Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 18: The Wuji Pill

The room was silent, but Quan Jiaying felt like those three words were still echoing in his ears.

Qianji Sect?

That sect known throughout the cultivation world for… shameless freeloading?

He couldn’t help but ask, "Did you guys come here to mooch?"

"Brother Quan, it seems there’s been a bit of misunderstanding," Ye Su switched to a more respectful form of address, trying to close the distance between them. She smiled sincerely. "We’re just here for mutual learning and exchange. I’ve long heard that Brother Quan—"

"Is, a, Baiqing, Ranking, Elite," Ming Liu Sha cut in helpfully when his Senior Sister got stuck mid-sentence.

Ye Su gave her second junior brother a thumbs-up behind her back, then continued, "So we thought we’d come to Poyuan Sect to spar and take advantage of the opportunity."

"To openly and shamelessly sponge off your spiritual energy?" Quan Jiaying finished bluntly.

Ye Su: "…"

Realizing the polite act wasn’t working, she just slumped back into her chair and gave up all pretense. "Yeah."

Her honesty caught Quan Jiaying off guard and shut him up.

They weren’t rogue cultivators, but disciples of an actual sect. That somehow gave him a bit of comfort. But at the same time, he felt something strange—Qianji Sect, that supposedly declining sect of the past century, actually had decent disciples now?

Quan Jiaying looked at Ye Su across from him. She wore a rough black robe, her eyes smiling, yet detached and unconcerned beneath the surface.

After a pause, he asked, "Qianji Sect disciples still know how to draw talismans?"

"Just to make a living," Ye Su replied as she casually pulled out a few talisman papers. Spotting a gap in conversation, she tried to sell him some. "Brother Quan, interested? They’re cheap."

As Poyuan Sect’s most talented core disciple—favored by elders and respected by peers—Quan Jiaying had never felt such a strange mix of emotions. But his upbringing made him keep calm and composed. "I don’t need any."

Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Ye Su tucked the talismans away and kindly asked, "Brother Quan, did you come for something?"

He had prepared his speech at the door. If they were future inner disciples of Poyuan, then they'd be his sectmates. The more talented they were, the better. He shouldn’t feel jealous—he should learn from them. But now that he knew they already belonged to a different sect, none of those lines applied anymore.

After a long silence, he finally said, "The Mistflower Fang alone could rank within the top 200 on the Baiqing Ranking."

And not just the Mistflower Fang—those other three disciples’ artifacts could probably make it onto the list too. They just weren’t as eye-catching.

The Baiqing Ranking was revered by most artifact refiners. Quan Jiaying could even recite all 300 names from memory. If he remembered right, Qianji Sect had only one name on the list: Yang Tan, ranked 99th.

To someone not on the list, that was impressive. But to those on the list, it was the lowest tier.

"Is that so?" Ye Su wasn’t too impressed. "The Mistflower Fang did come out pretty well."

She was quite satisfied with it. At least it looked somewhat like that little snake she’d modeled it after. All those days helping blacksmiths and carpenters at the foot of the mountain hadn’t gone to waste.

Quan Jiaying stared at her face. She really didn’t seem to care. Not just her—even the other three didn’t react to the mention of the Baiqing Ranking.

He couldn’t help repeating, "You guys could get on the Baiqing Ranking."

"It’s just a ranking," Xi Yu muttered from the back. "Do they give you money for getting on it?"

Quan Jiaying: "...The Baiqing Ranking is a measure of an artifact refiner’s ability. Once you’re on it, people will come to you to request items."

"Sounds like a good deal," Ye Su admitted. She hadn’t thought about that. Apart from the Wuyin Sect, no one had ever come to Qianji Sect for refining services.

"Senior Sister, if we want to apply, the entry fee for four people is 2,000 mid-grade spirit stones," Xia Er calculated, counting on his fingers. "We don’t have that right now."

"Then forget it for now," Ye Su replied calmly, then turned to Quan Jiaying. "Brother Quan, thanks for the tip."

Quan Jiaying had never imagined that someone might not have the fee to enter the ranking. His thoughts were in a mess. In the end, he could only leave behind a stiff sentence—"I won’t hold back in the next round,"—and quickly got up to leave.

"Strange, guy," Ming Liu Sha said slowly, watching his back as he left.

……

Three days later, the results of the preliminary round were announced. As expected, Ye Su and her group were among those who passed—and ranked at the very top, leaving a huge gap between them and the rest.

Among the hundred artifact refiners who made it through, most only managed to list about 600 combinations, with the fewest being around 100.

Ming Liu Sha wrote the most: 3,763 combinations. Xi Yu and Xia Er both listed over 3,000, but they misidentified a few materials, which cost them time and led to many incorrect answers.

Ye Su ranked fourth, having written just over a thousand combinations—but everyone knew she spent a large chunk of that time breaking through to the next stage of cultivation.

Out of the thousand participants, 900 left the venue that same day. The dormitory was upgraded from a communal space to private rooms.

It was only then that Ye Su had a moment to pull out the bead and examine it. She fiddled with it several times, still puzzled over how it had ended up in her storage pouch.

Unable to figure it out, she decided to ask for help—and find out what exactly this bead was.

She activated her messaging jade slip, placing a mid-grade spirit stone into it—enough to power the device. After a while, the jade lit up and her sect master and teacher appeared.

"Master, I need to ask you something." Since the communication consumed spirit stones, Ye Su got straight to the point.

A flash of guilt crossed her master's face. "What is it?"

Ye Su narrowed her eyes and held up the bead. "Do you recognize this?"

The sect master stared at the object in her hand, growing more shocked the longer he looked. "That's... a Wuji Pill!"

"Wuji Pill?" A pill? No wonder she didn’t recognize it. The name did sound familiar, though.

After a moment, it clicked—in the original novel, when the male lead was gravely injured, the female lead had blindly given him a pill to heal him. It turned out to be some miraculous medicine that even the Kunlun cultivators were stunned by. That moment had changed how they viewed Ning Qian Yao.

...Weird. It couldn’t be something Ning Qian Yao slipped to her, could it?

"Master, if we sell this, Qianji Sect could live comfortably for a while." Ye Su stared at the bead—or rather, the pill—in her hand.

"Nonsense!" Her master snapped. "Keep it for yourself."

Ye Su replied offhandedly, "It’s useless to me." A pill that shocked even Kunlun’s elites was clearly no ordinary item.

"You just had a breakthrough, didn’t you? According to Qianji Sect’s law of averages, all geniuses meet tragic ends. It’s a curse. Bad luck for you, bad luck for us. Hold onto that pill—just in case."

Ye Su: "…"

"Anyway, I have things to deal with. Let’s talk later." Her master hurriedly tried to end the transmission.

Ye Su fixed her gaze on his guilty expression. "Zhang Fengfeng, you're hiding something from me."

He choked and faked anger. "Insolent disciple! How dare you call your master by name!"

"Something’s happened to Qianji Sect?" Ye Su frowned, looking ready to dash back home the second he confirmed it.

"…No." Zhang Fengfeng hesitated. "My dear disciple, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you."

"What is it?" From how awkward he was acting, Ye Su figured it probably wasn’t anything serious.

"You… have a new junior brother." He closed his eyes and blurted it out quickly.

Ye Su blinked. Her first thought was that Yi Xuan had left the sect. Then she realized—"You picked up another stray?"

The sect master shook his head. "No, he came to us on his own—holding a Qianji Sect token."

This part hadn’t been in the original novel.

Ye Su didn’t think much of it. "When I get back, we’ll give Junior Brother a welcome gift."

Apparently, that wasn’t what her master was trying to avoid. He glanced at her nervously. "He’s staying in your room."

Back when Qianji Sect was at its peak, Jiuxuan Peak was the main mountain. Aside from the sect master’s quarters, it had five other rooms—reserved only for true disciples with proven strength.

"Got it," Ye Su said, unconcerned. Out of the five rooms, probably only hers and Yi Xuan’s were empty. It made sense a kid would choose the outermost room.

"Master, I’ll be back soon anyway. Let’s talk then."

Zhang Fengfeng watched her image fade from the jade slip. He swallowed the sentence he hadn’t dared to say:

"Your new junior brother is around your age."

He turned to look out the window and saw rays of sunlight falling through the leaves, casting light on the newcomer’s serene, elegant face beneath the tree outside. The boy looked almost divine.

Regardless of anything else, the personal disciples Zhang Fengfeng had taken under his wing… were all stunningly good-looking.

As Qianji Sect's sect master stroked his chin, he thought: If the sect really can’t survive someday… maybe the kids can go join the Hehuan Sect and make a name for themselves there.

……

Out of the hundred artifact refiners who passed, the next stage was to compete against the inner sect disciples of Poyuan Sect— this was the true main event.

However, the top ten contenders all had their own things on their minds.

Ye Su and her group were busy soaking up the abundant spiritual energy from the Spirit Gathering Array, while Quan Jiaying and a few other personal disciples stood inside the main hall. Seated above them was Quan Shen, Sect Master of Poyuan Sect.

"Two days ago, there was a change on the Baiqing Ranking," Quan Shen said, his gaze heavy as it fell on Quan Jiaying below.

"Two late Foundation Establishment artifact refiners have risen to rank 149th and 150th."

He didn’t need to spell it out— it could only be the two from Zhanjin Sect.

The 150th place was the critical dividing line on the Baiqing Ranking.

For Foundation Establishment cultivators to cross that threshold—they were now genuine prodigies among artifact refiners in the cultivation world.

In time, as their cultivation bases grew, they would surely draw countless cultivators bearing spirit stones and rare materials, all begging them for custom artifacts.

Zhanjin Sect was set to expand again.

Originally, Quan Jiaying should have felt pressure from this.

But instead, his mind wandered—wondering when those few from Qianji Sect would manage to scrape together the entry fee for the ranking, and how high Mistkill Flower might place.

"Jiaying," Quan Shen called gravely, "the artifacts refined during this competition will be sent for ranking evaluation. Your position should rise as well."

He frowned deeply. "Among the younger generation of Poyuan Sect, only you can match those two. You must not slack off."

Standing nearby, Rong Chuqiu hesitated, then finally stepped forward and said, "Sect Master, the competition period is only seven days—that's too short. And the provided materials... might not be good enough to craft quality artifacts."

For a match that wasn’t considered highly important, Poyuan Sect naturally wouldn’t prepare top-tier materials—at best, they were average.

Quan Shen cast a look at his son, who was lowering his head silently.

"I will personally provide the materials for this competition," he declared. "And the time limit will be extended to fifteen days."

When news of the rule changes reached the candidates, it caused a huge stir.

Having the Poyuan Sect Master supply the materials was both a blessing and a curse—the good part was getting the chance to work with high-grade resources; the bad part was that some lower-stage refiners might not even be able to process such materials.

Either way, the day of the official competition finally arrived.

Poyuan Sect Master Quan Shen personally presided over the opening.