Chapter 23: Oddball

"No need to test it; I can still sell a few spirit stones," Jiang Yu only tossed the previously broken iron sword fragments into the flame; as soon as they neared, the fragments vaporized without a trace.

Nice fire!

Unfortunately, this fire can only be ignited by dragon‑clan descendants, "Well, that's impressive; I hope that in the future I will also have the ability to subdue an unusual fire."

The Cangshan Secret Realm not only contains the Azure Dragon Relic; it is also said to house Creation Divine Mud and similar divine items that, after refining, can cause magical instruments to change shape at will.

Perhaps there are other unusual fires, but unfortunately we can no longer enter in the future.

"No need to regret; the Great Luo Celestial Realm has unusual fire.

In fact, this Dragon Fire has long been melting together with the Ice Dragon's ice crystals, so it no longer reaches its original power; it can still be used to extinguish a sixth‑tier threat, but it is somewhat insufficient against a seventh tier.

Otherwise I couldn't have subjugated it smoothly. Here, take a portion for your alchemy." Xiao Wu Gui is generous; before the words finished, he had already split it into a quarter for her.

Jiang Yu sprang away with a swish, "If you split it again it will become even weaker.

Yesterday you helped me refine the spirit root, which already drained a lot of its vital energy.

Take good care of it; when the chance comes we'll give it some fire seeds, and in future refinements you'll rely on it and it as a life‑saving talisman.

"No problem." Xiao Wu Gui, fond of her flattery and empty promises, dragged her to the cave where he stored the ice crystals.

Then, pointing at several shards of the ten‑thousand‑year ancient ice, he said, "Sell these to pill masters or artifact masters; keep the remaining Ice Dragon crystal here in the cave."

Jiang Yu noticed the cave naturally maintained a low temperature, so she rejected the selling proposal, thinking it might be useful later.

"Come on, let's plant some top‑grade spirit rice and spirit wheat, along with low‑grade spirit herbs for alchemy.

Later, we won't have to buy spirit rice noodles again.

When we actually practice alchemy, we won't worry about lacking the free‑practice spirit herbs.

The sect's free meals provide a genuine spirit rice vegetable only for breakfast; the other two meals are merely ordinary rice and vegetables lightly infused with spirit energy.

Therefore many disciples take extra spirit‑bread buns in the morning and eat fewer or no ordinary foods at lunch and dinner.

When spirit stones are available, Jiang Yu and Xiao Wu Gui refuse to compromise; they often buy lower‑grade spirit rice noodles that aid cultivation and make them themselves, though they have heard that top‑grade spirit rice is the most nourishing.

Thus farming becomes a daily routine.

Afterwards she proceeds step by step: attending lectures, consulting books, practicing cultivation and swordsmanship, drawing talismans, and completing missions.

Among the peers in the valley, she is the busiest, so disciples eager to befriend her can never schedule a meeting.

But there are also those who keep a respectful distance; of course, it's not because they despise her hard‑working study—those who join the sect without promptly learning are the ones looked down upon.

She still throws herself into missions, so much that the External Affairs Hall supervisor, who dispatches tasks to the senior uncle, keeps assigning her the lightest and most convenient missions, which has drawn strong objections.

After a certain Ye‑surname disciple from the inner gate gathered people to report the issue, the supervising senior uncle said, "If you can guarantee high‑efficiency task completion each month, and still provide the External Affairs Hall with five hundred primary‑mid spiritual talismans alongside your cultivation, good missions will also be assigned to you."

People do things? A mid‑stage Qi‑refining disciple can draw twenty or so mid‑grade talismans a day; do you know how much spirit power that consumes?

As for Jiang Yu, she first didn't want to happily be a fellow disciple anymore.

Soon after, Jiang Yu discovered that every class she chose was overcrowded, the meditation cushions were taken early, and she could only stand at the back to listen.

Jiang Yu knew exactly who was sabotaging her behind the scenes; she quickly rearranged her class schedule, causing those people's minor techniques to fall flat.

Lin Yuan, Lu Ruochan, and others offered to help punish a few members of the Ye family who were causing trouble, but she rejected them.

The account, she kept in mind, to calculate herself.

The senior uncles of the Transmission Hall love her eagerness to learn; whenever she comes seeking instruction, none of them fail to explain in detail.

As for her routine farming, it's merely an adjunct; truly it's a spiritual field in Jiang Tu's space, originally a long‑unused cultivated field where crops grow exceptionally well and are free of pests.

Jiang Yu only needs to occasionally pull weeds and water.

Thus, through autumn, spring, and summer again, Xiao Wu Gui's space has not yet finished refining.

So, Jiang Yu can only keep masquerading as a mid‑stage Qi refiner, staying through the cycle from summer to autumn, and another autumn to spring.

To reach the seventh layer of Qi refinement, she still needs to diligently hone her spiritual power, making further advancement easier.

She simply, after completing her monthly tasks, rents a cave dwelling in Chaos Valley to close off for a few days; this way, living in Shan Shui Valley or elsewhere makes little difference.

This infuriates the Ye family bunch who have been watching her from the shadows and still looking to cause trouble.

How can a teenager spend all his time on cultivation and tasks, never descending the mountain to visit the market, nor going out to play with others?

But Jiang Yu is precisely that oddball.

But today, they received news that the little girl is finally going to the market.

The whip‑wielding youth Ye Lin, two years ago, bitterly declared, "This time we must harshly cut her down, to make up for not having harmed her back then, and to add to my own penalty."

Ye Cheng hesitated slightly: "Brother Lin, stop at a point; under no circumstances should you take her life."

Lest the patrolling law‑enforcement squad discover it.

As for the added penalty, it is not entirely because of her.

"If I stop at a point, I'd rather step onto the arena; don't try to dissuade me—if I don't cut off a few of her fingers, my mind won't be clear."

"There is a narrow path to advancement," Ye Lin pushed him aside and set out on his own.

Ye Cheng, fearing he might go too far, hurriedly caught up.

On Jiang Yu's side, not long after, she left the sect together with Xiao Wu Gui and Jiang Tu.

The reason she went to the market is that today she received a letter from Wan Shijie, learning that the other party, following their master in alchemy, had all four master‑disciple members poisoned.

Currently, they urgently need Dragon King's Dragon Saliva Herb as a catalyst to produce an antidote.

The item itself is not of high tier, but since the Dragon clan values rare cultivators, it has become a coveted commodity.

Wan Shijie said the Taiyi Sect does not fear expense, yet after multiple negotiations with the Dragon clan, she does not know why the Dragon Court has shut its doors to outsiders.

They sent people elsewhere to look for a Jiao Dragon; strangely, none were found, and the bounty‑for‑purchase notices have yielded no news.

Wan Shijie's poison has now spread to her legs, making her unable to set her feet on the ground, so this year she will no longer send her any pills.

In the past two years, although the two were far apart and communication was inconvenient, the courier bureau could entrust letters and items.

And every six months Jiang Yu receives top‑grade pills sent by Wan Xiyue, to which she always replies with some primary‑grade top spiritual talismans.

Xiao Wu Gui has taken many of Wan Shijie's pills, knows she urgently needs Dragon Saliva Herb, and immediately presented Jiang Yu with several plants.

She didn't dare to hire an escort to pick up something this important; she had to go herself to the escort bureau to arrange shipment, or it wouldn't be safe.

"Fly slower; there's a human aura fluctuation up ahead in the woods." The little turtle's divine sense is on par with a human Foundation Establishment cultivator, able to sense movements within several li.

"If there are people, we should get through quickly." Jiang Yu surged spiritual power from her feet, and the flying boat sped up even more.

Exactly, this year she swapped her birdgun for a cannon and took up a flying boat.

Unfortunately, no matter how fast, they couldn't withstand someone deliberately setting an ambush.

Jiang Yu, even if she dodged the forest and approached from the side, was still blocked by the sudden flare of formation light.

She was quick-eyed and quick-footed, controlling the flying boat to make a sudden 180-degree turn, but unexpectedly the surrounding area suddenly banned flight, causing her and the boat to lose speed and fall.

At the same time, a black banner flew out suddenly, covering her head, and myriad arrow-shadows shot from all directions.

"An ambush on all sides?" Before landing, Jiang Yu performed a backflip and kicked up the chess pole.

Immediately after, a large handful of fireball talismans were hurled toward the Kan position.