Chapter 17 – The Cost of a Life (Patreon)

Xue Yong was released. Aside from his exhausted look, there was nothing wrong with him. His speech was clear, but he sounded a little weak, probably from hunger.

He ate three big bowls of white rice, and after putting down his chopsticks and drinking a large cup of water, he let out a long sigh. “I’m alive.”

The neighbors who came to see what happened said, “If he can eat like that, he must be okay.” which made Xue Yong’s wife cry tears of joy. With her thin skin, she held onto her husband’s arm as if to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

Xue Yong’s expression was grim. No matter what the people around him asked about what he had gone through in the past few days, he kept his mouth shut. When he got tired of their questions, he simply closed his eyes and pretended to rest.

Lynn Naya looked around. The other two families hadn’t come over. The only person who had come was Uncle Wang, who wasn’t very good with words and couldn’t say much. So, she stepped forward and dismissed everyone. “Brother Xuejust got back. Let’s let him rest. We can talk later.”

As the only healer in the area, she was the one who treated all their minor illnesses. Because of this, everyone gave her face. Even though they were curious, they only grumbled a little, told Xue Yong to rest well, and slowly left the courtyard.

When all the neighbors were gone, Zhao Laoer, who had been absent, showed up. He had no sympathy for Xue Yong’s situation. “We’ve known each other for so long, and you didn’t tell us a single thing about such a big matter.”

Seven days had passed, and rumors about the underground room had already spread. In the past few days, Zhao Laoer had complained to Xue Yong’s wife, saying that Xue Yong was only looking out for himself and not for his comrades.

“Brother Xue, that was not right of you.” Zhao’s wife complained.

Fan Shi, who had just arrived, was about to say something, but Uncle Wang glared at her.

“What was so wrong about it?” Xue Yong didn’t take the criticism from his neighbors. His eyes were still closed, and his face was emotionless. “Since you moved here, have I ever treated you unfairly? You should thank me for not getting you involved in this. Everyone who went to the farm seven days ago, except for me and Scarface Qing, didn’t come back alive. And what did I get? My farmland is gone, and my wife and children have to suffer with me. If you’re here to mock me, I suggest you think about what you say.”

Zhao Laoer’s face turned red from the threat. He wanted to say something, but he just let out a cold grunt and went back to his house.

With him gone, Fan Shi and Zhao’s wife didn’t dare to say another word, giving Xue Yong some peace.

“Uncle Wang, would you mind boiling some water? Let’s let Brother Xue have a nice hot bath to wash away his bad luck.” Lynn Naya said to Uncle Wang, who was standing by the door. She was hinting that she wanted to talk to XueYong alone.

Uncle Wang didn’t say a word, but he nodded and left.

As soon as he left, Xue Yong opened his eyes. He asked his wife to take the two children outside to play and motioned for Lynn Naya to sit down. “Pour yourself some water. I can’t wait on you today.”

“Mhm.” Lynn Naya didn’t mind. She knew Xue Yong wasn’t in a good state.

Even though Xue Yong had gotten a lot of goods from the farm in the past few months, it was all luck. To a mortal, their land was what made them feel secure. Now, the rice in the fields was almost ready to be harvested, but it was all for nothing. How could he not be heartbroken?

“It’s a blessing that you came back safely. We can find other ways to make a living,” Lynn Naya said. As the one who profited the most from the incident, she wouldn’t stand by and do nothing. “I’ve made a lot of medicine recently. Brother Xue, you can help me sell them.”

Medicine?

At the mention of it, a glimmer of light appeared in Xue Yong’s eyes.

Even though other healers could make Detoxification Pills now, the farm was a big place, and the demand was high. As for the Life-Preserving Pills, anyone with money would want one for a rainy day.

Most importantly, there was no one else on the market making Life-Preserving Pills.

Now that he had no land, selling medicine would be enough to get by.

“I can make the medicine, but it’s hard to gather the materials. I’ll need your help with that, Brother Xue,” Lynn Nayacontinued. “As for the profit, it will be the same as before. You’ll be in charge of the sales, and I’ll be in charge of collecting the money. What do you think?”

“That’s perfect.” Xue Yong said, sitting up straight. They had been working together for over half a year, and he knew that Lynn Naya wasn’t a petty person. As long as he didn’t try to take advantage of her, their partnership would be stable.

He also knew that Lynn Naya was offering this to help him.

“Thank you.” The man was grateful, but he didn’t know how to express it. He could only repeat his thanks.

“No need to thank me. It’s a win-win partnership. If anyone should be thanking anyone, I should be thanking you for saving me so much trouble. You know I don’t like to show my face. With you handling all the mundane things, I can relax.” Lynn Naya didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

The truth was, she didn’t want to be seen as a benefactor. Xue Yong didn’t know the full story, but she did. She had already profited greatly from the situation. Taking more would be greedy.

After they quickly decided on the partnership, Lynn Naya chose her words carefully. She was more interested in what had happened to Xue Yong. “You must have suffered a lot these past few days, Brother Xue.”

“I’m fine. I was just hungry for a few days,” Xue Yong said. He knew what Lynn Naya wanted to know. He wouldn’t have told anyone else, but he didn’t mind telling her. “After they took me away, they locked me in a stone room. They didn’t do anything to me. The rope they used on me just gave me a few scrapes. I wasn’t hurt at all. As for the interrogation, I don’t remember what they asked me. I only remember smelling a very fragrant scent, and when I woke up, I was alone in the room. So I can’t tell you what happened.”

Oh, I see.

The cultivation world had many tricks. Violence was, in a way, the lowest form of interrogation.

“Did anyone ask you anything when you were conscious?”

Xue Yong shook his head. “No.”

“I see.” Lynn Naya knew she couldn’t get any more information, so she changed the subject. “I agree with your wife. It’s a blessing that you came back safely.”

Xue Yong gave a wry smile. “I guess so.”

Lynn Naya chatted with him for a moment longer. Seeing that he was tired, she politely excused herself.

When she returned to her home, Lynn Naya replayed the entire incident in her mind and concluded that she had to be more careful. If she was being honest, she was a little sloppy. Based on normal logic, she wouldn’t have been discovered, but she was worried about running into an anomaly.

Be a little more stable. Just a little more.

She decided not to go to the farm for at least six months. She couldn’t use the contribution points on her token for at least a year or two. As for the storage bag, she couldn’t leave it at home. She had to carry it with her and put it in a pouch to hide it.

She didn’t know what the pills in the storage bag did, so she couldn’t take them. But the spiritual energy in the spirit stones could speed up her cultivation. Lynn Naya thought about it and decided to use the stones.

Her cultivation was the only real thing that mattered. Everything else was fake.

With her mind made up, Lynn Naya immediately took out the spirit stones.

She had calculated it. It had been ten days since she broke through to Qi Condensation Level 2, and she had only gained one experience point. This meant it would take her almost three years to reach Level 3.

And that was just the early stage of Qi Condensation. It would take even longer for the middle and late stages. It was no wonder that a person’s potential was so important for cultivation. An ordinary person wouldn’t have the time to cultivate.

Luckily, I have all the time in the world.

She sat down, held a spirit stone, and entered a state of cultivation. With the help of the spirit stone, Lynn Naya felt her cultivation speed up significantly.

But she wasn’t completely satisfied. The spiritual energy in the stone was abundant, but her cultivation speed was about the same as it was in the farm. This shouldn’t be the case.

But Lynn Naya quickly realized why. Her cultivation method was the most basic one. Even in the face of an ocean, she could only drink a mouthful at a time. She didn’t have the ability to swallow the entire ocean just yet.

With the spirit stone, Lynn Naya’s experience increased by one point after four days. This meant that if she could continue to cultivate with spirit stones, her breakthrough time would be cut by more than half.

Unfortunately, she only had eleven spirit stones, and it seemed that one stone was only enough for a month of cultivation.

If she had a chance to get more spirit stones in the future, she would have to get them.

The thought crossed her mind, and Lynn Naya laughed at herself. The Dao Palace probably lacked spiritual resources like spirit stones themselves, so how could they easily flow out to mortals? Unless she became a Dao Palace disciple and took them from other disciples.

Well, that’s just a thought for now.

In the following days, Lynn Naya continued to live a quiet life, going between the medicinal fields and her home. Time passed by slowly as she cultivated and made medicine.

Speaking of medicine, Lynn Naya only wanted to help Xue Yong’s family, but she didn’t expect that after his return, the couple would change their daily habits. They no longer went out to hunt on sunny days. Instead, they stayed in the safety zone to buy and sell Detoxification Pills and Life-Preserving Pills, no matter if it was sunny or rainy.

As for their partnership, Xue Yong only wanted 30% of the profits, leaving 70% for Lynn Naya.

Lynn Naya didn’t refuse the deal. She only sold her medicine to Xue Yong. 30% was a decent amount, and Xue Yong was also making a profit from the price difference of the materials. All in all, they were getting a 40% profit, which was enough.

Thanks to the medicine, Xue Yong and his wife were doing quite well. The other neighbors in the courtyard were suddenly warm toward him when they saw his new source of income.

Xue Yong didn’t burn bridges with them. He would smile and talk with them, but their relationship was no longer as close as it had been before.

During this time, another major event happened in the mortal zone at the foot of the mountain. Several gang leaders had died, so the gangs were fighting over territory, causing a lot of resentment.

The Dao Palace took action and merged all the gangs into one Hall of External Affairs. At the same time, the mortal zone was divided into twelve districts, and each of the twelve hall masters was in charge of one area.

The Dao Palace acted swiftly. Lynn Naya even wondered if the underground room incident was just an excuse for them to reorganize the mortal zone.

Of course, Scarface Qing, who had been released, did not become one of the twelve hall masters. He wasn’t even added to the Hall of External Affairs.

The Dao Palace’s attitude meant that Scarface Qing wouldn’t have an easy time for a while. Lynn Naya thought he would be in a slump for a while, but she didn’t expect him to come to her and offer to work for her…