Outside the Deacon Hall, the crowd was buzzing. A fresh sheet of yellow jute paper was pinned to the board, surrounded by layers of onlookers.

  "Mission: Escort Junior Sister Li Simin back to her hometown in Yuexi Town. Reward: 300 Low-grade Spirit Stones."

  "Yuexi Town? I’ve heard of it. You have to cross Black Wind Ridge. The round trip takes at least a month."

  "Three hundred stones for a month sounds like a lot. But Black Wind Ridge is crawling with exotic insects and demonic beasts. Which of us Outer disciples would dare take that risk?"

  "Exactly. This notice has been up for three days without a single taker. The Inner Sect brothers look down on such a small sum, and we don't have the strength to claim it."

  "I heard Junior Sister Li’s master is an Inner Sect Deacon. He can't lower himself to do the escorting, so he put up this price to find a scapegoat."

  Amidst the chatter, the crowd parted. Chen Gensheng walked to the front, reached out, and gently peeled the yellow paper from the board.

  Inside the hall, the registration disciple looked up. Seeing it was him, he froze. "Junior Brother Chen, are you sure? This errand... it won't be easy."

  "Thank you for the warning, Senior Brother, but my mind is made up." Gensheng handed over the notice, his voice gentle.

  The disciple didn't push further. He simply shook his head and carved a few strokes onto a wooden tile. "Meet Junior Sister Li tomorrow at the Hour of the Dragon, beneath the maple tree outside the mountain gate."

  "Much obliged." Gensheng took the tile and turned to leave, followed by a wave of hushed whispers he couldn't suppress.

  The next day, Hour of the Dragon.

  Beneath the massive maple tree outside Maple Red Valley’s gates, a girl stood fidgeting. She wore an old, faded disciple's uniform; she was thin, her features plain—the kind of face that would vanish the moment it stepped into a crowd.

  A shadow stretched across the ground, completely enveloping her. The girl looked up with a start. Upon seeing the newcomer, a flash of panic crossed her eyes.

  "Junior Sister Li?"

  "I... I am Li Simin." Her voice was tiny, her head bowed low, not daring to look at him. "Are... are you Senior Brother Chen, here to escort me?"

  She couldn't believe that the person who had accepted this grim task would be someone so... beautiful. She had heard some of the rumors about Chen Gensheng in the Outer Sect.

  "I am." Gensheng wore a perfect smile—neither distant nor overly warm. "I’ve just entered the Outer Sect and wanted an opportunity to travel and gain experience. It seems fate brought us together for this notice."

  Hearing this, Li Simin’s tension eased slightly. "Then... I shall trouble Senior Brother Chen."

  "Don't mention it." Gensheng nodded. "It’s late. Let us depart."

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  He turned and led the way down the mountain trail. Li Simin clutched her small cloth bundle and hurried to keep up.

  As they passed the gate, the two guarding disciples exchanged a knowing glance.

  "Isn't that the 'Vase' Elder Wan picked up?" "It is. To think he dared take this job. He probably doesn't know how to spell the word 'death'." "What a waste. Such a handsome face is about to be chewed up by the beasts of Black Wind Ridge."

  Li Simin’s footsteps faltered, her face turning a shade paler.

  The mountain path was rugged. They walked in silence for a long stretch. The wind rustled through the woods, making the silence feel even heavier.

  "Senior Brother Chen..."

  "Yes?"

  "How long... how long have you been cultivating?"

  Gensheng paused and glanced back at her, his face still gentle. He thought for a moment. From the first bite of pill dross until now, it had been barely two years.

  "Over ten years."

  A look of "as I thought" flashed in Li Simin’s eyes, followed by a shadow of gloom. Gensheng had already turned back to continue walking. His mind was not on the conversation.

  Three hundred spirit stones. That was enough to buy a decent Grade-2 recipe at a market and the herbs for a few batches. The Ten-Thousand Insect Tripod could finally be put to use.

  Or, he could just eat her.

  A cultivator at the second level of Qi Condensation—the spiritual energy in her flesh wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. It would certainly help feed those dozen ravenous Corpse-Barrier Wasps.

  He was already debating whether to strike before they entered Black Wind Ridge or after. Doing it before would save trouble. Doing it after... well, he might be able to use her as bait to lure out some demonic beasts to devour as well.

  "I... I’m not cut out for cultivation."

  The voice behind him interrupted his calculations. Li Simin walked with her head down, talking to herself.

  "My mother was a courtesan in a brothel." "My father was a 'Servant of Joy' before he was conscripted into the army." "The only reason I entered the Immortal Sect was because of the compensation my father received for his service—he used it to buy me a letter of recommendation." "Unfortunately, he fell ill recently and won't recover. My Master says I have no hope of Foundation Establishment. It’s better to return home and care for my father in his final years."

  Gensheng listened with half an ear. These words meant nothing to him. A person’s origin, past, joys, or sorrows could not change their value as either food or currency. He was currently wondering where he could get a recipe for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

  "Senior Brother Chen, are you listening?" Li Simin asked timidly when she got no reaction.

  Gensheng snapped back. "Yes."

  He looked at the mountain road lengthened by the setting sun, at the withered leaves. In his mind, a verse from a book of mortal poetry that Lu Zhaozhao had idly flipped through in the dream surfaced.

  He spoke the lines casually: "Pity the bones by the bank of the River Without End, still the men of dreams in the ladies' chambers."

  Li Simin stopped in her tracks. Her father had been a soldier. He, too, was a "bone by the river." She had never imagined that this senior brother—so beautiful he seemed barely human—would say something like that.

  He must have gone through so much as well, she thought.

  She looked up at his profile. The twilight glow outlined his sharp features. Those deep eyes were looking into the distance, seemingly hiding a sadness she couldn't understand.

  "Senior Brother! You are... truly beautiful!" "You are the most handsome man I have ever seen in my life!"

  Gensheng let out a startled laugh. He had heard countless praises. In the dream, Lu Zhaozhao praised him every day, calling him a man unique under heaven and earth. But to him, those words were no different from the sound of wind or rain—just parts of a fake world.

  But now, this weak girl, who couldn't even control her own fate, spoke this clumsy praise with a tone that was almost... devout.

  A strange emotion flickered in the chest of this human skin he wore. It wasn't the violent rush of a pill, nor the thrill of consuming flesh. It was faint.

  "Is that so?" he asked, his voice carrying a shred of sincerity he didn't even notice.

  "It is! Truly!"

  Gensheng didn't press further. They continued on, though their pace was slightly slower than before. The strange emotion vanished as quickly as it had come, as if it had never existed.

  He was still calculating: Should I eat her now, or wait until I have the three hundred spirit stones?