Chapter 176: I’m Really Busy
Since Lin Jin wasn’t home, he could only carry on waiting.
Lu Bin suddenly noticed the irony in his current situation. With his status, even if he were to meet with Maple City’s city lord, the latter would be the one waiting for him. Since when did Lu Bin have to wait for someone?
Ever since meeting Lin Jin, he had always been on the losing end.
He had had to apologize and beg the younger man for medicine to treat the princess.
Now, it seems like he was going to have to wait an entire night in the cold breeze for him.
Lu Bin would never tell anyone about this anyway. It was embarra.s.sing, but at the same time, it was worth it. The prescription Lin Jin gave them had alleviated so much of the sixth princess’s pain. Since she had requested to meet him, Lu Bin would never complain even if he had to wait the whole night.
Finally, when dawn was about to break, Lu Bin saw a person walking over. It was Lin Jin.
Tagging along with Lin Jin was his pet beast.
At this, Lu Bin immediately leaped off the rooftop and stopped him.
“Appraiser Lin!” Lu Bin saluted.
Lin Jin was startled by his sudden appearance.
If someone were to suddenly fall from the sky before you this early in the morning, anyone would be frightened.
Upon seeing it was Lu Bin, Lin Jin was dumbstruck.
“Why are you here? Wait, before that, was the prescription ineffective?” Lin Jin asked out of reflex.
Lu Bin was stunned instead before understanding the situation.
“No, not at all, Appraiser Lin. In fact, I’ve come here to thank you. The nine water floating cloud pill has been very effective and the young master is feeling much better. Hence, he sent me here to thank you.”
Oh, he wasn’t here for trouble.
Alright then.
Lin Jin feared that the Museum of Deadly Beast’s treatment method didn’t work. This had just been a casual deed so Lin Jin had almost forgotten about it. If Lu Bin showed up several months later instead, Lin Jin would have probably forgotten about him.
“You don’t have to thank me. I never do things in hopes of getting something in return. If there’s nothing else, you may leave now.” Lin Jin knew Lu Bin wasn’t an ordinary man.
He already knew since the last time.
Not only was Lu Bin’s cultivation level high and his pet beast unique, but he could even summon a transportation eagle with ease. He was definitely a wealthy and respectable man. However, the curse Lin Jin sensed from the cross-dresser was too terrifying. Even most of the Museum of Deadly Beast’s solutions revolved around delaying the curse, and by basing his judgment on this, Lin Jin figured that the other party was trouble.
Since that was the case, it was better for him to not get involved.
“Appraiser Lin, please wait!” Lu Bin hurried after him. He came all this way to invite Lin Jin back to Jade Dragon City as a guest so how could he let the man dismiss him so easily?
“Is there perhaps something else?” Lin Jin glanced at him.
Lu Bin could tell that Lin Jin had no intention of inviting him into the house so he simply relayed his objective.
“I’m here to invite Appraiser Lin to Jade Dragon City as a guest. My young master would like to treat Appraiser Lin to a feast to show his grat.i.tude for receiving Appraiser Lin’s prescription.”
Lu Bin was confident about his proposal but reality came down like a bucket of cold water.
“I’m sorry but I’m busy,” Lin Jin answered quickly.
Lu Bin’s hand twitched.
He thought about being refused but he didn’t expect the man to do it so directly. He didn’t seem to give it any thought at all.
“Appraiser Lin, I think you should give it some thought because…” Lu Bin intended to urge Lin Jin that this was a rare opportunity, but before he could finish, Lin Jin shook his head. “I’m really busy. Or maybe you could wait a little longer?”
Lin Jin wasn’t making this up.
He was genuinely busy. The Visitation Hall would reopen tonight so he had to prepare himself, right?
He planned to ‘serve’ Old Ye well in the Visitation Hall tonight.
In addition, he had to give Shang’er and the others lessons every day. The great white ape, in particular, had reached a pivotal point in its cultivation so Lin Jin had to be there. Also, the Friar a.s.sociation’s disciple tournament will be coming up soon.
This involved the lesser dragon blood pill which in turn, concerned Xiao Huo’s next perfect evolution; Lin Jin couldn’t afford to screw up at this point in time.
Hence, it didn’t matter who was inviting him, Lin Jin would turn all the invites down.
Lu Bin’s eyelid was twitching from irritation but he couldn’t do anything about it. After all, he was here to invite Lin Jin to be their guest. If the man didn’t have time, they couldn’t force him.
Fortunately, Lin Jin didn’t give him an absolute rejection. He did say that he’d come once his obligations were taken care of.
“Then, I’ll come back after a few days.” Lu Bin could only leave it at that.
He felt helpless about the situation. To think there was someone in the Jade Dragon Kingdom that he couldn’t invite. Still, Lu Bin didn’t get angry. How could he? Lin Jin was the sixth princess’s savior and judging by his excellence, he must have a great figure backing him up.
Right, he had to get this investigated.
Without guidance and support, how could he possibly have three Rank 3 pet beasts on his side? Even members of Jade Dragon’s royal family didn’t have this privilege.
Lu Bin planned to have Lin Jin thoroughly investigated. Their previous search was definitely just the tip of an iceberg.
Lu Bin left.
He had to report the situation to the sixth princess and also arrange his men for an investigation.
Once Lin Jin entered the yard, Goldy and the shadow wolf immediately flocked around him. Goldy was clucking incessantly while the shadow wolf let out random growls, failing hilariously at his attempt to speak.
Lin Jin had another ability.
He realized he could read a beast’s thoughts. Of course, it was only simple mind-reading. It only allowed him to gain a surface-level understanding of what the creature wanted.
For example, now, he knew Goldy and the shadow wolf were trying to tell him that someone broke into the yard when he wasn’t around. The key here was them chasing the intruder away.
It kind of seemed like they were asking for credit.
Lin Jin patted Goldy and the shadow wolf on their heads, praising them.
Lin Jin wasn’t surprised to hear about the intruder though. It should be none other than Lu Bin from earlier.
Had it been someone else, they wouldn’t have gotten away that easily. Only an extraordinary expert like Lu Bin could retreat safely.
Lin Jin had a vague idea of who Lu Bin was.
To summarize, the man was a prestigious figure in the Jade Dragon City. This Jade Dragon City was Jade Dragon Kingdom’s capital, a place where royalty and prominent figures of various trades gathered. A place as tiny as Maple City couldn’t even begin to compare with them. That Lu Bin and the cross-dressing woman were probably dignitaries from Jade Dragon City.
However, Lin Jin wasn’t worried about offending Lu Bin.
It was because Lu Bin had to rely on Lin Jin.
That cross-dressing woman’s b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul curse was no cakewalk. Lin Jin had researched it briefly. While the museum had a method to completely remove the curse, it was in fact, h.e.l.lishly difficult.
How difficult?
Even Lin Jin didn’t have the confidence to remove it.
While it was also a b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul course, Tan Lin’s was much easier to resolve. This demonstrates how b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul curses were divided into different ranks. Some were easy to resolve, but the same could not be said for the more complex curses.
For the sake of that cross-dresser, Lu Bin wouldn’t possibly dare to harm Lin Jin in any way, and the latter knew this well.
Once this hectic period was over, Lin Jin didn’t mind following Lu Bin to Jade Dragon City, but he really didn’t have the extra time now.
His greatest obligation today was waiting for the Visitation Hall to open.
Because Lin Jin had to get the materials for Xiao Huo’s perfect evolution from his visitors. Had he relied on himself, it might take at least a year for Lin Jin to gather those ingredients. He might even need to spend a fortune in the process.
And this wasn’t the worst part.
Some could only be bought with spirit stones while some couldn’t even be bought on the market even with money due to its rarity.
The cost to obtain a highly ranked pet beast was a black hole. While Rank 2s were still acceptable, anything from Rank 3 and above was definitely beyond what an ordinary household could handle.
For example, it would take a very long time for the Zu family to prepare their two-headed snake for a Rank 3 evolution.
Lin Jin had been lucky thus far, but now that he wanted to let Xiao Huo evolve into Rank 4, given his current rate of wealth acc.u.mulation, there was no way he could ever hope to sustain the level of spending required by the evolution process.
Fortunately, with the help of the Visitation Hall, Lin Jin now had a new channel to gather materials.
Otherwise, if Lin Jin wanted to help Xiao Huo evolve as soon as possible, not only would he have to spend a huge amount, but he could choose only a regular method. He couldn’t support a perfect evolution.
No one knew if the Visitation Hall would permanently close someday. Hence, Lin Jin’s next order of business was to fix his finances.
Without wealth, he could forget about promoting his pet beast to the next level.
Lin Jin was quite calm despite all of this. He went to the Beast Appraisal a.s.sociation as usual for work and to teach his apprentices beast appraisal skills. Now that they had Jia Qian to help out, Lin Jin was much more relaxed.
Jia Qian definitely deserved her t.i.tle as number one apprentice. She was indeed, a capable appraiser and upon receiving Lin Jin’s guidance over the past few days, she improved immensely. From Lin Jin’s perspective, Jia Qian was currently no different from an official beast appraiser.
She was already close to the level of an official beast appraiser anyway. With the steadied mind, her improvement was much faster now.
While Lin Jin was relaxed, the same could not be said for the visitors of his Visitation Hall.
In the Friar a.s.sociation, Ye Yuzhou had been rejecting visitors all day. Other than his lesson with Yang Jie in the morning, he didn’t allow anyone to disturb him after that.
Of course, Ye Yuzhou had also prepared some of the rare materials he acc.u.mulated over the years. Despite being reluctant to use some of them himself, he was willing to bring them to the Visitation Hall.
It was, after all, the curator’s request. As a prideful man, only a handful of people could force Ye Yuzhou to surrender willingly. One of them was his teacher, Lu Yaogong. The current emperor of Jade Dragon Kingdom was also one. And then, there’s the curator.
Compared to the others, the curator was much more mysterious and extraordinary to Ye Yuzhou.
He had prepared many questions for the curator today so he had to give the man some benefits in return.
In the faraway royal city of Jade Dragon Kingdom, Seventh Princess He Qing was just as giddy as Ye Yuzhou.
She was anxious this time.
Several days earlier, she took some blood from her sister He Yu and stored them in a crystal bottle.
Previously, the curator mentioned that an examination had to be conducted if the b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul curse was to ever be resolved. As it wasn’t realistic to bring the cursed individual over, she had to opt instead to bring the victim’s blood sample for him. Hence, He Qing had to persuade He Yu to let her do it.
However, He Qing knew that He Yu’s curse was no trivial matter. Would the curator be able to tell? Could he break the curse?
No one knew.
What if even the curator couldn’t help?
Thus, He Qing got increasingly anxious.