Chapter 117: What Is the Relationship Between You Two?
Feeling that icy gaze, Xiao Jihan furrowed his sword-shaped brows, raised his eyes to glance at Wen Youhe, then followed Yan Shu.
Once they entered the inn room, Wen Youhe raised a hand and set up a barrier. He then sat down beside the table and said indifferently, “Sit.”
Yan Shu hurriedly shook her head. “No, no. You senior brothers sit.”
Wen Changhe looked up at her. “There was never a place for you.”
Yan Shu: “...”
Beside the small round table were four small stools. Wen Youhe, Bing Shien, Liu Zhiqing, and Shi Wanqing took their seats, while Yan Shu and Xiao Jihan stood obediently to one side like two primary schoolchildren.
Wen Youhe glanced at the two of them, his expression deeply displeased. He spoke coldly. “Tell me. What exactly is the relationship between you two?!”
Yan Shu: “???”
What relationship? Apart from being master and disciple, what other relationship could she and Xiao Jihan have?
Oh, wait. They were also senior sister and junior disciple.
“Senior Brother, you’re amazing! You even figured that out?!”
“We are dao...”
Yan Shu and Xiao Jihan spoke at the same time. Xiao Jihan’s voice was lower, so for a moment, no one could make out what he had said.
Yan Shu turned to look at him, uncertain of what he had intended to say.
Xiao Jihan glanced at her, lowered his eyes, and fell silent. His meaning was obvious: he was leaving the explanation to Yan Shu.
Yan Shu did not stand on ceremony. She immediately said excitedly, “Senior Brothers, you have no idea what an incredible opportunity Xiao Jihan and I encountered in the Brahma Secret Realm! We—”
“Did I ask you about that?” Wen Youhe frowned. “I’m asking what relationship you and he actually have!”
Yan Shu blinked. “But to explain that relationship, I have to start with the opportunity.”
Wen Youhe glanced at Xiao Jihan. Seeing that he had no intention of speaking, he waved a hand. “Go on.”
Yan Shu promptly explained that she had obtained the Medicine King’s Breath Soil and spirit seeds, while Xiao Jihan had obtained the Medicine King Cauldron and inherited the Medicine King’s alchemical arts.
At the end, she concluded, “Just as Senior Brother suspected, aside from being master and disciple, we’re also senior sister and junior disciple!”
After saying this, she turned to Xiao Jihan and raised her brows, signaling for him to say something. Yet Xiao Jihan did not even look at her. Instead, waves of icy aura emanated from his entire body.
Affection: 26 (First Acquaintance)
Affection: 24 (First Acquaintance)
Affection: 22 (First Acquaintance)
Affection: 20 (First Acquaintance)
His affection had plummeted by eight points all at once!
Yan Shu watched in horror. Oh no!
She had forgotten that Xiao Jihan might not want it known that he was already an eighth-tier alchemist!
Yan Shu immediately regretted what she had said. With a deeply remorseful expression, she asked, “Did I... did I say something wrong?”
“No.”
Affection: 18 (First Acquaintance)
“We really are only senior sister and junior disciple.”
Affection: 16 (First Acquaintance)
Yan Shu was going mad!
What did it mean to return to square one overnight? This was exactly what it meant!
Where had she gotten the confidence to think that forty points of affection was a lot, enough for her to squander?!
Unfortunately, words once spoken could not be taken back.
Yan Shu shifted her gaze away from Xiao Jihan, her head drooping as though she had lost all will to live.
In contrast to her dejection, the four senior brothers were all wearing excited expressions, except for Wen Youhe, whose emotions were impossible to read.
Liu Zhiqing in particular was first stunned. Then, after realizing what she had said, he shot to his feet and stared at Xiao Jihan with shining eyes.
“You obtained the Medicine King Cauldron and inherited the Medicine King’s alchemical arts?!”
Xiao Jihan nodded. “Yes.”
He extended a hand, and the Medicine King Cauldron, compressed to miniature size, appeared before them.
Liu Zhiqing stared at the tiny cauldron as though he wished he could remove his own eyes and stick them onto it.
After gazing at it for a long while, he reluctantly withdrew his eyes and nodded at the others. “That’s right. This is indeed the Medicine King Cauldron.”
Having received his confirmation, Shi Wanqing and Bing Shien also showed delighted expressions. Shi Wanqing hurriedly asked, “Since you inherited the Medicine King’s alchemical arts, what is the highest-tier pill you can refine now?”
Hearing this question, Yan Shu immediately looked toward Xiao Jihan.
She had just revealed that he had inherited the alchemical arts, and he had already been so angry. His affection was probably about to drop again. If things went badly, it might even fall into the negatives.
Xiao Jihan glanced at the four seated senior brothers and said indifferently, “The Medicine King left behind a fragment of his soul and spirit to personally guide me. Since I also have no shortage of spirit plants and medicinal materials, I am now an eighth-tier alchemist.”
“Eighth-tier?!”
Liu Zhiqing’s voice became so excited that it changed pitch. Even Wen Youhe’s expression rippled with emotion.
Xiao Jihan nodded. “Yes. Eighth-tier.”
As he spoke, he took a porcelain bottle from his mustard-seed pouch and handed it to Liu Zhiqing. “This is an eighth-tier Longevity Pill I refined.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Zhiqing accepted it without the slightest hesitation.
He opened the bottle and poured out a pill. A flowing radiance shimmered across its surface. After examining it carefully for a moment, his hand began to tremble. He looked toward Wen Changhe and the others and said, restraining his excitement, “That’s right! This is indeed an eighth-tier Longevity Pill!”
As its name suggested, a Longevity Pill could increase one’s lifespan. It was refined from Primordial Longevity Fruit.
Primordial Longevity Trees were already exceedingly rare, and Longevity Pills were even rarer.
Consuming a Primordial Longevity Fruit directly could extend one’s lifespan by twenty years, but once the fruit was refined into a Longevity Pill, the effect doubled.
A first-tier Longevity Pill could add forty years to one’s lifespan; a second-tier pill added fifty years; a third-tier pill added sixty years; and so on. An eighth-tier pill added one hundred and ten years!
Of course, one hundred and ten years of lifespan was nothing remarkable to cultivators. Especially for those who had reached the Deity Transformation stage and possessed lifespans of more than two thousand years, an additional century truly did not seem like much.
But one must not forget that not everyone could successfully break through to Deity Transformation. Even those who reached Deity Transformation might not enter Void Refinement; those who reached Void Refinement might not attain Body Integration, Great Ascension, or Tribulation Transcendence, much less successfully ascend.
Cultivators contended with Heaven and battled Earth. Some died amid all kinds of dangers, but the vast majority died when their natural lifespans ran out!
Some people were only a single step away from breaking through. Give them one more year, and they might succeed. An eighth-tier Longevity Pill was practically a divine medicine capable of saving lives!
Moreover, Longevity Pills could be consumed repeatedly. Over the course of a lifetime, one person could take ten Longevity Pills in total. If all ten were eighth-tier pills, that would amount to an additional one thousand one hundred years of lifespan!
What kind of concept was that?!
Never mind an entire porcelain bottle of eighth-tier Longevity Pills—even a single one could fetch an astronomical price at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion!
Were these Longevity Pills?
No!
They were piles upon piles of spirit stones!
Liu Zhiqing’s eyes shone brightly. He drew a deep breath, then reluctantly placed the Longevity Pill back into the porcelain bottle and handed it to Xiao Jihan.
“Put it away. Wealth should not be flaunted.”
Xiao Jihan did not take it. Instead, he raised his eyes to Liu Zhiqing. “There’s no need.”
Liu Zhiqing stared at him in astonishment. “What do you mean?”