As Ye Ming left the girl’s house, he stretched for a second. It was a blast!
It appears his new profession is quite something. Random beautiful girls need his help. Their stupid friends need rescuing, since they don’t have any money or resources they can offer themselves.
He doesn’t mind that.
’But seriously, Underworld Vine? That is staple paralysis poison.’ The Alchemist snorted as he checked his loot in the ring.
’Hmm? What is that?’
Inside his fancy storage ring, he could see that he had accidentally moved the pile of Qi Stones and revealed a long wooden box.
It looked like a box to keep a sword.
’So it was not just a simple money stash.’
Ye Ming was excited a bit. It would seem his luck was good today!
He swiftly left the Inner Sect Grounds and entered the far more relaxing Outer Sect Grounds, where there was a bit more greenery and nature.
The Alchemist returned to his house and went back to his tree. He sat down under it and summoned the box.
It was quite long. He opened it, and inside was a blue Jian sword with cloud markings on the sheath.
"This is..."
With a simple motion, he pulled out the blade from the sheath.
"The aura is so heavy!" There was a certain radiance from the blade, far brighter than the Houtian pill he made.
"...A Xiantian Sword? Is it possible?" He whispered under his breath before noticing that there was something else in the box.
It was a thin book. It looked like some sort of diary.
He gave it a quick check, skimming through the pages; it was something written over the years, the text widely changed in letters and writing style.
Eventually, he returned to the beginning and started reading.
[Long’er, I am starting this diary so that you can learn what I have learned through my long life.]
’Long’er? Who the hell is that?’ Ye Ming frowned, never having heard this name before. No one he knows has it.
[I have left the Immortal Sword Sect in hopes that I could start something myself.]
[However, it was not as simple as that. In this Western Wilderness, there were not that many specialists who could help me in creating pills for cultivation or making formations or artefacts]
’This is a scattered diary of someone who is most likely from the same place as Liu Li.’ The Alchemist continued reading as he realised some entries were months and years apart... and that the spacing was meant to help the reader understand.
Nothing was fascinating until he noticed that this cultivator began to study pills... and a way to make an Xiantian Awakening pill!
Now that excited Ye Ming!
[My life is running out. I have been stuck at Stage Five of Xiantian for the last two hundred years. It would seem this is the end of my Martial Way.
However, I have been studying the art of pill-making for the past hundred years. From my sources in the Holy Land, I learned of an obscure recipe that could increase my lifespan.
The ingredients for this one are Eternal Tree Root and Heavenly Grass, a mere Rank 2 pill, but the effects...
The issue is that the Eternal Tree Root has an extreme amount of impurities; the older the root, the more impurities it has.
That means if I consume such a pill, my lifespan will increase, but my cultivation will forever be stuck in this realm.
I named this pill Eternity Longing Pill.]
’Quite a difficult choice...’
Ye Ming wondered if he could get this Eternal Tree Root. It sounded like some kind of ginseng.
The next several entries were on pill-making techniques as this cultivator tried to make the pill.
The Alchemist had tried all of these techniques before.
So it was not special, but then it returned to the chase for the Xiantian pill.
’Who is this Jiang Fuyuan... is he related to Mengxue?’
For a second, he pondered, then continued reading.
Different combinations, countless failures, and the race against time, as the eternity-longing pill might have prolonged the cultivator’s life, but the side effects became evident.
’The impurities on his body began to weigh him down. But to live for thousands of years.’
Midway, Ye Ming realised that this was a diary made from several diaries and arranged for this Long’er to find it.
From the looks of it, the Alchemist has found the Protagonist’s legacy; this diary, the Qi Stones, and the sword should have ended up in this Long’er’s hands.
’Oh well, lucky me.’
With a shrug, he continued to read the last entries.
[I believe I have found it. Heaven Crossing Flower for the Heaven Energy, Heavenly Qi Grass for Qi, Meadow Star Root for Earth Energy and Qi Gathering Herb to put everything together.
This is my last gift to you, Long’er: bring Cloud Sword Sect to its rightful place as rulers of Western Wilderness]
’Yeah, Long’er won’t be seeing this.’
Ye Ming has no idea who the main character is, not that he cares. All he wants is to make stuff and make girls moan under him. That’s about all he cares about.
If the Sect rules the world, the galaxy or whatever, it is not his business.
With that said, the recipe will be helpful to him.
After reading the diary several more times, he put it away with the sword and returned to Liu Li, who continued to cultivate the whole time.
"You are back. What did that woman give you for your help?" The Fallen Princess tried to sound normal, but the tone said otherwise.
"Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Liu Li." Ye Ming replied in a serious tone, making her pale for a second.
"M-My apologies! T-That won’t happen again!" The girl scrambled to her feet and down on the ground, bowing to him.
Her actions even surprised him.
The Alchemist didn’t realise it yet, but if he was pissed and Jiang Mengxue learned of it, it would spell Liu Li’s death.
"Relax, and yes, she did give me several valuable things."
As he said that, he summoned a fancy cauldron. It was not rusty; the inscriptions on it were clear, and there was a special radiance around the cauldron.
"...A Houtian Realm Cauldron Artefact! How did Lingxi get her hands on it!?" Liu Li gawked at the artefact. Her brain tried to get to the bottom of this!
"It was an exchange. I gave her the pill, and she took the cauldron of her friend. The poor guy paralysed himself." Ye Ming shook his head in fake pity; he didn’t care about him.
"..."
Liu Li doesn’t understand how this happened or who the friend is. Not that she cares; the most important part is that the Alchemist got something out of it, and he didn’t get sweet honey trapped by that traitor!
"On the other hand, I figured out something major." He smirked as he raised a finger.
"..." She patiently waited for him to speak.
"I learned the Xiantian Awakening Pill formula; most likely, I am not completely sure. But for it, we need Heaven Crossing Flower, Qi Gathering Herb, Heavenly Qi Grass, and Meadow Star Root."
"N-No way..." Liu Li looked baffled by the information she had just received.
In a single day, he learned about Foundation Pill and now Xiantian Awakening Pill!?
"Indeed. Regardless, if you have time, do tell Jiang Mengxue so she can start looking for the materials."
"They are not THAT rare!" Liu Li scrambled to stand up.
"The Heaven Crossing Flower grows on tall mountains. I am certain that we can find it in the Core Grounds. The Meadow Star Root is a bit rarer; it grows in ravines." Liu Li explained to him in an excited tone.
"Oh, you know about them?"
"Yes. I read a book and tried to read whatever I could. As someone who wants revenge... I studied everything I could to get any advantage." She explained while looking away. From the looks of it, she finds some shame in that, which is absurd in his eyes. Gaining every angle possible is not shameful.
"Good that you read about them. Now we can work on Xiantian Awakening Pill." He smiled while saying that. His hands went to her shoulders as he looked into her eyes.
"And you should not be jealous. Bai Lingxi might be a nice girl, but she is not my proper lover or anything like that." Ye Ming chuckled while saying that.
"We only did a transaction."
"..." She slowly nodded. Though she didn’t fully accept it, it was clear Bai Lingxi was far behind in the race to be his proper woman.
After all, not even the traitorous Bai Lingxi can run away from the Alchemist and what he can do. So she will be back.
"Good. Now let’s return to cultivation. I am quite behind." As he said that, he moved away from her and walked towards the table, where he pulled out a bag of pills and spilt them into a bowl like they were some random sweets.
Liu Liu gulped when she saw them. What she was seeing was thousands upon thousands of Qi Stones and hundreds of thousands of Contribution Points.
Over the years, she had only had a couple of these in the Sect. Even then, it was thanks to Jiang Mengxue.
"Go on. Take some; I can’t consume all of them." He rolled his eyes as he saw her expression.
"I told that silly Mengxue to stay with me and abuse my ability to make pills." He shook his head in disappointment.
"...Master Ming... you can’t speak like that... Mistress Mengxue respects your abilities and how much your talents can assist us." Liu Li tried to paint a different picture.
"No need to tell me how it is. Only the most talented will have the most beautiful girls. That is the rule of nature." He said with a shrug.
"So instead of being annoyed or angry that the world is so mean to us. I am simply embracing it. I know that girls will come to me because I can do these things."
The girl had no idea what to say; it was quite a black-and-white outlook on the world. But then again, it was not her place to say anything.
"...Well...not only the pills... you are good at...this and that..." She placed her fingers on her lips. Implying that he is a good kisser and something else.
"I guess I am. Lingxi moaned like it was her last day alive." He chuckled as he said that.
"..." She stared at him for a second. Part of her wanted to complain, but she learned her lesson.
"Don’t worry~" Ye Ming turned to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"You are not going anywhere~." He teased her a bit, as his right index finger went to her lips and stroked them a bit.
"...I won’t... as long as you want me, I will stay here..." She spoke in a nervous tone.
"I know. That is what I am saying. Bai Lingxi is not that lucky~."
*Snort*
"Of course, she is not. Mistress Mengxue is quite angry with her."
"Oh? Well, I won’t get into girl business; just don’t randomly exile her or something."
"..."
’Lucky traitor...’ Liu Li frowned for a second.
"We won’t. Since you asked." The Fallen Princess replied. She will need to report this to Jiang Mengxue; she won’t like it.
"Good. Now then..."
He leaned forward and kissed her. The Fallen Princess immediately got into it as her kiss got heated. She had ’competition’ now. So she wanted to show him how passionate she was about this.
Not that it lasted for long. Ye Ming simply wanted to kiss her before he returned to his training.
"Good. Now take some pills~ I will be practising outside." He popped a pill in his mouth as he left the house.
Liu Li took a deep breath, controlling her rapidly beating heart.
"Yes... Master Ming." She nodded as she placed her hand on her lips. Her cheeks got rosy.
The kiss was out of nowhere, but she liked it!
[Extra Info]
Ye Ming’s Legacy List:
From Jian Xuan:
Xiantian Jian Cloud Sword (Holds Jian Heavenly Cloud Style, a Xiantian Sword Technique)
Houtian Cauldron
Diary with recipes(Holds Xiantian Awakening and Eternity Longing Pills recipes)
Xiantian Realm Storage Ring (Millions of Qi Stones)
From Liu Li:
Heavenly Qi Physique