Chapter 24
In the middle of a small pond, a bamboo hut stands surrounded by many flowers and medicinal plants. The spiritual Qi in the area is notably dense, thanks to a spirit-gathering formation located at the center of the pond where the hut rests. The serene atmosphere provides a sense of peace and tranquility, making it a perfect place for cultivation, far more effective than any other spot on Illusion Mountain.
Two people walk towards this serene place: a woman with a perfect figure, her head and face covered by a veil, followed by a man in strange clothing made of beast skin. They are Qin Lou and Shin Jiao.
Upon seeing the pond, Shin Jiao is astonished by the simple formation array. What baffles him is that the formation does not use runes, and based on the spiritual Qi in the area, it is clearly self-sustaining. This indicates that the creator is a Level 8 or 9 grandmaster array formation expert. A self-sustaining formation means it will continue to exist as long as spiritual Qi is present. Though a simple Qi-gathering array, it is profoundly baffling to Shin Jiao. Without a word, he rushes toward the eye of the formation to study it.
Shin Jiao's action leaves Qin Lou a little dazed. She also has knowledge of formations and runes, but Shin Jiao is a mortal. This baffles her—how could he know about arrays and formations?
"This is really amazing. This array is too cool," Shin Jiao mutters unconsciously in his excitement.
Qin Lou looks at him with intrigue for a moment before she decides to enter the hut. After a while, she emerges, having changed into her school robe. She then takes a look at a basket and begins to classify the spiritual herbs within it.
She intends to return to the market area to sell the herbs she has collected. When she steps out of the hut, she finds that Shin Jiao has already finished deducing the formation array, having gained a great deal from the experience.
"Wait! Can... can I go with you? I know you're going somewhere. Please!" Shin Jiao says.
It has been a long time since Shin Jiao has seen people. He wants to observe and see what kind of people live in these parts. He plans to go with her, and seeing her robe, he realizes it must be a school or sect uniform.
"Look... umn... since I am a mortal, I can be your servant or something," Shin Jiao adds, trying to convince her when she doesn't answer.
She simply nods her head, seemingly agreeing to his suggestion. She enters the hut again and waves her hand, and a bundle of clothing flies towards Shin Jiao. He immediately recognizes the coarse clothing as what a mortal servant would wear. With a deep sigh, he accepts it and goes somewhere to change.
A while later, Shin Jiao returns wearing a brown coarse robe with a cloud emblem on the back. Since his hair isn't as long as most people's, he wears a bamboo hat to be less conspicuous.
"Okay, let's go... Umn... I forgot to ask. What's your name?" he says.
"Qin Lou," she replies calmly.
The two of them walk out of the pond area and travel back to the village camp. Shin Jiao takes the basket from Qin Lou, offering to carry it for her. They walk slowly, reaching their destination after an hour. During that time, they don't speak, acting just like a servant and master.
Today is the start of the inter-school competition, and the village is bustling with students. Those staying in the village and the representatives from various schools mingle, trading items and pills.
Shin Jiao is amazed by the way people trade their goods. It's like he's in the Middle Ages of Earth, where people use coins or stones to buy things or barter. Seeing this, Shin Jiao thinks of a way to make money. He wonders if he could craft a card-like object that could receive and transfer goods using one's spiritual sense. It would be just like using a phone to pay for something in a store. But the problem is, he isn't strong enough to protect himself in this world. What if an Infant Soul or Nascent Core cultivator became greedy and caught him? He would be turned into a money-making slave. He shivers at the thought.
He wants to change his life in this new world and find a place he can call home. To do that, he needs power and wealth, which are still a far cry from what he has now.
While he is lost in thought, they arrive at a small empty stall. He hands the basket to Qin Lou and watches her set up the display of medicinal herbs. He's a little dazed because he is familiar with not even half of the herbs. She notices the glimmer of curiosity in his eyes and knows what he wants. Since he will be helping her, she takes out a thin book of common medicinal herbs, where most common herbs are listed, and hands it to Shin Jiao.
"This... Oh, this is nice," Shin Jiao says, happy to find the list of herbs in the book.
Since he already learned most of the languages in this world through Gubu, he is able to understand everything in the textbook. Shin Jiao had an excellent memory before he came to this planet, and after he started cultivating, his mind became clearer, allowing him to retain a large amount of information. After memorizing almost all of the herbs in the book, he can now distinguish every herb on display and their characteristics.
With this new knowledge, Shin Jiao is confident that he could make advanced medicine according to the properties of each herb. An idea strikes him. He takes out a recording jade slip, sits behind a hidden corner of the stall covered by a curtain, and begins to transfer the information about the herbs he has learned. Since he can now use spiritual Qi, he is able to form his own spiritual sense, but its distance is laughably short—only 10 meters. However, this is enough for Shin Jiao since he has his trusty goggles.
While Qin Lou is standing behind the display, she suddenly feels something from behind her. She subconsciously turns around and senses the aura in Shin Jiao's body.
"What? I thought he was a mortal? But... he... wait a minute, he is a Core Forming Realm cultivator. How is he able to hide his cultivation?" she wonders as she observes Shin Jiao's aura seeping out of his body.
Unknown to Shin Jiao, when he uses his spiritual sense, the energy inside the sphere goes out, and the aura from that energy seeps from his body at that instant.
"What is he doing now?" she curiously looks at Shin Jiao, who seems to be concentrating while touching the jade slip to his forehead.
When Qin Lou realizes this, she is dumbfounded. It is a known fact that although Core Forming Realm cultivators can use spiritual sense, it is too weak to carry or transmit anything. Only Gold Core Realm and above can do mental transmission, as their spiritual sense is powerful enough to exert pressure and carry information. But what she is seeing right now is an abomination—it's not the natural order of things. She can't believe her eyes as she analyzes everything: a mortal who can cultivate, is knowledgeable in formations, is strong and fast like a cultivator, and can use spiritual sense to transfer information. These mind-boggling phenomena break all the rules.
Qin Lou forces herself to calm down. As she turns back around, she notices the aura of a familiar person, Xian Jian Feng. As usual, he is followed by his harem of girls. Wherever they walk, people turn their heads because the girls surrounding him are truly exquisite beauties. Most people give him envious glares and grumble about their luck while cursing Xian Jian Feng for his good fortune and family background.
Unfortunately, he also spots Qin Lou in that corner stall, as she is very noticeable with her white veil. A smirk appears on his handsome face as he walks briskly toward her. He still plans to get the skill she has for himself. Although he is disgusted by her face, the allure of a rare skill is too much for him to pass up.
"Senior sister, what a good day this is. You seem to be selling a lot of... grass?" he says as he looks at the medicinal herbs, most of which he cannot identify.
Qin Lou doesn't answer him, feeling a little annoyed. She just stands there like a statue. One of the girls wearing the same robe as Qin Lou suddenly moves forward. This is Shan Su, whom Qin Lou once called a friend.
"You're as haughty as usual, Senior Sister Lou," Shan Su says, holding Xian Jian Feng's arm intimately.
"Shan Su..." Qin Lou says softly, but her eyes behind the veil are full of hurt and loss.
When Xian Jian Feng hears her, his soul quivers. Deep inside him, at the bottom of his consciousness, he truly loves hearing her voice. No matter how his mind tries to discourage him by showing him the ugly appearance of the girl in front of him, his heart can't help but waver upon hearing her melodious voice.
Shan Su notices the change in Xian Jian Feng, feeling his hand shake slightly, and anger slowly rises from deep in her heart. She silently curses Qin Lou. She will not accept that Xian Jian Feng would take in another woman, as she wants to be his last.
Ever since she first saw him, her heart would beat faster just by thinking of his handsomeness. When she learned that Xian Jian Feng was one of the students sent by the Flowing Water Academy, she felt very happy. She bowed to get his attention, and after meeting him and doing her best to tempt him, she was able to gain his favor.
But now, she cannot accept that his attention is on this ugly woman, Qin Lou. As Qin Lou's only friend before, she did all she could to get close to her and gain her secrets. But after a long struggle, she found that Qin Lou was like an immovable mountain. Although they were close and started sharing small secrets and problems, she still couldn't gain her trust. And she only saw her face once when she accidentally entered her room. After that, Qin Lou became wary of her.
Shan Su's thoughts are broken when she hears Xian Jian Feng. But his words leave her a little dumbfounded.
"Qin Lou, can you spare me a moment?" Xian Jian Feng says seriously, standing in front of her stall.
His proud bearing and otherworldly handsomeness make most of the young women who pass by turn their heads toward him.
Qin Lou can see with her spiritual sense that Xian Jian Feng is indeed a handsome young man. However, his pride and haughtiness are very annoying, and the fact that she hates rich young masters makes her look down on this young man even more.
She doesn't reply, not wanting to talk to him, and simply shakes her head, standing silently. This makes the other girls behind Xian Jian Feng angry.
"Who does she think she is?" one says.
"Does she think she's a goddess acting all haughty like that?" another adds.
"Yeah, she thinks she's still the genius student of the whole Er City," a third chimes in.
The women behind Xian Jian Feng voice their resentment and jealousy, unable to accept that an ugly woman like Qin Lou has caught their man's attention.
"Okay, everyone... quiet, please," Xian Jian Feng lifts his hand to stop the girls from murmuring.
"I would offer you my protection and prestige if you are willing to follow me. I know you're not a beauty and that your cultivation is almost ruined. So if you have my protection, I can help you. Plus, I heard that your master already abandoned you... So the choice would fall on your hands. Consider my offer, as I'm a very magnanimous man," Xian Jian Feng says with a handsome smile.
His words stun everyone in the area who hears him. Almost everyone in this place knows Qin Lou, and seeing a handsome man like Xian Jian Feng take a liking to her is like a prince liking an old witch. Most women envy Qin Lou's luck and wish they were her.
He then turns around and walks away, wanting to plant a lasting impression on Qin Lou. But he doesn't know that everything he said was for nothing, as she was distracted at the time. She has discovered that Shin Jiao is crafting something behind her. Although he is hidden behind a curtain, she can see him making something like an object for the eyes in a practiced manner.
This is one of Shin Jiao's bad habits—he unconsciously and immediately applies his ideas when he is in deep thought without considering anything else. This is why Cherry Lao almost always had to protect him before when they were traveling as he experimented with making medicines.
"What is that? I've never seen that before," Qin Lou quietly asks herself.
"Ha, ha. This is my new and simplified version of my goggles. It's more refined and has a simple A.I. function. He, he. If I hadn't reached my current level, I wouldn't be able to make this thing, as it needs spiritual sense to craft more accurately," Shin Jiao says to himself.
But then he suddenly feels that someone is watching him with a dense spiritual sense, which means the person is concentrating on observing him.
"Who... Who's there?" He suddenly blurts out.