“Senior Brother Su! What happened to all of you?” Little Fatty exclaimed. He’d thought they had been in a terrible state and had not expected Su Junqing and the others to be in an even worse situation.

The Liu Sisters and Broom Eyebrows Chen were covered in blood and looked extremely worn out. Numerous other disciples had picked up injuries. They were currently sprawled on the ground, moaning in pain.

By comparison, from top to bottom, Little Fatty, Yun Jiuge, and the other disciples were spotless. Bing Xinlian did not even have a speck of blood on his pristine white clothes.

The lower-ranked disciples at the back looked a lot more exhausted than the ones at the front. Even so, they were still quite clean. All in all, the worst of them seemed to be in a better state than Su Junqing.

“How did you all make your way out of the grasslands? Did you not encounter the Blood Earthworms?” Su Junqing asked, bewildered.

“Of course, we encountered them! If Senior Brother Yun Jiu had not realized that Ice Energy slows their movements, we would have died in the grasslands,” Little Fatty replied. He felt shivers shooting down his spine as he reminisced about the events that had just transpired.

Even if he had used the treasure, which his uncle had gifted him earlier, he was not sure that he could have made his way safely out of the grasslands on his own. It was likely that he had only survived thanks to the help of Senior Brother Yun Jiu.

“Yeah! We are all alive thanks to Senior Brother Yun Jiu!”

“Senior Brother Yun Jiu is really strong!”

“Without him, we all could have died…”

The disciples animatedly began discussing amongst themselves. They were all full of praise for Yun Jiuge.

The Liu Sisters could not help but feel a little upset after hearing their comments. If they’d known that this was going to happen, they would have chosen to stay by Senior Brother Yun Jiu’s side!

Su Junqing had gone on and on about how the sisters could count on him, but the moment the Blood Earthworms had appeared, he’d fled the scene faster than anyone else. He had not even spared either of them a second look!

Most likely, they would have died in the grasslands if Senior Brother Yun Jiu had not given them a considerable number of Spiritual Revitalization and Poison-Resistant Pills. He’d also helped them to refine their Earth Spiritual Bone Spurs before setting off.

The Liu Sisters grew even more upset with Su Junqing when they thought about that. If only Su Junqing were not their leader! They would toss him aside right now if they could and stay by Senior Brother Yun Jiu’s side from here on out!

The look on Su Junqing’s face was extremely unpleasant. He was supposed to be the team leader, and he had to put in a lot of effort just into leading a bunch of disciples, who had entered the fourth or fifth level of the Qi Refining Stage, out of the fearsome grasslands.

By comparison, Yun Jiu, who was nothing more than a lowly team member, had effortlessly saved around 700 lower-ranked disciples all by himself.

Yun Jiu’s actions were a slap in Su Junqing’s face. He felt entirely humiliated when he thought about how useless he looked compared to Yun Jiu.

“Junior Brother Yun Jiu sure is lucky! I can’t believe that you managed to make your way out of that perilous grassland in one piece! We are definitely going to count on your good luck from here on out!” Broom Eyebrows Chen said with a laugh. He was treating everything that Yun Jiu had done for them so far as nothing more than good luck.

Yun Jiuge ignored his remarks. She immediately turned to ask Su Junqing, “Senior Brother Su, didn’t you say that the grasslands were the territory of the Rank Two Grass Lizards? Why were there so many Blood Earthworms?”

Yun Jiuge only asked because she felt that there was something odd about the grasslands. She was not trying to undermine Su Junqing.

The Blood Earthworms were incredibly powerful, and they had been attacked by so many of them.

If the worms had always lived in the grasslands, then there was no reason for the Yin Corpse Sect not to have warned them.

“What do you mean by that exactly, Junior Brother Yun Jiu? Senior Brother Su has never entered the Secret Realm before. This is his very first time. So how could he have known that there would be so many Blood Earthworms? How can you blame him for that?” Broom Eyebrows Chen defended Su Junqing. He tried to make Su Junqing look like a pitiful victim while making Yun Jiu look like a bully.

His underlings immediately echoed his views: “That’s right! You are too harsh!”

Yun Jiuge knew what they were up to and did not have any interest in discussing the issue further. She simply turned around and sat in a corner.

Broom Eyebrows Chen assumed that he had chased Yun Jiu away, and he happily told all the other disciples, “Good work, everyone! Hurry up and gets some rest now!”

“I’m so tired,” they muttered in unison. Then, all of the disciples immediately plopped down on the floor. The injured ones began treating their wounds while the exhausted ones rested.

Bing Xinlian and Little Fatty eagerly raced over to Yun Jiuge.

“Senior Brother Yun Jiu! Do you have any more of those Antiparasitic Spirits that you used just now?” Little Fatty asked.

Besides selling information, Little Fatty was also involved in the transacting of goods.

He was very impressed with the Antiparasitic Spirits’ capabilities. If he managed to get his hands on some, he believed that he could definitely sell them at a reasonable price.

“They’re not easy to refine. I’ve only managed to make a few bottles so far, and I used them all up just now,” Yun Jiuge replied. She’d never intended to sell the Antiparasitic Spirits, anyway.

Refining an Antiparasitic Spirit was no easy task. It required 49 different types of poison, and the entire process was very complicated. If not for the fact that Yun Jiuge had to enter the Secret Realm, she would not have ever bothered making them.

Furthermore, Antiparasitic Spirits were capable of inflicting extensive damage to others. Thus, they should only be used for self-protection. It would be utterly wrong for Yun Jiuge to profit from the sale of such a devastating poison.

Yun Jiuge might be a member of a Black Magic Sect right now, but she was still able to tell right from wrong.

However, Little Fatty refused to give up. He pressed, “Senior Brother Yun Jiu, please let me know whenever you have other products like the Antiparasitic Spirits. I’m sure we’ll be able to work out a deal.”

Yun Jiuge nodded but only so that Little Fatty would leave her alone. She would continue to refine poisons only for her own usage. She would never sell them.

Just then, Bing Xinlian moved closer to her and pushed Little Fatty aside. He then asked earnestly, “Senior Brother Yun Jiu, please tell me what kind of training you did to be able to control your attacks so well?”

Yun Jiuge fell silent. She could not possibly tell Bing Xinlian that she had achieved those levels of control by practicing dual cultivation with a beast named Zi Shang!

That loathsome brute forced her to perform dual cultivation with him every single day, even though she only gained a tiny bit of spiritual energy from each session.

She longed to free herself from the torture of having to engage in regular, on-going dual cultivation with a beast. Thus, she had no other choice but to learn to control her spiritual powers entirely so that she could get rid of the poison in her Elixir Field as soon as possible.

As time went on, she had gained very good control over her powers.

“Tsk. You are asking for Senior Brother Yun Jiu’s secret training method. Why would he ever share it with you?” Little Fatty retorted. He assumed that Yun Jiu was not able to share his training method with others, so he tried to smooth things over for her.

“You are right. That was very rude of me,” Bing Xinlian answered and scratched his head sheepishly. Yun Jiuge found the innocent look on his face very adorable. It appealed to her more than the innocent face that Liu Tian’er put on all the time.

“It’s not that I cannot share the information with you. However, the way that I train myself is not suitable for you. If you really want to practice, then I suggest you try this. Create a ball of water on your fingertips. Start with your thumb, then repeat it with all five fingers,” Yun Jiuge explained, coming up with a training method for Bing Xinlian on the spot.

It was clear that Bing Xinlian was too focused on cultivating his ice powers because he possessed an Ice Spiritual Root. He’d forgotten that the Ice Spiritual Root was actually a mutation of the Water Spiritual Root, which meant that he really should be focusing on water.

He would only be able to deploy his ice powers effectively once he correctly understood the complexities of manipulating water.

“Okay. I’ll give it a try,” Bing Xinlian replied. Then, he created a ball of water over his thumb and repeated the process on his index finger.

He was successful in creating a ball of water using his first two fingers. However, when he tried it with his third, the ball of water that he’d created with his previous two fingers vanished instantly.

“When the day comes that you can create a ball of water with all ten of your fingers without stopping, you will have succeeded in improving your levels of control significantly,” Yun Jiuge explained. She could tell that Bing Xinlian was a stubborn individual. She was confident that he would definitely become much stronger if he were to continue to train in the way that she had shown him.

“Okay.” Bing Xinlian nodded in excitement. His white cheeks flushed slightly. It seemed like he was determined to perfect the exercise that Yun Jiuge had just shared with him.

“Senior Brother Yun Jiu! What about me?” Little Fatty immediately went up to her and asked.

“Ask your uncle when you go back.” Yun Jiuge glanced at him.

“But my uncle’s cultivation is terrible!” Little Fatty pulled a face and continued to pester Yun Jiuge. “Please teach me!”

“You possess an Earth Spiritual Root. You should start by creating a layer of earth around your feet then work your way up. You’ll have better control when you can create earth all around your body,” Yun Jiuge replied. She decided to give Little Fatty some advice since he had sold her several pieces of useful information.

“Okay, okay.” Little Fatty found Yun Jiuge’s suggestion to be quite practical, so he hastily ran off to try it out.