Chapter 187

Chapter 187: Shu Shu’s Sudden Windfall

After the meal, Xiao Zi An asked where the two were currently staying.

“We are at an inn,” Wu Hua answered.

“Why stay at an inn?” Xiao Zi An said at once, disapproving. “The space is small and the accommodations are shabby.”

He beamed toward Rong Shu: “Little junior sister should come live at the Alchemist Branch Guild’s manor with me; you will be comfortable for certain. Ah, right, since you are an alchemist, tell senior brother whatever you need. I will open access for you to the Myriad Books Tower… fifth-rank access should be enough.”

Seeing how Xiao Zi An rattled on, almost ready to take Rong Shu by the hand and go that very instant, Rong Shu, overwhelmed by such fervor, could only stammer thanks: “Thank you, Fourth Senior Brother.”

“You are welcome, you are welcome,” he said.

Wu Hua frowned slightly: “There is no need to go to the manor. We will stay at the inn.”

Then, in a secret voice transmission to Xiao Zi An, he said: [You just arrived at Wanderer’s City. Every movement of yours is watched by every faction. Our little junior sister must disguise herself to compete at the alchemy conference. If you keep hovering around her, do you think she will not draw attention?]

Xiao Zi An could only yield a step: [All right, all right. I was just too excited to see little junior sister.]

So long as little junior sister was happy, nothing else mattered.

“Very well then,” Xiao Zi An sighed, gazing at Rong Shu as if she had suffered some monumental grievance, “we will have to wrong little junior sister for now.”

“When you reach the Central Continent, I will take little junior sister out properly to have some fun.”

“Mm, then I will thank Fourth Senior Brother in advance,” Rong Shu answered readily.

“Heh, say no more!”

…

Unwittingly, several hours slipped by.

Night had fallen by the time Rong Shu and Wu Hua took leave of Xiao Zi An and left the banquet tavern.

Back at the inn, Rong Shu stopped Wu Hua as he was about to return to his room: “Senior brother.”

“Why did Senior Brother Xiao insist I call him ‘Fourth Senior Brother’?” she asked.

Wu Hua smiled: “He and I entered the same sect. I am third in seniority, and he is fourth.”

Rong Shu blinked.

She felt as if she had just heard something momentous.

So senior brother meant… that in the future, when she went to the Central Continent, she would have a chance to enter the same sect as Senior Brother Wu Hua?

Looking at the dazed little lady before him, Wu Hua could not help a quiet laugh: “Exactly as you are thinking.”

“Heart’s Reflection Academy has many outstanding Instructors. Once you pass the exam and enter, if you wish to choose an Instructor, you can ask my opinion first.”

“Speaking selfishly, I hope you choose the same Instructor as I did. But if you have other ideas, that is fine. What suits you is best.”

Rong Shu nodded: “Mm, I understand.”

[So… I can really take the back door?]

“Good night, senior brother,” she said.

“Mm. Good night.”

…

Back in her room, Rong Shu lay on the bed with the Little Hamster.

“Yan Yan?”

Rong Shu rolled over, then clicked her tongue when she saw the Little Hamster had become a round ball with only its belly left: “I told you not to eat so much. You overstuffed yourself, did you not?”

She reached out and rubbed the taut little belly.

The Little Hamster could not be bothered to move, only cooing gu gu gu in protest.

After a few coos, it remembered Rong Shu could not understand and switched to human speech: “…No, it was… it was that new senior brother, he kept giving me, giving me food.”

Food delivered directly to its mouth, why would a Little Hamster refuse?

“You are just greedy. Stop making excuses,” Rong Shu said.

After she had kneaded the Little Hamster for a good while longer, she finally let it go.

“Right, let me see what Fourth Senior Brother sent.”

Rong Shu took out the Storage Pouch Xiao Zi An had given her and sent her divine sense inside.

The tiny figure of her divine sense stepped into the Storage Pouch, took one look, and froze in place. [Wow! So many Spirit Stones! Th-this…]

[Fourth-grade herbs, fifth-grade herbs, sixth-grade herbs, seventh-grade herbs… and even eighth-grade?]

[So many pills… all of them seventh-grade? Even Spirit Gathering Pills with their potency compressed up to seventh grade?]

[These seventh-grade pill formulas… I remember that even with access at the Myriad Books Tower you still have to pay to buy them, and it is easy to spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of Spirit Stones…]

Rong Shu grew numb with shock the further she looked.

Leaving everything else aside, the Spirit Stones alone, by her rough count, came to five million.

Meanwhile, her own little treasury amounted to around eight hundred thousand Spirit Stones.

Eight hundred thousand looks like a lot, but she had taken on a new auxiliary path: formations. She had not formally started training yet. Once she did, tens of thousands of Spirit Stones would vaporize in an instant.

Add to that the bow arts she had chosen long ago as a secondary discipline. Because she lacked Spirit Stones and had no proper space, she had never practiced.

An archer-cultivator is different from a sword cultivator or blade cultivator. The bow must be good, and the arrows must be even better.

Arrows shot are like water thrown out. Hard to take back, they are essentially Spirit Stones hurled to smash an enemy.

Because that fighting style is extravagantly costly, Rong Shu had never had the heart to begin.

Now, the five million Spirit Stones from Xiao Zi An instantly freed her from straits.

…

The next morning.

Rong Shu rose early.

She did not refine any pills that night. With the alchemy conference close at hand, she decided to rest well rather than cram at the last moment.

Only, the moment she stepped out, she ran into Xiao Zi An, who had arrived even earlier.

Sitting in a chair in Wu Hua’s room, he greeted her with a smile: “Little junior sister, morning.”

“Fourth Senior Brother, morning,” she said.

At the sound of that address, Xiao Zi An’s smile grew even brighter.

“Come in, all of you,” he called.

Two neatly dressed maids filed in from outside the door.

With a sweep of his sleeve, Xiao Zi An emptied a Storage Pouch and fanned its contents into the room. A full row of garments appeared, along with cases of jewelry, dazzling and abundant.

Rong Shu stared, a little stupefied.

Before she could ask, Xiao Zi An explained: “How can my little junior sister go compete dressed so simply and plainly?”

Rong Shu faltered, then glanced down at her current outfit.

She felt it was fine… low-key, simple, unobtrusive. Very ordinary.

She said: “Fourth Senior Brother, there may be a few acquaintances at the alchemy conference. I would rather they did not recognize me.”

“Oh?” Xiao Zi An fluttered his folding fan: “Then that is perfect.”

“From one look, one can tell little junior sister does not usually flaunt herself. In that case, do the opposite this time. Make a grand entrance.”

“Ah?”

Rong Shu was greatly surprised and failed to understand.

It sounded suspiciously like sophistry.

“Come now, come now,” Xiao Zi An said, remembering he had come with a task. If he did not put the clothes and jewelry Second Senior Sister had prepared properly on her, he would have no way to report back.

“No need, Fourth Senior Brother,” Rong Shu said, shaking her hands repeatedly, casting a pleading glance toward Wu Hua.

But this time, Senior Brother Wu Hua would not rescue her.

“A young lady should dress up now and then,” he said, taking the Little Hamster and leaving the room.

After he left, Xiao Zi An leaned over with a mischievous grin and murmured in Rong Shu’s ear: “Third Senior Brother does not know how to take care of a young lady. Does he often scold you? Hit you? Beat you up?”

Rong Shu blinked, hesitant, feeling as if she had just overheard some tremendous secret.