Chapter 15: Jiang Henshui

“Young Master, where are you?”

An anxious cry roused Jiang Yi from his refining practice. He lifted his head and looked around, quickly realizing the sky around him was already completely dark. He slapped himself in the head, silently blaming himself for being focused entirely on refining and ending up actually forgetting the time. He hurriedly closed the main doors of the alchemy lab, before walking speedily in the direction of the cry.

“Xiaonu, I am over here!”

In the darkness of night, Jiang Yi spotted a weak skinny figure in front of him shouting and searching for him. His heart suddenly filled with guilt and heartache, he applied some essence force towards the bottom of his feet and raced towards Jiang Xiaonu.

The wide rice-white maidservant’s robes made Jiang Xiaonu’s figure appear even frailer. Hearing Jiang Yi’s voice and seeing a figure flying towards her, she immediately smiled and said, “Young Master, I’ve finally found you! I was worried sick.”

“What is there to worry about? Silly girl, your young master was just so busy practicing essence force refinement that he forgot the time!”

Jiang Yi flew over and pulled Jiang Xiaonu’s hand, his face filled with guilt and regret.

Immediately being reminded of something, he grinned widely as he said, “Xiaonu, let’s go home. I have something good to show you, and I have a piece of extremely good news to tell you.”

“Good!” Jiang Yi had never questioned Jiang Yi’s words. She immediately smiled naively as she followed Jiang Yi with quick steps towards the small courtyard of their home.

…

“Young Master, is this real purple gold? I’m not dreaming, am I? And… Young Master, can your seal really be broken?”

In a small poorly-maintained courtyard of the Western Court, Jiang Yi swallowed down big gulps of rice as Jiang Xiaonu squatted beside him, her face grinning foolishly. As she held the bright, sparkling piece of purple gold leaf, she felt as though all of it was quite surreal.

Jiang Yi swallowed the last mouthful of rice and burped with satisfaction.

He turned around to pinch Jiang Xiaonu’s nose, giggling as he said, “Silly girl, next time we’re going to get even more purple gold. Once your young master’s power gets even stronger, no one would dare to bully us again.”

“Yea, Young Master is the best! Young Master, you can do it!”

Jiang Xiaonu came to her senses. Smiling sweetly, her face was filled with a look of adoration.

She immediately returned the purple gold to Jiang Yi, saying, “Young Master, I think you should keep the purple gold. If I were to take it, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Oh yes… how did you break your seal, Young Master?”

“Don’t you worry about that! Additionally, don’t tell anyone else about these things. Just wait for the good times to come.”

Jiang Yi kept the purple gold without further explanation. After all, Jiang Xiaonu didn’t know how to refine essence force. She probably would not understand even if he explained things to her. Smiling foolishly as he rubbed Jiang Xiaonu’s head, he stood up and walked into his room, before directly sitting cross-legged to meditate.

He itched to spend every available second of his time refining essence force and wished with all his heart that he could break that seal within a single day. He wanted to see if his refining speed was indeed faster than that of Great Young Master Jiang Henshui, as the grand elder predicted?

To say nothing of being faster than Jiang Henshui, even if he were slower than Jiang Henshui by just a smidgen, Jiang Yi was confident that he could borrow the power of the black essence force and allow his own abilities to advance by leaps and bounds.

“Hmph! Three months! Just give me three months, and I will definitely make the entire Jiang Clan take notice of me! Too bad, though… God-Grandfather will not be able to see me at this moment!”

Jiang Yi gave a long deep sigh. Not wanting to think about this any further, he placed all his attention on practicing the nameless cultivation technique to refine more black essence force.

At midnight, once he had refined ten full strands of black essence force, he immediately transferred them to the exterior of his dantian and smoothly removed ten runic characters off the dragon-shaped seal. What made him pleasantly surprised was that, as the characters continued to vanish, the speed which he refined essence force using the Jiang Water Art increased further, reaching speeds three times the original level.

He did not sleep for an entire night. Upon daybreak, he hastily ate two wotous before running in the direction of the alchemy lab. He had forgotten to read the “Record on Medicinal Herbs” yesterday. In the untimely event Elder Liu wanted to refine other medicinal elixirs and needed other medicinal herbs, should the speed at which he collected the required medicinal herbs still be extremely slow, he would definitely be scolded.

Even though he had not slept for an entire night, Jiang Yi was still full of energy. He spent an hour memorizing all the information in the “Record on Medicinal Herbs,” even identifying the medicinal herbs in the medicine room using the images depicted in the book.

It was already late in the morning, yet Elder Liu had not shown up. Jiang Yi chose not to care; instead, he decided to start refining black essence force on his own to continue breaking the runic patterns on his seal.

Elder Liu did not show up for the entire day. Jiang Yi was perplexed. In theory, Elder Liu would be rearing to continue his experiments. Why did he not turn up for an entire day? However, with Elder Liu not being around, Jiang Yi was able to enjoy his idle moments. He was able to practice refining the entire day and shaved twenty characters off the runic patterns of his seal. The refining speed of his Jiang Water Art likewise continued to grow.

The next day, Jiang Yi did refining practice for an entire day on his own, for Elder Liu was still missing. Jiang Yi had a faintly ominous premonition in his heart, but as he did not dare to visit by himself the courtyard where Elder Liu stayed to find the elder, he had no choice but to melancholically make his way home.

If Elder Liu stopped refining elixirs, he would not have any more rejected elixirs. This meant that he would no longer have any more refined elixirs to sell. It was an impossibility to even think of relying on himself alone to produce elixirs.

On the third day which Elder Liu failed to appear, two special guests arrived at the alchemy lab.

One was dressed in a shirt whiter than snow. His face was sharp like a knife, his back straight like a sword, and the corners of his mouth shaped in a faint smile. This was a youthful man so handsome that he would make any girl scream!

“Jiang Henshui!”

Jiang Yi locked his eyes on the well-dressed youth walking in front, his pupils revealing a look of sadness. This person was like Jiang Yi in the past, a boy well-doted on by the heavens, a person of outstanding talent within the young generation of the Jiang Clan.

This person not only maintained his position as a person of outstanding talent within the young generation of the Jiang family, he had even become a genius youth. His renown was great enough to shock the entire Skyplume City, and he received the admirable attention of everyone. In contrast, Jiang Yi had fallen to being stuck doing odd jobs at the alchemy lab…

The young suave man felt Jiang Yi’s complicated stare. Sweeping a glance across Jiang Yi’s face, he hesitatingly asked, “You’re… Jiang Yi?”

Jiang Yi bitterly smiled as he thought about the time when he was younger and the scenes when the two of them practiced martial arts together. At the time, Jiang Henshui was never satisfied with their difference in skills and thus they regularly sparred against each other.

As such, the relationship between the two boys could be considered to be pretty good. However, with the revelation that Jiang Yi’s dantian was sealed, coupled with the disappearance of the Grand Elder, the two of them became increasingly estranged. The last time they met had been two to three years ago. As such, it was not out of the ordinary that Jiang Henshui could not recognize him instantly.

Usually, when he saw Jiang Henshui, Jiang Yi would try to hide or move far away from him to avoid awkwardness between them. At that moment, since the two had met eyes, Jiang Yi had no choice but to force a smile and greet him by saying, “Henshui, long time no see.”

“Hmph!”

A cold snort rang through, breaking the atmosphere. This was followed by a voice that left Jiang Yi disgruntled.

“Jiang Yi, who do you think you are? You think you can say Great Young Master’s name? Nevermind that you don’t bow to greet Great Young Master, you dare to call him by his name directly? Do you have that privilege? Useless idiot!”

Jiang Yi’s attention had just been absorbed by Jiang Henshui, so he did not pay attention to the person behind him. He did not need to see to know the person speaking and following behind Jiang Henshui.

Jiang Ruhu!

His mind raced as he guessed what had happened in his heart. He estimated that, as he had not left the central courtyard over the past few days, Jiang Ruhu was unable to intercept him and had no choice but to encourage Jiang Henshui to go to the alchemy lab with him.

With Jiang Henshui around, even if he did attack Jiang Yi, the disciplinary court would give Jiang Henshui face and pretend to not know what had happened…

Since Jiang Yi guessed Jiang Ruhu’s wishful thinking, how could he allow him to prevail? The past few days, while he had always been practicing refining, he had spent most of his time refining black essence force to remove the runic characters on his seal and had barely practiced the Jiang Water Art.

With his strength still stuck at the first stage of the Cast Tripod Realm, should he fight with Jiang Ruhu at that present moment, he would suffer a beating.

Jiang Yi sighed in his heart. When he saw Jiang Henshui’s face slightly change color, yet say absolutely nothing to stop Jiang Ruhu or even chide him, Jiang Yi felt sad.

The threads of friendship he had formed with Jiang Henshui when they were children seemed to have disappeared completely. Smiling in self-mockery, he bent down in a bow, cupped his hands and said, “Jiang Yi greets Great Young Master.”

“Oh.”

Jiang Henshui did not expect Jiang Yi’s attitude to change so quickly. He was not familiar with such circumstances, yet said nothing as he eyed Jiang Ruhu behind him.

Instead, he waved his hand and responded, “Jiang Yi, are you working at the alchemy lab now? How about you help me retrieve a hundred Spirit Pills, then? I am going into seclusion at the Martial Arts Hall, to train up to the ninth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm.”

The Martial Arts Hall? The ninth grade of the Cast Tripod Realm?

Jiang Yi smiled bitterly once again. Jiang Henshui undoubtedly deserved to be the pride of the heavens. His choice of location for seclusion was, of all places, the prestigious Martial Arts Hall?

Furthermore, he was only three months older than Jiang Yi, yet he was already going to hit the ninth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. The number of geniuses who, at such a young age, were already at the eighth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm numbered not more than five in the entire Skyplume City.

The Martial Arts Hall was not the main training court of the Jiang Yi, but rather a mysterious location within Skyplume City.

According to legend, anyone who meditated there in seclusion could increase their essence force refining speed by up to two times.

Additionally, there were many other facilities inside like a strength room, a technique-practicing room, and professional trainers who could facilitate and follow in one’s training.

In short, it was a martial artists’ paradise. Jiang Yi had heard about this Martial Arts Hall ages ago, but he could only eye it from afar, as the entrance fee for even entering the Martial Arts Hall cost a tael of purple gold…

“What are you still standing here for? You good-for-nothing, can you bear the responsibility of delaying Great Young Master’s training at the Martial Arts Hall?”

Jiang Yi was only distracted for a moment before the Jiang Ruhu standing behind Jiang Henshui’s back clamored yet again. In following Jiang Henshui that day to the alchemy lab, he had originally aimed to find an opportunity to teach Jiang Yi a lesson. Yet as Jiang Yi surrendered to his incitement, Jiang Ruhu had no chance to fly into a rage. Naturally, at the moment he desired to incite Jiang Yi into a rage once again.

Jiang Yi smiled faintly and slightly shot Jiang Ruhu a glance. Seeing his round chubby cheeks, he left a sense of disgust and hatred in his heart.

Yet he smiled sweetly and replied, “Elder Liu gave the instruction two days ago that no one is allowed to retrieve any elixirs. Jiang Ruhu, if you want to take elixirs, go ahead and take them yourself. I do not dare to help you two take any.”

At a similar age as Jiang Yi, yet with a figure several times fatter than Jiang Yi, Jiang Ruhu was instantly stumped and his face gave a look of awkwardness. He was very aware of Elder Liu’s temper. If he dared to retrieve the elixirs by himself, Elder Liu would surely fly into a great rage. Even his father couldn’t protect him from Elder Liu’s anger…

Jiang Henshui glanced at Jiang Ruhu, before indifferently replying, “I’ll go get it. Jiang Yi, you can report to Elder Liu about my offense later. I am rushing to the Martial Arts Hall!”

Finishing his sentence, Jiang Yi walked directly into the elixir room, retrieved several big bottles of elixirs and left the alchemy lab. As he left the alchemy lab, he did not look back and give Jiang Yi a glance, to say nothing of sending him a farewell. It was as though they were two strangers to each other.

Jiang Ruhu rushed over to him with a fierce look on his face, laughing coldly in a low voice as he said, “Hmph, Jiang Yi! If you have the guts, stay in this alchemy lab forever, you coward. If you ever dare to leave the central court, I will guarantee that you’ll come back crawling.”

Jiang Yi laughed faintly. “In ten days’ time, at the forty-fifth minute after noon, I will leave the western door of the Jiang Residence. There is a small alleyway near that door. I’ll be there waiting for you, so I hope you won’t be late.”

“Uh…”

Seeing Jiang Yi’s face filled with calm as he unhurriedly turned around to walk back in the direction of the alchemy lab, Jiang Ruhu was completely bewildered.

Was this the good-for-nothing that they usually beat up like a dog in the past? How could it be possible that that passing moment gave him a feeling that Jiang Yi’s presence felt bigger than even that of Jiang Henshui?

“Wrong perception! This must be a wrong perception… this good-for-nothing must definitely be faking it.”

Jiang Ruhu very quickly started laughing coldly. “Very well!” he shouted as he left. “A promise is a promise! Ten days later, whoever isn’t there will be the other’s grandchild!”

Finishing his sentence, he hastily ran out of the building to catch up with Jiang Henshui who had already walked a long distance away.

Ten days!

Once Jiang Ruhu was gone, Jiang Yi walked out from inside the Alchemy Lab. His face gave off a look of indifference, while his eyes showed off his self-confidence.

In ten days, he could easily train up to the second stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. At that moment, should Jiang Ruhu dare to show up, it would be uncertain who would be crawling back to the central court of the Jiang Residence…

After accounting for the elixirs in the elixir room, and confirming that Jiang Henshui had only retrieved a hundred Spirit Pills, Jiang Yi had nothing to do and as such continued cultivation practice.

However…

It was only after an hour that his practices were interrupted once again. A low, loud bell-ring came from within the central courtyard. It was the ringing sound for sad events, released only when important persons in the family clan passed away.

News spread quickly throughout the Jiang Residence that one of the top ten elders of the family clan, Elder Liu, the only elixir-refining specialist of the Jiang Clan, had suddenly passed away in his own home for unknown reasons.

Upon hearing of this information, Jiang Yi was in a complete state of shock and loss, his face filled with remorse and anxiety.

Only he knew why Elder Liu had suddenly died. This Elder Liu was the textbook example for a paranoiac and a person crazy for refining elixirs.

It was definitely the case that as he could not identify the additional ingredients mysteriously included in that earth-grade elixir pill, he had spent several days researching non-stop without any rest and, as a result, died from over-exertion…

Oh no…

Jiang Yi quickly thought of another thing that left him increasingly uneasy and at a loss. With Elder Liu’s death, he would no longer have any more rejected pills. What would he use to refine more pills? How could he earn money to repay his debts?