Chapter 27 – Xiang Xiang and Sonic Blade
“Even so, I still want to enter Silver Fir’s Panacea Division!”
Chu Yao bit on her lip, but a look of determination remained on her face, “If I don’t go to study at the Panacea Division, then Bai Ling Pharmacy’s business will remain as stale as before. Now that Grandpa is even going to the Capital, I don’t want to disappoint Grandpa.”
“Alright then, I’ll protect you.”
“Aye.”
…..
The next morning, the two came to the Panacea Division office and was received by a man in his 50s. He wore a black robe and held a bottle of potion in his hand. Smilingly, he greeted, “Lin Mu Yu, Chu Yao, we’ve been expecting you two! My name is Lu Bin and I’ll be guiding the two of you today.”
Lin Mu Yu had become greatly prominent in Silver Fir, and was invited to join the Panacea Division along with Chu Yao. This was a rare privilege for young alchemists.
Lu Bin took a glance at Chu Yao as he walked, he exclaimed, “It’s been so long since we’ve last had such young alchemists here at the Panacea Division office. Such young talents are much too rare. The Division’s workshop is split into 3 different branches: Gathering, Selection, and Alchemy. You two will be placed into the Alchemy sector and will be responsible for extracting medicine cores and alchemizing potions. The workload isn’t too much, just 40 bottles of potions at level 3 or above.”
Chu Yao nodded in acknowledgment, “I see, thank you Mister Lu Bin!”
“No problem. I’ll show you two your rooms and the Alchemy workshop.”
“Okay!”
…..
Entering the alchemy workshop, there were around 30 or so alchemists already hard at work. Some of them were as high ranked as Medicine Masters. The main potions in production were gold sore potions, healing potions, stoneskin potions, and similar battle oriented potions. When Lin Mu Yu and Chu Yao entered the workshop, their noise caused the alchemists to hiss out in displeasure. These fellows focus all their time on researching and refining medicine, and basically had unconcerned themselves with the outside world. None of them really knew of Lin Mu Yu or his skill.
“Lin Mu Yu!”
An alchemist pointed to a work station nearby and asked, “You’re an alchemist right? Here is some Earth Dragon Grass and Blood Ginseng, why don’t you help me extract some medicine cores? I need to alchemize some level 4 healing potions.”
Lin Mu Yu smiled gently, “I’ll pass. I think I’ll just finish up 40 bottles of stoneskin potions and call it a day.”
“What? Stoneskin potion?” The alchemist frowned, “You know how to extract medicine cores from Black Iron wood?”
Lin Mu Yu did not bother explaining. Instead, he walked over and picked up a Black Iron tree of about a meter tall. Splaying out his palm, pure energy surged as Lin Mu Yu skillfully removed the outer shell of the Black Iron tree. Not long after, small black grains of Black Iron medicine cores slowly rose into the air and dropped onto a medicine pan.
The whole process took no more than 10 minutes, which even surprised Lin Mu Yu. He conjectured that it must have been due to his ability growth that caused Essence Purification Technique to be more efficient. The surrounding alchemists were all awe-struck, because none of them could believe that a youngster would be able to extract Black Iron trees’ medicine cores.
Not long after, 40 bottles of stoneskin potions were laid out on the table.
“Elder Lu!” One of the alchemist standing in front pointed at Lin Mu Yu with indignation and said, “This Lin Mu Yu kid only used a hour to alchemize 40 bottles of stoneskin potion. He is clearly skimping on the job. I suspect that his potion won’t even be 7th tier. This is going to harm our Panacea Division’s reputation! If these substandard potions were sent to the army, then it might even be directly harming people!”
Lu Bin naturally knew that the alchemy sect’s alchemists were all secretly infighting, but he also knew of Lin Mu Yu’s capability. Raising his eyebrows, he mused, “Is that so? Alchemist Wang, why don’t you go examine the quality of those stoneskin potions for us?”
“Yes!”
Alchemist Wang poked the examination stick into a bottle of stoneskin potion only to be stunned at the result. His jaws dropped as he muttered in shock, “How… How can this be a first tier medicine?”
Lu Bin snorted, “It stands to reason that the young generation will surpass us in time. Alchemist Wang, you should learn from Lin Mu Yu.”
“Yes… Yes, Elder Lu…”
…..
Since Lin Mu Yu finished his job, he walked over to Chu Yao’s workstation, and saw that she was working hard to alchemize level 4 healing potions. Clearly Chu Yao had benefited a little from the knowledge in the Medicine God Index, as she looked more adept at extracting medicine cores and formulation of the ingredient ratios. About one hour later, she made a total of 47 bottles of healing potions. The examiner identified them to be between 3rd and 6th tier. This left Lin Mu Yu slightly surprised.
Looked like he had underestimated Chu Yao after all!
The two’s accommodations were very close to the main house, and was even directly linked to the Lord’s manor. After a 10 minute walk, the two had arrived in front of a house.
“We’re here.” Lu Bin said.
Chu Yao was surprised. Stucking out her tongue, she joked, “Did we go the wrong way? We’re just mere alchemists and this… this is part of the Lord’s manor, right?”
Lu Bin smiled, “Lord Hua Tian is not only the lord of the city, but also the Head Elder of our Panacea Division. It is because Lin Mu Yu is recognized as a great talent of the alchemy world, that he would assign you two a special house like this. Please don’t be too modest, or you’ll waste the lord’s intention.”
Chu Yao was about to say something, but Lin Mu Yu knew it would have done no good. As such, he interjected, “Chu Yao. We are but guests, so staying at this place is also good.”
“Well, alright then…”
…..
When night fell, servants delivered a sumptuous dinner.
After the meal, Chu Yao went back to practicing needle techniques. Her room was separated from Lin Mu Yu’s by courtyard, so it was neither too far nor too close.
In contrast, Lin Mu Yu stood in the courtyard and began to practice Lightning Chop and Sonic Punch. At the same time, he continued to strengthen his Green Gourd martial spirit. When the night darkened a bit more, he took out the 4 throwing knives and practiced with the assassination weapon.He knew that he was still not strong enough. If he were to face stronger opponents, he must take extreme measures. Using an assassination weapon would definitely be one of those measures.
Who would know what awaited him in the lord’s manor?
“Woosh!”
A knife flew out with a fierce sound and impaled itself into the a rock in the rock garden. It pierced deeply and looked like it would not be able to return by itself.
Lin Mu Yu frowned as he noted the throwing knives’ greatest weakness. It was not the return trajectory but the fact that if the knives were to hit their targets, they would require retrieval. How could one freely control their flight path?
After theory-crafting for a while, an idea suddenly sparked into his mind. The throwing knives’ trajectory was dependent on power and air movements, and was his Sonic Punch not an ability that can change air movements?Perhaps, Sonic Punch may be a useful tool when used with the throwing knives.
Thinking to this point, he immediately tried it in practice.
When the combined blade flew out, Lin Mu Yu’s Sonic Punch exploded the air in the distance. It seemed like the effect was not very distinct. It shot down the flying blade, but that was because the angle and power were not enough.
He repeatedly attempted the technique, and was finally able to succeed after hundreds of tries. After sending out the Sonic Punch, the trajectory of the flying blade shifted and flew in a different direction. This small success was enough to make Lin Mu Yu incessantly happy. The combination of Sonic Punch and the hidden throwing blade was confirmed to be a feasible technique.
Proudly standing in the deserted courtyard, Lin Mu Yu looked even more handsome. His eyes were shut as he focused his mind and felt for the flying blade’s movements. Only relying on his ear to locate the blade, he abruptly sent out Sonic Punches. The flying blade continued to change direction as it was hit by the air ripples. Lin Mu Yu had seemingly mastered the relationship between flying trajectory, Sonic Punch’s power, angle ,and the timing of the technique.
…..
Right as he was immersed in self cultivation, he suddenly heard soft clapping in the distance. A girl’s voice sounded from the gate, “What a handsome skill. I suppose it’s to be expected of someone who defeated young lord Hua Wan in three moves!”
Lin Mu Yu looked with his eyebrow raised, and found a woman dressed in red standing a short distance away. Her clothes were simple and thin as yarn. It outlined her exquisitely figure as she leaned on the door. She looked especially charming and alluring.
“And you are?”
“My name is Xiang Xiang!” (Name is a pun on fragrant.)
She smilingly walked closer, each step light as a cat’s, as her beautiful eyes stared straight at Lin Mu Yu, She greeted, “I am a maid of the Lord’s manor. I was told by the young master to serve you, young sir.”
Lin Mu Yu fumbled his brows. An unreasonable disdain arised in his heart, he simply said, “You can go back and tell Hua Wan that I don’t need anything.”
“Is that so?”
Xiang Xiang’s beautiful eyes seemed to have read his mind. She asked, “The night is long and it would be hard to sleep alone. Do you really not need a bedside lady? Oh, it must be that girl called Chu Yao, am I right? It’s a shame that she is your senior, so she probably won’t be serving you at night, right?”
As she spoke, Xiang Xiang walked to door and entered Lin Mu Yu’s room. She indifferently said, “No matter what you think, I must sleep on your bed tonight.”
She looked back with a subtle shadow on her face, and hinted, “Or else, the consequence will be more than I can imagine.”
What was that supposed to mean?
Lin Mu Yu was startled. Could this be the legendary “Tyrant’s Forceful Violation”?
This… Isn’t this flipped around? At least I should be on the initiative right?
Truthfully, Xiang Xiang’s figure and appearance were both of the highest quality. Hua Wan was a true master in the selection of woman, Lin Mu Yu had to admit that much.
Xiang Xiang leaned against the door and smiled sweetly, “Sir, what is that throwing knife called?”
“It has no name. It’s just a stealth weapon.”
“Oh? Then what is your telekinetic explosive punch called?”
“Sonic Punch.”
“Heehee.” Xiang Xiang pursed her lips and giggled, “Although I’m not a martial arts practitioner, but I can at least see that you’re using Sonic Punch to change the knife’s flying path. This is so you can kill formlessly, right?”
“That’s right.” Lin Mu Yu laughed outright, “Xiang Xiang, Hua Wan sent you to spy on me, right? Even if you learn what my martial arts are called, I can still easily defeat Hua Wan.”
Xiang Xiang lifted her slender white leg and touched her knee. She smiled, “You’re worrying too much. I’m just here to serve you for the night. As for training, I’m not interested. Anyhow…”
She gave a nod and lamented, “If I practiced martial arts, I probably wouldn’t have let myself be trampled upon like this. Don’t you agree?
Lin Mu Yu of course didn’t believe her. He coldly snorted and continued to practice the combination of Sonic Punch and throwing knife.
Xiang Xiang watched for a while, and suddenly yawned, “Sir, it’s getting late. Xiang Xiang will be waiting in bed for you. I definitely won’t be wearing anything, so when you’re tired, just come back to rest. I’ll take good care of you!”
Lin Mu Yu did not answer. This Xiang Xiang certainly was a stunner, but she also happened to be the best way to hone his mind.
Xiang Xiang yawned cutely again and waved, “Sir, your servant will be going to bed. Remember to wake me when you return. Also, your throwing knife lacks a name, so why don’t I help you with one? Since it is driven by the force of your Sonic Punch, why not call it Sonic Blade?”
Sonic Blade?
Lin Mu Yu was startled. What a good name!
…..
When he looked again, Xiang Xiang had already meandered onto the bed.