She wore white as always, spotless and pure, like a fairy who had never touched the dust of the mortal world.

After a brief daze, Tang Yan asked, puzzled, "What's got you so cheerful?"

The instant Zi Yun saw him, the smile slipped from her face. Her longsword cleared its sheath, and she called out crisply, "Little thief, taste my blade!"

Tang Yan's heart jolted. What was she up to this early in the morning? He scrambled back several steps, barely slipping past the slender blade, then caught his breath and shouted, "Silly girl, what do you think you're doing?"

"This young lady has recovered a little more of her strength, so I've come to spar with you. Less talk-I won't be holding back!" As Zi Yun answered, the aura around her erupted, an overwhelming pressure rolling out at once.

Feeling the surge from her, Tang Yan blurted out, "Earth Rank!"

"Not bad eyes. But don't worry-you're only Yellow Rank First Grade, so your big sister will fight you with Third Grade strength." Her words had barely fallen before the slender sword was already at his chest.

Tang Yan caught on. Last time this girl had sparred with him, she'd ended up suppressed instead, and she'd been chafing over it ever since. Now she wanted to win back her pride!

Idle was idle. He might as well let Zi Yun feed him a few rounds of practice.

The two traded blows back and forth across the courtyard. Tang Yan held himself to Yellow Rank First Grade as they sparred, steadily honing his Drifting Cloud Sword and Phantom Step.

Zi Yun had been born into a great and renowned house, and her martial learning was exquisite beyond compare-perfect as a sparring partner for him.

After a quarter hour, Zi Yun found that even at Yellow Rank Third Grade she could only fight him to a standstill, and the frustration in her chest grew thicker.

"Bang!" Her aura shifted, and the power of Yellow Rank Fourth Grade unfurled at once.

Feeling the change, Tang Yan cried out, laying it on thick, "Come on, Miss Zi! A dignified Heaven Rank expert, the noble Third Miss of Purple Bamboo City, using Fourth Grade strength against someone at Yellow Rank First Grade? You're cheating!"

Having already failed to beat him with Yellow Rank Third Grade, Zi Yun was burning with shame and anger. Now that he'd said it aloud, she lost her temper entirely. "None of your business-this young lady feels like it!"

One force breaks a hundred techniques, sure enough. Against the ferocious press of Zi Yun's blade, Tang Yan lost the ease he'd shown before, slipping into danger again and again.

With the gulf in strength between them, he was driven back step by step. Yet Zi Yun could only just barely hold him down; victory was nowhere in sight any time soon.

Facing this freak of a boy, Zi Yun marveled in secret. His eye was uncannily sharp, every stroke of his sword as practiced as a Grandmaster of his age. How could a speck of a place like Yun City ever raise such a talent?

I refuse to believe I can't handle you! Zi Yun bit down on her silver teeth, her aura shifting again as she opened up to Yellow Rank Fifth Grade.

"Damn, Miss Zi Yun, you're just throwing your weight around!" Tang Yan yelped.

"Don't talk nonsense-this young lady is instructing you!" After so many days around Tang Yan, her face had grown a few shades thicker too.

Tang Yan's moves were refined, but he was no fool to overreach. Facing the grand sweep of her swordplay, he knew his current strength simply couldn't hold against it. His Dantian stirred, and he poured out a little more True Qi.

"Second Grade now?" Zi Yun said, startled, as she felt his momentum.

"Heh, I hid it so well and you still caught me..." Tang Yan grinned.

Knowing Fifth Grade might not be enough to settle him, Zi Yun simply pushed her strength up to Seventh Grade.

Then she watched Tang Yan raise his own to Fourth Grade.

Dark lines crawled across Zi Yun's forehead. Just how much strength was this brat sitting on?

Soon enough she realized she was thinking too small. She hadn't come for a friendly spar this time-why grind it out with him inch by inch?

Earth Rank power erupted all at once.

"Miss Zi-Sister Zi-you've got to be joking!"

"Ow-I yield, I yield!"

"..."

Half an hour later, Zi Yun let out a breath and walked off thoroughly pleased with herself.

Only Tang Yan was left, sprawled on the ground and groaning, his body already mottled black and blue.

"Demoness Zi, you have no martial honor! Don't even think about getting any more Pills out of me-not a chance!" Tang Yan protested from the ground.

"I've still got a whole bottle of Qi Recovery Pills-enough to get me back to Earth Rank, at least. When I need more, I'll just come straight to you. And if you dare hold out on me, mind this young lady's fist! Hmph!"

Tang Yan had only muttered his complaint under his breath, yet sharp-eared Zi Yun caught every word even from a distance, and her reply came drifting back, leaving him so deflated he nearly coughed up blood.

If he'd known it would come to this, he never should have refined pills for the girl in the first place!

Wailing inwardly, Tang Yan gritted his teeth and climbed to his feet.

Beaten black and blue though he was, he'd gained plenty from it. Zi Yun's moves couldn't match his own, but they were refined all the same, and under the press of her fierce offensive both his Drifting Cloud Sword and Phantom Step had sharpened considerably.

Even so, his current strength could contend with Yellow Rank Eighth Grade at most. Tomorrow's grand contest was still far from certain.

"The Heaven and Earth Creation Flame-if I reveal it too soon, it's bound to draw the eyes of scheming people. Better not to expose it early. But if I can push my strength one more step, then tomorrow's Mid-Autumn Conference will have that much more of a safeguard." His thoughts churned, then his eyes lit up. With a flick of his mind, a Spirit Vortex Fruit appeared in his hand.

After all these days of nourishment inside the cauldron, the Spirit Vortex Fruit had begun to give off a faint thread of Spiritual Qi now and then. Since one seedling had already taken root and survived, this fruit had ripened to the point where he could put it to use.

He summoned Xiaocui and sent her out to buy several medicinal ingredients. The Pill he meant to refine this time was precious, and the supporting herbs were costly in kind; the million taels of silver the Myriad Pill Pavilion had given him earlier shrank by no small amount in one stroke.

In the alchemy room, Tang Yan solemnly drew up the Alchemical Flame and cast the Spirit Vortex Fruit into the cauldron to temper it.

After round upon round of refining, it wasn't long before a thick, viscous emerald liquid settled into the hidden recess within the cauldron.

One by one he added the remaining herbs, then sat down beside the Pill Cauldron, settling his mind.

Moment by moment the time slipped past. His spiritual power drained fast, and Tang Yan had to take a High Spirit Pill to replenish what was burning away inside him.

At last, Tang Yan slapped the cauldron lid, and a black Pill shot out of the Pill Cauldron to land in his palm.

He quickly produced a porcelain bottle and sealed the Pill inside, then dropped onto the floor with a thump, gasping for breath in great heaving lungfuls.

"My strength really is still too weak-a single Third Rank Middle Grade Pill nearly cost me my little life!" Tang Yan drew a deep breath, glanced at the bottle in his hand, and walked out of the alchemy room well satisfied.

Only once outside did he realize it was already deep into the night.

Back in his bedchamber, he sat cross-legged on the bed and drew out the finished Pill. At once he felt the spiritual power surging and churning within it, like a volcano on the verge of erupting.

This Pill was called the Spirit-Expanding Pill. In his past life, it had been a treasure fought over by experts from every faction of the hidden jianghu. Once swallowed, it could widen the storage capacity of one's Dantian, letting a cultivator unleash far denser power within the same rank.

"Boom!" The instant the Pill went down, a vast power exploded through his body.