Extortion
Elder Leng visited Mu Yu the day after – nothing surprising at that point.
“Young Mu Yu, can you tell me how to remove the incompatible components of those hundred or so herbs?”
“That is a secret I cannot reveal. Gramps knows, though. Ask him.”
“He doesn’t know squat. Only an expert, such as yourself, can discuss it on my level.”
“See the door? It’s calling for you.” Despite what he said, Ku Mu attempted to smash a teapot over Elder Leng’s head. Whether fortunate or unfortunate, it shattered before it made contact.
“I’m not even here for you, so you use the door. I’ll slap you out of the door if you keep that up.”
“Try me.”
“God forbid I ever understand what Xue’er likes about you. Foul temper, disrespectful, can’t concoct pills and you stutter…”
Ku Mu swung the tray at Elder Leng’s head.
“Young Mu Yu, let’s ignore this violent man, smashing furniture as if he’s still a child. You used to run to me whenever thunder clapped. How did you grow up to be such a pain? I sure didn’t do myself any favours. If your shifu didn’t entrust you to me, I’d have fed you to the wolves. I still feel embarrassed each time I recall you wet your bed when you were fifteen.”
Mu Yu held his breath desperately. Ku Mu, on the other hand, lividly searched for the next item to attack Elder Leng with. Elder Leng, to Ku Mu’s chagrin, snubbed him and dragged Mu Yu off to Pill Manual Hall. Once Mu Yu’s eyes adjusted, he found himself standing upstairs. In front of him were incomplete pills of varying sizes.
“What do you want me to do with all of these incomplete pills, Old Geezer?”
“Hehe, these are the easy ones to complete – relatively speaking. I selected them from among the hundreds that we have. Choose a few to practice with.”
“Practice you say? Sure. Is that what you thought I’d say? Who gets to keep the complete pills, you or me?”
“It doesn’t matter. We’re all part of the same sect, no? We’re family.”
“I have shame to sell you. You want some? What happened to me being an outsider?”
“Who said that? I’ll snap his legs!”
“Shi Dengtian. Break his legs, and I’ll consider helping you finish these pills,” raged Mu Yu.
“Uh… ahaha, he’s currently one of the faction masters. How about somebody else?”
“Last I checked, Gramps is also a faction master, yet you threaten to break his legs every second sentence.”
“I never actually did it, though.”
“No deal, then.”
“Come on, Mu Yu. We need Body Synthesis Realm alchemists to complete them. Sadly, we don’t have many at that level. Patriarch and I are Level Seven alchemists; however, we can’t finish them. Ku Mu used to be a Body Synthesis Realm cultivator, but even he has to raise a white flag. That’s why I want to know how you resolved what stumped us.”
Mu Yu always assumed Ku Mu was a Spirit Severing Realm cultivator, so that came as a surprise.
“I told you it was thanks to Speed Alchemy Mental Cultivation, but you refuse to believe me.”
“How about you write out how you completed the two pills in exchange for valuable pills? I can provide you with ten single energy qi collection pill. It’s a rank five pill that grants a Primordial Infant Realm cultivator the power of a Body Severing Realm cultivator for fifteen minutes. I can also give you six sky erasing pills. Consume it when you reach Primordial Infant Realm’s Ninth Layer, and you will be five times more likely to ascend to Body Severing Realm. How about it?”
“A rank seven pill in exchange for rank five and six pills. You think my brain is malfunctioning?”
“Kid, you think they’re easier to produce? If I yelled out I had a rank five pill, I’d ignite a war for it. You’re just finishing incomplete pills. You’re not creating them from scratch.”
“Is that how it is? No deal, then. Help yourself.”
“This little runt is as despicable as Ku Mu!” cursed Elder Leng. “Tch! I’ll give you a destiny bone sovereign pill, too! It’s a rank six pill I concocted. Once you consume it, not even a Spirit Severing Realm cultivator can tickle you for fifteen minutes.”
“Now you’re speaking my language. What else?”
“Windrider pill, a rank six pill. Not even Spirit Severing Realm cultivator will be able to keep up with you. It’s designed specifically for escaping.”
“And?”
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
“In exchange for a rank seven pill, I deserve, at the very least, dozens of the two, don’t I?”
Elder Leng smacked Mu Yu over the head: “You think they’re grains of sand by the ocean? Dozens of them?”
Mu Yu jerked his head back. He shoved the pills back into Elder Leng’s hands. “I’m done. Not helping. Figure it out yourself.”
“I’ve only produce five windriders and five destiny bone sovereigns. Take them or leave them,” fumed Elder Leng.
“All right, let me have a think. I want fifty to sixty of those rank five pills. I also want the rank six pills. I’ll finish a few pills for you when I’m in the mood.”
Elder Leng took out a bunch of vials disgruntledly and passed them o Mu Yu: “Twenty single energy qi collection pills. Don’t use them mindlessly because there will be lingering side effects. You will have diarrhoea a day after consuming it no exceptions.”
Well, Mu Yu was used to feeling the effects of various concoctions Ku Mu made up during the time he was a lab rat.
“Sky erasing pill. I’m only giving you one as a Primordial Infant Realm cultivator can only use it once. Destiny bone sovereign pill is a pill I created when I first ascended to Spirit Severing Realm. I don’t need it anymore. I gave you an extra fifty explosions pills. They’re rank seven explosion pills. Feed it some spiritual energy, and it’ll explode. We use it when we’re in peril because we, as alchemists, tend not to be the fiercest of fighters,” angrily explained Elder Leng.
Mu Yu jovially stored the collection away out of sight. Who wants people chasing them down to rob them? If someone managed to pinch the stash, they’d be set for life.
Explosion pills were categorised into ranks based on their destructive power. That being said, their destructive potential was dependent on the user, specifically their spiritual energy. A Primordial Infant Realm cultivator could only blow up Primordial Infant Realm cultivators or below using explosion pills. Using it on an opponent of higher level was useless. However, because of Elder Leng’s cultivation level, his rank four explosion pills were more potent than the same type from someone whose cultivation was inferior to his. It would be a waste to let Mu Yu use a rank seven one owing to his cultivation, but it certainly would pack a punch.
“Okay, I’ll help you complete the death by injury pill, hehe.”
“I don’t need you to complete that. It’s bloody useless. Complete the nephrite regeneration pill,” disputed Elder Leng, kicking the death by injury pill cauldron away and replacing it with the nephrite regeneration pill preservation cauldron.
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