### Chapter 301: Imperial Sect Past, Star Reversal Pill
The two fine horses, one black and one white, still quietly chewed on grass leaves not far away.
The west wind swept through the green bamboo in the forest.
*Huala huala…*
Silence returned to the bamboo forest once more.
Ye Anping stood before Jiang He’s corpse, closed his eyes, and exhaled heavily. He glanced towards Su Wan’er, who was still hiding deep within the bamboo forest.
He hadn’t actually expected Su Wan’er to help, as doing so would essentially expose her identity as a rogue cultivator.
If she hadn’t helped, Jiang He probably wouldn’t have died so quickly. That Ink Dragon Spear was quite a formidable spiritual weapon and could have held them off for a few more exchanges. Furthermore, there were still several formations and traps underground that hadn’t been used yet.
“Never mind…”
Feng Yu Die had taken a blow from Jiang He to her waist earlier, and she would likely have a new bruise.
As Ye Anping thought this, he took out a bottle of medicine from his storage bag. He stepped over Jiang He’s corpse, preparing to go and tend to Feng Yu Die’s new bruise, but he had only taken one step.
A white silhouette shot out from the depths of the bamboo forest.
Su Wan’er held the Ink Dragon Spear, had changed into a white tight-fitting outfit, and put on her fox mask. She spoke in a subdued voice, “Kid, what a coincidence! I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Ye Anping was slightly taken aback by her words. He cupped his hands and said, “Let’s put past matters aside. Thank you for your assistance just now, Rogue Cultivator Lady.”
“Heh…” Su Wan’er gave a cold laugh and said, “I’ll be taking this spear. We’ll meet again.”
Without waiting for Ye Anping’s reply, Su Wan’er’s figure instantly disappeared before him and Pei Lianxue, fleeing the scene.
Ye Anping blinked, about to call out “Miss Su” to see how she planned to cover her tracks, when he saw Su Wan’er running back from the north side of the bamboo forest.
In just the past two breaths, she had changed her clothes, removed her mask, and put on her fake chest…
Her movements were indeed swift.
“Young Master Ye, are you alright? There was just someone wearing a fox mask…”
“Yes, that was the Rogue Cultivator.”
“Rogue… Rogue Cultivator?!” Su Wan’er feigned surprise and immediately reached for her storage bag, saying in a panicked tone, “Did she take anything from me? Why would the Rogue Cultivator be here?”
“…”
Seeing her like this, Ye Anping pursed his lips and ignored her. After handing the medicine in his hand to Feng Yu Die, he looked over at Liang Zhu.
Liang Zhu stood with his arms crossed next to a green bamboo, his eyes glaring at them with a hint of anger. He made no move to approach.
Ye Anping hesitated for a moment, guessing Liang Zhu’s current thoughts. He then pushed himself up from his knees, put on a smile, and walked over. “Brother Liang, are you alright?”
“Yes, thanks to you.”
Liang Zhu replied, his gaze flickered to Jiang He’s corpse nearby. He then closed his eyes, as if in thought.
After a while, he opened his eyes and said, “Sixth Brother, I need to ask you a question.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Why did you kill him?”
Hearing this, Ye Anping hesitated. He looked at Liang Zhu’s expression, which, as usual, was a poker face devoid of emotion, but his eyes clearly showed a hint of displeasure.
Ye Anping pouted and raised an eyebrow. “This is rather unusual. Brother Liang’s code of conduct is not to ask for reasons, isn’t it? Why are you asking now?”
“This is different.”
“How is it different?”
“…”
Liang Zhu frowned slightly, his gaze drifting back to Jiang He, this time resting on the blood-stained Xing Tian Division totem on Jiang He’s daoist robe.
If Ye Anping wanted to kill a demonic cultivator, he would never ask for a reason if paid.
If Ye Anping wanted to kill a rogue cultivator, he would also not ask for a reason if paid.
If Ye Anping wanted to kill an ordinary mortal, he would not ask, as long as the price was right.
However, if Ye Anping were to kill someone who guarded the Central Domain as a martyr, then even for any amount of money, he would absolutely not help.
Take Jiang He, for example.
Liang Zhu knew that his current identity did not allow him to discuss right and wrong. What right did someone from the Seven Kill Gate, who lived by killing, have to tell an employer, “Killing this person is wrong”?
However, his many years spent in the Xing Tian Division told him that everyone in the Xing Tian Division fought against evil forces. The peace enjoyed by ordinary people in the Central Domain was earned by the lives of the people of the Xing Tian Division.
At the border of the Eastern Domain, countless demonic cultivators attempted to set foot in the Central Domain again; it was the Xing Tian Division that resisted the demonic cultivator invasion from the shadows.
At the border of the Northern Region, where demonic beasts were rampant year-round, it was also the constables of the Xing Tian Division who were stationed there.
Even he himself only survived the chaos of war at the border of the Central Domain because he was adopted by a cultivator from the Xing Tian Division.
The malicious acts Ye Anping had committed before were merely malicious. But if Ye Anping’s reason for killing Jiang He was simply because Jiang He stood in his way, then that was a different matter entirely.
Even for Ating’s sake, he could no longer work alongside Ye Anping.
Liang Zhu stared intently at Ye Anping’s smiling face, but in the end, he did not voice his thoughts.
“Consider it unasked. You asked me to infiltrate the higher ranks of the Xing Tian Division. Now I’ve come out on a case with this person, and he’s dead. If I return to the Xing Tian Division, I will be held accountable. What happens next?”
Ye Anping heard this obvious attempt to change the subject, shrugged slightly, looked towards the east side of the bamboo forest, and after some thought, said, “Brother Liang, would you be willing to go somewhere with me? I have something to show you.”
“The Pacification Commissioner just said he had something to show me. What is it?”
“… You’ll know when you get there.”
Ye Anping did not answer directly. He walked back to Jiang He’s corpse, took the storage bag from his waist, and retrieved a Xing Tian Division token about the size of a palm. He then said to his junior sister beside him, “Junior Sister, please stay here with Senior Sister Feng. Brother Liang and I are going somewhere and will be back in about half an hour.”
“Okay!”
***
Ye Anping and Liang Zhu walked along the green bamboo for about fifteen minutes, pushing through the bamboo to see the sunlight. They then saw a waterfall about forty feet high.
Under the blazing sun of the sky curtain, a rainbow was sandwiched between the two sides of the shallow beach below. The water in the shallow beach was clear and devoid of fish, and the air was filled with a white mist.
Liang Zhu scanned the surroundings, finding nothing. “Here?”
“Yes.”
Ye Anping nodded, raised the token in his hand, and infused his spiritual energy into it.
Immediately, a spiritual light shot from the token towards the center of the waterfall. With a rumbling sound, the cascading waterfall, like it had developed prostatitis, split into two streams from the middle.
And between these two streams of water, a bottomless opening appeared.
“A formation?” Liang Zhu frowned, observing. “What’s inside this cave?”
“A place called the Pill Room. Perhaps Brother Liang has seen it before.”
“I’ve seen it?”
“Years ago, to quell the chaotic spiritual energy in the Central Domain, the Emperor of the Central Domain sacrificed the second princess of the Imperial Sect to the heavens. If Brother Liang was in the Xing Tian Division of the Imperial Sect back then, you would naturally know about this.”
Hearing this, Liang Zhu’s frown deepened.
He truly didn’t quite understand. Regarding the heavenly sacrifice then, the Emperor of the Central Domain claimed it was necessary to use the second princess as an artifact to quell the chaotic spiritual energy disaster.
The key point was, it had to be the second princess.
However, after he rescued the second princess, the chaotic spiritual energy disaster in the Central Domain subsided on its own not long after.
He didn’t think the Emperor of the Central Domain would lie. Back then, he had wondered if the Emperor of the Central Domain had found another method. After going to the Western Regions, he hadn’t dwelled on it further.
However, looking at Ye Anping’s expression now, he felt…
“What do you mean? Pill Room?”
“As the name suggests, this is a place for alchemy, a type of pill that can defy the will of heaven.”
“Defy the will of heaven?”
Just as they were discussing this, a middle-aged man emerged from the cave in the center of the waterfall.
Upon seeing Liang Zhu, who was wearing Xing Tian Division robes, the man immediately cupped his hands in greeting, “This humble one greets Your Excellency! May I ask where Lord Jiang is?”
Ye Anping nodded, holding up his token, and said, “Lord Jiang He has gone on a long journey and has sent us with his token to retrieve a pill.”
“Ah… so that’s how it is… Your Excellencies, please follow this humble one into the cave. This batch of Star Reversal Pills still requires two days to complete. Please, Your Excellencies, rest in the cave for two days.”
Ye Anping nodded, and he and Liang Zhu, one after the other, followed the young cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage into the cave…
