Inside Mingxin Xuan, Ji Yuan leaned back in his chair, his face a picture of despair. He tried his best to keep his eyes from lingering on the table laden with elixirs and talismans.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help but cast one last glance at the possessions he had sold off.
"Little Daoist, have you encountered some trouble? It's only been a few days, and you're back at Mingxin Xuan."
Liu Ruyan chuckled, a playful glint in her eyes.
Hearing this, Ji Yuan sighed and threw his head back. Of course, he had encountered trouble. His household had become a bottomless pit, requiring vast sums of silver to fill.
Helplessly, he had been forced to sell most of his elixirs and talismans, keeping only those that could enhance his cultivation or were of significant value.
However, the silver he earned was mostly used to purchase materials for alchemy and items to replenish his qi and blood. These were often the flesh and blood of spirit beasts raised by cultivation sects.
The cultivation of a martial artist was undoubtedly simpler than that of a qi refiner. As long as one had enough money, pouring it into qi and blood was sufficient. This included spirit beast flesh and blood rich in qi and blood, as well as various elixirs to replenish qi and blood consumption.
Unlike qi refiners, who, in addition to various elixirs, also needed to specially configure corresponding magical artifacts, spirit items, and so on, based on their physique and the cultivation techniques they practiced.
"The rest of these, please exchange them for spirit stones for me,"
Ji Yuan shook his head, pushing the remaining silver towards Liu Ruyan as he spoke.
This silver could roughly fetch two to three low-grade spirit stones. After all, although the market price was fifty taels of silver for one spirit stone, there were always slight premiums during actual transactions.
Upon hearing this, Liu Ruyan waved her hand gently, and a maid stepped forward to collect the snowflake-patterned silver on the table.
Then, she reached to her scented pouch and produced four low-grade spirit stones, placing them before the young Daoist.
Ji Yuan was slightly taken aback. This was one spirit stone more than his estimated price, which amounted to fifty taels of silver.
"This silver can roughly exchange for three spirit stones, and there's still some left over. I've taken the liberty of counting it as four for you."
Liu Ruyan poured two cups of fragrant tea herself and said nonchalantly, "After all, I've earned so much from you, consider this a small concession."
As he pocketed the spirit stones, he smiled and said, "That's great. It would be good to have more such concessions in the future."
The other party gave Ji Yuan a playful glare and drank her hot tea without further comment.
The young Daoist noticed that Liu Ruyan's brows were slightly furrowed, as if she had something on her mind. However, he didn't ask, sipping his tea and waiting.
After a long while, Liu Ruyan gently set down her teacup, her expression suddenly becoming serious. "If the little Daoist is in trouble, perhaps you should spend more time refining elixirs in the temple these days. Some social interactions can be avoided if possible."
Having said that, she returned to her nonchalant demeanor, her fingertips tracing the rim of the teacup.
Ji Yuan's expression turned serious. He gave the woman before him a deep look, as if trying to discern something from her eyes.
Her words seemed innocuous, but the fleeting expression on her face, anyone with eyes could tell there was more to it.
"Shopkeeper Liu, if you have something to say, perhaps you could be more direct?"
He fiddled with the purple clay teacup in his hand, his gaze deepening. "This humble one is dull-witted and does not quite understand."
Hearing this, Liu Ruyan rolled her eyes. How could she not understand that he was feigning ignorance? He was usually a sharp one, how could he not grasp the hidden meaning in her words?
The grand shopkeeper of Mingxin Xuan sighed, her eyes turning a little resentful. She glared at the young Daoist before her.
After a moment's thought, she spoke in a low voice, "Last night, near Baiyun Temple, a demon committed murder, gouging out the hearts of many commoners, including some members of various sects."
"In the middle of the night, some sects mobilized their entire forces to avenge their kin and find the perpetrator."
"As it turned out, whether by luck or misfortune, they actually encountered the heart-gouging demon. However, after a fierce battle, the perpetrator swaggered away, leaving behind a ground of corpses and severely injured individuals."
Liu Ruyan took a sip of tea. Although she hadn't witnessed the scene herself, just hearing fragments of the description sent a chill down her spine.
It was said that the demon who committed the murder last night was shrouded in dense demonic energy. During the fight, he even took out his opponent's heart and ate it raw in a few bites under the watchful eyes of the crowd.
"Speaking of which, last night was truly chaotic. First, there was the heart-gouging demon near Baiyun Temple, and then demonic beings infiltrated the main halls of various sects, killing countless people."
She sighed and then glanced at the young Daoist. "Early this morning, the doors of my Mingxin Xuan were pounded open by members of various sects. The healing elixirs in the shop were basically bought out by people from seven or eight sects."
The surrounding maids had already been dismissed, but Liu Ruyan still looked at Ji Yuan with a solemn expression before whispering, advising him to stay indoors and focus on refining elixirs in the Daoist temple for the next few days.
She advised him to refuse visitors, not only strangers but also acquaintances, and to avoid any entanglement with the two incidents from last night.
At this point, Ji Yuan finally understood the veiled meaning and hesitation in Liu Ruyan's previous demeanor.
Her actions were akin to quietly blocking a path for those seeking help, and in a way, it also meant making him appear as someone who stood by and watched others die.
If the words had remained unsaid, there would have been room for maneuver. But unfortunately, by pretending not to understand, she was forced to lay everything out plainly.
This, in turn, began to trouble him.
"The specific course of action depends on your own choice. If you can truly save those severely injured, your reputation among the major sects in the city will undoubtedly reach its peak, and those seeking elixirs will flock to you incessantly in the future."
Liu Ruyan shrugged, displaying a nonchalant attitude.
However, she had an unspoken half-sentence: once he chose to intervene, he would be drawn into the matter and potentially become a target of the heart-gouging demon and the attacking demonic beings.
If these two fierce individuals were to infiltrate his humble Daoist temple in the middle of the night, the lone young Daoist would likely be in danger.
"So, Shopkeeper Liu hopes that I will wait for the authorities to capture those two evildoers, or perhaps act after the storm has passed to treat the severely injured?"
Ji Yuan's expression darkened, and he asked in a deep voice.
Hearing this, Liu Ruyan did not answer his question. Instead, she mentioned that two of the other three alchemists in the city had quietly left the city early in the morning, with their household retainers claiming they were visiting friends.
As for the third alchemist, he was invited to a sect last night to provide treatment. On his way back, he was attacked by demonic beings, and his death was said to be exceptionally gruesome.
This was precisely the reason that prompted the other two alchemists to quickly extricate themselves early in the morning.
A moment later, Ji Yuan, carrying two large bundles, walked out of Mingxin Xuan with a dazed expression. The pedestrians he passed on the way found his demeanor odd, as if he might erupt into violence at any moment.
As he stepped into the Daoist temple, he let out a heavy sigh. He tossed the two large bundles into the house and then sat down, looking dejected, on the stone steps in front of the entrance.
Only now did he realize the consequences of their actions in fighting demons and eradicating evil yesterday.
Undoubtedly, whether it was the heart-gouging demon, the demonic beings who massacred the main halls of the sects, or the one who intercepted the alchemist midway, they were all orchestrated by the mastermind behind the heretical temple and its century of incense offerings.
Otherwise, how could so many incidents have occurred on the very night after they destroyed the heretical temples and shrines during the day?
After all, Qianyu City had always been peaceful. Normally, even martial conflicts were rare, and skirmishes between sects were restrained, rarely resulting in loss of life.
"Why do you look so crestfallen when you return from going out?"
Zhang Zhiya emerged from the house, carrying a small stool, and sat down under the eaves nearby.
The young Daoist gave a wry smile and recounted the events of the previous night in the county town to his master in detail.
As he finished, he lay back and collapsed onto the steps in front of the door, his eyes gazing blankly at the sky, which was covered by a layer of dark clouds.
What he had said to Monk Huixin yesterday had unexpectedly come true for him today. He had done a good deed, eliminating demons and evil for the people, only to trigger a host of disasters and cause the deaths of many innocents.
"Are you thinking that at least half the blame for the deaths last night should fall on your shoulders?"
The old Daoist tilted his head. Seeing his young disciple remain silent, he immediately understood his thoughts.
He first sighed, then said earnestly, "Buddhism has sacred words: all things have causes, and all consequences have results. The demonic entities, the heretical temples, the heart-gouging demon, the attacking demonic beings—these are all causes. And if it weren't for you, other consequences would have appeared."
"Even without your actions yesterday, those who lost their lives last night would have met the same fate on some future day due to the fruits of this cause. And if it weren't for your actions, which brought forth this fruit prematurely and triggered all hidden dangers, waiting for the true ripening of cause and effect, perhaps the entire city would have been engulfed in bloodshed."
"If that day had come, it wouldn't just be a few people who died, but hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of innocent civilians."
Ji Yuan's lips twitched. How could the same situation, when explained by his master, make him and Zhao Yuansong and others sound like heroic saviors of the city?
However, after listening to his master's words, his mood did indeed improve, and he felt less gloomy and stifled.
"Go, rest well for the next few days. Whether you refine elixirs or cultivate is up to you. I will shield you from those outside."
The old Daoist waved his whisk and said sternly, "If the sky falls, there will always be someone taller to bear it. Aside from the county yamen, there are still many senior cultivators in the city. No matter what happens, it is not for a junior like you to worry and labor."
Ji Yuan nodded, jumped up from the ground, and patted the dust off his clothes. He turned and went back into the room to prepare to open his furnace for alchemy.
However, the young Daoist suddenly poked his head out from the door and said earnestly to the old Daoist under the eaves, "Master, your teachings are understandable to this disciple. But, for future examples and guidance, could you use our Daoist principles instead?"
Although the previous discourse had been effective, it had employed Buddhist sacred words.
The old Daoist's face darkened, and he glared at Ji Yuan, grabbing something and tossing it.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan quickly closed his door with a bang. A brand-new cloth shoe then hit the door, its force even shaking dust from the door.
After a while, the old Daoist tiptoed to the door, picked up the cloth shoe from the steps, carefully brushed off the dust, put it back on, stomped twice, and then a smile appeared on his face.
"Master, do the shoes your disciple bought fit well? Are they comfortable to wear?"
The door was now slightly ajar, and Ji Yuan was making faces through the gap.
Seeing this, the old Daoist raised his whisk as if to strike. "Scared," Ji Yuan quickly closed the door again, but laughter could still be heard faintly through the thin door.
Zhang Zhiya was at a loss for words, wondering how he had ended up picking up such a disciple.
He sighed, then, shaking his whisk, he slowly returned to sit on the stool under the eaves, his slightly cloudy eyes filled with deep, gratified smiles.
This disciple... he had made a good choice in picking him up!
If he had to do it again, he would definitely bring him back to the temple!