"Do you know Mu Weizhu? She's got her eye on you," Ye Chengkang said, his expression turning solemn. "She's sent six of her Twelve Fiends after you. I'm pretty sure they're targeting you."
After all, he knew about what Feng Yuqin had done in the teahouse the other day, the things she'd said to Mu Weizhu, and how she'd tricked her.
He'd originally thought the Twelve Fiends were after their General Union.
But after some investigation, it seemed most likely that they were after Feng Yuqin.
Feng Yuqin wasn't surprised that Mu Weizhu would do this.
A woman like Mu Weizhu would never let a slight go unpunished.
But seeing Ye Chengkang's solemn expression, she knew the Twelve Fiends were probably no easy opponents.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Ye Chengkang dutifully filled her in on just how powerful the Twelve Fiends were.
"I never thought the master of the White Flame Sect would value his daughter so much that he'd give her twelve such powerful bodyguards," Feng Yuqin said indifferently.
She knew it was dangerous, but she'd faced danger before.
She'd once lived in the midst of gunfire, fearless of hot weapons. How could she be afraid of Mu Weizhu's lackeys?
"Thank you, President, for telling me this," Feng Yuqin said.
Now that Ye Chengkang had told her, she could start preparing.
But thinking about Mu Weizhu, she looked at Ye Chengkang and asked, "Tomorrow is the day we're heading to the secret realm. Mu Weizhu has sent some powerful fighters after us. Are you still going to let the Ye siblings get involved with me?"
Ye Chengkang: "..."
He'd thought about this before.
Feng Yuqin was powerful, but with great power came great enemies.
His children weren't very powerful yet. If they ran into Mu Weizhu's Twelve Fiends in the secret realm, they might not make it out alive.
But as the saying goes, fortune favors the brave.
He didn't think Feng Yuqin was so easily defeated.
Every time Mu Weizhu had tried to pick a fight with her, she'd come out on top.
After investigating Mu Weizhu's situation, he'd learned that she harbored a deep grudge against Feng Yuqin. And after hearing what she'd said in the teahouse, he guessed that Feng Yuqin had some connection with Mo Xuanye.
Mu Weizhu's infatuation with Mo Xuanye was an open secret in the White Flame Sect. He'd once been part of a hidden family, and now that the hidden families were starting to emerge, it was easier for him to learn about Mu Weizhu.
With this in mind, he said to Feng Yuqin, "The children are grown up now. The world of adults is cruel, and they'll have to face it sooner or later."
Feng Yuqin understood that Ye Chengkang wasn't going to change his mind.
She actually wanted to look out for Ye Ying, since she'd brought her along.
As for Ye Xianyu, he was Ye Chengkang's only son. If anything happened to him, she'd feel responsible.
But she couldn't just accept Ye Ying and not Ye Xianyu.
Most importantly, she thought Ye Chengkang would give Ye Xianyu some treasures to protect himself. Maybe he wouldn't need her help if he ran into trouble.
...
After Feng Yuqin returned, she started preparing.
Most importantly, she needed to refine pills.
Ye Chengkang had given her a lot of medicinal herbs last time, and Xiaojin had planted them all.
So she wasn't short on pills, and she could refine five furnaces of pills at once.
As a ninth-rank pill refiner, her first task was to refine Body Refinement Pills.
After refining five furnaces of pills, she had over a hundred Body Refinement Pills.
She sent Xiaoying to call Dongfang Zhi and the others.
They came quickly.
"Aqin, you called us?" Yan Xiao asked as soon as he entered.
Then came Dongfang Zhi, Yan Geng, Su Bing, Meng Xingyu, Ke Ruxia, and the others.
All the people who were going to the secret realm because of her quota had arrived.
Feng Yuqin knew time was of the essence, so she didn't waste any time. She took out the Body Refinement Pills and said to them, "These are Body Refinement Pills. If you take them tonight, you might be able to level up. The stronger you are, the better your chances of surviving in the secret realm."
She didn't tell them about Mu Weizhu's Six Fiends going to the secret realm, for fear that it would affect their morale.
"Body Refinement Pills?" Ke Ruxia took one in surprise and saw that it was a ninth-rank pill. Her hands trembled with shock. "Elder Feng, you actually have ninth-rank Body Refinement Pills?"
"Elder Feng, these pills are too precious. We can't accept them," Sun Jian said, though he really wanted them. He knew how valuable ninth-rank Body Refinement Pills were.
Yan Xiao and the others knew Feng Yuqin well.
Especially Yan Xiao and Yan Geng, who had taken Feng Yuqin's Body Refinement Pills before. If she'd had higher-rank pills before, she would have given them to them.
But she hadn't, which meant these pills were freshly refined after she'd leveled up.
Thinking about how much her pill-refining skills had improved in just a year, they thought her progress was truly remarkable.
"Take them. I'm giving them to you," Feng Yuqin said. "Keep this a secret. Don't tell anyone."
Then she looked at Dongfang Zhi and said, "Could you do me a favor and go to the General Union to give these Body Refinement Pills to the Ye siblings?"
Dongfang Zhi nodded. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it."
After Feng Yuqin had made all the arrangements, she gave them some instructions about the secret realm and then let them go. She then entered her space to continue refining pills.
Before she knew it, the night had passed.
When dawn broke, Feng Yuqin emerged from her room.
As soon as she opened the door, Dongfang Zhi and the others were waiting for her outside.
She glanced at them and saw that they'd all leveled up.
Dongfang Zhi and the others were beaming with excitement.
After all, leveling up overnight was something they'd never experienced before.
Of course, this wasn't the first time for Yan Xiao and the others, who were used to being around Feng Yuqin.
But it was a first for Ke Ruxia and the others.
In the past, it had taken them days to level up, even when they were in the right state of mind and practicing hard.
They'd never leveled up in just a few hours like this before.
Song Jianming came with some people to find Feng Yuqin. He said to her, "Aqin, I'm counting on you to take care of the people from the Pill Refining Union. I hope they'll all come back safely."
Feng Yuqin felt a great deal of pressure.
President Ye had asked her to look out for the Ye siblings, and now President Song was asking her to take care of the people from the Pill Refining Union.
She would have looked out for them anyway, but the responsibility weighed heavily on her.
Song Jianming seemed to sense her unease. He smiled and said, "Everyone has their own destiny. The secret realm is dangerous, but they've chosen to go. Just do your best."
Feng Yuqin let out a sigh of relief. "It's almost time. Let's go."
With that, everyone followed her out of the room.