A few days later.
The night on Xianyu Peak was as tranquil as ever.
In the fruit grove left behind by Ye Fan.
The Purple Jade Ice Flame Flower was rooted in the soil, its surface constantly flowing with purple light.
Now its本体 (benti - true form) was about two meters tall. Both its leaves and petals were incredibly full and round, exuding endless vitality.
With a burst of dazzling purple light, the Purple Jade Ice Flame Flower once again transformed into human form.
Zi Yu frowned and touched her belly.
She had just broken through smoothly, but the ensuing hunger made her incredibly uncomfortable.
Her stomach was protesting wildly, her intestines felt tied in knots...
The energy provided by eating soil was clearly no longer enough. Zi Yu decisively flew towards the Demonic Beast Forest.
Demonic Beast Forest.
A Nascent Soul stage tiger demon was celebrating with its subordinates.
Originally, this territory was ruled by three great demonic beasts: a wolf king, a snake demon, and a pig demon.
Some time ago, the wolf king had killed the snake demon. Later, both the wolf king and the pig demon had inexplicably died.
As long as it ran to the territory of the three great demonic beasts tomorrow and planted its flag, it would be the undisputed boss!
Although the position of boss had come somewhat unexpectedly, it was ultimately a good thing.
In its happiness, it couldn't help but drink a little too much.
At this moment, both the tiger demon and its subordinate lesser demons were all swaying drunkenly.
Suddenly.
A streak of purple light descended from the sky...
The tiger demon and its subordinates were gone.
Without pain.
Utterly at peace...
Zi Yu once again transformed into a half-human, half-flower form, manipulating countless branches to pierce into the bodies of these demonic beasts.
A quarter of an hour later.
Zi Yu resumed her human form and helplessly touched her stomach.
Still not full.
The cultivation of these demonic beasts was too low this time; the energy provided was completely insufficient?
Besides hunger, she also felt another strange sensation.
Although the demonic beasts this time had even lower cultivation than those encountered before, she felt that the taste was a bit different this time.
It wasn't a matter of good or bad taste, but rather a flavor mixed within the flesh and blood that she had never experienced before.
It was a little spicy, but it had a fragrant aftertaste.
That fragrance was different from the aroma of food; it was a wondrous feeling she had never experienced.
Just as Zi Yu was preparing to return and refine the energy within her, she suddenly stopped.
Because she realized she could still smell that fragrant, spicy aroma.
Out of curiosity, Zi Yu looked around.
Finally, her gaze settled on the wine jars beside her.
Zi Yu's eyes lit up!
That wondrous aroma was coming from those large jars!
"Wine?" Seeing the words written on the large jars, Zi Yu was surprised.
Before, when she observed the daily lives of the disciples in Purple Cloud Sect, she mostly observed them outdoors and rarely followed them indoors.
Although she occasionally heard disciples mention words like "drinking wine," this was the first time she had ever seen wine.
"Since those humans mentioned drinking, it must mean this is something delicious, right?"
After eating the demonic beast meat just now, her head felt a little dizzy and her body felt floaty.
This sensation was novel and comfortable to her.
Zi Yu reached out and beckoned. The wine in the large jars turned into a thin stream and flew towards her.
Zi Yu opened her small mouth and drank greedily.
Although it still felt quite spicy upon entering her mouth, she cherished the fragrant mellowness of the aftertaste.
And after drinking for a while, the spicy sensation faded a lot, leaving only mellowness!
Zi Yu drank with great joy, and the wine jars on the ground emptied one by one...
By the time Zi Yu had finished all the wine, her legs had completely adopted a drunken stagger...
"Ugh... it's all gone... I should go back..."
"Strange... why does the... the trees in the Demonic Beast Forest... seem to have so many... more...?"
"Bang—!"
"Hmm...? Aren't the trees... next to me... how did I bump into..."
...
About a mile south of Purple Cloud Sect.
Two elders from the Zhenxie Sect were stealthily crouching in the bushes.
After observing for these past two days, they found that Purple Cloud Sect showed no abnormalities whatsoever.
Moreover, there were no powerful cultivator auras emanating from within Purple Cloud Sect.
"Eleventh Elder, do you think Purple Cloud Sect has a super-mighty cultivator?" the Tenth Elder whispered. "Someone who can hide their cultivation from us, so we can't sense them?"
"It shouldn't be, right?" The Eleventh Elder smacked his lips. "If there were such a mighty cultivator, they would have discovered us long ago."
"It's also possible that the mighty cultivator is too lazy to bother with us?" the Tenth Elder analyzed. "If that's the case, as long as we don't make a move, we should be safe..."
"Perhaps," the Eleventh Elder pouted. "Who cares? We'll just stay here for a few days and then go back."
"That's right," the Tenth Elder nodded in agreement. "Speaking of which, we should really thank the Third Elder. If he hadn't attacked Purple Cloud Sect back then, we would have been the ones in trouble."
"Yeah," the Eleventh Elder sighed. "We really should thank the Third Elder for this."
"Hm?" As he said this, the Eleventh Elder frowned. "Why do I smell alcohol?"
"It's true!" the Tenth Elder was greatly surprised and quickly looked around.
Alcohol wouldn't just grow legs and walk over; the smell of alcohol meant someone was approaching!
To approach without their knowledge, this was a bit dangerous, wasn't it?!
Then...
They saw countless branches rushing towards their faces...
Then...
There was no then...
"These guys... their words... and their... clothes... are clearly the same group as that... bad... egg from before..."
Zi Yu, with her drunken gait, picked up the bodies of the two and wobbled back towards Purple Cloud Sect.
Although she was drunk now, she still had some semblance of reason.
She decided to eat the "bad egg" at the peak of Xianyu Peak this time, to avoid scaring anyone like last time.
However, halfway back, the hunger in Zi Yu's abdomen struck again.
Zi Yu felt so hungry that she couldn't wait until the peak of Xianyu Peak.
Carefully finding a secluded spot, Zi Yu squatted on the ground and began to feast.
Under the cover of night, a figure ambled leisurely towards the outside of the sect.
It was none other than Wang Yang!
These past few days, he had noticed the gazes of the sect disciples towards him becoming increasingly strange!
It was as if he had truly lost his mind!
Not to mention the other disciples with whom he had only casual relations, even his fellow disciples under the same master regarded him this way!
But he knew clearly that he was perfectly normal!
He couldn't bear to be looked at like a crazy person with a broken mind anymore!
Wang Yang's heart had grown completely cold!
It was one thing for others to look at him like that, but for his fellow disciples under the same master to also treat him like a lunatic?
Indeed, indeed, this was the so-called warmth and coldness of human relationships!
Good brothers of the past would betray him at any moment!
Therefore, Wang Yang decided to escape!
He wanted to leave this indifferent sect and go to the Imperial City to find his master!
As for whether he could find him smoothly, he was too lazy to think about it.
In any case, he didn't want to stay in Purple Cloud Sect for another moment!
Although Purple Cloud Sect was very quiet at night, one could still encounter disciples returning from training or on patrol.
Wang Yang glanced at these people and found their gazes towards him even more peculiar.
Mockery!
Contempt!
Indifference!
Ruthlessness!
Hmph!
Wang Yang turned his head away, no longer bothering with them, and continued to walk towards the sect's exit.
After Wang Yang had walked far away, these disciples began to murmur amongst themselves.
"Brother Wang's gaze towards us seems even stranger than before?"
"Who can say? When he looked at us just now, it felt like being watched by the Second Elder..."
"But looking at Brother Wang's direction, it seems like he's leaving the sect? Should we report it?"
"Forget it, let's not get involved. Anyway, there's the gatekeeper disciples to deal with."
"Exactly. Didn't the elders say not to stimulate Brother Wang? We should hurry back."
...
Wang Yang could vaguely hear the discussions behind him, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.
Hmph!
It was probably just saying that my mind is broken or something similar!
As expected, everyone is the same, so indifferent and heartless!
But it didn't matter!
He was about to leave this place!
At this moment, Wang Yang happened to pass by a derelict building.
In his memory, this building seemed to have been abandoned for a long time, but for some reason, the sect leader had never had it cleared.
Looking at the derelict building beside him, Wang Yang suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
He hadn't felt anything special when he saw it before, but for some reason today, he felt as if the building was like some terrifying ferocious beast, ready to swallow him whole at any moment...
Wang Yang quickly shook his head.
Hallucinations!
All hallucinations!
It was all those indifferent people, making him so nervous lately.
"Crack... crack... crack..."
Just as Wang Yang was about to leave, a faint sound reached his ears.