Chapter 176

Chapter 176: Meeting Big Sister

Rong Shu instantly lost her composure and rifled through the books at hand: “A pill recipe, is there a pill recipe?”

As she flipped she muttered, “None,” then, “There is none here either,” then paused before brightening: “Right, the pill recipes obtained in the cave abode, there were pills the Secret Realm Master devised; I think they were compiled into a notebook.”

She pulled out the notebooks she had organized and searched again, murmuring as her fingers flew: “Is it this one,” then breathed, “Found it.”

Seeing the formula recorded in the notebook, Rong Shu let out a long breath of relief. [If I really could not find that Return to Bygone Memories Pill, I would have to turn around and go back to the Scorchfire Secret Realm.]

In the notebook, every self-created formula was accompanied by a paragraph of the Secret Realm Master’s annotation: “The world has misjudged the efficacy of Soul Recall Grass. Its greatest use is not related to the soul, but to ‘lost’ memory. In general, when mortals grow up, they gradually forget unimportant memories from childhood, and Soul Recall Grass can enhance mental strength, thereby recalling memories lost in bygone days.”

“Most people cannot clearly distinguish mental strength and soul power. The two also complement each other, thus there is an ‘indirect’ effect on the strength of soul power.”

After that came the list of ingredients for the pill and the steps for refining it.

For these self-created pills, the Secret Realm Master rated them either fourth-grade or ninth-grade. The reason for such a gulf lay in another of the master’s bold conjectures: “Since it can recover lost memories of this life, might it also recover memories of a past life?”

“People have past and present lives, and cultivators have Body Seizing reincarnation; there are indeed cases of obtaining and preserving past-life memories, so this conjecture may be achievable.”

“But this conjecture runs counter to the Dao of Heaven. If all mortals and cultivators could recall memories of past lives, the cycle of life and death would fall into chaos.”

After that, the Secret Realm Master wrote no more.

Rong Shu felt that the Secret Realm Master judged the ninth-grade Return to Bygone Memories Pill too heaven-defying, likely to plunge the world into chaos, and therefore broke off the research decisively. As for now, she only needed the fourth-grade Return to Bygone Memories Pill, so she had no great interest in the ninth-grade version. [What a monstrous genius of alchemy the Secret Realm Master was.]

She also respected that once the master realized a ninth-grade pill should not appear in the world, he stopped immediately and did not, for a personal obsession with alchemy, disregard the world entire. Yet without reading those diaries in the cave abode, Rong Shu could hardly have imagined that such a person would slaughter the sect where he had always lived.

[Right now I am a fourth-grade alchemist. As soon as I gather the necessary herbs, I can refine a fourth-grade Return to Bygone Memories Pill,] she thought, [and then I can recover the memories of falling from the cliff and find the truth of that year.]

She set aside the books and notebooks related to Soul Recall Grass and the Return to Bygone Memories Pill, then, after checking everything, put each volume away.

With such a critical lead suddenly in hand, Rong Shu’s heart would not calm for a long time. That night, uncharacteristically, she did not sit in meditation to cultivate. Instead she lay on her bed, sleepless and sunk in thought.

The next day, Rong Shu left the inn to gather Soul Recall Grass. [I have been away so long. After I return to the sect and hand in the missions, I will go visit senior brother and the valley’s respected senior, then head back out. I must recover that stretch of memory.]

She was turning over the plan when she suddenly heard someone behind her calling, “Rong Shu?” and then, “It really is you.”

She turned to see a group of a dozen men and women in Glorious Radiance Sect disciple robes striding toward her. When she clearly saw the face of the woman in the lead, dressed in Personal Disciple Robes, her expression stilled for a heartbeat. In that instant they had already come near. Rong Shu cupped her hands to the leading woman and greeted her: “Big Sister.”

It was none other than the legitimate eldest young lady of her generation in the clan, Rong Qian Ning. For this Big Sister, Rong Shu felt both gratitude and respect. As the “bellwether” of the juniors of their generation, Rong Qian Ning had indeed fulfilled the duties that a big sister ought to bear. Though Rong Shu was not particularly close to her, Rong Qian Ning had looked after her for the sake of their kinship as clan elder and younger cousins.

Rong Qian Ning looked Rong Shu over and frowned slightly, asking in a low voice, “Why are you here? You have been out tempering yourself for so long and still have not returned to the sect?”

“Yes,” Rong Shu answered, though something struck her as odd. [Why would Big Sister talk about me being out for so long? By rights, Big Sister should not know when I came out to train.]

Before Rong Shu could ask, Rong Qian Ning explained first, “After the sect grand competition I went to Heaven’s Evolution Sect to look for you. I learned you were not in the sect and were out training.”

[So Big Sister came looking for me. It is a pity I was not in the sect at the time. What did she want with me, though,] Rong Shu wondered.

Rong Qian Ning glanced at her fellow disciples from Glorious Radiance Sect and said, “You all go on ahead. I will be along shortly.” When she spoke, her prestige among the group showed; they answered without hesitation and left. Then she said to Rong Shu, “Come with me.”

“All right, Big Sister,” Rong Shu replied. Though she did not understand, she followed Rong Qian Ning’s steps.

They did not go far. They stopped in a deserted corner.

Rong Qian Ning turned to look at Rong Shu, her gaze deepening for a moment as she said, “There is something I should tell you. It concerns the time you fell from the cliff when you were seven.”

Rong Shu was dumbfounded. “My fall when I was seven?” [What a coincidence. I have just found a bit of a lead, and Big Sister appears.]