I'm in the world of cultivation, and I get a system for becoming a wealthy urban tycoon?

The two walked up the winding mountain path.

A gentle breeze drifted in from the valley, carrying the bitter scent of pine needles, and felt cool and refreshing on my face.

They walked side by side, at a very slow pace.

In the narrow parts of the mountain path, shoulders would unconsciously brush against each other lightly. No one spoke, but there was a quiet yet ambiguous atmosphere in the air.

After walking for more than an hour, the two finally returned to the outer gate square.

Lu Yang turned to look at Lin Ying, his eyes full of curiosity: "Senior sister, is the gift at your residence?"

Lin Ying blushed slightly and lowered her head to reply, "Yes, that's right."

"Let's go then!" Lu Yang's eyes lit up, and he smiled. "Perfect timing, I haven't been to my senior sister's residence yet."

Lin Ying's eyes flickered, and a slight smile appeared at the corner of her lips: "Then...then come with me."

She led Lu Yang onto a small path leading to the outer gate of Danfeng Peak.

The path was lined with dense pine trees and unnamed shrubs. In the afternoon, sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves, scattering golden fragments across the forest floor.

After walking for a while, the two arrived at a residence outside the gate.

This residence looks no different from Lu Yang's small building.

Lu Yang turned to look at Lin Ying, only to find that her face was incredibly red, with even the base of her neck tinged with a thin layer of pink.

"Senior sister, what's wrong?" Lu Yang asked, puzzled. "You seem very nervous?"

It's just a New Year's gift, why is Senior Sister Lin trembling slightly?

Upon hearing this, Lin Ying shook her head vigorously.

She looked up at Lu Yang's handsome face, which was almost unreal, and her heart pounded so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her throat.

She took a deep breath, and the hesitation and nervousness in her eyes were replaced by determination.

She stepped forward and used her sect token to activate the array around the small building.

In a flash of inspiration, the door creaked open to both sides, and the warm yellow light shining through the crack eagerly poured out.

"Come in, Junior Brother Lu."

Lu Yang followed Lin Ying into the small building.

Like the standard layout of the outer disciples' residences, there is a fairly large hall upon entering.

There is a door on each side of the hall, and the layout is exactly the same as his own small building.

Lin Ying pointed to one side and introduced with a smile, "Danfeng disciples are a bit different from other outer disciples. We have a private alchemy room underground, which is directly connected to the Danfeng Earth Fire Branch. With this, we don't need to rent a public alchemy room on weekdays. The rest of the furnishings are pretty much the same."

Lu Yang suddenly realized, then clicked his tongue and said, "That's a pretty good perk. Just the saved rent for alchemy rooms must amount to a lot of spirit stones a year, right?"

He knew this all too well.

As a member of a small family, he knew how much it would cost to build a decent alchemy room.

Rogue alchemists can basically only rent communal alchemy rooms in the market by the hour, which costs a lot of spirit stones.

Lin Ying smiled and nodded: "That's true. However, the threshold for becoming an outer disciple of Danfeng is quite high. The entrance exam includes an additional test on alchemy, so not just anyone can get in."

Lu Yang suddenly realized something.

Every disciple of Danfeng is an alchemist, so this free alchemy room is ultimately a case of the customer paying for it.

The rent was already factored into the monthly payment of pills.

Lin Ying looked up at Lu Yang with bright eyes, her voice tinged with a hint of excitement: "Junior Brother Lu, would you like to come and see my alchemy room? I spend most of my time there."

Lu Yang smiled and said, "I am indeed very interested. Can I go take a look?"

"Hmm..." Lin Ying bit her lower lip and nodded gently, "If it's you, then of course it's possible."

She turned around and led Lu Yang down the stairs.

The lower you go, the more noticeably the temperature in the air rises, and a rich and complex medicinal fragrance wafts up from below.

Lin Ying reached out and pushed open the stone door of the alchemy room.

call--

A wave of heat, carrying with it the bitterness of herbs, the subtle sweetness of elixir, and the distinctive sulfurous smell of earth fire, rushed in from behind the door like a scorching tide.

Lu Yang suddenly saw the light.

The alchemy room was not large, but it was arranged in a very orderly manner.

Rows of wooden shelves stand neatly against the wall. Although they are currently empty, the traces of grass and wood remaining on the shelves indicate that they were frequently used.

In the very center of the alchemy room was a fire outlet covered by an iron plate. The iron plate was engraved with fine and dense fire-controlling array patterns, and spiritual light flowed slowly between the patterns, pulsating like a heartbeat.

The entire alchemy room was clean and tidy.

The moment Lin Ying stepped into the alchemy room, her entire demeanor changed.

The shyness and nervousness I felt earlier had mostly faded away, replaced by a confident composure in my familiar territory.

She walked to the wooden shelf, her fingers lightly tracing the empty shelf, her eyes shining brightly in the warm yellow firelight of the alchemy room.

"These wooden shelves are for storing herbs before refining pills." Her voice became clearer and faster. "The pharmacology of alchemy is very complex. The properties of herbs, the principal and auxiliary ingredients, the years and proportions... If there is even a slight deviation, the whole batch of pills will be ruined. So before I start the furnace, I weigh all the auxiliary ingredients one by one and arrange them on the shelves in order, so that I won't be in a rush."

She walked to the vent of the earth fire, squatted down, and pointed to the array patterns on the iron plate: "This is the vent of the earth fire, and this set on top is a fire control array. I'm still in the Qi Refining stage and can't condense my own alchemical fire, so I rely entirely on this to regulate the heat. Once I reach Foundation Establishment and condense my own alchemical fire, my alchemy skills will improve significantly!"

As she spoke, she turned to look at Lu Yang, her eyes sparkling with anticipation: "By then, I'll be able to refine top-grade pills for you, Junior Brother Lu!"

She then walked to the other side of the alchemy room and pointed to a specially made furnace base: "This is..."

She suddenly met a quiet gaze.

Lu Yang leaned against the door frame, smiling as he watched her.

He didn't interrupt or say anything, he just listened quietly with gentle eyes.

Lin Ying's voice stopped abruptly.

Her bright and cheerful face froze, and a blush spread from her ears upwards, quickly covering her entire face.

She swallowed hard, her voice dropping eight octaves in an instant: "Junior Brother Lu... shall I take you upstairs... to see the gift?"

Lu Yang smiled and nodded: "Okay."

The two went up to the second floor.

Lin Ying paused for a moment in front of the bedroom door before reaching out and pushing it open.

As Lu Yang stepped into the room, his first impression was that it felt much more lived-in than his own room.

Several pots of fragrant flowers were placed on the windowsill, in full bloom, with clusters of red and pink flowers crowding together, filling the whole room with a sweet fragrance.

Several elegant landscape paintings are pasted on the wall, depicting distant mountains and flowing water shrouded in mist, with delicate brushstrokes.

The most eye-catching items were the small plush toys on the bed: a plush cat with crooked ears, a round plush dog, and a grayish little thing that looked like either a rabbit or a hamster. They sat together in a row, looking adorable.

Lu Yang couldn't help but chuckle when he saw it.

I never expected that Senior Sister Lin, who is usually gentle and dignified, would also like these little trinkets in private.

He turned his gaze away from the doll and asked curiously, "Senior Sister Lin, where's my New Year's present?"

Lin Ying stood quietly in the middle of the room with her back to him, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Lu Yang was somewhat confused.

He could sense her emotions surging violently, as if something inside her was churning violently.

After a while, Lin Ying moved.

She walked to the window and reached out to close the wooden window panels one by one.

With each panel closed, the room darkens a little more.

Then she walked to the door, gently closed it, and flicked the latch with her finger, causing it to click shut.

The lamp in the room emitted a warm, yellow light, hazy and indistinct, casting hazy shadows on the wall.

Lin Ying turned around.

Lu Yang's breath hitched.

Her face flushed red, and her usually gentle eyes were veiled with tears. Her gaze held tension, shyness, and something completely different from usual.

It was a captivating, slightly moist allure that made one's throat dry.

She bit her lower lip, as if she wanted to say something, her lips moved, but she couldn't utter a single word.

She just stood there, biting her lip, looking at Lu Yang.

Lu Yang wasn't stupid; a flash of inspiration struck him.

His eyes widened, a fire burning within him making his throat dry: Could it be... the New Year's gift Sister Lin mentioned...?

Lu Yang involuntarily swallowed, his eyes burning with desire.

Lin Ying felt as if she were burned by that gaze, her delicate body trembled slightly, and she silently lowered her eyes.

Lu Yang took two steps to her, wrapped one arm around her slender waist, and gently pulled her into his embrace.

Lin Ying's face bumped against his chest, buried in his chest, too afraid to lift it.

Lu Yang's voice came down from above, hoarse yet with an undeniable firmness: "Senior Sister Lin, look up."

Lin Ying's body trembled slightly, and after a long while, she slowly raised her face.

Without any further hesitation, Lu Yang lowered his head and kissed those soft red lips.

"Well……"

This time, the hand that quietly reached upwards was not pushed away.

The warm light of the lamp flickered gently on the wall, as if covering them with a soft veil.

The temperature in the room was rising, and the mountain breeze and the chirping of insects outside the window had receded far, far away.

A spring tide overnight.

…………

The next morning, Lu Yang woke up when the first rays of sunlight from the mountains shone into the room through the cracks in the window.

He turned his head and looked at Lin Ying lying beside him.

She was still fast asleep.

Her pretty face still had the blush from last night, her delicate eyebrows were slightly furrowed, but the corners of her mouth curved into a satisfied yet tired smile, and a few strands of her hair were scattered on the pillow.

Lu Yang watched for a while, then couldn't help but reveal a gentle smile.

Speaking of which, having a strong physique is really impressive.

Lin Ying's cultivation level was clearly higher than his, being at the late stage of Qi Refining, but when facing him... well, she was basically routed and had no chance to fight back.

He gently tried to pull his arm, which had been used as a pillow all night, away from Lin Ying's neck.

As soon as she moved, Lin Ying frowned slightly and instinctively shrank into his arms, as if searching for a source of warmth that would make her feel safe.

Lu Yang was stunned for a moment, then laughed and simply pulled her back into his arms.

The person in my arms stirred, their eyelashes fluttered slightly, and they slowly opened their eyes.

Those eyes still held a layer of mist and confusion, like the surface of a lake shrouded in morning fog, as they quietly watched Lu Yang for a few moments.

Then... she remembered.

Every single thing that happened last night, every single image, rushed into my still-wake-up mind in an instant.

"ah--"

Lin Ying's face instantly turned bright red.

She practically sprang out of bed, grabbed the blanket again, and wrapped herself up from head to toe like a silkworm cocoon, not even a single hair showing.

Lu Yang looked at the shivering "cocoon" beside him and almost burst out laughing.

"Senior Sister Lin," he said, suppressing a laugh, gently poking the blanket, "we've already gone this far, are you still shy?"

There was silence under the covers for a long time.

Then, a faint, almost inaudible voice came from under the covers:

"...Junior Brother Lu, you're so wicked."

Lu Yang innocently placed his hand on the edge of the blanket, but before he could speak, the blanket suddenly shook.

Lin Ying's voice was soft yet tinged with genuine fear:

"Junior Brother Lu...no more, I still feel unwell..."

Lu Yang finally couldn't hold back anymore, and the corners of his mouth turned up so high they almost reached the sky.

He lowered his voice and said mischievously, "But Senior Sister Lin didn't say that last night..."

Before he could finish speaking, the blanket was suddenly pulled off.

Lin Ying's face flushed crimson. She covered Lu Yang's mouth tightly with one hand, her eyes brimming with tears, so embarrassed she was about to cry: "You...you still dare to talk! Don't say it!"

Looking at her shy yet angry, fierce yet soft appearance, Lu Yang's heart melted.

He quickly raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, mumbling a promise under her palms:

"Okay, okay, I won't say anymore, I won't say anymore."