When Li Mo saw Yun Ruoyan stop moving, he smiled and asked, “What’s the matter, Yan’er?”

Yun Ruoyan was extremely reluctant to ask for money, but Qiuqiu piped up again, “Mistress, it’ll be almost impossible for you to find a cauldron like this again! Having such a cauldron will really help your ability to concoct poisons.”

Yun Ruoyan sucked in a deep breath before directly telling Li Mo, “I want to borrow some money from you.”

The cauldron was two-feet tall and black as soot. A furnace had a large interior chamber for fire, and stood on three legs. A ceramic plating with holes separated the fire from the herbs, and the holes allowed the most intense flames to roast and broil the herbs to extract their essence. On the other hand, a cauldron was square-shaped, had four legs, and no lid.

Yun Ruoyan had no clue where to light the flame nor where to refine the poisonous herbs; Qiuqiu would have to teach her all the fundamentals of using a cauldron.

“A thousand taels of gold,” the stall owner announced firmly.

Yun Ruoyan’s face became stark white before it returned to normal. Her heart seemed to spurt out blood, and she left without another word.

A thousand taels of gold! She couldn’t raise that much money even if she sold herself off!!! 

Or, in Li Mo’s words, she was too ugly to be worth so much.

“Deal,” Li Mo said from behind her. 

Yun Ruoyan turned around to see Li Mo suddenly wave his hand by an empty corner of the stall, and a pile of gold appeared out of nowhere.

That gold only shone for a moment before the stall owner waved his hand over it and vanishing it once more.

Yun Ruoyan noticed that both men were wearing storage rings, which could only be forged by a fifth-rank forgemaster. Although such rings were incomparable to Yun Ruoyan’s silver bracelet, they were still quite precious on the Chenyuan continent. Among the entire Yun family, she had only seen such rings on her father and grandmother’s fingers.

Then, Li Mo swiped the cauldron and stored that in his ring as well, and the thousand-gold transaction was complete.

Li Mo tugged on the still-frozen Yun Ruoyan as he left.

After leaving the alley, Li Mo removed his ring and offered it to Yun Ruoyan. It was silver in color, the only object that Li Mo wore that wasn’t black.

“I don’t have that much money on me at the moment.” Yun Ruoyan didn’t rush to take it. “Tell me your request first, and I’ll see if I can accomplish it.

Li Mo leaned closer to Yun Ruoyan, who subconsciously took a step back. “Oh, my request is simple. As long as…”

Halfway through his words, he suddenly crept closer once more.

Yun Ruoyan almost fell over as she continued leaning backwards. Li Mo grabbed her waist and pulled her into his embrace as he lowered his head and kissed her.

In that isolated alleyway, Li Mo languidly and leisurely savored her mouth. Luckily, however, he was neither as domineering nor as deeply penetrating as Yun Ruoyan had feared.

Although in this life she might still be underage, her past life had given her some experience with the affairs of man and woman. During the kiss, she could clearly feel Li Mo’s restraint and gentleness.

Yun Ruoyan wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but today’s kiss seemed quite different from normal. In the past, Li Mo’s kisses had always been half-hearted and somewhat playful, as if he simply liked seeing her squirm.

Now, however, the kiss was passionate and warm.

Yun Ruoyan opened her eyes as she stared at Li Mo still wrapping her in his arms. She looked at his elegant nose, his long, narrow eyes, and his slightly fluttering eyelashes.

She couldn’t help being reminded of that silvery-white man with icy-blue eyes.

Were these two men one and the same?

“Ruoyan, my request for you is that…” Li Mo finally broke the kiss, looking at her eyes in satisfaction. In a deep, magnetic voice, he whispered, “...that you not close your eyes or pretend to be dead when I kiss you in this manner.”

Yun Ruoyan hesitated for a moment as Li Mo put the ring on her finger.

“I’ll return you the money as soon as I’m able,” Yun Ruoyan promised.

The two got back onto the carriage, and Li Mo steered the carriage away from the isolated alley once more. Yun Ruoyan poked her head out of the carriage’s window to ask if he could send her back to the Yun manor immediately.

Her stomach had begun to protest. It was past noon, and Yun Ruoyan’s breakfast had long been digested. Because of how much she’d been cultivating, she was both consuming a great amount of food and constantly hungry. There was constantly a small rumbling noise coming out of the carriage, one that Li Mo’s sensitive ears could easily pick up.

This wasn’t the first time that Li Mo had heard such a sound; she had made the same noise while they were trapped in the forest of dead souls together. He turned back to look at Yun Ruoyan’s somewhat reddened face as he stopped the carriage by a nearby restaurant.

The two took a suite on the second floor and ordered a simple meal. Not long later, when the meal was served, Yun Ruoyan began to eat without hesitation. Li Mo only had a glass of wine, slowly sipping from his cup as he watched Yun Ruoyan eat. She was enjoying her meal and eating heartily when she felt Li Mo’s gaze on her. Swallowing, she raised her head and asked, “Why aren’t you eating?”

“I’m not hungry,” Li Mo replied. “And I’m not particularly fond of this fare.”

Earlier in the Slaughtering King’s manor, Li Mo had only had a few spoonfuls of lotus-seed soup. Even she was hungry with her small physique; shouldn’t a man like Li Mo, so tall and strong, be even hungrier?

Not particularly fond of this fare? Yun Ruoyan picked up a piece of fried meat and chewed on it: it was tender but not fatty, salty with the tiniest tinge of sweetness. It suited her tastes perfectly.

When Li Mo saw that Yun Ruoyan was relishing the meat, he couldn’t help but take a piece of his own. However, he was full just from looking at its shiny, oily exterior. As a result, he placed that piece of meat back in Yun Ruoyan’s bowl.

“I heard that, past a certain stage of cultivation, you can nourish your body just with spiritual energy. Is that true?”

Li Mo nodded. “A sword saint—that is, a tenth-rank blademaster—can easily abstain from food.”

“Sword saint?!” This was the first time that Yun Ruoyan had heard of anything of the sort. As far as she was aware, ninth-rank was the peak.

“What’s a sword saint like? Are you a sword saint?” Yun Ruoyan’s excitement at discovering a new frontier of cultivation left her shocked and wildly curious, so much so that she couldn’t even focus on eating. Rather, she stared at Li Mo with bright, beaming eyes.

“I’m just an infinitesimal step away from being a sword saint. Most people are only aware of the first nine ranks, and only a privileged few have any understanding of the mythical tenth stage. Actually, there are still quite a number of stages of cultivation even beyond that of a sword saint.” 

Li Mo stopped talking, and Yun Ruoyan eagerly waited for him to continue.

But Li Mo didn’t seem to want to discuss the matter further. “With your current level of cultivation, there’s no need to know so much. I’ll tell you about these things once you become a ninth-rank blademaster.”

Yun Ruoyan knew that, no matter how curious she was, she wouldn’t be able to pry something out of Li Mo against his will. I’ll just ask Qiuqiu about it when I get home! It knows so much that surely it’ll have some idea about this, too.

Yun Ruoyan continued eating. Li Mo looked on with a smile, as though he found the sight particularly amusing. She ignored his gaze; just because he was observing her didn’t mean she would eat daintily!

After she had polished off all the food on the table, she put down her bowl and chopsticks. “I have quite an important matter to inform you about.”

“Oh? What’s the matter?”

Last night, after Yun Moxiao’s encounter with Yun Lan, he had told her about how Li Sheng had renounced the throne. This was at odds with Zhuo Yifeng’s claim, but she was certain that he wouldn’t lie to her. However, there was also no reason for Yun Lan to hide the truth.

Even now, Yun Ruoyan was still quite confused about the matter.

“I’ve received some news that the Farsighted King has been planning a rebellion for many years, but I don’t know when he’ll put his plan into motion.”

She looked at Li Mo as she spoke, but he didn’t seem very surprised. She continued, “But my father told me that the Farsighted King renounced the throne voluntarily, so he doesn’t have a reason to stoke rebellion. Based on your understanding of him, do you think a rebellion’s possible? If you’re not sure, should this be reported to the king?”

Despite his status in the kingdom, Li Mo appeared wholly unperturbed.

“Don’t worry about him,” he replied coolly.

Yun Ruoyan was rather surprised. “Don’t worry? What do you mean?”

A waiter came to their table bearing tea, which Li Mo poured out for both of them. “Just pretend you’re not aware of the matter.”

Yun Ruoyan was very surprised to see him handle the news so calmly. “Based on your behavior, it really doesn’t seem like something to be worried about.”

Li Mo took the cup of tea and had a light sip. Clearly, it didn’t agree with his sensibilities; he frowned and put it down once more. “There’s no need to be concerned about such a trifling matter.”

...Yun Ruoyan had almost forgotten that Li Mo was a pure killer, one with absolutely no interest in politics. Only when the kingdom came to war would he step forth. But by that point, it would be too late.

“Regardless, haven’t you already informed your father about this?”

“My father said that the Farsighted King doesn’t have a reason to rebel. What’ll happen if he doesn’t report it to the emperor, but the rebellion occurs?”

“Your father’s prudent and calculating. Given how serious the matter is and how much he stands to gain, I assure you he’ll look into the matter carefully,” Li Mo continued. “The current emperor is also a shrewd man, and trying to claim his position won’t be an easy thing.

According to Li Mo, rumors of a rebellion weren’t something that Yun Ruoyan and the others needed to be concerned about. Even if Li Sheng were truly fomenting one, it would easily be handled by the current members of the court. All she had to do was wait to enter Kongming Academy and focus solely on her cultivation.

This… didn’t seem to be a bad idea. After all, she would be entering Kongming Academy at the end of the month. The authority of the Academy superseded that of the four kingdoms, but it had a policy of noninterference. Regardless of intrakingdom rebellion or interkingdom conflict, it wouldn’t make a move unless its own interests were threatened.

And once she became a student of Kongming Academy, she would likely be barred from joining one side or the other.

That night, back in her rooms, Yun Ruoyan took out the cauldron and placed the poisonous herbs on her table before asking Qiuqiu, “Do I make poison the same way I make regular spiritual pills?”