Chapter 35

"Isn't that a terrible waste?"

Purifying Low-Rank Beast Cores was wasteful enough, but using their energy to set up a formation was wasteful too. They didn't know how Ye Chuqi worked, so judging by what they knew, her actions really did seem extravagant.

Ye Chuqi tilted her head and stared at the pile of half-spent Beast Cores in his hands. "You want those?"

"Can I have them?"

"They've already been used." There wasn't much energy left in them. What could he do with them?

"That's fine, that's fine! Half-used ones are perfect." He cheerfully stuffed the Beast Cores into his pocket. After a moment's thought, he took out a bag of gold coins and pressed it into Ye Chuqi's hand. "Even brothers have to settle accounts! I don't know if this is enough. If it isn't, I'll make up the difference."

Ye Chuqi: "..." She hadn't spent even one gold coin on that whole pile of Beast Cores, yet her companion had handed her an entire bag. There had to be at least a hundred coins in it. Even if the cores were purified, they were still used. Wasn't that far too much?

They hadn't known each other long, but the Red Wind Mercenary Group had looked after Ye Chuqi throughout the journey, and she thought of them as friends. Feeling a little embarrassed, she rubbed the back of her head. "What can you use them for?"

Energy had all sorts of uses, much like a battery. Many Alchemy products needed it. Even Xiya often added powder from Purified Beast Cores when refining potions to enhance their effects.

But this was the first time Ye Chuqi had seen anyone treasure half-spent Beast Cores.

Red Beard stood nearby, looking at the Beast Cores that had crumbled to powder across the ground. The scattered specks seemed connected in some inexplicable way. There had to be something subtle at work among them, and that was what had stopped Gree's spatial teleportation.

This little one sure knows a lot.

"Oh, there's so much I can do with these." Her companion spun around happily, as though he had too much to say and no idea where to begin.

Red Beard smiled and came to his rescue. "This kid dreams of becoming an Alchemist. His family couldn't afford to let him study when he was young, but even after all these years, he hasn't given up. Your used Beast Cores are just right for him to practice the basics."

Ye Chuqi: That works?

Alchemy required painstaking precision, and controlling energy was especially important. Low-Rank Beast Cores were the easiest things to practice with, but the violent energy inside them was a huge obstacle. Her companion wasn't particularly gifted at Alchemy, and he had little chance of avoiding that violent energy in a Low-Rank Beast Core. He had made almost no progress, while purified high-rank cores were beyond his ability to handle. His dream had remained just that: a dream.

It wasn't that he had never seen a purified Low-Rank Beast Core, or that he was unwilling to buy one. They were simply hard to come by, and he often got cheated. Everyone had warned him about it many times, but whenever he found one, he tended to lose his head.

The bag of gold coins he had pressed on Ye Chuqi was probably all his recent savings.

Red Beard left the companion, who was too delighted to know which way was up, to his own devices and looked down at Ye Chuqi. "You can purify Beast Cores?"

"Mm."

"Yezi, don't you think you've revealed too much these past few days?" So much that it had left people reeling. Even Red Beard couldn't tell what Ye Chuqi was thinking. Was she planning to lay all her secrets bare?

"Have I?" She really had revealed quite a bit, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. If Red Beard and the others couldn't accept even this much, she probably wouldn't be able to keep traveling with them.

"Yes, you have!" Exasperated, Red Beard pulled Ye Chuqi aside and gave the wound on her arm some basic treatment. He carefully applied medicine to her face too. Now she looked even more like a little spotted cat, though her big eyes were still as bright as ever. "You need to be more careful!"

"It's fine." Ye Chuqi rubbed the back of her head and gave him a goofy grin. "Because it's you guys!"

"Even so, how long have you known us? How much do you know about us? Aren't you afraid we'll steal your treasures and sell you off too?" The little girl had too many good things, and the things she knew were stranger still. She would stand out wherever she went. Red Beard had thought that if Ye Chuqi wanted to see more of the world, it was fine for her not to join the Red Wind Mercenary Group. Now it seemed he needed to keep her close enough to watch over her.

Ye Chuqi had no idea what was going through Red Beard's mind. She just looked cheerfully unconcerned. "Would you sell me?"

"I would!" Red Beard ground his back teeth. "I'd sell you and make you count the money for me."

Daylight had fully arrived, and the bright sun felt warm against their skin.

The Red Wind Mercenary Group split into two teams. One escorted Gree back to Kru Town to see if they could wring more clues out of him. Naturally, they had to do it quietly, without letting anyone else know, including the mayor and Duke Fulton's people. The other team headed to the Lost Forest to investigate. Since Gree had dared to take Ye Chuqi straight into the forest, whoever was supposed to meet him couldn't be far away. If they went now, they might still find traces.

Red Beard hauled Ye Chuqi back as well. She had been through a lot all night and spent the whole time on edge. She changed into clothes that were easier to move in and used dye to turn her hair chestnut again. She was about to cut it short when Red Beard stopped her.

Ye Chuqi: Huh?

"Long hair looks nice." She already moved like a tomboy and spent every day hanging around with the boys in the group. Red Beard worried about whether she would grow up properly. At least long hair would remind those brats that she was a little girl and they couldn't throw their arms around her shoulders like they did with each other.

"Oh," Ye Chuqi said. She didn't mind either way. She used to like short hair because it was convenient. In the Cultivation World, the customs there had led her to keep it long, though she wasn't very good at styling it. When Eldest Senior Brother was around, he braided it or put it up for her. When he wasn't, she either wore it loose or tied it into a quick ponytail.