Duosheng Danyuan

Faced with Elder Huaizhen's slightly threatening gaze, Zeng Yixi revealed a meaningful smile.

Immediately afterward, Zeng Yixi and I exchanged a glance. During this exchange of glances, I decided to ask the question first.

"Elder Huaizhen, I have a question."

"explain."

"Once we achieve the goal of obtaining the eleventh Earthly Pill of the Day After Tomorrow, will we be able to enter the Golden Core Realm?" I paused and then asked.

"cannot."

"..."

Say thank you.

"Thanks."

Our question-and-answer session ended abruptly. Then, Elder Huaizhen returned to the podium, picked up the book in his hand, and prepared to continue explaining the contents of the next chapter of "The Secret Method of Shengdan".

"Teacher, I also have a question," Zeng Yixi said, raising her right hand tremblingly.

"You already asked your question when we were making the pills. Sit down."

"Is that so?" Zeng Yixi narrowed her eyes slightly, paused, let out a long sigh, and continued, "But I still want to ask, Elder Huaizhen, you said that stealing the pill is actually stimulating the pill's release. So, are the benefits of stealing the pill limited only to us disciples whose pills were stolen? Don't you elders, senior brothers and sisters who took our lungs and souls gain any benefit from stealing the pill? I think you will gain benefits, and great benefits at that. I want to know what those benefits are."

"..."

Faced with Zeng Yixi's question, Elder Huaizhen remained silent for a long time before finally speaking: "I already said, you've already asked a question today. Considering you just achieved the formation of your core, I won't pursue the matter further. Now, sit down."

"I..."

"sit down."

Zeng Yixi wanted to ask more questions, but Elder Huaizhen suddenly unleashed the same aura as when they first met yesterday, as if he would break Zeng Yixi's neck just like he would break Qian Zhe's fingers in the next second.

Faced with the terrifying aura suddenly unleashed by Elder Huaizhen, Zeng Yixi wisely shut his mouth and sullenly sat back down in his seat.

Then, Elder Huaizhen scanned us all over to make sure no one wanted to ask any more questions before he began to explain the rest of the rules.

The later sections of the curriculum were somewhat obscure and difficult to understand compared to the earlier ones. They were mostly filled with professional terminology and incantations to be recited during the Core Formation process. Compared to the concepts explained in the first half of the lesson, the later content could be considered a supplement to the concepts explained earlier, addressing some issues we might encounter in practice, but it didn't introduce any new information.

About an hour later, Elder Huaizhen finished explaining the last part of the Core Formation section, the "Insights Section," before closing the book and saying to us, "That's about enough. Let's go eat after class."

After saying that, Elder Huaizhen opened the door and left the classroom on his own.

"Shall we go?" Lin Xu said as he watched Elder Huaizhen leave.

"Okay, let's go." I said, watching Qian Zhe and the others quickly flee Lianxin Hall and leave one after another.

"Wait." Just as Lin Xu and I were about to get up, Su Wanqing called out to us, took two biscuits from her pocket and handed them to us, saying, "Eat these."

"What's this?" Lin Xu examined the biscuit-like object in his hand, looking at it from all angles and even smelling it. After confirming that what Su Wanqing had given him was indeed just a biscuit, he asked curiously, "Why did you give us biscuits?"

"Before leaving the Xuan Hall today, Elder Muyun, one of the Supreme Elders, specifically instructed me to make sure I ate my fill at Yangyuanzhai at noon. If the food at Yangyuanzhai didn't suit my taste, I could eat these biscuits."

"Full? Cookie? Just one?" Lin Xu looked at the cookie in his hand, his doubts growing.

"I ate one of these cookies as soon as I got them, and they're not ordinary cookies. In the real world, one cookie would definitely not be enough for me in the morning. But from the Xuan Hall to the Refining Heart Hall, and even now after class, I haven't felt hungry. These cookies must have a filling effect."

"I see. Then I won't be polite." Hearing Su Wanqing say that, Lin Xu nodded with shining eyes and was about to eat the cookie in his hand.

"Wait a minute." I immediately reached out and covered Lin Xu's mouth, stopping him from eating the cookie.

"what?"

"Have you forgotten? We already ate before we left today."

"Huh? Ah... you mean the food that guy made for us. Uh... to be honest, although I'm not hungry right now, I'd rather eat this cookie Su Wanqing gave me than Yangyuanzhai's food. At least this cookie really just looks like a cookie..."

"That guy's meat porridge looks and tastes just like ordinary meat porridge," I said speechlessly.

"But it's just so annoying..."

"Sigh..." Looking at Lin Xu, who still didn't understand the situation, I sighed helplessly, then said in a deep voice, "Didn't that imposter Su Wanqing say this to us before she left—'You wouldn't dare eat too much at Yangyuanzhai, would you? Take my advice, drink this meat porridge, and things will go more smoothly for you later.'"

"She did say that, so what... Oh! Does she mean that since we've had the meat porridge, we don't need to eat Yangyuanzhai's lunch today?"

"I think so," I nodded.

"Su Wanqing, do you have any more of these cookies?" Lin Xu quickly put the cookies in his hand and turned to ask Su Wanqing.

"No," Su Wanqing shook her head helplessly. "Elder Muyun only gave me one. I thought this might be useful to everyone, so I wanted Elder Muyun to give me more. But no matter how much I begged, he would only give me three biscuits at most, and told me that I could only eat one biscuit after I felt hungry."

"That's a pity. If that's the case, then there will only be one of these special cookies left for me and Brother Changfeng each."

"That's how it is," Su Wanqing said with a helpless shrug.

"Then it seems we can't share them with anyone else." I sighed, and continued, "Judging from Su Wanqing's experience, these cookies are probably meant to help her deal with some events that will happen today. Moreover, according to Elder Muyun's original intention, one cookie should be enough to deal with the upcoming events. Giving her only three at most might be because eating more than three cookies could lead to danger or something? In any case, these cookies are very important, Su Wanqing, you must keep them safe."

"...That makes sense." After listening to my analysis, Lin Xu pondered for a moment, nodded in agreement, and then, like me, handed the cookies back to Su Wanqing. "According to Elder Huaizhen, you should be the most talented among the ten of us right now. Since you're the most talented, you're naturally the strongest too. It's safer for you to have these two extra cookies than for us to have them."

"Okay then... wait, I just realized what you mean by 'fake Su Wanqing'? Someone is impersonating me!?" Su Wanqing belatedly realized what was going on.

"Well, that's a long story," Lin Xu sighed, looking wistful.

"Then tell me quickly," Su Wanqing said anxiously, "How could someone impersonate me? Where did you meet them? From what you just said, was it this morning?"

So, Lin Xu began to tell Su Wanqing about what had happened between him and me that morning, omitting the part about the blood-essence contract.

"I can't believe such a thing exists..."

"That's right," Lin Xu said, seemingly recalling the horrifying scene from that morning, still shaken, "Can you believe that guy had your appearance, but his hands were like a skeleton!"

"Oh my god..." Su Wanqing was so shocked that she was speechless.

"Regarding the imposter, Lin Xu and I both believe it might be due to the fourth rule of Jingxi Lodge. The imposter has also admitted that her appearance was to take your place after you disappeared."

"Is that so?" Su Wanqing asked Lin Xu after hearing my words.

"Hmm, that should be it. So, are you going back to Jingxi Lodge tonight, or are you going to that... Xuan Palace again?"

"It's Xuan Dian, the Xuan from fantasy novels." Su Wanqing pursed her lips speechlessly, then sighed and said, "I don't know either. So many things happened yesterday, I don't even know where to begin... Elder Yue Hu, who brought me here today, made an appointment with me to wait for me at the entrance of Jingxi Lu at four o'clock this afternoon. I think he wants me to go back to Xuan Dian, right?"

"What are you doing back at the Xuan Palace? To practice your skills?" I asked.

"Hmm..." Su Wanqing pondered for a long time, then finally nodded and said, "I guess so."

"What does 'consider' mean?"

"So be it, but this is a difficult question to answer," Su Wanqing sighed.

"Uh..." I twitched my lips, speechless, unsure of what to say.

"Then take your time," Lin Xu said to Su Wanqing with a smile. "It's only just past noon, and there's still plenty of time before Elder Yuehu's appointed time. We have plenty of time at Yangyuanzhai, so you can slowly tell us what happened to you."

"Okay," Su Wanqing said with a smile.

"Sigh, let's go then, let's go to Yangyuanzhai now." I sighed.

"Sigh, but do we really need to go to Yangyuanzhai?" Su Wanqing muttered. "I ate some biscuits, and you two said you drank meat porridge, so is it unnecessary for us to go to Yangyuanzhai? Can't we just go back to Jingxilu?"

"This..." Lin Xu was stumped by Su Wanqing's question and began to feel troubled.

Faced with this question, I pondered for a moment and came to a conclusion. Just as I was about to speak, I heard a familiar female voice say, "Of course we have to go. Yangyuanzhai is open to students on a class-by-class basis. If the three of you who get special treatment don't come, the rest of us seven won't be able to eat, right?"

Looking in the direction of the sound, Zeng Yixi was leaning against the back of the classroom door, smiling at me.