Chapter 75

Chapter 75: Rong Shu: Guess Where I Am

Seeing this, Feng Bin could only pull Feng Li aside so his junior sister would not further anger Junior Sister Yu.

At this stage, if they still failed to get that last Foundation Establishment Pill, the two of them would really come out losing.

The long-silent System spoke coldly at this moment: [If you cannot find the Divine Beast egg, then so be it. It is only a mere egg; greater opportunities will await you later.]

Hearing this, the nameless anger in Yu Ruan Ruan’s chest subsided a little, but she still ground her teeth: But that was a Divine Beast egg. It was not some trinket from a street stall.

Yu Ruan Ruan felt a bitter reluctance settle in her heart, yet the underground cavern had collapsed, and the Divine Beast egg inside was likely crushed.

She stared at the caved?in hollow with reddened eyes, forcing a breath to steady herself as she murmured inwardly: It is only a Divine Beast. At least it did not end up in someone else’s hands.

[You have wasted too many days. It is time to find Rong Shu.]

Yu Ruan Ruan answered the System in her heart: I know.

Once she had composed herself, Yu Ruan Ruan beckoned the nearby Feng siblings and gave her instructions: My junior sister has been in the secret realm for so many days, and I have no idea where she went or whether she is in danger, go help me find out where Junior Sister Rong is.

Feng Bin and Feng Li exchanged a glance, both finding it odd that only after so many days did Yu Ruan Ruan remember there was a Junior Sister Rong; something felt off. Questions aside, they did not press her and simply nodded: All right, Junior Sister Yu.

It was only asking after one person, which the Feng siblings figured would not be difficult. Although they were in a secret realm, everyone here was from their own sect; ask a few fellow disciples and it should be clear.

Yet the Feng siblings spent three full days asking many fellow disciples and still found no trace of Rong Shu, as if she were not in the secret realm at all.

During their inquiries, they heard one piece of not?so?important news: the demoness obsessed with robbery and taking birds for walks had “washed her hands” these past few days and vanished.

The Rong Shu whom her own kind, beautiful, sincere, and gentle Senior Sister Yu missed so dearly was, at that very moment, hiding in a very concealed cave.

Spread out before Rong Shu were the spoils she had won over the past half month by “sparring” with fellow disciples, plus a smaller portion of the heaven?and?earth treasures she had diligently collected.

She had gathered plenty of spirit herbs among them, so Rong Shu simply decided to refine a new batch of pills. Because these were pills she had never made before, she lacked confidence and worried the furnace might explode, so she planned to test a few times here in the secret realm; once she could refine them stably, she would not have to worry about an explosion causing trouble back in the sect.

There was another reason. Over the past half month, although Rong Shu’s leek?harvesting plan had gone smoothly overall, she could feel those adorable fellow disciples growing more vigilant as time went on. Most of the time they traveled in groups of three to five, and her chances of making a clean score dropped sharply. After mulling it over, she decided the leeks had become alert and were moving in packs, so harvesting efficiency would drop dramatically. It would be better to give herself a short vacation and go out again after half a month to take a look.

Thinking this, Rong Shu could not help praising herself in her heart: [Truly an utterly ordinary big-brain genius, that’s me.]

Rong Shu sorted all the treasures she had obtained into neat categories. Anything that could not be used for pill refining, she put away for later. The rest of the herbs she prepared in exact proportions according to the recipes.

After finishing her preparations, Rong Shu chose a few simple sets of materials and began refining.

Eyeing the piles, she clicked her tongue: Not bad, there are enough materials here for a lot of first?rank pills.

In the Southern Wilds, to become a first?rank alchemist, one had to be proficient in refining fifty types of pills. Rong Shu had recipes for that many, but she had not actually refined all fifty. Partly it was lack of time. Partly it was… poverty. So many pill types, and the spirit?herb cost had to include the waste from inevitable failures; it was a considerable expense.

For the moment, though, she had enough herbs to refine to her heart’s content.

She frowned over a rhizome as she muttered to herself: This root looks damaged… seriously, who was so rough that they mangled the whole root system?

She watched the fire and squinted: The temperature is a bit low, raise it.

A few breaths later she exhaled through her teeth: How did it end up a ruined batch again?

She counted the finished pills from another furnace and tutted: Finished product… one, two, three… five. No good, that is too few.

While Rong Shu devoted herself to closed?door pill refining and, thanks to abundant herbs, scarcely stepped out of the cave, Yu Ruan Ruan and the System—busy trying to find her—were left scratching their heads.

After walking until she was tired, Yu Ruan Ruan and the Feng siblings found a patch of shade under a tree to rest. She asked the System silently: System, do you know where Rong Shu is?

The System answered with biting sarcasm: [You are only remembering me now? I told you half a month ago to hurry and find Rong Shu.]

Yu Ruan Ruan clicked her tongue and let her irritation slip out: How was I supposed to know that girl hid herself so well, she might have been eaten by some beast in here long ago.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that was likely. Rong Shu had only the meager cultivation of Qi Refining Second Layer; any beast in the secret realm could have torn her to shreds with ease. A whole month had passed. If she were alive, how could there be no news at all?

[Until you find a corpse, do not jump to conclusions. Do not forget five years ago.]

Yu Ruan Ruan’s shoulders sank the instant the System mentioned five years ago, and she answered with a sigh: I know. I will go look.

Five years ago, killing Rong Shu would have been as easy as crushing an ant. She had seen Rong Shu stop breathing and assumed she was dead, and then people from the Rong Clan arrived. It was Yu Ruan Ruan’s first kill; panic was inevitable, so she did not choose to destroy the body completely but simply fled.

She never imagined she would run into Rong Shu again five years later, and that Rong Shu’s spiritual root had regrown. Though its quality was lower than before, it was still a stroke of fortune that made Yu Ruan Ruan both envious and jealous.

Unwilling to give up, Yu Ruan Ruan pressed the point: System, is there no way for you to locate Rong Shu’s position, like you did five years ago?

[Rong Shu’s fate is being shielded.]

Is there no other way, then, she asked, already chafing at the memory. The System fell silent for several seconds before answering: [Go check the places where Rong Shu ought to have received opportunities.]

Whether it was joining Heaven’s Evolution Sect, going to Scarlet Sun City, or entering the sect’s secret realm, Rong Shu seemed to be continuing along the “path” originally meant for her, except that the luck and opportunities along the way had been appropriated by Yu Ruan Ruan. Even though everything had proceeded so smoothly, there was always a sense of unreality in how smooth it all was. The System had therefore given up the idea of plundering Rong Shu’s fate and now wanted to eliminate this anomaly as quickly as possible.

Very well, Yu Ruan Ruan said, and could only proceed as the System suggested.

She spent more than ten days walking through every place in the secret realm where Rong Shu should have had a fortuitous encounter, yet never once saw Rong Shu’s shadow. Stifled and furious, Yu Ruan Ruan bit down on the words in her heart: Damn it, where did Rong Shu go?!