Xue Ying'an sat in a daze. Su Yan had warned him many times — his master was likely a monster in human skin, using him to harvest spiritual roots from the Minor Xuantian. He had refused to believe it, nearly coming to blows over the accusation.
But this was the Carefree Bell speaking. He could not dismiss it.
"Why does he need primal Dao essence?" Xue Ying'an asked, still clinging to hope.
"He has accumulated countless immortal medicines. Proper refinement would take centuries. Primal Dao essence is the shortcut. It lets him refine human-shaped pills."
"Human-shaped pills?"
"Exactly." The Carefree Bell explained Li Xiaoke's method. As a cultivator who discovered the nuo path only after reaching the Ascension stage, his Six Secrets were sealed. His Mud Pill Palace had become an endless chaotic sea. His Crimson Palace burned with immortal fire too dense to open. The other secrets were equally hopeless. His path to immortality was broken.
The only remedy was human-shaped medicine — pills grown inside living human vessels.
Xue Ying'an's heart pounded. "Master said the Six Secrets were heresy. He never taught us..."
"If he taught you, you might cultivate both paths. By the third Gate-Breaking stage, you'd surpass him. Why would he breed competitors?"
Su Yan spoke softly. "I think Li Xiaoke cultivates disciples to maintain his image — a pure cultivator who despises the nuo path. It deflects suspicion from his real business."
The Carefree Bell agreed. "He is very careful about his reputation."
Xue Ying'an steadied himself. "What exactly are human-shaped pills?"
"They are Six Secret pills, but the seeds are planted inside people." The Carefree Bell described the process. First, selection and breeding. Find a talented youth, male or female. Place a blessed land or hidden grotto along their path, filled with ancient manuals and spirit pills to help them cultivate. The youth would be grateful, never suspecting a thing.
Su Yan thought of Zhou Qiyun, who had stumbled upon ancient nuo arts in the Qinyan Cave.
"After selection comes cultivation." The Carefree Bell continued, "Li Xiaoke's first attempt was in Lingling. Too many others were already farming there." It chuckled grimly. "Lingling is prime land — the Ten Thousand Mountains worship Mount Jiuyi, where the Great Emperor rests. Many old monsters coveted it. But Li Xiaoke got his foot in. Chen Mianzhu, the Zhudu king, was his first crop."
"Breeding," Su Yan said. "That means the Yuan family, doesn't it?"
"As expected of the Undying Immortal." The Carefree Bell praised him. "He cultivated six ancient families, leaving traps in their nuo arts. The arts looked like immortal legacies, passed down generation after generation. When a family elder reached nuo immortal level, they could not refine the immortal medicine within them, so they had to enter Inner-Realm Subtle Transformation. Then Li Xiaoke would harvest."
Xue Ying'an shuddered.
"To cover the tracks, he spread tales of ascension — feather transformations, sword-liberation. The descendants believed their ancestors had become immortals, never suspecting they had been harvested. Generation after generation, crop after crop."
Yuan Qi asked, "What if someone discovers the trap? What if they expose it?"
"Expose it, and no one cultivates anymore? Everyone else is cultivating. If you stop, you're not even qualified to be chives. You'll be destroyed outright."
Yuan Qi fell silent.
"That's the brilliance of farming chives. Sharp, fast, fair. If the cut is clean and quick and equal, the chives don't feel the pain, don't feel the unfairness. They keep growing. The supply never ends."
Xue Ying'an finally understood. Li Xiaoke's lecture in the chive field — about selection, land, harvest, healing wounds — had seemed philosophical. Now its true meaning was clear: blood and cruelty dressed in garden wisdom.
"You are all chives. Do you know why none of your senior brothers have ever formed a Primordial Spirit?"
"Master said this world's spiritual energy is too thin. Only by returning to the Yuan Shou world could we achieve it."
The Carefree Bell laughed. "You're just containers. Do you know how your eldest senior brother died?"
Xue Ying'an remembered — a brilliant genius, lost to a demon during his travels.
"Master said a heavenly demon devoured him."
"The techniques you cultivate were chosen by him. The people were chosen by him. His purpose is to shape you into forms he can wear. Your eldest brother's death was a test — can possession work? The test succeeded. But Li Xiaoke didn't need a new body yet, so he abandoned the corpse and returned to his own."
Xue Ying'an swayed and collapsed.
Yuan Qi asked, "What about eating chives?"
He remembered Li Xiaoke's detailed descriptions of preparation — raw, grilled, stir-fried, with vermicelli.
The Carefree Bell's voice turned cold. "You don't want to know. Even I found it too cruel."
Xue Ying'an sat in silence. "But you... you helped him hide it. You helped him farm."
"I also wanted to ascend. Only by harvesting human pills could he complete his Six Secrets, extend his life, and grow strong enough to face the super tribulation. When he ascended as a radiant immortal, who would remember a few chives?" The Carefree Bell's voice hardened. "For three thousand years he harvested enough. Then he betrayed me for that bronze trinket. He values his reputation? I will destroy it!"
It turned to Su Yan. "You carry primal Dao essence. If I am to punish him, I will ruin his plan!"
A sigh came from outside. "Carefree, you've said everything I planned to say. This is... inconvenient."
Li Xiaoke's voice.
The Carefree Bell shuddered, then laughed. "Inconvenient? Then don't do it! You struck first — don't blame me for striking back! Today I'll tear down your heaven and expose every sin!"
Xue Ying'an rose and stood beside Su Yan. Yuan Qi tensed. "A-Ying, any way out?"
Su Yan's face was grim. Even with the Carefree Bell's defection, their chances were slim. Li Xiaoke was too strong, and the golden bell was too wounded to be any real help.
Li Xiaoke entered, his gaze sweeping from Xue Ying'an to Su Yan. He bowed slightly. "Friend Su, my family shame, exposed before a guest. Forgive me."
Su Yan returned the bow. "Your methods are no surprise to me."
Li Xiaoke turned to the Carefree Bell, voice tender. "Carefree, don't you understand? I struck you for your own good. Those strange runes had sealed your power. I didn't know how to break them, so I wronged you. And you blame me for it?"
"You favored that cheap bell! You said I had no character!"
"I was protecting you." Li Xiaoke sighed. "If I hadn't placated it, how could I study those runes? We are the true pair. Did you think I loved it? It's copper. Its runes aren't even symmetrical!"
The Carefree Bell wavered. "I know you're not like that. I was wrong."
Su Yan stared, incredulous.
Yuan Qi shouted, "Carefree! We're on the same side! He betrayed you!"
Li Xiaoke smiled warmly. "We ascend together, never abandoning each other. Once I understand those runes, I'll copy them onto you. Isn't that for your benefit?"
The Carefree Bell's power erupted, pinning Su Yan, Yuan Qi, and Xue Ying'an in place. "Friend, what shall we do with them?"
Su Yan and the others were shocked and furious. Yuan Qi roared, "Like master, like treasure! Li Xiaoke, Carefree Bell, you shameless pair! Kill us if you want! But give us back the Bell Lord! Bell Lord!"
Li Xiaoke raised the bronze bell. "I forged this with few patterns. Now I've branded it anew. It is fully mine." He opened his palm. The bronze bell floated above it, struggling but unable to escape.
Xue Ying'an shouted, "Your true face will be revealed to all!"
Li Xiaoke smiled. "Foolish disciple, they won't believe you. They'll believe me. Besides, I invited Friend Su here, and he plotted against me. You conspired with an outsider to kill your master and seize the mountain. Fortunately, the Carefree Bell discovered your plot and saved me. I treat you like my own son, yet you repay me with wolfish ambition. But out of kindness, I won't kill you. I'll exile you instead."
The Carefree Bell brightened. "Exile them to the Land of Heavenly Punishment! Then hunt them down, like we hunted the eldest senior brother!"
Li Xiaoke's eyes gleamed. "A hunting game. The mountain will think I've exiled you. In truth, I simply don't want witnesses when I consume you."
* * *
At the peak of Jiucai Ridge, Su Yan, Yuan Qi, and Xue Ying'an were shackled at the ankles. Yuan Qi's black-and-white horns were chained as well.
The disciples glared down at them, believing every lie.
Li Xiaoke sighed. "Ying'an, you were disloyal, but I cannot be unrighteous. I treated you like my own son. Today I exile you to the Land of Heavenly Punishment. Farewell."
He covered his face with his sleeve and waved. The disciples pushed them off the ridge.
Jiucai Ridge hung inverted in the sky, its tip pointing toward the ground ten miles below.
Xue Ying'an acted without hesitation. He used his divine sense to retrieve his flying sword from his Inner Realm and hacked off his left foot.
He barely held back screams, sweat pouring down his face. He handed the sword to Su Yan. "Brother Su, these chains carry my master's seal. While bound, we can't use our power. If we fall, we die. Cut off your feet too..."
He stopped. Su Yan raised his arm, light blazing. Strange runes covered his skin. He slashed downward, and the chains shattered.
Xue Ying'an gaped.
"Heavenly Dao runes," Su Yan explained. "I comprehended them from the Dragon Abyss Celestial's arm. Your master's seal can't hold the Dao."
Xue Ying'an's severed leg still bled. Su Yan looked at it and sighed. "You moved too fast. I couldn't stop you."
He broke Yuan Qi's chains. Yuan Qi stared at Xue Ying'an's gushing wound. "You're too impulsive."
Su Yan whispered to Yuan Qi, "Let him learn his lesson. Maybe next time he'll think first."
Xue Ying'an gritted his teeth. "Could you whisper quieter? I can hear you!"