A tall figure with broad shoulders sped through the air. His shoulder-length hair whipped about in the wind due to his extreme speed. Every step he took in the air caused tiny green ripples to spread through the air.

The man had a leisurely expression as if exerting speed far beyond his cultivation was a matter of course.

“Hm?” The figure’s void-like black eyes showed surprise before he took a token out, and raised his eyebrows, “A disciple is nearby?”

He pondered for a few moments before he turned towards a certain direction and continued executing his Movement Art. ‘Since someone is nearby, let’s go check it out.’

After travelling away for a while, he paused in the air. Then all of his aura disappeared! His Spiritual Aura, his scent, and his Divine Sense, suddenly became completely untraceable. Even his Life Aura disappeared. If one weren’t looking straight at him, they would never notice him!

This was the Perfection level of the Heaven Concealing Method.

Indeed, this figure was Gu Ran!

Gu Ran casually landed on the ground and directly used Earth Escape and shot through the ground at unbelievable speed! Xiao Hong’s Earth Burrow did not have the slightest chance of putting up the competition!

After speeding through the ground for a while, Gu Ran paused. ‘... This Life Aura… Junior Sister Xiao?

‘More importantly, is that the Heaven Concealing Method?!’ Gu Ran sensed his Junior Sister stalking a Wood Spirit Great Deer from under the ground.

He watched on as Xiao Hong carefully used the Earth Burrow to get closer to where a Wood Spirit Great Deer was grazing. Through his immensely powerful Divine Sense, he saw her making 18 hand seals in a single breath, causing her aura to explode, instantly reaching thrice the normal amount.

Right after, a terrifying bolt of Purple lightning shot from the ground! The Wood Spirit Great Deer did not even have the chance to react before the sword pierced through its head, instantly ending its life!

‘Spirit Transformation Art?!’ Gu Ran’s eyes widened, ‘But her Cultivation of the Art is only at the Novice level. How are her meridians able to bear such a load?!

Gu Ran barely contained his surprise before carefully analysing, ‘Unless… Her Body Cultivation is much greater than her cultivation of Zhenqi! And it’s probably an extremely high-rank Cultivation Method!

‘It’s definitely beyond Heaven-rank and perhaps even at the Yuan-Rank!

‘As expected, this girl is definitely not simple!

‘Moreover, despite being at the Divine Sea initial stage, her battle prowess has reached the 4th Disaster. Perhaps, even stronger. This kind of genius… is not much inferior to the Upper Realm’s prodigies! She might even surpass my previous life’s self by a small margin.

‘If she were given the right resources… She could become a true expert!

‘My decision to be on her good side was the right one!’

A smirk appeared on his handsome face and his eyes glowed, ‘Hehe, with help from her, I might be able to push my plans forward faster!

‘Haha, maybe I could even get her to pretend to be my Dao Companion. Jiang Chen, that lecherous fellow, might just explode from jealousy and die!’ He almost cackled in delight imagining it!

That’s when he witnessed something that flabbergasted him! So much that his eyes might have forever taken up residence under the ground had he not been a seasoned expert! 

He cursed vehemently, ‘What the fuck?!

He saw her dig out the Beast Crystal Core and hold it in her hand; through his overpowered Divine Sense, he could sense the Yuan Essence in the Beast Crystal Core slowly disappearing. ‘S-She’s absorbing the Yuan Essence in the Beast Crystal Core??!! Moreover, she looks so proficient in doing it too!’

‘How?!’ For the first time since his transmigration, Gu Ran felt like he was out of his depth!

Yuan Essence was not something even an expert like him could absorb. Even at the pinnacle of his power! That someone could actually absorb it… His vision nearly went dark and caused him to faint from the shock!

What was this bullshit?!

Do you think Yuan Essence is like candy that one could casually eat up?!

Aren’t you afraid of getting indigestion and exploding?!

It took a long while for him to regather his wits. He called upon his immense knowledge base trying to figure out what the hell was going on. After a few moments, he had an idea. He directed his Divine Sense to carefully scan her surroundings. 

Soon, he felt a small spike in her Physical Essence, signifying a minor breakthrough in Physical Power - the fluctuation was so small, he’d never have noticed it if hadn’t been paying attention. ‘So Body Cultivation…? No, that's impossible. Cultivation cannot be done like that! So it’s a Special Physique…’

Another thought struck him, nearly making him swallow a mouthful of mud!

‘Fuck!’ The normally well-mannered Gu Ran had cussed twice more in a minute than he had in three months!  ‘It can’t be the Stellar Primordial Body, right?!’ Gu Ran’s mouth twitched violently. In fact, there was no other possible physique that came to mind. 

‘The Stellar Primordial Body that can automatically refine any Essence - regardless of level - into one’s body with zero repercussions, there was no effort needed from the possessor of the Physique at all. 

‘Ranked among the top 3 of the best Cultivation Physiques, it is the most desired Physique in the entire Upper World!

‘All the possessor of this Physique needed to do was find a large pile of resources, take a nap on it, and come out a millennium later as an expert that can shake the Heavens! It can theoretically reach the Realms above the Yuan Opening and above as long as enough high-level Essences are provided. And there are no bottlenecks at all!

‘However, even in the most powerful Upper Realms, that is only a legend!

‘So, it should not be possible for a Lower Realm to have such a powerful Physique!’

But then he remembered the number of anomalies in this realm, and he was not so sure anymore. He wasn’t even sure how to evaluate this Junior Sister of his anymore.

Fortunately, he had seen many things in his long life and managed to temper his Mind, and thus was able to quickly regain his wits. ‘Whatever it is, I can’t go wrong in befriending her.’

So, he carefully escaped far away, came out of the ground, turned back and flew back in Xiao Hong’s direction without hiding his Aura,  ‘It’s no wonder she wanted a way to isolate fluctuation while cultivating… This way she could cultivate all the time without anyone noticing!’

***

Xiao Hong, who had just stored the Yuan Essence in the Beast Crystal Core in the System Storage, suddenly snapped her head in the direction where she felt a familiar Aura that seemed like an unfathomable Abyss coming her way.

‘Gu Ran?’ Xiao Hong’s eyes narrowed as she felt him approaching. 

“Junior Sister Xiao, we meet again!” Gu Ran greeted her casually. There was absolutely no indication of his prior shock and surprise. “Are you on your way to the gathering point as well?”

“Senior Brother Gu.” She nodded with a polite smile and replied “Indeed. I was.”

“It would seem our paths coincide, do you wish to accompany me?” Gu Ran suggested.

‘So that you can show off your awesome protagonist talent and rend my heart?!’ Xiao Hong ridiculed inwardly, ‘No fucking way… alright, I don’t think I’ll survive for long on my own with my shitty luck.’ She quickly accepted reality.

Xiao Hong smiled and tucked a stray hair behind her ears, “Of course! I would be greatly relieved to accompany Senior Brother! I’m only an initial-stage Divine Sea Realm disciple after all. It would be much safer for me to accompany you.”

Gu Ran’s heart skipped a beat as he stared at that ridiculously beautiful face, ‘... Fucking useless body!’

Then his eyes fell on the Wood Spirit Great Deer’s mangled head. He suddenly remembered the ‘Special Physique’ this girl had, and immediately the strange feeling disappeared as if his heart was doused with a gallon of ice-cold water!  

‘Also, can you at least hide the Wood Spirit Great Deer’s body before you call yourself ‘only an initial-stage Divine Sea Realm disciple’?! That is a Heaven-damned Rank 3 mid-tier Beast!’

Xiao Hong, who noticed Gu Ran’s gaze, sidled slightly, standing in between the Wood Spirit Great Deer and him so that he couldn’t see it. “That is the Rank 3 initial Stage Wood Spirit Great Deer that I just defeated with a sneak attack.” Xiao Hong fidgeted in her place, shily twirling her robes.

Gu Ran nearly spat blood looking at the girl incredulously, ‘Shily? Shy my foot!

‘Also, do you not feel the slightest bit ashamed - lying to your Senior Brother like this?!’

He opened his mouth trying to say something before closing it. He didn’t quite know what to say - even his 10,000-year experience had failed him. He’d never seen a girl with such thick skin - it was as if bullshitting came to her naturally. He even felt his horizons had widened once again after millennia!

What was worse was that her acting was so good he would have believed her - if he had not seen the whole thing for himself!

“But the Wood Spirit Great Deer have extremely powerful senses, how did you sneak up to the Wood Spirit Great Deer?” Gu Ran asked ‘doubtfully’. He decided to play along with this Junior Sister for now.

Xiao Hong fidgeted even more intensely and a slight blush covered her face, “I learnt the Heaven Concealing Method to Beginner-level…”

‘Beginner-level your head! It was definitely at the Novice-level!’ Gu Ran cursed inwardly while trying his best to soothe his stifled heart.  Of course, he also understood Xiao Hong’s caution. So on the outside, he displayed a surprised expression on his face, “Really? That is incredible, Junior Sister! You’re really talented!” 

“Senior Brother overpraises me…”

After a bit more casual talk, Xiao Hong suggested, “How about we set off?”

“Actually, before we set off, can Alchemist Xiao do me a favour?” As he said so, he tossed out a small mountain of Beast Crystal Cores. “Can you refine these into Pills?”

It was Xiao Hong’s turn to feel stifled! ‘Fuck! This bastard really sees me as cheap labour!’

It was the Alchemists’ duty to refine pills on this mission, so she could not even refuse!

Gu Ran continued, “I understand that asking you to refine so many Beast Crystal Cores is asking a bit too much, so how about this: You can keep 20 percent of the Yuan Essence Pills you refine. There are around two hundred Beast Crystal Cores here. With a success rate of 60 percent, you can keep about 72 Yuan Essence Pills if each Beast Crystal Core produces three Pills.”

Xiao Hong, who was about to refuse, immediately shut her mouth.

This was a massive profit for her! It was essentially double the amount she was entitled to as her duty as an Alchemist. Moreover, since her refinement rate was 100 percent, she would get to keep the equivalent 600 Yuan Essence Pills. What a harvest! Even if they were currently useless to her, she would require them later!

So, she immediately got to work!