Chapter 87: Old Friends

Lin Yi poured a pink Beautifying Pill straight from the jade bottle and said, “This is the Beautifying Pill you wanted. It can preserve your appearance for a hundred years.”

Die Nishang’s eyes immediately sparkled, and not just hers—the other disciples of Butterfly Valley were equally captivated. They realized that not only was Lin Yi terrifyingly powerful, but his wealth and treasures were enough to tempt anyone into robbery.

Instinctively, Die Nishang reached out to snatch the Beautifying Pill, abandoning all pretense of her masterly composure. But before her fingertips could touch it, Lin Yi briskly slapped her hand away.

“Money first, goods after,” Lin Yi said coldly.

Die Nishang blinked at him, breathing out a fragrant sigh. “Young man, we’re so familiar with each other by now. Didn’t we always check the goods first?”

Lin Yi replied, “That was before. This time, things are different.”

Seeing Lin Yi’s indifferent expression, Die Nishang sighed softly. She had always been confident in her beauty, but in front of Lin Yi, she felt continuously frustrated. She even suspected Lin Yi might be inclined toward men—or perhaps was simply a martial fanatic, interested only in cultivation.

“Fine, fine, here you go. Truly a man who doesn’t understand romance.” Die Nishang took out three sets of Beautifying Pill ingredients and three Vermillion Fruits from her storage artifact.

Alchemists usually counted three sets of ingredients as one batch for pill refining. Of course, if you succeeded in refining pills in one go, the remaining two sets of ingredients could rightfully be pocketed.

Lin Yi accepted the materials and Vermillion Fruits, and with a flick of his finger, the Beautifying Pill landed in Die Nishang’s hand.

Die Nishang received the pill, delight swelling in her heart, for this was also a nine-patterned pill. The other Butterfly Valley disciples gathered curiously around, eager to see what the Beautifying Pill looked like.

Zhang Xin Yi walked to Lin Yi’s side, tugged gently at his sleeve, and said shyly, “Mr. Lin, I’d like to exchange for a Beautifying Pill too.”

“What will you trade?” Lin Yi asked.

Zhang Xin Yi replied, “I have a jade treasure, although I don’t know exactly where it came from, but it must be valuable.”

Lin Yi was a little curious; he trusted Zhang Xin Yi’s judgment.

“Take out the jade,” Lin Yi said.

“It’s at home. I don’t have a storage artifact like you, Mr. Lin,” Zhang Xin Yi said enviously.

With a storage artifact, everything became so much more convenient.

Lin Yi smiled and said nothing more. After bidding farewell to the Butterfly Valley group, he followed Zhang Xin Yi back to the Zhang family.

After they left, Die Nishang’s seductive gaze instantly grew cold and aloof.

“Senior Sister, what do you think of Lin Yi’s strength?” asked a petite beauty.

“He’s very strong, probably comparable to Master,” Die Nishang answered gravely.

“Really? Senior Sister, you rate him that highly?” The young woman was surprised.

Her master was already at the half-step Spirit Sovereign level, while Lin Yi, according to their records, was only in his early twenties.

“Even if he falls short, it’s not by much.”

Die Nishang looked into the distance, remembering the spear Lin Yi had unleashed. The Butterfly Valley disciples exchanged glances, all finding it hard to accept.

“All right, let’s clean up here. I need to report everything about Lin Yi to Master as soon as possible.” With that, Die Nishang tapped her toe, and vanished from sight.

Meanwhile, after returning to the Zhang family, Zhang Xin Yi took out a wooden box containing a thumb-sized piece of purple jade. It looked exquisite and noble.

“Mr. Lin, this is the treasure I mentioned,” Zhang Xin Yi said, proud.

Lin Yi’s eyes lit up, a fiery brilliance flashing for the first time. It was a supreme spirit stone, even more perfect than high-grade spirit stones.

In the thousand-year history of the cultivation world, supreme spirit stones were priceless. Even Lin Yi, who had lived so long, had only seen a few.

He never imagined he would encounter one now, and it was a sizable piece—at least twenty or thirty grams. With this, Lin Yi could condense another Golden Core, and further refine the one within him.

Seeing Lin Yi silent, Zhang Xin Yi thought he was dissatisfied. “Mr. Lin, is the jade not to your liking?”

Lin Yi calmed his excitement. “I’ll take it. I won’t shortchange you—here are three Beautifying Pills and three Foundation Pills.”

“Ah!” Zhang Xin Yi was astonished. She hadn’t expected so many pills at once.

She knew how valuable Beautifying Pills and Foundation Pills were; even if the Zhang family sold everything, they could barely afford a few.

“Mr. Lin, isn’t that too much?” Zhang Xin Yi asked tentatively.

Lin Yi shook his head. “Compared to the value of this jade, those pills are hardly enough—they’re actually too few.”

Zhang Xin Yi’s curiosity was piqued. “Mr. Lin, what kind of jade is this?”

“Supreme spirit stone,” Lin Yi answered straightforwardly.

“Supreme spirit stone?” Zhang Xin Yi was puzzled.

She’d heard of mid-grade spirit stones, but never seen a high-grade one.

“Yes. Even if you kept it, it’d be useless to you,” Lin Yi said with a gentle smile, not elaborating further.

The spirit energy in a supreme spirit stone was so rich that not even martial artists, nor most cultivators, could absorb it unless they had Golden Core-level cultivation.

…

Three days passed in a flash. During that time, Lin Yi acquired even more spiritual herbs, ores, and spirit stones.

“Exchange gatherings like this—looks like I need to attend more of them from now on,” Lin Yi decided. This time, he’d used up all his Foundation Pills and most of his Beautifying Pills, but the gains were considerable.

With these resources, not only could he further refine his Golden Core, he could even condense an eleventh one.

Back in Lan City, Lin Yi unexpectedly ran into an old acquaintance at the gate of his neighborhood.

“Lin Yi, I can’t believe after all these years, you haven’t changed at all.”

The speaker was a young man with a crew cut, dressed in a suit and big leather shoes.

He was Lin Yi’s former neighbor, named Chen Sen, a cheerful fellow. His father’s job transfer had caused the whole family to move away. Lin Yi remembered he’d once said his dream was to become an air force pilot. Judging by his cheap, knockoff-brand outfit, that dream had probably fallen through.

“Shall we go in for a chat?” Lin Yi asked.

“Better not,” Chen Sen replied. “Lin Yi, let me treat you to some barbecue. It’s been ages since we’ve talked.”

Lin Yi considered and did not refuse.

At the barbecue shop nearby, Chen Sen ordered two bottles of beer.

“Lin Yi, what are you up to these days?” Chen Sen asked, gulping down a mouthful of beer.

“Just graduated from university,” Lin Yi replied.

Chen Sen slapped Lin Yi’s shoulder. “Brother, impressive—you went to college! Unlike me, who barely made it through high school. After all these years, I’m just a small department manager.”

He took another drink, his cheeks flushed red. “Still, even a small boss has some authority. If you don’t have a job, I can help you out.”

“No need, I have work,” Lin Yi declined politely.

“True. You were always smart, Lin Yi. Guess I was overthinking. Come on, let’s drink,” Chen Sen said, his face showing fatigue.

Lin Yi shook his head. “Your grades were good. Why didn’t you go to college?”

“Burp.” Chen Sen hiccupped, paused a moment, then said, “My dad started his new job, and on his first day, he got into a car accident. We lost a lot of money, sold the house, everything.”

Lin Yi fell silent.

Chen Sen laughed heartily. “Ha, that’s all in the past. Life’s good now, I make ten thousand a month.”

As he finished, his phone rang in his pocket. On the screen was ‘Department General Manager.’

“Hey, Chen Sen, what are you doing? I told you to buy something outside, and you’ve been gone forever!” The general manager’s voice boomed.

“Uh, boss, I ran into an old friend and chatted a bit,” Chen Sen answered meekly.

“I don’t care about your friends. If I don’t see you in three minutes, I’m docking a thousand from your salary,” the manager said.

“Understood,” Chen Sen replied softly.

After hanging up, Chen Sen tried to act nonchalant. “Burp. Well, Lin Yi, I’ll have to leave you for now. There’s a little gathering with colleagues—haha, you know, I’m a manager after all.”

He hurriedly paid the bill and left.

Lin Yi watched Chen Sen’s retreating figure and said nothing more.