[Unnamed Slightly Flawed Pill ×1]
Alexei stared at the notification, then at the pile of experience orbs still floating around the pill spirit's burning corpse.
He grabbed a water bucket from his inventory and doused the green flames. The moment the flames went out, experience flooded into him.
His level shot up from 147 to 171 in a single burst.
"Not bad," he muttered, watching his XP bar fill and overflow repeatedly.
The pill spirit's body was still there, slowly turning transparent as the last traces of spiritual fire burned it away from within. According to everything he had read, the essence, now labeled by his system as an [Unnamed Slightly Flawed Pill], was the only part of any real value.
But something about the corpse bothered him. It felt like there was more to it than just a mob dropping loot and disappearing.
When in doubt, assimilate everything.
He placed his hand on the fading corpse.
[Level 171 → Level 113]
POOF.
The body vanished.
Alexei stared at the empty ground in front of him.
Is my luck that bad?
He let out a slow breath.
At least the pill had finished forming. The glow around it faded, revealing its true appearance. It was a perfectly round, candy-like sphere with a bright red-gold color.
He held it up to the underground light.
It looked just like his crafted candies, with the same size and shape, and even the same faint translucence along the edges.
"Huh."
The system had categorized it as a pill, which made sense. When he refined essences from a single material, they were labeled as essences. When he combined two or more ingredients, they became [Unnamed Pills] and formed pill patterns on their surface.
According to Yan, the sect's medical cultivator and the closest thing he had to a reliable source, single-material pill spirit essences did exist in the Verdant Vine Mystic Realm. They were just extremely rare.
Which meant he could pass off his candies as pill spirit essences.
They were chemically identical to refined essences, with the same spiritual energy density and material composition. Even the refining process was similar. The only real difference was that his came from a furnace instead of a pill spirit.
Would anyone be able to tell the difference?
He had no idea.
But there was an easy way to find out.
He pocketed the red-gold pill. Then he turned his attention back to the injured cultivator slumped against the boulder.
Feng watched him as Alexei walked over.
"You good?"
The cultivator blinked. "I... yes. The healing pill you gave me was very effective."
"So you can move?"
"I believe so." The man pushed himself upright. "Thank you for saving my life. May I know your name?"
"Just call me..." Alexei's mind went blank for a second. He still hadn't settled on a good cultivation-world alias. "Alexei."
Now that things had settled, he took a closer look at Feng. The man's red robes were clearly expensive, even if they were now torn and stained with blood. More importantly, there was a storage ring on his left hand.
Even the cheapest storage rings started at five thousand mid-grade spirit stones. This one looked far better than that.
Feng was definitely rich, or at least backed by someone who was.
"So, you explore mystic realms often?"
"This is my third time entering the Verdant Vine Realm. Though it's my first time venturing into the core region. The pill spirits here are far stronger than I expected."
"Yeah, I noticed."
An awkward silence followed.
Feng looked like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure how to start. Alexei said nothing, letting him sort it out.
After a moment, Feng spoke. "Do you intend to keep the spirit essence you obtained, or are you willing to sell it?"
"Sorry, the red-gold one is not for sale," Alexei replied immediately. "But I might have a few others."
He reached into his inventory and pulled out a handful of candies, letting them rest in his palm.
"These are pill spirit essences. I got them from earlier fights."
It wasn't exactly a lie. He had been fighting, and these were essences. Where they actually came from was a detail he chose not to mention.
Feng's eyes widened slightly. He picked up one of the orange candies and turned it between his fingers.
A thread of spiritual sense swept over it, and Alexei felt the contact like a faint buzz against his skin.
"This is genuine. The aura membrane is intact, and the spiritual energy concentration matches that of a pill essence."
"Of course it is. Why would I try to scam someone who just watched me kill a Nascent Soul pill spirit?"
Feng's expression shifted, becoming more businesslike. "What type of essence is this?"
"Red-Yellow Apricot," Alexei said. It was one of the fruits he had used for the candy. "Low-grade Profound tier. It should be good for strengthening the body."
"Red-Yellow Apricot?"
It wasn't some rare spiritual plant. While its grade was decent, it was easy enough to cultivate, and its market price usually hovered just above one hundred low-grade spirit stones.
It was commonly used to strengthen muscles and bones, and it was a key ingredient in the eighth-grade Bone-Strengthening Pill. Most sects grew it in their medicinal gardens, including his own.
The more he looked at it, the more it resembled the Red-Yellow Apricot.
He examined it more closely. "The purity is quite high as well."
Now came the tricky part: pricing.
Alexei had no idea what pill spirit essences actually sold for. What little information he had was unreliable at best, mostly pieced together from overheard conversations and vague mentions in sect records.
It would be better to let Feng make the first offer. It was unlikely the cultivator would scam his benefactor, right?
"So what's something like this worth?" he asked, trying to sound like he was just making conversation.
"In the mystic realm, where identification is difficult, unknown essences typically sell for around twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones. However, since you have identified this one as Red-Yellow Apricot..."
Feng trailed off, doing mental calculations.
"I can offer you twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones. That's well above market rate for a known Red-Yellow Apricot essence, but considering you saved my life, I'm willing to pay extra."
Twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones wasn't bad for a piece of candy.
"Hm… yeah, that works," he said, doing his best not to sound too eager. "I have more, if you're interested."
"You have more?" Feng looked surprised. "How many pill spirits have you killed?"
"I'm not sure, but it should be enough." Alexei raised his other hand, showing more candies in white, brown, bright yellow, and emerald green. "The white one is Mist-Cleansing Fruit, low-grade Profound-tier. The brown and yellow are Earth Wonder Fruit and Jade Light Fruit, both mid-grade Profound-tier. The green one is Emerald Cloud Fruit, mid-grade Earth-tier."
Feng went completely still.
"Emerald... Cloud...?" He leaned forward, staring at the green candy. "You are telling me that's Emerald Cloud Fruit essence?"
"Yeah."
Emerald Cloud Fruit was a key ingredient in third-grade Emerald Jade Pills. The fruit alone sold for thirty to fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones, and refining it into essence form was notoriously difficult. Most alchemists would not even attempt it because of the failure rate. Alexei, of course, knew none of that.
Feng picked up the emerald candy and examined it closely.
"If this is genuine, and I have no reason to doubt you, then this essence could raise a third-grade pill's success rate from ten percent to over eighty percent. Do you understand what that means?"
"It means it's worth more than twenty thousand spirit stones."
Feng took a deep breath. "I can offer you two hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones for the Emerald Cloud Fruit essence. Twenty thousand each for the others. And if you have more, I will buy them on the spot."
"I might have a few more. Let me check."
Alexei pulled out an iron block and set it on the ground, using it as a table. Then he began taking candies out of his spatial pouch by the handful, sorting them by color and type. Orange candies appeared first, followed by white ones, then brown, yellow, and green. As the pile grew, even a few purple and blue variants showed up, ones he hadn't mentioned before.
Feng watched in growing disbelief as the pile continued to grow.
"How… how many pill spirits have you killed?"
"I've been busy," Alexei said, which was true in a way.
In reality, he had refined hundreds of candies over the past few months, treating them as convenient snacks and portable sources of spiritual energy. It had never occurred to him to sell them, simply because he hadn't realized how valuable they were.
But now that he knew their market price, it was time to clear out some of his stock.
He wasn't worried about the other party having ill intentions. If Feng really did try something, then he would just have to reluctantly claim another fortune.
As for the possibility that their background might bring trouble to the Aureate Summit Sect, he was even less concerned.
The sect was days away, and the spiritual energy outside was so thin that they would be lucky just to keep track of him, let alone cause trouble.
Besides, ever since entering the secret realm, he had never revealed his sect.
This was standard practice among cultivators exploring secret realms. Of course, there were always exceptions. Some were too well known to hide, while others had backing strong enough that they simply didn't care.
---
Feng's mind went blank with each new addition to the pile of pill spirit essences. Almost on autopilot, he popped the Red-Yellow Apricot essence into his mouth.
The familiar taste spread through his mouth at once. But this one was far purer than anything grown in his sect's herb garden.
He looked back at the pile in front of him.
Did this guy raid every pill spirit nest in the entire realm?
And the variety alone was ridiculous. Most cultivators would be lucky to find three or four types during a month-long hunt.
He only had around thirty thousand mid-grade spirit stones left. Even after converting them, that was just a bit over three million low-grade stones.
It wasn't nearly enough.
Alexei noticed Feng's expression and stopped adding to the pile. "What's wrong?"
"I cannot afford all of these," Feng admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I only have about thirty thousand mid-grade spirit stones remaining."
"Oh." Alexei looked down at the pile he'd assembled. "How many can you afford?"
Feng did some quick mental math, factoring in the different tiers of essences. At twenty thousand per common essence and two hundred thousand for the Emerald Cloud variants...
"Perhaps five or six? Depending on which ones you are willing to part with."
"Take your pick."
After several minutes of internal debate, Feng finally chose a single essence: the Annihilation Peach Essence, one of the rarer Earth-tier fruits Alexei had put on display.
Alexei scooped the remaining candies back into his pouch, leaving only the single peach essence on the iron block.
"How do you want to do the payment?"
"Mid-grade spirit stones, if that's acceptable?"
"Works for me."
The transaction itself was straightforward, though Feng seemed confused by Alexei's specific instructions: arrange the spirit stones in a long line across five iron blocks placed in a row.
"Is there a particular reason for this arrangement?" Feng asked as he carefully stacked the spirit stones.
"Efficiency."
Once the thirty-thousand-plus mid-grade spirit stones were properly arranged, Alexei pulled out his diamond pickaxe.
Feng watched closely.
Alexei stepped forward and began mining from one end of the line, working his way to the other. Each strike of the pickaxe caused a small cluster of spirit stones to compress and vanish into his inventory.
The Fortune III enchantment activated on each swing.
Normally, five mining actions on mid-grade spirit stone deposits would yield maybe five or six MC mid-grade spirit stone blocks. But Fortune III had an average multiplier of 120%, pushing that up to around eleven.
This time, he got thirteen.
Lucky, he thought, watching his inventory tick upward.
Fortune III had a range. Depending on RNG, it could double the yield or fall somewhere in between. Thirteen blocks meant he had gotten about a 160% increase this time.
The experience from five successful mining actions pushed his level from 113 back up to 151.
He gathered the remaining loose spirit stones that weren't enough to form a full MC block, only a few hundred, then pulled the five iron blocks back into his inventory.
"Alright," he said, dusting off his hands even though there was no actual dust. "Pleasure doing business. I'll be heading out now."
He summoned the Pale Sky Blade, ready to mount it and fly off.
Feng cleared his throat. "Wait."
Alexei paused. "Yeah?"
"Do you... know where the inheritance site is located?"
Alexei's blank expression was answer enough.
"I was also planning to head there," Feng said quickly. "We could travel together, if you are amenable? The route is somewhat complicated."
Alexei hesitated.
Feng was still injured and would probably slow him down. But at the same time, he had no idea where he was going, and Feng clearly did.
Human GPS versus solo exploration in a massive underground maze...
"How far is it?"
Feng pulled out a map and studied it. "The straight-line distance from here to the inheritance area is about eleven hundred kilometers. But we cannot travel directly. There are too many territorial pill spirits and unstable regions. We will need to take a safer route, which will add a few hundred more kilometers."
He handed the map to Alexei.
Alexei stared at it.
It looked exactly like the abstract mess he already had. Squiggly lines, vague markings, and no clear sense of scale or direction.
"Do you have some kind of innate map-reading ability?" he asked.
Feng blinked. "You... cannot read cultivation realm maps?"
"I can read normal maps just fine."
"Ah." Feng looked surprised. "Most cultivators learn how to interpret these during foundation training. The abstract style is intentional. It allows the map to adjust as the realm's geography shifts."
"The geography shifts?"
"Secret realms aren't stable. Passages open and close. New chambers form, while others collapse. A normal map would become useless within days."
That actually made sense, in a frustrating kind of way.
"I see," Alexei said. "You navigate. I'll follow. But if you get us lost, I'm leaving you behind."
"Understood." Feng looked relieved. "We are currently in the northeastern corner of the mapped region. The inheritance site is in the central area of the entire underground palace complex."
He pointed at the map, tracing a route with his finger.
Alexei squinted at the lines and gave up trying to make sense of them.
"Just tell me which direction to fly."
"Southwest, initially. Then we will adjust course as needed."
"Got it."
They took to the air. Feng rode a fairly standard flying sword, while Alexei stood on the Pale Sky Blade. The injured cultivator kept a moderate pace, likely the fastest he could manage, and Alexei matched it.
Better to have a guide than wander around and get even more lost.
---
Jade Prosperity City...
Qingxue sat on her bed, staring at the book in her hands. She had been on the same page for twenty minutes.
Eventually, she gave up, set the book aside, and lay back to stare at the ceiling.
Knock knock knock.
The door creaked open without waiting for permission.
"How about coming with me to sell pills today?" Yan walked in with Mengyao right behind her. But when she saw Qingxue once again staring blankly at the ceiling, she pressed a hand to her forehead in exasperation.
Her junior martial sister had slowly been returning to normal over the past few months. She had started smiling more and paying attention to the world around her. But ever since that boy left for the mystic realm, Qingxue had almost completely gone back to how she used to be.
No… that wasn't quite right.
The old Qingxue had been withdrawn, but she still lived her life. This version of her was just absent.
Yan felt like she had aged five years in the past two weeks from worry alone.
"Qingxue?"
Qingxue blinked and seemed to register Yan's presence. "Yan? Did you need something?"
Yan resisted the urge to sigh. "I asked if you wanted to come sell pills with me."
"Yes, I can do that."
Of course she agreed. Qingxue never refused Yan's requests.
After giving Qingxue a few minutes to make herself presentable, the three of them left the inn together.
Jade Prosperity City was different from Verdantree City. At its core, it was still a mortal settlement, just one located near the entrance to a mystic realm. Because of that, cultivators would gather here whenever the realm opened.
Security was much worse than in Verdantree. Mortal guards were no match for Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the local lord only kept enough order to prevent things from turning into outright slaughter.
Even so, as long as they remained within the city, it was relatively safe.
Still, Yan had already noticed the watchers.
Several groups had stationed scouts near their inn, keeping an eye on them. She wasn't surprised. The moment she started selling mid-tier pills in a city without a major sect to back them, this outcome had been inevitable.
Mengyao walked between the two of them, taking in the bustling city with a faint sense of nostalgia.
In her previous life, she had entered the Verdant Vine Mystic Realm. She hadn't spent time in Jade Prosperity City itself. Her sect had camped outside the city, but she still remembered this period clearly.
The realm would close in less than half a month. And when it did, three legendary treasures would begin circulating through the cultivation world, becoming the subject of gossip for decades.
The first was a mid-grade Heaven-tier fire-attribute pill spirit essence. Rumor had it that even a cultivator with mediocre fire affinity could become a top-tier talent after consuming it. Some even claimed it could awaken a spirit body or a holy body.
The second was the Glasswood Spirit Flame, a spiritual fire once used by the realm's original owner. It had no offensive power, but it was made from the purest wood essence imaginable. When used in alchemy, it could refine materials with almost no loss of medicinal potency.
Though it was only a second-grade flame, in the hands of a skilled alchemist, it was worth more than most immortal-grade treasures. It was a flame born purely for pill refinement.
In her previous life, Hua Bailu had obtained that flame. Within seventy years, she had risen to become the foremost alchemist in the Eastern Region.
Well… second, technically.
As long as Mengyao's master was still alive, no one else could take the top spot. But her master barely counted. Comparing anyone to that woman was simply unfair.
The third treasure was somewhat less impressive than the first two: a mid-grade Heaven-tier half-ripened Flameheart Fruit. It had been picked too early. If it had fully matured, it would have reached at least high-grade Heaven-tier.
In her previous life, she had fantasized about obtaining that fruit. Just fantasized, though. It had eventually been auctioned off for 390,000 mid-grade spirit stones to a top-tier cultivation family.
Beyond the three legendary items, this particular opening of the realm had been notable for its high casualty rate among independent cultivators. Even young masters and holy sons from second-grade sects had died.
Luan Jin, young master of the Firefeather Sect, and Ji Huan, holy son of the Blazing Sun Sect, had both perished inside.
There had even been wild rumors that Jin was actually a female cultivator in disguise, though who knew if that was true.
On the other hand, a third-rank sect called the Radiant Peak Sect had benefited greatly from this expedition. Just two years after the Verdant Vine Realm closed, they advanced to second-rank status. Clearly, they had obtained something valuable. Even by the time of her rebirth, people were still speculating about what it could have been.
As for how she knew all this so clearly…
Try spending two or three hundred years unable to sleep, eat, cultivate, or even hold a proper conversation, and it would make sense.
---
Verdant Vine Mystic Realm, Underground Palace...
Flying through the underground palace with Feng leading the way was both necessary and incredibly tedious.
What looked like a straightforward eleven-hundred-kilometer trip on the map turned into something far worse. The actual route ended up three or four times longer, with constant detours, switchbacks, and vertical passages.
The smaller chambers were even worse. They were like mazes, with passages branching in every direction. Some looped back on themselves, while others stretched on for kilometers before ending abruptly. Without Feng guiding him, Alexei would have been completely lost within the first day.
They flew for over a week.
At one point, Feng suggested a detour to the territory of the Nascent Soul pill spirit Alexei had killed earlier.
"There should still be valuable spiritual plants in its medicinal garden," Feng explained as they changed course. "Pill spirits cultivate any herbs they can sense within their territory. The stronger the spirit, the larger the garden. It would be wasteful not to check."
That made sense. Free loot was free loot.
Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, someone had already beaten them to it.
The cave dwelling was in ruins. Sword energy had carved deep scars into every surface, gouging even the solid stone walls. The medicinal garden had been completely stripped and destroyed. Even the immature plants had been shredded by blade techniques.
"What the hell?" Alexei stared at the devastation. "Who wastes time destroying seedlings?"
Feng's expression darkened. "Someone petty. This kind of scorched-earth approach... I would wager it was Ji Huan."
"Who?"
"He is the holy son of the Blazing Sun Sect. Talented, but extremely narrow-minded. If he cannot have something, he ensures no one else can either."
"That's incredibly petty."
Feng sighed. "Be careful if you encounter him. Men like that hold grudges."
Alexei filed that information away. Another name for his mental list of people to avoid.
Still, the trip wasn't a complete waste.
After searching through the wreckage, they managed to recover over a dozen spiritual fruit cores scattered among the destroyed plants. These were the seeds pill spirits expelled after refining the medicinal essence of the herbs they consumed.
[Flameheart Fruit Core ×7]
[Flower-Moon Fruit Core ×6]
"These are valuable," Feng said, examining one of the cores. "Flameheart Fruit is mid-grade Heaven-tier, primarily used to enhance fire-attribute spiritual roots. Flower-Moon Fruit is low-grade Earth-tier but can be refined into fourth-grade Clarity Pills."
Alexei picked up a few cores and inspected them. They looked like ordinary seeds, but his system confirmed their identity.
He only took three of each type. There was no point carrying extras when he could just plant these and grow more later.
The real issue was storage. Once he assimilated seeds with experience, they became MC items that couldn't stack with regular seeds. Each type would need its own inventory slot, and he was starting to run low on free space.
Before leaving, they buried the remaining cores in the soil. Maybe they would sprout on their own. Maybe the next cultivator to pass through would find them.
Either way, it was better than letting them rot.
---
The journey to the inheritance area continued.
And somewhere along the way, Alexei discovered that Feng was an excellent salesman.
It started when they encountered a small group of cultivators camped in one of the larger chambers. Feng struck up a conversation, mentioned that his "traveling companion" had a few pill spirit essences available for trade, and before Alexei knew what was happening, he was conducting his third major transaction of the week.
By the time they reached the inheritance site, he had sold nearly a hundred more essence candies.
Most of the trades were for low-tier spiritual plants, useful materials, but nothing particularly valuable. The real profit came from two more sales of Annihilation Peach Essence to a pair of female cultivators. According to Feng, they were inner disciples of Hundred Flowers Valley.
"They are from one of the wealthiest sects in the Eastern Territories," Feng said once the deal was done. "If they say they will pay, they will pay. Their reputation is impeccable."
The two women had pooled their entire savings: 133,000 mid-grade spirit stones.
Alexei had graciously accepted.
Adding in the 15,000 mid-grade stones from smaller essence sales, his total haul for the week came to 148,000 mid-grade spirit stones.
He handled the conversion later, using his Fortune III pickaxe on carefully arranged piles of currency.
In the end, he had 71 low-grade spirit stone blocks and 95 mid-grade blocks.
The Fortune III enchantment had more than doubled his yield. Without it, he would have ended up with maybe 36 low-grade and 40 mid-grade blocks.
All that mining pushed his level from 151 to an unprecedented 195.
"You seem pleased," Feng observed as they flew.
"Just thinking about economics."
"Ah. You know, if you wanted to maximize your returns, you could exchange those mid-grade spirit stones for low-grade ones outside the realm. The conversion rate would be favorable."
"Yeah, about that." Alexei had done the math.
Ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones converted into a million low-grade ones, which meant dealing with a pile of roughly two hundred cubic meters. Transporting that amount was simply not realistic.
Doing so would require a high-grade spatial treasure, and possessing something like that openly would be dangerous.
In the Eastern Territories, wealth and stability were both scarce. Even established sects struggled to maintain their footing. If a small and relatively unknown sect suddenly revealed valuable spatial artifacts, word would spread quickly.
It wouldn't take long before a so-called righteous sect found an excuse to act. Accusations of demonic cultivation were easy to fabricate when resources were at stake.
This wasn't speculation. It had happened many times before.
Here, the cultivation world followed a simple rule. If you were weak, you had to appear weak. Any sign of hidden wealth only invited disaster.
The entire cultivation economy of the Eastern Territories felt like it was built to keep everyone poor and desperate.
Spiritual energy was thin, making cultivation slow. Resources were scarce, which led to constant conflict. And without proper infrastructure, like the life plaques Feng had mentioned earlier, strength was the only thing that mattered.
According to Feng, things were different in the outer regions. With abundant spiritual energy, sects could maintain detection artifacts without issue. Life plaques and soul lamps were standard, allowing them to track a cultivator's condition and location at all times.
If a sect member died, the sect would know immediately. The life plaque would shatter, the soul lamp would extinguish, and evidence would remain behind. In theory, justice would follow.
None of that applied here. Those same artifacts required a constant supply of spirit stones to function, something most sects in the Eastern Territories simply couldn't afford. As a result, murders stayed hidden, bodies disappeared, and no one could prove anything.
Only in mystic realms did both systems fail equally. Even the outer regions' artifacts stopped working there, which explained the unusually high casualty rates in places like this.
It painted a bleak picture.
The outer regions had order and structure, but mortals paid the price through constant attacks from beasts and demons. The Eastern Territories offered relative safety to mortals, but for cultivators, it was pure chaos.
Alexei couldn't decide which was worse.
---
Finally, after more than a week of flying, they arrived.
The inheritance site was impossible to miss. A massive archway had been carved into the rock face, easily fifty meters tall. And its surface was covered in glowing formations.
"Well," Alexei said, staring up at it. "That's dramatic."
Feng smiled faintly. "Inheritance sites usually are. The more impressive the entrance, the more dangerous what lies beyond."
"Love that for me."
Alexei reached into his pouch and pulled out a Brightglow Fruit essence, one of the leftovers from his earlier sales. He tossed it to Feng.
"For the navigation services. And the sales assistance."
Feng caught it. "This is worth far more than—"
"Think of it as payment for not asking too many questions." Alexei gave him a pointed look. "You knew something was off."
"I noticed you were remarkably well-supplied for someone traveling alone. I chose not to inquire."
Alexei smiled at that.
Feng pocketed the essence with a slight bow. "I have learned quite a bit traveling with you. I hope our paths cross again under better circumstances."
"Same. Try not to die in there."
"I could say the same to you."
They parted ways.
Alexei headed toward the inheritance site's entrance, while Feng moved off in another direction, likely to regroup with his sect.
As he approached the archway, he began to pick up bits of conversation from the cultivators gathered nearby. Small groups lingered around the entrance, some resting, others arguing in low voices.
"...heard that both the Alchemy Alliance chief and Hundred Flowers Valley chief are participating in the Alchemy Flame Trial this year—"
"...obvious who will win. Hua Bailu is unmatched..."
"...her talent is legendary..."
Alexei slowed his steps.
"There is no suspense," one cultivator said, his expression bordering on fanatical. "Bailu will obviously claim the flame. Her mastery of alchemy is unparalleled."
"Agreed. Dan Cheng is talented, but he cannot compare."
"Bailu is simply on another level..."
A burly, bearded man sitting off to the side let out a disgusted snort. "Are Hua Bailu fanboys everywhere? This is getting ridiculous."
Several nearby cultivators immediately turned to glare at him.
"What did you say?" one demanded. "Are you disrespecting her?"
The bearded man's expression went from irritated to wary as he realized he was suddenly the focus of multiple hostile cultivators.
"I just..." He trailed off, clearly reconsidering his life choices.
"Just what?" another cultivator pressed. "Finish your sentence."
The bearded man wisely said nothing.
After a moment, the group turned back to their discussion, and the bearded man let out a quiet sigh.
Under his breath, barely audible, he muttered, "I still think strong muscles and a well-groomed beard are way more attractive than some pill-obsessed woman..."
He glanced around to make sure no one had heard, then hunched his shoulders and tried to become invisible.
Alexei, who had heard the entire exchange, decided this was a good time to stop eavesdropping and enter the inheritance site.