After being poisoned by mushrooms, all the strange creatures became fascinated by me.

It was precisely because of this mentality that Han Zhou would rather carry Tang Li back to the sect using his light-footed skills than let her shamelessly climb onto the golden eagle's back again.

The golden eagle's back! Good heavens, even the golden eagle wouldn't let him climb on its back, so why should Tang Li?!

Tang Li's voice echoed faintly in the howling wind: "You forgot to blindfold me. What if I remember the way out of 'Jie Bailing' and run away?"

She was just talking nonsense; her face was actually a little cold from the wind.

Han Zhou sneered, "With your ability to get lost even within your own sect?"

Tang Li was speechless, but it was his words that suddenly awakened her long-buried memories.

Tang Li recalled the mysterious death of Steward Li and the simple girl who was wrongfully imprisoned. It had only happened a few hours ago, but now, when she recalled it, it felt like a lifetime ago.

Tang Li patted Han Zhou's arm and stated her request: "After returning to the sect, I want to visit someone in prison."

What, you have acquaintances in prison?

Han Zhou couldn't understand why Tang Li could cause so much trouble in just one day, but he had plenty of ways to solve problems.

"Alright," Instructor Han said leisurely, "Anyway, you're a handyman now, so I'll transfer you to the prison to do errands. You can be in charge of delivering their meals."

"—Visit whomever you want."

"But it's so dark in the prison," Tang Li objected.

Han Zhou scoffed, ignoring her objections, and focused solely on continuing on his journey.

As dawn broke, Han Zhou led Tang Li into the sect, where the disciples had already begun their early martial arts practice. However, neither the instructors nor the disciples noticed them as Han Zhou swept over them.

The instructor's commands seemed to become the best lullaby at this moment. Tang Li yawned sleepily, thinking that as soon as Han Zhou put her down, she would find a place to lie down and sleep.

Just then, King Zhou of Han suddenly remembered something and burst into laughter.

Tang Li became alert; the laugh sounded particularly unfriendly.

"Oh, right, I forgot to remind you of something," Han Zhou said slowly, "Don't forget to practice your skills, Little Tang Li."

"I'm a generous person, and the amount of internal energy I transferred to you was a little too much."

"If you don't practice your skills and absorb their power in time... you'll be so overwhelmed that you'll bleed from all seven orifices and die."

Tang Li's vision went black.

She looked at the live stream with her last glimmer of hope, trying to get an answer from a specific person that "he's just bluffing you."

"Uh," Jiang Hui's comments floated across the live stream, and she said tactfully, "Actually, what he said is all true."

Tang Li burst into tears.

But surprisingly, after taking that pill and being helped by Han Zhou, Tang Li's training was not as messy as before; instead, she seemed more at ease.

Tang Li became happy again.

At this moment, she was in Han Zhou's courtyard, while Liu Lang seemed to have been sent away by Han Zhou long ago, and was doing morning exercises with the instructors like the others.

"It's time to teach you the techniques for circulating internal energy."

As Han Zhou spoke, he continued to tend to his potted plants. Suddenly, his ears twitched, and he appeared beside her in a flash, grabbing her and shoving her into a corner.

Then Tang Li heard someone announce her arrival.

This person was putting on a convincing act, trying to prevent Tang Li from being discovered by others and still being valued by him.

So Tang Li openly eavesdropped and overheard a stranger, a steward, using a similar tone and manner to Steward Li, introducing to Han Zhou a pair of newly discovered "rising martial arts twins".

Like Liu Lang, he was just an ordinary person when he first entered "Jie Bailing", but after two days he suddenly became a genius with excellent aptitude.

I imagine that in a few more days, once players have accumulated enough points, the prodigies will bloom everywhere in "Jiebailing".

Tang Li watched as Han Zhou had the steward bring the "Twin Stars" to him for inspection, while simultaneously summoning Liu Lang. Her eyes were sharp, and she had reason to suspect that this man was planning to raise Gu poison among the players.

Han Zhou turned to her side and waved his hand as if casually.

Oh, they've forgotten the old ones since they've found new ones, and now they want to drive them away.

Tang Li pursed her lips, and without making a sound, she turned and slipped away from under the flower stand.

By the time she finally trudged from Han Zhou's place to the servants' courtyard, it was already broad daylight. Tang Li's plan to catch up on sleep was ruined.

The servants, of course, did not have their own private rooms; they slept on a large communal bed. Fortunately, the sect provided them with several rows of cabinets, and each person had their own small compartment where they could store some of their personal belongings.

Tang Li returned to the small basket where she kept her clothes. Now all her possessions were in that basket: a set of clothes she wore when she came to "Jiebailing" and a set of errand clothes for changing.

Tang Li was about to change out of her tattered servant's clothes when she pulled out a hard texture from the small basket, something other than soft clothing.

Ok?

Tang Li paused.

She subtly blocked others' view with her body and lowered her head to rummage through the basket.

It was a small book, only half the size of her palm.

It was hidden in the clothes Tang Li wore when she came to "Jie Bailing", but Tang Li clearly remembered that she had never found the book in the cloth pocket of her clothes on her way to the sect.

When else could it be...?

Tang Li carefully turned the book right side up. On the blue cover were three large, elegant characters: Xing Tian Jue.

This is a... cultivation manual?

Tang Li's heart beat a little faster. She gently turned to the first page and found that the book was full of little figures in different poses, with densely packed small words next to them. There were also lines on the little figures that seemed to indicate the direction of internal energy circulation.

Tang Li asked the live streamer to film two pages of the booklet, then put it away and waited for a reply.

"Jiang Hui: It is indeed a martial arts technique, and quite profound at that, but it looks very strange. In this martial arts world, the one you have in your hand would most likely be called an 'evil technique.'"

Jiang Hui: "The reason why 'evil techniques' are 'evil' is because they can achieve effects that are considered impossible by normal techniques. If you hadn't taken any elixirs and still had your previous ordinary physical constitution, this type of technique would actually be most suitable for you."

Evil practices?

The word "evil" suddenly opened the floodgates of Tang Li's memories. She realized how this secret manual had ended up in her hands.

It was last night.

The killer who suddenly appeared at her bedside after she discovered the flower girl's death—Tang Li didn't dare open her eyes at the time, and for some reason, he didn't kill her until the very end.

Before leaving, the man's sleeve lightly brushed against Tang Li.

She thought it was just a coincidence, but now that she thinks about it, he actually slipped her a cultivation manual at that time.

Good heavens! Tang Li wondered, could this person be trying to lead her down a wrong path?

"You little brat! If I catch you slacking off again, I'll skin you alive!"

A sudden, loud shout from the doorway interrupted Tang Li's train of thought.

It was a manager who thought she was spending too much time staring at the cabinet, so he deliberately banged on the door and yelled at her.

Tang Li quickly changed her clothes, hid the cultivation manual she hadn't figured out on her person, and left in a flash.

Han Zhou verbally told her to deliver food to the prison, but he hadn't had a chance to do so yet. So Tang Li reluctantly picked up a basin of clothes that belonged to someone else and walked towards the river.

People had already gathered in twos and threes along the riverbank; they were all laborers working with their backs bent over.

Knowing that she was also tasked with observing the servants and selecting the players from among them, she deliberately gravitated towards the places where they were clustered together.

She happened to overhear two servants talking in hushed tones.

His pronunciation, tone, slacking attitude, and displeased expression clearly indicate he's a player.