Chapter 48
Chapter 48: The Ending of Rong Shu’s Past Life
The hunchbacked uncle pressed her: “Then what kinds of pills can he refine?”
Rong Shu shook her head: “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? You don’t know and you still dare buy pills from him?” The hunchbacked uncle’s eyes turned complicated.
Rong Shu looked pure and guileless: “Because Senior Brother Lin Dao’s pills are cheap.”
“Also, although I don’t know exactly what pills Senior Brother Lin Dao can refine, the ones I need—Fasting Pill, Spirit Gathering Pill, and Tendon and Bone Pill—he can refine all of them.”
The hunchbacked uncle felt it was unreliable, yet with a chance to obtain a steady supply of Tendon and Bone Pills, he was reluctant to give it up: “Then he… do you know how many pills come out of one furnace?”
“I once saw that alchemist refine a batch; there seemed to be ten pills.”
At that, the hunchbacked uncle was utterly stunned.
Ten?
This…
Even if he didn’t know much about the alchemist profession, he still knew that producing ten finished pills in one furnace was something only a prodigiously talented alchemist could achieve.
Under normal circumstances, seven or eight finished pills already marked a remarkable alchemist, one who would be celebrated wherever they went.
“Then you…” Suddenly realizing his own loss of composure, the hunchbacked uncle composed himself and asked with feigned seriousness: “Ahem… have you been buying pills from that alchemist recently?”
Rong Shu blinked her exceptionally sincere eyes: “Yes. I’m only at Qi Refining level one, so of course I have to cultivate diligently. Buying more pills helps with cultivation.”
“What a diligent, motivated kid.” The hunchbacked uncle’s tone softened at once.
“Kid, are you short on spirit stones? Even with a discount from that alchemist, you still need to pay seventy percent in spirit stones.”
“Yes, so right now I can only take missions.” Rong Shu spoke with a note of regret.
Hearing this, the hunchbacked uncle understood at once.
No wonder this little girl suddenly came to take night missions; the reward for night missions is indeed higher than for day missions.
“How about this: if you can help me buy Tendon and Bone Pills from that alchemist, I’ll cover the spirit stones for your share of the pills, how about it?” The hunchbacked uncle looked at Rong Shu with a gentle gaze.
“Ah… that doesn’t seem right, does it?” Rong Shu hesitated on the surface.
The hunchbacked uncle kept coaxing her: “Little girl, think about it. If you rely only on mission rewards, even with a thirty percent discount, who knows how long you’d have to save spirit stones before you could buy a single bottle. Don’t you want pill assistance for your cultivation?”
Rong Shu bit her lip and nodded: “…I do.”
The hunchbacked uncle’s breathing quickened: “That’s it, then. I don’t need many Tendon and Bone Pills, seven or eight bottles a month will do.”
“Th-then all right, uncle.”
Rong Shu seemed tempted and agreed, while inwardly she was delighted and told the hunchbacked uncle in her heart: [Happy cooperation.]
“Right, uncle, Senior Brother Lin Dao doesn’t want others to know he’s an alchemist, so you mustn’t spread it around.”
Rong Shu deliberately made it sound grave, her little face taut: “If we anger him, he won’t give me a discount or help me refine. Besides, if others find out, they might all swarm to Senior Brother Lin Dao for alchemy…”
The hunchbacked uncle nodded solemnly: “I understand such small matters. I will keep the secret.”
“Mm-hmm, I believe you, uncle.”
…
During the night watch at Hundred Herb Garden, Rong Shu thought of the “first customer” she had secured in the daytime and couldn’t stop herself from feeling happy.
Heh heh heh…
She had pocketed a wave of spirit stones for free.
She did feel a little sorry toward Senior Brother Lin Dao for borrowing his revered name.
Originally, she still had some unrefined ingredients for Tendon and Bone Pills purchased in Scarlet Sun City. Now that she was being threatened by Feng Lin, she dared not leave the sect casually. Within the sect, Feng Lin would restrain himself and not act against her openly, but once she went out… an “accidental” death would be all too normal.
When that happened, never mind selling refined Tendon and Bone Pills to outside pill shops to earn spirit stones—Rong Shu might not even keep her little life.
…
The next day, when Rong Shu went to find Lin Dao again, she mentioned this matter in passing.
After hearing her frank admission, Lin Dao was a little speechless: “You? You…”
“Heh heh heh…” Rong Shu gave a silly laugh, then looked up at Lin Dao with tentative care: “Senior brother, you don’t mind, do you?”
“Oh?” Seeing her gazing at him pitifully, a mischievous impulse rose in Lin Dao; he deliberately teased her: “If I do mind, are you going to hand over all the spirit stones you swindled?”
Rong Shu’s little face collapsed at once: “Uh…”
“Th-then I’ll give them to senior brother.”
“I can do it, I can also buy the medicinal ingredients, and… and I can…”
Watching her sound so pitiable while her fingers clutched her storage pouch tightly, looking pained and loath to part with it, Lin Dao couldn’t help but chuckle: “All right, stop clowning around.”
“I’m kidding. I’m not taking your spirit stones.”
“Even if you fooled someone, you did it with your own skill.”
Hearing this, Rong Shu’s smile bloomed again. She swiftly tucked the storage pouch back into her arms like a precious one: “Heh heh heh… senior brother, you’re the best.”
“I also think it’s my skill,” she said, unable to help puffing out her tiny chest in pride.
Lin Dao offered a reminder: “However, if you’ve promised to refine pills for someone, you must not pass off inferior goods. Others are paying spirit stones.”
Rong Shu bobbed her small head vigorously: “Mm-hmm, I know.”
Finding the little girl before him genuinely adorable, Lin Dao reached out to rub her head, his tone softening: “Come on, go practice your blade for me to see.”
Lin Dao knew that Rong Shu had stopped returning to Limitless Peak, so he tacitly allowed her to stay with him a little longer.
The little girl lacked a sense of security… so he would give it to her.
In any case, Lin Dao did not dislike this quick-witted and hard-studying little girl before him.
Hearing that Lin Dao wanted to watch her practice, Rong Shu straightened at once: “All right!”
…
Even Rong Shu herself had not realized that as her contact with Lin Dao deepened, she had gone from initial respectful distance to now showing a hint of the mischief that should belong to a kid in front of him.
Whether it was the past life Rong Shu, whose parents were unknown, who was raised like livestock, and who died in a foul ditch just after turning eighteen, or the twelve-year-old Rong Shu of this life, a near-invisible person in the Rong Clan who neither fought nor vied, neither had ever had the chance to appear bright and carefree before others.
Heart for heart.
Rong Shu could feel Lin Dao’s goodwill and help toward her, and she was willing to peel back a little of her hard shell and barbs, to treat him with a softer, sincere side.
…
One stick of incense later, Lin Dao’s sharp rebukes rang out: “Again!”
“Far too poor!”
“What are you even practicing? Start over!”
…
Rong Shu regretted it.
Rong Shu wanted to take back her “wounded” little heart. [I want to take it back.]
Only now did Rong Shu realize that the senior brother Lin Dao in Scarlet Sun City had been too gentle in guiding her cultivation.
The current senior brother Lin Dao was a devil, a great fiend, a cold-faced teacher.
Still, though she was wailing inside, Rong Shu gritted her teeth on the surface and continued practicing her blade as Lin Dao instructed.
She practiced for most of the day. In the end, Lin Dao concluded: “Twin blades would suit you better.”
“But you’re a beginner; no need to rush into twin blades right away.”
Rong Shu rubbed her sore arms and nodded: “Got it, senior brother. Then I’ll start with a single saber.”
“Mm, very good.”
Only after the training ended did Lin Dao give her a word of praise.
Hearing this, a small warmth spread through Rong Shu’s heart, and she immediately felt she could train for several more hours.
But Lin Dao strictly controlled the training time. While stimulating Rong Shu’s potential, he also took care not to damage her body. If the time were to increase, it would only be considered after she grew a bit more and her physique strengthened.
…
After finishing blade practice at Lin Dao’s place, Rong Shu borrowed his courtyard to refine pills.
When she finished refining two bottles of Tendon and Bone Pills and dusk was falling, she set out for the back mountain.
The moment she entered Hundred Herb Garden, the hunchbacked uncle who normally looked down on her greeted Rong Shu with unusual warmth and friendliness.
Rong Shu did not circle around. She directly handed him two bottles of Tendon and Bone Pills, adding: “Senior brother has been busy cultivating lately, and he doesn’t have much time to refine. He can only make about one bottle every few days.”
“That’s fine, that’s fine.”
Being able to get Tendon and Bone Pills at all, the hunchbacked uncle did not care about the wait. After inspecting the finished effect of the two bottles and confirming they were genuine, he asked after Rong Shu a few more times with newfound concern.
Because of the benefits Rong Shu brought, even when the hunchbacked uncle patrolled at night and saw her practicing with a blade, he turned a blind eye and did not mention it to others.
However, while she was practicing blade work with all her might, Rong Shu did not forget her original plan to raise her notoriety.
Concealing her identity, she spent a few spirit stones to have several outer-sect disciples deliberately spread news about her among the outer sect.
Of course, all of it was bad news.
Within a few days, on the outer peaks, most disciples were gossiping about Rong Shu.
“Have you heard? Immortal Venerable Ze Yu’s new disciple Rong Shu went on a mission with Senior Brother Qin and the others the other day. She was useless and dragged them down…”
“No way? She’s only at Qi Refining level one, right? And she dared to take a mission outside? She’s just relying on Senior Brother Qin Yuan to protect her…”
“I don’t even know what use she is, honestly… why could she become Immortal Venerable Ze Yu’s personal disciple…”