Forced to become a pure and innocent female pharmacist in order to cultivate immortality.

"Don't worry, I kept it a secret for you before they came back, let alone after they returned," Yunxiao said solemnly.

Even if Ye Liuyun is a genius at alchemy, he is still a genius at alchemy in their Yunxia Sect, so naturally he cannot be discovered by this group of people from the Yunxia Sect.

Although they were forced to return to the Yunxia Sect, they would never consider them disciples of the Yunxia Sect.

"Thank you very much, Elder. Aoxue, let's go." Ye Liuyun said with great satisfaction.

After she finished speaking, she and Lin Aoxue left the alchemy pavilion. As for Li Jianxin, he no longer needed any flying artifacts to fly to the sky above the martial arts arena. His arrival excited Yun Ling and the former Yunxia Sect's higher-ups.

Finally, a leader has emerged among this generation of disciples.

Li Jianxin first glanced at Yun Yun, then at Yun Ling, and finally locked his gaze on He Zhi Qiu with a cold and sharp look.

He Zhi Qiu's face was extremely ugly; he couldn't understand what had happened to Li Jian Xin.

But this feud has definitely gotten serious. Knowing Li Jianxin as he does, he's sure that guy will seek revenge.

After staring at He Zhiqi and the returning disciples for a while, Li Jianxin flew away; he didn't like noisy environments.

After he left, the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves, though the murmurs were relatively quiet, as they were still in the test of willpower.

"Li Jianxin, the second disciple of my second senior brother, I'm very curious. This kid should have excellent aptitude, so why didn't the upper sect choose him back then?" Yun Che wondered to himself.

As for the cultivators from the other three sects, their expressions were not particularly happy either, because the Cloud Mist Sect had completely surpassed the three of them at this moment.

None of the disciples from these three families have broken through to the Dao Palace level yet, while Yunxia Sect has. Zilan and the others were quite envious.

"Sect Master Yun, congratulations! The Yun Sect has a worthy successor," Sect Master Xi Ri congratulated.

"Not bad, not bad. Among the new generation of disciples, someone has broken through to the Dao Palace. Tsk tsk, it seems that they are no worse than some people who have been in the Cloud Sect for decades." The Sect Master of the Smoke Dust Sect said sarcastically.

His words were a veiled mockery of both his own returning disciples and the returning disciples of the other three families.

"Senior Yanchen, you're mistaken. It's true that Li Jianxin has broken through to the Dao Palace, but he can't be called a successor yet. Don't forget, he's not the young sect master of the Yunxia Sect," Qi Chaoying retorted.

Upon hearing this, Yan Chen glanced at Qi Chaoying and then let out a strange, light laugh, which seemed to carry a hint of contempt.

Chapter 77 There's really no going back.

Yan Chen's contemptuous smile immediately made Qi Chaoying feel uncomfortable.

Soon, the willpower test ended, and once again, the results were surprising, as the disciples of the Yunxia Sect still passed the test the most.

This is all thanks to Ye Liuyun. Over the years, the thundercloud phenomenon she has created while refining medicine has caused thunder to rumble every few days. If a disciple did not have a strong will, he would have gone mad from practicing medicine long ago.

The three major sects were once again embarrassed. This could only mean that the quality of the new generation of disciples of Yunxia Sect was indeed better than that of the three sects. As for why, they had no way of knowing.

The returning cultivators, including Yun Che, were equally puzzled as to why the disciples of the Yunxia Sect were of average higher quality than those of the other three sects.

There must be a reason for this, but the reason is easy to investigate. That evening, Yun Che summoned all the elder-level returning cultivators to his place to discuss the situation of the Yunxia Sect.

At Yun Che's temporary residence.

The residences for these elders and returning disciples need to be rebuilt, so they are all temporary.

"Vice Sect Master, what exactly happened at the Cloud Mist Sect that we don't know about? Haven't you asked Yun Yun about it?" asked a cultivator at the third level of the Dao Palace realm.

However, Yun Che immediately glared at the elder with displeasure.

"Elder Feng, who gave you permission to address the Sect Master by his given name? Have you all been in the Cloud Sect for too long and forgotten your own names?" Yun Che reminded him.

"Eh? Vice Sect Master, it's just the two of us here, no outsiders. Why be so serious? Everyone knows why the Upper Sect sent us back." Elder Feng said awkwardly.

But Yun Che doesn't think so.

"First, the sect did indeed send us back to take control of the Yunxia Sect, but they also said we can't go too far. Do you understand what they mean by 'can't go too far'?" Yun Che asked.

Indeed, the method used by Yunzong is a very subtle but overt strategy. They sent so many outstanding disciples over at once. If they put in a little effort, taking over Yunxia Sect would be a piece of cake. But the prerequisite is that these people must consider themselves as members of Yunxia Sect and then put in the effort to gain the recognition of the sect's disciples.

Using this arrogant and condescending attitude will only backfire.

"I'm warning you first. The order from the upper sect is to take control of the Yunxia Sect without bloodshed, not for you to come back and act arrogantly. I hope you will rein in your haughty attitude. If I find He Zhi Qiu behaving like this again, don't blame me for being impolite."

"Also, starting tomorrow, I don't want you to still be wearing the Yun Sect's disciple robes. We've been away from the sect for so long, and we're already unable to gain the sect leader's acceptance. It's inappropriate for you to still be wearing the Yun Sect's robes and showing off," Yun Che warned.

The group looked at their own clothes and felt somewhat helpless. They could only nod and agree.

Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun had already parted ways with Lin Aoxue and returned to his residence.

At Ye Liuyun's residence, she opened the booklet containing her records of the ingredients of the elixir and found the prescription from years ago that had turned her into a woman.

These are all ordinary medicinal herbs. If ordinary medicinal herbs can be combined to make such a magical pill, let alone spiritual herbs.

The medicine synthesized from this prescription cannot be made into an elixir. Ye Liuyun tried to refine it several times back then, but unfortunately, he could not turn himself back into a man. In other words, this medicine may only be able to turn someone into a woman, not a man.

"What are you up to now, kid? Why did you bring out this medicinal herb again?" Lin Qingyou asked, seeing Ye Liuyun's gloomy gaze.

"I just suddenly felt that this prescription might have other uses, and I wanted to try refining it with similar spiritual herbs to see what I could produce," Ye Liuyun replied.

Upon hearing this, Lin Qingyou immediately offered a reminder.

“Kid, your prescription originally combined more than a dozen medicinal herbs. If you replace them with more than a dozen spiritual herbs, something unbelievable might happen,” Lin Qingyou said.

"There's no other way. I don't have any mortal herbs right now, and I'm not even sure if they'd be effective for cultivators. So the best thing to do is to try combining the available spiritual herbs. That's settled then. We'll talk about it again after the four sects' joint operation ends," Ye Liuyun said earnestly.

Lin Qingyou seemed to have guessed what Ye Liuyun was going to do.

"You brat, you're not planning to use this thing to fight the enemy, are you?" Lin Qingyou said, her lips twitching.

Ye Liuyun chuckled.

“I think that killing people you don’t like is often a sign of incompetence, because there are too many people like that in the world, and you can’t kill them all. Since you can’t kill them all, you might as well use another method, such as forcibly cutting off their unnecessary thoughts. That’s the way of the benevolent.”

"I'm an alchemist. Killing isn't my forte; healing and saving lives is. I think that guy is sick and needs treatment," Ye Liuyun said.

Lin Qingyou was stunned for a moment when she heard this, and then she couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh.

"Hehehe... You have some ideas, and they make a lot of sense. Alright, your teacher supports your ideas." Lin Qingyou acknowledged Ye Liuyun's words.

Ye Liuyun began searching among his stored medicinal herbs for a spiritual medicine that could perfectly replace worldly herbs.

She can find half of the substitutes here, and she'll probably have to go to the disciple market or the alchemy pavilion to look for the other half.

"Water Spirit Grass, Moon Essence, Cold Crow Grass... these all seem to be yin herbs. No wonder this prescription made me like this. But I tried the opposite approach back then, using completely incompatible herbs several times, but it still didn't work."

"Master, please tell me honestly, is the reason why it's not working for me related to the cultivation technique I'm practicing?" Ye Liuyun felt it was necessary to ask Lin Qingyou.

"what?"

Lin Qingyou was momentarily embarrassed when Ye Liuyun asked this question, because she already knew that Ye Liuyun had no hope of turning back. She hadn't told her this simply because she didn't want to discourage Ye Liuyun.

After all, Ye Liuyun hadn't adapted to his new body yet.

But now that Ye Liuyun has asked, it seems she can't keep it from him forever.

"Alright! It seems you've already figured it out. Well then, I won't hide it from you anymore. When you became a woman, you hadn't mastered the Eternal Green Technique, and you hadn't refined the antidote in time. By the time you successfully mastered the Eternal Green Technique, these physical medicines were useless to you; they would simply be devoured by your body," Lin Qingyou explained.

These words struck Ye Liuyun like a thunderbolt, and he immediately felt a headache coming on.

She recalled carefully that not long after she became a woman, she had mastered the Eternal Green Technique.

No wonder, even though she had prepared incompatible medications, they had no effect on her.

"I see. But why does the aphrodisiac work on me?" Ye Liuyun asked again.

"Because the aphrodisiac medicine works here," Lin Qingyou pointed to her head.

"this?"

"Then why does the poison work on me?" Ye Liuyun asked again.

"Because highly poisonous drugs kill people, while the effect of the Eternal Green Technique is resurrection," Lin Qingyou explained.

At this point, Ye Liuyun was completely helpless.

Fortunately, she had already adapted to this female body. If Lin Qingyou had told her this result back then, she probably would have gone crazy.

Chapter 78 Four Sects Martial Arts Tournament

Upon hearing the result, Ye Liuyun was not as agitated or angry as one might expect; instead, he let out a heavy sigh.

"Hey!"

This sigh confused Lin Qingyou.

"Why are you sighing? If you're really unhappy, I'll allow you to scold me a few times today, after all, I also have some responsibility," Lin Qingyou said, noticing Ye Liuyun's unusual behavior.

But Ye Liuyun's sigh was not a lament for not being able to turn back into a man. Rather, she was thinking about how Lin Aoxue would react if she knew about this. Would she be very disappointed?

“What’s the use of scolding you? You can’t go back. I’m just thinking about how to explain it to Aoxue. Although I know she will eventually accept the result, she will definitely be sad,” Ye Liuyun said with some melancholy.

Seeing Ye Liuyun's attitude, Lin Qingyou didn't waste any more words.

Because she realized that Ye Liuyun was no longer the naive young man he used to be. Although he kept saying he wanted to become a man again, he didn't seem to have that strong desire in reality.

Lin Qingyou's words today effectively shattered Ye Liuyun's last hope, and she no longer had to agonize over anything.

She had been trapped in this woman's body for almost ten years. No matter how unwilling she was, it was meaningless. At this moment, Ye Liuyun's mentality underwent some changes.

Her life goal was no longer to strive to become a man again.

Her current goal is to live a carefree life with Lin Aoxue, unaffected by any factors, or rather, to strive for that goal.

Therefore, in order to achieve her goal, she must do everything in her power to help Lin Aoxue become stronger quickly.

There was no other way. Lin Aoxue's cultivation speed could hopefully increase in a certain period of time, but she couldn't. One of them, Lin Aoxue, had to grow up quickly.

There has to be someone to act as a safe haven for the other party. Given her current abilities, she is destined not to be Lin Aoxue's safe haven; she can only be a capable assistant to Lin Aoxue.

The next day, the most interesting part of this four-sect collaboration finally arrived: the four-sect martial arts competition.

Yesterday's test of willpower saw only over 300 people make it to the end, meaning that nearly 700 people were eliminated in the first two rounds, especially yesterday's test of willpower, which eliminated more than half of them.

However, failing the second test results in neither punishment nor reward.

Of these 300-plus people, half were from the Yunxia Sect. In other words, this third test was practically a one-man showdown between the Yunxia Sect and the three major sects.

Currently, all the disciples who have passed the willpower test are standing in the center of the training ground, waiting for the sect elders to speak.

The leaders of the four major sects looked at each other and then stood up at the same time.

As the host, Yun Yun was naturally the first to speak.

"First of all, congratulations to all the disciples of the four sects who have passed the second stage of the assessment. The next assessment is a practical test, which will also be a competition among the new generation of disciples of our four major sects. I hope you will do your best to achieve a high ranking," Yun Yun said with a smile.

After she finished speaking, Zilan also spoke up, but she didn't bother with any formalities, because the three families had already embarrassed themselves.

"Hmph! I won't mince words like Sect Leader Yun. You Zilan Sect members, you'd better live up to my expectations! Over three hundred people came to participate in the assessment, and only a few dozen remain. What a disgrace! If you don't get a good ranking in the final combat competition, I, the Sect Leader, will personally give you a good beating when we get back to the sect," Zilan said seriously.

These words made the disciples of the Zixia Sect feel extremely aggrieved. At the same time, they all made a firm decision in their hearts: when the fight broke out, they would have to fight to the death, otherwise they would definitely not have a good life when they returned to the sect.

The sect leaders of Yanxia Sect and Xixia Sect didn't say anything harsh; they simply told each other to do their best.

Next came the draw to match opponents. Since there were many disciples from the Yunxia Sect, they had a high chance of being matched with their own fellow disciples.

Despite a year of cultivation, Ye Liuyun's physical strength did not break through the bottleneck and she is still at the peak of the Spirit Stream Realm. However, her speed has improved by a level.

Lin Aoxue stood calmly beside Yun Yun, watching Ye Liuyun. Ye Liuyun and the others went up on stage one by one and took a tag from Yun Cheng's hand.

They've already arranged how to match disciples; all that's needed is to compete according to the pre-selected numbers.

The lottery, which involved more than 300 people, ended quickly.

"Alright, the Four Sects Martial Arts Tournament is about to begin. Please look at the number on your tags. The person whose number I call out will come up on stage for a duel. As always, you cannot use external forces that exceed your current level. That is to say, the weapons and other consumable magic items you use cannot exceed the Human Rank. The competition will end when the opponent is right and no one may be killed."

"Alright, the rules have been read. Next is the first match of the Four Sects Martial Arts Tournament. Now, number one and number two, come up to the stage for a duel." Yun Cheng called out the names in numerical order.

With those words spoken, the competition officially began. Today's match was sure to be interesting, definitely more so than yesterday's and the day before's.

Ye Liuyun glanced at her tag number; she was number sixty-six, so it wasn't her turn yet, but it would be soon.

"66, oh my, I like this number, it's an auspicious number." Ye Liuyun said with a smile, then turned his gaze to the stage.

Number one and number two have already come up on stage. Number one is a disciple of the Zilan Sect, and number two is a disciple of the Yunxia Sect.

These two families are truly destined to be enemies, and most importantly, they know each other.

"It's you? Last time in the Six Yang Mountains, you were the one who hit me on the head with a rock. Today, you won't be so lucky." The male disciple from the Zixia Sect immediately recognized the Yunxia Sect disciple opposite him.

The disciples of the two families in the Spirit Stream Realm had fought each other not long ago, so it's not surprising that they've met before.

"Huh? I don't remember seeing you before. Who are you?" The Yunxia Sect disciple looked confused.

When they started fighting, he didn't have the mind to pay attention to who he was hitting. He probably only remembered the person he was hitting.