[At the Miteer Auction House in Wu Tan City, three days from now, an item from the tomb of a Dou Spirit will be put up for auction—a mechanical jade box. The key to open it is lost, so it must be forced open, risking what's inside. Within is a tier-4 high-grade pill, the Grandmaster Pill (which can guarantee a nine-star Dou Practitioner's breakthrough to Dou Master).]
[The foolproof way to open the jade box: pour silver water into the keyhole, which will completely disable the old mechanisms. Then it can be split open with an ordinary blade without any risk of damaging what's inside.]
Together with this line of information came a set of images that seemed to be from the future.
Someone would spend five thousand gold coins to buy the jade box at auction, go home, force it open, trigger the mechanism—and ruin the pill inside.
"So the original buyer of this thing would have just wasted the Grandmaster Pill."
"So that's what 'plane blessing' means—It doesn't create opportunities, it merely reassigns them."
Xiao Ting found this quite amusing, and immediately began thinking of how to get the jade box ahead of time.
Using the auction was wasteful. For an item that had a chance of being a dud, as long as you could pay enough, you could secure it before the auction.
The key was knowing someone with enough pull at the Miteer Auction House.
"That won't be hard." Xiao Ting was confident that, given Ya Fei's shrewdness, she'd be glad to befriend him and do him this small favor.
Not to mention, there was Xiao Yan. Ya Fei already suspected Xiao Yan had an alchemist teacher of at least tier-4 behind him and had been very attentive.
With that thought, Xiao Ting left his courtyard, heading to the Xiao Clan kitchens to select ingredients and prepare to set up a small kitchen in Xun'er's courtyard and start cooking.
…
"He's stopped writing?"
In the lava world beneath the desert, Medusa noticed there had been no new lines for a while and recalled the copied journal into her mind.
Stretching lazily, she cast one more glance at the Green Lotus Core Flame and the lotus platform beneath it, then turned to go.
"With my current strength, taking it by force will not be easy."
"First I'll secure the plane's blessing and obtain the remnant soul and damaged magic core of the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python."
"Then, according to what the ancient texts describe, I'll gather Ice Spirit Cold Fountain to build a lotus platform elsewhere, and return here later to take the Heavenly Flame."
So long as she did not harm Xiao Yan or Xiao Ting, and presented herself at the right time before the two of them, minor deviations would be nothing to worry about.
Xiao Ting himself believed that the real world differed from the original novel. She could fully exploit that mindset of his.
…
At the same time, in the Magical Beast Mountain Range near Qingshan Town—
Little Fairy Doctor had rejoined the herb-gathering team and was smiling as she spoke kindly with everyone.
But in her heart, she was weighing whether or not she should take the initiative to visit Wu Tan City.
Xiao Ting had written that he wanted to meet her; if she went and accidentally ran into him, he would surely write a great deal more about her in the journal.
"If I leave countless men with bitter longing, then within Battle Through the Heavens I must be an important supporting character with plenty of screentime."
"Xiao Ting is intimately familiar with that Novel. He must fully understand my situation and know exactly what is wrong with my body."
"But if I suddenly appear in Wu Tan City, he might find it strange, and if he links that with my ability to see the journal…"
"I'll need a believable reason—or I must quietly wait for him to come to me."
As Little Fairy Doctor mulled this over, her delicate ears twitched.
Not far away, two mercenaries were chatting about matters related to Wu Tan City.
"Iron Brother, do you know why Mister Yao from Thousand Medicine House scheduled an extra herb-gathering trip this time?"
"You've asked the right person—I actually know. I heard that the Miteer Auction House in Wu Tan City is selling a large batch of medicinal herbs to some family there. The local Miteer branch can't keep up on its own, so they've increased their purchases. Once Mister Yao got wind of it, he wanted to get in touch with the Miteer line, so he volunteered to supply them."
"So that's how it is. Does that mean Thousand Medicine House might get to do regular business with the Miteer family now?"
"Hard to say, unless the Miteer family continues buying herbs in bulk, or Mister Yao becomes a stable supplier."
"Wu Tan City's not like a little place like Qingshan Town. If Mister Yao pulls this off, it'll be a massive chance for Thousand Medicine House."
"…"
Listening to them, Little Fairy Doctor suddenly remembered that, the day before they'd entered the mountains, Mister Yao had told her this herb-gathering trip was very important, and had asked if she'd like to go to Wu Tan City with him afterward.
Back then, when she had been drowning in despair, Mister Yao had given her a place to stay. She had repaid him by fulfilling her duties as a physician and had not wanted to deepen their relationship further, so she had gently declined with a smile.
"Going to sell herbs at the Miteer Auction House in Wu Tan City… That's the perfect, reasonable excuse," Little Fairy Doctor thought, as a faint smile touched her lips.
…
On Misty Cloud Mountain, in the main hall of the Misty Cloud Sect—
Yun Yun had been holding a book for a long time without turning a page, her gaze distant, thoughts adrift.
Until a voice sounded from outside. "Subordinate Yun Wu requests an audience."
Yun Yun's eyes sharpened instantly. "Enter."
A middle-aged man wearing an inner steward uniform and a mask walked into the hall, knelt on one knee at the center, and spoke respectfully,
"Reporting to the Sect Master, the news from Wu Tan City has arrived."
"Well?" Yun Yun's voice carried an edge of urgency that was unlike her usual calm.
"At the adulthood ceremony and retest at the Xiao Clan, Xiao Yan's result was eight stages of Battle Qi, while Xiao Ting's was one-star Dou Practitioner." Yun Wu replied respectfully, his own voice laced with surprise.
As a member of the hidden guard under the Misty Cloud Sect, he listened only to the Sect Master's orders.
A year ago, when Nalan Yanran went to Wu Tan City to break off the engagement with Ge Ye as her guard, Yun Wu had been the one protecting them in the shadows, so he knew everything about that day.
He had not expected that the youth who had shouted, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west, don't bully the poor youth!"—
Who had written a letter of repudiation in return and agreed to a three-year pact with the young sect mistress—
Would not only have regained his former talent, but would even have surpassed it.
"It's all true." Yun Yun's hand instinctively clenched, and the heart that had been hanging finally sank completely.
This journal copy that could obliterate her at any time—
Everything written upon it had thus far proven accurate.
This meant that another sword, ready to descend at any time, now hung over the Misty Cloud Sect's head.
Until she got to the bottom of how Xiao Yan and the Misty Cloud Sect ended up locked in a mortal feud, she'd have to live in constant tension.
With the journal's protection and Xun'er as backing, Xiao Ting was someone she could not afford to provoke. On this matter, she and the entire Misty Cloud Sect could only swallow their pride.
"You may withdraw." Yun Yun waved a light hand.
She needed to think carefully. She had to figure out how to befriend Xiao Ting and how to minimize the friction between Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran.
…
In Wu Tan City, at the Xiao Clan—
In the little courtyard that belonged solely to Xun'er, beneath the pavilion in the outer court—
Xiao Ting and Xun'er sat facing each other, eleven dishes laid out on the stone table between them.
"These dishes—I've never eaten them before." Curiosity shone clearly in Xun'er's large eyes. Ever since Brother Xiao Ting had awakened his past-life memories, his culinary skills had changed drastically.
"These are dishes I've secretly been working on over the years without Cousin knowing. You're the first one to taste them." Xiao Ting looked at Xun'er with a smile, his eyes full of admiration.
It might have been because Tian Can Tu Dou was from Sichuan that, in the old story, most dishes Xiao Yan taught him were Sichuan cuisine.
In his previous life, Xiao Ting had lived in Zhejiang; this time, what he'd cooked was mainly Zhejiang cuisine—one of the eight great culinary traditions—with some Huaiyang dishes mixed in.
Shredded pork with river eel in Qiantang style, sweet and sour pork, Nanjing roast duck, and several specialty dishes from Quzhou—
Dishes more suited to a girl's tastes.
"Brother Xiao Ting, you really put your heart into tonight's dinner." Xun'er's smile grew sweeter. She took two scrolls from her storage ring and placed them before Xiao Ting.
"I'd originally planned to give these to you after we'd eaten, but I might as well give them to you now."
"Congratulations on your breakthrough to Dou Practitioner."
…