William watched Wang Xiaoling gleefully order her newly hired helpers to load a wagon with spirit fruits. He wanted to question if she was doing the right thing since the efficiency of the fruits would decay if not transported correctly, but he ended up deciding not to bother since she had already been successful with the first batch.
Besides, William found that he didn’t really care all too much. Wang Xiaoling had made him hand over his share in the profits for an ‘investment,’ so it was highly likely that he would see none of the Gold from the sale.
He felt his stomach turn when the Blood Oranges were carried out, remembering the seven he had eaten last night before the impurity in his body had risen enough to make him stop.
Impurity: Stage 1 (95%)
Days Remaining
After William had returned to the city late yesterday evening, he had gone straight to The Golden Lotus, intending to collapse on the bed and sleep until it was a requirement to be at the Clinic. Fortunately, when he saw the remaining spirit fruits in his room, a rather obvious realization appeared in his mind.
The spirit fruits currently giving him attribute points would likely be worthless after his cultivation reached the second level of Qi Gathering. After all, the same spirit fruits he was currently consuming had given him double the benefits when he was a mortal. It was expected that it would get drastically worse when he reached the next level.
Not receiving experience points for the training session with Qin Yu turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Spirit: 30 (26)
Strength: 27 (23)
Stamina: 24 (21)
Agility: 24 (21) + 10
Luck: 30 (26)
Points: 8
William thought it was a shame that he couldn't max all his attributes before leveling up, but he wasn’t willing to postpone that to wait for a perfect time. Not when reaching the second level of Qi Gathering would get him a step closer to the point when his soul would be perfected. Attributes were important, but his peace of mind was even more so.
“Wei Liang! Why are you holding onto those? Put it with the rest!”
“These are the spirit fruits I picked for myself, Sister Xiaoling.”
“For you?” Wang Xiaoling frowned as she stormed to him and searched his basket, “Are you going to pay me for these? Do you know how much Gold I can get for them?”
“I can’t pay,” William replied flatly, “I suppose I could take back the second batch and sell them myself since I don’t have enough money.”
Wang Xiaoling burst out with fake laughter as she quickly returned to the filled wagon. The workers she had hired had just finished loading it with the spirit fruits, so she jumped on and pulled the horse's reins.
“Consider those a gift from me. Goodbye, brat!”
William was reminded of the cartoon thieves he remembered watching as a kid. It was likely that the next time he saw Wang Xiaoling, she would have unfortunately failed in her ambition to form a Merchant House.
He shook his head and walked into the Clinic, the calm inside sharply contrasting the almost market-like feel outside its door. Then again, that might have just been because of Wang Xiaoling being herself. However, the reason for the calm inside the Clinic was worse than that, and it was because of a woman he didn’t expect to meet again, at least, not this soon.
“Little Brother Wei!”
William stared at Mei Lingxi’s distracting presence for a few seconds before looking at Qin Yu standing beside her. It was strange, feeling jealousy rise within him while also being amused that the jealousy existed in the first place. It showed a true disconnect between his emotions and his logical thinking.
“Sister Lingxi,” William greeted with a wary smile, “Did you come to see us off?”
“Of course! I couldn’t let you leave without seeing your adorable face again!”
William was proud that his smile didn’t falter when Qin Yu started to laugh silently.
“… That’s great. I’m sorry you got into trouble for helping me, Sister Lingxi.” William figured that would be what a clueless kid who had a crush on the older girl would say. While the people around him could easily read his emotions, one thing he was sure of was that they all thought he was an actual thirteen-year-old.
If Daoist Chen thought so, he would expect everyone else to also be fooled.
“Oh, I don’t blame you, Little Brother,” Mei Lingxi opened a box that he just realized she was holding, “In fact, I wanted to give you a parting gift.”
William’s breath hitched when he saw a familiar glove carefully pulled out.
“I know you liked this greatly, so my Prince insisted that I gift the Elemental Gauntlet to you,” Mei Lingxi moved close, “You still have a third pick to make, so come by the Treasure Palace the next time you’re in the city. I’ll be the one to show you around again.”
With a ruffle of his hair, Mei Lingxi placed the box in William’s hands and casually strolled out of the Clinic, leaving him to stare after her in shock. This had to be the most blatant lure to return to the Treasure Pavilion that could have possibly been given.
“Senior Sister Lan mentioned that she feared you were obsessed with mortal Gold. However, I think you might have an even more dangerous obsession, Junior Brother.”
William looked away from the box to give Qin Yu an unamused stare. “Where are Sister Li and Elder Huang?”
“They’re storing the last few items in the back before leaving,” Qin Yu replied, “And Ren Bo is helping.”
“Hmm,” William nodded before asking, “Was there anything else she said to you?”
“You mean your Sister Lingxi?” Qin Yu teased before becoming more serious, “You can accept that gift, but I’m sure you know what not to do?”
“Yes,” William nodded, never having intended to visit the Treasure Palace.
“Good, then that’s all that matters. Beauty leads to disaster, Junior Brother, and it shouldn’t be the most important thing to look at in a Dao Partner.”
“Ah, right,” William replied awkwardly, “I’ll be sure to remember that.”
“What am I saying,” Qin Yu chuckled, “Telling a kid about Dao Partners. Anyway, Elder Yu gave me something to pass on to you if you performed beyond my expectations yesterday.”
William blinked when he was offered a thin chain with a pendant made out of a pitch-black stone hanging off it.
“Besides, I can’t allow someone outside the Sect to give you something like that without outdoing it, could I? I would be ashamed to call myself your Senior Brother.”
His first thought was that he was being given something similar to a spatial ring simply by looking at the stone, which he immediately pushed away since Elder Yu would have known that it would just put a target on his back.
“What is it?”
“Put it on and find out for yourself.”
William took the necklace from Qin Yu’s hands and slipped it around his neck, shivering slightly when the cool stone touched his skin. With how all the spirit artifacts worked so far, he used his Qi to try and activate it, expecting the system to start calculating the cost of use.
Instead, his Qi allowed him to sense a small space in the black stone, around a quarter the size of the side room where the spirit fruits had been stored.
“What is this?!” William gasped in shock.
“Isn’t it obvious? It’s a necklace with a spatial stone. Elder Yu has made it undetectable to any cultivator below the Spirit Severing Realm. That way, you won’t have to worry about a poor Nascent Soul cultivator getting greedy thoughts.”
After losing his chance in the Treasure Pavilion, William had thought it would be quite some time before he would have such an opportunity again. He never thought that simply impressing Qin Yu would be enough to get him an item similar to a spatial ring.
That brought another question to his mind. Why did Qin Yu hand it over with such little hesitation?
“Why are you looking at me so suspiciously?”
“Nothing, Senior Brother. Do you know how I can use this?”
“Ah, it’s simple!” Qin Yu took the box Mei Lingxi placed in William’s hands before making it disappear, “Wrap your Qi around what you want to be stored inside the space. And when you want to take it out, do the same.”
William blinked in surprise when the box was returned to him. He followed Qin Yu's instructions, easily pulling the box and the spirit fruits he was carrying in his basket into the spatial stone.
“How did you do that?” William wondered out loud.
Qin Yu pulled on the necklace hidden under his robes and revealed a similar pendant. “Did you think you were the only one that had one?”
William knew it should have been expected with how casual Qin Yu was with the spirit stone. Especially with the disappearing act that he was able to do, but still, it was hard to reconcile something supposedly rare in the hands of low-level cultivators.
“Does everyone in the Sect have them?” William immediately remembered that Ren Bo didn’t, answering his own question.
“Just the disciples that Elder Yu values,” Qin Yu corrected, “Anyway, keep this a secret. Even from other disciples of the Sect.”
“Yes, Senior Brother.”
“Good! Go say your farewell to Li Xinyue. It could be some time before you can see her again.”