Chapter 121: The Noble Musician, Xu Que
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
The White Fox lady creased her delicate eyebrows abruptly, "What’s the matter?"
"Niu Da Li is still not proficient in Pill-Refining. Xiao Yu feels that he’s not good enough to become an alchemist. However, there is no one else in our Tribe who specialized in Pill Refining. Xiao Yu was extremely furious after they made two stoves worth of failed pills. She then said she was giving up and locked herself up in her home and refused to come out." The lady with a pair of sheep horns recounted in panic.
After hearing these words, White Fox sighed and shook her head, "That silly girl… she must be feeling guilty! After all, the Thunder Tribulations Worship starts in two days. It’s normal for her to be stressed. Let me talk to her."
"No can do, my Queen. Even if you look for Xiao Yu personally, she will still refuse to come out. The reason she’s hiding at home must be because of the fact that she wasn’t able to refine the Recuperation and Blood Circulation Pills and is blaming herself for that." The sheep horned lady shook her head.
White Fox turned silent with an imposing look on her face. It was clear that both the pills were very important to her.
After listening up to this point, Xu Que had a rough idea of the situation. Thumping his chest, he exclaimed, "Don’t fret! I will settle this problem."
"You?" White Fox lady turned her head and looked at Xu Que.
The sheep-horned lady abruptly realized Xu Que’s presence before them. She scanned him from top to toe unconvincingly and didn’t speak.
Xu Que widened his eyes and nodded, "Yeah, it’s just Pill Refining. I can do that!"
"You know Pill Refining too?" White Fox lady was taken aback.
"Of course! I am a qualified Alchemist!" Xu Que replied, brimming with confidence.
Although he had never refined any pills, he had used the Occupation skill book before. With this current status, even if he wasn’t proficient in it, the system would allow him to refine a One Star Pill at a 100% rate!
However, the White Fox lady was doubtful. Under normal circumstances, Cultivators who specialize in Pill Refining don’t usually have powerful combat strength. After all, these Cultivators would not have the time to train skills in those aspects after being proficient in refining arts.
With Xu Que’s strength so much more powerful than Original Infant Stagers, White Fox was clearly doubtful that he was equally proficient in pill refining.
Still, after hearing his words, the sheep horned lady’s eyes lit up. She replied quickly, "That’s great! You can become Xiao Yu’s disciple. She will definitely try again with new hands to help. Let’s go and find her."
Finishing her sentence, she tugged on Xu Que’s hands and rushed towards one of the houses a distance away.
"What the hell?! Why do I have to be an alchemist disciple?!" While being pulled along, Xu Que loudly disagreed.
The White Fox lady immediately followed behind, "Stop shouting! Listen to her and be an alchemist disciple obediently. I still haven’t settled my debt with you from earlier on!"
"I really fainted just now! I’m telling the truth! The Sun and the Moon can be my witnesses!" Xu Que vowed solemnly and stopped arguing further.
After all, he did take advantage of her. Xu Que knew that it was smart to give in this time and not push his luck. He realized he should show respect sometimes. If not, how will he be able to take advantage of her again in future?
The White Fox lady rolled her eyes at him and followed behind.
After a while, they arrived before a small house.
The entrance was very clean and the walls were scrubbed white. However, there were many red carrots hanging from its roof.
Xu Que was surprised. What’s the use of hanging so many carrots like that? Oh dear me, how sinister-looking!
"Thump, thump!"
At this time, the sheep-horned lady walked towards the wooden door, knocked lightly and shouted out, "Xiao Yu! Quickly open up! I’ve found a new alchemist disciple to assist you. He is definitely better than Niu Da Li!"
"..." There was only silence in the house.
However, they could sense that there was indeed someone inside. It was clear that the person simply didn’t wish to reply.
"Xiao Yu, believe me! I’m not lying. Can you please open the door?" The sheep-horned lady continued to knock and persuade patiently.
Xu Que watched on and shook his head profusely. He retreated several steps, moved beside the White Fox lady and asked softly, "Who’s this Xiao Yu? What’s up with the temper?"
White Fox lady stared at Xu Que abruptly before shaking her head. She sighed out loud, "Xiao Yu was too caught up in the Pill Refining process. The dangers in crossing the Tribulation this time around is very high for me since I will call upon the power of the Six Heavenly Thunder Tribulations. Thus, I have to rely on sufficient pills to treat injuries which I will inevitably sustain. Xiao Yu is afraid that I will not have the necessary pills on time and fail my attempt at the Tribulation, that is why…"
"That is a small matter. Let me refine them. Let’s go to the Pill-Refining House!" Xu Que finished his words and was about to leave.
The White Fox lady grasped firmly onto Xu Que’s robes and frowned, "Stop joking around and quickly think of a way to get Xiao Yu out. If not, I will settle whatever happened at the cave with you now!"
"Oh, I have to tell you that I am a fearless man. No use threatening me…"
"..."
"Alright, alright! Stop looking at me like that. I just have to persuade someone right? Not a problem. But you have to tell me first if Xiao Yu is a male or female? And also the age. This way, I can solve the problem easily."
"..." The White Fox lady relaxed and replied, "Xiao Yu’s ancestry is of the Jade Hare race. The later generations of this race are all females. However, Xiao Yu is still very young and her temper is thus that of a small child’s. Despite that, she has a gift in refining pills."
"Eh, Jade Hare? If that little Jade Hare is called Xiao Yu(Jade), then what are you called? Little Nine? Little Tail?"
(T/N : Jade is ‘Yu’ in Chinese. This means her name is actually Little Jade directly translated)
"Now isn't the time to talk about this." The White Fox lady tensed up and chided him. "If you can get Xiao Yu out, I will tell you."
"That’s too easy." Xu Que let out a complacent laugh.
"Easy? Alright. Yun Er, stop knocking on the door. Let Sun Wu Kong try. He said that he can get Xiao Yu out easily!" The White Fox lady clearly thought that Xu Que was merely boasting. Feeling a little peeved, she shouted for the sheep-horned lady to return.
The sheep horned lady was confused. She looked at Xu Que warily as she walked past him.
For a stranger to persuade the stubborn Xiao Yu out? How was that possible?
"My Queen, why don’t you let me persuade her?" Yun Er laughed out bitterly.
"Not needed. Let him try. If he fails, I shall settle my debt with him!" White Fox lady stared at Xu Que angrily.
"Fail? What joke are you cracking? I am the Great Sage, Sun Wu Kong. There’s nothing in this world that I can't accomplish! Isn’t this task merely about persuading a rabbit out of her home? Too easy!"
Yun Er’s expression changed. She warned cautiously, "Shush! Lower your voice. Xiao Yu absolutely hates it when people refer to her as a rabbit! She is not just a rabbit. She is of the Jade Hare race!"
"That’s right! Sun Wu Kong. Stop spouting nonsense. Based on the legends, the Jade Hares were brought to the Heavenly Palace by a Goddess. They can thus be called ‘Immortal Heavenly Hares’. What do you know?" White Fox replied in a deep and serious tone.
"Chh, who doesn’t know that! I even know that the Immortal’s name was called Chang’e. Soon after, my disciple Marshal Tian Peng tried to take liberties with her and was punished to becoming a pig. Soon after, another stupid baldy man became my disciple. The three of us then embarked on a journey to the west to obtain Buddha’s scriptures." Xu Que earnestly summarised the story of the Journey to the West.
Both the White Fox lady and Yun Er were taken aback and stared at Xu Que in confusion.
Xu Que laughed, "But do you guys know why did sister Chang’e bring the Jade Hare to the Heavenly Palace?"
"I know!" Yun Er immediately replied, "Xiao Yu told me this before. It was because the Jade Hare race had genuine and pure blood running through their veins and had very strong soul strengths. They also had an innate gift for refining medicinal pills. That was the reason the goddess took them to heaven."
"Bah… You’re wrong! Think about this. If Chang’e didn’t bring a rabbit up the Heavens, but instead brought just a carrot, wouldn’t her intentions be too obvious?" Xu Que winked at them and exclaimed, and gave a ‘You know what I’m saying’ look.
The two ladies really could not understand his meaning.
The White Fox lady shook her head, "Why must she bring the carrot?"
"Um…" Xu Que paused, and laughed, "This is a very deep biological question! We shall discuss it in detail another day. Isn’t the most important thing to get that stupid rabbit out of its house? Too easy! Servants, bring me my Golden Rod. Pah! That’s not right! I mean bring me my Gu Qin!"
"Gu Qin? What do you want a Gu Qin for? We don’t have it here!"
"It’s obviously to accompany my singing." Xu Que replied, brought out the system interface and entered the system store.
"System, give me a good quality and cheap Gu Qin!"
Swish!
A ray of llight flashed past his eyes and countless Gu Qins appeared.
Xu Que scanned through and bought the cheapest Charred-Tailed Qin. He only spent 10 act tough points and reached for it out of thin air.
"Don’t tell me you are going to sing again?"
Upon realizing the situation, White Fox recalled Xu Que singing a song titled, ‘The King Has Called For Me To Search The Mountains’. The song was so horrid that it forced a defensive spell to go on the offensive.
Seeing that he had taken out a Gu Qin, she was appalled. She then exclaimed in panic, "Xiao Yu’s mood is already poor. Please don’t provoke her. This move is useless."
Xu Que laughed, " Don’t worry, don’t worry. Besides being a qualified alchemist, I am also a noble musician, eh, I mean composer. I shall use music to influence Xiao Yu!"
He had previously acquired five technical ability books at the Tower of Souls as a reward. One of them was the musician ability.
This was an ingenious ability as it had the ability to influence one’s state of mind and rationality.
Hence, apart from trying to cajole Xiao Yu out, his other aim was to test out the power of One Star Musician.
He flung his tiger-skinned robes as he sat on the ground, and harnessed the Gu Qin on his lap. With both of his hands flat on the instrument strings, he shut his eyes gracefully and took a deep breath.
With his serious look, he had an invigorating aura around him.
White Fox and Yun’er wanted to speak but after witnessing his imposing manner and look, they were taken aback for a moment.
"Deng… Deng…"
With a twitch of his finger, he plucked the musical strings gently. What accompanied was a prolonged and splendid note filling the air.
"This Qin’s sound…"
"He really knows how to play it."
The two ladies were dumbfounded and looked like they were attracted to the lovely sounds of the Qin.
As the sound of the Qin’s string lingered in the air, Xu Que opened his mouth. He then started by syncing his vocal chords to the tune, as he started to sing.
"Little Rabbit, be good, open the door, quickly open it, I want to come in…"