Chapter 69: Holding Favors

"Do not speak of being a slave or a servant."

Chen Ci waved his hand and said earnestly: "You are too poorly born; staying by your master's side, you are somewhat presentable."

Liu Yanyi felt somewhat ashamed and dared not speak, burying her head a little lower.

"I am a person who likes to leave a name for good deeds and hold favors for repayment."

Chen Ci extended a finger and said to Liu Yanyi:

"I bought you out from the human traffickers; this is one."

"I sent you to a wealthy family in the county; this is two."

"You snuck into the temple today, and I did not make things difficult for you; this is three."

"I saved your brother's life; this is four."

"I healed your brother; this is five."

Chen Ci closed his five fingers and asked with a very serious expression: "Have you remembered?"

"This young girl... has remembered."

Although Liu Yanyi did not know why this True Person Chen said such things, she thought about it and nodded seriously.

After all, what the True Person said was not false; she truly should keep these favors firmly in her heart.

"Are you sure you remember?"

Chen Ci extended his little finger: "Come, let's pinky swear."

"Ah?"

Liu Yanyi was a bit dazed, not understanding what this meant, but she could only learn to extend her little finger, hook it together, and follow Chen Ci in whispering: "Pinky swear, one hundred years, not allowed to forget."

But for some reason, in her short ten years of life, no one had ever made such a serious promise with her; this small sense of ritual actually made her inexplicably solemn, and the earnestness in her eyes turned into gravity, as if she had made some extraordinary vow.

"Alright, go to the next room to rest; this boy's injuries are not so easy to handle."

Chen Ci resumed his image of an expert and ordered indifferently, as if the childish behavior from just a moment ago had never happened.

When Liu Yanyi obediently went out the door, she was still looking at the little finger of her right hand, as if there were something on it.

"Hoo~"

Chen Ci let out a heavy breath, casting the guilt of tricking a little girl to the back of his mind: "I, Master Chen, am still kind-hearted; if it were anyone else, tsk."

In a word, a raw piece of jade—what does that have to do with me?

Shallow water cannot raise a flood dragon; with Chen Ci's inferior methods, he cannot cultivate a Dao-seeking seed; nine times out of ten, it would just be making wedding clothes for someone else.

Even if this Liu Yanyi had the aptitude for a Primordial Spirit, Chen Ci estimated he wouldn't live to see the day of the harvest.

Therefore, using her to exchange for some cultivation resources, he wouldn't dare say it was the maximum profit, but it was definitely the most secure one.

Given the style of a He Mountain Sect expert, the best destination for such raw jade is to be part of some magic treasure; it couldn't possibly be painstakingly cultivated into talent, so naturally, he didn't fear her being able to take revenge.

As a high disciple of the He Mountain Sect, how could the long-term interests of the sect be overridden by an individual?

As for Chen Ci's conscience... if it were just grabbing a random little girl off the street, he probably wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it, but since it was an equivalent exchange, facing a profit starting at one hundred thousand taels, such a thing as conscience could be pushed back a little.

So Chen Ci was conducting a high-stakes gamble, using the base profit of one hundred thousand taels of silver as his stake; he prepared to send Liu Yanyi to Longhu Mountain, to the Quanshan Jiuchuan Temple.

But the matter he was plotting could not leak out even a fraction.

Chen Ci dared to assert that if he stated the interest exchange clearly, or personally sent this girl to Quanshan, even if she successfully joined the Longhu Mountain sect, within a few years, a Longhu Mountain expert would come to behead him.

The methods of the Immortal Sect are wondrous beyond words; when a disciple seeks the Dao, do they not ask their heart?

However, sincerity is the ultimate technique; only by using schemes can one win people's hearts.

With today's performance, he, Master Chen, also played the role of a "white moonlight" once; he felt that even after a few decades, this little girl would not forget that there was once a handsome uncle... cough, she would remember that the sunlight on the day she received the favor was incomparably bright.

A line like "Fairy Liu, do you remember the pinky promise in Changping County back then?"—damn, who can withstand that? Just ask, who can withstand that?

That scene, tsk tsk tsk.

That is why Chen Ci set a hundred-year promise.

Any longer, and either he would be dead, or the child would have experienced too much and wouldn't be easy to trick.

"Beast!"

Chen Ci spat fiercely; He Mountain Sect disciples are truly shameless. He then looked at Liu Heming on the bed; now he really had to treat him with care: "You brat, you must safely deliver my Dao path to me."

With Liu Yanyi's act of risking her life to save her brother today, Chen Ci felt that his act of holding favors had at least a fifty percent chance of success; fifty percent... enough to gamble on!

Thinking of this, Chen Ci began to use True Qi to slowly comb through the injuries on the boy's body, and brought over needle and thread to stitch the wounds more carefully; it was mainly this arm, which had been injured to the bone, that was somewhat troublesome.

After working for most of the night, he finally handled the injuries mostly well; although he wouldn't dare say they would recover as before, there would ultimately be no functional damage.

After feeding him another Advanced Bigu Pill, Chen Ci leisurely went to the backyard; he still had to deliberate a bit more to minimize the risks as much as possible.

The next day, Sanyin Temple, front hall.

Chen Ci was leisurely drinking health tea, thinking about some things, while waiting for his three cheap Apprentices to return.

"Greetings, Master."

The three Apprentices bowed to the ground, their faces glowing and their spirits quite good.

It was that kind of, um, how to put it, a second spring, you know?

Chen Ci sized them up for a few moments and asked curiously: "How do you feel about this pill of mine?"

The three looked at each other and gave a sheepish smile, not daring to be presumptuous in front of their master, only vaguely saying: "Master's divine pill and medicine are naturally excellent."

Chen Ci: "..." That was the same as saying nothing.

Chen Ci put down his teacup and asked bluntly: "Then how much do you think this pill is worth in your hearts?"

This was something they could talk about; the three thought for a moment, and finally Niu Ji laughed in a low voice: "Reporting to Master, the three of us feel that this divine pill is worth one gold per pill; it's not that it's only worth that much, it's just that if it were any higher, we probably wouldn't be able to afford it."

Hmm... one gold, then...

Chen Ci calculated the cost; the cost of one Advanced Bigu Pill was about three taels of silver. It was mainly because his Peiyuan Dharma Incantation had just entered the basics; it took a thousand catties of fresh meat to get one Peiyuan Nourishing Pill, and one Peiyuan Nourishing Pill could be combined with five ordinary Bigu Pills to make twelve Advanced Bigu Pills.

This was only a two hundred percent profit; would that be a bit too low?

No, no, this would ruin the market rate.

However, although this pill nourishes the body, it does not contain Qi, so it is somewhat inferior to the Superior Inedia Pill refined from Pearl Rice; if it were also called Bigu Pill, it wouldn't fetch a good price once compared, not good, not good.

Let's call it the Nourishing Pill; as for nourishing, those who know, know.

As for the pricing, let's make it three taels of gold per pill, ten taels of gold for three pills, but throw in one more for free.

Truly conscientious!

Chen Ci stroked his chin, made up his mind, and instructed the three of them: "Do your work well, there will be more pills bestowed in the future, you may go. Right, Niu Ji, go to the home of Magistrate Liu in the county later, and bring back all the belongings of a maidservant named Liu Yanyi, do not leave anything behind."

"Yes, Master."

Niu Ji kept this name in his mind and quickly withdrew to attend to the matter.

With the matter settled, Chen Ci stood up and returned to the backyard; just as he pushed the door open, he saw Liu Heming opening his eyes, struggling to climb up.

(End of chapter)