105: Ling'er's plan

Moreover, you had no intention of staying in Tianshu City for long.

After packing your supplies, you immediately set off for the Teleportation Plaza.

While walking halfway there, a commotion ahead aroused your curiosity and vigilance.

You felt that such sudden bustle was likely nothing good.

But unable to resist your curiosity, you still squeezed into the crowd to take a look.

You saw a girl in her early teens sitting cross-legged in the center, holding a small red copper Pill Furnace in her hand, with a silent, deep blue flame burning beneath it.

She suddenly grabbed three Spiritual Plants and tossed them into the air, her right hand forming a blade-like gesture as she slashed through the air—the plant leaves were automatically cut into uniform fragments, falling into the Pill Furnace like snowflakes!

Immediately after, she slapped the ground with her left palm, and five Spirit Stones flew up in response, buzzing and rotating around the Pill Furnace, with the leaked Spiritual Qi drilling into the furnace like silk threads.

The most amazing thing was her fire control technique—

She would occasionally flick her fingers, and the flame would immediately split into nine thin streams to calcine the legs of the Pill Furnace; at other times, she would pout and blow, causing the fire to surge, only to be forcibly pressed back at the mouth of the furnace.

When a strange fragrance filled the air, she suddenly bit her fingertip and flicked a drop of blood into the Pill Furnace—

Hum!

Three beams of white light suddenly shot out from the Pill Furnace, and nine round qi gathering pills soared into the air, darting around like live fish!

The girl jumped up with a giggle, and with a flick of her sleeve, she collected all the Medicinal Pills into her palm—the pill patterns were clear, the color was full, and they were all High Grade!

You couldn't help but scan the girl with your Divine Sense, and you were slightly startled: she was only in her early teens, yet she already had Middle Stage Qi Refining cultivation; this Aptitude was definitely considered top-tier!

Just then, an old man walked out of a Jiang Clan Merchant House nearby, his eyes shining as he squeezed into the crowd and came before the girl.

Little girl, are you willing to join my Jiang Clan Merchant House? the old man asked with a beaming smile.

The girl looked vigilant: Who are you?

I am Hall Master Jiang He, the owner of this merchant house. As long as you are willing to join, I will give you one hundred Spirit Stones every month. How about it?

Envious discussions immediately arose all around—

One hundred Spirit Stones a month! I only earn three hundred a year! a male cultivator at the Late Stage of Qi Refining exclaimed.

If you had her Alchemy Aptitude, you could earn that much too! someone laughed.

Alchemy is not something you can do just by working hard; you also need to have the Aptitude, someone nearby chimed in.

That's right, without Aptitude, you can't produce many good pills in a single furnace, and you might even lose money. Many people nodded in agreement.

You watched from the side, feeling both envious and a little bitter.

Your own martial arts Aptitude was mediocre, your foundation for cultivation was even worse, and your Alchemy Aptitude was not even worth mentioning.

Envy and jealousy surged in your heart for this girl.

However, the girl frowned, still hesitating.

By the way, what is your name? Are your parents still around? Hall Master Jiang He suddenly asked.

My name is Zhong Linger. My parents are both gone... I am an orphan. Zhong Linger lowered her head, her tone sad.

Hall Master Jiang He sighed: Poor child... How about this, I will adopt you as my foster daughter. How about it?

Zhong Linger's eyes widened, a tear slid down her cheek, and she nodded vigorously.

Seeing this, Hall Master Jiang He laughed loudly: Good! Good! Good!

After speaking, he took Zhong Linger toward the Jiang Clan Merchant House.

Seeing this scene, your scalp tingled—

You did not expect this girl to be the deep-scheming Zhong Linger!

You remembered that in the seventh simulation, Yang Yan from ten years later had once sent you a voice transmission: it was Hall Master Jiang He who used Zhong Linger's parents as a threat to force her to marry him as a concubine.

But Zhong Linger clearly said her parents were dead, so where did the threat come from?

Who exactly was lying? Was Zhong Linger spreading lies everywhere? Or was Yang Yan deliberately deceiving you?

Or perhaps... were Yang Yan and Zhong Linger actually working together?

After much thought, you decided to hide your identity first and join the Jiang Clan Merchant House to find out the truth—to see if you had truly wronged Yang Yan.

If you really had wronged Yang Yan, you could spare him in reality.

But if he dared to fool you... then don't blame you for being ruthless in the future.

In addition, you also urgently needed to learn Alchemy experience and techniques—after all, you had failed to refine the realm breaking pill too many times before.

You could just use this opportunity to mix into the Jiang Clan Merchant House, steal their techniques, and ensure that you could succeed in refining the heavenly spirit pill in the future.

After making up your mind, you also turned and walked toward the Jiang Clan Merchant House.

Just as you entered the door, you saw Hall Master Jiang He announcing with a smile: We are closed for the day!

He saw you come in and said with a smile: Little brother, we are not open today, you should go to another shop.

You cupped your hands in a salute and said: Shopkeeper, I am here to look for work. Just provide food and lodging, I don't need wages.

The old man beside Hall Master Jiang He scanned you with his Divine Sense and shouted coldly: Get lost! Our Jiang Clan does not accept martial artists of unknown origin!

At this moment, Zhong Linger, who was to the side, suddenly spoke up: Foster father, I happen to be lacking a helper, and he seems quite suitable. Why not keep him?

Hall Master Jiang He heard this and immediately nodded with a chuckle: Good, since my daughter has spoken, then we shall keep him.

Then Hall Master Jiang He turned his head and said to the old man: Strict Butler Yan, you go and arrange it.

Strict Butler Yan then led you to the backyard of the merchant house and arranged a simple small room for you.

You were very satisfied with this—you were hoping that no one would notice you.

You did not expect it to be so easy to enter the Jiang Clan Merchant House; you had originally prepared other means.

The second month,

During these days, your daily task was to assist Zhong Linger in the Pill Refining Room—

Such as washing the furnace with spirit spring water, cleaning up the medicinal dregs, organizing Spiritual Plants, crushing Materials, and recording the detailed process of each Alchemy session...

Besides this, you also pondered the tricks of Alchemy yourself, and the more you learned, the more you felt that infiltrating the Jiang Clan this time was the right move.

Otherwise, even if you had the Pill Formula for the heavenly spirit pill, it was very likely that you would fail in refining due to mistakes in details, or the quality of the Medicinal Pill would be poor.

The third month,

When refining pills this day, the furnace fire reflected on Zhong Linger's face, making her cheeks rosy and exceptionally charming.

You wondered in your heart: such a lovely girl, why is her mind full of schemes?

Even now, you still couldn't figure out what she was thinking.

For over a month, you two had almost never talked about anything other than Alchemy—

The most frequent thing she said to you was: Wash the furnace!

You naturally wouldn't make mistakes with these chores, after all, they were too simple.

As for the more complex operations, you couldn't understand them, and you were too embarrassed to ask her.

She was always cold and aloof in front of you every day.

But as soon as she saw Hall Master Jiang He, she completely changed into a different person, giggling and acting spoiled, just like an obedient daughter.

You always felt that she should be plotting something at this time—otherwise, why would she specifically display her Aptitude at the entrance of the Jiang Clan Merchant House?

This was clearly premeditated, wanting to infiltrate the Jiang Residence.