Chapter 41: The Agile Girl

As soon as she entered the courtyard, Manager Chen came out smiling from inside the house, “Sister Linglong, please come in, come in quickly.”
Manager Chen had once been an inner disciple. Although he had succeeded in reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, his overall performance was average, leaving no chance for him to compete for a position as a true disciple. Once his bone age exceeded fifty, he lost his status as an inner disciple and could only find a job within the sect to continue enjoying the favorable treatment provided by the powerful sect. However, no matter how old he was, as long as he hadn’t reached the Golden Core stage, he was still considered of the same generation as outer disciples like Su Che.
The internal relationships within the Tianxuan Sect were complex, but the hierarchy was quite simple—there were only three levels: those below the Golden Core stage were considered disciples, those at the Golden Core stage were considered senior disciples, and those at the Nascent Soul stage belonged to the patriarchal generation.
This was a manifestation of the fact that such a powerful sect had many skilled experts. In an ordinary sect, even a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage would be a highly respected pillar.
The girl named Linglong did not enter the house but stood in the courtyard, bowing to Manager Chen and addressing him as “elder brother.” Then she asked, “Elder Brother Chen, this man’s name is Su Che. He claims to be a newly hired manager disciple, but there’s no record of him in his identity jade talisman. I’m here to verify whether his words are true.”
“Su Che,” Manager Chen turned around and glanced at the bound Su Che, a smirk of schadenfreude appearing on his lips. He pretended to examine him carefully from head to toe before slapping his forehead in realization. “Ah, yes. He indeed arrived here just yesterday. I still haven’t completed the formal hiring procedures for him.”
“Indeed.”
The agile girl acted swiftly, retracting the ropes and magic tools from Su Che’s body. Yet she frowned slightly and said in a low voice, “You dared to wander around the entire courtyard without going through the formal hiring procedures. No wonder I caught you.”
Su Che moved his arms, showing no signs of annoyance, only nodding with a smile. “Yes, it’s my first time here, and I don’t understand many of the rules.”
Though his words sounded calm, he knew very well that the so-called hiring procedure simply required Manager Chen to input a record into his identity jade talisman—a task that could be done in just a few breaths’ time, with no difficulty at all. Yesterday, Manager Chen had deliberately ignored this matter just to make a joke at his expense.
“A narrow-minded person who resorts to such petty tricks—truly incapable of achieving greatness!” Su Che thought of him in such terms.

“That’s right, exactly. A guy like him, even if captured and brought to Immortal Prison, won’t achieve anything.” Lao He nodded vigorously as well.
Su Che smiled to himself: “Since they’ve already been captured by us, who could possibly achieve anything?”
“That’s not necessarily true! Master, just wait and see. Immortal Prison isn’t as simple as you think,” Lao He replied mysteriously.
At that moment, the delicate girl asked again, “Just at the first level of Qi cultivation, and you’ve already managed to get the position of supervisor in the herb garden. Surely, you must have great talent in growing spiritual herbs?”
“I’m pretty good at it,” Su Che nodded lightly.
The girl’s face lit up, and her tone became much softer. She said, “One of my spiritual herbs is sick. I was wondering if you could cure it?”
The question came so suddenly that Su Che didn’t respond right away. Instead, he secretly observed Manager Chen’s reaction but found his expression somewhat strange…
“Will you do it or not? Speak up!” the girl urged in a sweet voice.
Su Che pondered silently. Normally, he shouldn’t get involved in trouble, but considering her role as an inspector might be useful for his plans, he nodded and said, “I’ll take a look first. I can’t make any guarantees until I see it in person.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Just take a look first,” the girl nodded eagerly, her bright eyes filled with anticipation.
So, the energetic female inspector took Su Che away again, leaving only Manager Chen in the courtyard, muttering under his breath, “That ‘Flowing Cloud Golden Cup’ herb has already been condemned to death. Even the elders of the herb garden are helpless. No one going there will help!”
Manager Chen’s habit of talking to himself was definitely not a good one. Lao He overheard his words and naturally passed them on to Su Che.
“Since even the elders of the herb garden are helpless, I guess we won’t be able to come up with any good solution either,” Su Che analyzed. “This Linglong must be desperate and has probably already tried everyone skilled in growing spiritual herbs.”
“Not necessarily,” Lao He reminded him. “Immortal Prison has a healing effect. It’s not very noticeable, but it seems to cure any disease, though the recovery is slow.”
“Oh, right!” Su Che suddenly remembered that after reviving using a corpse in the Blood Curtain Mountains, his body had been severely injured, and the small tower in his mind had produced a strange warm current…

Looking back now, rather than saying that warm current had a healing effect, it was more appropriate to describe it as a nourishing effect. Its healing power wasn’t significant, far inferior to the immediate effects of true energy and medicinal pills. Yet Su Che believed that anything created by the Black Tower in his mind must have its uniqueness—it could never be something ordinary.
“Maybe it really will work. It’s worth a try!” Su Che perked up, secretly looking forward to it. Although he had named the Black Tower in his mind “Immortal Prison,” it remained full of mysteries and secrets, with endless enigmas waiting for him to unravel…
Flying was not allowed in the spiritual herb garden. Su Che hurried behind the delicate girl. After walking for a while, he suddenly found that she was leading him up the mountain path to the upper herb garden.
“Haha, it came easily!” In Immortal Prison, Old Black laughed skyward. “Master, look! With her leading the way, we can go up openly now!”
Su Che was also delighted. “Yes, I was guessing just now. As an inspector of the herb garden and given how polite Manager Chen was to her, she likely has sufficient authority to access the upper herb garden.”
“So, Master wants to use the charm tactic to completely conquer her, and then…” Old Black showed his fangs, his lewd expression making his demonic face even more terrifying.
Su Che didn’t bother arguing with him. His true thoughts were: “It seems she cares deeply about that spiritual herb. If I help her heal it, I can build a good relationship with her and showcase my skills. Maybe, in time, I’ll gain more authority in the spiritual herb garden… Even if that doesn’t work, it shouldn’t be a big problem. This Linglong doesn’t seem like an unreasonable villainess…”
Following the mountain path to the location of the illusion array Old Black mentioned, Linglong turned back and warned, “From here on, no matter what you see, you must stay close to me. Don’t take a single wrong step, understand?”
“Understood,” Su Che nodded.
Following her up a few more steps, the scenery suddenly changed—sometimes the ocean, sometimes the desert, sometimes forests or wastelands… Su Che knew this was still because he was walking correctly; the scenery was just changing. If he took a wrong step, terrifying illusions would pour in endlessly.

Following closely behind her, he saw her graceful figure swaying before his eyes and smelled the unique delicate fragrance of the immortal girl. Any ordinary man would surely have indulged in fantasies. Fortunately, Su Che’s mind was filled with thoughts of his deceased wife who had died tragically while pregnant; no matter how beautiful other women were, they caused no stir in his heart.

After emerging from this illusionary array and continuing to climb, they arrived at a thatched cottage at the end of the mountain path. A young disciple at the seventh level of Qi cultivation stepped out and greeted Linglong, saying, “Senior Sister Linglong.”

Although she was older, her cultivation level was one lower, so he had to address her as senior sister—this was the rule of Tianxuan Sect. Strength took precedence, and most sects followed the same principle.

Linglong merely responded briefly before leading Su Che away at high speed. The guarding disciple didn’t ask another question, which showed that the inspector had considerable authority—allowing not only her to pass unimpeded but also enabling her to take a stranger like Su Che along with her.