Chapter Fifteen: Not Yet Cold

Gao Zhengde hurriedly received it with great care, his face full of emotion, eyes shining with excitement as he gazed at the porcelain bottle in his hand.

“With this, we are sure to succeed! Immortal Master, please rest assured and leave this matter to me. I am confident you will hear good news very soon.”

To this, Su Ji’an offered no comment.

After a moment’s thought, he spoke slowly, “We must not take this lightly. You are but a mortal; to avoid any mishaps, I will accompany you. Only then can we ensure nothing goes awry.”

As the saying goes, hearing is believing, but seeing is the truth.

He would never trust the man so easily, even if Su Henli was their common enemy.

Who could say whether the other would secretly hide a portion of the Gu poison and the Purple Spirit Pill for himself? He had no wish to hoist the stone and smash his own foot.

After all, he had never placed his trust in Gao Zhengde from the start. There was no guarantee the man wouldn’t try to turn the tables on him.

Gao Zhengde was briefly taken aback, but then his face lit up with delight. “That would be even better. With you overseeing things personally, Immortal Master, I feel much more at ease.”

Su Ji’an merely smiled in silence.

He then followed Gao Zhengde through another narrow secret passage, emerging into a different hidden chamber.

This place was dark and damp, sealed so tightly no air could enter, and the air was thick with the musty stench of rot and decay—a stark contrast to the grand underground palace they had left behind.

Everywhere the eye landed in this secret room were infants wrapped in swaddling cloth, each and every one crammed into cramped iron cages.

Attending to them were several black-robed figures with grim expressions.

The scene was grotesque, to say the least.

Clearly, these men had used the secret passage to spirit the stolen children from the city into the city lord’s mansion without a trace.

Gao Zhengde, wearing a look of relief, said, “Immortal Master, we arrived just in time—this is the last batch. Had we been any later, they would have already been delivered to the demon’s hands.”

Su Ji’an nodded slightly. These past days, Su Henli had remained in seclusion. It was likely she was using these infants for her cultivation.

A storm was brewing...

“You may all withdraw,” Gao Zhengde ordered with a wave of his hand.

He then opened the porcelain bottles one by one, but when he saw that each of the three bottles contained only a small piece of the pill, his face showed confusion. “Immortal Master... was there a mistake? The pills seem incomplete.”

Though he knew this could not have been an error, curiosity gnawed at him.

Su Ji’an explained simply, “If the pills’ effects were intact and whole, the suppression of the Gu poison would last too long.”

Though this meant some efficacy was lost, it would not matter in the short term.

The sooner Su Henli was eliminated, the better, lest unforeseen events occur.

Gao Zhengde hesitated no more. He selected three infants at random and administered the Blood Toad Gu and the Purple Spirit Pill to each.

Su Ji’an sighed inwardly. Cruel as it seemed, there was no other way.

Besides, this was the fate they were given; he was merely playing his part in the current.

In a world where men devour men, a true cultivator should never harbor softness within.

Gao Zhengde’s face, which had been wreathed in smiles, grew suddenly cold as he looked at Su Ji’an, a sneer curling his lips. “Heh... quite vigilant, aren’t you...”

...

Su Ji’an quietly returned to his quarters.

By then, Zhao Qianxue had already returned to the neighboring room, though she still could not break the habit of slipping over to his place at night.

Su Ji’an’s thoughts drifted to his Dao companion, who was still suffering. He could not help but activate the system’s Dao Companion Sparring feature.

In theory, if his Dao companion had perished, the feature should no longer be available.

If the function could still be used, it meant she was still alive.

At the very least, not entirely gone.

Unless, of course, the sparring function was calibrated to her peak strength.

[You begin a duel with your Dao companion He Hansu. Though He Hansu is gravely wounded and her aura weak, she defeats you with a single blow. You have no chance to retaliate.]

Su Ji’an was stunned. Was his Dao companion truly so formidable?

Even on the brink of death, he could not best her...

A pity—he could only stand by helplessly now, unable to aid her.

If only he could remain by her side, he would at least be safe.

He could also urge her to cultivate constantly, not allowing a single moment’s rest.

Su Ji’an could sense when He Hansu was cultivating.

The cultivation shared by the system did not come in a single burst at a particular time, but rather, whenever He Hansu drew in the spiritual energy of the world, he would also receive a faint benefit.

In short, he must not allow her any slack in her cultivation.

Not even a beast of burden in the work team would dare rest so little.

Pushing aside these scattered thoughts, Su Ji’an realized he was puzzled—he had noticed no movement from the Righteous Alliance in days.

By now, they should have made a move.

In theory, that was good news, but Su Ji’an could not bring himself to rejoice. He was not naive enough to think the Righteous Alliance would simply give up.

Perhaps they had grown smarter, choosing to act from the shadows to avoid alarming him?

If so, he needed to be even more vigilant. If they struck without warning, he doubted his thousands of protective talismans would be enough.

He might not even have time to use his Great Teleportation Talisman.

Su Ji’an closed his eyes for a moment. The quiet courtyard was eerily still.

Before long, he sensed movement outside the door.

But the visitor was not from the Righteous Alliance as he expected, but rather...

“Little Ji’an, I’m coming in!”

...

Meanwhile, at the lakeside pavilion.

Several black-robed men were shuttling back and forth between the nearby secret passage and the pavilion, ferrying small cages.

From a distance, Su Henli observed, her brow furrowing. “Why has someone else been assigned this time?”

Gao Zhengde, however, was already kneeling at her feet, his face a mask of fawning servility. “Master, the previous deathsworn were all clever and capable. Fetching the medicinal guides from outside the city is of utmost importance. I dared not be careless and did not trust anyone else, so I assigned the task to them again.”

Su Henli nodded slightly, thinking little of it.

It was a trivial matter, and she had merely sensed something amiss and asked in passing.

She waved her hand. “You may go. But do not grow complacent—this must be handled with care. You are a clever man; you know what must and must not be done.”

A chill swept through Gao Zhengde’s heart. He bowed again, panic filling his mind as he withdrew.

For a moment, he had feared Su Henli had discovered his actions, but he had left no loose ends.

If anything went wrong... it could only be on Su Ji’an’s side.

Su Henli, meanwhile, wore a look of satisfaction.