Tianning's Trivial Matters

"Hanyu!"

Hanyu hadn't heard anyone call him that in a while. Caught off guard, he froze and turned his head to look, but amid the bustling crowd, he couldn't spot a single familiar face.

"Hanyu!"

Bai Jingliang shouted again, louder this time. Now Hanyu saw him—a figure over a hundred meters away, jumping and yelling, then sprinting over.

Why him?

Seeing Bai Jingliang, Hanyu was first stunned for a moment, then his face filled with surprise.

He still remembered their first meeting on the great river outside Jiangning Prefecture, when his little bamboo raft had collided with the other's boat, setting off a chain of events...

But the key question was, why was he here?

"This is where I live!"

Bai Jingliang said happily. Running into Hanyu here was a joyful thing for him.

"Come on, I'll find us a place to talk."

Without waiting for a reply, Bai Jingliang grabbed Hanyu and pulled him enthusiastically forward...

They entered a tea house. Everyone here knew him; Bai Jingliang waved his hand and had someone prepare a private room.

Up on the second floor, there were several rooms set aside for guests to discuss matters. The decor was elegant, and most importantly, it was quiet, with no disturbances.

The waiter set down fine tea, bowed, and left, closing the door behind him. Bai Jingliang was still brimming with excitement.

"After you ran off back then, you have no idea how intense it got."

He rattled on, telling the story from another angle. Hanyu listened, captivated.

Lin Daozong of the Star Sect had even spread his name?

Wasn't that setting him up for a fall? No wonder he'd been caught by the Rat Daoist the moment he entered Yujin Prefecture—it was all Lin Daozong's doing! The guy wanted to drag as many people down with him as possible!

As if suddenly remembering something, Hanyu looked at him with curiosity and asked, "Those hundred people—they didn't get kicked out in the end, did they?"

He had a deep impression of that hundred. Knowing the side effects were that severe, they still chose to fight. That alone set them above many cultivators, at least in terms of resolve.

Bai Jingliang shook his head. "No, they were all kept on. Linglan sent a letter a while back saying every single one of them broke through to the Heavenly Human Realm in just a month, and now they're all Divine Spring Realm cultivators!"

Hanyu raised an eyebrow. In the past, that would have surprised him, but after seeing so much, he'd gradually grown numb to it.

Besides, the south was known as a barren zone for cultivators. People like the Rat Daoist could become Sect Masters at the Shore Realm. Breaking into Divine Spring in a month was indeed considered genius there.

"Linglan also said there's something related to you."

Bai Jingliang said mysteriously.

Hanyu was a bit curious.

"That spot where you stood handing out the pill water—the disciples privately called it the 'Dragon Gate,' meaning that if you leap over it, a carp transforms into a dragon."

Hanyu listened and shook his head with a wry laugh. He hadn't expected those people to still remember that favor. At the same time, it meant that even after understanding the side effects, they still didn't regret it.

If the Night-Blooming Epiphyllum Pill's effects were any indication, then maybe a decade or two later, a hundred dragons might really burst forth from the barren south.

"That pill I took—I've already figured out a way to deal with the side effect."

Bai Jingliang rambled on, jumping topics wildly, and started talking about his own affairs.

That piqued Hanyu's interest. Back then, even he had been afraid of that pill's side effect.

He'd expected some clever remedy, but Bai Jingliang pulled out two balls of cotton and stuffed them straight into his ears...

"That... counts as a good method... right?"

Hanyu said hesitantly. Bai Jingliang, with the cotton still in his ears, nodded firmly. "Of course it's a good method. As long as I plug my ears and learn lip reading, I've perfectly solved the problem of not being able to hear roosters crow!"

Hanyu was genuinely astonished. Who would have thought of such a method?

Bai Jingliang looked smug and snorted. "A little thing like not hearing roosters crow—how could it be more important than me reaching the Shore Realm?"

Bai Jingliang was in the Shore Realm?

The Chicken Dance Pill's cultivation boost was that absurd?

Looking closer, Hanyu realized Bai Jingliang had already been at the Divine Bridge Realm before taking the pill, meaning it had taken him a full month to break through.

For others, breaking into the Shore Realm in a month might seem exaggerated, but for Hanyu, it was reasonable.

After all, he'd seen far more ridiculous effects, and with a side effect this easy to solve, taking a whole month to reach the Shore Realm was actually slow...

Meeting an old acquaintance, and on his own turf, Bai Jingliang was delighted and eagerly arranged a place for Hanyu to stay.

"How's your sister doing?"

Hanyu asked casually. That ripe woman had assets a man couldn't easily forget.

Gourd! Gourd!

Bai Jingliang's smile faded slightly. He didn't say anything, just led Hanyu to the best inn.

After chatting a bit more, he left with a troubled look on his face.

Could something have happened to Bai Junya?

Not like that either! If something really happened, Bai Jingliang wouldn't be able to sit still.

Since the other party wasn't saying anything, Hanyu naturally wouldn't ask more.

He pulled the thin book from his bosom, the paper-thin mask currently tucked inside it. Better to think about where to go and act like a pig to eat a tiger.

Bai Jingliang walked down the street again, listless. The good mood he'd had from meeting that miraculous Little Alchemist was once again ruined by Bai Junya.

"Brother Liang!"

A figure hurried toward him—it was that kid Yin Shaoyang again.

When Bai Jingliang looked up, he saw the anxious expression on his face.

"What's wrong?"

On the other side, Hanyu put on the mask in the inn, carefully examined himself in the mirror, and finding no flaws, swayed out the door.

Tianning Prefecture was no less prosperous than Shu Prefecture, and the prefectural city itself seemed even larger. On the streets, besides the bustling crowds of commoners, quite a few cultivators could also be seen.

This wasn't too strange. Back then, even Yujin Prefecture had sects setting up shop there, so such a vast Northern Border prefectural city was hardly unusual.

"When nothing's wrong, go out and stroll more. Opportunity and accident—one always comes first."

A few lines inserted into the book were particularly interesting. Thinking about it, they made quite a bit of sense.

A commotion up ahead. A crowd of commoners had gathered, and quite a few cultivators had stopped to watch.

Hanyu curiously squeezed into the crowd. Looking from a distance, he was immediately startled—how was this guy everywhere?

Bai Jingliang and Yin Shaoyang were confronting a group of people. Across from them stood a chubby young man of seventeen or eighteen, his face plump and round, wearing a common cultivator's robe that somehow made him look like a landed rich kid.

The little fatty led a group of cultivators, arrogantly hurling insults at the people beside Bai Jingliang.

"Brother Liang, the Bai and Yin families are relatives. You only take my elder brother's side—that doesn't seem fair, does it?"

The two arguing were actually brothers. Now that was interesting.

The little fatty didn't dare be rude to Bai Jingliang, but he still spoke up.

Bai Jingliang frowned, glancing at that bulky figure with some displeasure. "If you go too far, I'll give you a beating. Your family won't have much to say about it."

"Brother Liang, it's not just him, Yin Shaoyang, who can find help. I've got help too."

The little fatty pointed at the group of cultivators behind him.

Bai Jingliang swept his gaze over them, then couldn't help snorting dismissively as he shook his head, a bored expression on his face.

"A bunch of has-beens. I really don't get what there is to be proud of."

That was his honest opinion. These families—generously called noble houses, but harshly speaking, not even small sects—each one thought they were above everyone else.

But those words immediately set off an uproar among the cultivators across from him...

There's still one more chapter tonight, making it four total. I'll also use fellow reader Liu the Alchemist's pill.