Chapter 89.2
Thank you to an anonymous reader for the Ko-fi!
Editor: Sahloknir
Because his mortal disciple was by his side, Shi Qing could not enter seclusion.
After all, it might be months or years before he came out again. If he was especially enlightened, his disciple might be nothing but bones by the time he emerged.
But there were things other than seclusion that he could do.
For example, refining pills.
Shi Qing first found a recipe for a pill in a hidden book.
On his first attempt…
Aiya, a dozen Great Perfection grade pills.
He really was a genius.
On his second attempt…
12 pills doubled to 24.
Then came the pills that were said to be difficult to refine.
Pills that were very difficult to refine.
Pills that were super-duper, extremely difficult to refine.
The blue-robed supreme elder tried them all, and succeeded each time.
Rong Jue was always by his side. He too was astonished to see his good-for-nothing Shizun achieve success repeatedly on his first attempts.
In his last life, he hadn’t heard any news about Shi Qing’s talent in pill refinement after he left Qing Jian Peak…
He couldn’t help but ask, “Shizun, have you ever studied pill refinement?”
“Not really.”
The blue-robed supreme elder was in front of the furnace. His tone was a little softer than usual. Although there was still no expression on his face, Rong Jue could sense some happiness in his brows and eyes.
Shi Qing bowed his head slightly and looked at his slender white hands.
His usually placid eyes glittered faintly. “I thought—I was sure I was mediocre at cultivation.”
Rong Jue walked to his side. “How could Shizun be mediocre? This disciple has never heard of anyone succeeding in their first refinement attempt, not to mention that the pills Shizun made are all at the Great Perfection grade! That’s a feat even refinement masters would find hard to achieve.”
After living in the demon world for so long, Rong Jue has long since learned the art of kissing a.s.s. It was like second nature to him now.
Shi Qing became even happier. He even tilted his head and smiled lightly at Rong Jue.
The supreme elder said generously, “If you want any pills in the future, just ask me directly.”
His smile startled Rong Jue.
He’s never seen Shi Qing so happy before.
So the smile that bloomed on this beautiful and compelling face turned out to be very attractive…
For the first time, the hand that had always been practicing demonic cultivation out of sight paused.
The faint demonic energy dispersed, leaving only a long, slender hand that was slightly curled up.
[Ding! Rong Jue’s animosity value: 499.5/500]
System: [Host…Don’t you feel like this world seems a bit dangerous?]
Shi Qing: [En? Because decimals appeared for the first time?]
System: […Yeah.]
Anyway, this was the first time it came across a 0.5 drop in animosity.
This guy sure could hold a grudge.
Tiny tut-tuts.jpg
The naive system was apparently panicking due to this anomaly, but Shi Qing was fine.
[0.5 is already pretty good. If I had been treated like that, my animosity value wouldn’t go down by 0.00005, not to mention 0.5.]
Just think about how much suffering was necessary to turn a sunny and cheerful person into a dark and brutal demon lord.
[There will be sugar in the future.] As usual, Shi Qing comforted his cute little System: [Rest a.s.sured, this world will not end in failure.]
Sugar? Where’s this sugar coming from?
The System that liked to fill in holes couldn’t help but imagine Rong Jue lunging over to stab its peacefully sleeping Host one day…
Oh wait, he wouldn’t even need a knife, he could just detonate the demonic energy in Shi Qing’s heart meridian.
Shi Qing was very accomodating: [Be good and go play by yourself. If you’re really bored, you can use my points to buy some games.]
Every family had its problems. His System just happened to worry too much. Shi Qing accepted its good intentions.
[Oh…]
The System added with a little uncertainty: [Anyways, call me right away if you’re in trouble, Host! We’ll run away, points be d.a.m.ned!]
[Alright, alright. Now shoo.]
After chasing away his little worrywart System, Shi Qing glanced at his ‘I love Shizun I admire Shizun, I really admire Shizun’ disciple. His smile widened a fraction.
“This master wishes to try and refine Longevity Pills. Will you stay and watch?”
Longevity Pills have always been one of the most difficult pills to make in the cultivation world.
It was probably because increasing one’s lifespan went against the will of the World’s Consciousness. It was rare to find even one of these pills on the market.
The quality of Longevity pills could be discerned based on their appearance.
A normal one would extend life for ten days to half a month.
A Minor Perfection grade one could extend a lifespan by at least five years.
A Great Perfection grade one can prolong life for around fifty years.
Finally, there was the Pill Aurora grade Longevity Pill.
This type could extend life for at least a hundred to two hundred years.
Longevity pills were definitely the most difficult to refine.
Even a Immortalization stage refinement master would need a lot of time and energy to refine it. As such, many furnaces would have to be consumed in order to produce a single Longevity Pill.
In the end, even if a pill was made, it was likely to be just of Minor Perfection grade.
And now, on his first day of refining pills, Shi Qing wanted to try his hand at the Longevity Pill.
On one hand, Rong Jue sneered at this amateur overestimating his abilities. But, having witnessed Shi Qing’s repeated success in refining, he had a vague suspicion that perhaps Shi Qing would succeed again.
After all, he had never failed before.
The eldest disciple looked down and stood aside, “This disciple will watch from the side.”
***
Chi Yun Sect’s most senior supreme elders were discussing the matter involving Qing Jian Peak and Chi Xia Peak.
“Shi Qing is still too young in the end. To go so far for a disciple with a ruined spiritual root…”
“But I can vaguely recall that Shi Qing didn’t seem to like this disciple all that much, so why is he…”
“He’s young and his cultivation is unstable. Zhang Cheng’s grandson humiliating his disciple to this degree is like a slap to his Qing Jian Peak’s face. Don’t forget all the disciples that were gathered around the Punishment Hall that day.”
“If Shi Qing really let Zhang Cheng’s grandson off the hook for some pills, how will he be able to face his disciples in the future?”
As soon as this was said, several other supreme elders who were drinking tea also nodded. “That’s right. In the end, Shi Qing is still too young. Sigh, isn’t there a saying that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? His father was so powerful, but he’s so…” Sigh.
“He’s been spoiled rotten. We can still look after Shi Qing while we’re all here, but when we all ascend or fall in the future, it’s still up in the air whether that boy can keep Qing Jian Peak.”
As they were talking, Zhang Cheng came out of the peach blossom forest and smiled smugly at their relaxed atmosphere. “What are my fellow supreme elders discussing? I would like to join in.”
The supreme elder seated closest to the exit didn’t hide it. He laughed, “We were just talking about you and Shi Qing. He’s still a green child that hasn’t experienced hardship. His father entrusted us to look after him before he ascended as well. Supreme Elder, don’t be too hard on him.”
As soon as he heard that, Zhang Cheng’s face took on a cold smile. “He doesn’t show me the respect I deserve as his senior, so why should I leave him any face? All of you need not dissuade me. My Chi Xia Peak supplies the entire Chi Yun Sect’s pills, so why should I be considerate of him? He wants to play hardball with me? Fine. Let’s see how his Qing Jian Peak will do without a supply of pills!”
Suddenly, all of the people gathered sensed something and looked in the same direction.
At that spot, there was a rainbow coloured aurora in the originally clear sky.
Even Zhang Cheng was a little surprised. “This is…”
One supreme elder sprang to his feet. “Pill Aurora! This is a Pill Aurora!”
“It’s been over a thousand years since the Chi Yun Sect has seen a Pill Aurora! Which refinement master is responsible for this?!”
Almost everyone’s attention fell on Zhang Cheng, as his Chi Xia Peak produced pill refinement cultivators.
After getting over his momentary shock, Zhang Cheng became faintly proud of himself. “My Chi Xia Peak is in that direction. It must be my third disciple who refined pills worthy of a Pill Aurora. He has always been very talented.”
“It’s just that…” He then hesitated, “My third disciple only returned to Chi Xia Peak yesterday. One day and one night doesn’t seem like enough time to do this…”
He wanted to a.n.a.lyze more, but the other supreme elders couldn’t wait.
“We’ll know when we go there and see! I don’t know if it’s coincidence or what, but if we can still refine pills that lead to Pill Aurora in the future, we can be sure to decide on the pills we need first.”
There were many different types of pills in the world. The ones that could draw the Pill Aurora was definitely the most powerful and most difficult to refine of them all!
Pill refinement masters enjoyed high status in the cultivation world, and those who can refine pills that produce Pill Auroras were definitely held in high esteem by everyone,
After all, no one knew when they would need pills, and pills that could lead to Pill Aurora were definitely the best choice for cultivators.
When Zhang Cheng saw how eager they were, he proudly straightened his back. Obviously, he too wanted to know which of his good disciples had attracted the Pill Aurora, but he still wanted to rub it in some more. “Forget it, it wouldn’t be good for us to disturb a junior like this.”
“What’s not good about it? Oh, we haven’t congratulated Supreme Elder Zhang Cheng yet on raising such a good disciple.”
Zhang Cheng’s chest puffed up more and more.
Now that there was a pill refinement master on his peak who could create Pill Auroras, Qing Jian Peak had even less chance of successfully opposing him.
The group headed straight over.
Along the way, there were many disciples who were curious too after seeing the Pill Aurora. When they saw the supreme elders, they hurriedly saluted and parted for them.
The more they went that way, the more puzzled the supreme elders became.
“Strange, doesn’t it now look like the phenomenon originated from Qing Jian Peak?”
“Yes, Chi Xia Peak is in sight, but the Pill Aurora isn’t there.”
Zhang Cheng’s proud expression also gradually dimmed.
He stared at the Pill Aurora over Qing Jian Peak.
But how could this be? Shi Qing has never refined pills before, and his Qing Jian Peak only had three disciples. His eldest was an invalid, and the others were sword cultivators.
It’s impossible that the pills were refined by Qing Jian Peak.
He heard a nearby disciple whisper in admiration, “I wonder who on Qing Jian Peak refined the pills that produced a Pill Aurora. They must be very skilled…”
Zhang Cheng’s expression sank.
He said with utmost certainty, “It can’t have been made by someone from Qing Jian Peak. It must have been someone from my Chi Xia Peak.”
The other supreme elders shrugged. “In that case, we’ll know if we go over and take a look.”
Because Zhang Cheng didn’t look too happy, they stopped walking and flew directly over to Qing Jian Peak using their swords. They landed in front of Shi Qing’s residence.
“What a strong Pill Aurora.”
“So it did form from here.”
As they chatted, the closed door suddenly opened.
Shi Qing came out with a pill box in hand.
He was followed by Rong Jue, whom everyone completely disregarded.
Shi Qing nodded in greeting. “Why did my fellow supreme elders decide to come to my Qing Jian Peak today? Was it to drink wine with me?”
Everyone’s eyes instantly fixed on the pill box in his hand. The fragrance wafting over shocked them to their core.
“This fragrance…it’s Longevity Pills?!!”
“These Longevity Pills are of a high enough grade to cause a Pill Aurora?!!”
“Shi Qing, who exactly made these pills?”
Under several pairs of shocked eyes, Shi Qing opened the pill box, revealing the two Longevity Pills within.
His long, white fingertips landed on one of the pills. Taking it out, he shoved it into Rong Jue’s mouth. The other supreme elders could only watch, sh.e.l.l-shocked.
Rong Jue stiffened slightly, subconsciously glancing at his Shizun.
Shi Qing slowly withdrew his hand and admonished him, “What are you waiting for? Hurry up and swallow.”
Rong Jue lowered his eyes, and with complicated emotions, swallowed the Pill Aurora grade Longevity Pill that would’ve been cherished by even the Chi Yun sect Sect Master.
One of the supreme elders was even more shocked, “This is a Pill Aurora grade Longevity Pill! How could you feed it to a disciple with a ruined spiritual root?!”
The supreme elder in blue smiled lightly. He seemed to be in a good mood.
“Why can’t I?”
“I just refined these pills with him.”
Happy New Years guys!!