Chapter 12 - Chapter 12 Got Trapped?

Chapter 12 Got Trapped?

Translator: 549690339

Having left Yuebaolou, Lin Jing did not linger outside and hurried home instead.

“Ning Daoyou, my brother and I have been a bit tight on money recently, I apologize for the inconvenience. Could you give us a few more days? We will pay you back after that,” someone spoke.

Just as he turned into the alley, Lin Jing heard the conversation.

Lin Jing looked up and saw Zhang Sen and Zhang Lin, two brothers, talking with his young female neighbor.

And behind the neighbor, a cute little girl was timidly hiding.

The young woman’s brows were furrowed as she looked at the two men coldly.

At that moment, Zhang Sen, seeing Lin Jing approaching, hurriedly greeted him.

“Brother Lin.”

Zhang Sen’s face lit up with a smile as he walked towards Lin Jing.

“Brother Zhang.”

Since the other party had already come over, it was not good for Lin Jing to avoid him.

“Brother Lin might not be acquainted with Ning Daoyou yet. We will be neighbors from now on, and we’ll inevitably need to help each other. Let me introduce you.”

Saying this, he led Lin Jing over to the young woman.

“This is Ning Yue, Ning Daoyou.”

After finishing, he turned to Ning Yue and introduced:

“Ning Daoyou, this is Lin Jing, Lin Daoyou.”

“He lives right next to you and moved in over two months ago. He doesn’t often go out; I presume you haven’t met before.”

As Zhang Sen introduced Lin Jing, the little girl poked her head out from behind and glanced at Lin Jing.

Feeling her gaze, Lin Jing also looked back, and like a startled rabbit, the little girl quickly hid behind her mother again.

“Brother Lin,” Zhang Sen said with a beaming smile: “It’s an act of mercy to help those in urgent need.”

“We previously borrowed some Spirit Stones from Ning Daoyou, and now she suddenly needs them for an emergency. But my hands are tied these few days; I can’t gather enough.”

“I would like to ask Brother Lin to lend me some Spirit Stones, so I can repay Ning Daoyou first.”

“Not much, just five Spirit Stones will do.”

“Rest assured, Brother Lin, as soon as my finances are better in a few days, I will definitely repay you.”

Lin Jing frowned.

“Brother Lin, please help,” Zhang Sen spoke again.

“Please be at ease, Brother Lin. Once I’ve earned some Spirit Stones in a few days, I will pay you back immediately.”

Seeing how earnest Zhang Sen was, Lin Jing decided to trust him for once.

“Alright then.”

Saying this, Lin Jing took out five Spirit Stones from his bosom and handed them over.

When outside, Lin Jing always hid his Storage Bag and only carried a few Spirit Stones on him.

For someone at the Second Rank of Qi Refinement like him, possessing a Storage Bag was not ordinary. If seen by others, it may evoke malicious intentions.

After all…

A Storage Bag costs at least a few hundred Spirit Stones, not something a minor Cultivator at the Second Rank of Qi Refinement could afford.

In short, with his current low strength, it was still best to be cautious.

“Thank you very much, Brother Lin,” Zhang Sen couldn’t hide his joy.

Taking the Spirit Stones, Zhang Sen handed them straight to Ning Yue.

“Ning Daoyou, we are even now.”

“Hmm.”

Ning Yue took the Spirit Stones and nodded slightly.

“Ning Daoyou, Brother Lin, we brothers have matters to attend to and will take our leave now.”

With their business concluded, Zhang Sen and Zhang Lin prepared to leave.

“Rest assured, Brother Lin, I will return the Spirit Stones to you in a few days.”

Zhang Sen continued:

“Also, I forgot to mention, Ning Daoyou here is an alchemist. If you need Elixir Medicine crafted in the future, you can seek her assistance.”

“Ning Daoyou, Brother Lin, we bid you farewell.”

After speaking, the two turned and left.

“Alchemist.”

Lin Jing looked at Ning Yue. She had a graceful figure but wasn’t very pretty, her complexion sallow as if she had been malnourished for a long time, and there was a brown patch on her cheek.

“Uncle, you’ve been deceived,” a timid voice came.

It was the little girl, holding onto Ning Yue’s skirt and peering out with her head, her voice trembling.

“Mother said, those two are bad people who often borrow money and don’t pay back. You’ve been tricked by them.”

“Luo Luo, don’t talk nonsense,” Ning Yue chided.

The little girl upon hearing this, quickly shrank her head back.

“Lin Daoyou, I will take my leave now,” she said.

Having said that, without waiting for Lin Jing to react, she took the little girl and returned to her own courtyard.

Then, with a loud “bang,” the courtyard door closed behind them, leaving only Lin Jing behind.

Lin Jing understood that, clearly, she still didn’t trust him and was wary of him, not wanting to get involved with him.

Afterward, he let it go, thinking how he wasn’t any different, as he also disliked trouble.

Having thought it through, he headed towards his own house.

Once back in his room, Lin Jing took out the Pill Furnace from his Storage Bag, ready to begin Alchemy.

First, he studied the pill recipe, familiarized himself with the production process, and then Lin Jing took out the materials.

“Let’s start with the simplest Fasting Pill.”

After processing the spirit materials needed for the Fasting Pill, he placed them into the furnace in order and began to light the fire.

The flames surged, and after a while, the Pill Furnace began to react.

“Controlling Fire Technique.”

Lin Jing carefully used the Controlling Fire Technique to manipulate the flames, regulating the temperature to ensure it wasn’t too fierce.

At the same time, he extended his Divine Sense into the furnace to monitor the condition of the Elixir Medicine inside.

However, with the strength of Lin Jing’s Divine Sense at the moment, it barely lasted for long, and soon Lin Jing couldn’t hold on and withdrew it.

After an incense stick’s time.

“Boom.”

A muffled sound came from within the Pill Furnace.

“Did it explode?”

Lin Jing frowned and went to check.

He lifted the lid of the furnace and looked inside to see black shards filling it—there was no sign of Elixir Medicine.

Then he checked the body of the furnace, which was undamaged.

“That’s good,” Lin Jing was relieved.

Lin Jing recalled the alchemy steps he had just performed and after pondering for a while, started preparing materials again to continue Alchemy.

He knew that Alchemy could not possibly go smoothly from the start; it was bound to fail a few times at the beginning, so Lin Jing was not discouraged at all.

During the second attempt at Alchemy, he took the lessons from the last time to heart, being even more careful with controlling the flame.

As expected, with another “boom,” the second batch of Elixir Medicine was declared a failure.

“Again.”

This time Lin Jing started without any pause.

“Boom.”

This time, the duration of the alchemy process was a bit longer than the previous two attempts.

Lin Jing had some insight, but felt as if he was always grasping at something just out of reach.

“Boom”

“Boom”

……

Lin Jing continued the Alchemy process, but the results were far from satisfactory, repeatedly ending in explosions.

However, Lin Jing did not give up but persisted in Alchemy.

Finally, on the eighth attempt, there was no “boom” sound.

“Did it succeed?”

Just as a smile began to form on Lin Jing’s face, a foul odor escaped from the furnace.

“This smell…”

His brow furrowed, he stepped forward and lifted the furnace lid, with the stench assaulting his nostrils.

“Ugh…”

The intense foul odor almost made him vomit last night’s dinner.

Afterward, Lin Jing ran out of the room, taking deep breaths of fresh air.

A long while passed before the smell in the room had mostly dissipated, and Lin Jing dared to go back inside.

Returning to the room, Lin Jing first cleared out the source of the foul smell in the Pill Furnace, a pool of viscous liquid, and then along with the previous alchemy failures, he cleaned out all the residue.

Only then did Lin Jing begin to reflect.

The Alchemy Technique he got from Manager Li obviously had problems.

It wasn’t until Lin Jing started to engage in Alchemy himself that he realized that the Alchemy Technique was full of errors and omissions, and even some parts were glossed over.

This led him to a continuous cycle of trial and error.

“It seems that Senior Han probably didn’t really understand either that this Alchemy Technique, starting from the First Rank Elixir Medicines, has a much higher failure rate than other alchemy techniques.”

“Could it be that Manager Li has tricked me?”