CHAPTER 13: Half a Long Aotian

As she passed the entrance of Flower Wine Alley, a fluffy tail playfully curled toward her ankle.

Yu Youyou nimbly leaped aside and dodged it.

A silk handkerchief embroidered with flowers, carrying a faint fragrance, floated toward her face.

She tilted her head just in time to evade it, not hesitating for a second as she slipped into a nearby alley.

The young demon men and the beautiful ladies: “…?”

Yu Youyou, carrying her sack of spirit stones, didn’t look back as she rushed into the medicinal herb market.

Upon seeing the haphazardly stacked stalls of various medicinal herbs, the black-robed, masked vendors crouching on the ground, the familiar mix of fragrant and foul herbal scents, and hearing the lively haggling laced with curses—

She finally let out a long sigh of relief.

This was the kind of place that felt like home.

Yu Youyou walked past each medicine stall, inspecting them one by one. Unlike West Street, which mainly sold common herbs, this area dealt exclusively in spirit herbs, most of which were first- or second-grade.

Among the lower-grade spirit herbs, she even spotted a fourth-grade one. However, it was stained with blood, looking every bit like it had been looted after a murder…

That, of course, wasn’t the main issue. The real problem was that a fourth-grade herb had a starting price of a thousand spirit stones—she couldn’t afford it.

Eventually, she stopped in front of a stall that specialized in selling first-grade spirit herbs.

The stall owner was even shorter than she was, huddled in a black robe, looking like a little mushroom.

Yu Youyou squatted down and examined the goods carefully. Normally, loose cultivators sold herbs they found during their adventures, so it wasn’t uncommon to see spirit herbs that had been chewed on by spirit beasts, or ones that looked rather misshapen.

But the herbs at this stall were lush, uniform in size, and so pristine that they reminded her of the ones in the Pill Cauldron Sect’s medicine fields.

She pointed at the herbs. “Brother, how much?”

The stall owner instinctively quoted a price. But in the next moment, he froze, lifted his head, and stared at Yu Youyou.

Yu Youyou was also startled by the familiar voice and looked up as well.

Unfortunately, with both of them wearing masks, neither could recognize the other.

After a brief hesitation, the other person tentatively tried a secret phrase—

“The Bald Courtyard Master?”

“…” Damn it, that was the nickname the outer sect disciples had secretly given her!

Yu Youyou cautiously responded, “Eternal Runner-Up?”

Ever since the outer sect assessments, Su Yizhi had always placed second—he was outdone by Qi Nanfeng in medicinal herb cultivation, and by Yu Youyou in herb processing and alchemy formulations.

Su Yizhi’s knees ached for some reason. So this was what his fellow disciples called him behind his back?!

After confirming each other’s identities, Yu Youyou stared at the herbs on the stall. “These all came from the sect?”

No wonder they were such high quality.

“Yeah.” Su Yizhi nodded. “I exchanged contribution points for them.”

That made sense. Ordinary disciples didn’t need to constantly consume medicine or soak in herbal baths, so they wouldn’t hoard this many spirit herbs.

Seeing the large cloth bundle slung over Yu Youyou’s back, Su Yizhi assumed she was here to set up a stall as well.

But to his surprise, Yu Youyou pointed at his herbs. “I’ll take all of them. Can you give me a ten percent discount? Since we’re fellow disciples, how about another ten percent? And if I promise to keep your black market dealings a secret, can you shave off another ten percent?”

That was a total of thirty percent off.

“No.” Su Yizhi, normally gentle and easygoing, was unexpectedly firm. He coolly countered, “I can also keep your secret, but a discount is impossible.”

The two haggled for a long time, and in the end, Yu Youyou bought the entire batch of herbs for two hundred spirit stones.

“I only accept spirit stones, not contribution points, and I don’t do credit,” Su Yizhi suddenly added, remembering that the person in front of him was the poorest disciple in the entire outer sect. He felt a little guilty as he said it.

“I know.” Yu Youyou waved a hand nonchalantly, then removed the cloth bundle from her back to retrieve the spirit stones.

But the sack was too old and worn out, and the spirit stones were too heavy.

With a loud rip, the fabric tore open.

Clear, translucent spirit stones spilled out like a rushing flood.

In that moment, Su Yizhi found it difficult to breathe.

His worldview was shaken.

Was this really his “poorest” fellow disciple? If she was considered poor, then what was he?

Yu Youyou quickly covered the hole and counted out two hundred spirit stones for Su Yizhi.

Just as she was worrying about how to patch up the tear, Su Yizhi hesitantly asked, “Since you’re carrying so many spirit stones, why don’t you just buy a mustard pouch?”

Mustard pouches were special artifacts that could be used even without spiritual power.

The main issue was that Yu Youyou hadn’t expected to earn so many spirit stones today. More importantly, the smallest mustard pouch cost at least two hundred spirit stones, and she was too stingy to spend that much.

“I can’t bring myself to buy one.” Yu Youyou glanced at the large pile of herbs. Bringing them all the way back to the Pill Cauldron Sect wouldn’t be easy. “Why don’t you have a mustard pouch either?”

Su Yizhi’s voice was muffled: “I can’t bear to part with it either.”

Through their masks, their gazes met—both were stingy.

Just as Yu Youyou was about to take off her black robe, wrap up the medicinal herbs, and make a run for it, Su Yizhi, who had been staring at that bag of spirit stones without looking away, suddenly spoke—

“Do you want to cultivate a mental technique?”

Yu Youyou was stunned.

Su Yizhi’s voice was soft and slow: “To enter the inner sect, one must possess spiritual power. I saw you make the testing stone light up, but you didn’t draw a jade tablet from it. If you don’t find a way to obtain a cultivation technique and generate spiritual power, you won’t pass next year’s inner sect assessment, and you’ll have to wait another three years to enter.”

He stared at Yu Youyou: “I can give you a mental technique jade tablet.”

Yu Youyou was startled: “A jade tablet can only be used by one person, right?”

“Yes, but I’ve already cultivated to the mid-stage of Qi Refinement, so I don’t need it anymore.” Su Yizhi casually dropped a heavy bombshell.

At least in terms of cultivation, he was no longer a perpetual second place. His heart finally felt at ease.

Yu Youyou found it hard to believe: “So you’re planning to give it to me?”

“…” Su Yizhi was actually a bit embarrassed by the question.

He took out two jade tablets: “Fire attribute and metal attribute, a dual-attribute cultivation technique—buy one, get one free. Just a thousand spirit stones for both.”

Yu Youyou was very tempted.

In the cultivation world, basic cultivation techniques were universal, but those of major sects and prestigious families were far more refined. As one of the top sects in the Eastern Territory, the Pill Cauldron Sect naturally had excellent techniques. However, each disciple only had one chance to obtain a cultivation technique.

But it was too expensive.

Whenever she encountered a situation where she didn’t have enough money, Yu Youyou never panicked—because she firmly believed that people were always willing to listen to reason.

So she calmly sat down and began reasoning with Su Yizhi—

“Since you saw the light from the testing stone, you should know that I only have a single spiritual vein. Not to mention that my chances of successful cultivation are extremely slim, even if I could cultivate, I’d only need one technique. The other one would be completely useless to me. How about a hundred spirit stones?”

The essence of bargaining was to slash the price to the bone.

Su Yizhi quickly realized her skill and sat up straight, ready for battle—

“You don’t know your spiritual vein’s attribute. Two jade tablets are a safer bet, so the price remains a thousand spirit stones.”

The two went back and forth until Yu Youyou played her trump card—

“Everyone in the sect except me already has a cultivation technique. You can only sell this in the black market, but you forgot—aside from me, nearly everyone in the black market is already a cultivator. No one else needs a cultivation technique.”

Yu Youyou enunciated each word, striking right at Su Yizhi’s sore spot: “I can go to the black market and buy a technique from someone else, but right now, you can only sell to me. Otherwise, who knows how long you’ll have to wait? So, how about two hundred per tablet?”

“…” Su Yizhi was silent for a long time before he finally gave in with a last-ditch effort: “Five hundred! You get both!”

Yu Youyou’s lips curled into a smile.

Perfect—exactly the price she had predicted.

Su Yizhi was still quite reasonable!

Yu Youyou swiftly handed over the bag of spirit stones slung over her back. As for the hole in it, well, that was his problem to deal with now.

…

The medicinal herbs on her back were extremely heavy, so Yu Youyou walked slowly.

As she passed by the familiar alleyway on East Street, she paused and glanced inside.

In the darkness, every household had shut their doors and extinguished their lights. Only the big yellow dog remained, lying in front of Aunt Hua’s house, keeping watch.

Goudan recognized her and wagged its tail, trotting over to rub against her legs.

Yu Youyou tore off a piece of steamed bun from her bundle and gave it to the dog: “Next time, I’ll bring you a meat pie. The meat pies from the Pill Cauldron Sect’s dining hall are amazing.”

Before leaving, she patted Goudan’s head and casually tossed another medicinal herb into the old well.

The night was deep, and no one knew she had been there.

…

Yu Youyou soaked in a medicinal bath while examining the two jade tablets.

She dripped two drops of blood onto them, and the cultivation techniques within immediately surged into her mind, causing the jade tablets to vanish.

Yu Youyou first tried running the metal-attribute technique, but the thin, weak spiritual vein in her body showed no response.

There was no way she could be this unlucky—were neither of them suitable for her?

Muttering to herself, she switched to the fire-attribute technique and followed its guidance, attempting to sense spiritual energy and draw it into her body.

According to Su Yizhi, he had taken three days to draw spiritual energy into his body.

Compared to her useless father, who had instantly sensed spiritual energy, he still fell short, but as a Su family genius, it was an impressive feat.

After all, Long Aotian was a special breed—not human.

No normal person could possibly do it that fast!

Yu Youyou was still lost in random thoughts when she suddenly felt a surge of fiery energy slowly entering her spiritual vein.

According to the jade tablet’s records, this stuff seemed to be fire-attribute spiritual energy.

“…”

She had just said her useless father wasn’t human—turns out, neither was she?

Based on bloodline alone, she was actually half a Long Aotian herself—an even more special breed?

However, her spiritual vein was too thin and weak. Even after cultivating for an entire night, she had only absorbed a single wisp of spiritual energy—so faint that no one but herself would even notice it.

The next morning, Yu Youyou yawned as she ran to the dining hall.

Qi Nanfeng waved at her as soon as he saw her: “Over here.”

Yu Youyou ran over and sat down next to him, only to find that he had only taken two plates of steamed buns.

“Just this?”

Steamed buns were indeed the most convenient to pack, but since they were already at the dining hall, meat pies were definitely the tastier choice.

“No idea why, but the dining hall only has steamed buns today. I heard Senior Sister Qu ordered all the staple food to be replaced with steamed buns,” Qi Nanfeng said, sounding a little disgruntled—he preferred meat pies too.

Just as he finished speaking, Qu Qingmiao happened to pass by. Her expression remained indifferent as she explained, “The sect’s finances are tight lately.”

Yu Youyou could understand that—she had never been picky about free food.

What she didn’t understand was why Senior Sister Qu was handing her another plate of steamed buns.

After seeing that Yu Youyou had obediently finished two plates of steamed buns, Qu Qingmiao was just about to fetch a third when a series of distant, ancient bell tolls echoed through the air.

Five in total.

This signified a summons for the inner sect disciples—a rare occurrence in the ever-relaxed Pill Cauldron Sect, indicating that something major had happened.

Qu Qingmiao’s expression grew increasingly grave as she hurried toward the inner sect.

Yu Youyou and Qi Nanfeng, still munching on their buns, stepped outside to see what was going on, only to witness several elders flying out from the inner sect. Their expressions were exceptionally solemn.

The storm was approaching, and the wind was fierce.

Yu Youyou twitched her nose. She vaguely caught the thick scent of blood in the air, mingled with a strange odor that made her extremely uncomfortable.

She felt nauseous—so much so that she lost her appetite, unable to take another bite of her bun.

The outer sect disciples had no idea what had happened and could only wait anxiously.

It wasn’t until the next day that Qu Qingmiao finally appeared.

She gathered all the outer sect disciples—not just Yu Youyou’s batch of newcomers, but also those who had been in the sect for years.

“You must already know that something happened in the sect yesterday. Do not ask for details.” Qu Qingmiao’s voice was icy.

“The only thing that concerns you is this—”

“The inner sect disciple assessment, originally scheduled to take place next year, has been moved up to next month.”