After My Rebirth, I Ended Up Happily Ever After with the Saintess - Chapter 59

The news of the Black Wind Mountain Range mission was like a stone dropped into a calm lake, causing ripples in Ye Li’s heart. She knew full well that this was likely the beginning of a conspiracy targeting her. However, in the face of absolute power, schemes and tricks were nothing more than worthless dogs and chickens. The immediate priority was to continue improving her strength and solidify the foundations of the Shadow Pavilion (You Ge).

Strength was not only reflected in cultivation and combat ability but also in the accumulation of resources and logistical support. In her previous life as Venerable Li, although she didn’t specialize in ‘minor arts’ like pill refinement, artifact crafting, talisman making, or array formations, her vision and insight far surpassed the average person, and she deeply understood their importance on the path of cultivation. With the sect’s resources now tilting in her favor and the sporadic yet profound guidance from Venerable Xuan Huan’s legacy, it was the perfect opportunity to vigorously develop her auxiliary professions.

She focused her attention on Pill Refinement, Talisman Making, and Artifact Crafting, the three most practical arts that could rapidly generate value.

Pill Refinement: Foundation Rebuilding

Previously, Ye Li mostly refined basic pills like Body Tempering Pills and Mind Calming Pills. Now that her financial resources and perspective were vastly different, she decided to start by improving the quality of her pills and venturing into higher-grade elixirs.

With the authority of the Purple Gold Token, she exchanged for a detailed Compendium of a Hundred Herbs and several Profound-tier pill recipes from the second floor of the Scripture Library, including the ‘Condensing Meridian Pill’ (suitable for Core Condensation stage cultivators to rapidly boost their cultivation) and the highly effective healing pill, the ‘Rejuvenation Pill’.

She didn’t immediately start refining pills but spent a full seven days immersed in studying the Compendium of a Hundred Herbs and the pill recipes. The scattered insights from Venerable Xuan Huan’s legacy regarding energy harmonization and the principal-adjuvant-assistant-guide roles of ingredients, corroborated with the detailed medicinal properties in the Compendium of a Hundred Herbs, elevated her understanding of spirit herbs to a new level. She even discovered several subtle flaws in the circulation of spiritual energy in the recipes and attempted to mentally deduce optimization plans.

Once prepared, Ye Li opened an unused advanced Earth Fire Pill Chamber next to Recluse Muyun’s cave dwelling. The Earth Fire raged, but she precisely controlled the temperature with her powerful divine sense, her movements fluid and practiced with a maturity unsuited for her age as she processed the medicinal ingredients.

The first time she refined the Condensing Meridian Pill, three pills were formed, all of them Mid-Grade. Dissatisfied, she reflected on the slight deviations in fire control and the blending of medicinal power. The second time, five pills were formed, two High-Grade and three Mid-Grade. The third time, a furnace yielded seven pills, all of them High-Grade, with circulating pill halos and a fragrant medicinal aroma!

If other alchemists witnessed this, their jaws would drop. Although the Condensing Meridian Pill was only a Low-Grade Profound-tier pill, such a high success rate and astonishing High-Grade yield required an exceptional level of precise control and profound understanding of medicinal properties!

Ye Li did not stop and attempted to refine the more complex Rejuvenation Pill. With her previous experience, coupled with the Reincarnation Mirror’s enhancement to her comprehension, she succeeded in forming five High-Grade Rejuvenation Pills on the second attempt after only one failure.

She kept the majority of the High-Grade pills for her own use and reserves, while the Mid-Grade and a small portion of the High-Grade pills were handed over to Xia Zhihe through the secret channel established by Zhao Xiaoyi. Xia Zhihe herself possessed decent alchemical skills and, with her Inner Gate disciple status as a cover, could naturally sell these pills within Cloud Pill Peak or in familiar market shops, exchanging them for spirit stones or needed materials. These excellent quality pills quickly found a market, bringing the first stable stream of spirit stone income to the Shadow Pavilion.

Talisman Making: Innovations

In terms of talisman making, Ye Li started from a higher point. The Profound Ice Blast Talismans and Ethereal Shadow Concealment Talismans she previously crafted were already quite powerful. With her cultivation greatly advanced and her divine sense stronger, along with a deeper understanding of the Ice Soul Sealing Heaven Finger technique, she began attempting to integrate the “sealing” and “extreme cold” essence of the finger technique into her talismans.

This was a bold attempt. She repeatedly pondered Venerable Xuan Huan’s insights on constructing energy runes, combining them with her own control over the power of extreme cold, and restructured the runes based on the ordinary Profound Ice Talisman.

She failed again and again, wasting a significant amount of talisman paper and spirit ink. But her resolve was firm, and she remained undeterred, analyzing the cause carefully after each failure. Finally, after consuming dozens of sets of materials, a brand-new talisman was born under her brush—the ‘Ice Soul Sealing Talisman’!

When activated, this talisman instantly releases a small-scale, frigid force field. Enemies within the range are assaulted by extreme cold, drastically slowing their speed. More importantly, their spiritual energy circulation is significantly hampered and sealed! While the effect is far from the true Ice Soul Sealing Heaven Finger, as a consumable item, it is sufficient to turn the tide of battle at a crucial moment.

This Ice Soul Sealing Talisman reached the High-Grade Second Tier, with astonishing power, and the difficulty of its creation was immense. Even with Ye Li’s current divine sense and control, the success rate was only about thirty percent. But she knew the value of this talisman, designating it as a strategic reserve and non-sale item for the Shadow Pavilion, only producing small batches to be distributed to core members like Lin Feng and Xia Zhihe for self-defense.

Concurrently, she also optimized the drawing methods of several commonly used talismans she had mastered, improving their success rate and power. These improved Burst Talismans, Swift Talismans, and others quietly flowed through Sun Xiaohou’s channel into various black markets or small auctions. Due to their outstanding effects and mysterious origins, they often commanded high prices, becoming another important financial source for the Shadow Pavilion.

Artifact Crafting: Initial Foray

Artifact crafting was Ye Li’s relatively weaker area, but one she had to engage in. Her short sword had been damaged for a long time, and she urgently needed a suitable weapon. More importantly, the ‘Void Divine Crystal’ she had obtained from Venerable Xuan Huan’s legacy was an excellent material for forging her natal artifact, and preparations had to be made early.

She did not aim too high but started from the basics. Using her sect contribution points, she exchanged for a large quantity of basic crafting materials and a forging blueprint for a standard magic artifact longsword. She rented an artifact crafting room next to the Earth Fire Chamber and began practicing with the simplest tasks of material purification and blank forging.

Artifact crafting was a triple drain on physical strength, spiritual power, and divine sense, demanding extreme attention to detail. Relying on her solid foundation and exceptional learning ability, Ye Li progressed rapidly. In just half a month, she could independently forge decent quality magic artifact longswords. Although only Yellow-tier, this already surpassed most artifact crafting apprentices.

Building upon this foundation, she began attempting to forge a suitable weapon for herself. She chose ‘Cold Iron’ and ‘Ice Crystal Stone’ as materials, whose properties aligned with her cultivation technique. During the forging process, she attempted to integrate a trace of extreme cold spiritual power into the sword blank, and when carving the reinforcement runes, she drew upon the fragmented concepts of spatial stabilization structures from Venerable Xuan Huan’s legacy.

Seven days later, a longsword, entirely dark blue, with faint ice patterns on its body, and radiating an intense chill, was born—the ‘Profound Ice Sword’, reaching the Low-Grade Profound-tier!

Though only Low-Grade Profound-tier, this sword had an extremely high compatibility with Ye Li. It could perfectly conduct her extreme cold spiritual power, its power comparable to an ordinary Mid-Grade Profound-tier weapon. More importantly, it was the first decent piece she had personally forged, a matter of great significance.

Gripping the cold hilt, a sense of accomplishment arose in Ye Li’s heart. The path of artifact crafting, though arduous, gave her a more direct understanding of the characteristics of materials and the conduction of energy, laying a solid foundation for forging her natal artifact in the future.

The Quiet Growth of the Shadow Pavilion

Ye Li’s rapid progress in the three arts of pill refinement, talisman making, and artifact crafting directly reflected in the operation of the Shadow Pavilion.

Through the channels of Xia Zhihe and Sun Xiaohou, the Shadow Pavilion began to steadily output high-quality pills and unique, effective talismans. Although the quantity was small, the profit was substantial. A portion of these resources was used to maintain the Shadow Pavilion’s own operations (such as purchasing intelligence, and members’ cultivation resources), and another portion was exchanged for spirit stones or rare materials, supporting Ye Li’s cultivation and higher-tier auxiliary profession attempts.

Lin Feng, utilizing these funds, began cautiously expanding the intelligence network, no longer confined to the Profound Cloud Sect, but also starting to infiltrate several important market towns surrounding the sect. Zhao Xiaoyi’s internal liaison network also became smoother and more secure.

The Shadow Pavilion, this small group of initially only five people, driven by Ye Li, the all-capable core, began to operate slowly and firmly, like a precise gear, quietly accumulating wealth and connections. Although still weak, it was full of vitality.

On this day, Ye Li had just finished a round of talisman making, successfully drawing two Ice Soul Sealing Talismans. She rubbed her slightly throbbing forehead, about to take a short break for meditation, when the Shadow Pavilion Token transmitted a message from Lin Feng. The content instantly made her eyes sharpen:

“Pavilion Master, the Black Wind Mountain Range mission has been officially released, designated as a Grade B Upper-Tier Collaborative Mission, requiring at least five Inner Gate disciples or one True Inheritance disciple to lead the team to accept it. War Fiend Peak has accepted the mission through Gao Sheng, who has also united several disciples from the Artifact Hall and Wind Riding Peak. The team is very strong. Furthermore… it has been confirmed that Qin Yixuan from Azure Water Pavilion will lead a team to participate in this mission.”

Ye Li put down the talisman brush and walked to the window, looking towards the direction of the Black Wind Mountain Range.

Gao Sheng had indeed made his move, and with a considerable lineup. And Qin Yixuan’s participation made this mission even more complex and interesting.

A cold arc curved at the corner of her mouth.

Secluded cultivation and skill advancement were all for better action. Since the storm was coming, she would proactively meet it!

“Lin Feng, accept the Black Wind Mountain Range mission for me,” she commanded through the Shadow Pavilion Token.

It was time to test the results of this period of effort and face the demons and monsters hidden in the shadows.