Ye Lan could hardly find words for what she was feeling.

She had only brought Shen Yi back in the first place because he happened to have joined the Demon-Slaying Office of Jianyang Prefecture, where he got things done fast and had just as much of a knack for stirring up trouble.

She had taken a liking to his talent, and that was how the trip to Shenxu Mountain had come about.

The two of them hadn't had much to do with each other. Apart from being superior and subordinate, they could barely be called acquaintances. They weren't even friends, and she'd never had any thought of using him for anything.

After all, before they came back, however seriously Shen Yi had said “I'll owe you a favor” at Crane Mountain, Ye Lan hadn't taken it to heart at all.

And yet this was the man who, in just a few days, had completely opened her eyes.

Liu Ruifeng's calm composure had obviously been forced. Shen Yi's ease came from methods and a mind too deep to fathom.

If he could produce a flawless immortal pill the first time he laid eyes on the Void-Origin pill recipe, his alchemy had to be far beyond anything they'd imagined.

But before the furnace opened today, everything he'd done—going to the Technique-Storing Pavilion, then going to Liu Ruifeng for advice—had fooled not only everyone else but Ye Lan herself.

“……” Ye Lan thought back to how anxious she'd been, and she didn't blame Shen Yi for keeping it from her. Maybe it was her very anxiety that had made the Sixth Peak's father and son so sure of winning that they never thought to try anything desperate.

Then the furnace opened, a flawless Void-Origin Precious Pill appeared in front of the members of the eight peaks, and the matter was settled on the spot. Father and son had no chance left to turn it around.

The most laughable part was that this grand gathering of the eight peaks had been arranged by Martial Uncle Muyang himself.

Shen Yi had seemed to do nothing…