The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

Aqi stood in front of Shen Yifei, her clothes half-undone, revealing a white strapless top underneath. The embers from the alchemy furnace reflected off her, making the small patch of skin below her collarbone gleam.

Shen Yifei didn't move. He just stood there, arms crossed, looking her up and down.

"Miss Qi, aren't you afraid your sect leader will find out?"

"If you don't tell, and I don't tell, who will know?" Ah Qi took off his clothes and threw them on the ground, then walked up to him. "The sect leader meditates for four hours every day, and no one will come to the alchemy room during that time. You help me break through to the Nascent Soul stage, and I'll help you get out of here alive. A fair trade."

Shen Yifei reached out and pinched her chin, lifting her face up.

Ah Qi's face was small, with a pointed chin, thin lips, and eyes that, while not large, were very bright. At that moment, those eyes were fixed on him, filled not with shyness, but with an almost obsessive longing.

"Aren't you afraid I'll lie to you? Sleep with you and then deny everything?"

"You won't," Ah Qi said confidently. "You may be full of bad ideas, but you keep your word."

Shen Yifei chuckled, "You've got a good eye for things."

"I'm good at judging people." Ah Qi tiptoed and whispered in his ear, "The cult leader told me to keep an eye on you, and before I knew it, I'd gotten myself into this mess. It's my fate, I accept it."

Shen Yifei picked her up in one go, and Aqi wrapped her arms around his neck.

Ah Qi was much more proactive than the first time.

She looked down at him, her hair falling down and tickling his face.

Shen Yifei just watched her clumsy movements without saying a word.

Ah Qi's first experience was all learned by stealing from him. Her technique was ridiculously clumsy, but that didn't stop her from being earnest. Every time she made a mistake, she would frown and start over.

That night, Ah Qi broke through from the peak of the Golden Core stage to the half-step Nascent Soul stage. Although he was still just one step away from becoming a true Nascent Soul, the bottleneck that had held him back for three years was finally broken.

As dawn approached, Ah Qi climbed off him, put on his clothes, tidied up the haystack, and added more charcoal to the furnace.

"You've got the antidote, and my bottleneck is lifted. We're even." She stood in the doorway, her back to him. "From today onward, I won't do anything for you anymore."

"Okay." Shen Yifei leaned against the wall, looking at her. "So, are you still going to do dual cultivation?"

Ah Qi was silent for a moment, then said, "Come. But not to help you, but to help myself. I need your medicinal fragrance to stabilize my cultivation level."

The door opened and closed, and Ah Qi's footsteps disappeared into the corridor.

Shen Yifei lay back down on the haystack, staring blankly at the ceiling of the stone chamber. Half-step Nascent Soul, this girl's cultivation speed is quite fast. Three days ago she was still at the peak of the Golden Core stage, and after sleeping with him twice, she's already touched the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage.

"Little one, you've ruined another one." Liu Mengli's voice echoed in his mind.

Liu Mengli paused for a moment, then said, "You have to smash that Blood Furnace before I can come out and help you escape."

"What's the rush? Let's take care of the important business first."

"What important matter is it?"

Shen Yifei took out several items from his ring: the Hehuan Powder he brought from the Hehuan Sect, the Bewitching Grass he brought from the Qingyun Sect, and a few unknown herbs he had dug up from the secret realm. He had kept these things in a corner of the ring, never expecting them to come in handy.

"What are you going to do?" Liu Mengli's voice was wary.

"Add a little something to Yin Wuxie's recipe." Shen Yifei crushed the herbs and mixed them into the ingredients for the Qi Gathering Pill. "Didn't she want a top-grade Qi Gathering Pill? I'll refine one for her. But I'll add a few more auxiliary ingredients to her Qi Gathering Pill."

"Are you crazy? She's at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. You drugged her, how could she not detect it?"

"I can't taste it." Shen Yifei threw the mixed herbs into the Myriad Things Cauldron. "These things have their own smell when taken out individually, but after being refined into pills, the fragrance of the herbs will completely cover up the other smells. Even a peak Nascent Soul cultivator can only smell the Qi Gathering Pill."

Liu Mengli fell silent. Shen Yifei, though seemingly carefree, was more shrewd than anyone else. If he wanted to scheme against someone, that person wouldn't escape.

Blue flames rose from the Cauldron of Myriad Things, and the medicinal herbs slowly melted in the fire. Shen Yifei controlled the heat, ensuring that the medicinal power of the Hehuan Powder and the Bewitching Grass was evenly incorporated into each pill.

After an incense stick's time, the fire in the furnace went out. At the bottom of the cauldron lay twelve golden, top-grade Qi Gathering Pills, exactly the same as ordinary top-grade Qi Gathering Pills, even their fragrance was identical.

"What kind of drug did you use?" Liu Mengli asked.

"Albizia powder and bewitching herb. Albizia powder is an aphrodisiac, while bewitching herb causes hallucinations. Neither drug is particularly harmful when used alone, but when mixed together and taken in large quantities, it can cause hallucinations and make it difficult to distinguish between reality and dreams."

"You want her to dream?"

"It's not a dream, it's about making her addicted. After taking my pills, her body will become dependent on them. She'll feel uncomfortable if she doesn't take them for a day, and she'll feel like she's dying if she doesn't take them for two days. At that point, she'll beg me to make them for her."

Liu Mengli remained silent for a long while before saying, "That was a really ruthless move of yours."

"What's so ruthless about her? When she wanted to use me to refine blood pills, didn't she feel ruthless at all?"

Shen Yifei put the twelve pills into a jade bottle, and then used the Myriad Things Cauldron to refine eighty-eight ordinary top-grade Qi Gathering Pills. One hundred pills, not one missing, were neatly stacked on the table.

Early on the third day, Yin Wuxie arrived.

She was still wearing that blood-red robe, her white hair cascading down to her waist, her blood-red eyes scanning the alchemy room before finally settling on the row of jade bottles on the table.

"One hundred top-grade Qi Gathering Pills." Shen Yifei pointed to the jade bottle on the table. "Not a single one is missing. Please take a look."

Yin Wuxie walked to the table, casually picked up a jade bottle, and poured out a pill. It was golden and had a rich fragrance. She leaned closer to smell it, and her brows furrowed slightly.

Shen Yifei's heart tightened. "Master, is there a problem?"

Yin Wuxie didn't speak, put the pill in his mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it. Shen Yifei's heart raced, but his face remained indifferent.

Yin Wuxie closed her eyes, seemingly sensing the effects of the medicine. After a few breaths, she opened her eyes, her blood-red eyes fixed on Shen Yifei.

"Not bad." She placed the jade bottle back on the table. "It's even better than I expected."

Shen Yifei breathed a sigh of relief. A cultivator of Yin Wuxie's level never had to worry about poison in his pills.

With her peak Nascent Soul cultivation, she could neutralize any poison that entered her body. However, the Acacia Powder and the Bewitching Grass were not poisons, but herbs. They were fine to take individually, and even mixed together, they wouldn't be fatal.

However, long-term use can unknowingly alter a person's mental state.

"I'm glad the Master is satisfied." Shen Yifei cupped his hands in greeting. "Then what about my antidote for the Heart-Piercing Pill..."

"What's the rush? You've only refined a hundred Qi Gathering Pills, and you already want the antidote? My Blood Soul Sect doesn't tolerate idlers. From today onwards, you'll refine a hundred top-grade Qi Gathering Pills for me every day. After a month, I'll consider giving you the antidote."

"One hundred pills a day?" Shen Yifei's eyes widened. "Master, aren't you trying to kill me?"

"Your life is in my hands now." Yin Wuxie walked up to him, patted his face, and said, "Refine it well. If you do well, you'll be rewarded. If you don't..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but the meaning was self-evident.