The weather was delightful with warm sunshine embracing the day.

At the Nine Wine Immortals’ residence on the side of Breaking Sky Peak…

Master Jiu Wu was holding his aging waist in front of his pavilion, gently swaying his five-Chi tall Daoist frame. With a slight circulation of Immortal Power, the fatigue had dissipated.

It had been three days since he and his Dao Partner Jiu Shi returned from Little Jade Peak. Having just sent his companion into seclusion, he was contemplating whether to cultivate or take a stroll to the Hundred Mortal Hall.

Just then, a large gourd descended from the sky.

Jiu Wu immediately straightened up, clasping his hands behind his back, resuming his usual serious demeanor. Clearing his throat, he called out:

“Little Nine, come to Senior Brother.”

“Senior Brother? I was just looking for you. I brought what you wanted… *yawn*…”

Senior Sister Jiu Jiu poked her head out from the large gourd, unable to suppress a yawn, her spirits visibly low.

The gourd curved and landed directly in front of Jiu Wu’s pavilion.

Among the nine siblings, besides their outstanding aptitude and superior cultivation among their peers, each had developed their own ‘side profession’ except for Jiu Jiu.

Senior Sister Jiu Shi specialized in artifact forging and treasure refining, while Jiu Wu excelled in wine brewing and pill concoction. Consequently, the ground floor of Jiu Wu’s tower was filled with wine jars, precious materials, and pill furnaces in every corner.

Jiu Jiu’s habit of messiness was learned here, though she had developed it to greater heights.

Jiu Jiu yawned again, treating this place like her own chambers, casually sitting at a round table and tossing a small cage to Jiu Wu.

“The spiders you wanted, Senior Brother. Don’t let these die this time… Making me ask a junior for things all day, have you no shame?”

“How rare, you haven’t forgotten,” Jiu Wu smiled broadly after lifting the black cloth covering the wooden cage.

Inside were two spiders separated by partitions, each the size of a meat bun, possessing three heads and multiple pupils.

Jiu Jiu yawned tiredly: “Senior Brother if there’s nothing else, I’ll head back.”

“Wait a moment, let me find some things,” Jiu Wu hurried off, hanging the spider cage in a shaded spot before rushing to a bookshelf.

Jiu Jiu collapsed face-down on the table, “Senior Brother, what are you doing? I’m exhausted and want to go back for a drink and sleep for days.”

Exhausted?

Jiu Wu, standing by the bookshelf, turned his head to examine Jiu Jiu carefully. He realized he could no longer directly perceive his junior sister’s cultivation level, let alone her physical condition.

But thinking of what he had witnessed in that small pill room earlier, Jiu Wu sighed inwardly with a father-like sadness.

Well, children must grow up;

Under the prevalent custom of Dao Partners within the sect, his little junior sister would inevitably follow this trend…

Where did this custom come from?

It traced back to the elder Celestial Immortals – among the dozen or so elders of the Dao Attainment Gate, four couples had grown old together in loving partnerships, setting an example for those below.

Jiu Jiu, still lying there, sighed helplessly, thinking of her recent days helping a certain junior nephew refine poison pills…

Though interesting and novel, and thought that junior nephew had given her plenty of benefits, including many poison pills capable of harming True Immortals;

Having to maintain constant mental focus without relaxing was indeed quite draining for her.

She had never been this tired before. Jiu Jiu muttered softly:

“Just a little one at the Returning Void realm, yet exhausted me for so long, so tiring.”

Clang!

The jade tablet in Jiu Wu’s hand accidentally slipped to the ground. The short Daoist lifted his head with a long sigh, his eyes slightly moist.

Little Nine had truly grown up…

As the Fifth Senior Brother who served as a half-father figure, he would finally have to let her enjoy the beautiful cultivation life.

Retrieving the jade tablet, Jiu Wu looked at the large characters written on it:

“Formation Principles – By the Forgotten Emotions Cultivator”

Picking up two more jade tablets from the bookshelf corner, Jiu Wu turned back toward Jiu Jiu.

“Little Nine, please take these to Junior Nephew Changshou,” Jiu Wu sent the tablets to his junior sister with immortal power, saying gently, “These are Master’s formation principles, along with some insights your Third Senior Sister and I gained from years of studying formations.”

“Hmm?” Jiu Jiu took the tablets and casually tossed them into her storage treasure, asking puzzledly, “Senior Brother, why are you suddenly so attentive to little Shou Shou?”

Li-Little Shou Shou…

Isn’t that the kind of nickname he and little Shi Shi only used in their intimate moments?

Jiu Wu took a deep breath, putting on a kind smile again, saying gently: “After meeting him in the Northern Continent, I found Junior Nephew Changshou to be quite a steady junior.

Oh right, your Fourth Senior Sister made some new clothes for you.”

Jiu Wu took out a treasure pouch and handed it to Jiu Jiu.

“There are also some feminine items like rouge and powder, as well as jewelry inside.

If you like them, I can ask your Senior Sister to make more…”

“Clothes? What clothes?”

Jiu Jiu took the pouch and casually refined it, pulling out a light gauze dress. Several black lines immediately appeared on her forehead.

“Senior Brother… When have I ever worn such things…”

“Ahem, pardon your Senior Brother’s presumption, but though you’re naturally beautiful, Junior Sister, you should still dress up occasionally.

By the way, you and Junior Nephew Changshou, did you two… start in these past two years?”

“These two years? Start what?”

Jiu Jiu glanced at Jiu Wu, suddenly frowning and pouting, stuffing the gauze dress back into the pouch while saying with a mix of amusement and exasperation: “You all don’t think I’m together with little Shou Shou, do you?”

Jiu Wu was stunned, “You’re not?”

“Tch,” Jiu Jiu immediately showed disgust, “What kind of person do you take your junior sister for? Am I someone who would go after a junior nephew? I would never do something like an old cow eating tender grass!”

Jiu Wu’s eyes widened, “Then why have you been frequently visiting Little Jade Peak these past two years?”

“Helping set up formations,” Jiu Jiu spread her hands, “I was punished with three years of no alcohol, and his place has some good substitutes.

In return, I help him arrange formations.”

Jiu Wu’s eyes bulged: “The formations on Little Jade Peak were set up by you, Junior Sister?”

“That’s right, I did it myself!”

Jiu Jiu raised her eyebrows proudly, but quickly told the truth, “Senior Brother, you know I have no interest in formations.

Changshou just tells me where to put what, and then I help suppress the surging spiritual energy when the formation is about to take shape.

However, we don’t need to set up formations anymore, and I can’t just take his things for free, so these past few days I helped him refine some pills…

Senior Brother?

Fifth Senior Brother, what’s wrong? Why such a strange expression?”

“So that’s it!”

Jiu Wu had a sudden revelation, pacing back and forth, “So those chain formations weren’t set up by someone who hadn’t achieved immortality, no wonder they were relatively simple maze and entrapment formations!

Using others’ wisdom through one’s own hands, to have such a concept – marvelous, truly marvelous!

This Li Changshou, though his aptitude isn’t top-tier, reaching the Returning Void realm within a hundred years of joining the sect is above average. With proper nurturing, achieving immortality won’t be a problem. He’s promising material.”

Beside him, Jiu Jiu yawned, silently stood up, and with head lowered, body bowed, and arms hanging, floated toward the door.

“Senior Brother, I’m going back to rest, pill refining is so tiring.”

“Ah, Little Nine, those three jade tablets I gave you earlier!” Jiu Wu hurriedly called, “Please return them, they’re treasures of our lineage, and can’t be casually passed on.”

“You’re being stingy over just some insights,” Jiu Jiu rolled her eyes, casually tossing back two porcelain bottles, “I’ll make the decision then, exchange Little Shou Shou’s poison pills for your cultivation insights, how’s that?

These are poison pills that can take down True Immortals, you know! We put effort into making them too.”

“Those aren’t ordinary insights… poison pills?”

Jiu Wu caught the porcelain bottles, frowning as he looked at them.

Jiu Jiu had already floated out of Jiu Wu’s tower during this pause, returned to her own pavilion, and activated the outer formation…

Jiu Wu chuckled helplessly. If Little Nine wanted to give them away, it was fine, after all, Li Changshou was also a disciple of their sect.

He wrapped several layers of immortal power around himself, placed the bottles several Zhang away, and opened them from a distance to look inside. He found three crimson pills in each bottle, emitting a slight fragrance.

“The Bone-Corroding Heart-Dissolving Pills and Soul-Destroying Life-Seizing Pills?

The quality isn’t bad, though they’re poison pills, they’re truly at the immortal pill grade…

Were these also refined through Little Nine’s hands? This Li Changshou has some substance.”

Jiu Wu couldn’t help but laugh, then noticed something on the bottles. He brought them closer and carefully examined the bottle bodies.

He saw two lines of small characters, which formed couplets when the two bottles were connected.

[The immortal path rarely gains three parts shade,

Not prizing empty glory marks a gentleman’s way]

The short Daoist held the bottles in contemplation, soon breaking into a slight smile.

“This little fellow, he must have discovered me and Shi Shi before, which is why he deliberately deactivated the formation.

These two lines seem to explain that his relationship with Little Nine is a gentleman’s friendship, telling us not to worry.

No, could he have calculated that these two bottles would eventually end up in either my or Shi Shi’s hands?

This kind of writing Little Nine would not notice, and wouldn’t care even if she did. It was meant for us to see, and judging by the traces of lingering power, it was recently fused with immortal power.

The implied meaning is… he wants this poor Daoist to pretend not to have noticed his various unusual aspects?”

The short Daoist put away the bottles and walked to the round table with hands behind his back, stroking his chin in deep thought.

Jiu Wu recalled the numerous arrangements he had discovered within a hundred Li radius when finding Li Changshou and You Qin Xuan Ya’s traces in the Northern Continent…

Then looked up at the wooden cage hanging in the shade;

These demon spiders were extremely difficult to raise, yet that place could breed them continuously, litter after litter…

Adding the recent chain formations and poison pills…

Jiu Wu sighed lightly: “What a formidable junior.

Keeping a low profile without showing your hand, even before going to the Northern Continent, few in the sect had heard your Dao title, and there was no trace of you in the young generation’s rankings.

You don’t want attention, preferring to cultivate in peace, and this Senior Uncle originally didn’t want to disturb you, but holding the position of Dao Attainment Gate’s Executive, I can’t help but feel somewhat uneasy about you.

Tch, three parts shade, gentleman’s way… the time when people rest, meeting at the third watch?”

Unable to help being stunned, Jiu Wu immediately chuckled.

…

At the third watch of the Hai hour, Jiu Wu rode a white cloud, floating to Little Jade Peak.

By this time, the formations around the pill room were closed, and a tall figure stood in front of the pill room door, bowing with clasped hands to Jiu Wu from afar.

Jiu Wu’s eyes immediately curved in a smile as his cloud descended. Before entering the pill room, he could already smell the rich wine fragrance.

Li Changshou bowed with clasped hands: “Disciple pays respects to Senior Uncle.”

“Well done with the ‘gentleman’s way’ and ‘three parts shade,'” Jiu Wu smiled and shook his head, sighing, “Weren’t you afraid I wouldn’t come? That I’d send you directly to the Rewards and Punishments Hall for questioning?”

“Well,” Li Changshou maintained his respectful bow, speaking slowly, “Actually, the disciple wasn’t confident either, and has been worried about this since meeting Senior Uncle in the Northern Continent, but knew Senior Uncle’s virtue and prestige meant you wouldn’t deliberately make things difficult for juniors in the sect.

Moreover, the disciple merely wishes to avoid attention, harbors no disloyalty to the Dao Attainment Gate, and knows the responsibilities of being a Dao Attainment Gate disciple, conducting myself properly and unafraid of questioning.

Please enter and rest, Senior Uncle.

Knowing Senior Uncle is a brewing master, I had Junior Sister prepare some dishes to accompany wine, and dare to invite Senior Uncle to taste the wine I brewed.

If Senior Uncle has any doubts tonight, please ask freely. The disciple will consider carefully and answer truthfully, only hoping to dispel Senior Uncle’s concerns and allow Disciple to continue cultivating peacefully as before.”

Jiu Wu nodded with a smile, walking into the pill room with hands behind his back.

Under a windowsill, in the bright moonlight, a low table was filled with delicacies, and a night-luminescent cup was already filled with fine wine.

It was actually “Ganges Old White Spirit” brewed for Jiu Jiu, from a small jar that Li Changshou had opened in advance.