Lonemoon had found a secret chamber in Elixir Peak which had been so deeply hidden that if he had not been proficient in array formations, it would never have been discovered. However, this secret chamber was not just an ordinary room for refining elixir pills. Yu Ding, who was the hall master in charge of the entire Elixir Peak, was also an eighth-level alchemist. Ninety percent of Blackheaven Sect’s elixirs originated from Elixir Peak. As a hall master, refining pills had been part of his job so there was no need to set up such a secret room for elixir refinement. Lonemoon had been deeply puzzled by this until he saw the bottles of completed elixirs in the secret room that Yu Ding had not managed to stash away in time.

　　Among those elixirs, there were actually cultivation boosting pills. The use of these kinds of pills was not tied to the consumer’s cultivation level; the pills could be taken by high-ranking cultivators and even by Soul Formation cultivators. Anyone who took the pills would immediately gain a boost in their cultivation level. However, the ingredients to make these pills were extremely rare, many of which had already ceased to exist in the Azure World. There was simply no way to refine them. Yet despite that, there were more than one bottle of these pills in Yu Ding’s secret chamber.

　　This could not be possible, unless…

　　Lonemoon had poured out an elixir pill from a bottle and probed it with his perception aura. As expected, he found an obscure black Qi surrounding it.

　　It was rumored that there was a depraved method of making elixir pills which was to use the body of a living cultivator. These pills could preserve ten percent of the victims’ cultivation level before their death. Anyone who took the pill would directly experience an improvement in cultivation level. However, this method was extremely troublesome. No cultivators would willingly allow their cultivation level be extracted; thus, although it was an elixir pill, the malevolence contained in the pill could turn on the consumer unless the cultivator used in the making of the pill possessed Spirit Qi of an extremely gentle attribute such as a Water Spirit Root attribute or a Wood Spirit Root attribute.

　　Coincidentally, a person with a Water Spirit Root attribute was also regarded as being most suitable for use in sexual enslavement.

　　The reason why Yu Ding had built a secret room… was so that he could hide the fact that he had been refining elixirs using living people. And his ingredients for the pills were the sex slaves that Gan Zirui had provided him with.

　　It was no wonder there was such a heavy aura of grievance contained in this elixir. The unfortunate soul was harvested while he was still alive and even after death, his body was still used for refining pills.

　　Lonemoon could not help but shudder then. Looking at the amount of elixir pills, the number of people who had died in the hands of Yu Ding and Gan Zhirui must have been considerable.

　　The strange thing was that Yu Ding had not improved his cultivation much during all these years which made it obvious that he had not touched those pills. That meant there were other people pulling the strings from the shadows. Therefore, combining this conclusion with Shen Ying’s earlier deductions, the people behind Yu Ding and Gan Zhirui had to be from the Upper Azure World!

　　At that point, a shocking thought had come over Lonemoon: now that Yu Ding was dead, would the people behind him directly target Blackheaven Sect?! High-level cultivators were a dime a dozen in the Upper Azure World. Although the Blackheaven Sect was the top sect of the Middle Azure World, in the eyes of the Upper Azure World, the sect was insignificant. But then he immediately rejected this conjecture. No, the act of using a living person to concoct elixirs was no different from the evil acts of Fiendish Cultivators. The Upper Azure World would spare no effort to hide this heinous act, let alone directly admit to it. The fact that Gan Zirui had hidden himself in Sword Comprehension Peak instead of directly fleeing to the Upper Azure World was proof of this. From this, Lonemoon surmised that the people behind Gan Zirui and Yu Ding probably did not have free rein to do whatever they wanted in the Upper Azure World.

　　Granted, Yu Ding was guilty of many crimes, but the key issue was that he had been in Blackheaven Sect for so many years yet no one knew that he was from the Upper Azure World. Helping his masters in the Upper Azure World refine these pills was probably not the only reason for hiding his true identity. There were definitely other motives at play. What did the people in the Upper Azure World plan to do? He couldn’t help but think of the Grand Vacuity Sect. Everyone knew that although the Grand Vacuity Sect was in name a member of the Three Schools Six Sects, it was actually only a puppet controlled by the Upper Azure World. Could it be that they wanted to turn Blackheaven Sect into a second Grand Vacuity Sect?!

　　A belated feeling of fear kicked in, but still it was fortunate that he had discovered this in time. He hadn’t expected this matter of the Fiendish Cultivator would bring so many other issues to light.

　　At first, he thought that it was Shen Ying’s sympathy working overtime, that she had dragged them along on her escapade because she pitied the Fiendish Cultivator. He certainly had not expected such a pleasant surprise in store! Shen Ying did not usually give the impression that she was the reliable sort, so he had been surprised by her being so alert and sharp; she had immediately grasped the crux of the matter.

　　“Shen Ying, did you already sense that there was a problem long before? Which was why, for the sake of Blackheaven Sect, you… Huh? Where did she go?”

　　Before he finished speaking, he realized that the person who had been sitting in front of him had already returned to the house. She was peering at a green leaf in her hand with a look of disgust.

　　“Chef, what is this thing that smells like coriander?”

　　“Parsley, used for seasoning.”

　　“Don’t use it next time. I hate parsley.”

　　“Yes Master, no problem Master!”

　　Lonemoon: “…” F*cking retard .

　　-_-|||

　　I must have been blind to think that a foodie like her could think of the big picture. And Sword Immortal, have you so readily accepted the title of Chef? Do you really have to be so quick about it?

　　(╯‵□′)╯(┻━┻

　　————————

　　When Sect Master Xi Qiu was informed of the matter of Yu Ding by Lonemoon, he too felt the same sense of fear, but fortunately they had discovered the matter in time before it resulted in a major disaster. But after all, this matter involved the Upper Azure Sect and they had no idea who the mastermind behind it was; they had no choice but to accept their loss and act as if nothing had happened. It was only now that they called off their pursuit of Qi Chengyu.

　　“Are you here to freeload again?” Shen Ying glanced at her fellow compatriot, this idle man who constantly nagged at her, and waved her hand. “It’s not yet meal time. The cook hasn’t come back yet.”

　　“Who says I’m here to freeload?” Lonemoon glared at her. “I have long been practicing Grain Liberation. Have I ever eaten a grain of your rice?!”

　　“Yes, you have!”

　　Lonemoon’s mouth twitched. Suddenly he remembered something. “Pastries can’t be counted as rice!” He had tried a few mouthfuls as he had not eaten them for such a long time. Do you have to carry such a small matter in your memory for so long?

　　“I’m just here to inform you that your disciple will probably be unable to come back to cook today. The sect master is talking to him about an experiential training expedition.”

　　“Experiential training expedition?”

　　Lonemoon patted delicately at his robes before sitting down opposite her. He could not help but gloat as he informed her, “At this time of the year, the disciples below Golden Core stage must go out in batches on an experiential training expedition to improve their battle readiness. It mostly involves taking on requests that those in the mortal world cannot handle or subduing demons and beasts and the like, similar to a group training exercise.”

　　“What has that got to do with Chef?” Isn’t he a Nascent Soul cultivator?

　　“By all rights, nothing.” Lonely Moon continued. “In previous years, only one Golden Core cultivator was needed to lead the team to ensure the safety of the disciples during the annual experiential training expedition. But this time the sect received requests for help to deal with a powerful ninth-stage demon that has apparently appeared in the south. The ordinary Golden Core cultivators can’t deal with it at all. The hall masters are all busy investigating the Yu Ding case and aren’t in the sect. So Xi Qiu thought of your chef.”

　　“Oh…” Forcibly recruited? “How long is this experiential training expedition?”

　　“No fixed duration. A short one could take three to four months, while a long one… about half a year to one year.”

　　One year! Shen Ying’s mouth twitched a bit, and suddenly a formula appeared in her head: training expedition = no chef = no one to cook my meals = pending food crisis! Turning back to look at Lonemoon, she thought to herself: this means one year of eating pig swill!

　　No way!

　　“What kind of look is that?” Lonemoon frowned. Why did he feel that she was silently scolding him? “This has nothing to do with me. It’s the arrangement of the sect’s elders. Besides, he’s a guest elder and leading a training expedition is supposed to be…”

　　But before he could finish speaking, Shen Ying suddenly stood up and with a serious expression on her face, she asked, “Can relatives come along on the training expedition?”

　　“…”