With the death of the Pink Fairy, the Mesmerizing Fairy Rope fell away on its own. Ye Hao beckoned, and the rope flew into his hand. He sneered, "A triple-binding spell with some aphrodisiac? And they call this the Mesmerizing Fairy Rope?"
Rummaging through the Pink Fairy's storage bag, Ye Hao found various items like aphrodisiacs named "Unstoppable Spear," "Even Gods Go Mad," and "Nine Times a Night," along with a few hundred low-grade spirit stones, a handful of subpar magical artifacts, and some clothes.
"Really? This poor?" Ye Hao muttered, pocketing the spirit stones and the low-grade artifacts. Even though the Pink Fairy was poor, she was still better off than him; he only had three spirit stones to his name.
"Ye Hao..." Mo Qianqian opened her dazed eyes, her pretty face flushed unnaturally, and looked at Ye Hao as if she wanted to devour him whole.
It seemed the aphrodisiac was quite potent; even someone at the sixth level of the Fetal Movement stage like Mo Qianqian couldn't dispel it. It wasn't an ordinary aphrodisiac.
Ye Hao sniffed a few bottles from the Pink Fairy's collection, then took out a green pill from one of them. Walking over to Mo Qianqian, he pried her mouth open and popped the pill in.
After a while, the aphrodisiac's effects wore off, and Mo Qianqian regained her clarity.
Meanwhile, Ye Hao was sifting through the Ghost Daoist's storage bag, pocketing anything of value, and was now examining a piece of black wood with great interest.
"Ye Hao," Mo Qianqian called out, her feelings mixed as she looked at him.
"Yeah? What's up?" Ye Hao tucked the black wood into his storage bag and turned to Mo Qianqian.
"Uh... thanks!" Mo Qianqian forced out the words with difficulty and then fell silent.
Stretching lazily, Ye Hao said, "Little girl, not to lecture you or anything, but you're a disciple at the sixth level of the Fetal Movement stage from a major sect. You couldn't handle a couple of minor rogue cultivators? What exactly have you been practicing?"
Mo Qianqian's face reddened. "That Ghost Daoist was at the eighth level of the Fetal Movement stage, and that witch was also at the sixth level like me."
"I'm only at the second level of the Fetal Movement stage," Ye Hao retorted, rolling his eyes.
Mo Qianqian had nothing more to say. She took out her sensing compass, mumbling to herself, "Strange, I activated the sensing compass. Why haven't any disciples from the Misty Smoke Sect come to rescue me? We're still within Misty Smoke Mountain's range."
Ye Hao had a good idea of what might have happened, but he wasn't sure, so he kept his mouth shut.
Mo Qianqian then pulled out a small jade tube, activating the formation on it. A beam of purple light shot into the sky.
In just a short while, three beams of light streaked across the sky and landed in front of them.
"Flying on magical tools, Foundation Establishment stage!" Ye Hao raised an eyebrow.
Leading the group was a middle-aged man in a purple robe, standing on a magical wheel, with a long mustache that gave him an air of an immortal hermit. Behind him were two younger men, one riding a sword and the other a saber, their power levels clearly lower than the middle-aged man.
"Junior sister, what happened? Are you hurt?" The middle-aged man scanned the two corpses on the ground, his face changing as he asked with concern.
"Yeah, little junior sister, you sneaking off the mountain had Master and Mistress worried sick," said the young man on the sword.
"Which meant we, your senior brothers, had to deal with the fallout," added the young man on the saber, his face a picture of misery.
"Senior brothers, I'm fine. These two rogue cultivators attacked us, but we took them down," Mo Qianqian said, sticking her tongue out playfully, not giving away too much.
"And who is this?" the eldest senior brother asked, eyeing Ye Hao.
"He's Ye... Ye Zi, a friend of mine. Senior brother, could you arrange for him to stay in the sect's herb garden, give him a quiet place, and don't assign him any tasks for now?" Mo Qianqian requested, avoiding mentioning his full name, Ye Hao.
The senior brother nodded at Ye Hao, handed him a token, and said, "Ye Daoist, take this token up the mountain. I'll make the arrangements."
"Junior sister, let's head back quickly. Master and Mistress are worried sick." Without waiting for her response, he summoned a gust of wind that whisked her away, and the four of them vanished over Purple Mist Mountain.
Ye Hao weighed the token in his hand and chuckled, "Looks like I'm not very welcome. Could it be that this senior brother has a thing for junior sister?"
Not too bothered, Ye Hao pulled out a flying artifact he had taken from the Pink Fairy's storage bag and flew towards the peak of Purple Mist Mountain.
Half an hour later, Ye Hao finally arrived at the gate of the Misty Smoke Sect.
The entrance was shrouded in purple mist, with the three large characters "Misty Smoke Sect" glowing on a giant boulder, exuding an aura of grandeur.
"Who goes there?" Two gatekeeping disciples approached and challenged him as soon as he disembarked from his flying artifact.
Ye Hao tossed them the token given by the senior brother. Upon seeing it, the disciples' attitudes became much more courteous. One of them said, "So you're Ye Daoist. Senior Brother Wang of Bright Moon Peak has already informed us. Please follow me."
This disciple took out his own flying artifact and led the way into the Misty Smoke Sect.
The Misty Smoke Sect was vast, divided into inner and outer disciples, with a total of over ten thousand members. Their strength was indeed formidable.
"Our sect's herb gardens are planted on three different peaks. I'm taking you to Misty Moon Peak, which has the largest and quietest herb garden, though... ahem..." The disciple coughed, seemingly realizing he'd said something he shouldn't have.
Ye Hao, being no fool, immediately picked up on the disciple's hesitation.
"Fellow Daoist, we seem to have quite a bit of fate bringing us together. What's so peculiar about Misty Moon Peak? I'd appreciate it if you could enlighten me." Ye Hao said, taking out ten low-grade spirit stones from his storage bag.
The disciple's eyes lit up, and he smiled, "We do indeed have fate. It's no harm telling you."
He leaned in and whispered a few words into Ye Hao's ear.
Ye Hao suddenly understood. It turned out Misty Moon Peak itself wasn't the issue; it was just a bit remote, with more wild beasts around. The real peculiarity lay with its master, Han Yueyue, the youngest junior sister of the sect leader Cui Xia Zhenren. She was a reclusive and eccentric alchemy master. Despite her beautiful name and appearance, everyone in the Misty Smoke Sect, including her peers, feared her as if she were a tiger.
Of the three main herb gardens in the Misty Smoke Sect, no one wanted to be assigned to Misty Moon Peak because Han Yueyue had a terrible temper. If she was in a bad mood, she could make anyone's life a living hell.
"Damn that senior brother, so petty! Seems like he really does have a thing for Mo Qianqian. But come on, is this really necessary?" Ye Hao cursed inwardly. He had come here to find a peaceful and safe place to rebuild his meridians, not to seek trouble. He would have to get Mo Qianqian to arrange a transfer once she showed up.