Chapter 28: Ye Jingyun

Returning to his quarters, Chen Lin found the woman from the Shuiyue Pavilion standing in the courtyard, gazing up at the sky.

Seeing Chen Lin enter, she scrutinized him with a searching gaze for a long while, but she did not speak.

Chen Lin rubbed his nose, unsure of what to say, and simply retreated to his own room.

Once inside, he began refining Enlightenment Pills.

Since his talent for alchemy had already been exposed, there was no need to hide it any longer.

After ten consecutive failures, he obtained a single, pitch-black pill.

After finishing that batch, he continued to refine a few more times, naturally failing each time.

The purpose of this was to mask his ability to succeed exactly on the tenth attempt; if he succeeded precisely once every ten tries, it would be too obvious.

By disrupting the sequence, he could mix the successes with failures, making the other party believe he was merely lucky.

Even so, the woman from the Shuiyue Pavilion outside the courtyard wore an expression of suspicion and bewilderment.

"Does such a person of extraordinary fortune truly exist in this world? This is quite a treasure; no wonder Senior Brother Yu instructed me to protect him secretly and bring him along when we leave."

Chen Lin did not know that although Yu Yuehai had lifted his confinement, he had ordered the woman from the Shuiyue Pavilion to follow him covertly—partly to ensure his safety, and partly to further observe the source of his "fortune."

Or perhaps, it wasn't fortune at all, but something else entirely.

Unaware of this, and powerless even if he were, Chen Lin impatiently began testing the pills once they were refined.

This time, he chose to practice the Vajra Shield, the only defensive spell in *The Detailed Explanation of Basic Spells*. It was a low-grade, first-tier spell with mediocre defensive capabilities.

Of course, "mediocre" was relative to a cultivator; against a mortal, even a top-tier martial arts expert would find it absolutely unbreakable.

Defensive spells were the hardest to practice. Even though the Vajra Shield was low-level, it was profound and complex. Chen Lin had studied it for a long time previously but had failed to find any way into its essence.

While spells like Object Manipulation and Wind Control progressed slowly, he could at least grasp their general concepts; this spell, however, left him completely in the dark.

He couldn't help but doubt his own intelligence once again.

With such talent, he estimated he would have been at the very bottom of the class in his previous life—the ultimate nemesis of teachers.

However, his academic performance in his previous life hadn't been that bad—he had at least graduated from a third-tier university—so he blamed this deficiency on the original owner of the body, lamenting that he hadn't chosen a better vessel when he transmigrated.

After a moment of self-pity, he composed himself and swallowed the Enlightenment Pill.

As a sense of profound mystery emerged, Chen Lin immediately began comprehending the contents of the Vajra Shield.

His eyes instantly lit up.

As expected, taking the medicine made a difference.

Looking at the spell's contents now, a wealth of understanding flooded his mind, and the feeling of reading a celestial text vanished.

A quarter of an hour later, he finally grasped the general operating principles of the spell, though he was still a step short of true mastery.

As the mystical sensation receded, a sharp pain immediately set in.

Just as Chen Lin clutched his head, cursing Yu Yuehai for deceiving him, a cool sensation suddenly rose from his dantian, rushing straight to his brain.

Then, his head cleared, and the pain subsided significantly.

Though some ache remained, it was within a tolerable range; he no longer had to roll on the ground clutching his head.

It actually worked!

Chen Lin was overjoyed.

Although the worm in his stomach was disgusting, he couldn't afford to care about that right now; learning more spells to increase his survival capabilities was the priority.

In a good mood, he tidied up, boiled a pot of spiritual rice porridge, and after eating, began refining Enlightenment Pills again.

Because he had already "farmed" several times before, he succeeded after only six attempts this time.

Outside, the woman from the Shuiyue Pavilion had been monitoring Chen Lin's actions with her perception. She frowned slightly, looking puzzled.

Then, she glanced toward Yu Yuehai's room and slowly walked toward Chen Lin's door.

*Knock, knock.*

She tapped twice on the door with her slender fingers.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, I am coming in!"

Without waiting for a response, she pushed the door open and entered.

Chen Lin stood up immediately, not taking offense at her rudeness.

Given the current disparity in their status, the fact that she knocked at all was considered quite polite.

"Is there something you need, Fellow Daoist?"

Unsure of her purpose, Chen Lin took the initiative to ask.

The woman scanned the room, her gaze finally landing on the iron pot and the alchemy furnace. Her eyebrows arched slightly.

"You are truly a gifted talent, Fellow Daoist. To be able to refine Enlightenment Pills using such a simple furnace is truly astonishing!"

Chen Lin remained silent.

The more one speaks, the more mistakes one makes.

Seeing that Chen Lin did not respond, the woman was undeterred. She smiled and said, "Speaking of which, we are now somewhat companions. Fellow Daoist Chen likely does not know my name yet? My surname is Ye, and my name is Jingyun. I have practiced cultivation for over twenty years and am at the ninth level of Qi Refinement."

Chen Lin showed a look of surprise.

He hadn't expected her cultivation to be so high, reaching the final stage of the Qi Refinement period.

These two were definitely not ordinary rogue cultivators; he just didn't know which faction they belonged to.

Ye Jingyun had no intention of continuing her introduction. Instead, she shifted the topic, staring into Chen Lin's eyes with an expectant look. "I heard that you are also skilled in talisman crafting?"

Chen Lin froze for a moment, then nodded. "I know a little, but currently, I can only refine low-grade talismans."

Having lived in the same courtyard as Yu Yuehai for several years, everything he knew was known to the other man; there was no way to hide it.

Ye Jingyun gave him a knowing, half-smiling look.

"Why be so modest? I heard from my Senior Brother that you can even refine Soul-Restraining Talismans—those are special talismans that even I cannot craft."

Chen Lin opened his mouth, cursing inwardly.

It turned out he hadn't hidden his background at all; they had figured everything out.

And here he was, thinking he had been incredibly discreet and cautious!

He gave a helpless, bitter smile and said, "It seems nothing can escape Senior Brother Yu's keen eyes. However, that time was purely luck. I don't even know why I was able to refine it so suddenly."

Ye Jingyun studied him once more and said with envy, "Luck is also a form of strength. I lack that kind of luck."

Chen Lin fell silent again.

He didn't know what to say. Not only were they strangers, but if he said the wrong thing and provoked her into attacking him, he would be looking for trouble.

Now that the Blood Demon Pill had been completed, his role was essentially optional; he needed to know his place.

Ye Jingyun was merely expressing her own sentiment and wasn't looking for comfort. Noticing Chen Lin's attitude, she smiled faintly.

"There is no need to worry, Fellow Daoist Chen. Although my Senior Brother can be quite ruthless, as long as you do not resist, he will not make things difficult for you."

As she spoke, she reached into the storage bag at her waist, and a jade slip appeared in her hand.

Under Chen Lin's puzzled gaze, she held it out to him.

"What do you mean by this, Fellow Daoist Ye?" Chen Lin asked, confused.

"This is a method for refining a talisman. I would like to ask Fellow Daoist Chen to see if you are capable of refining it."