Chapter 11: Star-hidden Grass

The three items Xiao Che mentioned instantly made Xia Qingyue's slightly closed phoenix eyes snap open. "What are you trying to do?" she asked.

"Do you really have a way to get them?" Seeing that Xia Qingyue didn't immediately refuse, Xiao Che asked, full of hope.

Xia Qingyue furrowed her brows slightly and slowly said, "I've never heard of the Seven Profound Exquisite Grass. The Profound Core of a Ground Profound Beast can only be obtained by hunting one, and how many people in the entire Blue Wind Empire can hunt Ground Profound Beasts? Even if Ice Cloud Asgard has any, they must be as rare as phoenix feathers. As for Purple Veined Heaven Crystals, no amount of money can buy them; they are a supreme treasure of heaven and earth that even the four major sects would go mad for! Obtaining one is equivalent to more than a decade of diligent cultivation. These three items, let alone me, even the Palace Mistress, would find it almost impossible to acquire all of them simultaneously."

Xiao Che's chest heaved heavily. He then closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time.

"What exactly do you intend to do by acquiring these three items?" Xia Qingyue asked proactively.

"Repair my profound veins," Xiao Che answered truthfully.

"...I can't help you," Xia Qingyue said. At the same time, she didn't believe these three items could truly repair profound veins. Otherwise, her master would surely have known.

Xiao Che shook his head nonchalantly. "These three items are indeed not something ordinary people can acquire; I was just asking casually." He paused, then continued, "When you return to Ice Cloud Asgard, will we meet again?"

"Don't call me 'wife' again! My name is Xia Qingyue!" Xia Qingyue snapped, unable to bear it any longer, her voice dropping at least eight degrees in coldness.

Xiao Che, however, remained unconcerned. He leisurely said, "I married you, and you married me. We paid respects to heaven and earth, witnessed by a thousand people; all the necessary procedures were followed. Now I am your husband, and you are my wife. What else should I call you besides 'wife'?"

Xia Qingyue was speechless for a moment. After a while, she said indifferently, "Fine, whatever."

Xiao Che immediately grinned. This wife might be untouchable, but he could at least enjoy some verbal advantage!

"You still haven't answered my question... When you return to Ice Cloud Asgard, will we meet again?" Xiao Che asked again.

"No," Xia Qingyue replied.

"That's fine then!" Xiao Che nodded, then leaned his head against the wall behind him, closing his eyes. "Actually, you should have returned to Ice Cloud Asgard sooner, without worrying about me. With your talent, you shouldn't be confined to this small Floating Cloud City, and certainly not be held back by me. After you leave and your identity is public, with the halo of being the husband of an Ice Cloud Asgard disciple, at least no one in Floating Cloud City should dare to openly harm me. I'll live a more comfortable life because of it... Oh, right, you don't mind if I take a concubine, do you?"

"...Whatever," Xia Qingyue said expressionlessly.

"Hmm, that's more like it. Otherwise, if you never see me again and also forbid me from taking a concubine, I was actually planning to divorce you then."

Even with Xia Qingyue's calm demeanor, she felt an intense urge to kick him out at that moment.

Just then, she suddenly saw Xiao Che stand up and walk towards the door. "Where are you going?" she immediately asked.

"Can't sleep, going out to look at the stars," Xiao Che replied, while inwardly grumbling, "This woman, if you're going to sit here half the night, I wonder if you'll be able to sleep!"

Xia Qingyue said nothing more. Xiao Che pushed open the door and stepped outside.

It was midnight, and all was silent. Standing in the center of the courtyard, Xiao Che gazed at the myriad stars. Although his eyes remained resolute, deep within them, an unshakeable sense of confusion settled.

Today was his first day since his rebirth. While his temperament had undergone a revolutionary change compared to the past, his crippled profound veins meant that even with the strongest mindset, he couldn't find a way out of his current predicament.

If he could acquire the Seven Profound Exquisite Grass, Purple Veined Heaven Crystal, and a Profound Core from a Ground Profound Beast, he would have over a fifty percent chance of repairing his profound veins. However, with his current abilities, obtaining even one of these three items was harder than ascending to heaven.

Ultimately, this world valued strength above all else. Without sufficient power, realizing his desires would remain mere empty talk.

What should I do...?

Just then, a faint throb emanated from Xiao Che's left palm. He instinctively raised his left hand and saw that the faint light emitted by the Sky Poison Pearl pattern in his palm was pulsating at a remarkably fast frequency.

Xiao Che's pupils immediately constricted slightly. He suddenly turned and looked towards the north.

"Could it be...?"

Besides its terrifying toxicity and powerful refining ability, the Sky Poison Pearl possessed a special capability: the ability to sense high-grade poisonous or medicinal ingredients! When such ingredients were within a certain range, it would detect them, flash with light, and point towards their location. However, the prerequisite was that they had to be *supreme* grade materials! The Sky Poison Pearl's definition of "high-grade" was entirely different from humanity's. In the Azure Cloud Continent, he had only seen the Sky Poison Pearl flash six times in total, and each time, it led him to a peerless treasure!

On his very first day back in the Profound Sky Continent, the Sky Poison Pearl actually showed such a reaction! Was there some unparalleled rarity hidden nearby?

The direction the Sky Poison Pearl pointed was north... which was towards the back mountain of the Xiao Clan.

Although Xiao Che had his own courtyard, its location was the most secluded, and arguably the most dangerous, in the entire Xiao Clan. Beyond the courtyard wall lay the back mountain. This back mountain was private Xiao Clan land, where a small number of low-level profound beasts roamed. Occasionally, profound beasts would cross the wall and intrude. For anyone intending to infiltrate the Xiao Clan, this area of the back mountain was also a quite suitable entry point. However, given the Xiao Clan's influence in Floating Cloud City, no one had attempted such a thing, at least not yet.

Without hesitation, Xiao Che directly scaled the wall. Although his strength at the first level of the Elementary Profound Realm was very weak, climbing a wall less than three meters high was no problem.

The back mountain area was quiet and eerie. The former Xiao Che would never have dared to come here in the middle of the night. However, with the bright moon hanging high and countless stars, the light wasn't excessively dim. Xiao Che glanced around, and after confirming no one was present, he lightened his steps and walked in the direction indicated by the Sky Poison Pearl.

Under the moonlight, the mountains appeared shrouded in a thin mist, mysterious and dangerous. Before long, Xiao Che arrived at the foot of the mountain. It was at this spot that the Sky Poison Pearl's pulsation frequency reached its peak. Xiao Che stopped, filled with doubt. *Could it be right here?* But this was clearly the mountain foot, a place the Xiao Clan's pharmacists passed through every day. If a rare treasure, or even a slightly better herb, grew here, it would surely have been discovered long ago. Why would it wait for him to pick it?

Yet, the Sky Poison Pearl's pulsation at this frequency meant the target was within ten steps.

Under the bright moonlight, Xiao Che's brows furrowed. His gaze slowly moved, meticulously searching every inch of the surrounding land.

Generally, the more precious a medicinal herb, the more it tended to grow in perilous or extreme environments. This mountain foot area was covered in weeds as far as the eye could see, making Xiao Che wonder if there was an issue with the Sky Poison Pearl's sensing ability.

He scanned a small area, finding nothing but weeds, not even the most common herb. Just as he was about to give up, his peripheral vision suddenly caught a faint, indistinct change in one spot.

Xiao Che's spiritual perception was incredibly keen now. He swiftly looked up, focusing immediately on the spot where he had noticed the sudden dissonance. That area was also covered in weeds, untouched because they grew along the edge of a rock. Xiao Che walked over and crouched beside the rock, staring at the weeds. After a long moment, his gaze firmly locked onto a spot in the middle of these weeds. While weeds typically grew everywhere, establishing roots wherever possible, there was a noticeable gap right in the center of this undisturbed patch of weeds. The gap was tiny, barely large enough for two small blades of grass to grow, but its presence there felt exceptionally out of place.

A gentle night breeze swept by, causing the small blades of grass nearby to sway slightly. Just then, in the "gap" that Xiao Che had been intently staring at, the image of two small blades of grass eerily appeared... flashing into existence for a split second before vanishing without a trace.

Xiao Che's eyes widened abruptly, filling with ecstasy. He quickly extended his left hand, bringing the Sky Poison Pearl in his palm close to the gap. Instantly, under a faint green glow, the two "small blades of grass" slowly materialized. They were two fingers high, entirely dark green, and looked no different from the surrounding weeds.

"Star Concealing Grass! It's really Star Concealing Grass! And two of them!" Xiao Che let out an excited low growl. He reached out with his left hand, and with a flash of light from the Sky Poison Pearl, the two Star Concealing Grasses were plucked whole, roots and all, appearing in Xiao Che's palm.

The higher the grade of the medicinal herb, the harder it was to harvest. Even a slight mistake could damage the herb, severely reducing its efficacy or rendering it useless. However, with the Sky Poison Pearl, there was no need for such concerns when harvesting anything. The Pearl's aura would completely envelop the target the moment it was picked, preventing any of its spiritual energy from escaping.

"Rather than a surprise, it's a miracle!" Xiao Che's arm trembled slightly with excitement as he looked at the two Star Concealing Grasses faintly visible in his palm. In his twenty-four years on the Azure Cloud Continent, he had traveled almost everywhere and only found one Star Concealing Grass. Now, on his very first day back on the Profound Sky Continent, he had found two at once! And they were right in his own backyard!

The Star Concealing Grass looked identical to common weeds, making it almost impossible to notice. Furthermore, it possessed an incredibly strange ability: invisibility! This made it even more difficult to find. However, his master had once told him that although Star Concealing Grass was a treasure of heaven and earth, very few people knew of its existence. Across the entire continent, fewer than five individuals could identify it, and only the Sky Poison Pearl could fully refine it.

"Heaven truly helps me! With these two Star Concealing Grasses, I have two infallible trump cards! Once I refine the Star Concealing Pills, I can use them for preserving my life, ambushing people for wealth or women, or even killing to seize goods... I can do anything I want!" Xiao Che gripped the Star Concealing Grasses tightly, then transferred them to the Sky Poison Pearl's space, smiling silently.

At that moment, the Sky Poison Pearl's pulsation completely ceased. In high spirits, Xiao Che no longer had a reason to stay. He turned to go back, and just as he did, an abnormal cold gleam suddenly flashed in the corner of his eye.

Xiao Che stopped the step he was about to take and turned his head towards the direction where the cold gleam had appeared. Under the not-too-dim moonlight, he suddenly saw a vague, indistinct white shadow less than fifty meters to the north.

What was that?