From the Heavens Descended an Immortal Sister

Fang Ren couldn't help but crack a slight smile when he saw her like this. Last night, the girl had only dared to speak about these matters while bolstered by the effects of alcohol.

It seemed that even up to now, her heart was still greatly torn over whether to let him help her or not.

She wanted to go, but feared for his safety, yet if she didn't go, she couldn't meet the person she longed to see. To go or not to go, each side's multitude of factors were entwined together, making her entire being extremely distressed and conflicted.

As for her little mood swings, Fang Ren was understanding.

"You're overthinking it. I'm just doing what I want to do, and incidentally, I've given you a hand. Don't think too much about it," Fang Ren spoke.

Bai Qi looked at him and said, "Someone like you who's always playing the good guy usually says things like that just to make me feel a little more at ease about accepting your help."

"There you go with your wild imagination again."

"Why do you always call me 'young lady'?" Bai Qi frowned and said with displeasure, "And the way you say it... you sound like an old geezer."

"Really? I didn't notice," Fang Ren responded.

"Yes! Stop calling me 'young lady'!"

"Alright then." Fang Ren nodded.

…

As evening approached, Fang Ren, once again alone, sat in an empty classroom and began to study alchemy using the Blue Flame.

He discovered that with this flame, his alchemy speed had undergone a qualitative change. What originally required at least three hours to concoct a Blood-Returning Flesh-Forming Pill now took at most 30 minutes, and the yield of pills had also substantially increased.

What originally could yield a maximum of two Blood-Returning Flesh-Forming Pills from one jin of herbs could now double to four pills through refinement.

Just as he was getting familiar with the Blue Flame and preparing to start his cultivation for a breakthrough, he suddenly felt someone walking in the hallway towards this place.

Fang Ren promptly stowed the Alchemy Furnace from the table into his Space Ring, stood up, and walked to the corridor at the classroom entrance, only to see a familiar figure as soon as he stepped out.

"Silly Sister?"

Fang Ren looked at Jian Qi'er, who was wearing old-fashioned glasses with her hair hanging down, and was somewhat surprised, "Aren't you supposed to be filming? What are you doing here so late at night?"

Upon seeing Fang Ren, Jian Qi'er quickly stepped forward and said, "You really are here."

"What do you want?"

Jian Qi'er glanced around, pulled Fang Ren into the empty classroom, and whispered, "Has the master who's covertly protecting you returned?"

"Whatever you need to say, say it here; they can't hear you anyway," Fang Ren replied.

Jian Qi'er frowned and looked at him, "I heard you've gone through the campus selection for the Pill Competition."

"So, you came all this way because of this?"

"Of course," Jian Qi'er continued, "With your skills, participating in the big Pill Competition will definitely create a sensation, and while you'll gain a lot of honors after making a name in one battle, there will also be lots of trouble. I originally wanted you to expand your network of connections through this competition, but things are different now.

You're tied to our organization, practically hand in cuff, and as soon as you become famous, countless eyes will be watching you, and then the danger will come."

"Opportunity and danger always coexist," Fang Ren said, "And now, after seeing the strength of your Nightfall Organization, I am even more determined to do more on my own."

Jian Qi'er was taken aback, "What you mean is, you no longer want to cooperate with us?"

Fang Ren replied, "Your organization almost got wiped out just trying to take down one large laboratory in Indra Sky, so I can't rely on you to overthrow the Central District Command. It's not that I don't want to collaborate with you, I just hope I can achieve my goals more quickly."

"Our organization may be weak right now, but what can you do alone to speed up the process?" Jian Qi'er said with a worried expression.

"I've told you, it's not that I don't want to work with you; our cooperation will continue. But right now, I'm just doing what I want," Fang Ren said.

"But it's still very dangerous. Because we are in cooperation, I really don't want anything to happen to you," Jian Qi'er said, "Besides, I've heard that at the finals of the Pill Competition, your second uncle, the one who wants to harm you, is also there. He definitely won't miss an opportunity to strike at you."

"Didn't you hear that the Xuan Nv of the Ninth Heaven is also present?" Fang Ren said.

Jian Qi'er blinked blankly, "Really?"

"Even if it's a fake, aren't the experts secretly protecting me supposed to do their job? How could I be so anxious to rush to my death?" Fang Ren protested.

"I'm just afraid that with your rising fame, you'll meet a lot of influential people, and our relationship might be exposed. If they can't catch us, they can only go after you."

"No worries, my intelligence is still sharp." Fang Ren said, "But last time, that general got away, and he saw my Spirit Form, which does bother me a bit."

"So far, he hasn't made your Spirit Form public, probably because he didn't pay much attention to you during the big battle. Besides, there should only be a few people who know your Spirit Form, and as long as he can't reach them, there shouldn't be a big problem," Jian Qi'er said.

"Currently, the ones who know about my Giant Tree Spirit Phase are the Mu Family Head, Hui Qing, the expert protecting me, Bai Qi, and finally, your organization. Chen Cheng of the Bai Family should only know about the minimized version of my Spirit Form and not about the Giant Tree. The escaping general is from the First Area; he should only be able to contact Hui Qing.

Even if Hui Qing knows it's me, there shouldn't be a large issue," Fang Ren explained.

"Not a big issue?" Jian Qi'er was dumbfounded, "Xuan Nv will definitely think you've been brainwashed by me! She won't listen to your explanation at all!"

"How could such a nonsense situation happen." Fang Ren dismissed the concern nonchalantly.

"This is not nonsense at all. There have been many news stories before about us brainwashing cultivators and turning them into our brethren," Jian Qi'er said, "If you tell Xuan Nv that our organization is righteous, she'll definitely think you've been brainwashed by us, and she might end up blowing up our hideout in retaliation."

"Are you serious... Has the smear campaign gone this far?"

Fang Ren twitched the corner of his eye; it was a cruel tactic indeed. Indra Sky was creating mutant cultivators, yet the blame was placed on the Nightfall Organization; Central Command brainwashed unsuspecting individuals, and still, it was Nightfall that was held responsible.

In this case, even if Nightfall tried to explain the truth to others, those people would only believe they were being brainwashed.

"Anyway, many things are not to your advantage right now, and you still want to make waves. Why can't you just keep a low profile?" Jian Qi'er frowned.

"I truly can't afford to." Fang Ren replied, "Hui Qing is already twenty-five this year, and even if the old Mu Family Head agrees to help me drag it out, at most he could only buy seven years. The Central Command won't allow that amount of time; they will move against it swiftly."

"This…"

Jian Qi'er looked distressed, twiddling her fingers before reluctantly saying, "Maybe you could try to talk to Xuan Nv about our organization, but don't reveal your cooperation with us lightly. Use an indirect approach."

"I understand how to handle it. If at that time Hui Qing acknowledges the truth I speak of, I'll still have to fight a war with her, and the Central District Command… they're our enemies no matter what," Fang Ren stated firmly.

"So your goal now is not merely to marry her."

"Of course, what I want is a peaceful life after marrying her. If the world won't grant this, then rebellion is the only option."

"All right then, but be very cautious at the Alchemy Competition this time. Don't expose your Spirit Form or the Red Breath Method, and certainly don't take out the Sickle. Otherwise, we may not be able to save you even if we wanted to."

"I understand."

Fang Ren was aware that Jian Qi'er was not considering the organization at the moment; after all, if something happened to him, Nightfall wouldn't be affected. Jian Qi'er was merely concerned about his safety.

"By the way, aren't you filming today?" Fang Ren added.

"Yes, but now it's a break, and I happened to see the news of your advancement in the Alchemy Competition on the campus network, so I came over to ask you what's going on," Jian Qi'er said, sitting down in a chair beside him.

"Right, tell me about the recent situation with your organization," Fang Ren said, finding himself a spot to sit down as well.

Upon hearing his request, Jian Qi'er couldn't help but sigh and said, "Although we ultimately won, the Tianjiang Investigation Group's involvement resulted in heavy casualties for our organization. Groups D and E lost over seven thousand people, B and C over four thousand, A lost thirteen, and S lost one."

Hearing these numbers, Fang Ren also had a rough idea in his mind; he had personally experienced the battlefield that day, where the swarm of warriors seemed endless.

Even at the end of the battle, the ground was so soaked with blood that it had formed rivers. Saying that there were mountains of bones was no exaggeration—the dead indeed piled up into mountains.

"However, we rescued more than three hundred and sixty cultivators, all of whom are above the Xianyun Realm in strength, and a few of them are in the Blue Sky Realm. Now they have agreed to join us, which is a strong addition to our organization's forces," Jian Qi'er said.

"Over three hundred Xianyun Realm?" Fang Ren raised an eyebrow, "Those practitioners are probably under forty years of age, which means they're quite talented. Does Indra Sky really use cultivators of this level as test subjects?"

"That's right. Cultivators with too high a talent are sent to the battlefield, and those with too low don't hold much research value to them, so Indra Sky targets cultivators with slightly above-average cultivational talent for experimentation," she explained.

"How many more such large laboratories are there?" Fang Ren frowned.

"How many more laboratories and their locations are exactly the secrets we wish to uncover. But some documents were moved by Indra Sky ahead of time, and we didn't get them," Jian Qi'er responded.

Fang Ren pondered for a moment, then suddenly thought of something else and asked, "By the way, why didn't we see that Void beast that day?"