The journey back to the hollow hill happened without any interference. Edrick and Lihua spotted no signs of any beast or disciples from other sects.

Along the way, Anoteros collected some Full-Moon Bloom. Despite its name, which might make it sound like a particularly rare plant, it was actually quite easy to find.

As the name implied, it only bloomed during a full moon, but it did not wither away quickly. So, unless someone or something plucked them all, you could always find some, no matter how long it had been since the previous full moon.

This flower was a common alchemical product as well, as it could be used to enhance the effects of other ingredients…

Lihua was somewhat silent on the way back. Edrick did not bother to conceal his storage pouch, now that she bore a maid crest, she wouldn’t be able to divulge any of his secrets. Furthermore, she was a bit too enamoured to think about doing such a thing, the inner disciple was still rattled by what had happened inside the mine.

She understood that it wasn’t a good look to have slept with him like this, but at the same time, it had been such an amazing experience! Even without the celestial dew he graciously filled her up with at the end, she would want to do it again.

Honestly, it was like he had used magic on her. She had never imagined that it could be so pleasurable.

‘Hui is a lucky girl…’

She still felt quite ashamed of herself and did not want to bring it up to any of her friends just yet.

Once they had returned, Anoteros sat in meditation, practised the secret technique, and then slept through the night before setting out the next day.

The two core disciples would have preferred if no one went outside, so as to make it greatly unlikely that this place would be discovered. But it wasn’t like they were daring enough to say anything to Edrick Lucien Anoteros--More frighteningly known by his real name, Zixuan Elt.

So the special disciple roamed unimpeded. Therefore, he chose to head for another location marked on his map that was certain to yield much profit: Another mine, this time, one that should be brimming with Golu Amethyst.

It was a purple gemstone very similar to regular amethyst. However, this one was far more receptive to the efforts of tool refiners. It could be charged with energy, making polished and refined pieces of Golu Amethyst a very popular resource as it could be used to power arrays, or to create stylish jewellery that could be refined into useful tools, be it for daily life or combat… In fact, most nobles wore Golu Amethyst. It was just hard to tell because they tended to have the colour modified to better fit their style.

For example, nearly all of the jewellery Milerva Oie wore was Golu Amethyst.

It wasn’t too uncommon, and the reserves were large, but it was another business the royal family had its paw on. They controlled the largest stocks and mines of Golu Amethyst, so without a doubt, Edrick’s family wanted him to collect some, not to sell, but to fill their stocks free of charge, and perhaps to make some exchanges with some other clans.

This mine was marked further away than that containing Tarkin White Iron deposits, so he was planning on sleeping the night inside the mine itself, and since he was multitasking, he also brought another of Hui’s and Yin’s friends with him.

This time, it was Pluma, who had a rather uncommon-sounding name.

Like Yin, she was rather tomboyish, perhaps even more blatantly so. Because her hair was cut short, the less experienced men might mistake her for a pretty boy at a glance.

She had grey eyes, light brown hair, and stood at a height of one meter and sixty-eight centimeters, being somewhat tall for a lady.

Pluma was not the talkative sort, so the early portions of the journey were made in silence. At least until they reached a small river, where they stopped for a little while to drink fresh water, which was surprisingly infused with quite a bit of ambient energy.

For a few minutes, Edrick stepped away to check on some nearby animal tracks, but ended up shaking his head as the trail was too old to track properly…

“Hey, beauty, what are you doing here all alone?” suddenly, a voice neither of them was familiar with rang out. From its direction, a young man stepped forward. He seemed to be about the same age as them, and he was wearing grey robes that lacked personality.

‘Oh, we spoke of this just yesterday...’ those grey robes marked this young man as a disciple from Seclusion Underground. For some reason, he was travelling all by his lonesome, and also used some rather ineffective means of hitting on a woman.

Pluma narrowed her eyes at him and unceremoniously summoned her weapon, a Fangtian Ji, which manifested through a blaze of flames, indicating that her technique was very much aligned with an element.

The grey-robed disciple tensed up at that.

“Why so aggressive?” he asked with a frown.

“State your business” Pluma was unwilling to play along for even a second. And it was all but too obvious that the young man did not like the attitude very much.

‘Damned amateur’ Anoteros sighed as he employed his stealth capabilities, which were especially potent thanks to the forest environment that resonated with his sasquatch capabilities.

For starters, the way he had approached her was way too direct. If he knew anything about women, he would have been able to tell that this sort of strategy would have the opposite effect from what he wanted on Pluma.

Secondly, he wasn’t handsome enough to get away with such poor speech, and he did not radiate any strength whatsoever.

Also… He was a disciple from a sect that was known to currently have troubles with ill-intentioned disciples, and he was travelling alone, which indicated that it was likely that he was up to no good.

Overall, very poor performance on his behalf, not to mention that his acting capabilities were garbage. A true gentleman wouldn’t have reacted like that.

The disciple from Seclusion Underground clicked his tongue.

“You little whore! I am an inner disciple from Seclusion Underground, soon to become a core disciple! How dare you treat me like this when I show interest in mannish rubbish like you?!”

He motioned with his hand, seemingly attempting to summon a weapon of his own. But instead of doing that, his head suddenly slumped forward as he dropped like a rock, an arrow protruding from the back of his head.

Pluma blinked a few times.

“Unbelievable that scum like this would be part of a righteous organisation” Anoteros stepped out of the bushes while shaking his head, unceremoniously stepping on the grey-robed corpse’s back and retrieving his arrow.

“...Edrick… You killed him! That was a disciple from a righteous sect!”

“Don’t worry, no one will know how he died… And besides, I don’t think they’ll miss him. His fellows probably already guessed that he strayed from the group because he was up to no good. They won’t look for him” he shrugged and casually looted the body. Since he had plenty of space available, he didn’t hold back and literally took everything.

The cause of death was so swift and sudden that not even a drop of blood was wasted.

‘Inner disciple, he said? That should make for a fine meal…’

“I guess you’re right…” in truth, Pluma was more surprised at how easily Anoteros had killed this disciple. It was hard to tell at first, but when he attempted to summon his weapon, it became clear that he was not all talk and was indeed a powerful inner disciple.

But he had not paid attention and was killed by a singular arrow.

He probably should have invested in a helm or a body cultivation technique.

“Let’s go, Pluma”

“Alright”

The journey became a bit more talkative from then on…