Chapter 171 Mountain Forward (2)
However, he was young and did not think things through. In order to obtain the complete Flame Seed, he agreed to Shan Youqing's dying request to take Shan Zhongfeng back and raise him. From then on, his alchemy career became extremely difficult.
Gu Lin had no experience caring for tiger cubs, and when it came to feeding Shan Zhongfeng, he often skipped meals, which made the young Shan Zhongfeng extremely greedy.
Moreover, whenever Gu Lin refined a new elixir, he would give one to Shan Zhongfeng to test its medicinal properties.
As a result, the mountain peaker became addicted to eating pills, and would steal pills whenever he was hungry.
By the time he discovered it, the mountain peak had already stolen and consumed all the waste pills and poison pills he had accumulated over the years.
Gu Lin picked up Shan Zhongfeng and kept him by his side like a cat. He would play with him in his spare time and developed some affection for him.
Seeing that Shan Zhongfeng was about to die, he went to beg his master, Qing Guangzi, the master of Danlou, for a elixir, which saved the tiger cub. Shan Zhongfeng's tastes were just that bad.
When Shan Zhongfeng grew a little older, Gu Lin had him learn to identify herbs, handle fire, and refine pills. Shan Zhongfeng wasted countless rare materials, failing to produce a single good pill. He even caused several explosions in his furnace, destroying his possessions. This forced Gu Lin, a dignified master alchemist, to frequently travel to various tribes to refine pills in order to make a living...
The old alchemists of Jade Void Palace even gave themselves a nickname: Beggar Alchemy Saints...
So, he sent Shan Zhongfeng to the large furnace in the Kun Dan room to tend the fire, but unexpectedly, the fellow secretly began refining pills, refusing to change his ways despite repeated warnings...
Thinking of this, Gu Lin felt ashamed, and his gaze towards Shan Zhongfeng changed from complicated to cold.
Shan Zhongfeng felt the gaze from above growing colder and colder, so he pressed himself even closer to the ground.
"Feng'er, why don't you tell us about the origins of those two young friends?" Gu Lin said, turning his gaze away.
Upon hearing this, Shan Zhongfeng got up and knelt beside Gu Lin, recounting everything Ji Rong had said, and also honestly explained Ji Rong's background in detail.
After listening, Gu Lin remained silent for a long time before saying, "Although our Jade Void Palace is one of the palaces in the Central Plains, we have never participated in the struggle for power. If the two of them join our sect, they will have to sever all ties with the past. Have you explained this to them?"
Shan Zhongfeng nodded and said, "Don't worry, Master, I know."
"Tell them to come find me now."
Ji Rong and Shan Wu returned to the quiet room in Gulin. Shan Zhongfeng asked Ji Rong to bring out all the goblins, and he placed the ginseng on the ground before leaving and closing the door.
This action made Ji Rong and Shan Wu very nervous.
Gu Lin glanced at the things on the ground. There were three naturally born creatures of faith, another one with a bowl on its head that looked similar, and a ginseng doll that was about to die. They were all the junk that Shan Zhongfeng loved to collect.
The old Taoist priest Gu Lin sighed, "Young friend Ji Rong, you are too bold. This small building in Kun Dan Fang can't protect you."
But now that you've come, this puts this old Taoist priest in a difficult position.
Upon hearing this, Ji Rong immediately bowed and said, "I am very honest. All my past actions were for survival. Please take a look at my alchemy technique."
Then, she focused her mind and used the ground as paper and her claws as a pen to carve the words "alchemy" one by one. This was naturally not the "alchemy" of the ancient witch lineage, but the "alchemy method" in the "Phoenix True Explanation". Ji Rong was confident that this old Taoist had never seen it before.
The "Phoenix True Explanation" must eventually be passed down. Since we can't cultivate this "alchemy" ourselves, why not let it be passed down in the Heavenly Void Palace where alchemists gather?
"So straightforward!" Gu Lin was greatly moved. He stopped talking about how to settle Ji Rong and Shan Wu and decided to take a look at the "alchemy" first.
Upon seeing it, Gu Lin knew it was indeed an ancient method; upon seeing it, Gu Lin became completely absorbed in it and could not extricate himself.
Ji Rong stopped after writing only one-tenth of the text. She looked at Gu Lin, who seemed to be enjoying himself, and asked, "What do you think of this alchemy technique?"
"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful!" Gu Lin clapped his hands in praise. "In that case, young friend Ji Rong, what position would you like to hold in my Kun Dan Room?"
Upon hearing this, Ji Rong realized that the old Taoist priest was actually letting her choose, and knew that this "alchemy method" must have shocked the old Taoist priest. So she brought up the same thing she had said to Shan Zhongfeng before, and said, "You can arrange it, Rong is fine with it, but my godfather loves alchemy, so I promise to buy him the materials later."
"You wretch! You're still thinking about alchemy!" Gu Lin cursed inwardly, but he didn't want to expose the boy's shortcomings in front of this junior, so he vaguely said, "Then you two can follow Feng'er to tend the fire and identify the herbs for now. We'll arrange specific tasks after you've learned how."
The old Taoist priest from Gulin thought that if he kept both the tiger and the bird under his nose, they wouldn't be able to cause any trouble.
Shan Wu and Ji Rong thus became Gu Lin's attendants, but the old Taoist Gu Lin did not require them to serve him. Every day, they would learn how to process medicinal herbs from Shan Zhongfeng along with the other young medicine servants, and then follow behind Shan Zhongfeng to do odd jobs. Occasionally, Gu Lin would summon them into the quiet room to write a section of "alchemy" before they would go back to their room to sleep. Their days were quite fulfilling.
The sudden appearance of two highly skilled attendants by the master of the Kun Dan room, who were only assigned easy tasks, caused resentment among the other attendants and medicine servants.
Gu Lin's attitude towards Shan Zhongfeng bringing in outsiders made many of his disciples jealous. Therefore, Shan Wu and Ji Rong, after only a few days in the Kun Dan Room, became quite an eyesore to the other cultivators.
Shan Wu was highly skilled in cultivation, belonged to the same clan as Shan Zhongfeng, and appeared fierce. Since they dared not cause him any trouble, they often tried to sabotage Ji Rong instead.
Ji Rong and one of her classmates were processing medicinal herbs. They conspired to add something to Ji Rong's herbs. They did it secretly, usually by throwing in some fine bits of residue, making it look like Ji Rong was careless. Ji Rong was unaware of this at first.
But when such things happened three times in ten days, Ji Rong felt something was wrong after being scolded by Shan Zhongfeng three times and being hung upside down and beaten by Shan Zhongfeng in public three times.
She didn't think she was that stupid, especially the third time. She checked it before going to sleep, and just before handing it in, there was some extra powder in the medicine.
So this time, she simply refused to accept the medicinal herbs. Instead, she went to the entrance of the alchemy room in Gulin and confronted Shan Zhongfeng, explaining the unusual situation. She said, "Father, I am a bird, and I am usually very good at preening my feathers, building my nest, and weaving."
Moreover, in the past, when I was in the witch tribe, my brother and I often picked medicinal herbs for the tribe. Although my brother did most of the work, I watched a lot and learned a little bit myself.
"Since I'm here, your teaching has been excellent, and I've studied diligently, so the medicine I've prepared shouldn't have any problems."
Upon hearing this, Shan Zhongfeng became suspicious and kept the matter in mind.
Another ten days passed, and it was time to deliver the medicine again. Ji Rong was on the road, and the medicine servants who were also delivering the medicine greeted her. Taking advantage of this moment, one of the monkey servants quickly glanced at Ji Rong's medicine, which was caught red-handed by Shan Zhongfeng, who was crouching in the shadows.
He immediately rushed over, grabbed the boy by the neck with one paw, stood up, and threw the monkey medicine out of the old Taoist priest's quiet room, saying, "Master, he actually added something to Ji Rong's medicinal materials, ruining four batches of top-quality medicinal materials in our Kun Dan Room. This time I finally caught him."
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