“You know how to refine pills?!” blurted Ling Yichen as he looked at Ling Chuxi in astonishment. His eyes were full of disbelief at her casual words. She was a pill master! Did Ling Chuxi even know how much pill masters were valued?
A pill master pretty much equated to great wealth and a respectable status! The probability of failure during the pill refinement process was very high. The higher the tier of the pill, the higher the chance of failure. The beneficial effects such medicinal pills enabled were a far cry from decocted herbs. Medicinal pills were especially important in this realm as cultivation was such a widespread practice here. It was a difficult task to be a pill master. It required a great amount of innate talent. An amount so vast that it was incomparable to the quantity of innate talent a cultivator possessed. If the innate talent of a cultivator was one in a thousand, then the innate talent of a pill master was one in ten thousand and perhaps even scarcer than that.
One might dare offend a strong cultivator, but one would not dare offend a superb pill master. With a mere flick of their fingers, they would be able to refine a supreme tier medicinal pill and have many a strong cultivator willingly risk their lives in their stead! Instead of chasing offenders down themselves, pill masters sent powerful cultivators after such offenders to kill them. These offenders would panic and run about helter-skelter to avoid such a fate, never to live in peace ever again.
“I know a little about it,” answered Ling Chuxi nonchalantly.
Ling Yichen remained silent for a while. If he’d learnt anything from his interactions with Ling Chuxi, it was that what she termed as little was not what he would consider little. He looked up to see Ling Chuxi happily rushing off to collect the herbs she had pointed out earlier and felt a jolt of shock go through his heart. ‘Chuxi, how many other secrets do you have that I’m unaware of?’
Just as Ling Chuxi got to her feet cheerfully after picking the herbs she wanted, a cold voice rang out from her right. “If you don’t want to ruin your pretty face, put the herbs down and get lost immediately.”
Ling Chuxi’s gaze frosted over. She turned and saw five people dressed in black undercover mission garments. They were standing in single file with weapons in their hands. The one leading the charge was a man with a scar on his face. There was an arrow nocked in the drawn bow in his hands that was directed right at Ling Chuxi’s face.
Was this a robbery attempt?
Ling Chuxi blinked at the five people before her. Amongst the three men and two women, they had archers, swordsmen and a dagger wielder. Their expressions were all on point. Every one of them glared at Ling Chuxi aggressively, looking ready to strike at once should she not comply with their demands. They must be older students at White Stone Academy. Both new and older students were participating in the training together, but based on their dressing and manner of conduct, this group were clearly not made up of new students. Their calm and savvy attitudes spoke to the fact that they were used to this kind of thing from having done it before.
“Why’d you even want these herbs for? It’s amazing that you think they’re worth anything,” muttered Ling Chuxi. These herbs were sold for a mere dozen taels at medicinal halls—they were only worth anything if they were refined into medicinal pills.
“No matter how little something is worth, it’s still worth something. Doesn’t matter how small a mosquito is, it’s still something to eat in desperate times. Wouldn’t you agree? Little sister, if you don’t want to hurt yourself just put down the herbs and piss off with that little sugar-baby face of yours,” said the young man who stood next to the man with the facial scar. He laughed as he spoke. His laughter was obnoxious and the words he spewed even more so.
“Yichen, they want to rob us. What should we do?” asked Ling Chuxi innocently as she tilted her head to look at Ling Yichen. “Should we just let them… or should we rob them instead?”
Ling Yichen’s lips twitched at the sound of Ling Chuxi’s question. Situations like this were common during White Stone Academy’s annual training. The academy never made efforts to stop it and if anything, quietly condoned it. As the world was indeed cruel, allowing students to gain exposure to its injustices as such wasn’t deemed a bad thing. However, as to the question of whether or not to rob them instead, Ling Yichen would have rather Ling Chuxi asked it in a tone that wasn’t pure or innocent in any regard.