Chapter 8. Lan Yunyue and Lin Lu's advances
Lin Yang stepped out of the Grand Clarity Pavilion and walked alongside the main road until he arrived at one of the high-end stores of the capital, the Hundred Treasures Hall. It was a story mostly aimed at rich aristocratic juniors.
After seeing Lin Yang's shabby clothes, the fat shopkeeper gave him an ugly look, but in the end didn't chase him away. There was no rule that one had to have money to enter the shop.
Lin Yang ignored the shopkeeper's glare and browsed for a while. He then approached the shopkeeper and made his order - 4 Golden Deer Pills, one 100-year old Blood Ginseng and 2 Essence Gathering Pellets.
This entire purchase cost Lin Yang 1350 gold taels, which was basically half of the wealth that he received yesterday from Zhu Yan.
When Lin Yang said all this the shopkeeper gave him another weird look, but when he saw Lin Yang flash a dozen golden banknotes at his chest pocket, his attitude made a 180 degrees change and he immediately sprung out from his seat to prepare the order.
"Four Golden Deer Pills, one 100-year old Blood Ginseng and two Soul Gathering Pellets. The total is 1350," the shopkeeper said, full of smiles, as he quickly brought the ordered items to the counter.
Lin Yang glanced at the goods. He was unable to confirm the authenticity of the pills without smelling them, but judging by their appearance, they should be. He didn't think that the shopkeeper would dare to cheat him.
However, as Lin Yang was about to pay for his order, he noticed a familiar face enter the store. It was a very beautiful face, one that was deeply ingrained in Lin Yang's memories.
Not too far from him were two girls wearing light yellow dresses. One of them was the one who had missed a promised meeting with him a few months ago and had accompanied Zhu Yan to go to the Seven Profound Martial House - Lan Yunyue.
Lan Yunyue was a beautiful, elegant and charming girl. Her body was delicate and fragile-looking, making one that looked at her want to embrace and protect her.
Lin Yang was taken aback. He really didn't expect to meet Lan Yunyue here at this time.
Lan Yunyue had also just arrived at the shop. She was slightly confused at first when she saw the mark on Lin Yang's forehead, but she knew him well enough to still instantly realize that it really was Lin Yang. Then as she heard the shopkeeper's words about what Lin Yang had just bought, her surprised complexion changed.
She knew that Lin Yang accepted 2500 gold taels from Zhu Yan in exchange for giving up on joining the Seven Profound Martial House. Originally she felt relieved and thought that Lin Yang had accepted his reality and decided to receive a large amount of money from Zhu Yan to settle down and lead a safe life.
After all, Lin Yang's family is not rich. As a martial artist he would need to support the large expenses of cultivating martial arts along with daily living expenses while he isn't even the only young martial artist in his family.
Furthermore, Lin Yang's talent for practicing martial arts is quite poor. It is definitely not his strong side.
And even if Lin Yang managed to join the Seven Profound Martial House, he might become the target of Zhu Yan's bullying.
Lan Yunyue hoped that Lin Yang realized that the path he originally chose was a path to self-destruction, but now that she saw Lin Yang using money from Zhu Yan to purchase exceedingly expensive cultivation pills, she felt quite strange.
It appeared that Lin Yang had not given up on martial arts and decided to spend the fortune he received on expensive pills instead of doing something with it.
With that thought, Lan Yunyue sighed. She did not know if she should say anything in this situation. She felt that anything she said might possibly insult Lin Yang's intelligence, but she also couldn't pretend that she had not seen him.
By now the storekeeper had also seen Lan Yunyue and he smiled in welcome. "This young lady, are you two friends? Oh, yes, what about that young master that accompanied you a few days ago, did you come together? I don't see him."
It was obvious the storekeeper's mention of a Young Master referred to Zhu Yan.
Seeing that smile on the storekeeper's face, Lin Yang also knew that the last time Zhu Yan had come here with Lan Yunyue, the storekeeper had made a fortune.
Lan Yunyue didn't think that the storekeeper would mention Zhu Yan at this time, and it only made the situation more awkward and tense. She wanted to explain that she hadn't done anything with Zhu Yan, but she held the words on the tip of her tongue.
Lan Yunyue's face paled and she steeled herself. She was not a little girl anymore and had to be clear about these things. Sooner or later she would marry into the Zhu Family, and although she did not like Zhu Yan, but for her goals, she had caved into her destiny and had chosen the path of betrayal.
After a little more tense awkwardness, Lan Yunyue asked Lin Yang in a low voice, "It's been awhile… have you been well?"
It's been a while…
It's actually been three months since Lin Yang had last seen Lan Yunyue. After they promised each other to meet at the Sky Fortune Martial House's registration site, she didn't show up at all, didn't give any advance warning and afterwards she never met him again to explain things. It was only several days later that Lin Yang heard from Lin Xiaodong that she became Zhu Yan's fiancee and joined the Seven Profound Martial House.
Lin Yang still remembered how he stood by himself like a fool in front of the Sky Fortune Martial House during the appointed date, faintly aware that he was just dumped.
Lin Yang understood that Zhu Yan could offer Lan Yunyue a far better life than a poor commoner boy like him with nothing to his name but his clothes, but it was still a severe hit on his dignity as a man. Although he was poor, he was really a great man toward Lan Yunyue, intelligent, strong and kind, but after fifteen years she had still chosen someone else.
This bitter pathetic feeling of being inadequate continued to haunt him for several weeks, before he finally made strength his absolute first priority and his resolve firmed to the limit.
In fact, if Lan Yunyue actually showed up then it would be him who would suddenly give up on joining the inferior Sky Fortune Martial House with her and would betray her instead, so it would be extremely hypocritical for him to blame her for anything.
The end result remained that she was the one who broke their promise first, but Lin Yang had already moved on and didn't care. Especially with the Magic Cube and Magic Sphere already in his hands, there was no reason for him to waste his time on Lan Yunyue.
"Yeah, I've been doing well these days," Lin Yang faintly replied.
Lan Yunyue gently wrinkled her brows.
Doing well? He was a fifteen year old boy with poor talent that suffered from the pain of cultivation while also having to worry about his own livelihood and experiencing the mockery of others. He received a fortune that could allow him to start his own business, but he decided to blow it all away on a few expensive medicines. Was this really doing well?
Lan Yunyue knew Lin Yang's stubbornness, but seeing his confident attitude, she could only softly say, "I see you don't want to give up on martial arts and probably plan to join the Sky Fortune Martial House. I understand why you bought Golden Deer Pills, but using four really is a waste. Essence Gathering Pellets are also very luxurious. I feel that you should be careful with how you spend the money you have. Focus on only buying healing medicine and elixirs that can increase your cultivation..."
Lan Yunyue didn't think that Lin Yang was so unreasonable and dishonorable as to go back on the promise he gave Zhu Yan, so she didn't even consider this option.
"I know. I know what I'm doing, don't worry," Lin Yang replied, slightly smiling.
Essence Gathering Pellets are a luxurious medicine and what Lan Yunyue said was sound advice, but Lin Yang's situation is unique and he had prospects of earning a fortune soon, so he naturally pursued efficiency in his training and he didn't care about the cost.
A poor person with weak talent and a low quality cultivation technique would usually buy medicines that help them directly raise their cultivation, and then they would spend time removing the pill toxins from the body and stabilizing their foundation.
But it was pointless for Lin Yang. Not only did he not care about money, but the cultivation technique that he practiced was also very powerful, so using Essence Gathering Pellets was especially beneficial. On the other hand, accumulating pill toxins would instead be detrimental to his cultivation speed.
Seeing Lin Yang's expression as if he did not put her words to heart, Lan Yunynue felt concerned. She said, "Lin Yang, I'm serious. Cultivating martial arts is dangerous to the body. If you won't have enough money to buy medicine in the future, it's easy to suffer permanent disability… Although you have a lot of gold now, it won't last you for long if you're thrifty. It isn't too late to turn back now. It would be best if you returned to Green Blueberry City and perhaps started a business. With your ability, I'm sure that you would do well. I know that you are unwilling to listen, but I do not want to think that later in life the only thing you'll be doing is lying down on a bed."
Lin Yang could feel that what Lun Yanyue's words probably came from her heart and were not just customary, but it was meaningless to him. He plainly smiled. "I know. Thank you for the advice, but I have my own path."
He turned back to the shopkeeper, gave him the money for his purchase and then packed his things. Then he expressionlessly gave Lan Yunyue a light nod and left the shop.
As he felt the weight of the cultivation pills in his chest pocket, a cold smile appeared on Lin Yang's lips. In the future he will need to thank Zhu Yan for his financial support.
…
Lin Yang soon came back to his room in the Grand Clarity Pavilion and saw Lin Lu cultivating on the bed.
Lin Lu opened her eyes as she heard someone enter and looked at Lin Yang. As the doors closed, she got down from the bed, shyly smiled and quietly said, "Big brother, this cultivation technique is really great. Thank you for sharing it with Lu."
Lin Yang smiled. "Mhm, that's great."
Only a person who had mastered a cultivation technique is able to engrave a jade slip and impart it to someone else, so if he did not receive this jade slip from Littlefox, it would be impossible for him to share the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians with Lin Lu or someone else even if he wanted to.
Lin Lu approached Lin Yang, put her hands behind her back in a shy and cute pose and softly said, "So, how does brother want Lu to repay you?"
Lin Yang was suddenly taken aback after hearing the erotic connotation hidden in Lin Lu's soft words. After thinking for a while, he smiled and answered, "Lulu only needs to train hard. As long as you can become strong thanks to this technique, then I'll be happy."
"Ah…" Lin Lu voiced out. First her expression reflected surprise, before transforming into happy embarrassment…
At that time Lin Lu didn't know what to say. Lin Yang's kind words caused her heart to melt.
Lin Yang lightly smiled and didn't continue embarrassing Lin Lu. They still sort-of grew up as siblings, so things felt very awkward between them.
He took out two elixir bottles from his chest pocket. He then pulled out two pills from one of the bottles and said, "I know that you used one in the past, so these two Golden Deer Pills are for you."
Pills and pellets are made from combining medicinal herbs and raw materials from vicious beasts and then refining them. They're many times better than simply using medicinal herbs or vicious beast materials. Moreover, because of the formulas, it was possible to achieve effects which the medicinal herbs or vicious beast materials could not achieve by themselves.
Golden Deer Pills are rare; they are made from a hundred year old golden deer's deer embryo as the main ingredient and supplemented with a variety of herbs.
Golden Deer themselves are rare and moreover mostly found in remote mountain forests. It is not easy to find them, and to take a golden deer's embryo is as difficult as it sounds.
Because the Golden Deer Pills are refined from the deer embryo, they contain a rich and fragrant vitality. Most importantly, they have not been contaminated by the houtian air outside the womb, so it was possible to use them to remove the impurities of the body and promote increased absorption rate of true essence.
The first Golden Deer Pill taken was the most effective, and afterwards the efficacy halves. Taking more than three would generally be a waste.
This kind of pill is the most basic and important medicine for a martial artist to use, but the Lin family was very stingy and did not provide Lin Yang with any despite the talent that he showed off. It was all because he was only an inferior 3rd grader and an outsider.
As for Lin Lu, she also didn't receive any cultivation pills from the family even though she was valued.
Lin Yang knew why. It was not because of Lin Lu's lacking talent, but because of the family's politics.
The elders of the family wanted to use Lin Lu as a bargaining chip and marry her to a certain fat young master from the city lord's family, but she didn't accept it. Having her live in poverty while struggling in her martial arts practice was a cunning way for them to put pressure on her. After all, in their eyes she was only a branch family member and her martial talent as a female was mostly there for show.
All of this didn't escape Lin Yang's eyes. In the end it was the world of martial arts. While martial artists were all courteous on the outside, everyone thought of their own interests.
Thus, Lin Yang and Lin Lu didn't receive any Golden Deer Pills as they started practicing martial arts, but they actually got and used one a year ago.
It was during a banquet at the Patriarch's mansion where Lin Yang worked as a deboner and Lin Lu as a cook. During that time Lin Yang met the Lin family patriarch for the first time in person and they had a chat. Long story short, the Lin family Patriarch felt generous and gave Lin Yang and Lin Lu a gift of a single Golden Deer Pill each.
At this time Lin Lu received two more yellow rice grain sized pills from Lin Yang. Each of them was valued at 200 gold taels.
Looking at the two pills, Lin Lu thought, 'Big brother is really too kind. But he is too dense. It seems that I need to be more direct…'
With this thought Lin Lu took a step forward and suddenly kissed Lin Yang's cheek. She then said, "Thank you, big brother. Big brother is the best."
Afterwards she crossed her arms behind her back, standing in an innocent and cute pose as if it was a natural behavior between siblings, but she could not conceal her heated up and embarrassed expression.