Chapter 13

12. At the End of One's Rope

The next day, early morning.

The female cultivator living across the hall came over early to pay back her debt, settling the one Low-grade Spirit Stone she owed from yesterday.

She even gave an extra one and bought a bottle of Heat-Relieving Pill to take back.

Looking at the haggard expression on the female cultivator's face, Chen An estimated she must have spent the whole night trying to find money, working until she didn't sleep at all.

As for where this money came from or how she got it, Chen An did not care; he only needed to know that he could make money.

"Husband, it's still early, shall we go back to the room and sleep a while longer?"

Song Huaying tugged on Chen An's arm, her beautiful, watery eyes shimmering as she shook it coquettishly.

When that female cultivator came to pay her debt just now, she had carefully sized her up from the side.

She discovered that the other woman was not inferior to her in either appearance or figure.

Because of this, her sense of crisis increased greatly, and she worried that if the other woman really became her husband's concubine in the future, her current status in the household would not be secure.

To prevent this situation from happening, she thought that before the other woman was taken into the house, she must do her best to please her husband and further elevate her status in his heart.

Thus, in the days that followed.

Because of Song Huaying's intentional efforts, the couple's life gradually returned to how it was before the pregnancy, engaging in intimacy every day.

It was just that the daily frequency was much lower than before, and the process was more careful and gentle, focusing more on their mutual emotional connection.

During this period, the female cultivator living across the hall would come over to buy Heat-Relieving Pills every so often.

The interval between each visit became shorter and shorter, as if her severely ill father's condition had worsened, increasing her need for the Heat-Relieving Pills.

At first, Chen An thought the Heat-Relieving Pills had side effects even he didn't know about.

Such as dependency, addiction, or something similar.

It was only after checking some information later that he learned this situation was entirely due to the fire-poison patient's own condition.

It was simply that the fire-poison was in the late stages, and the body's state was declining rapidly, with the illness worsening day by day.

Simply put, it was much like late-stage cancer in his past life.

The body would get worse day by day until death.

And the female cultivator's current behavior was equivalent to bankrupting herself to pay for chemotherapy for her critically ill father, just hoping he could live a few more days.

Chen An had thought about trying to persuade the female cultivator.

Telling her that doing this would only ruin her own life while letting her father be tortured by pain.

It would be better to let her father end his suffering early, so she wouldn't have to be so exhausted.

But then he thought, the father and daughter had been relying on each other for so long, and the bond between them was deep; it was not for an outsider like him to analyze the pros and cons and make them choose.

Days passed by just like that.

【Golden Finger: Entry (66/100)】

【Alchemy: First-tier Intermediate (338/500)】

【Wife: Song Huaying】

【Attribute: A drop of kindness shall be repaid with a gushing spring】

【Affection: 2 Stars (299/500)】

【Alchemy Experience Provided: 320】

【Golden Finger Proficiency Provided: 60】

Glancing over, the growth was not significant.

Chen An put away the data before him, his heart inevitably thinking of the young female cultivator living across the hall, a Qi Refining First Layer cultivator named Gu Xinyue.

He still remembered her words back then, crying and saying she was willing to be a concubine if only he could save her father.

Now his little wife was already nearly five months pregnant.

In another two months, she would have to rest and nurture the fetus, and they would not be able to be intimate.

By then, whether it was his Alchemy Dao realm or his Golden Finger realm, the speed of improvement would drop significantly again.

Judging by this trend, wanting to save enough money to move to the Core Area before the child was born was somewhat unrealistic.

After all, from the time they married until now, he had only saved less than 300 Low-grade Spirit Stones.

The only solution at present was to raise his Alchemy Dao realm to First-tier Advanced as soon as possible.

Once that happened, his income from alchemy would increase significantly, making the rent for the Core Area more than affordable.

For this reason, Chen An had to find another partner who could assist his cultivation.

And for this candidate, he had his eyes set on the young female cultivator living across the hall—Gu Xinyue.

First, she had an outstanding appearance and a tall figure, which suited his aesthetic.

Second, she was young and inexperienced in the world, making her easy to mold later.

Third, she kept her promises; once she bought pills on credit, she would pay them off exactly when she said she would, and she had a strong character, shouldering the heavy burden of the entire family alone as a woman, and was full of filial piety, never abandoning her father who was so ill he couldn't take care of himself.

It would be a pity not to find a way to trick such a high-quality partner into his home.

"Sigh, one step at a time."

Chen An lowered his head to look at his little wife's starting-to-show, rounded belly, feeling incredibly troubled.

The pressure of starting a family was truly great; he was exhausted.

He really missed his carefree single life from before.

In the blink of an eye, several days passed.

Recently, the situation in the Cheap Area had become increasingly chaotic.

Due to the issue of rising rent, there are now many more rogue cultivators.

One often hears of someone being robbed, even having the clothes on their back stripped away.

The more vicious ones even kill to silence their victims after robbing them, using extremely cruel methods.

The atmosphere in the entire Cheap Area is now very oppressive.

Unless one has guaranteed strength, most people generally stay home and do not step out.

Some who are not doing well financially either turn into rogue cultivators themselves or move out of the Bamboo Leaf Forest to seek a living elsewhere.

And Chen An is the type of person who stays indoors all the time.

He spends most of his time refining pills to earn money, and a small portion of his time enjoying intimate pleasures with his young wife.

This day, Chen An had just finished a business transaction and was about to return to his room to spend time with his young wife when a knock on the door rang out quite inappropriately.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

"Alchemist Chen, I've come to buy Ice Crystal Pills!"

With such a familiar voice, he knew even without looking that it was Gu Xinyue, who lived across the street.

She had come to buy Heat-Relieving Pills for her father.

And these Heat-Relieving Pills have now been renamed Ice Crystal Pills.

After all, for a pill that can sell for one Low-grade Spirit Stone per bottle, calling it a Heat-Relieving Pill is too low-class and doesn't match the price.

But calling it an Ice Crystal Pill is different.

It sounds very high-end, and being able to buy it for just one Low-grade Spirit Stone makes it feel very affordable.

"Fellow Daoist Gu, how many are you buying this time?"

Chen An looked at Gu Xinyue outside the window and asked with a smile.

Gu Xinyue took out three Low-grade Spirit Stones, tossed them accurately to Chen An, and said indifferently, "Give me three bottles of Ice Crystal Pills."

Her spending is becoming more and more lavish.

Chen An sighed inwardly, not forgetting to tease her: "Fellow Daoist Gu, where have you been making a fortune lately? You haven't secretly taken up the trade of robbery, have you?"

Gu Xinyue smiled faintly, said nothing, picked up the three bottles of Ice Crystal Pills, and turned to walk toward her own home.

Watching her graceful retreating figure, Chen An felt a bit of regret.

If he had known that day when Gu Xinyue came over crying and saying she was willing to be a concubine that he should have taken her then.

Now, wanting to take her is difficult.

After all, she is no longer short of money; she can afford pills and rent, so why would she wrong herself to be someone's concubine?

But on second thought, there is actually nothing to regret.

All things considered, just selling Ice Crystal Pills to Gu Xinyue during this period has earned him over 30 Low-grade Spirit Stones.

If he had chosen to take her as a concubine that day, he definitely wouldn't have earned this money.

He might even have had to pay out of his own pocket for her father's medical treatment.

But then again, where exactly did this Gu Xinyue, whose cultivation is a mere Qi Refining First Layer, get so many Spirit Stones?

Could it be that she has latched onto a wealthy benefactor?

Chen An was completely baffled.

Unknowingly, quite a few more days passed.

During this period, the situation in the Bamboo Leaf Forest Cheap Area became increasingly chaotic.

Many rogue cultivators progressed from their initial roadside robberies to now daring to commit home invasions even in broad daylight.

This left the entire Cheap Area in a state of panic.

And Chen An, as an Alchemist, had long since become a hot commodity in the eyes of the rogue cultivators.

Quite a few rogue cultivators set their sights on him, attempting to rob his home.

It's just that the results were somewhat tragic.

All of them failed to rob him, and instead were headshot by Chen An's Golden Finger, then miserably looted and stripped of their property.

Once finished, they were casually dragged to a corner of the courtyard and buried, dying without a sound.

But not everyone possessed the ability to protect themselves like Chen An.

When most residents encountered home invasions, they either chose to submit and pay to avoid disaster, or chose to resist and met a tragic end.

For a time, a large number of cultivators moved out of the Bamboo Leaf Forest, choosing to seek a living elsewhere.

Because too many people were leaving, and for a long time there was only outflow and no inflow, the higher-ups of the Bamboo Leaf Forest became anxious.

If the tenants are all gone, who are they going to collect rent from?

Consequently, the higher-ups of the Bamboo Leaf Forest began to lose money to remedy the situation, assigning a Manager at the Qi Refining Late Stage to sit in each Cheap Area, and equipping them with a patrol squad composed of several Qi Refining Mid-Stage cultivators to jointly govern the chaos in the Cheap Area.

The efforts were significant, and the results were remarkable.

In less than half a month, all the Cheap Areas returned to their former tranquility.

Everyone dared to step out of their homes to do business, and the situation began to flourish.

But compared to half a year ago, it was still far behind.

Because the Hong Ye Lin had previously raised prices indiscriminately, coupled with the severe decline in public security later on, its reputation had collapsed.

Now, wanting to return to the prosperity of the past would take at least several months or even a year to slowly recover.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

This day, Hong Ye Lin welcomed some good news.

The rent in the Cheap Area has gone down!

It dropped back down to the original one Low-grade Spirit Stone per month!

Because of pressure from the outside world, the Xuanhuang Sect, whose mining of the Spirit Stone vein had caused blood demons to run rampant outside, finally sent people out to clean up the mess.

They dispatched several Golden Core powerhouses to take action, and in less than two days, all the blood demons were wiped out.

Some were happy, while others were sad.

Most people had their families destroyed because of the rampaging blood demons, but a small minority had made a fortune because of it.

For example, Chen An, who was an Alchemist, had earned a full 400-plus Low-grade Spirit Stones in this nearly one-year period, and his life was much more prosperous than before.

Being able to earn so much money in a year was something he wouldn't have even dared to imagine in the past.

Although the blood demons were gone now and alchemy was no longer as exorbitantly profitable, Chen An did not feel upset in the slightest.

He had long known that this special period could not last long, and that sooner or later, someone would step in to resolve it.

That it could last for almost a whole year was already far beyond his expectations.

"Ying, let's go, come with your husband outside to enjoy the mountains and waters and have some fun."

Chen An had just gotten up from his young wife when he immediately lowered his head and smiled at her with a look that said, "you know what I mean."

Song Huaying's face turned red instantly; she knew her husband wanted to go outside and play a bit wildly with her, and although she was a little embarrassed, she did not refuse, instead pursing her lips and agreeing: "Ying will listen to everything my husband says."

Soon, the couple went out.

They hadn't walked more than a few steps when they ran into Gu Xinyue, who had a worried look on her face.

Gu Xinyue had originally been on her way to Chen An's house to talk to him about something difficult to bring up.

Since they had just happened to meet, she steeled her heart, walked straight up with her head lowered and eyes closed, and shamelessly begged him:

"Alchemist Chen, I beg you to take me as your concubine!"

PS: Setting out my bowl, begging for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets!