“That won’t be necessary.”

Zhou Che shook her head. Though she was in the Hehuan Sect, she did not have the heart of a demon. Torturing Wang Er held no interest for her.

Hearing this, the old woman waved her hand with spiritual power, and Wang Er’s head rolled twice before stopping beside Zhou Che’s foot.

His face was frozen in terror, his pair of eyes staring fixedly at Zhou Che, as if begging her for help.

“Huff…”

Zhou Che let out a long breath, then turned to the old woman and said respectfully, “Thank you, Elder Qin, for saving my life!”

The old woman replied calmly, “No need for formalities. In the end, I was only valuing your talent. When you achieve great things in the future, just don’t forget this old one.”

“That goes without saying! How could Qingyue ever forget the grace of a life-saving favor!” Zhou Che responded with a smile.

The old woman nodded, then turned her gaze to the food on the table.

After hesitating for a moment, she spoke again. “There was indeed something wrong with this food.”

“Oh, yes! Elder, you mentioned earlier that my excessive yang qi was due to diet. But Qingyue doesn’t know which foods can disrupt the balance of yin and yang. I ask for your guidance, so I can properly recuperate afterward.” Upon hearing her words, Zhou Che immediately recalled her own yin-yang imbalance and humbly sought advice.

But hearing this, the old woman visibly hesitated.

Zhou Che looked at her face, noticed her distraction, and called out again, “Elder? What is it?”

Zhou Che’s call pulled the old woman’s thoughts back. Her eyes darted away, as if there were something behind Zhou Che’s question that she found inconvenient to say.

“It seems you misunderstood what I meant.” After what seemed to be an internal struggle, the old woman finally gritted her teeth and spoke.

“What do you mean?” Zhou Che was puzzled.

The old woman subconsciously glanced at Wang Er’s body on the ground and kicked his head into the courtyard.

“The dietary issue I mentioned was referring to consuming Pure Yang Dao Pills or spirit plants and spirit meat carrying pure yang aura, not these mortal dishes.”

“Pure Yang Dao Pill? Spirit plants, spirit meat?”

“Correct! A Pure Yang Dao Pill is a spirit pill possessing pure yang aura. I think you understand, so I won’t elaborate. Spirit plants and spirit meat are vegetables, fruits, and flesh from spirit beasts that have been nourished by spiritual energy and contain dense spiritual power. If either is tainted with pure yang aura, consuming them will alter the purity of a cultivator’s yang qi. Only ingesting the above items containing pure yang aura would cause a sudden surge of yang qi and lead to yin-yang imbalance.”

The old woman explained, and hearing this, Zhou Che’s heart tightened inexplicably.

Because these past few days, she hadn’t consumed any spirit pills or elixirs containing pure yang aura, nor had she eaten any so-called spirit plants or spirit meat.

“But you just said there was something wrong with this food. Could it be that Wang Er added ingredients containing pure yang aura?” Zhou Che looked at the old woman, thought carefully, then posed the question.

Seeing that Zhou Che had hit the key point, the old woman nodded. “Correct. That servant of yours did add something to it, but it wasn’t an ingredient.”

“Not an ingredient?” Zhou Che was led in circles again. Could it be that Wang Er had added a Pure Yang Dao Pill?

Zhou Che considered this, then immediately dismissed the idea.

After all, even ordinary spirit pills and medicines couldn’t be bought with just a few taels of silver. Even if Wang Er had wanted to buy them, he wouldn’t have had the means.

At this point, Zhou Che’s head was aching.

The old woman looked at Zhou Che, weighed her options repeatedly, and finally gritted her teeth and spoke the truth.

“Perhaps ordinary pills and spiritual foods can be purchased with enough gold. But precious items carrying a specific pure aura require one to be an Outer Sect Disciple to have the right to purchase. And it was precisely at this point that I noticed something suspicious, enabling me to save you in time. Otherwise, you would have been doomed tonight! There was indeed something wrong with this food, but it wasn’t laced with spirit pills or spiritual food. Rather, it was laced with the purest yang qi!”

“Yang qi?” Zhou Che’s heart couldn’t help but jolt. She was still somewhat confused and didn’t fully grasp the meaning.

Seeing Zhou Che’s expression, the old woman was at a loss for words. She had been as tactful as possible, yet this young girl was like an innocent college student, utterly failing to understand what she was saying.

“Aiya, women are yin, men are yang! What kind of yang qi an ordinary man like Wang Er could provide, do you still not understand?!”

As the old woman spoke, a layer of blush had appeared on her aged face at some point.

With the explanation reaching this extent, if Zhou Che still couldn’t understand, then she would truly be a pig-brain.

She was first stunned, then felt her stomach churn, and with a retch, vomited.

At this moment, Zhou Che’s entire being was in a daze, waves of nausea crashing over her, battering her fragile and sensitive nerves.

‘So, all the meals I’ve eaten these past many days... were all nutted on by that bastard!’

Zhou Che looked at the delicacies on the table in disbelief, her body trembling uncontrollably.

“Ugh!” Fighting back the nausea, she overturned the table with a shove, then threw herself to the ground, straddling Wang Er’s headless corpse and venting her fury with punch after punch.

“Bastard! Ah!”

No wonder! No wonder every time they ate, that bastard never touched any other dish but only ate from the single plate in front of him!

At this thought, the force of Zhou Che’s defilement of the corpse grew even heavier.

She regretted it. Regretted having killed him so quickly!

She should have listened to the old woman and tormented him properly until the very last moment of his life!

By the time Zhou Che had finished venting, the night was deep.

The old woman gave her a few more instructions before taking her leave.

After she left, Zhou Che completely calmed down.

She was not surprised by the old woman’s help. In her view, the other must have valued her connection with Xiao Ningyu, and therefore offered assistance.

But unfortunately, the old woman had only seen the surface. The reason Xiao Ningyu had chosen to befriend her was merely to monitor this suspicious person.

So, in the end, the old woman’s efforts would all be in vain.

On the other side, in the depths of a coldly elegant and refined palace, Xiao Ningyu watched everything that had happened in Zhou Che’s abode clearly through a Spirit Treasure Crystal.

The Transmission Jade she had given Zhou Che earlier did indeed have a hidden function. Its effect was to record everything within a hundred meters and transmit it into this Spirit Treasure Crystal.

Seeing the old woman appear, a strange look flickered in Xiao Ningyu’s eyes. Then, connecting it with the Dao the old woman cultivated, she instantly understood her goal.

“Qin Yulan, oh Qin Yulan! Although this Zhou Qingyue has suspicious points, given her talent, she is not something you can lay a hand on. Moreover, the legacy she obtained is one of the twenty-four Dao Treasuries of the demonic sects, the Evil Dragon’s Four Crossings!” Xiao Ningyu muttered, a sharp gleam flashing in her eyes.

The so-called twenty-four Dao Treasuries of the demonic sects were the supreme legacies of the six great demonic sects of the Qian Kingdom—the twenty-four highest cultivation methods of the demonic sects.

Several thousand years ago, the six great demonic sects had actually once belonged to a single sect. Later, due to extermination efforts by the orthodox sects, it was destroyed, and the demonic sect disciples fled with their respective legacies, eventually forming the six great demonic sects of later times.

The Evil Dragon’s Four Crossings was one of the three great legacy secret arts that the Hehuan Sect had obtained. However, due to the special nature of the twenty-four Dao Treasuries, even the sect’s higher-ups, constrained by their talent and aptitude, could not cultivate them.

Thus, after a decision by the sect’s upper echelon, all three great Dao Treasury legacies were engraved into the Transmission Spirit Pillar in the Registration Hall, allowing the Dao Treasuries to choose their own masters.

But even so, over several hundred years, only eight people had ever obtained a legacy.

And Zhou Che had precisely become the ninth, and the legacy she obtained was the most mysterious Dao Treasury that had never before appeared—the Evil Dragon’s Four Crossings.

This was why Xiao Ningyu paid such close attention to her. It was also why, even though she knew Zhou Che was suspicious, she hadn’t taken action to eliminate a potential threat.

In her view, if the suspicious points about this woman could be cleared up, it would undoubtedly be a great blessing for the Hehuan Sect!

After all, given her nature, if Zhou Che had not obtained one of the three great Dao Treasuries, she would have already died beneath her sword.