Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Lin Dao’s Guidance

Below, Rong Shu looked all around to check her surroundings, not even sparing the trees; once she confirmed no one was nearby, she took out a meditation mat, tossed it onto the ground, and sat down.

Then she brought out a pill furnace, spirit herbs, and a set of herb-grinding tools, and, following the steps recorded on the recipe, began refining a Tendon and Bone Pill.

Up in the tree, Lin Dao lifted a hand to dispel the concealment art he had just arranged; the moment he saw Rong Shu take out a pill furnace, he already knew what she intended to do.

[If I remember right, this girl is only at the first level of Qi Refining and entered Heaven’s Evolution Sect just a few months ago; she is already learning to refine pills?]

Lin Dao had been about to slip away without a sound, but when he saw Rong Shu’s slightly unpracticed technique, for some reason his feet did not move.

So he simply shifted into a more comfortable position and, with lowered eyes, watched the girl below fussing with the furnace.

Rong Shu remained unaware; at this moment, her full attention was inside the pill furnace.

While steadily feeding the furnace with a flame of suitable heat, she kept her gaze fixed on the refining within.

When she saw the Hundred Refinements Grass inside the pill furnace burn bright red, with not a trace of green left from tip to root, she grabbed four stalks of Bone Washing Flower and was just about to toss them in when a cool, water-clear male voice drifted down from above: “You are refining it wrong.”

Startled, Rong Shu looked toward the voice; when she saw who it was, she paused for a heartbeat, then spoke: “Senior Brother Lin Dao?”

Lounging against the trunk, Lin Dao wore a lazy expression; deep in his eyes, it seemed as if starlight rose and fell.

[When did Senior Brother Lin Dao arrive?] Rong Shu’s eyes turned slightly as she grew annoyed with herself. [Why didn’t I notice Senior Brother Lin Dao here just now? I should have swept the area two more times.] Then again, his cultivation was higher than hers. [If I could not sense him, perhaps that is only natural?]

At least the one who saw her refining was not Qin Yuan or Yu Ruan Ruan. [Some nearly ridiculous intuition tells me those two are people I should not grow close to; if I can avoid them, I should. If I had to put it into words, it would be… do not draw too near, or misfortune will follow?]

After steadying her mind, she comforted herself that this was only pill refinement; many cultivators developed side professions, nothing strange about it. She then asked: “Senior brother, are you an alchemist?”

Lin Dao gave a slight shake of his head, and as though something occurred to him, he added in an even tone: “I have only watched others refine often, so I picked up a smattering.”

Rong Shu, surprised that this cold, indifferent man would offer even that much explanation, ventured a question: “Senior brother, where did I go wrong? I ask for your instruction.”

Given her limited conditions, she could only muddle through on her own. The Alchemist Guild branch did offer lectures, but the instructors taught on a fixed schedule; there was no chance of private tutoring. If someone who understood the art could lead her through the doorway, things would go much more smoothly.

Lin Dao stared at Rong Shu for several seconds, long enough to make her uneasy. She called out softly: “Senior brother?”

He withdrew his gaze, still languid and unhurried: “You can only add the Bone Washing Flower when the roots and stalk of the Hundred Refinements Grass have also turned red-hot.”

He continued, his last words carrying a faint, veiled admonition, though his expression did not change, as if he were long accustomed to guiding others: “An alchemist with a wood spiritual root can easily sense everything about the herb being refined. You do not have a wood spiritual root, so you must be more diligent and meticulous.”

Rong Shu, and this was precisely what she needed at the moment, naturally found nothing amiss in being guided. Following Lin Dao’s words, she carefully guided a wisp of wood aura to probe within the root and stalk of the Hundred Refinements Grass; sure enough, they had not yet turned red.

A moment ago, she had paid attention only to the surface of the grass turning completely red and had, for a time, neglected its interior.

It was fortunate Lin Dao had reminded her; otherwise she would have wasted an entire batch of materials for refining the Tendon and Bone Pill.

She watched the interior of the furnace with bright, expectant eyes; when she noticed that the root and stalk of the Hundred Refinements Grass had turned red as well, she tilted her head toward Lin Dao in the tree and asked: “Senior brother, now I can add the Bone Washing Flower, right?”

He answered with a soft: “Mm.”

With his permission, Rong Shu dropped the Bone Washing Flower into the pill furnace.

After that, she added a few herbals to stabilize the medicinal properties, then devoted herself wholly to controlling the fire. She simmered all the ingredients in the pill furnace into a paste, shaping it little by little, compressing the medicinal power, shaping again, compressing again…

When it seemed about time to open the furnace, she glanced at Lin Dao by reflex and asked: “Senior brother, is this batch done?”

Lin Dao took a look at the state within the pill furnace, nodded slightly, and said: “Mm, you can open it.”

“It worked.” Delighted, Rong Shu took out the seven pills that had formed within the furnace. After a moment’s thought, she placed four in her left palm and held them out to Lin Dao: “Senior brother, half for you.”

Lin Dao paused, then, catching the bright eyes that seemed flattering at a glance yet were in fact clear and frank, he thought for a moment and accepted the four pills.

Once he had taken them, Rong Shu withdrew her small hand and offered sincere praise: “With your level, senior brother, you could go take the assessment at the Alchemist Guild branch.”

“Not interested,” Lin Dao replied in a cool voice.

Hearing this, Rong Shu scratched her head. [Fine… I am poor; I am interested.]

Suddenly Lin Dao asked: “How well do you know that senior sister of yours?”

Rong Shu blinked. Yu Ruan Ruan? [Could it be that Senior Brother Lin Dao approached me because of Senior Sister Yu?] After all, on that night in Tranquil Harmony Town, Senior Sister Yu had personally…

She glanced at Lin Dao, weighed her words, and said: “Senior Sister Yu is a good person, very enthusiastic.”

“And?” Lin Dao’s brow creased slightly, as if dissatisfied with such an answer.

“Senior Sister Yu has an ice-element Heavenly Spiritual Root. She is a rare cultivation genius.”

“Genius?” Lin Dao drew out the word with the faintest thread of mockery. Very soon, Rong Shu realized she had not imagined it.

He spoke bluntly: “With a Heavenly Spiritual Root, she has been in the sect five years and still has not reached Foundation Establishment. For her to be called a genius is somewhat below standard.”

Rong Shu’s expression turned a bit odd. [Senior brother, I know you are likely hiding your true ability, but outwardly you are still an ordinary disciple who took twenty years to barely reach Foundation Establishment. You could at least rein it in a little. Senior Sister Yu is, after all, the sect’s publicly acknowledged prodigy.] She kept her complaints to herself, neither speaking nor agreeing, and pretended she had not heard.

“Let’s go,” Lin Dao said, leaving the small grove.

Rong Shu could not figure out why Lin Dao had asked about Yu Ruan Ruan, so she simply stopped thinking about it. She carefully put the remaining three Tendon and Bone Pills into a porcelain bottle, then, rubbing her hands in excitement, plunged back into pill refinement.

Elsewhere, outside the grove, Lin Dao looked down at the four pills resting in his palm, then casually took an empty porcelain vial from his storage pouch and poured them in. He murmured a name: “Yu Ruan Ruan.”

As he spoke the three characters, his gaze darkened. An ice-element Heavenly Spiritual Root, five years of cultivation, and only the seventh level of Qi Refining. If it is truly you, that is far too disappointing.