Xiao Fei carried the injured and unconscious Huang Feifei to the bed.
He checked her with his divine sense and found that she had multiple injuries, several fractures, internal organ damage, and several holes on her body that were continuously bleeding.
Fortunately, she had taken a healing pill in time to hold on until now.
Xiao Fei wondered what kind of danger Huang Feifei had encountered for this spiritual herb.
At this moment, a strong sense of guilt arose in Xiao Fei's heart.
He immediately untied Huang Feifei's clothes, revealing her scarred body. Many places had new injuries layered over old ones.
Xiao Fei was not entirely sure what Huang Feifei had been doing all these years. Everyone had their secrets, and he didn't want to pry too much.
However, judging by the numerous scars on Huang Feifei's body, the experiences were undoubtedly perilous.
Some of the scars were located near vital areas of her body.
In the cultivation world, there were highly effective healing and scar-removal medicines, but such potent pills were also expensive.
Huang Feifei's condition suggested that she had only been willing to use the effective healing medicine on her face to save spirit stones.
Xiao Fei examined Huang Feifei's entire body and then treated her injuries.
When it came to healing, there was no room for hesitation. He disregarded the gender difference and personally set her bones, bandaged her wounds, and fed her a top-grade healing pill.
Huang Feifei only woke up the next day. She found her injuries bandaged and blushed slightly. Then, she pretended to know nothing, got out of bed as if nothing had happened.
"Awake? Have some soup."
Xiao Fei handed Huang Feifei a bowl of soup.
"What happened?"
"It's nothing, just a small dispute over this spiritual herb."
Huang Feifei briefly recounted the events.
After obtaining information about the spiritual herb's location through certain channels, she went to pick it alone.
After successfully killing the demonic beast guarding the spiritual herb, another group of cultivators appeared and fought her for it.
Huang Feifei was outnumbered. She grabbed the spiritual herb and used her Illusionary Butterfly to escape, but she was still injured by the opponent's long-range weapons.
She only managed to escape the pursuit when she reached the vicinity of her sect.
"Do you know who they were?"
Xiao Fei asked. By now, the attackers had surely fled, and to seek revenge, he needed to know their identities.
"I don't recognize them. There were four of them, and they looked unfamiliar. They didn't seem like cultivators from the Cuihua Mountain Range."
Huang Feifei shook her head.
"Young Master, please focus on your alchemy and don't waste your great talent. Leave the fighting to me."
Since entering the sect, Xiao Fei had never openly taken action. Furthermore, he had claimed that he was not skilled in combat.
As a result, even Huang Feifei believed that Xiao Fei had not cultivated combat techniques much and that his fighting strength had declined.
Xiao Fei said nothing further but had taken the matter to heart.
Huang Feifei recuperated in Xiao Fei's cave dwelling for three days, and her injuries had almost fully recovered.
On this day, as she was preparing to take her leave, Xiao Fei said:
"You are already at the eleventh level of Qi Condensation. Hurry up and cultivate to the great perfection of the twelfth level. Put other matters aside for now."
As Xiao Fei spoke, he took out a jade bottle and handed it to Huang Feifei.
"This contains top-grade Qi Gathering Pills. One pill a day should help you reach the twelfth level of Qi Condensation perfection very quickly."
Huang Feifei took the pills. "However, the spiritual herb you need is missing only one Five-Colored Spirit Lotus, and I have found some clues."
"It's alright. This matter is not urgent. Go back and cultivate first to improve your strength."
Xiao Fei stopped Huang Feifei, having already made a decision in secret.
The sect had rewarded him with two Foundation Establishment Pills, but he had no use for them.
He could give one or two to Huang Feifei later. It would be a fitting reward for her risking her life for him.
Huang Feifei took the top-grade pills from Xiao Fei and honestly returned to cultivate.
After Huang Feifei left, Xiao Fei, for the first time in a while, ventured out of his cave dwelling.
He put on the human skin mask left by Green Bean Eyes again and altered his appearance.
He even made a small cut on his tongue, making his speech slightly slurred. Such a minor injury would heal in a day or two and was not a big deal.
After disguising himself, Xiao Fei went directly to the market and first found a refining shop.
He took out a large piece of Xuan Tie ore and a fist-sized piece of Xuan Tie essence, entrusting them for refining.
The shopkeeper of the refining shop's eyes turned green upon seeing the fist-sized piece of Xuan Tie essence.
Xuan Tie essence could be used to refine spiritual artifacts, which were more advanced than magical artifacts, and even treasures. However, its production was low.
The person before him was using such a large piece of Xuan Tie essence to refine only a magical artifact, which was a terrible waste.
Moreover, the client had few requirements for the magical artifact's functions, only that it be heavy, sturdy, and sharp.
He probably was some rich young master who didn't know how to manage his wealth.
"No problem, this humble shop will surely satisfy the young master. If you're not satisfied, you won't pay a single cent."
The shopkeeper patted his chest and guaranteed that such a large order would bring him a substantial profit.
For those who ran refining workshops, their greater profit came from withholding refining materials, in addition to the refining fees.
The rarer the materials they took on for refining, the more they could earn.
For rare materials like Xuan Tie essence, a small piece, no bigger than a fingertip, could cover the refining fee.
Furthermore, given their character, they would deduct at least one-third to half of the material.
"Alright! Please refine it for me as soon as possible. I have an urgent need."
Xiao Fei left the materials and took a receipt from the refining shop before departing.
Xiao Fei was naturally aware that refining workshops would withhold materials.
It was similar to how alchemists would withhold some pills when refining for others.
For example, if he refined ten pills, he could easily withhold four or five.
However, Xiao Fei was not lacking those few pills now and did not usually undertake the business of refining pills for others.
Next, he visited the "Little Black Shop" again but found nothing suitable for him.
However, he learned from the shopkeeper of the Little Black Shop about an underground hunter organization where one could commission tasks for spirit stones.
He immediately found this underground organization that Huang Feifei frequented.
He spent a large sum of spirit stones, described the appearance of the four people who had injured Huang Feifei, and posted a task to gather information about them.
The refining workshop was very efficient. They finished refining the magical artifact Xiao Fei requested that afternoon.
It was in the style of a Qinglong Yanyuedao, weighing 1200 jin.
...
In a cave outside the Cuihua Mountain Range, four cultivators were gathered, plotting something.
If Huang Feifei were present, she would surely recognize them as the four who had ambushed and seriously injured her.
"This time, we failed to capture that crazy woman. I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain when we return."
"Actually, there is still room for remediation."
"What good plan do you have? Tell us."
"Think about it, what was the real purpose of targeting this crazy woman for this mission?
How about..."