Chapter 157

Chapter 157: Scripture Tower Trial

Four male cultivators fanned out to surround her. Each was early?stage Foundation Establishment. That was a bit tricky. Rong Shu herself had only just entered Foundation Establishment, and she was not sure she could take all four without injury. More importantly, she could sense other cultivators’ auras nearby; they might be watching. If she fought back, she would inevitably expose her true cultivation, and the identity of “Lin Bu Fan” would be ruined.

One of the four barked, growing impatient; he jabbed a finger at her Storage Pouch: “Hurry up and hand over the herbs, don’t force us to act.”

Another snickered, disdain thick in his tone: “A mere third?layer Qi Refining still wants to resist?”

Tension stretched taut—until a voice boomed like thunder across the clearing and shattered the standoff: “Fellow Daoist Lin!”

Rong Shu turned to see Zong Ping Shi approaching with four companions.

Her expression eased as she inclined her head: “Fellow Daoist Zong.”

Zong Ping Shi clapped her shoulder and laughed heartily: “Finally found you.”

She offered an abashed smile: “First time in a secret realm. I got a bit lost.”

“So long as you’re fine,” Han Cheng Yun said, giving her a once?over before nodding.

Rong Shu returned the nod: “Fellow Daoist Han.”

Han Cheng Yun pivoted toward the four would?be robbers, voice turning cool: “Sirs, do you have some advice to offer? The Scripture Tower is right in front of us. I trust you know which matters are weighty and which are light.”

Seeing that Zong Ping Shi’s party included two mid?stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, the four immediately wilted.

One jerked his chin, feigning bravado: “We’re leaving.”

Another tossed a parting sneer over his shoulder: “Consider yourself lucky, brat.”

A third called back as they retreated at speed: “Watch yourself. Don’t go wandering alone.”

Rong Shu paid them no mind. She cupped her hands to Zong Ping Shi’s group in earnest thanks: “Much obliged.”

“If you hadn’t shown up when you did, I truly wouldn’t have known what to do.”

Zong Ping Shi rubbed his shiny bald head with a grin: “A trifling matter.”

“Fellow Daoist Lin, we’re lucky we found you. None of us knows alchemy, so we couldn’t get past the parts that require it. We were all stumped.”

Rong Shu asked as they began walking: “Where are the others?”

Zong Ping Shi pointed toward the Scripture Tower: “Waiting over there. We just stepped out to try our luck and see if we could run into you.”

“Come on, let’s head for the Scripture Tower.”

“All right.”

On the way, Zong Ping Shi asked about the past few days. Aside from keeping quiet about Little Hamster’s space?jumping, there was nothing to hide, so Rong Shu told them how she’d had the bad luck to end up in the labyrinth right from the start.

Zong Ping Shi whistled softly, eyes widening: “Straight into the labyrinth? Such a tiny chance, and you managed to hit it, Fellow Daoist Lin?”

Rong Shu gave a helpless, wry smile before asking in return: “Were you teleported near the Scripture Tower? You didn’t enter the labyrinth at all?”

“We were sent to the outer fog forest,” he said with a nod. “We skirted the labyrinth and walked a huge circle. When we couldn’t avoid it anymore, we had no choice but to go in.”

She blinked, surprised: “You can go around it?”

If she remembered Zong Ping Shi’s sketch map correctly, the labyrinth sprawled across nearly the entire secret realm; to reach the Scripture Tower, one had to pass through it.

“Yes,” Zong Ping Shi replied. “Across the whole secret realm, the fog forest and the Nine-Turn Labyrinth cover the broadest swathes. If you really don’t want to enter the labyrinth on the way to the Scripture Tower or to a place like Mount Rongli, you can take the long way around.”

“It just costs a lot of time, and if you’re not careful you still end up stepping into the labyrinth’s bounds. The design is frankly exasperating—there’s always some short stretch where you have to enter, especially for the Scripture Tower in the central zone. You can’t completely avoid it.”

He absently stroked his smooth scalp again.

“Thankfully, before we entered the labyrinth, we bought a few bottles of Mist Dispelling Pills on the black market. Otherwise, we really would have been trapped inside for eighty?one days.”

Hearing the words black market, Rong Shu paused, then quickly pieced it together. The secret realm had been open for months. Cultivators would of course be out hunting Dew Condensing Nine Turn Grass and refining pills inside. Once brought back out, the pills could be stored long?term. [No wonder they could buy Mist Dispelling Pills on the black market.]

A short while later, Han Cheng Yun slowed and gestured ahead for her benefit: “We’re here. This is the Scripture Tower.”

Rong Shu looked up. A spire soared into the clouds; ivy?like creepers wound around its outer wall, which bore the deep etchings of age and weather. At the tower’s gate, groups of cultivators entered one after another. She noticed that after each team went in, the stone door slid shut; after a few breaths it opened again to admit the next group. No team had more than ten people.

Han Cheng Yun supplied the rest: “The Scripture Tower stores many manuals. Each team of up to ten enters through the door and is transmitted into a sealed chamber. Only by unraveling the tower’s layered tests can one continue upward.”

By the time they reached the steps, three others who had been waiting there came over to join them. In an instant, the eyes of all eight—Han Cheng Yun’s full party—fell upon the only alchemist among them: Rong Shu.

Han Cheng Yun spoke gravely: “Fellow Daoist Lin, you are an alchemist. We are not. We won’t fight you over the alchemy manuals. But if there are cultivation manuals or techniques, let us choose first. What do you think?”

A great alchemist was famous above all for alchemy, but his personal cultivation would also be formidable. The manuals he left behind—though far fewer than the alchemy texts—were, for Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators, rare finds, the kind of precious one no one would lightly pass up.

Rong Shu had no objection to such a division. Besides, given that she outwardly appeared to be only a third?layer Qi Refining cultivator, she dared not press the point. On the surface at least, Han Cheng Yun was treating her with courtesy.

“Very well,” she said evenly, “let’s do as Fellow Daoist Han suggests. However…”

She shifted the terms with a faint smile: “Even if alchemy manuals are of no use to you, you could sell them for Spirit Stones. To show appreciation for your timely help just now, we don’t have to keep all the alchemy texts. I will take a share, and you can take part of them to sell outside for Spirit Stones, so that everyone benefits.”

As she finished, her gaze, seemingly casual, swept across the Su Clan brothers. When Han Cheng Yun had generously said all the alchemy manuals should go to Rong Shu, those two had reacted the most. The younger, Su Hua, had nearly blurted, ready to shout, “Why should he get them?”

The two lacked composure; the others likely had their own unspoken objections as well. To avoid trouble, Rong Shu simply ceded a portion of the profits.