearly got blasted deaf in the process.

“Didn’t Senior Brother Ye and Senior Brother Xiao chase those demons? What happened with that?” she asked.

“They caught them. But as soon as they were captured, the demons poisoned themselves. Not a single useful word came out of it.” Xu Xianxing said. “After that, the sect went through a string of incidents, but none of them were ever resolved.”

One incident Lian Mu remembered vividly: the year she was preparing for her first entrance exam to the Returning Immortal Sect, a shocking report spread through the sect—a new disciple had ambushed and killed an elder. After that, the sect shut its gates for three years and stopped accepting new recruits.

It wasn’t until the fifth year that she finally got her chance to enter.

Curious, Lian Mu told Xu Xianxing about it. To her surprise, he paused, then said, “Yeah, I remember. The victim was a pill-cultivator elder, surnamed Yin. He was one of the top ten masters taking in disciples. After choosing a disciple, that very disciple struck while he was deeply focused on refining pills—pierced his chest in one blow.”

Because of this, the Returning Immortal Sect became a laughingstock among the other three major sects for two years. A disciple killing their master—unthinkable.

“Do you think it’s connected to the demons too?” Lian Mu asked.

Xu Xianxing suddenly went silent. He stuffed a piece of pastry into his mouth and quietly started chewing.

Seeing his reaction, Lian Mu got the message—this was something that couldn’t be casually talked about. She didn’t push further and went back to eating her pastries.

Green Bean crawled out of her sleeve, wanting a taste too, but Xu Xianxing nudged it away. “…Why does your spiritual pet eat everything? Aren’t you afraid it’ll gorge itself to death?”

Lian Mu tossed it a slice of cloud pastry. “It does eat a lot, but it never grows. Been this size for ages.”

“Spiritual pets usually grow fast. If it hasn’t grown after a whole month, then this is probably as big as it’ll ever get.” Xu Xianxing gestured at Green Bean’s tiny body, which just about filled a palm. “Still, yours is pretty big—by its kind’s standards, anyway.”

The moment he saw a spiritual pet, his Artifact Refiner instincts kicked in. He couldn’t help but start stroking Green Bean’s shell, seemingly searching for a good spot to cut into.

Green Bean flared up and made as if to sting him, but Lian Mu grabbed its tail hook just in time.

Truthfully, Lian Mu was also curious whether Green Bean’s body had any usable parts for artifact refining. After all, she’d heard that Demon Clan Artifact Refiners loved using spirit beasts in their work. She still didn’t know what the difference was between artifacts refined from spirit beasts and those made from demon beasts.

“So, what do you think? Is this shell usable if removed?” Lian Mu held down the struggling Green Bean. She didn’t really plan on dismantling it—she just wanted to understand more.

Green Bean’s eyes went wide. It clamped her finger with its pincers in protest.

Xu Xianxing commented, “Meh, about the same level as an eighth-tier Metal Beast’s spiritual armor… It’s just a tough shell. But it’s not a demon beast, so it can only serve as auxiliary material in a mix.”

Lian Mu was a little disappointed. If Green Bean had some usable materials, she could’ve bumped the price up by at least a hundred thousand more when negotiating with Bai Su in the future.

“Where did you find this thing? This spiritual pet feels… off. Not quite normal,” Xu Xianxing said, hesitating.

Lian Mu replied, “Ji Mingyue gave it to me. It insisted on following me—I couldn’t shake it off.”

Xu Xianxing had been thinking it had some mysterious origin, but hearing that made him visibly deflate. “Guess I overthought it.”

The people of Mist Ridge had a tradition of using spirit creatures to refine puppets. Every year, an elder would sense which poison creature would be crowned King of the Year, and the clansfolk would go out in search.

This scorpion was caught by Ji Mingyue, so it was likely the chosen Spirit Scorpion King of the year. But it was still just a spirit creature—plentiful and not particularly special.

Xu Xianxing let go of Green Bean. Green Bean blew bubbles at him, flailing its pincers and tail like it was ready to lunge. He instantly stood up and dodged.

“Restrain it already!”

Green Bean slipped free of Lian Mu’s grip and chased after him, whipping its tail about, clearly determined to sting him.

For some reason, its shell suddenly turned slick and slippery—even Lian Mu couldn’t hold onto it.

Xu Xianxing dashed around the room, yelping as Green Bean kept pinching him. He crashed into a table and knocked over a glowing fluorite stone.

Lian Mu: “…”

She activated a restriction, locked Green Bean back into bracelet form, and picked it up.

“It won’t kill you,” she said, adjusting the table. She picked up the fallen fluorite and saw a new crack running through it. Its glow had faded until it was almost invisible.

She shook it, but the light didn’t return. So she reached into her spatial pouch and pulled out something else for illumination. “You carry my scent and it’s seen you before. It won’t go all out—at most, it’ll sting you a couple of times.”

Xu Xianxing rubbed his pinched spot. Since nothing serious happened, he let out a breath. “It’s got quite the temper.”

As he spoke, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention—a stack of books on her desk, weighed down by a demon crystal blade.

He frowned. “That blade looks familiar… Wait, isn’t that the one I sold you? Didn’t you say you were giving it to a friend?”

He took a closer look. The hilt bore the unique engraving of the Xu family. It was definitely the blade he’d sold her at a discount.

Lian Mu said, “I haven’t given it away yet.”

Xu Xianxing gave her a strange look, then shifted to see the titles of the books in the stack—they were all about artifact refining.

Lian Mu followed his gaze, and her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

She’d forgotten to put away the books she’d brought back from the Azure Profound Sect’s library.

“Lian Mu, are you hiding something from me?”

Xu Xianxing finally started using his long-dormant brain. “You said your friend is a Three-Spirit-Root Artifact Refiner—and you’re also a Three-Spirit-Root cultivator. Wealth Bringer clearly channels Metal and Fire spirit energy, and you just so happen to be Metal-Wood-Fire rooted.”

“These books are only useful to Artifact Refiners. If you say you brought them for your friend, how come your friend is supposedly in northern Xuanwu, yet when we came here, your friend just so happened to show up too?”

Lian Mu: “…”

He picked up the demon crystal blade from under the books and examined it. “Hm, only two people have used it. One’s me, and the other…”

Demon crystal blades aren’t ordinary. When sealed, they can’t even cut a leaf. Only once unsealed with spiritual power do they gain their razor-sharp edge. And once used, they retain the user’s spiritual signature.

“The other person… is you, isn’t it?” Xu Xianxing said.

“Your ‘friend’ supposedly wanted to consult a big-sect Artifact Refiner, so you came to ask me. But I already told you I’d be happy to meet her. Yet you kept saying she only talked to sword cultivators. None of it made sense.”

Seeing he’d already pieced together that much, Lian Mu gave up trying to hide it and admitted, “You’re right. That ‘friend’… is me.”

Xu Xianxing: “…”

Xu Xianxing: “You…”

He took a deep breath. Even though he’d suspected, hearing her admit it still shook him.

“So Wealth Bringer is something you forged yourself?” he asked, struggling to keep the shock out of his voice. “Where’d you get the money for the materials?”

“That’s a long story—hard to explain right now,” Lian Mu said slowly. “I didn’t want you guys to know, in case you worried.”

“…You used to tell me that beginners in cultivation need to stabilize their foundation and stay focused, but you’ve been secretly dual-cultivating in sword and artifact forging.”

Lian Mu didn’t mention that she was also learning alchemy. “Life forced my hand. Who wouldn’t want to be a pure sword cultivator?”

That might be true, but Xu Xianxing wasn’t the least bit worried she’d get herself in trouble. In his eyes, nothing could stop Lian Mu—except money.

“I’ve always wanted to meet that friend of yours, and it turns out she’s been right here all along,” he said, visibly excited. “So how did you create an artifact that hovers between sixth and fifth tier? Teach me.”

“Sixth to fifth tier?” A flicker of confusion crossed Lian Mu’s face. “I just followed the book’s instructions to forge Wealth Bringer… added a few extra things, but I don’t remember the exact details.”

“I noticed Wealth Bringer was unusual during your re-entry test,” Xu Xianxing said. “Back then, it was between fifth and sixth tier. But after you rebuilt your foundation, it dropped to seventh—yet weirdly, it got even stronger.”

Lian Mu: “…”

Fifth to sixth tier?

She thought back—she was sure the materials she used were around seventh tier… Wait, no. The issue was the Green-Clawed Toad.

The Green-Clawed Toad didn’t match the rank listed on the bounty. It was probably in a metamorphosis stage… No wonder it had seemed to grow stronger as she fought it.

A mix of emotions swelled in her chest. She hadn’t known at the time, but those black-cloaked people from Star-Plucking Tower definitely had—and didn’t lift a finger to stop it.

Suddenly, Lian Mu felt that just leeching off Star-Plucking Tower’s magical beast materials wasn’t nearly enough punishment.

“No wonder Wealth Bringer always felt slightly off before my rebuild,” she murmured. She finally understood—the artifact’s rank didn’t match her spirit roots.

Then another idea struck her: if she could resonate with a fifth-to-sixth-tier artifact, what about higher tiers?

She might not fully resonate right away, but even touching the threshold would be a breakthrough. At the very least, it proved there was a way forward.

Lian Mu was instantly filled with hope and renewed her resolve to upgrade Wealth Bringer’s tier in the future.

Seeing her silent for so long, Xu Xianxing grew anxious. “So what method did you use? How did it get stronger after dropping a tier?”

Lin Mu snapped back to attention and gave the question some serious thought. She felt the key might lie in the spiritual material she had extracted from that sword in the Sword Pavilion, but she hadn’t figured out the specifics yet. So she said, “I’m not sure. When I reforged it, I just followed my instincts and added a bunch of random materials along the way.”

Hearing that, Xu Xianxing froze: “…”

Wasn’t forging a sword something that required precise calculations of all materials before even starting? How could someone just go with their gut and toss things in midway?

Lin Mu replied, “Isn’t that normal? You just use spiritual sense to attune to the forging platform, and if something feels off, you adjust immediately.”

“…Huh?” Xu Xianxing suddenly felt like he didn’t understand artifact forging at all anymore. After a moment of silence, he said, “…I think I’ll wait for my master’s response. I already sent a message asking him about Wealth Bringer.”

He felt like if he listened to Lin Mu talk any longer, his years of understanding might completely collapse.

Who forges by instinct? That’s just unheard of.

Xu Xianxing couldn’t help but sigh, “It really is you—always doing things no one else would even think of.”

“Can I borrow Wealth Bringer for a couple of days? Just to take a look—I won’t melt it down or try to analyze the materials.”

Lin Mu shook her head. “Not right now. I’ve got something going on and can’t afford to have the sword away from me. I’ll let you see it after the next illusion round.”

She was scheduled to compete in the Flying Sea Pavilion’s advancement trials this month. Although it was technically a spiritual pet competition, in case her opponent lost and decided to stir up trouble, having her sword on her would at least guarantee some protection.

Speaking of the next illusion realm, Xu Xianxing suddenly remembered something. “Oh right, weren’t you trying to upgrade Wealth Bringer? The next illusion round is fire-based, and the White Tiger Region is crawling with Flame Beasts. I heard the Sect Leader of Clear Thought Sect is going to throw in a few metamorphosis-stage magical beasts. Whoever slays them can take their crystal cores as a bonus reward.”

“Crystal cores from metamorphosis-stage Flame Beasts are super rare. If you can seize the chance…”

Lin Mu knew exactly what he was trying to suggest and replied, “I’ll keep an eye out.”