5: Chapter 5 The Spying Seeker in the Fragrance of Herbs

The soil there was moister than elsewhere, but other than that, there seemed to be nothing unusual.

Lin Chen stood up, brushed the dirt off his hands, and his gaze fell once again upon the section of the wall base he had repaired.

His brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, but in the end, he turned and went back into the house.

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, before the dawn had fully torn through the thick fog on the horizon, Lin Chen had already risen silently.

He did not light a lamp. Relying on the faint daylight filtering through a hole in the roof, he first glanced at Su Qingyao, who was sleeping soundly on the kang. Her breathing was much steadier than in the past few days, and a trace of Life Qi seemed to have returned to her pale cheeks.

He tiptoed into the courtyard and walked straight toward the repaired hole in the wall.

Dried by the night wind, the wet mud he had plastered on yesterday was now half-dry, displaying varying shades of earthy yellow.

However, right on the muddy ground directly beneath the hole in the wall, several clear shoeprints marred the undisturbed morning dew.

Lin Chen's pupils contracted instantly.

These were not the rough straw sandal prints left by those thugs last night.

These prints were deeper and clearer, with regular diamond-shaped patterns from the soles, clearly made by some kind of leather boot.

He crouched down, extended two fingers, and vaguely measured one of the most complete footprints.

The footprints came from the other end of the alley, circled the base of the dilapidated courtyard wall for a short distance, and clearly lingered for a moment at the gap, where the tread marks were deeper. Then, the direction of the prints shifted, extending toward the main street in the center of Black Stone Town.

Judging by the length of the footprints and the depth of the sinkage into the mud, the person was taller and larger than him, weighing at least one hundred and sixty jin, a strong adult male.

Furthermore, his stride was steady, clearly indicating a strong base; he was definitely not an ordinary ruffian.

Most importantly, in Black Stone Town, anyone who could afford such leather boots with anti-slip patterns was certainly no ordinary person.

Lin Chen stood up and, expressionless, scuffed the ground with his toe, blurring the clearest of the prints.

He turned back into the house, grabbed a handful of fine wood ash from the corner of the stove, walked unhurriedly back to the wall base, and sprinkled the ash evenly over the ground near the inside and outside of the gap.

After finishing this, he stretched like a farmer who had just woken up, his joints emitting a faint "crackling" sound.

The signboard of Huichun Hall was carved from fine nanmu wood, appearing exceptionally imposing on this short street paved with dirt and stone in Black Stone Town.

Lin Chen stood across the street, observing for a moment.

Unlike the desolate Baicao Hall of Crippled Sun, the entrance of Huichun Hall was bustling with people—herb gatherers carrying baskets on their backs, as well as townspeople supported by family members coming to seek medical attention.

He took a deep breath, tucked the small package wrapped in ragged cloth tighter against his chest, and then stepped forward.

Upon entering, a medicinal fragrance several times stronger than that of Baicao Hall rushed to meet him, a scent mixed with dozens of medicinal ingredients like red sage, astragalus, and licorice, which was invigorating to smell.

A tall red sandalwood medicine cabinet occupied almost the entire wall, densely covered with labels bearing the names of herbs.

Behind the counter, a middle-aged man wearing a neat grey cloth robe with a goatee was lowering his eyes, meticulously weighing a few bits of medicinal herbs with a delicate small copper scale.

Lin Chen walked up and gently placed the washed-out cloth package on the counter.

"Pharmacist Wang." He called out.

This was the title he had noted down while listening to people chat on the street yesterday.

The middle-aged man addressed as Pharmacist Wang slowly raised his eyelids. His small eyes revealed shrewdness as he unobtrusively sized Lin Chen up from head to toe.

When his gaze fell upon Lin Chen's washed-out old clothes, he merely swept over them, but upon seeing the cloth package on the counter with traces of dirt seeping through, he finally spoke. His voice was flat and waveless, revealing no emotion: "Selling herbs?"

Lin Chen said nothing more, simply silently untying the cloth package to reveal several herbs inside that he had cleaned and dried, with their roots well-preserved.

Pharmacist Wang's gaze fell upon them.

He put down the copper scale, extended two dry fingers, picked up a sprig of dried grass with dark purple veins on the leaves, and brought it under his nose to sniff gently.

Subsequently, he broke off a leaf piece the size of a grain of rice, put it into his mouth, closed his eyes, and chewed slowly.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, a faint, imperceptible ripple flashing in them: "Purple Leaf Vine, three years old, decent quality."

He picked up the other few, identifying them one by one with skilled and experienced movements.

"Kuling Grass... blood-vein root... these are all above average among ordinary goods." He placed the last herb back into the cloth package, his shrewd eyes looking at Lin Chen again, as if trying to see through his thoughts: "Where did you get these?"

"My ancestors knew a thing or two about herbs. I gathered these myself while trying my luck in the mountains." Lin Chen had long since prepared his explanation, answering calmly and candidly.

He knew that this kind of ambiguous statement was the hardest to disprove.

Pharmacist Wang stared at him for a full three breaths, seemingly judging the truth of his words.

In the end, he did not continue to press the issue, merely pushing the herbs to one side and saying indifferently: "Three qian of silver for the Purple Leaf Vine, two qian for the Kuling Grass, and five qian for the blood-vein root. One tael in total."

This price was slightly lower than what Lin Chen had estimated, but for an outsider with an unknown identity trading for the first time, it was fair enough. At the very least, he wasn't being treated like a fool, as Crippled Sun had tried to do.

Lin Chen nodded: "That works. But I don't want silver; can I exchange it for... Spirit Stone?" As he spoke, he deliberately lowered his voice, his gaze fixed on Pharmacist Wang's reaction.

Pharmacist Wang, who was about to reach for the money box, paused. He raised his brows imperceptibly and looked at Lin Chen again. This time, his gaze held a bit more scrutiny and inquiry: "What do you need Spirit Stone for?"

Lin Chen's expression did not change in the slightest, and he answered in a calm tone: "My wife is weak. She caught a cold some days ago, and her body has been deficient ever since. I heard that Spirit Stone can nourish the Meridians, so I wanted to exchange for some to try."

This statement was half-true and half-false; it explained the need for the Spirit Stone while attributing Su Qingyao's condition to a common illness, which wouldn't invite excessive speculation.

Pharmacist Wang was silent for a moment, tapping his fingers lightly on the counter twice.

He turned around and rummaged for a long time in a locked drawer behind him before taking out something wrapped in yellow cloth.

He unwrapped the yellow cloth layer by layer, revealing a dull-colored stone fragment about the size of a fingernail, which he placed on the counter and pushed toward Lin Chen.

"These herbs are only worth this."

Lin Chen reached out and picked up the Spirit Stone fragment.

It felt slightly cool to the touch, and the edges of the stone fragment were rough, bearing the sharp corners left from mining.

He could clearly feel a faint, barely perceptible trace of energy contained within, but it was extremely thin, like a candle in the wind, liable to be extinguished at any moment.

But this was indeed a Spirit Stone.

He did not bargain, clenching the Spirit Stone fragment in his palm, and nodded to Pharmacist Wang: "Thank you."

Having said that, he turned and left decisively.

Upon returning to the dilapidated small courtyard, Su Qingyao was in the yard, using the sunlight to identify the herbs Lin Chen had sorted out yesterday from that pile of "junk," whose names could not yet be determined.

Seeing Lin Chen return, she looked up.

Lin Chen walked over, opened his palm, and handed her the Spirit Stone fragment.

Su Qingyao pinched the fragment between two crystalline fingertips, closed her eyes to sense it for a moment, and then shook her head gently. Her cold, clear voice carried a trace of disappointment: "The Spiritual Qi is too thin; it's not even enough to support me in completing one full small cycle."

Despite saying this, she still held the fragment in her palm, sat cross-legged as instructed, and closed her eyes, attempting to absorb the weak Spiritual Qi within.

A wisp of barely visible greyish-white airflow was slowly drawn out from the Spirit Stone fragment, following her palm's Laogong acupoint and merging into her Meridians.

A moment later, she opened her eyes. In her previously dim pupils, a trace of an extremely subtle ripple flashed, as if a small stone had been thrown into a pool of stagnant water.

"It has an effect." She looked at Lin Chen, her tone carrying a bit more certainty, "Although weak, it's better than relying solely on medicinal decoctions. This wisp of Spiritual Qi can act like a primer, leveraging the medicinal power to help them disperse the stasis more quickly."

Seeing that her pale cheeks seemed to have gained a bit more vitality, the heartstrings Lin Chen had kept tightly wound finally loosened slightly.

His right thumb subconsciously rubbed the rough stone ring, and as the warm sensation came through, pale golden text quietly appeared in his field of vision:

[Dao Companion Status: Seriously Injured (Recovering slowly; Spiritual Qi supplementation can accelerate the recovery process).]

[Novice Mission "Establish a Foothold" in progress; means of livelihood initially established (Herb identification and sales).]

His gaze was fixed intently on the four characters "Spiritual Qi supplementation," and the vague path to survival in his heart seemed to become just a little clearer.

In the evening, dinner was bland brown rice porridge, accompanied by pickles that Lin Chen had traded for with the last few copper coins he had.

The flame of the oil lamp danced on the table, and the dim, yellow light stretched their shadows long, casting them onto the mottled earthen wall, where they swayed slightly.

The two ate in silence, with only the occasional clinking of bowls and chopsticks.

Su Qingyao took two sips of porridge and then put down her bowl.

She was silent for a while, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of the coarse ceramic bowl, her gaze fixed on the flickering wick as if looking at another world.

"Lin Chen." She spoke suddenly.

Lin Chen looked up at her.

"My injuries... relying on these ordinary herbs and this little bit of Spiritual Qi, it is very difficult to fully recover." Her voice was very light, as if she were stating a fact unrelated to herself, "Even if I do recover, with my Foundation damaged, it will be hard for my cultivation to return to what it was."

She paused, then shifted the topic, her gaze finally moving away from the wick and falling onto Lin Chen's face. Her cold, clear eyes appeared exceptionally deep under the dim, yellow light.

"Does your System... besides being able to share my Spiritual Root affinity, have any other... methods that can allow us to improve faster?"

Lin Chen put down the bowl in his hand, and his right thumb began to rub the stone ring again, one stroke after another.

He could feel Su Qingyao's gaze; there was no urging in it, only a pure, shared quest to face their predicament together.

He hesitated for a few breaths.

This was something he had originally wanted to wait until things were more stable to discuss.

But now, facing the unknown prying from outside the wall and Su Qingyao's almost stagnant condition...

"Yes." His voice was somewhat dry, "In the mission panel... there is a long-term goal: 'Have your first direct descendant'."

He did not say what earth-shattering rewards would come from completing this goal; he merely stated the fact.

The air seemed to freeze in this instant.

Su Qingyao's body stiffened almost imperceptibly, and then her long eyelashes drooped, veiling all the emotions in her eyes.

The oil lamp's flame "cracked," bursting into a small spark, the light flaring brightly for a moment before quickly dimming again.

After a long time—so long that Lin Chen thought she would not speak again—she raised her hand and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen by her temple behind her ear.

She performed this action somewhat slowly, her fingertips trembling slightly.

"If..." When she spoke again, her voice was so low it was almost drowned out by the wind outside the window, "If that can help you... and also help us... I... am willing."

After finishing this sentence, she did not look up again, but her earlobes flushed with a faint crimson at a visible speed, appearing like a piece of warm jade scorched by fire under the dim, yellow light.

Deep in the night, everything was still and silent.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged on the cold ground by the side of the kang, holding the Spirit Stone fragment, which had become like an ordinary pebble, in his palm. He was attempting to absorb the last remaining bit of Spiritual Qi within to assist his snail-paced Cultivation.

Just then, footsteps were heard again outside the courtyard wall.

This time, the person made no attempt to conceal themselves; the soles of their shoes trod on the stone slabs in the alley, emitting a "tap, tap, tap" sound.

The sound was clear and steady, carrying an unquestionable sense of oppression in the silent night, jarringly harsh.

The footsteps finally stopped outside the broken courtyard gate of his house.

Immediately following, "dong, dong, dong"—three knocks, neither light nor heavy, rang out.

A rough male voice, carrying a bureaucratic tone, penetrated the thin door panel and came inside: "Those inside, open the door. The Patrol Squad is conducting a night inspection."

Lin Chen opened his eyes abruptly, a sharp light flashing in them.

He exchanged a glance with Su Qingyao, who had also been awakened on the kang and was watching him with clear, bright eyes; both saw the gravity in the other's gaze.

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, stood up, and walked to the door.

He did not open the door immediately; instead, he asked in a deep voice through the door panel: "What is the matter?"

The voice outside was clearly tinged with impatience: "Stop talking nonsense, open the door! A thief has entered the town, routine search!"

Lin Chen's fingers rested on the cold wooden latch, pausing for a moment.

He knew that once this door opened, their peaceful days would be completely over.

Slowly, he pulled back the latch.