Chapter 81: You Can Only Like Me (7)
“Where are we going now?” Su Huo looked at Jiang Zhiyan. “I feel unsafe carrying so many things near the border of the Demon Realm.”
“I booked a room at Tianyan Pavilion, to refine the sword,” Jiang Zhiyan said.
“Now?” Su Huo’s jaw dropped. “Do I have to go with you too?”
She wanted to run away. This kind of thing sounded tiring and technically demanding. She cultivated solely to live longer and have more time to enjoy herself.
There was a saying, “Happy as an immortal,” immortals must be happy, she always felt that these people who cultivated painstakingly were doing it wrong, but every time she said this, people would criticize her.
“Either come with me, or sell the Star River Ore,” Jiang Zhiyan said. “It’s not very convenient for you to carry it around… I don’t need much time to refine.”
“Okay!” Thinking about the money, Su Huo instantly became energized, not caring about what method Jiang Zhiyan was going to use. “Let’s go.”
“I didn’t bring anything with me, I’ll give you your reward later.”
“No need, didn’t you already give me a magic weapon? And I also got a bag of Star River Ore.” Su Huo looked at Jiang Zhiyan with dissatisfaction. “You’re being so polite, it makes me think you don’t see me as a friend.”
Jiang Zhiyan didn’t know how to respond to Su Huo’s question. She really didn’t know how to make friends, and she hadn’t planned on making any.
She didn’t answer the question.
“Let’s go.”
Su Huo didn’t press the issue; she had just asked casually.
Jiang Zhiyan’s original plan was to return to the Myriad Swords Sect first, but she didn’t want to go back now. She wanted to see when Song Jin’yue would ask about her.
Wasn’t she worried at all?
She hadn’t even done anything.
…
Song Jin’yue held her sword and looked up at the sky, calculating the days, Jiang Zhiyan had been gone for five or six days, and she hadn’t heard from her at all.
She looked at the wooden puppet, a little hesitant.
Should she contact Jiang Zhiyan? If she did, what if the other party thought she was idle and gave her more tasks?
But if she didn’t ask, she was worried something might have happened.
Although nothing had happened yet, because she still couldn’t use her spiritual energy.
She decided to wait two more days and find a suitable excuse to ask about the situation. It wouldn’t be good if the other party thought she missed her and hurried back.
It felt great that “Master” wasn’t home.
Although, sometimes it was a bit boring…
But only a little bit.
Song Jin’yue gestured with her hand, as if trying to prove something to someone, then realizing her actions were a bit silly, she quickly put her hand down.
She looked around and patted the wooden puppet’s shoulder.
The wooden puppet raised its hand and struck her.
“I didn’t want to practice!”
Song Jin’yue groaned in pain, she had already practiced today, why did she have to touch the wooden puppet? She dodged a bit too slowly, and her arm was hit twice.
She gasped from the pain.
Couldn’t this thing be turned off?
…
Tianyan Pavilion was a large organization, often mentioned in novels, involved in many businesses. You could hire assassins here, or ask them to find things for you, they held regular auctions, and there was a free market every day.
They had all sorts of things, as long as you had money, they could do anything, whether you were a human cultivator, a demon cultivator, or a yao cultivator, everyone was treated equally in Tianyan Pavilion.
The owner’s identity was a mystery.
However, Jiang Zhiyan, with the script in hand, knew that the owner was the ancestor of the Wanfa Sect. This person claimed to be in seclusion, but was actually enjoying themselves in Tianyan Pavilion, no one in the Wanfa Sect knew their ancestor was like this.
Jiang Zhiyan felt that the Wanfa Sect ancestor would probably understand Su Huo’s thoughts.
Tianyan Pavilion occupied an entire island. To enter, you had to buy a ticket and receive a disguise artifact, which could change your appearance, voice, and conceal your cultivation level. However, if your cultivation reached Greater Mastery or Tribulation Transcendence, you could easily see through all disguises. But these powerful figures, if they were so inclined, could uncover almost any secret in the world, so no one really cared.
Jiang Zhiyan and Su Huo had already taken Disguise Pills, and the artifacts provided an extra layer of protection.
“I’m so nervous,” Su Huo rubbed her hands.
“Nervous about what?”
“I feel like there must be a lot of good stuff here, I have a feeling I’ll spend all my money quickly,” Su Huo said. “I should have just asked you to sell it for me.”
“Then come and help me with chores, so you don’t go out and spend your money.”
“Forget it,” Su Huo waved her hand. “I’m destined to be poor, I should just accept my fate.”
Jiang Zhiyan was speechless.
After entering Tianyan Pavilion, Su Huo went to register for the auction. Five stones of Star River Ore, starting price one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones. Hearing this price, Su Huo felt her breathing quicken.
But the registrar was very calm, and Jiang Zhiyan beside her was also very calm, so she could only pretend to be calm, otherwise, she would appear inexperienced.
“The next auction will be in three days,” the registrar gave Su Huo two tokens, one proving she was the owner of the item being auctioned, and the other for a private box. As long as the item was valuable enough, you would get a private box.
“Ah, three days later.”
Su Huo sighed, and Jiang Zhiyan gave her a bag of spirit stones: “Contact me if anything happens.”
“My lady, I will follow you forever,” Su Huo said, opening the bag and looking inside.
Jiang Zhiyan gave her a look of disgust and went to the room she had booked in advance, starting to refine the Star River Iron.
This amount was enough for Jiang Zhiyan to fail three times, but she didn’t think she would.
“Hm?” On the top floor of Tianyan Pavilion, a woman pushed aside the layers of blankets on her and sat up. “The smell of Star River Ore.”
She closed her eyes and scanned the room where Jiang Zhiyan was with her divine sense.
“Golden Core? Quite daring.”
She lay back down languidly, asked someone to bring her some snacks, and continued to watch, her expression increasingly surprised.
Jiang Zhiyan’s control over time and temperature was extremely precise, like a machine with pre-set values.
“Interesting.”
She wondered which family this person belonged to, whether she had a master. If not, she was a bit interested.
Su Huo had initially thought Jiang Zhiyan would come out for a break, but she showed no signs of doing so.
So on the day of the auction, to liven things up, she brought two attractive yao companions. The five stones of Star River Ore were eventually sold for three million high-grade spirit stones.
Hearing this price, Su Huo felt like she was floating.
She knew Star River Ore was priceless, but she didn’t expect it to be this expensive, her imagination wasn’t wild enough.
However, after the auction, many people inquired about her identity, thankfully, Tianyan Pavilion’s confidentiality measures were good, no one found her.
Jiang Zhiyan spent five days refining all the Star River Ore. She disassembled her weapons, planning to use them to convert spiritual energy for refining the sword, using the methods of the cultivation world was too slow.
During those five days, Song Jin’yue contacted her several times, but she was busy concentrating and couldn’t reply. Of course, she could have replied if she wanted to, but she was holding a grudge and didn’t want to talk to her. Now that she wasn’t responding, Song Jin’yue was contacting her every day.
“Is there something?” Jiang Zhiyan asked, assembling the parts in front of her, hoping Song Jin’yue would say something that would make her happy.
However, it turned out that sometimes it was better not to have expectations.
“When are you coming back? I’ve used up all the talismans you gave me, how do I turn off this puppet… I think it’s broken, it keeps trying to make me practice swordsmanship.”
Jiang Zhiyan: …
“I’ll send a message to have them send you more talismans, the puppet is designed to make you practice swordsmanship at regular intervals,” Jiang Zhiyan paused. “Is there anything else?”
Song Jin’yue was silent for a long time, so long that Jiang Zhiyan had already finished assembling the parts.
“If there’s nothing else, then I’ll hang up.” Jiang Zhiyan put away the parts.
“Where are you?” Song Jin’yue paused, then quickly said, “I’m not rushing you, I’m just… mm, asking, why didn’t you reply to me the past few days? Are you injured?”
“I’m not injured, I’m busy, it’s inconvenient for me to talk to you,” Jiang Zhiyan said.
“Oh,” Song Jin’yue replied sullenly. “Then when are you coming back?”
“I don’t know, maybe in a while,” Jiang Zhiyan said.
“Okay,” Song Jin’yue sighed.
“Alright, I’ll hang up now. I’ll have someone send you more books if you’re bored.”
“Mm… I don’t really want to read.”
Song Jin’yue sighed softly, why didn’t she ask how her training was going? She was usually so strict, but now she completely ignored her.
[Bei: Why haven’t you returned to the Myriad Swords Sect?]
[Jiang Zhiyan: I won’t go back until I’m finished with my business.]
[Bei: They’re all out now, it’s more convenient for you to do your thing.]
[Jiang Zhiyan: I know what I’m doing.]
Jiang Zhiyan put away the communication jade and ignored him.
She stayed at Tianyan Pavilion for two months. When she came out, she was refreshed, but Su Huo, who came to pick her up, looked like she hadn’t slept in two months.
“Overindulgence is harmful to your health,” Jiang Zhiyan reminded her.
“I haven’t!” Su Huo said, exasperated. “I thought you died in there, you were refining a sword, I didn’t dare disturb you, how did it go?”
“It was a success,” Jiang Zhiyan said casually.
Su Huo’s eyes widened: “I heard they spent two hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones to refine the Star River Ore, and now they’re offering one million high-grade spirit stones for sword refining, you…”
“Not interested, I’m not short of money, let’s go,” Jiang Zhiyan transmitted her voice to her. “Has anyone been looking for trouble recently?”
“They couldn’t find me, I probably look too unremarkable, I don’t have the aura of a worldly expert,” Su Huo said proudly. “I even joined them in gossiping, it feels good to make a fortune quietly.”
The news of Tianyan Pavilion auctioning Star River Ore had spread, and everyone was guessing who the seller was, after all, the Demon Kings were busy looking for the Demonic Sword, they didn’t have time to come here, and they wouldn’t sell Star River Ore to human cultivators unless they had nothing better to do.
“Please wait a moment,” someone stopped them.
The smile on Su Huo’s face instantly disappeared as she looked at the person in front of them.
She had stayed at Tianyan Pavilion for two months and naturally knew this person. He was the manager of Tianyan Pavilion. Some people stopped and looked over; being approached by the manager of Tianyan Pavilion usually meant something unusual had happened.
“Don’t worry, I mean no harm, the Pavilion Master wishes to see you two.”
The onlookers looked shocked.
“The Pavilion Master of Tianyan Pavilion?”
They thought they had misheard.
“What happened?”
“Who are they?”
…
Jiang Zhiyan nodded.
“Are we really going?” Su Huo grabbed Jiang Zhiyan’s arm.
“It’s fine,” Jiang Zhiyan smiled. “They won’t do anything to us, after all, it’s the Pavilion Master of Tianyan Pavilion.”
“You’re right, but I…” Su Huo took a deep breath. “I’ve never met such an important person.”
Thinking about her smug face earlier, she suddenly felt embarrassed, the other party must have seen through her already.
The manager chuckled, glanced at the two, and led them to the top floor of Tianyan Pavilion: “Please, just go straight ahead, I won’t go in.”
Jiang Zhiyan looked straight ahead, while Su Huo curiously looked around, but not too brazenly.
The top floor of Tianyan Pavilion, a place countless people were curious about, Su Huo never thought she would come here one day, this place, like the Pavilion Master herself, was shrouded in mystery.
Finally reaching the end, the two saw a woman sitting at the table, sitting comfortably, not caring about other people’s gazes.
And the other party was in a strange state. Su Huo felt like she was looking directly at the woman’s face, but her mind didn’t register any information, she couldn’t process the woman’s appearance. She swallowed, this was the first time she had encountered such a situation.
“Greetings, Pavilion Master,” Su Huo said, giving a restrained smile, then looked at Jiang Zhiyan.
“Does the Pavilion Master need something from us?” Jiang Zhiyan asked.
Su Huo’s heart skipped a beat, Jiang Zhiyan’s words were truly blunt.
The woman looked at Jiang Zhiyan and chuckled: “I originally wanted to see if you had a master… but there’s no need now.”
She didn’t recognize Jiang Zhiyan’s face, but when Jiang Zhiyan got closer, she sensed the subtle protection of a powerful cultivator’s divine sense, the other party’s cultivation level probably only slightly lower than her own.
“You saw?” Jiang Zhiyan looked at her, she didn’t explicitly say it, but the other party knew what she was asking.
“It’s Star River Ore after all, I have to be careful in case it’s some dangerous demon,” the woman said matter-of-factly, without any apology.
Jiang Zhiyan was dissatisfied, but it was useless, strength reigned supreme in this world, there were rules, but rules only bound the weak, as long as you were strong enough, you could transcend all rules.
The woman stared into Jiang Zhiyan’s eyes: “The Demon Realm is restless recently, it’s best to avoid it.”
“Thank you for your concern, Senior,” Jiang Zhiyan smiled.
After exchanging just a few words, the two were directly sent out of the island.
Su Huo looked at Jiang Zhiyan and exclaimed: “The Pavilion Master actually wanted to take you as her disciple, you’re amazing.”
“I won’t be coming back here again,” Jiang Zhiyan removed the first layer of her disguise.
“Huh?” Su Huo was stunned.
“I don’t like being watched,” Jiang Zhiyan looked back at the island shrouded in mist. “Let’s go, I have to go back, I’ve been out for too long.”
The woman leaning against the table chuckled and picked up a fruit: “These young people nowadays…”
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