Amidst the bustling harvest, Qin Zhou discovered that the small mountain village had leveled up.

Back when he successfully shattered the Spirit Marrow, restoring vitality to the entire mountain, the village’s level had unlocked.

Now, as his harvest of Spirit Heart Fruits grew, he seemed to gain invisible experience points. These points elevated the village to Level 2.

【Village Level Upgraded. Spirit Fields can now cultivate +1-tier crops.】

This meant he could now plant second-tier Spirit Heart Fruits.

By that logic, if he raised the village to Level 7, could he cultivate seventh-tier alchemical ingredients?

Qin Zhou kept working as he pondered.

Fortunately, all three were cultivators who could labor without food or drink. When fatigue set in, a single spirit pill from Qin Zhou would restore their energy instantly.

By the time night fell.

All the Spirit Heart Fruits were finally harvested.

At that moment, Qin Zhou noticed that Shisi hadn’t left yet.

“Is your soul spirit holding up?”

Shisi chuckled, patting his Cosmos Bag. “Rest assured, Village Chief. I came well-prepared with plenty of Core Stabilizing Pills. Managing for two or three days is no problem.”

The origin of the Core Stabilizing Pills? Borrowed from Fifth Brother, of course!

Hearing this, Qin Zhou relaxed. “Hand over the pill ingredients.”

“Village Chief, are you going to refine pills for me?” Shisi asked with a grin.

“Mhm.”

Qin Zhou had no intention of resting.

The “Critically Injured” designation next to Shisi’s name on the roster was too conspicuous. Since he’d already brought the Soul-Restoring Grass, there was no reason to delay.

Qin Zhou entered the alchemy chamber with the Soul-Restoring Grass and White Crane Tears.

Shisi watched his retreating figure from afar, his heart filled with gratitude.

Turning his head, he saw Chen San busily hauling basket after basket of Spirit Heart Fruit into the warehouse. Shisi hurried over to lend a hand—

“Hey, let me help!”

“Young man, how long have you been… staying with the Village Chief?”

Chen San looked at the baby-faced Immortal Lord before him, a sense of incongruity welling up. Yet he knew this Immortal Lord was undoubtedly older than him.

“About a month now. Young Master treats me exceptionally well. I owe my entry into the Immortal Gate entirely to him.”

Shisi asked curiously, “What’s your name?”

Chen San smiled and said, “Immortal Lord, my name is Chen San.”

Shisi stumbled, his left foot tripping over his right: “You’re Chen San?”

Chen San was puzzled. “…Is something wrong, Immortal Lord?”

“You’re the third son?” Shisi couldn’t believe it. This mortal had only been with the village chief for a month and was already ranked third?! Though not a Lu family brother, any Lu brother hearing this would be heartbroken!

Chen San scratched his head. “I am indeed the third son at home.”

Only then did Shisi realize.

Oh, he’d misunderstood.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll help you carry it.” Shisi crouched down to assist. The bells on his wrist jingled loudly with the movement.

Chen San quickly snatched them away. “Please don’t soil your robes, Immortal Lord. I heard from Young Master that you’re injured? Just rest. I’m here for this.”

With that, Chen San deftly picked up the baskets and headed inside.

Shisi watched with a sigh.

What a good lad.

With nothing else to do, Shisi turned and headed back to the alchemy chamber.

Qin Zhou was grinding herbs inside. The spiritual energy released by the Soul-Restoring Grass filled the entire room. Spotting his silhouette, Shisi lifted his foot only to lower it gently, afraid of disturbing anything.

But the bell on his wrist still chimed softly, startling him into covering it hastily.

The sound seemed to awaken distant memories.

“Village Chief, what is this?”

“It’s a Thousand Mechanisms Bell.”

“Can I not have it?” Young Shisi took a few steps back.

Young Shisi didn’t understand what it was. How could a young lad like him carry such a girlish trinket, jingling and jangling with every step?

His fellow disciples would laugh at him if they saw it!

Thud! Shisi clutched his head, nearly crying as he looked up at his senior disciple, who towered over him. Why hit him? Stupid Lu Yi!

“What ordinary thing could the village chief give you? None of the top ten disciples has one. This must be a reward for your excellent farming.”

Xiao Shisi didn’t believe it. He reasonably suspected, “If it were really something good, you would’ve snatched it long ago! You probably just think it’s a bell too!”

Lu Yi gave the kid a shove. “Alright, you. The village chief gave it to you. You really don’t want it?”

Xiao Shisi reluctantly replied, “…I’ll take it.”

After all, it was from the village chief, and none of the top ten senior brothers had one.

“This is the Thousand Mechanisms Bell. Shisi possesses the innate Ten Thousand Spirits Holy Body. The Thousand Mechanisms Bell is the treasure most suited to you.”

Shisi stared at the bell just fastened to his wrist, wrinkling his nose in confusion. “Village Chief, what does it do?”

“The Thousand Mechanisms Bell allows you to hear the voice of heaven and earth, to hear the echoes of all spirits.”

“In this world, only Shisi can wield the Thousand Mechanisms Bell.”

Memories of the past surged back. Shisi clasped the Thousand Mechanisms Bell still worn on his wrist and sighed softly.

Though the Village Chief was biased, he had always been generous toward them.

“Shisi.”

Hearing Qin Zhou’s call, Shisi hurried inside. “What is it, Village Chief?”

“Take off the Thousand Mechanisms Bell.”

Shisi’s hand trembled, his lips turning pale with fright. “Village Chief, you…”

“Let me see it.” Qin Zhou, who had been grinding medicine, set down his work, wiped his hands, and said to him.

Only then did Shisi breathe a sigh of relief.

He had feared the Village Chief would take the Thousand Mechanism Bell back.

Spiritual energy surged forth, and the Thousand Mechanisms Bell obediently dispersed itself, drifting into Qin Zhou’s hand.

Qin Zhou looked closely.

The Thousand Mechanisms Bell was indeed not the same as before. Originally golden, it now seemed to have been reworked. The golden bell was encased in a layer of openwork stone shell, jet-black in color and icy to the touch.

Worth noting were the cracks on the stone shell—cracks that didn’t belong to it. Large and small, they crisscrossed the surface. Some had even split wide enough to create the current ‘openwork’ illusion, giving the whole thing a shattered beauty.

This stone shell looked familiar to Qin Zhou.

Sure enough, it was the very thing he’d seen during the talent assessment that day—the object Wen Jue had mentioned, called the Thousand Mechanisms Stone.

Thousand Mechanisms Stone, Thousand Mechanisms Bell—a single character’s difference.

Only now, seeing the two combined, did Qin Zhou understand Wen Jue’s words from that day.

Resonating with the essence of heaven and earth, peering into divine will, foreseeing the future—ultimately leading to soul damage.

This was the reason behind Shisi’s ‘grave injury’.

Shisi stood before the seated Qin Zhou, head slightly bowed. Having lived nearly ten thousand years, he now resembled a child who had done something wrong, filled with fear and unease.

The Village Chief must have noticed that the Thousand Mechanisms Bell was no longer the same as before.

Indeed, the Village Chief was the foremost artifact forger under heaven. Any alteration to the Thousand Mechanisms Bell could never escape his keen eye.

Qin Zhou’s gaze deepened as he looked at Shisi, his eyes now holding something else.

The Ten Thousand Spirits Divine Body—its very existence was a miracle. It was destined to be favored by Heaven and Earth, beloved by all spirits.

From birth, it should have been Heaven and Earth’s cherished child.

Now, however, for defying Heaven’s will and probing its secrets, it had incurred Heaven’s punishment, causing its soul to become damaged.

Beyond mere sighing, Qin Zhou was more preoccupied with what future Shisi had foreseen using this modified Thousand Mechanisms Bell. What could it be that caused the laws of heaven and earth to betray their original intent, demanding the annihilation of Shisi’s soul—the very embodiment of the Ten Thousand Spirits Holy Body?

After pondering, Qin Zhou still held his questions unspoken.

Things had come to this. Let it be.

“Snap.” A faint crack echoed as Shisi’s eyes widened slightly, witnessing the Thousand Mechanisms Bell shatter in Qin Zhou’s grasp.

No, more accurately, it was the outer shell of the bell that shattered.

Merely by his gentle squeeze, it broke apart.

Jet-black fragments scattered across the floor. Finally, the Thousand Mechanism Bell revealed its true form—golden and radiant, like the first rays of sunlight breaking through the dawn sky.

Shisi held his breath, his heart pounding in his throat.

He was going to be banished from the village!

“Take it back,” Qin Zhou raised his hand, returning the bell. “It’s just a trinket to pass the time. Don’t ever imbue it with all sorts of nonsense again.”

The Thousand Mechanism Bell was given to Shisi precisely so the child could hear the world’s spiritual sounds, free from worry and care.

If it became a tool for foretelling, it would lose its original purpose.

“…Alright.” Shisi should have been relieved he wasn’t scolded, yet somehow, his heart was filled with a dense, tangled bitterness.

For a fleeting moment, Shisi wondered what if the Village Chief had never vanished…

But just as quickly, he banished the thought.

“Village Chief, I’ll help you refine the elixir,” Shisi said cheerfully.

Qin Zhou tossed him a small wooden stool.

The Supreme Elder of the Thousand Machinery Divine Sect now sat obediently beside the furnace, perched on that little stool.

He reattached the Thousand Mechanism Bell.

With a light flick of his wrist, the sound that reached his ears was the most gentle breeze between heaven and earth, the rustling of streams flowing by, and the whispered murmurs of ten thousand flower spirits.

It was the voice of heaven and earth, the echo of all spirits.

It sounded exactly the same as when he was young.

Fearing he might lose control again, Shisi quickly changed the subject. “Village Chief, aren’t we going to use the White Crane Tears?”

“That’s for refining Sixth-Tier Core Stabilizing Pills. We’ll refine your Soul-Stabilizing Pills first.”

Shisi frowned. “Who’s the Core Stabilizing Pill for?” He didn’t seem to need it.

Qin Zhou paused. “A friend.”

Shisi didn’t notice anything amiss.

He merely thought to himself: How things have changed.

Back then, given the village chief’s biased nature, this extra pill would undoubtedly have gone to Lu Yi.

Now, things were different.

Still, not being for Lu Yi was actually rather nice! Shisi thought with quiet satisfaction.

 ━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

Meanwhile, far away in the provincial capital, Snowflake Pavilion had secured Qin Zhou’s first order from a sect.

“In that case, our thanks to Pavilion Master Zhou,” the green-robed cultivator said, clasping his hands in gratitude. “We’ll deliver the two hundred portions of pill ingredients to your doorstep shortly.”

“Elder, you’re too kind.”

Zhou Shilin raised his hand, and attendants immediately stepped forward to escort the guests out.

Once they were gone, the steward remarked—

“It was someone from Yaoshan Sect.”

“How utterly bizarre. Yaoshan Sect and Medicine Moon Sect are sworn rivals. Medicine Moon relies on us, while Yaoshan Sect depends on Qilin Pavilion. Why would Yaoshan Sect come to us for pills?” The Snowflake Pavilion steward was perplexed. “Could it be that Qilin Pavilion can no longer afford to support even the minor sects under its wing?”

Zhou Shilin opened the order slip handed to him by his subordinate: one hundred first-tier spirit pills, one hundred second-tier spirit pills—a total of two hundred pills. Normally, he wouldn’t consider this a significant transaction. But what if all two hundred pills were of the precious grade?

“It’s not that they can’t afford to support minor sects… they have ulterior motives.”

Snowflake Pavilion hadn’t even publicly announced the precious-grade pills; they’d merely stocked some within the Pavilion. Yet the Yaoshan Sect had sniffed out the scent.

It was as if they’d known the source of these precious-grade pills all along.

“Send this order to Ping City. Hand it over to Qin Zhou.” Zhou Shilin smiled. After all, it was about making money. Selling to other sects was profitable, but selling to sects under Qilin Pavilion’s umbrella meant he could profit even more easily.

It was also a good opportunity to test Qin Zhou’s depth.

 ━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

The members of Yaoshan Sect who had just left Snowflake Pavilion couldn’t help but discuss it.

“Elder, why not go directly to Ping City to find that alchemist? Why rush to deliver money to Snowflake Pavilion…”

“We seek to cultivate relationships, not enmity,” the Yaoshan Sect elder frowned. “Many methods exist to erase an hour’s memory without flaw, but embedding it within a pill—that I’ve never witnessed.”

Especially since this pill caused no harm to the body.

He had examined Jin Ming and his senior brother’s bodies. Aside from the missing memory segment, there was no injury whatsoever. He couldn’t even find the source of the excruciating, bone-gnawing pain they described.

To refine a precious-grade pill and possess such a technique—no matter how he thought about it, this was the work of a master from the upper realm.

“I’ve already reported Jin Ming’s situation to the sect in the upper realm. Once they send physicians, the truth will be clear. But until then… we absolutely cannot afford to offend that alchemist master in Ping City.”

Not only must we avoid provoking him.

We must actively seek ways to befriend him.

And presenting him with money was the most direct method the Yaoshan Sect could conceive.