Stealing Immortal
Chapter 8 - 7: Vicious Scheme

Chapter 8: Chapter 7: Vicious Scheme

"Senior Brother Chen, are you there?"

The sky was just beginning to lighten, and frost coated the ground.

A cold wind had swept through last night, leaving the small courtyard looking suddenly desolate.

Xu Yong stood at the door, holding a tray and dressed in padded cotton clothes.

Chen Qingyang opened his eyes, slipped on his shoes, and pulled the door open. On the tray were a few pastries and a pot of clear tea, steaming in the cool air.

"I saw you came back very late last night. I was worried you’d be late for your duties at the Hongling Token and get punished by Steward Wu, so I prepared breakfast for you ahead of time."

When he first arrived, he had been a sweet-talker, clever and quick-witted, treating Chen Qingyang like this almost every day.

Now, after this flip-flop, Chen Qingyang saw the boy for who he truly was.

Seeing Chen Qingyang ignore him, Xu Yong continued, "Senior Brother Chen, you’ve been looking after me ever since I joined the Sect. I feel the closest to you. I mistakenly believed Lü Yunshen’s words before, which led to a misunderstanding. Please, Senior Brother Chen, don’t hold it against me!"

As he said this, he had no idea that Lü Yunshen was standing right behind him.

"Hmph. I thought you had some integrity, Xu Yong. Turns out you’re just a spineless coward. Why are you bowing your head to him? You should know, if a man has no principles, how can he even be called a man?"

Unlike the silent Chen Qingyang, Xu Yong shot back, "I usually don’t argue with you out of respect for you as my senior brother, but how can you talk about Senior Brother Chen like that?"

Lü Yunshen clearly hadn’t expected Xu Yong to be so calculating. "Hmph! A fence-sitter! I guess I was wrong about you!"

"You, with the surname Lü! Don’t think you’re hot stuff just because you’ve read a few books. I think you’re the biggest hypocrite of all..."

...

They were on the verge of a full-blown argument, these two who had been inseparable just a few days ago.

CLANG!

Annoyed, Chen Qingyang shut the door. After getting himself ready, he headed for the Hongling Token.

He finished four Dao Rhyme Patterns in a single morning, reported his work to Wu Boyou, and then made his way toward the Golden Summit.

The gate of the Pill Institute.

As he entered, he happened to run into Xu Baoling on her way out. She didn’t speak, only offered a slight smile.

’Of course, this is no coincidence,’ Chen Qingyang thought. ’She must have been waiting here. A smile can be a sign of goodwill, or it can be a warning. It all depends on what I do next.’

Pushing the door open, he found Liu Tao in her usual state: the ingredients were prepared, and she was resting with her eyes closed, just waiting for him to arrive.

Chen Qingyang wasn’t in a hurry to start the Alchemy. He simply asked, "I wonder, is my life of any importance to you, Senior Sister?"

Liu Tao didn’t understand and immediately snapped, "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"If it is important, then I’d like to change the location for my Alchemy. After all, it took me A Hundred Years to break through to my current realm, and I’d rather not die an unnatural death. If it’s not important, then Senior Sister can just force me to stay."

Liu Tao rolled her eyes. "Speak clearly!"

So Chen Qingyang recounted the events of the previous day in detail. Just as he expected, Liu Tao flew into a rage. Her silver hair seemed to stand on end, and the black mole at the corner of her mouth twitched. She looked truly menacing.

"Our lineage... She ruins my plans time and time again! I’ll make that bitch pay... And you! Did you find that slut alluring? Did she make your heart flutter?!"

He had never seen her so furious. She paced back and forth across the floor.

"Sigh," Chen Qingyang let out another sigh. "Just as you said, Senior Sister, I know Xu Baoling has the heart of a viper. She showed her killing intent toward me just yesterday. I, too, am inclined to continue performing Alchemy here. Otherwise, why would I tell you about this? If you want me to stay alive, you should be the one thinking about how to deal with Xu Baoling."

Liu Tao snapped her head around to look at him. "You’re on my side? Is what you’re saying true?"

"Of course."

"Right, right. That bitch has always been against me. If her Cultivation wasn’t a step below mine, who knows what she would’ve done to me. Now she’s realized how useful you are to me, so she’s become jealous. I’ll take you to see my master right now and get you into the Outer Sect... But... would my master even take an interest in you...?"

Entering the Outer Sect at this time was not part of Chen Qingyang’s plan.

Besides, after a night of contemplation, he no longer saw Xu Baoling as a crisis, but rather an opportunity—an opportunity to snatch away many Immortal Seedlings.

"And what happens after I become an Outer Disciple?"

"She’ll be wary of the Sect’s rules. At the very least, she won’t dare to try to kill you."

Chen Qingyang shook his head. "Does the Sect allow servant disciples to be killed at will? Such things happen even when they’re strictly forbidden. Doing this won’t solve the real danger. In fact, Xu Baoling’s hatred for you will only intensify, and one day she will have her revenge."

"...That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense!" Liu Tao seemed half-mad, pacing back and forth.

She thought this way and that, but couldn’t come up with a better solution. Finally, she glared at Chen Qingyang. "I get it! You’ve fallen for that bitch’s pretty face! You think I’m old and want to go with her, don’t you?"

Xu Baoling was like a switch that filled her with jealousy and stripped her of all reason. He’d never seen her like this. Chen Qingyang just watched her without a word.

After a long moment, Liu Tao spoke again. "What? You look so calm and composed. Don’t tell me you’ve come up with an idea?"

"Senior Sister, you must understand. Her killing intent isn’t because she wants me dead, but because she doesn’t want you to live well. I don’t know what the grudge is between you two, but in a situation like this, it will eventually become a life-or-death struggle. Therefore..."

Chen Qingyang trailed off.

"No, absolutely not!" Liu Tao rejected it immediately. "You don’t understand. The laws of the Outer Sect are strict, not like for us Miscellaneous Task disciples. Besides, Outer Disciples all have masters and fellow disciples. If something happens and an investigation is launched, neither of us can escape. What’s more, while my Cultivation is a notch higher than that bitch’s, if we really fought and she decided to flee, there’s nothing I could do to stop her."

After speaking, Liu Tao stared at Chen Qingyang again. "You’re just a servant disciple. How dare you have such a bold idea? What are you really planning?"

"What am I planning? I’m just planning to stay alive. Since it’s difficult to eliminate her directly, why not think of an indirect approach?"

"What kind of approach are you talking about?"

"Senior Sister, you’ve been practicing Alchemy for many years. Surely there exists a Poison Pill in this world, the kind that can kill a Cultivator? Didn’t she want to make a deal with me? Well then, I’ll just go along with it."

Liu Tao rejected it again. "Hmph, that little bitch is as slippery as an eel. Believe it or not, she probably followed you all the way back last night and only left after seeing you didn’t go up the mountain. She won’t swallow an Elixir so easily. Besides, if she dies suddenly from a Poison Pill, there’s still a risk it’ll be traced back to us. Cultivation hasn’t been easy for either of us. We can’t take that risk."

Unlike her uncertainty, Chen Qingyang was full of confidence.

"If she doesn’t trust it the first time, we’ll try a few more times. There will come a time when she trusts it. A sudden death is indeed suspicious, but if we poison her slowly, starting by ruining her Dao Foundation, it will be very difficult to trace. What’s more, the deal is a private matter between her and me. Why would she tell anyone else and let another person get involved? If she dies, no one will be the wiser."

"Then..." Liu Tao looked suspicious. "Doesn’t that mean you’ll have to be in contact with her every day? That little slut is incredibly seductive. How do I know you won’t change your mind halfway through and turn on me... Or maybe you’ve wanted to go with her all along?"

Chen Qingyang truly felt that when it came to Xu Baoling, Liu Tao had an instinctual inferiority complex. Perhaps this complex wasn’t born from Xu Baoling’s beauty, but from her own lack of confidence in her appearance.

’She can’t accept that she’s an old crone, can she?’

"Senior Sister, you say this won’t work and that won’t work. Why don’t we just forget about it!"

Seeing him give up so decisively, Liu Tao became reluctant. "Forget about it? Even if we forget about it, that bitch will keep looking for you. You don’t understand. She’s like a maggot burrowing into bone..."

SLAP!

Before Chen Qingyang could answer, Liu Tao slammed her hand on the long table.

"...That little bitch... maybe we really should just kill her. I know of an Immortal Grass called Star Meteor Powder. It can attach to the Dantian Meridians and devour a person’s Essence Qi. No matter how great that bitch’s Magical Power is, once her Dantian Meridians are ruined, her Cultivation will inevitably plummet. And the toxicity is low; it only erupts suddenly after accumulating to a certain level."

Liu Tao muttered as she paced anxiously, "Yes, just like that... First, we’ll make the bitch suffer a cultivation deviation, then we’ll find a way to burn her Divine Soul. All our troubles will be over." At this, she lunged toward Chen Qingyang. "This makes you and me two grasshoppers on the same rope. Do you understand?"

Her eyes were slightly bloodshot.

Chen Qingyang’s expression was as placid as an old tree. "I understand. I will devote myself to studying the Alchemy Dao and assist you, Senior Sister, in breaking through to Essence Condensation and becoming one of the Chief Stewards of the Pill Institute."

Liu Tao finally let out a long breath, her gaze softening. "Now that’s more like it. Even if something happens later, my master won’t blame me!"

’Murdering an Outer Disciple at the Qi Refining Eighth Realm is a bit insane,’ he thought. ’But she’s the one who showed killing intent toward me first. She’ll just have to be a stepping stone for my own Cultivation.’

...

The moonlight was not very good tonight.

He left the mountain a little later than yesterday. The beauty was waiting for him by the path, in the same spot as before.

A gentle breeze rose, outlining her alluring figure and making her posture seem even more graceful.

"Senior Sister Xu, this is the Elixir I refined today."

Three pills were formed from the batch. Chen Qingyang was allotted two, and he had prepared one of them for Xu Baoling.

She didn’t look at the Elixir, but simply asked, "How many were formed in today’s batch? And how many did that old crone give you?"

"Three. As is tradition, I only took one."

"Then... did you tell her about meeting me?"

"Absolutely not."

Just as she had expected. Xu Baoling was finally satisfied. With a flick of her sleeve, a sweet fragrance wafted over. Three Qi Gathering Pills landed in Chen Qingyang’s hand. Her generosity far outstripped Liu Tao’s.

"At my level of Cultivation, these pills are almost useless. But I have to refine them to study the Alchemy Dao. From now on, you’ll be the one to benefit. I’ll trade all of them to you, how about it?"

Chen Qingyang put on a look of guilt. "It’s a shame. I only get one Elixir per day. It seems like you’re getting the short end of the stick, Senior Sister Xu."

Seeing him act this way, Xu Baoling’s smile bloomed like a flower in full splendor. "You’re a good person. It’s just a pity that old crone got to you first. If you were to come under my wing, I could split the Elixirs from each batch with you fifty-fifty."

Chen Qingyang just smiled.

Then, Xu Baoling asked, "How much do you know about that old crone’s background?"

"She has me call myself a Furnace Boy to others. I’m just supposed to focus on Alchemy every day and not talk about anything else."

"Hmph. That’s because she’s too ashamed to say. That old crone isn’t just eccentric in her ways, she’s also extremely selfish. She rose up from the Miscellaneous Task disciples four hundred years ago. It took her two hundred years to reach the Qi Refining Ninth Realm, and then for another two hundred years, she made no further progress. That’s why she ended up looking like an old woman."

"Her aptitude is mediocre at best. To make up for it, she’s resorted to any means necessary, using everything and everyone she can, then tossing them aside when she’s done."

"I can see you have considerable talent in the Alchemy Dao, and I can’t bear to see it wasted. From now on, you must be extremely careful working under her. Especially about my existence. You must never let her hear about it, or she will surely kill you to silence you."

One called the other a viper, the other called her selfish. Liu Tao had been right about one thing: there were no good people in the Tai Xu Sect.

He had yet to experience the ’Grand Emptiness’ of the Tai Xu Sect, but the ’grand hypocrisy’ was on full display.

Hearing this, Chen Qingyang feigned a panicked expression. "If that’s the case, Senior Sister Xu, do you have a way to get me into the Golden Summit Outer Sect, so I can completely break away from Liu Tao?"

Xu Baoling just stared at him with a faint smile, neither agreeing nor refusing.

After a moment of silence, Chen Qingyang took the initiative and bowed. "Thank you for the warning, Senior Sister Xu. I’ll be heading down the mountain now."

"Go on."

Just like yesterday, once he was down the mountain in a secluded spot, he swallowed the Qi Gathering Pill and the Qi-Introducing Pill from Liu Tao all at once.

As his Qi circulated, he could clearly feel a slight blockage. ’Could this be the ’impurities’ they talk about?’

’It’s true, you really can’t take too many Qi Gathering Pills.’