Chapter 43

Chi Yu remembered Lianchi saying that Qingxuan's senior brother had a fiery temper and smiled. "Senior Brother Qingxuan, you came to study with your senior brother, so at least you have company."

Qingxuan remained noncommittal. After a while, he took the initiative to ask, "What's this?"

He pointed at the test paper Chi Yu had left on the table.

Chi Yu said, "Oh, that's a chemistry test."

He picked up the paper and handed it to Qingxuan. "Chemistry... actually, I think it should be useful in the cultivation world too. They do share the same roots, after all."

Chi Yu's modesty sank as his fatherly lecturing rose, and he launched into a grand discourse. "Actually, I've been thinking about this while cultivating, and I found that the principles really do line up. I've been wondering what cultivation fundamentally is, and recently I realized that it's actually a kind of reaction. For example, when I learned Water Elemental Arts, spiritual energy traveled along a particular route to draw water out of the air. With Fire Elemental Arts, spiritual energy reacts with the fire spiritual energy in the air to produce fire.

"And from my research into talismans, I've found that they're actually a kind of contractual transaction. The Talisman Master acts as Party A, using different routes of spiritual energy circulation to exchange for corresponding functions from the higher-level Heavenly Dao.

"Tell me, once this line of thinking works out, could talismans be manufactured in batches? Not just talismans, but pills too. As long as you have a Pill Recipe, pills could actually be produced on an assembly line. At the end of the day, aren't pills just a combination of ingredients and spiritual energy? With the right tools, mass production shouldn't be a problem, should it?"

Qingxuan was stunned. Although he did not understand some of the terms, their context made their meaning fairly easy to grasp. Precisely because he vaguely understood, he was deeply shaken and instinctively denied it. "Impossible-"

Chi Yu said, "Until something's been tested, no one can categorically declare it impossible. What if it is possible? If it is, talismans and pills wouldn't be anything rare anymore, would they?"

He smiled, his thoughts roaming freely. "Honestly, Senior Brother Qingxuan, if you could customize a contract template, wouldn't you never have to refine talismans yourself again? Just stamp them out with a seal. You could print tens of thousands a day. Wouldn't that make you rich?"

Qingxuan's cool face flushed slightly under his enthusiastic persuasion, and his heart actually surged with excitement. "...Something like that is simply impossible. You don't understand anything."

Chi Yu said, "I don't, but sometimes those involved can't see as clearly as an outsider. What do you think, Senior Brother Qingxuan?"

Qingxuan abruptly stood up. "Junior Brother Long, I have something to attend to. Farewell."

With that, he hurried away.

Xiaoqiu emerged from the kitchen and complained to Chi Yu, "Aotian-ge, he's so cold and distant, yet you still taught him so much. And if he succeeds and gets rich, you'll get nothing."

He said earnestly, "You have to keep the good stuff for yourself. You can't tell other people everything."

Chi Yu pinched his cheek and said with amusement, "Of course I understand all that. I'm finding him something to do so he stops coming to see me every single day without saying anything, leaving me to find things to talk about."

"As for all that stuff I said-I made it all up. How could there be a loophole like that? Even if there were, how could nobody have discovered it after all these years?"

Chi Yu knew his own limits. He understood very well that he could never take people for fools. The cultivation world had managed to develop all sorts of cultivation methods through experimentation, so how could nobody have studied shortcuts like these?

He really had not expected a few offhand fabrications to take Senior Brother Qingxuan in.

Surely he wouldn't start experimenting the moment he got back?

Chi Yu felt a little guilty, but then reconsidered. He had only been talking big. If Qingxuan took it seriously, that was his problem.

And so he easily put the matter out of his mind.

For the next half month and more, Qingxuan indeed did not come looking for him again.

He did, however, see that senior brother of Qingxuan's come looking for Qingxuan. The man was handsome-but cultivators were practically never ugly. Even the worst-looking were at least somewhat good-looking.

The cultivator was tall and muscular as well, with a somewhat sinister face. He did not look easy to get along with.

Not wanting to offend him, Chi Yu greeted him as senior brother. The cultivator glanced at him, noticed that he had already reached Foundation Establishment at such a young age, and sneered. "Since you're calling me senior brother, don't you know how to bow? I don't see any sincerity from you."

Chi Yu: "???"

Oh, this mouth of mine. I really shouldn't have bothered greeting him.

Chi Yu rolled his eyes at him, turned around, and went back into his room.

Mingxin flew into a rage, chased after him, and banged on his door. "Brat, get out here!"

Chi Yu shouted, "You get out! This is my dorm!"

Mingxin said, "Get out here! As your senior brother, I'll teach you some propriety and shame! You dared roll your eyes at me? Didn't your elders teach you any manners? What backwater did you crawl out of? Get out here!"

Inside, Chi Yu planted his hands on his hips and traded insults with him. "I'm not coming out! I have loads of senior brothers. Who the hell do you think you are? You're the one who should get lost! Get lost, dumbass!"

The Chan Sect's quarters all came with restrictions that could be activated at will. Otherwise, that thin door really would not have stopped the cultivator.

Mingxin rolled up his sleeves, intending to force his way through, when he suddenly sensed killing intent. His heart gave a violent shudder. Looking up, he saw a tall Golden Core Realm cultivator smiling at him. The smile was gentle, but those blade-sharp golden eyes held no warmth. "What are you trying to do? Don't you know fighting is forbidden within the Chan Sect?"

At the sight of a Golden Core Realm cultivator, Mingxin's temper softened somewhat. He argued, "I wasn't fighting. I just wanted to have an exchange with my junior brother."

The newcomer was naturally Xie Xiyi. Hearing this, he seemed to find it very amusing, and the corners of his lips curved higher. "An exchange? You were trying to break through the restrictions on his dwelling for an exchange?"

Mingxin caught on. This man was clearly on the side of the cultivator inside, and he could not help growing angry. "So what if I was? He provoked me with that look. Am I not supposed to get angry?"

Chi Yu opened the door and said loudly, "You deserved it! I called you senior brother, and you still complained that I wasn't polite enough. What, did you want me to kneel and pay you full respects? Dream on."

Mingxin said, "You-"

Chi Yu's fighting ability was currently rather weak, and he could not beat a native of the cultivation world. As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately shut the door.

Leaving Mingxin thoroughly rebuffed.

Mingxin was furious. Just then, another voice rang out. "Senior Brother, what are you doing now?"

Mingxin turned and saw Qingxuan. He suppressed his anger and said, "Nothing."

Qingxuan frowned at him, then looked at Xie Xiyi. With the air of someone well accustomed to doing this, he said, "Please don't be upset, Senior Brother Xuanji. My senior brother has a fiery temper, but he means no harm. He wasn't..."

Before he could finish, Xie Xiyi cut him off without any courtesy, his tone carrying a hint of mockery. "If you have the time to apologize for him, you might as well find him a teacher and have him read more books, so he stops barking everywhere."

Those words were vicious. Mingxin's blood pressure surged, and his entire face reddened. "You-"

Qingxuan held his shoulder down and frowned at him. "Enough, Senior Brother. Stop causing trouble."

Mingxin forced himself to endure it, staring at Xie Xiyi with an especially sinister gaze.

Xie Xiyi was entirely unafraid. "What's that look for? Try looking at me like that again."

Qingxuan abruptly slapped Mingxin and tugged him toward his own room. "Sorry, Senior Brother Xuanji. I'll take him away now."

He dragged Mingxin into his room, set up the restrictions, and said, his patience nearly exhausted, "Senior Brother, this isn't the Five Aggregates Sect. Can't you think things through a little more? He's Xuanji, the future Buddha-son of the Anuttara Buddhist Sect. If you offend him, he can throw you out whenever he wants."

Mingxin said angrily, "I didn't do anything wrong! He has no reason to throw me out! Besides, he isn't the Buddha-son yet. What gives him the right to make me leave?"

Anger flared in Qingxuan's cool eyes as well. "Senior Brother, you can fool other people, but don't try to fool me. I know you very well. If you got into a dispute with Junior Brother Long, it could only have been your fault. Stop causing trouble! If something like this happens again and you get thrown out, I won't be able to help you!"

Mingxin rarely saw Qingxuan angry. He paused, then said resentfully, "I get it! I won't cause trouble again!"

Meanwhile, after they left, Chi Yu opened the door and lifted the restrictions. He said to Xie Xiyi, "Senior Brother Xuanji, thank goodness you came. Otherwise, I really was afraid he'd break through the restrictions and beat me up."

Xie Xiyi smiled. "So even you can be afraid."

Chi Yu was just about to smile when Xie Xiyi's smile faded. "If you're afraid, are you still going to cultivate for only three hours a day? You've achieved nothing with your cultivation, your divine sense, or your spells. Can you even call yourself a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator like this?"

Chi Yu: "..."

The smile quietly vanished.jpg

Chi Yu said stiffly, "Uh, then I'll increase it to four hours."

Xie Xiyi's golden eyes were sharp. "Twenty hours. You're far too weak. Anyone could easily kill you. If you aren't afraid of dying, feel free to let things slide. Don't assume that clinging to me means we're all that close. Next time something like this happens, I won't help you."

Chi Yu: "..."

Deeply hurt, he said pitifully, "Senior Brother Xuanji, so you don't think we're close? I've been treating you as my best friend! Senior Brother Xuanji!"

"..." Xie Xiyi found it incomprehensible. Since when had the two of them become friends?

His thin lips parted slightly. "Meaningless things."

Chi Yu said, "Oh, forget it, then. Xiaoqiu is my best friend now."

Xiaoqiu poked his head out from behind Xie Xiyi, his face full of excitement. "Really?! Am I your best friend now?"

Chi Yu smiled. "That's right! It's Xiaoqiu now! Xiaoqiu is my best friend!"

Xiaoqiu cheered joyfully. "Yay! Aotian-ge, you're my best friend too!"

With that, he rushed over and threw himself into Chi Yu's arms. "I'm so happy."

Xie Xiyi: "..."

He turned and left. Out of sight, out of mind.

Best friends? Would he care about something so fundamentally illusory?