To this day, Liu Xing didn't know Qing Yuan's father's name. He knew he was from the Jin clan, but there had been no opportunity or reason to ask. What he did know was that the man had loved his wife and son. He had been a good and kind person with a sickly body—so frail that a dying grandmother might have seemed livelier. He was lucky to have a talent for cultivation, and as he advanced, his body grew stronger, albeit still weaker than others in the same realm.

"No way. No way… right?" he whispered, licking his dry lips as he continued to read.

"The patriarch was a little disappointed by Little Mingjue; however, I remember the burning gaze he gave me when he ordered me to find a solution for his sickly body. I nodded solemnly to him, acting as if I would find the cure even if the sky shattered. But inside, I felt immense joy and opportunity. Right after learning about the Heaven Severing Pill, I could now examine the body of a baby who had absorbed the golden grass. It was as if the heavens themselves were supporting me. It felt amazing. My only regret was that I could not examine him alone. A fine doctor accompanied me. He was blind, but even I was amazed by his knowledge, and he concluded what was wrong with the boy's body. He said, 'It is as if he was born prematurely,' and then continued, saying that his heart and lungs were too small, his bones more brittle than a normal human's, his skin weaker—it was as if the baby had lacked nutrients in the womb. 'A baby like this usually dies before being born, and yet he survived. It must be a miracle.' I remember nodding along. It was indeed a miracle, but I instantly realized the reason for his sickly body. It was me. The sample I took was too large, and it resulted in his weak constitution."

Liu Xing stopped reading and shot his gaze toward Jin Wuyi's remains, his eyes sharp enough to cut. Before, he had felt a sliver of pity for the man, who had been so hungry he'd resorted to eating another person, only to die hungry anyway. Now, that pity evaporated, replaced by a cold rage that made him want to pulverize the man's bones into fine powder. This was the man who had ruined an entire family. If Jin Mingjue had been born healthy, he might have survived and returned home safely to his wife and son, to a warm smile and a warm family. They might have lived a better life. But Liu Xing reined himself in. There was no use destroying the bones of a dead man. He couldn't be any more dead.

He sighed, wondering where the hell this story would end. Knowing that Jing Mingjue and Qing Lian bodies retained some properties of the golden grass, the logical next step for Jin Wuyi was to kill both of them and refine them into a pill. However, as far as he knew, Jin Mingjue's body was buried on Moon Flower's mountain, while Qing Lian, although not well, was still alive. How could he have made the Heaven Severing Pill then?

"He must have successfully extracted the remaining properties of the golden grass from them," he muttered and nodded. That was the only thing that came to mind. "And he did it without killing them," he added.

"Honestly, I felt bad for Little Mingjue. He was born sickly because of me, so I became involved in his life. As a baby, Jin Mingjue was quiet. Whenever he cried, he would start coughing, his chest rising and falling rapidly. Each time he coughed, I would concoct a medicine and give it to him, and he would get better. I felt guilty for around three years. During this time, I didn't dare make him suffer more. In fact, I grew attached to him and looked for ways to strengthen his body. The only conclusion I could come to was that he had to become a cultivator. However, after his mother died and the doctor decided that I could handle him alone, I felt an agonizing desire in my heart. There was no one to observe me if I decided I wanted to extract samples from his body. There was no one to stop me if I decided to kidnap him and refine him into a pill. It was like the feeling of a man dying of thirst in the middle of a desert who suddenly finds a glass of water. I could reach out and drink it, but I realized that it would be wrong. In the end, though, I drank the water."

Liu Xing pressed his lips into a thin line.

"At first, it was a simple extraction. I wanted his blood sample, and this little boy gave it willingly, thinking that it would help my research. His bright eyes and warm smile made me queasy; my stomach would churn, and I remember several occasions where I vomited after extracting his blood. I never stopped, though. I extracted his blood, his skin, his hair, his nails, his urine, his feces—many more samples. It made me learn so much about the properties of the golden grass. In simple terms, it could purify and improve anything."

Liu Xing flipped to the next page.

"At one point, I successfully upgraded a high-quality pill using his blood, and thus hypothesized what the main function of the golden grass was. I came to the conclusion that if it was concocted into a pill and consumed by a cultivator, it would change the cultivator's body completely. At the very least, it could increase the innate talent of whoever consumed it. After all, everything it purified and improved stayed that way. A blind monkey that I cured had its eyes function for the rest of its life, as well as becoming smarter and even able to absorb qi. With this success, I planned to truly extract the remainder of the energy from this kid. However, I think because there was one night where I drank too much, a rumor about this hypothetical completed pill suddenly spread among my clansmen. Thankfully, it seemed that it didn't include the name of the pill, which at this point I had completely forgotten. There were several occasions where I wanted to know the name of this pill again. In the end, I decided that the name itself was not important. The most important thing was the pill itself, and I wanted it. I wanted it badly."

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"You wanted it so badly, huh?" Liu Xing muttered, his stomach churning as if a great storm were brewing inside him. Those words felt disgusting.

"The first step to creating this Heaven Severing Pill was already complete. I had won the trust of this little boy completely. Even if I told him to come out stark naked in the middle of a blizzard, he would do it in a heartbeat. The patriarch, too, while not explicitly saying it, was entrusting the boy to me. The entire clan thought that I was acting as his father, as if I loved him from the depths of my heart. And indeed, I did love him. But as days passed, instead of a little boy, I saw him merely as a precious resource. At one point, I even thought about getting my hands on a limb-regenerating pill and then chopping his limbs off so I could make something amazing from them. Luckily, I successfully restrained myself. For the next two years, I guided him to be the best version of himself, to always be kind, to be a good person. Not out of a desire to make him a better human, but because I thought those were characters that fit the golden grass. At that time, I also began my investigation of Qing Lian. She grew up as a princess, though one that was quite tomboyish and adventurous. I planned meticulously to kidnap her as well as Little Mingjue, and I decided the best time to do it was once my new Alchemy Hall was successfully relocated. However, a complication appeared when they both officially turned five years old."

Liu Xing gripped the journal with unnecessary force, crinkling the paper around his thumbs. This man had intended to butcher the little boy. The only solace he had was the fact that he knew both of them had successfully reached adulthood and even married.

"The samples that I extracted from Little Mingjue were gradually losing their potency. Plants that could reach a meter just by being close to his blood now only grew slightly. Its regeneration effect was only capable of treating minor wounds. At that time, I panicked beyond belief and berated myself because I thought I was dawdling too much. However, instead of rushing my plan, I staged a little meeting with Qing Lian. Since Little Mingjue's body matter began to lose its potency, there was a chance that it was because he was being extracted from too much. So, I needed to make sure whether the same phenomenon applied to Qing Lian. The plan was difficult, and I almost died by the sword of the patriarch of the Qing clan. In the end, though, I successfully got a drop of her blood."

"You should have failed, Jin Wuyi," he muttered as he flipped to the next page.

"The result was bad. Although it was my first time extracting a sample from her, the sample had already lost its potency. In fact, hers had a slightly worse effect. It was as if I had heard that the world was going to end tomorrow. I lamented how much golden grass property they had both lost. Even if I had extracted the energy from both of them at that time, I thought the heaven-defying pill I would have created would not have been as good as it would have been if I had moved faster. I drank three jugs of liquor that night, until finally, I decided to try something that came to my mind as I saw two small rivers merge into one. I thought it was a brilliant move. What if I merged Little Mingjue's sample with Qing Lian's sample? After all, while the energy was split between two kids, it was initially from one single grass. I did exactly that and got an effect beyond my expectation. The plant I chose as a guinea pig grew so big and tall that it looked like a tree ready to be chopped down. The effect was staggering, and I remember howling in glee that night. The potency of the grass was not lost. It had merely become dormant."

Liu Xing pressed his lips together again. Since the effect was like that, then the plan to kidnap both of them would continue.

"At first, I was eager to continue my plan to kidnap both of them. However, a brilliant idea came to me that night. It was so sudden that I thought it was a message from the heavens itself. Instead of butchering the two kids and refining them into a pill, I wanted something more elegant, refined, and complete. One that would ensure that the split energy of the golden grass united perfectly into one. At that time, I burned my initial plan and wrote a new one. One that, if known to the patriarchs of both clans, would make them split me down the middle. However, it was not sinister. In fact, this plan was beautiful. One that could not be fathomed unless someone saw the whole picture."

At that passage, Liu Xing imagined Jin Wuyi laughing manically like a villain who had successfully concocted a plan to dominate the world. However, the next sentence was so out of place that he couldn't comprehend it at a single glance.

"I decided to make both of them fall in love!"

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