Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Ninghua Sect Is Full of Talent

After leaving the Slanting Mountain Icefield, the last ingredient for the Frostheart Purifying Pill was the Goldsun Bloom. When Shen Sang Ruo mentioned it to Li Qing Wen of Linglong Pavilion, he mobilized all his people to keep this valuable client and actually found it.

Linglong Pavilion was already a trading place for rare treasures, and its network built over many years was hard to match. Using her inner flame, Shen Sang Ruo melted the Snow Soul Iceheart Lotus to collect its droplets. After the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion tested them, they confirmed it was Mystic Ice Jade Dew.

With every material secured, the only thing missing was the person to refine the pill. Shen Sang Ruo had a fire spiritual root, but she knew nothing about alchemy. This pill was too important to learn on the fly. What if she messed up and poisoned Su Xi Yu instead? A common alchemist would not do. She needed someone who could refine at least fifth-grade pills.

Li Qing Wen stepped in again. He tapped his network and found a reclusive alchemist in the mountains. Shen Sang Ruo copied the recipe for him, and the Frostheart Purifying Pill was successfully refined.

To strengthen their partnership, Li Qing Wen did everything he could. Shen Sang Ruo at once consigned fifty more treasures to him for auction. He was thrilled. In recent months, “items from the Ninghua Sect” had become Linglong Pavilion’s signature. Every three days, something tied to the sect went on the block. Buyers who came for Ninghua Sect goods ended up driving sales of other lots too, lifting the whole pavilion. If this kept up, Linglong Pavilion would one day become the number one auction pavilion in the cultivation world.

After years at Linglong Pavilion, Li Qing Wen had a jeweler’s eye for people as well as gems. He judged that Shen Sang Ruo was someone worth befriending. In the future he would be even more grateful for all the help he gave her now.

With the Frostheart Purifying Pill in hand, Shen Sang Ruo set out for Moonshadow Valley. Thinking that after today Su Xi Yu’s poison might finally be cured, she could not help smiling, and even her steps felt lighter.

But when she reached the Ninghua Sect, she searched the Sect Master’s Hall and the caves where Su Xi Yu and the others lived and found no one. With the barrier ward in place, they could not have left the sect. Surprised, she went looking everywhere.

She finally found everyone except Immortal Lord Chang Li, who was in closed-door cultivation, out in Su Xi Yu’s spirit-plant field. From far off she heard Su Xi Yu’s voice urging: “Sect Master, why are you sitting down again? Get up and keep digging. If you don’t move, your bones will fall apart.”

When she walked closer, all five had hoes in their hands, even the gray-haired Daoist Wu Wei. They were helping Su Xi Yu till the field. Su Xi Yu lifted the slumped Daoist Wu Wei by his collar with one hand and hauled him upright.

Daoist Wu Wei rolled his eyes and hopped in place as he fumed: “You’re abusing the elderly. I’m going to report you!”

What decent Sect Master got dragged out by disciples to farm? Su Xi Yu only sighed and reminded him: “Weren’t you the one who said you get stronger with age? You haven’t even dug ten meters yet. No slacking.”

“Hmph! I don’t care. I’m taking a break. If you have the guts, beat me to death,” he sniffed.

Since Su Xi Yu had been holding him up, the moment she let go he flopped back onto the dirt and even shut his eyes, looking ready to nap right there on the ground.

Su Xi Yu was speechless.

Swinging his hoe, Song Wei Yan kept talking without stopping for breath as he argued: “I told you my layout looks the best, but you just had to ignore me. What are you people even thinking? Red should go over here, and purple over there. Red and purple together means good luck. But you, Bai Ruo An, had to argue with me.”

He jabbed his hoe into the soil and glared at Bai Ruo An as he demanded: “Be honest, little brother, do you even have an eye for this?”

Bai Ruo An smiled gently with his eyes half closed. The next second he swung his hoe down at Song Wei Yan. Even while lifting it over his head to strike, he kept that soft smile. Smiling at you was only politeness.

Luckily Song Wei Yan reacted fast and dodged aside. The hoe slammed into the ground and gouged out a big pit.

“What are you doing?!” Song Wei Yan patted his chest, heart still racing.

“I’m blind and didn’t see. Sorry, Second Senior Brother,” Bai Ruo An replied in a mild, clear voice that left no handle to grab. He bumped Song Wei Yan out of the way without mercy and warned, “Please move. If I dig into Second Senior Brother next time, I won’t be able to stop my hand.”

Truly a picture of brotherly love.

Ye Huai alone said nothing. He pressed his lips together and kept a cool face that did not match the serious way he dug. He worked like a patient old ox, ready to plow two acres in one go. Compared to the others, he looked like the only one actually doing the job. Well, except that the tool in his hands was his beloved broken sword. He kept it spotless with care, and he was still using it to dig?

Huh?

The scene in front of her was so lively that Shen Sang Ruo hardly knew where to look. [What a sight.] They seemed to bicker nonstop, yet the air felt warm.

She found herself smiling as she stepped into view and called out: “Sect Master Wu Wei, Senior Brothers and Senior Sister.”

They all turned to her with surprise and delight. Daoist Wu Wei sprang up like he had seen his savior. At last, he did not have to dig anymore.

They had thought it would be a long time before Shen Sang Ruo came to the Ninghua Sect again. To be honest, their sect had only this little group of “old, weak, sick, and injured.” In a world where strength ruled, there was not much here for Shen Sang Ruo to gain. And the only person who could guide her cultivation, Immortal Lord Chang Li, was in closed-door cultivation. They had even joked about tricking her into joining, but with their lineup, how could they ever coax her in?

If she focused on training and did not show up for a few years, that would have fit their expectations. They never thought she would come back now.

In a hurry they put away their tools and led Shen Sang Ruo to the Sect Master’s Hall.

Su Xi Yu quietly switched to a closer form of address and asked with a bright smile: “Junior Sister Sang Ruo, did you come to the Ninghua Sect for something urgent?”

Shen Sang Ruo shook her head and answered with a friendly grin: “Nothing urgent. I just wanted to check on Sect Master Wu Wei and all my Senior Brothers and Senior Sister, and bring you some gifts from outside.”