Celestial Flames
“If our company did as well as Beast-Taming Hall, we wouldn’t need to be hunting fiend beasts to gather funds for my mother,” uttered Xuan Sitong.
“Let’s go to Mystic Beast Mall.”
“Master Yu, we do not have enough capital to purchase your catch,” stressed Xuan Zhengtang.
“That’s fine. I’ll consider it my investment. What do you usually do with the fiend beasts you purchase?”
“We usually sell parts we cannot use but are edible to eateries. We sell parts that can be used as pills to Pill Cauldron Sect, bones and nerves to blacksmiths. The time it takes us to dissect them depends on their level; level six fiend beasts would take us days.”
“That’s fine. You don’t have to pay me back anytime soon. You can pay me after you’re done selling their parts.”
“Are you sure, Master Yu?”
“Well, I’m not selling to Beast-Taming Hall, so why not? If flies come bug you, I’ll slap them into oblivion,” conveyed Mu Yu, stealing a gander of their stalkers.
The fact that there was only one clerk at Mystic Beast Hall in comparison to the dozens of clerks at Beast-Taming Hall drew a distinct contrast between the two.
“Chishan, we’re back. Come welcome our guest,” hollered Xuan Sitong, upon entering the building.
“Shifu, Senior Sister, welcome back,” expressed the Body Severing Cultivator roughly three years older than Mu Yu.
“Chishan, bring our guests some tea. This is Young Master Yu Feng and his brother. Take good care of our esteemed guests,” instructed Xuan Zhengtang.
“Please come in,” communicated Chi Shan, gesturing for Mu Yu to enter and then fetching some tea.
Chishan was surprised to find his shifu letting a kid ride on his shoulders and behave so politely to a “Body Severing Realm” cultivator.
“This is my disciple, Xuan Chisan. I consider him my son,” introduced Xuan Zhengtan.
“It is a pleasure to be your acquaintance, Young Master Yu Feng.”
“Don’t mind the formalities. I don’t like them,” expressed Mu Yu, sitting down whilst the Xuans stayed on their feet. “Xiaoshuai, come here.”
Xiaoshuai hopped onto Mu Yu’s thighs from Xuan Zhengtang’s shoulders. Kicking his feet giddily, Xiaoshuai queried, “Mister, do you have any nice food here?”
“We do,” answered Chishan, serving Xiaoshuai some roast fiend beast meat.
“The guest who left as we came back looked grumpy. Did you ruin another deal?” Xuan Zhengtang asked of Xuan Chisan.
“Shifu, he wanted to sell a level three crimson phosphorous xi. They sell for three thousand on the market, yet he demanded 3500 after I offered 3100, so…”
“So he’s going to offer it to Beast-Taming Hall now?” Mu Yu inquired.
“Yes. We want to do business, but we would suffer a loss if we accepted the transaction. We know Beast-Taming Hall would also buy a level three crimson phosphorous xi for three thousand. We have always offered more than Beast-Taming Hall for level three and four fiend beasts despite it reducing our profit margin because it is the only way we can procure any business,” explained Xuan Chishan.
“How many sales did you close over the last few days we were away?” queried Xuan Zhengtang, not blaming Xuan Chishan.
“Tw-two – one level three beast and one level four beast.”
“That’s it?”
“Shifu, you know that we have to embezzle some spirit stones to buy ice stones to contain the flames burning Shiniang for the last month. We still owe the sect last month’s worship contribution, and next month’s contribution is already around the corner. We cannot afford any more spirit stones to purchase better fiend beasts with what we have left over after paying our monthly contribution to the sect.”
“Ice stones? As in the cold stones that don’t melt even at high temperatures? How much are ice stones?” Mu Yu queried.
“A fist-sized one costs roughly ten thousand spirit stones. They only last approximately two days for Shiniang. We have nearly spent 150,000 spirit stones to contain the flames already.”
“May I take a look at Mrs. Xuan? I would like to see how the flames hurt cultivators,” Mu Yu requested.
“Of course. Please come with me. Chishan, take care of the shop,” directed Xuan Zhengtang.
“Mother, we’re back.”
Mu Yu followed in after Xuan Zhengtang.
“Welcome back, Sitong. Zhengtang, are you two all right? He is…”
“He is Young Master Yu Feng. He saved us when we were in a pinch while hunting a beautiful leopard,” introduced Xuan Sitong.
“She is my wife, Yan Hanyu,” stated Xuan Zhengtang.
“Thank you, Young Master Yu Feng,” conveyed Yan Hanyu, greeting Mu Yu with a nod. “Sitong, how did you bump into a beautiful leopard? Did you get hurt?”
“I’m fine, but Dad hurt his arm.”
Mrs. Xuan had her daughter help her sit up. “Zhengtang, you got hurt?”
“I’m all right. Young Master Yu Feng staunched the bleeding for me,” answered Xuan Zhengtang, sitting down on the bed and forcing a smile.
“Thank you so much, Young Master Yu Feng.”
“It’s nothing, Mrs. Xuan. Please allow me to check the flames giving you grief.”
Xuan Zhengtang tapped his wife on the hand to assure it was all right. Mu Yu could sense her spiritual energy from her hand fuelling the white flames called “celestial flames” enveloping the ice stone she presented. Mu Yu’s attempt to extinguish the flames with his spiritual energy backfired, feeding the flame, instead.
“Xiaoshuai, you have any solutions?” Mu Yu asked.
“Brother, everyone calls me Brother Shuai,” Xiaoshuai corrected, disgruntled.
“Fine, Brother Shuai, any solutions?”
“I reckon Qiao Xue and Lie Shang could treat her.”
“You might as well have not said anything.”
“Not even amputating her arm will do anything because it’ll keep burning the severed spot. You could try figuring out the mechanism behind celestial flames and taishi purple sky pills to figure something out.”
“How am I supposed to know about them?”
“I’m out of ideas, then.”
Xuan Zhengtang wasn’t hoping for a miracle; however, hearing the conversation between Mu Yu and Xiaoshuai was comparable to taking a blow while he was downed. Noticing her husband looking figuratively blue, Yan Hanyu took hold of her husband’s hand. “I’m sorry for being a burden.”
“Don’t say that. I’ll spend our entire fortune if that’s what it takes to treat you.”
Besides feeling bad for the couple, Mu Yu had another concern: how was anyone going to ensure an adequate supply of Taishi purple sky pills if humans went to war against fire demons?
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