What does my ancestor's pregnancy have to do with me, a mere servant?

She carefully placed the two jade bottles into her storage bag.

"Has there been any activity within the sect these past two days?" Lin Yuan asked, changing the subject.

Jiang Huaiyue composed herself and regained her usual calm.

She pondered for a moment, as if she were sifting through the intelligence she had secretly gathered over the past two days, picking out the most valuable information.

"There are three things worth reporting."

She held up three fingers.

"Firstly, Grandmaster Shen Guiyan has gone into seclusion and is using the Cold Marrow Lotus obtained from the Blood Forbidden Land to refine elixirs."

Lin Yuan nodded without saying anything.

"Secondly—" Jiang Huaiyue lowered her voice a few decibels, "Master Sima Duan met with people from the Li family a couple of days ago. It was Li Lan who came."

"Li Lan?" Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes.

"Li Yang's twin sister. A Core Formation stage cultivator, and the most ruthless among the direct descendants of the Li family." Jiang Huaiyue nodded in confirmation. "I overheard their conversation while serving tea outside the main hall."

She took a deep breath.

"What they discussed was to forcibly seize Li Yang's pure Yin body within the year to help their master break through the Nascent Soul bottleneck."

Lin Yuan leaned forward slightly.

"What did the Li family say?"

"We have already agreed to cooperate fully." Jiang Huaiyue's voice was as cold as ice. "The Li family has given Li Yang a final deadline. If she cannot break through to the mid-stage of Core Formation within the year, it will prove that she has reached the limit of her cultivation. At that time, the Li family's enforcement team will directly take action, seal her Qi Sea, and forcibly send her to her master's cave."

Lin Yuan leaned back against the rock wall, his slender fingers tapping rhythmically on his knees.

His mind raced.

Li Yang's situation was even more dangerous than he had anticipated. His own sister, in league with outsiders, was trying to forcibly strip her of her pure Yin body to be used as a tonic for that old bastard Sima Duan to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

This woman is truly backed into a corner now.

But those who are cornered are often the easiest to win over.

Lin Yuan's lips curled up into an extremely subtle smile.

Li Yang is at the early stage of Core Formation. Each time he undergoes arduous training face-to-face using the Yin-Yang Limitless Creation Technique, he gains one thousand attribute points.

What if we could help her break through to the mid-stage of Core Formation?

Two thousand points at a time.

What's even more ingenious is that what Li Yang urgently needs right now is precisely the Yin-Yang Creation Technique in his possession.

That cultivation technique can completely cure the hidden injuries in her meridians and help her break through to the mid-stage of Core Formation.

She needs him.

He also needs her attribute points and access to elixirs.

Each gets what they need. A match made in heaven.

The key is time. The Li family has given them a deadline of one year. In other words, he must help Li Yang break through before the Li family's enforcement team can act. Once Li Yang reaches the mid-stage of Core Formation, the Li family will lose their excuse to take action.

By then, Li Yang would be completely tied to his ship.

"What's the third one?" Lin Yuan put aside his own calculations and looked at Jiang Huaiyue.

"Thirdly, it concerns Wen Yuci." Jiang Huaiyue's expression grew even more serious. "She's been extremely restless these past two days. She's been frequently entering and leaving Li Lan's cave, seemingly plotting something. I suspect she's also eyeing the Cold Marrow Lotus."

Lin Yuan remained silent for two breaths.

"Okay, I understand." Lin Yuan's tone returned to normal. "Continue to keep an eye on Sima Duan and Li Lan's movements. Also, keep an eye on Wen Yuci. If anything unusual happens, send me a message immediately."

"Yes." Jiang Huaiyue accepted the order.

She rose from the stone bed and put her black hood back on. The hood's shadow obscured most of her cool, aloof face, revealing only a section of her sharply defined jawline.

"Master, I'm leaving now."

Lin Yuan waved his hand.

Jiang Huaiyue's figure, like a wisp of black smoke, silently merged into the gaps of the Six Yin Soul Locking Array, and vanished into the thick night in an instant.

The cave returned to silence.

Lin Yuan sat on the stone bed, arms crossed, leaning against the rock wall.

He stared at the rock face of the cave's dome, mentally reworking all the information he had just received.

Shen Guiyan went into seclusion to refine the Cold Marrow Lotus. Sima Duan colluded with the Li family, coveting Li Yang. Wen Yuci secretly plotted something unknown.

Three hidden storylines intertwine.

Lin Yuan is currently at the intersection of all the hidden threads—yet no one knows this.

That's the advantage of staying in the shadows.

Information asymmetry is the greatest weapon.

He closed his eyes, gathering his thoughts.

……

Xuanshuang Peak. Peak summit. Peak Master's cave.

Night enveloped the entire mountain in thick darkness. Only from the majestic cave palace atop the peak, a few flickering wisps of spiritual fire shone through.

"boom--!"

A muffled explosion suddenly erupted from within the heavy stone door.

The runes and patterns carved on the stone gate flickered and shone.

A strong, pungent smell of burning wafted out from under the door, accompanied by a violent heatwave that extinguished the few lamps in the passageway outside.

The cave was filled with smoke and was in a mess.

In the very center, a towering bronze alchemy furnace, three zhang tall, crashed to the ground with a deafening roar. The heavy furnace body smashed into the bluestone floor, creating a deep crater.

The bronze furnace lid, weighing at least a hundred pounds, was deeply embedded in the rock wall of the dome, with rock fragments still falling down around it.

The edges of the furnace lid were blasted and twisted, resembling an ugly iron flower blooming on the ceiling.

Right in the middle of the ruins.

Yao Wuchen, a fifth-grade alchemy master of the Xuan Yin Sect, lay covered in dust and dirt in the pile of rubble.

His once well-maintained middle-aged face was now completely disfigured by furnace ash and medicine dregs.

The worst part was that his two meticulously trimmed thick eyebrows were burned away by the aftershocks of the explosion, leaving a smooth, bare area above his brow bone, which looked extremely comical.

"This is the third time."

Shen Guiyan stood beside the overturned alchemy furnace, her hair disheveled.

She was wearing a dark purple robe, an outfit that should have been dignified and solemn, but which was now disheveled by the shockwave from the explosion.

But no one dared to underestimate her because of this.

The spiritual pressure of a Nascent Soul cultivator was like a bottomless black ocean, silently spreading outwards from her body.

"A thousand-year-old purple ginseng."

"Two drops of Xuanwu True Blood."

"And the Frost Marrow Lotus that I risked my reputation to intercept from the Blood Forbidden Land."

"Aren't you supposed to be a fifth-grade alchemist?!"

Her voice suddenly rose in pitch.

"Can't even refine a single Tribulation-Breaking Pill?!"

The last sentence was practically squeezed out through clenched teeth.

Yao Wuchen lay prone on the ground, his forehead pressed against the cold stone surface.

"Uncle Shen, please calm down!"

His voice was hoarse and rapid, carrying a hint of undisguised fear.

"It's not that I'm not skilled enough. It's just that the effects of this Calamity-Breaking Pill are far too potent!"

He swallowed the metallic taste of blood rising in his throat and forced himself to continue explaining.

"The Cold Marrow Lotus is an extremely yin substance, and the yin-cold power contained within its petals is extremely strong. The Black Tortoise True Blood, on the other hand, is an extremely yang substance. The medicinal properties of these two main ingredients are fundamentally incompatible!"

His voice grew more and more urgent as he spoke.

"In the final step of condensing the elixir, a violent clash of yin and yang forces will occur within the furnace. The intensity of this clash far exceeds the limits of what your magical power can suppress. Although your fire control technique is not bad, the fire you use is ultimately just ordinary fire. It cannot simultaneously suppress the opposing forces of extreme yin and extreme yang!"

"Only alchemists of the fifth rank or above, or those who have mastered the spiritual fire of heaven and earth, could forcibly suppress the conflict between these two forces during the condensation of the pill and complete the final fusion! With my skill in fire control and alchemy cultivation, I am truly... powerless!"

Shen Guiyan paused slightly.

A fleeting, almost imperceptible look of contemplation crossed her eyes.

Then I was overwhelmed by frustration.

"Never mind, never mind."

Shen Guiyan waved wearily.

The spiritual pressure receded rapidly like a receding tide. Yao Wuchen's body, which was lying on the ground, suddenly felt lighter.

"You should go and rest now."

Shen Guiyan rubbed her temples, turned away, and refused to look at him again.