Daylight Robbery
Mu Yu’s knowledge of dark herb was limited to its unique traits. What happened after it went out of control was beyond him. He suggested dumping the death qi at some desolate place so that it wouldn’t harm anyone. However, Ku Mu shot down the idea, explaining that it collected the world’s primordial life and death energy. The specific energies spread rapidly once their restraints were removed, meaning the energy would still find its way to human habitation and kill everything in the area. It could take years, centuries or even millenniums, but it would gradually ruin all of Third Continent. That defeated the purpose of saving Feng Haochen and was an outcome nobody desired.
“It’s said that dark herb is an abnormal existence that shouldn’t exist in the first place due to the risks I mentioned. Supposedly, people in ancient times knew how to overcome the obstacle. Like many things, though, the knowledge was lost in the flow of history,” Ku Mu expanded.
“How troublesome. Can’t the punctured wood deal with it? Life qi and death qi are its favourites,” advocated Xiaoshuai.
“Yeah, will that work?” asked Mu Yu, excited at the prospect.
Ku Mu wasn’t an expert on the elemental demons’ sacred artefacts, so he had no answer.
“It can. You can mend its holes with death qi. Have you forgotten it absorbed Ghost Gate’s soul? Its soul was nothing but death qi. In saying that, because it’s an entity of vitality, having it absorb death qi will alter it to some degree. As for the specifics, there’s no way I can tell you. In any case, it can’t get any uglier than it already is, so it doesn’t matter!”
“Let’s return to the valley. I’d rather not risking destroying Pill Cauldron Sect if the strategy goes awry,” stated Ku Mu.
Mu Yu didn’t want to tarry at Pill Cauldron Sect, predicting he’d have challengers knocking all the time to see what True God’s disciple was made off. That was just a nuisance. Thanks to Shi Dengtian, it wasn’t a safe place to stay. The valley wasn’t exactly a haven for civility, either. They merely wanted to pick up the dragon vine.
Elder Leng arrived out of nowhere and tried to get friendly with Mu Yu, leading to the latter stating, “Oi, oi, don’t give me that look. It’s unsettling.”
Elder Leng wore on his bashful smile and sincerely said, “Mu Yu, you don’t need to be so distant with a friend, do you?”
“Who are you?”
“Ku Mu, could you put in a word for me, please?”
“Somebody kept setting me up ever since I arrived here. What trap do you have in store for me this time?” admonished Mu Yu.
Ku Mu, in a surprising turn of events, didn’t lash out and amiably asked, “What do you want from Mu Yu?”
“You know how we deal with health issues as alchemists. Recently, our sect’s reputation has been tarnished due to the fiend k-“
“And that’s my fault?” Mu Yu interjected.
“No, no, I never meant that. I was trying to say that we have not had a level eight alchemist in a long team; we barely even have level seven alchemists. The primary cause of that is the wood residue in us. Could you, hehe…”
“Why should I? Why is the shortage of level seven and eight alchemist my concern?”
Elder Leng awkwardly smiled but had no retort. He planned to convince Mu Yu to help as the latter was Bamboo Peak’s new leader, therefore a part of Pill Cauldron Sect. He realised the idea made no sense in the end, though, for he would abandon it and stick to being Sword Shadow Dust Gale’s disciple if he was Mu Yu.
“Mu Yu, help if you can. He protected me from Shi Dengtian during my detainment. His conscience is barely there, but it’s there,” voiced Ku Mu.
“He’s right. He’s right. Had Patriarch not called for us that day, I wouldn’t have left. I apologise for not doing a better job.”
“All right, then. How many of you need my help. Let me preface that my cultivation isn’t advanced, so I can’t help many. At most, I can only help five people.”
Of course, Mu Yu didn’t count Shi Dengtian as a patient he’d treat. Mu Yu decided to help because he deemed Elder Leng as a decent human being. Though Elder Leng entrapped him numerous times, he also helped Ku Mu several times. He only lashed out at Ku Mu when the latter hurt his daughter’s feelings. Protecting his daughter wasn’t something immoral. Besides, he never set Mu Yu up with sinister intent.
“Five is plenty. Five is good. Since Yun Dan is patriarch, we must include him. He was forced to imprison Ku Mu due to external pressure. He never wanted to harm Ku Mu. You’ve helped Yao Wuji before, but he still has some in him. Would you mind finishing for him? He’s an astute alchemist, but his fondness for experimentation gives him grief. Third would be Xue’er, my daughter. She has stayed loyal to Ku Mu all these years. Although he and her aren’t l-“
“What do you mean? She caught him last time he peeped on her,” Xiaoshuai suddenly reported.
“What? You peeped on Xue’er bathing?!”
“Shut up. That was an accident,” Ku Mu disputed, glaring at Xiaoshuai.
“Also my junior brother, Yuan Hua, whom you have met. I heard about your minor dispute from him. He was only trying to protect you.”
Mu Yu remembered Daoist Yuan Hua giving him precious herbs, albeit not letting him run. As such, he could accept the request.
“The last one shall be Yao Wuji’s shifu, Daoist Yuan Cheng. He is also my junior. What do you think?”
“And?”
“That’s five. I chose those five based on deep deliberation. They are the five pillars of the sect.” Elder Leng knew better than to choose someone from Shi Dengtian’s faction.
“And you?”
“Haha, I will pass. I’m getting on with age, but they are the future of the sect.”
Mu Yu gyrated his lips. “All right, that’ll be twenty rank seven pills, fifty rank six pills and a hundred rank five pills each – no room for discussion.”
The corner of Elder Leng’s eye twitched.
Elder Leng: I expected him to extort us, but that’s daylight robbery. I’m not so sure we can pull together the rank seven pills. Not every level seven alchemist can produce rank seven pills and twenty…? One is practically their fortune. Well, we won’t even be alive if we don’t extract the wood residue.
Elder Leng chuckled dryly. Ku Mu didn’t comment as he’d burst into laughter, otherwise.
“Don’t just stand there. Call them over.”
“They’re already here. Come out,” Elder Leng turned around and hollered.
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