Black steamed buns and the first pot of gold
Finn Liver sprinted towards the dining hall at top speed, then rushed back at an astonishing pace, carrying a large tray. On the tray were a few pieces of white bread that looked fairly soft, a bowl of thick soup that smelled a bit strange (supposedly mashed potatoes stewed with some kind of beans), and a glass of water.
He placed the tray on the low table beside the hospital bed, panting, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Ling Yao, his face saying, "Praise me, praise me!"
Looking at the pile of "food" in front of her, which looked worrisome and had energy fluctuations so weak they were almost negligible, Ling Yao felt a sense of rejection. Back in the cultivation world, she used to eat thousand-year-old ginseng or chew on ten-thousand-year-old snow lotus, and at the very least, she would make pastries from spirit rice. This stuff... looked even worse than the food she fed to her turtles.
However, the untimely rumbling sound from her stomach and the dwindling spiritual energy within her body cruelly reminded her that—a tiger fallen into the plains has no right to be picky about food.
She silently picked up a piece of white bread and took a bite. The texture was rough, bland, and tasteless, with only a faint aroma of grains. She then scooped a spoonful of the grayish, thick soup into her mouth. The taste… was indescribable; it was very weak in salt, filled with an unfamiliar herbal aroma, and the energy content remained pitifully low.
These things are better than nothing, but to expect them to replenish one's immortal power is like hoping to fill the ocean with a drop of water.
Dean Maurice and Professor Eleanor carefully observed her reaction. Seeing that although she was eating with difficulty, she did not show any signs of poisoning or rejection, they breathed a sigh of relief—at least it proved that she could digest the ordinary food of this world.
Inquisitor Silas, however, remained aloof, his suspicion unwavering. In his view, this was perhaps a performance by the otherworldly beings to lower their guard.
Ling Yao struggled to finish half a piece of bread and a few mouthfuls of soup, then shook her head at Finn, indicating that she had enough. It wasn't that she was being polite; it was genuinely... useless and just filling her stomach.
Finn was a little disappointed, but still diligently handed over the water glass.
Ling Yao took a sip of water, suppressing the strange taste in her mouth, her mind racing. Relying on the academy's aid wasn't a long-term solution; this amount of energy was barely enough to maintain the status quo, let alone restore her strength. She had to find a way to get some "real stuff."
She pointed out the window, then gestured as if walking, before looking at the old director with a plea in her eyes that said, "I want to go out for a walk."
The old dean hesitated for a moment. Letting this dangerous otherworldly creature leave the heavily guarded ward was very risky. But looking at her weak and harmless appearance, and the embarrassing scene of hunger she had just experienced, coupled with Professor Eleanor's preliminary conclusion after testing that "her energy is chaotic but her structure is stable, and she has no tendency to actively attack," he finally nodded.
“Yes, but you must be accompanied by guards,” the old dean instructed, then glanced at Silas, “Your Excellency the Judge, please also come along to ensure your safety.”
Silas snorted coldly, which was taken as tacit agreement. He wanted to see what tricks this otherworldly creature was up to.
So, accompanied by a fully armed guard and a moving iceberg, Ling Yao walked out of the medical school building in a "weak" manner. Finn also volunteered to follow behind, ostensibly to "act as a translator and cultural advisor".
The academy's interior was more...peculiar than Ling Yao had imagined. Towering spires were inlaid with crystals emitting various colors of light, and occasionally students in robes would fly by on broomsticks (?!). On the grass, students were practicing manipulating small streams of water or lighting small clusters of flame. Energy fluctuations were active, but generally weak, and the methods of application seemed very crude and inefficient to her.
As she walked slowly, she secretly spread her divine sense to the maximum extent, painstakingly filtering out the chaotic elemental interference, searching for anything that might contain abundant energy—such as decent spiritual herbs and medicines.
However, the result was disappointing. The academy's landscaping was quite good, with many flowers and plants, but most of them were just ordinary plants, at most tainted with a faint elemental aura, not even qualifying as the lowest-grade spiritual herbs.
Is the energy system of this world so stingy that even plants are?
Just as Ling Yao was about to give up and consider whether she really had to go back and eat that black bread, her divine sense suddenly detected an unusually subtle yet resilient energy fluctuation in an extremely inconspicuous corner by the roadside, which seemed to be overgrown with weeds!
That energy was different from the active yet scattered elemental forces around it; it was more like a life essence deeply hidden in the earth, restrained and pure! Although it was also very weak, its quality seemed... alright?
Ling Yao's heart stirred, and her feet involuntarily turned towards that corner.
Silas immediately followed warily, his hand on his mace. The guards tensed up as well. Finn, on the other hand, looked on with curiosity.
Ling Yao squatted down, parted the ordinary weeds that grew wildly, and carefully dug out several unremarkable plants with thick leaves and dark purple roots. They looked drab and looked like they came from a refugee camp compared to the bright and beautiful flowers and plants around them.
“Uh… Miss Ling…” Finn tried using the name he had just made up. “That… is ‘Ironthorn’. It’s useless. It’s incredibly resilient and ugly. It’s usually cleared away as a weed…” He thought Ling Yao thought the plant was pretty.
Ling Yao ignored him. She carefully sensed the pure and tenacious earth-elemental life essence inside the "weed" on her fingertip, and her eyes lit up slightly.
Useless? What a waste!
In the cultivation world, this thing is hardly considered a spiritual medicine. At most, it's a distant relative of a low-grade "Qi-stabilizing herb," usually used by outer disciples to build a foundation for body tempering. Its effects are so mild that they can put people to sleep.
But at this moment! In this place where energy is desperately scarce! These few unassuming "iron thorn grasses" looked like fireflies in the dark, shining brightly in her eyes!
Moreover, there's plenty of it! This area looks quite lush!
Ling Yao suppressed the urge to roar to the sky and began to gather herbs with a blank expression. She specifically targeted those that were older and had more vitality, and her movements were quick, accurate, and ruthless. In no time, she had gathered a small handful.
Silas and the guards frowned at her actions, wondering why she was collecting these unwanted weeds. Did the otherworldly creatures have a rather unusual diet?
Finn scratched his head: "Miss Ling, if you're hungry, the cafeteria has bread... This grass doesn't taste good, and it hurts your throat..."
Ling Yao ignored him. Holding the "Ironthorn Grass," she looked around and walked straight to a small, dusty stone mortar that looked abandoned for a long time—probably discarded by some student after conducting an outdoor potion experiment.
Amidst the puzzled gazes of the others, Ling Yao stuffed the "iron thorn grass" into the stone mortar, and then... extended her seemingly delicate hand and slapped it onto the stone mortar!
There were no magical fluctuations, no incantations.
Only a very subtle and extremely concentrated force passed through her palm, instantly shattering the herbs in the mortar and forcibly squeezing and fusing their medicinal essence!
This move, seemingly simple, is actually the ultimate demonstration of precise control over power! Even with his immortal power suppressed, the master's fundamental skills remain intact!
A few seconds later, Ling Yao opened her palm, revealing three pills the size of longan fruits, dark in color, with rough surfaces and a faint earthy smell... or rather, clods of dirt?
Finn: "..."
guard:"……"
Silas's eyes sharpened. He still couldn't sense any magical or divine fluctuations, but the other party had indeed created something in a way he couldn't understand.
Ling Yao sighed as she looked at the three poorly made "low-grade fasting pills" in her palm. The ingredients were terrible, the tools were even worse—you can't cook without rice. The effect would probably be only one ten-thousandth of the original; it would be good enough to provide some basic life essence to fill her stomach.
She picked one up, hesitated for a moment, then popped it into her mouth, chewed it a few times like a candy, and then swallowed it.
A faint yet remarkably solid warm current slowly spread through her stomach. Although the energy was pitifully small, it was definitely much better than the bread and soup she had just eaten! Most importantly, this energy seemed to have less conflict with the rules of this world, allowing her body to absorb it more smoothly!
There's a chance!
Ling Yao felt a little more at ease and casually stuffed the other two "black buns" into her bosom (that robe had a vague spatial storage function, although the space that could be opened was pitifully small at the moment).
Just as she was thinking about how to gather more grass to mass-produce "black steamed buns," a commotion and exclamations suddenly came from the direction of the college gate.
Several mercenaries, clad in leather armor and covered in blood, rushed in, carrying a more seriously wounded comrade whose chest was still gushing blood from a gruesome gash. They cried out in panic, "Priest! Is the academy's priest here? Help!"
The apprentice guarding the gate tried to stop him, but was shoved aside by the mercenary leader, whose face was covered in blood: "Get out of the way! Berg is dying! He's been torn apart by the claws of a swamp crocodile! Ordinary healing potions are useless!"
The old dean and Professor Eleanor were also alerted and quickly came out of the building. Eleanor stepped forward to examine the injured person's wounds, her brows furrowed: "The wounds are too deep, contaminated with strong swamp toxins and dark corrosive energy. Ordinary healing spells are not very effective; it requires high-level purification spells combined with life prayers... but none of the divine spell professors skilled in these are at the academy today!"
Upon hearing this, the mercenaries turned deathly pale. The burly man named Berg was growing weaker and weaker, and it was clear he was about to pass out.
The students around stood by, whispering, their faces showing sympathy but also helplessness.
Ling Yao stood not far away, observing coldly. She had little interest in saving anyone; the cultivation world was a dog-eat-dog world, and the death of one or two people was commonplace. But as her gaze swept over the gray-black energy swirling around the wounded man's injuries and the constantly draining life essence, a slight thought stirred within her.
That toxin and corrosive energy... could it be forcibly dispelled with pure, yang immortal power? And the lost life essence... the meager earth-elemental life essence in the "black steamed bun" she just made might be enough to keep him alive until the very end.
A bold idea popped into her mind.
She strolled over slowly, pushed through the crowd, and, to everyone's astonishment, walked to the dying mercenary.
"What are you doing?!" The lead mercenary tried to stop her warily.
Ling Yao ignored him, simply extending a finger. A barely perceptible yet incredibly pure immortal power condensed at the fingertip, and she quickly tapped around the wound a few times, temporarily sealing several vital meridians, slowing the loss of life essence and the spread of toxins.
This move, once again devoid of any magical fluctuations, was remarkably effective; even the wounded soldier's painful groans seemed to lessen slightly.
Everyone: "!!!" Including Professor Eleanor, they all showed expressions of shock.
Then, in full view of everyone, Ling Yao took out a freshly baked, still warm... dark-colored "steamed bun" from her bosom.
She glanced at the mercenary, who was unable to swallow on his own, pursed her lips, crushed the pill into powder with her bare hands, and then... rather roughly pried open his mouth, poured the powder in, and then casually picked up a water bag from a student next to her and poured a mouthful of water down his throat to help him swallow.
The whole process was simple, brutal, and devoid of any aesthetic appeal; it was almost like feeding drugs to livestock.
After doing all this, she clapped her hands, took a step back, and gave him a look that said, "The rest is up to fate."
Everyone held their breath, watching the wounded with bated breath.
Silas gripped the mace tightly, ready to intervene at any moment to stop a possible "poisoning" incident.
A few seconds later, a miracle happened!
The unsettling gray-black toxin at the wound site was visibly receding at a rapid pace! Although the wound didn't heal immediately, its terrible corrosiveness and toxicity were clearly suppressed! More importantly, the wounded man's previously feeble breath had stabilized! It had even slightly strengthened!
"By the goddess!!" the lead mercenary exclaimed, rushing to his companion's side, hardly believing his eyes. "Berg! Berg, how are you feeling?"
The injured man's eyelids twitched a few times. Although he was not fully awake, his complexion had improved significantly, and his breathing had become much more steady and powerful.
Whoosh—!
The surrounding area instantly erupted in chaos!
"what happened?!"
"What is that dark thing? A new kind of magic potion?"
"What did she do? She didn't chant any spells or show any magical fluctuations!"
"An injury that even Professor Yinrui couldn't cure..."
Professor Eleanor rushed forward and examined the wounded again, her face filled with utter shock: "Most of the toxin has been neutralized! The corrosive energy has also been dispelled! The vital signs are stable! This... how is this possible?! What was that?!"
She suddenly looked up, her gaze fixed intently on Ling Yao, as if she wanted to devour her whole and study her.
Ling Yao felt a little uneasy under that fervent gaze and subconsciously took a half step back.
At this moment, the leading mercenary finally snapped out of his euphoria. He knelt down on one knee before Ling Yao with a thud, so excited he was almost incoherent: "Thank you, Your Excellency! Thank you for saving my life! I am Ron, the squad leader of the Iron Shield Mercenary Group! You saved Berg's life, you are the benefactor of our entire squad! May I ask... do you still have that miraculous potion? We are willing to buy it! We'll pay any price!"
As he spoke, he hurriedly pulled a bulging, blood-stained money pouch from his pocket, held it out to Ling Yao with both hands. The pouch was slightly open, revealing glittering gold coins and several shimmering gems (magic cores?) inside.
Ling Yao's gaze was instantly drawn to the golden color and the energy fluctuations contained within the gemstone that were far more intense than those in the surrounding environment!
money!
energy!
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and her mind raced with a rapid-fire calculation.
It seems that this is the way to make money and acquire energy in this world.
She maintained her calm and collected expression (mainly due to the language barrier), slowly reached out, and seemingly casually took the heavy money bag. She weighed it in her hand, and then... very naturally put it into her pocket.
The movements were fluid and without hesitation, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The entire hall fell silent once again.
Everyone stared at her unashamed act of accepting money directly, and for a moment they were stunned.
Ling Yao didn't care what they thought. Feeling the weight of the money pouch in her arms and the energy fluctuations emanating from the gems, she felt much happier.
Great, my first pot of gold in this other world is in hand.
Although the method was somewhat unexpected, the result was good. It seems that alchemy is a necessity in any world.
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