Chapter 8: Sense of Crisis

Su Jingzhen was taken aback.

Hire him?

Fifty low-grade spirit stones per year?

His school had many students, and even then, his annual income was only around 50-60 low-grade spirit stones, but that didn’t include rent and other expenses. Now, Cuiliu School was offering him this amount?

That was pure profit!

Su Jingzhen sneered inwardly. Did they think he was stupid?

Cultivators were mostly selfish and only looked out for their own interests. There was no such thing as a free lunch, and no one would believe that someone would offer him such a good deal out of kindness.

Lin Ping must think he was extremely naive to believe such a thing.

“Mr. Su, actually, Daoist Chen’s proposal is quite reasonable,” Lin Ping said. “You’re just one person, and it’s hard to support a school on your own. It’s better to join a bigger tree and enjoy the shade, don’t you think? Daoist Chen is the person in charge of Cuiliu Alley, and his power is stronger than Daoist Zhang’s. If you offend him, you’ll only harm yourself.”

Lin Ping’s words were laced with threats.

Su Jingzhen finally smiled and said, “That’s a good point, but I’ve grown accustomed to my current life. I’ve been running this school for a long time, and I have feelings for it. Once you have feelings for something, you don’t want to give it up easily, so I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your good intentions.”

Lin Ping’s smile froze.

He hadn’t expected Su Jingzhen to directly refuse him.

His voice turned cold: “Mr. Su, are you really not going to reconsider?”

Su Jingzhen bowed and smiled. “I’m sorry to trouble you, Daoist Lin.”

Lin Ping’s smile was forced. “I won’t bother you anymore. It’s just that this matter is a bit regrettable. I hope you and Enlightenment School will be okay.”

Lin Ping’s words were still laced with threats.

After speaking, he left directly.

He and Su Jingzhen didn’t have any prior relationships, and Su Jingzhen’s attitude was casual, but firm. No amount of persuasion would change his mind.

Moreover, if Su Jingzhen wanted to seek death, Lin Ping couldn’t stop him.

As Lin Ping left, Su Jingzhen’s expression turned serious.

At first, he was just trying to make a living here. Now, his Enlightenment School was on the verge of collapse, and the other side was still not willing to let him go.

“I thought I could just teach quietly and avoid trouble, but it seems that trouble has come to my doorstep anyway.”

Su Jingzhen was annoyed. He had always been someone who disliked trouble.

Cuiliu Alley was one of the strongest in Linjiang City, and Chen Chong was someone with a wide network of connections. He was also someone who had real power in the Huayang Sect.

In the past, they had been wary of Zhang Xiu’s power, and the two had maintained a superficial relationship. But now, it seemed that Chen Chong was not afraid of Zhang Xiu’s attitude, and was willing to take action.

Su Jingzhen sighed and thought to himself, “Forget it, there’s no use thinking about this. I have too many problems to deal with right now. The spirit stone issue is still unresolved, and I don’t even know how Chen Chong will retaliate.”

Just then, the golden text floated in front of his eyes again.

【Host: Su Jingzhen】

【Number of Affinity: 2】

【Remaining Available Points: 53】

【Qi Refining Initial Stage (1st Layer): 94/100】

【Metal Spiritual Roots (Ordinary): 23/100】

【Wood Spiritual Roots (Mysterious): 0/200】

【Water Spiritual Roots (Ordinary): 25/100】

【Fire Spiritual Roots (Ordinary): 89/100】

【Earth Spiritual Roots (Ordinary): 32/100】

The situation was getting worse, but the golden finger still made him feel a bit more at ease. And with 53 available points, he could do a lot.

Su Jingzhen thought to himself, “I’ll just add six points to my cultivation.” As he thought this, the panel changed again.

However, when the golden text floated up again, Su Jingzhen was shocked once more.

【Cultivation: Qi Refining Initial Stage (1st Layer) 97/100】

【Remaining Available Points: 47】

【Hint: Host’s Dan Tian is damaged, cultivation point effect reduced by half!】

Damn it!

Su Jingzhen just wanted to curse.

Thanks to the unexpected gain of 50 points from Zhang Xiu’s sister-in-law, otherwise, this time he would have faced a significant setback.

After pondering for a moment, Su Jingzhen decided to allocate six more points to his cultivation.

【Cultivation Level: Qi Refining Early Stage (2nd Layer) 0/200】

【Remaining Available Points: 41】

“I’ll save the rest. It would be more worthwhile to use them to repair my dantian.”

Muttering to himself, he soon walked to the quiet room door again.

Just as he was about to push the door, he suddenly paused and lightly knocked twice.

The next second, the door opened, and Shuang Jiang’s figure appeared in front of him.

Su Jingzhen was somewhat surprised that Shuang Jiang opened the door herself, but seeing the herbal paste he had prepared on her face, he felt slightly relieved.

“Miss Shuang Jiang, your complexion has improved a lot. It seems recovery is not far off.”

At this moment, Shuang Jiang’s external wounds still looked gruesome, but her condition was undoubtedly much better than last night.

“Thanks to you.”

Shuang Jiang responded without emotion as she walked into the quiet room.

Of course, she couldn’t tell Su Jingzhen that she had been waiting for him for a long time.

She was eager to clarify the Dao principles she had heard today.

But when Su Jingzhen actually arrived, she found herself unsure how to bring it up.

Her focus on the Dao principles made her feel a bit awkward in Su Jingzhen’s presence. She spoke casually, “I heard your conversation with that person just now.”

“Oh.”

Su Jingzhen responded nonchalantly. With Shuang Jiang’s cultivation level, it would be surprising if she hadn’t heard his conversation with Lin Ping.

Shuang Jiang asked, “I’ve noticed these past two days that your school doesn’t earn many spirit stones. The offer that person made was good, why didn’t you agree?”

Su Jingzhen turned and asked, “Didn’t you notice he was baiting me?”

“So what?”

Su Jingzhen became interested. “What would you do in my place?”

“Have him bring the spirit stones first. If he has bad intentions, just kill him.”

“……”

Su Jingzhen asked again, “What if he doesn’t give them, or if you can’t beat him when he shows bad intentions?”

“I rarely encounter enemies I can’t defeat.”

“Then why are you so seriously injured this time?”

“……”

The atmosphere in the quiet room became a bit awkward.

【Empathy +2】

Suddenly receiving this prompt, Su Jingzhen couldn’t help but think, does this woman have a masochistic tendency?

How did these points come about so inexplicably?

But inexplicable was good; Su Jingzhen liked these unexpected surprises.

Moreover, bit by bit, Shuang Jiang had already provided 5 points. After a few more days of interaction, her points might rival those from Zhang Xiu’s sister-in-law.

Hmm? +2?

Su Jingzhen suddenly realized, just now he received two points at once!

He quickly checked his panel.

【Empathy with Shuang Jiang: No Hostility】

【Level Bonus: 1x】

【Shuang Jiang Cultivation Bonus: 2x!】

Su Jingzhen was once again shocked, but his face remained impassive.

Zhang Xiu’s sister-in-law was at the late stage of Qi Refining, possibly even at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, and her cultivation bonus was only one-fold.

Shuang Jiang’s was directly two-fold!

At the beginning, Shuang Jiang didn’t have this cultivation bonus.

Su Jingzhen’s mind quickly made the connection.

When the system was first activated, Shuang Jiang was severely injured and her cultivation was not apparent. Now, as her injuries were healing, her cultivation was also recovering.

Merely recovering somewhat, and her bonus already surpassed Zhang Xiu’s sister-in-law?

Su Jingzhen was astonished and seemed to understand more about his golden finger.

Clearly, the higher the person’s cultivation or the higher the empathy level, the more points they could provide.

If Shuang Jiang’s cultivation fully recovered and her empathy level increased further, what then?

However, thinking of this, he smiled wryly.

With someone like Shuang Jiang, maintaining ‘No Hostility’ was already quite an achievement.

Going further? That was wishful thinking.

Returning to his senses, he saw Shuang Jiang ignoring him again, returning to the stone bed to meditate.

Although Su Jingzhen had many questions, he knew it wasn’t the right time to ask.

The points from Shuang Jiang were beyond his control; letting things happen naturally was best.

At the moment, he had more urgent matters to attend to.

Right now, in Peach Blossom Alley, Su Jingzhen didn’t feel safe.

Therefore, his dantian had to be repaired as quickly as possible, and his strength had to be increased rapidly.

Ultimately, he had to rely on himself.

And the first step in all of this was still to earn spirit stones!

Without paying much attention to Shuang Jiang who was nearby, Su Jingzhen directly moved the alchemy furnace to the center.

Then, he took out his storage bag and, with a swipe of his spiritual power, poured out all its contents.

There wasn’t a single low-grade spirit stone left inside.

It was all herbs!

Early this morning, besides buying herbs to prepare the paste for Shuang Jiang, Su Jingzhen also purchased twenty sets of materials for making Qi Restoration Pills.

Even before his spiritual roots were enhanced, he had the courage to go all out.

Now, with the mysterious wood spiritual roots, he was even more confident.

He neatly arranged the herbs beside the alchemy furnace.

At this moment, Su Jingzhen closed his eyes and gently brushed his hand over the herbs.

This was to familiarize himself with the herbs, which is the first step most alchemists take before starting the alchemy process.

It is said that high-level alchemists, at this step, can become one with the herbs, thus feeling every subtle change in each herb during the refinement process.

Although Su Jingzhen couldn’t reach such a state yet, thanks to his mysterious wood spiritual roots, he indeed had an indescribable feeling.

He felt like he was about to succeed!

His demeanor was quite majestic, like a noble.

Not to mention anything else, at least the Shuang Jiang on the bed was stunned by him.

“Do you know alchemy?”

She had seen the alchemy furnace last night, but didn’t pay much attention to it.

In the entire cultivation world, alchemists were extremely rare, and each one held a high position. Combining this with the principles of the Dao she had heard before, Su Jingzhen seemed different in her eyes.

When Shuang Jiang expressed her surprise, Su Jingzhen smiled slightly.

“Just a little bit.”

After speaking, his face returned to its usual seriousness.

He lightly touched the spiritual pattern on the alchemy furnace.

Suddenly, a bright red flame ignited.

Su Jingzhen licked his lips, without hesitation, and directly threw a medicinal material into the furnace.

However, in less than five seconds, a hissing sound was heard.

A wisp of blue smoke floated out, filling the entire quiet room with a burnt smell.

【Empathy points +2】

What? Did I fail at alchemy and get points?

Is this woman mocking me?

Su Jingzhen was speechless, but also felt a bit excited.

If that’s the case, let’s let her mock even more fiercely!

【Empathy points +2】