Xiaomeng was holding the worn-out book given by Senior Sister Lan, and her whole attention was captured by its contents. When Senior Sister Lan had brought back the Golden Core Healer, upon examining her condition, he had explained that she was out of any foreseeable danger for the time being. Hearing those words, Senior Sister Lan said she had some work and stepped out, but not without leaving behind her worn-out book. She instructed Xiaomeng to focus on recovery and, if she was bored, to focus on memorizing the basic plants and spiritual herbs in the book to increase her alchemy knowledge for the future.

  Some time had already passed since then, making Xiaomeng feel bored. She had also decided not to focus on the number eleven as it was just bringing her unwanted stress. With nothing else to do and a desire to learn more about alchemy in this world, Xiaomeng picked up the book and started reading.

  In just a few pages, she discovered most of the things inside were already known to her. The only exceptions were the indigenous plants of this world, which she matched with a few in her memory to gain a basic understanding of them. Her attention was completely focused on memorizing everything.

  Just as she finished reading the book and put it down, the door to her room flung open. Lingling was standing there, her breaths uneven. She quickly rushed towards Xiaomeng and hugged her. The moment seemed very warm from the outside, but for the recipient of the hug, it was not.

  Xiaomeng was trying to push back Lingling, who was hugging her so tightly that even breathing was becoming difficult. Finally, after a few moments had passed, Lingling let go. Following behind the twin-tailed girl came a few others.

  The duo of Xiao Ming and Liu Yue were still busy arguing, and Rong Ning seemed to have gotten a little paler and colder than usual. Tieshan was still as boisterous as ever, and Gu Yichen was still giving him an accusing look. But before her eyes could move further, a loud voice was heard from outside. “No visitors are allowed in the emergency ward. Please leave as soon as possible.”

  Hearing these words, the merry band that had sneaked inside was forced outside Xiaomeng’s white room. Lingling tried to hold on and nearly broke the door while she was being carried on the back of the Foundation Establishment Healer. Soon the room was empty again.

  Xiaomeng’s attention then focused on the table where a small number of trinkets were placed. There were also a few sweets wrapped in colorful wrappings. Looking at the sweaty nuts, she already knew the owner, and the same could be said for the wooden doll carved with a precise blade. Were they still thinking of her as a child?

  A smile had unconsciously formed at the corner of Xiaomeng’s lips. She also understood the meaning of her feeling when she had heard that they were progressing so rapidly. It was not jealousy or envy. She was already accustomed to being less talented than others. Nor was it competitiveness, as she had imagined. Counting her two lifetimes, she was nearly sixty years old. It was the feeling of being left behind that she actually feared.

  As she was busy with her thoughts, the door of her room swung open and Senior Sister Lan walked inside. “Pack your things,” she instructed, while tucking her black hair behind her ear. “You have already been discharged.”

  Hearing these words, Xiaomeng quickly began packing her things. She only had to pack the book, trinkets, and the sweets. Collecting everything in the leather bag handed to her by Senior Sister Lan, except for the nuts, she followed her out. She walked with anticipation evident in her quick and short steps, expecting to meet her friends in front of the Medical Hall. But unfortunately for her, in the short time between their departure and her exiting, they had already gone back. She was left dejected again.

  “What happened?” Lan Xue asked while observing the glum look on her junior’s face.

  “Nothing,” Xiaomeng tried to play it off, but failed miserably. Senior Sister Lan came closer and, bending down, flicked her forehead with her middle finger.

  “Ouch!” Xiaomeng suddenly clutched her reddened head and gave her Senior Sister an aggrieved look.

  Lan Xue got up and patted the young girl’s head. “Whenever someone’s head starts to roll in an unexpected direction, this is a good therapy.” The next moment, the sword jumped out of her scabbard and she hopped on it, giving Xiaomeng an encouraging look. Even with her grievances, Xiaomeng could only climb on the sword and tightly clutch her Senior Sister. Taking the two passengers, the sword made its way to Xiaomeng’s quarters.

  After the two had gone far away, the bushes beside the entrance to the Medical Hall shook and the people hiding inside came out. “Why were we hiding? Can someone explain again?” Lingling said while looking at the others.

  Xiao Ming quickly pointed at Lan Xue, who again pointed to Tieshan, who gave a questioning look to Rong Ning, who once again focused her now colder eyes on Li Mingjian, who was standing there holding his sword. Li Mingjian just gave a questioning look to Gu Yichen.

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  Being the center of attention, Gu Yichen lightly coughed and took out a small wrapped box. “I mistakenly left my nuts instead of the gift. I thought it would be awkward if she came out, so I ran.” As his explanation continued, Lingling had already moved behind him.

  After hearing the whole thing, Rong Ning’s fists were clenched tightly. Not giving Gu Yichen a chance, she shot a fist at him. But already experienced with this ambush, Gu Yichen moved back with practiced ease and dodged the attack.

  Or at least that was how it was supposed to go. But when he moved back, he felt someone push him from behind, and he was back in his initial position just in time for the punch to land. Getting hit in his gut, Gu Yichen crumpled like a piece of paper. Ignoring his miserable state, Rong Ning went back, followed by Xiao Ming and Liu Yue. The others also made their way back to their peaks, not without kicking the downed man once. Happy with what she had done, Lingling was jumping all the way home.

  Soon a few disciples from the Medical Hall discovered him and took him inside. By that time, Xiaomeng had reached her dwelling.

  The living quarters were situated exactly at the opposite side of the fourth peak, and riding the sword saved a lot of time for the duo. It was already evening; the golden light of the setting sun was creating a warm atmosphere, improving Xiaomeng’s sullen mood.

  The sword stopped in front of Xiaomeng’s room and the owner of the room quickly hopped off the sword. However, Xiaomeng didn’t get to open her door so soon. Before she could get inside her room, Senior Sister Lan called out, "Stop!"

  Taking out a small golden bracelet from her pocket, she fitted it on Xiaomeng's hand.

  Xiaomeng just gave Senior Sister Lan a confused look, to which Senior Sister Lan replied, "It is a special artifact I got made for you. It will prevent excess circulation of qi in your body and prevent something like before from happening."

  But before Xiaomeng could express her gratitude, Senior Sister Lan raised her hand and said, "Just pay me back later. It is not for free."

  Then, riding her sword, she disappeared from Xiaomeng's sight, who was left there completely dumbfounded. After a few moments, Xiaomeng turned her head and tried to open her door, but a familiar voice shouted from behind, "Stop!" Senior Sister Lan had come back and was carrying a small book in her hand. Throwing it at Xiaomeng, she said, "This is the basic cultivation manual of our peak. It will help you cultivate till peak Foundation Establishment. If you want to progress further, exchange it for contribution points to obtain a higher cultivation technique." And then she again rode away on her sword.

  Xiaomeng just looked at the book in her hand, which she had caught, and then at the back of Senior Sister Lan. She waited for Senior Sister Lan to come back again, but she didn't.

  Finally going inside the room, Xiaomeng threw her tired body on the bed. After some time, she was holding the cultivation manual and going through it. Reading it, she realized it was a very low-level cultivation manual, and even the ones from her memory that were of the same level were several times better than this. So, she slightly modified a few parts of the cultivation manual to fit herself.

  Doing all that, she started to practice cultivation to catch up with the others.

  The next two days were completely uneventful. Xiaomeng got up early, freshened up, went to the dining hall for a nice healthy spiritual breakfast of spiritual rice and some spiritual fried vegetables, and a small piece of spiritual meat. Then, coming back, she started to practice her cultivation, and that was the only thing she did for the whole day until dinner. She would go back to the dining hall for a nice, scrumptious dinner, and after returning, she would cultivate until midnight before going to sleep. Her life was like an uneventful grind.

  But on the third day after her release from the medical hall, things were bound to be different. Today, finally, the efforts of cultivating the body refining technique were going to bear fruit.

  Xiaomeng was sitting cross-legged in the middle of her courtyard. With the small amount of qi she could circulate at her current cultivation level, she activated the protective array in the courtyard. The time was already close to midnight. The sound of the surroundings was completely isolated from the inside of the barrier.

  Soon, small crackling sounds could be heard from Xiaomeng’s body. Her teeth were tightly clenched, and her face was contorted with pain. Her nails had already dug into her palms just to keep her from losing consciousness. All of this was due to the bones in her body shifting and changing their shapes to create a special body for cultivation. Sometimes she even threw up black blood which stained the grass.

  This process continued till midnight, and Xiaomeng even lost consciousness several times, just barely holding up. The flawed spiritual root also tried to disrupt the process, but luckily, due to the artifact given by Senior Sister Lan, its attempts were thwarted. Finally, after much pain and suffering, the process was complete. The excess energy generated in the process attacked the third acupoint, breaking past it and taking Xiaomeng to the Third Layer of Qi Refinement.

  Suddenly, a pressure radiated outwards from the place Xiaomeng was sitting. Her body had gotten a little taller, and her skin had also gotten a little glossier. Clenching her hand, she felt a tangible increase in her strength. Finally, she would be able to keep up and even surpass the others.

  At that time, Lu Wancheng had also returned to the sect after dealing with the slave market. He felt an unusual fluctuation from Xiaomeng’s courtyard and used his divine sense to probe around.

  He saw the small girl covered in sweat jumping around. Using his divine sense to probe the changes in her body, he could only let out a sigh. He didn’t know whether to laugh at her or cry for her.

  First, her spiritual root was damaged and its performance reduced to that of a lower level one. Now she had somehow gotten a spiritual body, but it seemed to be a broken one. And even with this, she was still happily celebrating as if she had won a great victory.

  Right then, his gaze moved to the First Peak, where Tian Yao had just entered the Fourth Layer of Qi Refinement, small sparks of electricity floating around her. Shaking his head at the two contrasting views, he went back to his cave abode.