A Snail's Wisdom

This Brother Gao Diao of his was the sixth elder. He was in charge of the sect"s apothecaries.

He had come to the sect from outside the Freezing Desert half a century ago. As a result, his travels and experiences had surpa.s.sed that of the others in both number and variety. Using his external knowledge and wealth, he had created an insurmountable challenge; no one in the sect was capable of accomplishing it. Ten years had pa.s.sed, and not one disciple could recognize the plant he used.

"You are quite persistent, Brother Ariyoshi, but what would be the purpose of the challenge if I gave out hints, che-che-che?" the sixth elder asked the stumpy old man while stroking his nefarious-looking moustache and laughing strangely.

They were casually walking towards the sect"s main apothecary.

That Brother Ariyoshi Miji of his was the fourth elder. He managed the sect"s challenge pit and training arena.

He had a bad gambling habit, and he was quite compet.i.tive. This was seen by the fact that his disciples held most of the records for the sect"s various challenges.

The decade-old challenge of his Red Fireroot had swiped many credits from Brother Ariyoshi and his disciples, but this shrimpy geezer didn"t know when to give up, to the extent that he followed the sixth elder all the way to the apothecary pursuing any inkling of a clue.

Their exchange continued up until they reached the apothecary. Yesterday, Elder Gao had received a unusual request for one hundred Meridian Nourishment Pills, so he came to deliver them himself.

Meridian Nourishment Pills were only Grade 1 pills, but one hundred of them would have still taken a few days to make. Fortunately, they were one of several pills often created for practice by the apprentice apothecaries because of its inexpensive recipe. However, they were usually thrown out, since there was no demand for the pill.

The sixth elder, on the other hand, was a much more advanced apothecary. The more powerful pills often used weaker pills in their recipes as a foundation to build on, so he held onto every pill he had synthesized or found regardless of their effects, including the ones tossed out by his juniors. Even for the near-useless Meridian Nourishment Pills, he had several hundred in his bag ready to be taken out at any time.

They walked into the store and approached the counter. The Foundation Establishment attendant clasped his fists and greeted the elders.

"Disciple offers greetings to master and Fourth Elder." The attendant"s face carried a slight glimmer of dread when he looked at the two elders.

His master had been the proud owner of the second-oldest ongoing challenge in the sect, while the fourth elder had been trying to overcome that very same challenge. He was concerned with how they would react to the news he was about to share. In fact, he hoped they wouldn"t bring it up.

The two elders nodded to acknowledge his greetings and paused to scan the table and room. Failing to find what they were looking for, they both faced the attendant.

"What happened to the plant? I am here to take up the challenge," said the fourth elder with his customary frown, curious to know why it was not on the table as usual.

The sixth elder nodded his head and chuckled at his rival"s behavior as he stroked his moustache. "Bring out the plant and challenge stone. Brother Ariyoshi wants to donate more of his credits to us. Che-che-che…"

The short elder threw a glare at his rival who was poking fun at him. "Laugh while you still can, you sly fox. I will take down your challenge eventually, even if it takes me another decade!" he declared grandly, turning his nose to the sky in an attempt to look down on the laughing giant.

"Che-che-che, no need to angrily start throwing names at me. No one is forcing you to endlessly throw your credits away, you stubborn goat," he snickered back at him.

The attendant interrupted their exchange in a quiet voice, "The challenge has been taken down."

The elders froze in place, processing what they had just been told. A breath later, they turned back to the attendant.

"What did you just say? I believe I misheard you," asked Elder Gao, believing his ears were playing tricks on him.

"Yes, perhaps you misspoke?" inquired Elder Ariyoshi, a mix of hope and unease lingering in his question.

Even though the attendant had spoken in a hushed voice, there was no way two Nascent Soul cultivators would not hear him clearly from this distance.

One who had cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage would have transcended to a supernatural level, pushing their body"s capabilities past the mortal threshold. Their hearing, vision, and sense of smell would have reached a G.o.dly level; even their sense of taste would have become hypersensitive, bringing out tenfolds the flavor of whatever they consumed.

With a pained expression, the attendant solemnly repeated what he had said before, "The challenge has been taken down."

The elders were momentarily stunned.

"Are you sure?" they asked in unison, sharing their disbelief.

The attendant nodded his head. "Was Red Fireroot the correct answer, master?"

After that "sister" had left the apothecary, he had pored over all the books he could find on plants searching for the properties of the Red Fireroot. After gathering various resources and descriptions of the plant, he had realized it was indeed a Red Fireroot, but there was no way someone would have successfully gathered all that information randomly looking for the answer. They must have been studying and researching all plants with no regard to their traits since the usual appearance of a Red Fireroot did not match its current appearance.

"Yes…" Elder Gao trailed off, letting the silence take over as a look of disbelief appeared on the faces of both elders.

The three of them stood there quietly for a minute. The two elders were in deep contemplation, brooding over the news in their head. The apprentice waited for them to get their bearings since it would be rude of him to interrupt two elders. The sixth elder was the first to break the silence, shaking himself out of the stupor.

"Right...you sent a request for one hundred Meridian Nourishment Pills. Who would make such an unusual request?" Elder Gao asked, taking a sack of pills out of his storage ring.

Truthfully, he wanted to ask a few more questions about the challenger, but he wanted to complete his errand first before pursuing the matter.

Additionally, he was extremely curious to know why someone would want one hundred of these pills. Their usage is beneficial mainly for extremely rare and specific injuries that might require one or two of them, five at the most, and they cannot be resold for profit due to their low demand. He couldn"t imagine any feasible reason for wanting one hundred of them other than possibly using them for advanced pill recipes.

"Master, I didn"t catch her name, but I know her cave"s number."

"You don"t know her?" Elder Gao was bewildered by his apprentice"s words.

Cultivators universally used pills in their cultivation, without exception; even the servants who were barely in the Body Tempering stage would split their credits between spirit stones and pills.

Because of this custom, the apothecary attendant would have dealt with many people in the sect, especially those with enough credits to order one hundred pills at once.

Understanding why his master was surprised, the attendant spoke up once more, "The person who made the order was the same sister who beat the challenge. She had been recently admitted into inner-sect."

"Was it her? The Sandstorm Mint child?" the fourth elder was the one who spoke up this time.

Kenja was obviously not a child, but to these elders who had lived and seen a lot in their lives, even middle-aged adults could be considered children to them.

The attendant nodded once more.

The sixth elder turned to his brother confused, "You have seen her for yourself? How old was she? How advanced was her cultivation?"

Elder Gao had created the challenge in order to find a talented disciple who cared more about the plants than the points. He chose the Red Fireroot because it would have been impossible to identify it without having researched the subject extensively. Since its appearance was vastly different when grown away from its natural habitat, only one who had studied and memorized the details of plants with no regard for his challenge would have had any hope in identifying the Red Fireroot.

To have identified the plant soon after joining the sect and ordering one hundred pointless pills, she must have been a woman who had spent her years becoming well-versed in plants and pill concoction. Perhaps she could become a worthy disciple if she weren"t too close to death"s door.

Once you step on the path of cultivation, you don"t stop until you have crossed death"s threshold. Every time you advance through a stage, your longevity improved, adding years to your life. A low cultivation level would mean she could add a significant number of years to her life as long as the sixth elder could help her out.

So when Elder Gao heard Brother Ariyoshi call her a "child", he was hopefully puzzled. The younger she was, the more he could help her grow, but how "young" could she truly be if she knew so much about plants and pill concoction.

The disbelief in Elder Ariyoshi"s eyes grew clearer with each second. "She was only at the Qi Flourishing stage; she could not have lived more than two decades…"

"Oh…if she was new to the sect and was this young and inexperienced, where did she get all those credits to try the challenge so many times?" he asked in a disappointed tone.

Even if this person had begun studying from inside the womb, they could not have ama.s.sed enough knowledge to identify the plant from its traits alone. It was more likely that they used credits to randomly name plants from a book and hit the jackpot by guessing Red Fireroot.

It wasn"t an impossibility to get the right answer in this way, and she would not have been the first one to try such a feat. After all, the challenge had existed for ten years; someone was eventually bound to get lucky. For Elder Gao, the true mystery was how did a new Qi Flourishing disciple obtain enough credits to make numerous attempts at naming the plant.

As if reading his thoughts, Elder Ariyoshi continued, "...she only had the original number of credits we give inner-sect disciples."

"Wait...that"s only a thousand credits. Are you saying she successfully named the plant with only two attempts?" He switched from the fourth elder"s downcast gaze to his disciple who had a pained expression and an awkward smile on his face.

"Yes, master. She guessed it on her second attempt, and I am quite sure that that was her first time hearing of the challenge. Senior sister didn"t bother searching through any books before she took the challenge."

The attendant was equally astounded when the event happened before his eyes, but his shock only deepened after he found out the difficulty of deciphering the traits of the Red Fireroot. At this time, even though his cultivation was a realm higher, he held the utmost reverence for the youthful sister from the perspective of an apothecary apprentice.

Elder Gao keeled over, coughing in disbelief. Elder Ariyoshi maintained his composure since he had experienced the event firsthand, but even he inwardly still couldn"t believe the truth. Once the sixth elder had gotten ahold of himself, he turned back to the attendant.

"What is her cave"s number?"

"5-5, master," he answered back, unsure of why he wanted to know.

Elder Gao turned to leave, and the attendant spoke up once more.

"Master, I can deliver the pills. There is no need to trouble yourself."

The sixth elder raised his hand to dismiss his disciple"s worries. "It"s fine. I wish to meet your senior sister for myself, so I shall deliver the pills."

"I will join you, Brother Gao. I wish to congratulate the promising disciple on her victory as well."

The two elders looked at each other with narrowed eyes, their auras filling the room and pushing against each other. How could they not know the hidden intentions of the other person?

Gao Diao had long given up on finding a disciple through the challenge. Otherwise, he might not have relented and taken Shimizu Mizutani under his wing years before. She was a talented cultivator, but her skills as an apothecary and pill alchemist still needed much grooming. Furthermore, she was easily distracted by unimportant matters which made it harder to pa.s.s down the immense knowledge he had spent his life gathering.

Discovering such a young and gifted disciple was like finding the perfect seedling that he could grow in a beautiful flower. He could take her in and groom her to be the next genius that could work in tandem with him in the future. At the least, he would have someone to whom he could pa.s.s down his responsibilities and position in the future.

Ariyoshi Miji, on the other hand, had several other reasons for meeting Kenja.

He and his disciples had spent many years and a tremendous amount of credits to defeat the challenge, only to have it conquered by a new and unknown disciple. If he could have Kenja come under his wing, not only could he recoup some of his losses, but then it would be another one of "his disciples" that had taken down the decade-old challenge.

Most importantly, he could achieve a victory over his rival, by taking away the disciple he wanted right from under his nose. Wiping the smug look off of this brother"s face had become his strongest desire over the past few years.

Elder Gao walked towards the door and pulled it open, standing aside while surging his aura out. The bookshelves swayed, and the tables and chairs scuttled slightly

"After you, Brother Ariyoshi. Don"t want to accidentally step on you. Che-che-che."

"Hmph. Do you dare?" Ariyoshi Miji"s aura surged out from him, making a bookshelf tumble over and causing the windows to vibrate. He walked out of the building, followed by Elder Gao.

On the floor of the near-empty apothecary, the apothecary attendant was knocked-out cold on his back with his eyes closed.