Transmigration: The Peerless Immortal Husband

The Gu family disciples went to find Gu Yao, questioning his pill refining skills. On one hand, those who were able to learn the Gu family’s pill techniques were all recognized for their exceptional talents and were heavily nurtured by the family. How could a waste like Gu Yao, who had always been ignored, rise above them?

Their other goal was, of course, to put on a show for the Great Elder and Gu Yan. The Great Elder’s position in the family was unquestionable, and to earn his favor would surely raise one’s status within the family. As for Gu Yan, he was someone aiming to enter the Changxian Sect, and once he returned from there, even a small favor from him would be enough to help them soar to greatness.

However, when they arrived at the Tian family’s territory, they could not find Gu Yao. Instead, they saw Chi Changye standing in front of the tent with a sword in his arms, coldly staring at them. There were also Tian family guards volunteering to stand watch around the tent.

“Where is Gu Yao? Call him out! Is he hiding because he’s scared now that we’ve arrived? How dare a discarded son of the Gu family flaunt the title of pill master!”

No matter how powerful Chi Changye was, he would not dare to act in front of the Gu family’s elders, so they gathered their courage and provoked him.

“You must be Gu Yao’s lover, right? To have done such shameless things during his grandfather’s birthday, truly, birds of a feather flock together!”

“Shut up! Get lost!” Cold light flashed in Chi Changye’s eyes as he harshly scolded.

“You…” The leader of the group, who was on the brink of advancing to the rank of mid-level pill master, had always been adored by both his family and fellow cultivators. He had never encountered such a situation where he was scolded in person. His face turned red with shame and anger, and if it weren’t for the Tian family guards eyeing them fiercely, he might have signaled to have them attacked.

But they were unwilling to leave without seeing Gu Yao. They didn’t realize that in addition to the Tian family guards, there were other cultivators from different factions watching them with faint mockery in their eyes.

These self-righteous individuals arrived a little too late, so they were unaware that Gu Yao was currently refining pills in the tent. Since Chi Changye had set up an array around it, the aura of the pills was initially concealed.

Although they had some doubts about Gu Yao’s pill refining skills, they didn’t raise any objections at this moment. They would wait to see whether he could produce the pills and prove his abilities.

“Big Brother, do you think these guys are stupid? They’re the ones who called Gu Yao a discarded son, so why are they all coming to our Tian family to look for the Gu family’s discarded son?” Tian Feirong said casually.

Tian Feiyang gave his younger brother a glance. “What’s so hard to understand? They’re just a bunch of narrow-minded fools, thinking that Gu family’s pill refining techniques are the best. They have no idea how vast the outside world is. People like that will only embarrass themselves if they go out.”

The pressure from Chi Changye’s displayed strength made him feel uneasy. Just as his aunt had said, Gu Yan wasn’t much, and the outside world was so much bigger. He needed to broaden his vision.

Although the aura in the tent had not leaked out initially, when the pill was finally refined, the enticing fragrance of the pill still wafted out. This made the cultivators outside, who were waiting, widen their eyes in excitement. They all focused on the tent, and if they could physically see it, the tent would have been pierced by their eager gazes.

“This is… a Recovery Pill?” One of the Gu family members sniffed the air and said uncertainly. The others exchanged glances. The fragrance was indeed coming from the tent—could it be that Gu Yao had really refined a Recovery Pill inside? How could that be possible?

The leader of the Gu family group’s face alternated between pale and flushed. Not long after, the fragrance of the pill began to fade, but a voice from within the tent was heard: “Big Brother Ye, the pill is ready.”

Chi Changye ignored the various curious gazes outside, holding the sword as he turned and entered the tent. After a while, he came out with a jade bottle. Before he could even announce the name of the pill, a cultivator excitedly rushed over: “It’s my pill, right? It’s the Recovery Pill that Master Gu Yao refined for me, right?”

Chi Changye tossed the jade bottle to the cultivator and said faintly, “Not bad, it’s your Recovery Pill.”

The cultivator quickly uncorked the bottle to check. When he saw the contents, his excitement intensified. He hurriedly tossed a bag of spirit pearls to Chi Changye before turning and running off, as if afraid someone might snatch them away.

Chi Changye weighed the bag in his hand; it contained more than a thousand spirit pearls. It seemed this cultivator was quite sincere. However, Gu Yao’s pills were certainly worth a high price.

Though others were slow to react, they quickly came to their senses. Did the cultivator think they hadn’t noticed his swift exit? The Recovery Pills in that jade bottle were all high or medium grade—none of them were low grade. This made their eyes burn with desire as they turned to look at the tent.

“Master Gu Yao’s pill refining skills are indeed impressive. I’ve never seen a pill master produce pills so quickly, and with such quality,” one cultivator said.

“Exactly. The more low-key they are, the more concealed their true abilities,” another agreed.

“Young Master Chi, does Master Gu Yao still take orders? I have some spirit herbs here, what do you think…?” A cultivator stepped forward, his expression obsequious.

Chi Changye replied indifferently, “Gu Yao needs some time to recover. If you can wait, he will accept the order, but I can’t guarantee the pill will succeed.”

“No problem, no problem! I can wait. It’s important for Master Gu Yao to be in the best condition to refine the pill. I understand the rules!” The cultivator quickly shook his head and waved his hand. Of course, it was best to wait for Master Gu Yao to be at his peak before refining the pill, otherwise, it would be a waste of the spirit herbs.

If the pill didn’t succeed, it would just be bad luck on his part. No pill master could guarantee success with every pill, not even a grandmaster.

Only then did Chi Changye take the spirit herbs from the cultivator and turn to deliver them to Gu Yao. In fact, the Soul Refining Technique Gu Yao used made it appear as though he wasn’t as exhausted as others might think. He simply didn’t want to reveal too much. After refining a batch of pills, he took out a Spirit Gathering Plate and began to focus on recuperating and cultivating.

Chi Changye knew that Gu Yao was in good condition and didn’t say anything. After leaving the spirit herbs, he left, continuing to stand guard outside the tent to prevent anyone from disturbing him.

The Gu family members opened their mouths as if to say something, but after a long pause, not a single word came out. When Gu Yao started refining the second batch of pills, and the pleasant aroma once again wafted out, the Gu family members, with flushed faces, shamefully retreated back to their own territory. The other cultivators, although they didn’t say anything openly disrespectful, couldn’t help but look at them with clear mockery, causing their faces to burn with embarrassment.

As the journey continued, this kind of situation happened frequently, making Gu Yao the most popular person aside from Tian Ru, the foundation-building cultivator. Although he didn’t succeed 100% of the time in refining pills, if he ruined the materials, Gu Yao wouldn’t accept the spirit pearls from the other party. Instead, he would compensate them with his own pills or the talismans drawn by Chi Changye, ensuring that everyone left happy.

The ones most displeased were the Gu family members. They thought Gu Yao was deliberately showing off and slapping the Gu family’s face. However, Gu Yao’s pill success rate and the quality of the pills always left them trembling with fear, so no one dared to challenge him to a public pill refining competition, afraid of embarrassing themselves. Privately, they all hated him, grinding their teeth in frustration.

The Lu family was also in a bad mood. If they hadn’t called off the engagement with Gu Yao, he would have been their future son-in-law now. They would be able to ask him for pills without hesitation, and others would have looked at them with more respect. Unfortunately, all of that was now a lost opportunity.

The guards of the Gu family and the cultivators affiliated with the Gu family, however, were in an even more complicated emotional state. Seeing other cultivators benefit from Gu Yao’s pills, they too desperately wanted to gather enough spirit herbs to seek his help in pill refining. But they knew that doing so would be equivalent to slapping the Gu family’s face. They couldn’t remain in the team any longer. These guards’ lives were in the hands of the Gu family, so they dared not do anything to harm their own standing. They could only silently envy the others.

Under these circumstances, they finally arrived at the location of the Ascension Conference: a city named Shifang City.

The closer they got to Shifang City, the fewer demon beasts they encountered. It was no longer the sparsely populated, desolate scenery they had seen earlier. Instead, they frequently ran into other teams participating in the Ascension Conference, and sometimes even witnessed conflicts arising from disagreements.

Before entering the city, the team leader warned the younger generation: once inside Shifang City, they should tone down their attitudes. There were many foundation-building cultivators in the city, and the city lord was likely a core formation cultivator. Yuanyang Town wasn’t one of the top-tier cultivation towns, so if they offended other forces, their family might not be able to protect them. In some cases, the family might even abandon them for the sake of the greater good.

Some of the young masters and young ladies who had never left the influence of Yuanyang Town felt uncomfortable upon hearing this warning. Were they being told to shrink back like turtles once they entered the city? However, when they saw the luxurious carriages of other cultivators and the flying magical tools soaring in the sky, their reluctance faded somewhat, replaced by envy.

Gu Yao naturally didn’t stay in the carriage, walking into the city alongside Chi Changye. As they observed the pedestrians around them, a look of curiosity flashed in Gu Yao’s eyes. “I heard that Shifang City is populated entirely by cultivators, not a single mortal. How many cultivators must there be?”

Just looking from a distance, it was obvious that the city was very large—probably not much smaller than a city in the Star Alliance. If this were a normal city populated by mortals, Gu Yao wouldn’t have been very surprised, but seeing a city full of cultivators was beyond his expectations. Forgive him, he was just a novice in cultivation and had seen too little.

A smile flickered in Chi Changye’s eyes. “This city isn’t too big. In the future, Xiao Yao will have the chance to see even larger cultivation cities.”

Xu Chen scoffed in his mind. “You’re amazed by this? A city like this actually astonishes you? Don’t embarrass yourself by acting like a country bumpkin.”

Gu Yao ignored Xu Chen’s words. So what if he had limited experience? Who hadn’t started out from the Qi Refining stage and slowly climbed up?

Gu Yao and Chi Changye naturally followed the Tian family, as it was safer to be with a larger group. The other cultivators under the Tian family’s protection left to find their own places to stay, planning to reunite with the Tian family after the Ascension Conference and return together. The Gu family and Lu family also went their separate ways. With two families no longer keeping a constant watch on him, Gu Yao felt much more at ease.

Although there were plenty of foundation-building cultivators around, it was no surprise. With Tian Ru’s help, the Tian family arranged accommodations at an inn, and Gu Yao and Chi Changye were assigned to a small courtyard shared with second master Tian. As soon as they settled in, second master Tian eagerly came to knock on their door, inviting them to explore Shifang City together.

Second master Tian wasn’t here to attend the Ascension Conference; he came to experience the bustling and lively atmosphere of Shifang City. So, he couldn’t wait to leave the inn. Eldest master Tian was concerned, so he decided to accompany them.

Gu Yao was also in the mood to go, so he happily invited Chi Changye to join him. He knew the costs in this area would be high, but he didn’t mind since he had earned some money from refining and selling pills along the way.