That pace was something Zi Yun could accept. She hurriedly tugged at Tang Yan's arm. "Then refine the pills for me."

"Beg me. Beg me and I'll give them to you," Tang Yan teased.

"Fine, don't refine them. Who needs them? This young miss never begs anyone!" Her almond eyes flashed a glare at Tang Yan, and she stamped one small foot in fury before turning and sweeping into the room.

Watching her storm off, Tang Yan could only sigh at how fierce the girl's temper was.

Of course, he had only been teasing her. That day he had followed her out of the city and nearly died at Bai Qing's hands. Had Zi Yun not been kind enough to save him, he would already be a ghost in the Yellow Springs by now.

That great kindness Tang Yan had never spoken aloud, but he carried it always in his heart. The moment he had time to spare, he would naturally help her recover her strength.

Now that he had stepped into Yellow Rank, his need for pills had only grown. The Initial Spirit Pill could no longer fully satisfy his appetite.

Returning to his room, Tang Yan took up paper and brush and set down each medicinal ingredient he required in careful detail, then sent Xiaocui out to buy them. When he counted them over, there were a full seventy-six.

Reckoning the days, the seventh month was nearly spent. In a little over ten more days, it would be Mid-Autumn.

He wondered how those sworn brothers from his past life were faring now.

Mid-Autumn? A sudden thought lit in his mind. If memory served, every year at Mid-Autumn a great gathering was held upon Bright Moon Lake - the Mid-Autumn Conference.

In Yun City, the Tang Family had long been pressed down and pushed aside by the other three great families. At this year's Conference, those three would surely not let the chance slip by.

Of the Tang Family's direct line, he alone stood among the younger generation. If he did not compete, the whole city would whisper that the Tang Family's eldest young master was trash, that the clan had no worthy heir, and that its days were numbered.

If that came to pass, fewer and fewer minor powers would be willing to shelter under the Tang name.

Yet if he did enter, whether in the literary contest or the Martial Contest, others would single him out, and the road could prove perilous indeed.

Every year before this, the Tang Family had swallowed its humiliation. But this year... a cold smile curved the corner of Tang Yan's mouth.

Still, he was not blindly arrogant. He knew the gap between himself and the sons of the other families remained wide. Take the Liu Family's Liu Zhi - by the spies' word he had already reached Yellow Rank Eighth Grade, though his true strength had very likely crossed into the Ninth.

Then there were Wu Feiming and Qin Jiushan, the foremost of the younger generation in the Wu Family and Qin Family, both of whom had stepped into Yellow Rank Seventh Grade.

His own paltry First Grade was still far too weak.

If he meant to win glory for the Tang Family at the great contest, he had much more preparing to do.

......

Yun City, within the City Lord's Manor.

Lin Xiao sat across from his wife, sharing wine.

Gazing at her unveiled face, now bright with smiles, he felt briefly lost in a daze. How many years had it been since his wife had smiled so radiantly?

"Husband, for all these years you've spent endless thought over the scar on my face. You've suffered on my account," Madam Lin said softly.

"We're an old married pair - there's no need to stand on such ceremony. That scar weighed on my conscience for years. We owe much to that Tang Family boy," Lin Xiao said with feeling.

"In two days it will be my birthday. We should invite the boy over then and thank him properly," Madam Lin suggested.

"Mm. When you celebrate, every family in Yun City will come to offer their congratulations. Tang Yan gifted the Traceless Pill for one reason only - to have our City Lord's Manor owe him a favor. If we thank him in person before all of them, it will also overawe the other three great families, so they won't dare strike too cruelly at the Tang Family. That serves his purpose well enough, and settles the debt we owe him." Lin Xiao's eyes were unusually deep as he laid bare the intent behind the gift.

"All the better. Our Manor rarely owes favors. Repaying it early ends the matter and severs the karma cleanly. So long as the clans' quarrels don't go too far, we'd best not involve ourselves too deeply," Madam Lin agreed with a nod.

"That boy Tang Yan strikes me as anything but simple. Whenever I recall our last conversation, I feel every move he made was calculated, until before I knew it I'd come round to his way of thinking.

"Among Yun City's younger generation, I once thought there would be no more place for the Tang Family. But from this year on, it seems they too will step onto the stage." Lin Xiao took a sip of tea and cast a long, deep look in the direction of the Tang Family.

......

In the pill room, Tang Yan tossed the ingredients one by one into the Pill Cauldron with practiced ease.

This time he was refining the High Spirit Pill. Built upon the Initial Spirit Pill, it amplified the Spiritual Qi threefold, and by the difficulty of its refinement it reached the second tier, low grade.

A full night's work, and at last he had laid up a good store of High Spirit Pills, enough to see him through the coming days.

After a brief rest, he set to refining the pills meant to restore Zi Yun's strength.

Only once every pill was fully prepared did he stretch, yawn, and step out of the pill room.

He pushed the door open and froze.

The morning sun was bright and brimming with life. Zi Yun stood in the courtyard in a robe of white, graceful and pure in the dawn light. So lovely was the sight that even Tang Yan's frozen heart stirred faintly.

Reining in his thoughts, he smiled. "Silly girl, why are you up so early?"

Zi Yun turned and fixed him with a cold stare, biting out each word. "Call me silly girl one more time, and the moment I get my strength back I'll beat you into a pig's head!"

"Then I'll give you the chance to beat me into a pig's head. These are Qi Recovery Pills - take one every three days. How fast you mend is up to you. Forty days at the soonest, three months at the most." Tang Yan smiled and held out two porcelain bottles. "And these are Initial Spirit Pills. Their properties are mild, well suited to the state you're in."

Zi Yun went still. She had assumed Tang Yan had long since forgotten about the pills, or that the fellow simply couldn't refine them at all. She had even been preparing to stay at the Tang Family a while, then write home for someone to come fetch her. She had never imagined that in a single night he would have everything ready.

Taking the bottles, she pulled the stopper from the Qi Recovery Pill bottle. A pure breath of vitality welled out, and her eyes filled with astonishment. "You can refine second-tier pills?"

"Don't worship me. I'm a legend." Tang Yan shrugged.

"Show-off!" Zi Yun rolled her eyes at him and turned to walk toward the room. Just as she reached the doorway she glanced back and gave him a sudden smile. "Thank you."

Ink-black hair spilled over her shoulders, her bright eyes and white teeth dazzling as stars. In that instant Tang Yan felt the very thing the old verse described - with one backward glance and a smile a hundred charms were born, and the painted beauties of the six palaces all lost their color.

This little vixen!

After Zi Yun had vanished inside, a giggle drifted over. "Young Master, Young Master, you haven't gone and fallen for Sister Zi Yun, have you?"

"One more word of nonsense and see if I don't thrash you!" Knowing he'd let his composure slip, Tang Yan barked at Xiaocui, "Now hurry and get my breakfast ready."

"Yes, Young Master, hehe..." Xiaocui knew her young master's temper through and through and could tell he wasn't truly angry. She skipped off to prepare the meal.

Two days slipped past. With the aid of the High Spirit Pills, Tang Yan's strength climbed to Yellow Rank Second Grade.

Such startling speed left Zi Yun, who had been watching him closely, more than a little surprised. Two days ago there had been no sign of any breakthrough stirring within him.

Her own recovery, too, was coming along splendidly. Her Dantian could already produce True Qi, which restored a measure of her confidence in regaining her strength.

That day, just as Tang Yan was about to continue his cultivation, Old Master Tang came once more to his small courtyard.

"Boy, you'd better tell me what's going on," the old man demanded the instant he laid eyes on him.