"Hanyu!"
It had been a while since anyone had called him that. Hanyu froze, then turned to look. Among the bustling crowd, he couldn't seem to find a familiar face.
"Hanyu!"
Bai Jingliang shouted again, louder this time. Hanyu spotted him a hundred meters away, jumping up and down as he yelled before hurrying over.
How could it be him?
When Hanyu saw Bai Jingliang, he stared in surprise for a moment before his face lit with astonishment.
He still remembered their first meeting, out on the great river beyond Jiangning Prefecture. His little bamboo raft had crashed into Bai Jingliang's boat, setting off all the events that followed...
But the real question was, what was Bai Jingliang doing here?
"My family lives here!"
Bai Jingliang said cheerfully. Running into Hanyu here was something that made him genuinely happy.
"Come on, let's find somewhere to talk."
Without giving Hanyu a chance to object, Bai Jingliang warmly pulled him along...
The two entered a teahouse. Everyone there knew Bai Jingliang, and with a wave of his hand, he had them prepare a private room.
Upstairs were several rooms reserved for guests to discuss business. They were tastefully furnished and, most importantly, quiet and undisturbed.
The waiter set down the finest tea, bowed, then backed out and closed the door. Bai Jingliang was still brimming with excitement.
"After you ran off back then, you have no idea how thrilling things got."
He chattered away, telling the story from another perspective. Hanyu listened, completely absorbed.
Lin Daozong of the Star Sect had even made a name for him?
Was that a blessing in disguise—or a death sentence? No wonder Rat Daoist had caught him the moment he entered Yujin Prefecture. So it had all been Lin Daozong's doing! Was the idea to drag as many people down with him as possible?
As if something had just occurred to him, Hanyu looked at Bai Jingliang with some curiosity. "Those hundred people weren't driven away afterward, were they?"
Hanyu remembered those hundred people well. Knowing full well how severe the side effects were, they had still been willing to take the risk. In that respect, their resolve surpassed that of many cultivators.
Bai Jingliang shook his head. "No, they stayed. Linglan wrote recently to say they all broke through to the Heavenly Human Realm in just one month. Now they're all cultivators in the Divine Spring Realm!"
Hanyu raised his brows. That might have astonished him once, but after seeing so much, he had gradually grown used to it.
Besides, the southern region was known as a barren land for cultivators. Rat Daoist and his ilk could become sect masters despite only being at the Shore Realm. Breaking through to the Divine Spring Realm in a month really did make them prodigies there.
"Linglan said there was something else that had to do with you."
Bai Jingliang said mysteriously.
Hanyu was curious.
"That spot where you stood handing out the pill liquid has been nicknamed 'Dragon Gate' by those disciples. They say if you leap through it, you'll go from carp to dragon."
Hanyu shook his head with an amused laugh when he heard that. He hadn't expected those people to remember his kindness. It also meant that even after learning about the side effects, they still had no regrets.
Given what the Night-Blooming Epiphyllum Pill could do, perhaps in a decade or two the impoverished south really might see a hundred dragons rise.
"I've figured out how to deal with the pill I took."
Bai Jingliang had been hopping from one topic to another, and now he abruptly brought up his own situation again.
That caught Hanyu's interest. Even he had been frightened by the side effects of that pill.
Hanyu had expected some ingenious method. Instead, Bai Jingliang pulled out two wads of cotton and stuffed them into his ears...
"This... I suppose that counts as a good solution...?"
Hanyu sounded uncertain. Bai Jingliang didn't even remove the cotton; he simply nodded with conviction. "It's definitely a good solution. I just have to plug my ears and learn to read lips. Then I've perfectly solved the problem of not being able to hear a rooster crow!"
Hanyu was truly astonished. He couldn't believe anyone would come up with such a method.
Bai Jingliang looked smug. "Not being able to hear a rooster crow is a trivial matter. Reaching the Shore Realm is far more important."
Bai Jingliang had reached the Shore Realm?
Was the Chicken Dance Pill's cultivation boost really that outrageous?
Only after looking more closely did Hanyu realize that Bai Jingliang had already been in the Divine Bridge Realm before taking the pill. In other words, it had taken him a full month to break through.
A month to reach the Shore Realm might sound a little outrageous to most people, but to Hanyu, it seemed reasonable.
After all, he had seen effects that were far more ridiculous. And with side effects this easy to deal with, taking a month to break through to the Shore Realm was actually slow...
Reuniting with an old acquaintance in his hometown put Bai Jingliang in high spirits. He promptly and enthusiastically arranged a place for Hanyu to stay.
"How's your sister?"
Hanyu asked casually. That mature woman had the sort of assets a man couldn't easily forget.
Those curves! Those curves!
Bai Jingliang's smile faded slightly. He said nothing, only taking Hanyu to the best inn in town.
After chatting a little longer, he left with a troubled look on his face.
Could something have happened to Bai Junya?
It didn't seem likely. If something had, Bai Jingliang wouldn't be able to sit still.
Since he didn't want to say, Hanyu naturally didn't press him.
He took the thin booklet from his robe. The paper-thin mask was tucked inside. He might as well think about where to lie low and spring a surprise on someone.
Bai Jingliang wandered down the street again, dispirited. His good mood after meeting that miraculous Little Alchemist had faded because of Bai Junya.
"Brother Liang!"
Someone hurried toward him. It was that kid, Yin Shaoyang.
When Bai Jingliang looked up, he saw the urgency on Yin Shaoyang's face.
"What's wrong?"
Meanwhile, Hanyu had put on the mask in the inn. After carefully checking himself in the mirror and confirming there were no flaws, he sauntered out.
Tianning Prefecture was no less prosperous than Shu Prefecture, and its prefectural city seemed even larger. Along the busy streets, besides the throngs of common folk, there were plenty of cultivators too.
That wasn't especially strange. Even Yujin Prefecture's city had hosted a sect. It was hardly surprising that such a vast prefectural city in the Northern Border would do the same.
"Get out and wander around when you've got nothing else to do. You'll always run into either an opportunity or an accident."
A few lines in Unrivaled Riches, Unmatched in Gold had struck him as particularly interesting. The more he thought about them, the more they made sense.
A commotion broke out ahead. A crowd of commoners had gathered, along with quite a few cultivators who had stopped to watch.
Curious, Hanyu squeezed into the crowd and looked from a distance. He was immediately taken aback. Why was Bai Jingliang everywhere he went?
Bai Jingliang and Yin Shaoyang were facing off against a group of people. Opposite them stood a chubby boy of seventeen or eighteen, his face plump and his ordinary cultivator's robes somehow making him look like a wealthy landlord.
The chubby boy had brought a group of cultivators with him. Acting high and mighty, he hurled insults at the person beside Bai Jingliang.
"Brother Liang, the Bai and Yin Families are related. You're only helping my elder brother. Doesn't seem very fair, does it?"
It turned out the two arguing were brothers. That was interesting.
The chubby boy didn't dare disrespect Bai Jingliang. He spoke up instead.
Bai Jingliang frowned, glancing at the bulky figure with displeasure. "If you go too far, I'll beat you up. I doubt your family will have anything to say about it."
"Brother Liang, Yin Shaoyang isn't the only one who can call in help. I have people backing me too."
The chubby boy pointed to the group of cultivators behind him.
Bai Jingliang looked them over, then shook his head with disdain, his face full of boredom.
"They're all a bunch of down-and-outers. I really don't see what there is to brag about."
He meant every word. These families might generously call themselves aristocratic clans, but in less flattering terms, they weren't even small sects—and every last one of them thought the world of themselves.
That remark set the cultivators opposite him off...
There'll be another update tonight, making four in total. I'll also use the pills from fellow reader Alchemist Liu.
Before you continue