Troublemaker’s Guide to Immortality

After Yun Jin advanced her Azure Lotus Sword Art to the second level, her Tide Sword Intent also reached its second stage.

Back when she was still in the Foundation Establishment realm, the first level of Tide Sword Intent had already let her punch up to Golden Core-level strength.

Now that she had actually reached the Golden Core stage, and her sword intent had also leveled up, what kind of strength boost could she expect now?

Yun Jin wandered around Heshan and soon found a spacious, empty area. She drew an ordinary spiritual sword from her storage ring. Then, with a simple gesture, she summoned a rain cloud overhead. Facing the cloud, she activated the first stage of Tide Sword Intent.

The rain cloud swelled rapidly. Within the thickening cloud mass, bluish lightning began to stir and spark. Yun Jin gauged the effect. The power was still within the Golden Core level—formidable, but not yet on the level of a Nascent Soul.

She called out, her voice steady. "Second Stage, Tide Sword Intent."

First and second stages stacked. The rain cloud surged outward with renewed intensity. More tendrils of lightning crackled within, fierce and untamed.

Now it was reaching Nascent Soul-level strength.

"What's going on up there?" one of the disciples stationed to guard Heshan looked up. "That cloud's huge. Is it about to rain?"

"Could be. Let's get inside, just in case."

"What about Junior Sister Yun? Isn't she still up there? She's really going to keep at it in weather like this?"

"Guess that's what true sisterly bonds look like. So deep she can't even bear to come down."

The group chuckled as they headed toward shelter.

But just as they were about to step inside, the enormous rain cloud vanished.

"Huh?" the disciples blinked in confusion.

The sky above was clear. The sun shone high as ever.

Had they imagined the whole thing?

Then, before they could sort their thoughts, another rain cloud formed. This one was even larger than the last.

It hung for a few moments, then suddenly swelled several times in size.

All of Heshan was blanketed under the dark canopy. Bolts of lightning danced wildly within the storm, casting an apocalyptic atmosphere over the mountain.

What in the world was going on?

Before they could speak, the rain cloud once again disappeared.

All within the span of three heartbeats.

The disciples exchanged glances, faces blank with confusion.

Had they just seen a ghost?

Meanwhile, Yun Jin had already withdrawn her technique.

That last attempt, she had used the Tai'a Sword. With the sword's enhancement, the overall power had grown even more. She estimated that this level of might was solidly in the middle range of the Nascent Soul tier.

And she still had her Mystic Codex, which contained five innate divine arts. If she used them well, they could serve as deadly trump cards.

Her next step was to refine more pills. With a month left before the tournament, she had one last push to strengthen herself. If she was lucky, she might even reach late-stage Golden Core. With that kind of advancement, Ruan Jun would no longer pose a problem. After completing her test, Yun Jin returned to the cave entrance.

Ye Danxia sat cross-legged inside, feigning calm and focus. But the constant trickle of Emotional Value she was giving off told Yun Jin her inner peace was a total lie.

Yun Jin smiled. "Danxia, I've made you listen to the same song over and over. That really isn't fair to you. Maybe it's time to stop."

[+500 Emotional Value.]

A spike.

Ye Danxia's eyes shot open, surprise flashing in them.

Yun Jin walked over and shut off the recording stone.

Ye Danxia was nearly moved to tears.

But then...

Yun Jin pulled out a new recording stone.

The moment she activated it, a bouncy new tune burst out.

"You are my little, little apple..."

Ye Danxia's expression turned green.

Another one of those maddeningly catchy songs.

Yun Jin had no intention of letting her off easy.

"Am I good to you or what? A brand-new track, just for you," Yun Jin said with total sincerity.

Ye Danxia ground her teeth. "Aren't you listening to this too? Doesn't it affect you?"

She swore, this was worse than any demonic sound technique she'd ever heard of.

"It does affect me," Yun Jin said with a smile, then calmly pulled out a sound-isolation talisman and stuck it on herself. "But not anymore."

Ye Danxia's psyche completely cracked.

Was Yun Jin insane?

She had just wasted two talismans just to torture her. Did she have too many lying around?

Then Ye Danxia remembered—those talismans came from the storage ring. The storage ring that should have been hers. Her mood plunged further.

[+500 Emotional Value.]

Yun Jin's grin widened.

Her precious little Danxia never failed to deliver. Emotional Value just kept pouring in.

Thanks to "Little Apple," the gains came slower, but they were steady, ticking up by the dozens, and sometimes hundreds.

Yun Jin was quite content.

She returned to her small wooden hut, applied sound and concealment talismans outside, then pulled out her pill furnace and began alchemy.

While Emotional Value streamed in from outside, she focused on refining a batch of third-grade pills.

Of all the recipes she had, only Spirit-Boosting Paste increased spiritual power. That would be her priority. The rest had more niche uses, so she planned to make just one batch of each for backup.

Three furnaces activated at once.

Yun Jin then pulled out Yang Hui's notes on artifact refinement and skimmed them to increase her proficiency, as she did every day.

Then she resumed her sword training.

The pill furnaces worked quietly in the background. No reason to waste time.

Reaching the third level of Azure Lotus Sword Art in just a month was unlikely, but even small gains mattered. As she focused, a notification suddenly rang in her mind.

[Ding. Your senior disciple, Ye Cheng, has advanced his cultivation technique to level two. Your planting technique has now been upgraded to level three.]

In an instant, insights flooded her mind.

The manuals related to her three cultivation techniques all upgraded to third level.

Yun Jin raised a brow.

Ye Cheng had originally been a third-grade planting master. Switching to the system's new cultivation technique had essentially reset his progress.

But with his experience and the system perks she granted, the fact that he reached the second level this quickly proved one thing.

He was a planting genius.

This disciple was a good pick.

A pleased smile spread across Yun Jin's face.

Once she had more Emotional Value saved up, she would definitely continue investing in Ye Cheng.

The return rate was insane.

She sent him a short encouragement message via communication token. And just from those few words, Ye Cheng gifted her five points of Bond Value. Their bond level shot up to 85.

Yun Jin could only sigh.

What a genuine boy.

If he had ended up with a scammy master, he would have been eaten alive.

She gave him a few more encouraging lines, then went back to her work.

While Yun Jin was busily farming Emotional Value at Heshan...

At the Spirit Beast Pavilion.

Ling Fei stared at Gun Gun, a black line twitching on his forehead.

Yun Jin was so composed and responsible. How had Gun Gun turned out like this?

Within the spirit beast enclosure, Gun Gun was standing tall and bellowing at the crowd. "I'm saying this right now—you're all trash! I, Lord Gun Gun, can crush every one of you with a single paw!"

Ling Fei didn't understand beast-speak, but judging from how angry the Qi Refining spirit beasts were getting, he had a pretty good idea that Gun Gun was stirring up trouble again.