In the blink of an eye, Guan Sheng's smile vanished, replaced first by a sullen expression, then by a sinister scowl that deepened into a menacing glare.
The smile had been a mask; the sinister demeanor revealed his true state of mind.
And at that moment, his malice reached its peak.
He's been played, Guan Sheng thought, a surge of furious rage flooding his sinister face. The anger rose swiftly, yet dissipated in less than a breath.
The smile returned as if the fleeting transformation had been nothing more than a hallucination.
He let out a heavy sigh.
"Junior Brother Han, this... this is hardly fair."
"Are you deliberately trying to sabotage me?"
"Junior Brother Han, open the door first. Let's talk this over properly. Pill Refinement can wait. Or I, your Senior Brother, will compensate you with Spirit Stones."
"Name your terms. I'll meet any reasonable request."
"How am I supposed to find a suitable assistant on such short notice?"
"Honestly... honestly... Ugh..."
Guan Sheng continued his earnest pleas outside the door, his tone and demeanor remarkably persuasive.
Unbeknownst to him, Han Yi inside had already reactivated the Formation, retreated to his Meditation Chamber, and shut himself off completely.
After nearly fifteen minutes, Guan Sheng's throat grew parched from his relentless appeals. Yet, no sound emerged from within the chamber.
Reluctantly giving up, Guan Sheng let out a disgruntled hum, flicked his sleeve, and departed.
But...
Ten meters away from the courtyard, his face, now turned away from the courtyard, darkened ominously once more.
"Something's wrong."
"Something's very wrong."
A sudden sense of foreboding washed over Guan Sheng.
Three months ago, he had clearly made an agreement with Han Yi, who had promised to help him.
Why, after three months, was Han Yi acting so uncharacteristically, refusing to even open the door and keeping Guan Sheng at arm's length?
Based on his previous observations, Han Yi wasn't the type to behave this way.
Moreover, Guan Sheng had gone to great lengths to care for Han Yi, even giving him the Pill Formula for the Evil-Repelling Pill, providing the raw materials free of charge, and offering him twenty percent of the profits from the refined pills.
Such generosity amounted to a profound debt of gratitude.
Any normal person would readily agree to a simple favor that would take less than half a month.
And...
Three months ago...
Guan Sheng's steps faltered as he recalled the day Han Yi left. That same day, Jiang De had also disappeared after leaving his house.
Yes, disappeared.
Guan Sheng knew all too well what it meant for someone to vanish in the Cultivation World.
He had secretly searched for Jiang De for a long time, eventually suspecting that a cultivator skirmish that had occurred a few blocks from the Profound Fire Pill Shop might be connected to Jiang De's disappearance.
It was merely a possibility.
Through his connections, Guan Sheng contacted an official Qi Refining cultivator from Great Qian and reviewed the battle records.
The fight had been remarkably brief, lasting only a few breaths before ending. A corpse with no identifiable features was left at the scene.
Guan Sheng couldn't confirm if the body was Jiang De's.
If it was, then who was the enemy?
Initially, Guan Sheng hadn't suspected Han Yi. For one thing, Han Yi had only recently broken through to the Qi Refining Third Layer, while Jiang De was at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.
Moreover, Guan Sheng was familiar with the Alchemy Techniques taught to external disciples by the various Sects. Their Pill Refinement skills were mediocre at best, and their combat skills were abysmal—they likely struggled to even master a single basic spell.
He had previously investigated Han Yi through his own channels, gathering information about his cultivation realm, spells, personality, and more.
Jiang De, though also an Alchemist, had cultivated several powerful offensive spells.
Compared to Han Yi, who had just reached the Qi Refining Third Layer and hadn't demonstrated even a single noteworthy spell, Jiang De would have been like a higher-dimensional being crushing an ant.
If the cultivator clash in the alley had truly been between these two, Jiang De should have easily emerged victorious.
Yet the reconstructed battle records indicated that the individual presumed to be Jiang De had been utterly overwhelmed in a one-sided defeat.
To have crushed Jiang De so completely, the perpetrator must have been at least at the peak of the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, or even at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.
Based on this, Guan Sheng had already ruled out Han Yi.
However...
Han Yi's attitude today struck Guan Sheng as deeply suspicious.
Could Han Yi have been the one who killed Jiang De?
No.
That hypothesis could be completely dismissed.
Then...
There remained two other possibilities.
The first was that Jiang De had indeed attacked Han Yi, but for some unknown reason, another cultivator had crushed him. Perhaps this cultivator had mistakenly believed Jiang De was attacking them and retaliated with overwhelming force, explaining why Jiang De's body had been pulverized to dust.
This incident could have turned Han Yi into a nervous wreck, first suspecting Jiang De and then gradually extending his mistrust to everyone, explaining why he dared not even open the door for Guan Sheng today.
The second possibility was that Han Yi, either by accident or through deliberate investigation over the past three months, had uncovered the issues with the Profound Fire Pill Shop and become suspicious of Guan Sheng.
In that instant, a flood of thoughts raced through Guan Sheng's mind as he mentally constructed the two scenarios he considered most likely.
Guan Sheng didn't believe a single word of Han Yi's claim that he had gained inspiration in his Alchemy Technique and was on the verge of a breakthrough. He dismissed it as utter nonsense, not even worth the punctuation marks.
Regardless of which of the two possibilities Guan Sheng had considered was true, it was clear: Han Yi could not be allowed to escape. Han Yi must die.
Guan Sheng continued walking, his pace alone sealing Han Yi's fate.
Of course, he wouldn't choose to kill Han Yi here directly. Even with his Qi Refining Sixth Layer cultivation, forcibly breaching the courtyard's Formation Arts would take considerable time and create a significant disturbance. He had far more subtle methods for eliminating Han Yi.
Meanwhile, in the Meditation Chamber, Han Yi, having replenished his Mana, resumed cultivating the Spirit Void Finger. With less than two months remaining until the one-year deadline, he desperately needed to push this technique to a new Cultivation Realm.
Yet the greater his urgency, the more he understood the need for patience. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
The two bedrooms had already been merged into one, their walls riddled with countless holes, and a three-meter-deep pit scarred the floor.
Puff, puff, puff...
Han Yi's fingers danced across the air, Spirit Light surging forth as if he were plucking the strings of an ancient zither, playing a peerless divine melody.
Time flew by.
Lost in his cultivation, Han Yi remained unaware that outside the courtyard, in a secluded corner, a pair of bored eyes watched the courtyard day after day. These eyes did not belong to Guan Sheng himself, but to the man he had assigned to monitor Han Yi.
One day, the watcher suddenly tensed. A tremendous tremor had shaken the courtyard, as if the entire Formation Arts had been violently disturbed. Though brief, the tremor was undeniable. Guan Sheng had instructed him to report any unusual activity in the courtyard.
The watcher quietly maintained his vigil until twilight before finally leaving his post and heading to the Profound Fire Pill Shop.
"An unusual tremor?" Guan Sheng raised an eyebrow upon hearing the report.
"Yes, Old Guan. The tremor was loud, as if the entire courtyard's Formation Arts had shuddered. But I saw no one attacking the courtyard."
"Moreover, this was the first anomaly within the courtyard's Formation Arts in the past month. Something is clearly wrong."
"Has anyone come out?" Guan Sheng asked again.
"No, I've been watching with utmost vigilance. I'm absolutely certain no one has left. The Formation was still intact when I left just now, making it impossible for anyone to escape."
"Very well. Since he's still inside, leave him be for now. Resume your watch tomorrow."
"Remember, report any movement to me immediately. Do not act rashly. Understood? Do not forget."
Guan Sheng waved his hand dismissively. The man before him respectfully bowed and withdrew.
"Such a massive, anomalous tremor... Could the Pill Furnace have exploded?"
"That doesn't make sense. Even if the furnace had detonated, the house would have cushioned the impact. Besides, Han Yi's strength isn't enough to shake the Formation Arts."
"Intriguing. I never suspected this brat was hiding such secrets."
"In just over a month, his year-long deadline will expire. He won't be able to stay hidden forever. When the time comes..."
Guan Sheng's eyes narrowed, a flash of murderous intent flickering within.
Regardless of what Han Yi knew or suspected, he was marked for death.