Chapter 14 Whereabouts
Just as Jiao Xing took out a scroll and began to flip through it, Yi Sanmei suddenly smelled a fresh medicinal fragrance coming from behind her. Turning around, she saw a gray sleeve embroidered with fine-leaved long-necked flowers and herbs.
What a familiar smell, Yi Sanmei thought. This scent seemed to be tangible throughout the village. At first, it was refreshing and uplifting, but after a while, it felt like a lightheaded feeling. It was the herbal incense and candles that every month, when mothers gave birth, they would collect from the outer sect masters and light them. It was often used to relieve pain.
Jiao Xing looked up and saw the approaching figures. A subtle twitch twitched in the corner of his eye. Just as one troublemaker had left, another dangerous one arrived. He wondered if these people weren't also proud of their status. An Inner Sect elder was personally staking out a position to seize someone, and a high-ranking official in charge of Danxin Pavilion's alchemy had even sent his medicine boy to block the way.
Although the medicine boy was insignificant on his own, he was the only surviving medicine boy who had been testing medicine under Taoist Hua Shen for thirty years. He was essentially his only disciple. If he offended these two, who knew when he would end up consuming a poisoned pill.
Jiao Xing resigned himself to his fate and put down the post in his hand. With a look of despair on his tired face, he asked, "Junior Brother Su, if there is anything important, just pass on the message." At this time, he never mentioned the shortage of staff in the pavilion.
This sentence immediately cheered up Third Sister Yi. She realized that this person wearing a gray robe similar to that of an outer disciple had a special status, and this might be an opportunity.
Su Yang didn't care what anyone present was thinking. He politely bowed to Jiao Xing, then slowly pulled out a neatly folded stack of documents from his sleeve. Jiao Xing waited patiently for him to hand the documents to her with his bandaged, drug-stained hands.
It was obvious without even looking that Daoist Hua Shen wanted a new medicine boy, but this was indeed a difficult problem. Jiao Xing's mind raced as he flipped through the text.
Taoist Hua Shen's fame was known to even the most remote sects and cultivators. He was the most gifted alchemist since the founding of the Zang Yao Sect, and was honored as the Millennium Alchemy Emperor, a testament to his exceptional alchemy skills.
For thousands of years, it has been difficult for the Tiandao sects outside to come up with new elixir recipes except for the ancient ones. In recent years, there was finally a so-called genius alchemist from Lianshan Sect, who developed a new recipe that turned out to be a beauty-enhancing elixir, which was really a laughing stock.
In just three hundred years, Taoist Hua Shen has developed the Fu Mu Fruit, Tongmai Pill, Bone Strengthening Pill, Life-Burning Agent, and even the Fei Tian Soup, which can cleanse and reshape the spiritual roots in the body. How come he doesn't have even one official disciple when he is so outstanding?
Because Taoist Hua Shen was originally a medicine boy, he scoffed at the traditional practice of granting disciples. Anyone who wanted to become his disciple had to first become his medicine boy to test his medicines, and almost everyone failed at this stage.
He would always use humans as experiments when making new medicines, whether they were good medicines or poisons, in order to quickly see the results. Even the medicinal bodies cultivated by Zang Yaozong were not enough for him to poison to death.
In order to improve the medicine boy's endurance, he developed some elixir formulas that could quickly infuse and ripen. In the past ten years, Su Yang, a poisonous body rarely seen in hundreds of years, finally emerged. Taoist Hua Shen was overjoyed and instructed Feiyan Pavilion to regularly send medicine boys to Su Yang to rest and replace him, so as not to lose this rare disciple too early.
In the eyes of Jiao Xing and other people who had always been in Feiyan Pavilion, Hua Shen Daoist's Danxin Pavilion was a bottomless pit that could never be filled. No matter how much they sent in, it would never be enough. The harvest was poor this year, and Jiao Xing had originally wanted to find an excuse to delay until the end to see if there was any left before sending it to Danxin Pavilion. Who would have thought that this old monster would see through Feiyan Pavilion's little tricks at a glance and directly send Su Yang to snatch people away.
After much thought, Jiao Xing could only think of sending one person over to appease them first; sending both was out of the question. The document in his hand had the sect's chief elder specifically requesting children under ten, and the age range of the subsequent boatloads was unknown.
Having made up his mind, Jiao Xing intentionally or unintentionally placed the letter where Su Yang could clearly see the name of the Great Elder at a glance, and nodded readily: "Elder Hua Shen has spoken, so how could Xing not respond? However, only one ship has arrived so far, and the sect is anxious to repair the formation, so most of them have already left. The Great Elder has already decided on the remaining two, and Xing is about to send someone to deliver them."
Taking a breath, Jiao Xing put on an expression of contemplation and compromise, "But since Junior Brother Su has come here in person, I can't let him go back empty-handed. So, Junior Brother, choose one of these two and take him back. Both of these kids are from the valley, and their physical qualities are beyond doubt. They will definitely be able to perform the role of medicine boy."
Medicine boy. After hearing this, Third Sister Yi quickly thought about it. Even in the valley, Taoist Hua Shen's name was known. She had overheard those guarding Yanzhen Pavilion mention the fate of those medicine boys with fear in their voices. But even if it was tragic, death would still take some time. Compared to being used as sacrificial material with no chance of survival, it was far better.
Instead of gambling on the chance of surviving in the next assigned place, it is better to take the initiative to fight for a chance of survival!
Su Yang just looked over at the two children and saw one of them take two steps back in fear, trembling against the wall, not daring to look up and meet his gaze. But the other girl took a step towards him, her eyes firm. Although her lips trembled with nervousness, she still spoke before he could.
"Sir, please choose me!"
At that moment, Su Yang's thoughts drifted back to ten years ago. The countless pain and torture he'd endured over those ten years had all stemmed from a single, ignorant statement he'd made back then. He'd regretted it countless times, but he no longer had the power to die, and could only exist in this world.
Su Yang's expression changed, but Yi Sanmei didn't know what had offended him and felt a little uneasy for a moment.
"You... do you know what it's like to be a medicine boy in Danxin Pavilion?" Su Yang's tone was vague, and he didn't know who he was asking.
Yi Sanmei certainly understood. But only a carefree life deserves the right to choose. If she wanted to live, she had to take a difficult path. She looked directly at Su Yang and nodded, her eyes full of longing.
Su Yang sighed, walked up to Yi Sanmei, and even bent down to touch her head. "In that case, come with me."
Looking at Jiao Xing's fake smile and promise to send someone to Danxin Pavilion later, Su Yang put the letter under the table, took Yi Sanmei's hand and went to Danxin Pavilion.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
