Chapter 417: Candy Apple
The days passed by quietly as Hui Yue spent all his time in his room refining medicinal pills. The only time he left his room was when he needed to visit the Black Market Auction House or the Alchemist Guild to trade his pills for other formulas or ingredients.
Although Hui Yue wished to support the Ma family’s auction house as much as he could, he knew that they had almost emptied their treasury of herbs to obtain the flying swords he made. Even for the Ma family, they could only buy so many herbs from mercenaries entering the city. The herbs Hui Yue needed now were no longer easily attainable. The plants he needed were increasingly rare and very hard to come by.
This was the reason why Hui Yue had to visit both places to get his materials.
At first, Hui Yue was nervous that someone would comment on a second-ranked alchemist trading medicinal pills of the seventh rank but he soon found that the Alchemist Guild asked no questions. Whether it was about buying pills or selling materials, no questions were asked. This made everything much easier for Hui Yue.
While Hui Yue spent every day refining medicine he found that his strength was constantly growing. His internal energy felt much more profound than it had before, and it had noticeably increased.
A smile played on Hui Yue's lips as he clenched his hand and felt the raw strength surge through his body. His decision to focus on increasing his strength had without a doubt been the right one.
'Tomorrow the annual pill auction will begin. Another two days after the start of the auction the alchemist’s contest will begin as well. I suppose I have trained enough for the contest,' Hui Yue told Lan Feng while at the same time trying to convince himself that he was proficient enough in pill concocting. Not knowing the strength of his opponents was enough to make him feel worried.
'Are you going to sell some of your pills at the auction?' Lan Feng asked curiously, but Hui Yue just shook his head. 'All the pills I possess are pills of the seventh rank. Although they are high ranked this is the annual pill auction. Many grandmasters have saved all their pills from throughout the year and will be auctioning them off. I have no wish to compete with them, and the ones purchasing the pills are here for those esteemed grandmasters’ pills, not for simple seventh-ranked pills like mine. Holding and selling them in a few weeks will reel in a much larger profit as everyone will sell now in the hope of getting a good price, which will exhaust the market.
Hearing what Hui Yue said, Lan Feng was stumped for words. He couldn’t find any fault in his young friend’s words, and his methods were quite crafty. This caused a smile to spread on Lan Feng's face. 'Brilliant!' He exclaimed after some time, 'simply brilliant!'
'So what do you plan to do during the annual pill auction?' Lan Feng asked curiously, but Hui Yue just shrugged.
'I guess I should take Ju Long, Lao, and Jo for a trip to town. We can look around with everyone. I have been neglecting them because of my training.' Hui Yue answered casually. Since he had finished studying pill refining and felt he was ready for the contest, he was not rushed for time nor did he have anything specific that he needed to do. All he needed to do now was waiting the day of the much-anticipated alchemist contest. The contest where he would show the world that he was the best and youngest upcoming alchemist.
Leaving the room, Hui Yue quickly found the children and Wang Ju Long in the garden where the three of them were cultivating together. Looking at the three, Hui Yue was greatly shocked. Although Lao had just reached the King rank, he was already a two star King ranked expert. His rate of advancement was simply unparalleled.
Wang Ju Long was now a nine star King and was close to breaking into the Emperor realm. She still possessed some of the golden pills which Hui Yue had given her, but she had not used them yet as she was waiting for the opportune moment. She wished to reach her bottleneck first before using the pills to breakthrough. She knew that she could always get more pills from Hui Yue, but she felt that he was already spoiling her enough. She wanted to work hard for her own cultivation rather than accept everything from Hui Yue.
Hui Yue understood Wang Ju Long's mind, and he also respected her wish to cultivate on her own. Because of this, he focused on his own and his children’s cultivation much more. Lao and Jo truly mattered a lot to Hui Yue, more than the two children could guess, and when Hui Yue saw the two children together with his lover, an undescribable warmth spread through his body. Sitting down, he decided to observe his loved ones cultivating together while waiting for them to finish.
It took roughly two hours before Wang Ju Long was the first to wake up from her meditation. As she opened her eyes, she was a bit perplexed to see Hui Yue who had shut himself inside his room for such a long time. A warm smile spread on Wang Ju Long's face, and she instantly moved towards him, sitting by his side.
As soon as Wang Ju Long sat down, Hui Yue took her hand in his. The two sat there, hand in hand, and observed the two children who were giving their best to cultivate. Neither of the two spoke a word; words were not needed. Instead, Wang Ju Long gently leaned against Hui Yue and a satisfied sigh escaped her lips. Although she knew that Hui Yue needed to train and work hard, she was the happiest when he was by her side.
Wang Ju Long was not the only one who enjoyed the tranquil atmosphere. Hui Yue, who had been filled with determination to improve his skills enough to save Sha Yun, needed this time to let his worries go and unwind. This helped him relax and enjoy the scenery.
As the sun set, Lao and Jo started moving slightly and after a short while the two awoke from their meditation. Both looked around rather stumped as they saw Hui Yue and Wang Ju Long, leaning against each other. They were holding hands and smiling while observing the two of them.
Both Jo and Lao felt their faces turn crimson from the sudden attention, but their reaction just caused Hui Yue to laugh out loud.
"Jo and Lao come here." He said while waving his hand and the two children instantly followed his order. Although they were slightly embarrassed, they both looked at Hui Yue as the absolute authority in their lives. No matter what he said, Lao would follow him with a raised head and straight back. Even if he said that they were to walk through the Netherworld and back, Lao would follow Hui Yue as far as he could.
"Tomorrow the pill auction will start. It will be a whole week in this wonderful city dedicated to the alchemists and their pills. In a few days, there will be the annual alchemy contest, or tournament, that I will be participating in to make sure that Aunt Yun returns." Hui Yue said seriously, and Lao nodded his head, still waiting for what Hui Yue wanted him to do.
"The two of you are incredibly talented, and I think you deserve to have fun for at least a day." Hui Yue said kindly. "Tomorrow the four of us will go to pill auction. I might be able to get my hands on some of the herbs I have wanted for some time," Hui Yue said smiling brightly. He had wanted to craft a few eighth-ranked pills. Although he could craft pills with the materials he had obtained from the grave his heart hurt thinking of all the materials he would end up wasting while refining these high-grade pills. He did not want to use materials from another world in a pill unless he was sure it would be a success. Because of this, he traded a high amount of pills for an eighth-ranked formula from the guild. Unfortunately, it required a golden root that was at least hundred years old, and that was something he did not currently have.
Hui Yue had been trying to get ahold of the right herbs for some time, but neither the guild nor the auction house had enough of these herbs to satisfy Hui Yue’s need when creating the eighth-ranked pills. The reason was simple; everyone knew that the annual pill auction was coming and therefore many alchemists were going to be spending a lot of money for the right materials.
"I know that you are not interested in many of the medicinal pills that will be on sale at the auction since I have pills much stronger; however, there will be many merchants selling various other things as well. If you find something you are interested in, then you can buy it." He said while handing them a golden coin storage stone.
"There are ten spirit coins within each of these stones, use them as you like. If you need any more come find me, I'll give you some more." He said casually. Although Hui Yue worked hard for the money he had earned, he was not going to be cheap when it came to his family. Thinking about the life his parents had lived when he was young alongside what Lao and Jo had gone through, Hui Yue wanted them to be able to live an easy life now. People would probably say that he spoiled the children, but Hui Yue wouldn’t care.
Although the children were spoiled, Lao was the most hardworking child Hui Yue had ever seen. The kinder Hui Yue was to him and Jo, the harder Lao worked. Jo was too young to truly cultivate, but her strength had already reached the King rank. Anyone at the mansion, even the guards were weaker than her in power. Although she did not enjoy cultivating, the young girl had found a hobby in sparring against the guards, and because she would usually win the many guards had gained a new respect for the young miss.
Hui Yue had not neglected the young children. Although he made Lao focused on cultivation, Hui Yue had transmitted some martial art skills, Wu Wei arts, and spiritual arts that fitted his elemental affinity. Lao would practice these from time to time, however, he would mainly focus on improving his strength. His goal was to reach the rank of Emperor so that he could start following Hui Yue around.
Hui Yue had also given Jo a vast amount of Wu Wei arts, martial arts, and spiritual arts as well. Jo had an outstanding comprehension and her ability to control these various arts was astonishing. Although her strength was increasing slowly compared to Lao, her combat ability was definitely equal to him, if not better.
With their current strength and the things which Hui Yue had already gifted these two children, it was highly unlikely that they would find anything of value at the many marketplaces in town, but even so, Hui Yue wished to give them a chance to buy whatever they fancied.
"Uhm," Jo, looking uncertain took a step forward. She was usually very timid when in front of Hui Yue, and only outspoken when she was with the guards or her brother Lao, so the white-haired young man was surprised to see her step forward.
He instantly sent her a gentle smile and urged her to continue. "I was wondering," She started with a very low voice. Since she had gone from being a simple disciple ranked expert to a King ranked expert her intellect had changed for the better. She had also matured somewhat, and she was no longer like a small child but more like a small grownup. These changes were even more prominent in Lao than her.
"I remember last year when it was the annual pill auction." She said, and her voice was gaining confidence with every word she spoke. "Back then big brother managed to work so hard that he earned enough money to buy me a candy apple."
Her voice was now almost normal, but she dared not look at Hui Yue, as she finally asked what was on her mind. "If I were to use some of the coins you gave us on food, would that be okay?"
Hui Yue was confused at first, but as he thought about it, he realized that the candy apple was likely her most precious memory of their previous life together, and to relive such a memory would make her feel happy and warm inside. A soft smile appeared on Hui Yue's lips as he kneeled down in front of her and gently petted her head.
"If you spend all the coins on food then so be it. As long as you are happy, then you can spend all the money and I would never be mad at you." He said reassuringly.