**Chapter 46: Withdrawal, Breakthrough, and Harvest**
February 9, 2013 Author: Gu Zhenren
“Grandpa asked me to do my best to mend relations with Chu Yun. If necessary, even at the cost of my appearance, I should not hesitate?”
Clutching the thin letter, Ning Yiyi felt its weight heavier than a thousand catties. She was distraught, her delicate body trembling. Tears silently streamed down her beautiful face, as delicate as jade and as fragrant as a flower.
These were tears of humiliation.
At this moment, Ning Yiyi felt the ultimate humiliation!
She hated Chu Yun, hated him to death. She wished she could eat his flesh and drink his blood.
But she had no choice. This was the family’s command, her grandfather’s command.
Moreover, she understood that Chu Yun’s value was enough for her to do this. He was originally the young master of Shu Family Island, and then he displayed immense potential. The value of the Ascendant Pill further highlighted his brilliance. If such a person could be of use to the Ning Family, what was the sacrifice of Ning Yiyi?
“Chu Yun has been living in the courtyard of the academy director on the mountaintop for two weeks. He has been keeping a low profile since then. It won’t be easy to see him. But for the sake of the family, what is sacrificing myself?”
She gave a desolate smile, applied white powder, rouged her cheeks, drew her eyebrows, adorned her temples, touched up her face, and painted her lips.
After meticulously dressing up, she looked at her face in the mirror, which tried to force a smile. Ning Yiyi suddenly felt a wave of weakness wash over her.
When Chu Yun defeated Hua Ying in public, she already felt a sense of powerlessness. After hearing the news that he had developed the Ascendant Pill, this feeling of powerlessness intensified a hundredfold.
Chu Yun was invincible!
At least within this Academy, he was the genuine number one. No scholar could defeat him. This was the truth and the fact.
Facing such a person, no matter how proud or unwilling Ning Yiyi was, she could only lower her head.
She rose silently, dressed in splendor, exceptionally beautiful. Her beauty was like a blooming begonia, surpassing white jade, captivating and breathtaking.
She left her sleeping quarters and went to the courtyard of the academy director near the mountaintop, requesting to see Chu Yun.
“Ning Yiyi wants to see me? Humph, do I not know her intentions? A waste of time, I won’t see her!” Chu Yun immediately refused without mercy upon hearing the news.
Jin Bihan conveyed Chu Yun’s refusal to Ning Yiyi outside the courtyard.
“He won’t even see me… Heh heh, this is truly the style of the ‘Young Tiger’. Then Yiyi will take her leave.” Ning Yiyi was not surprised. She walked back alone, her figure appearing desolate and lonely on the quiet mountain path.
When she reached a corner, she turned and looked back. The academy director’s courtyard was hidden among the lush green trees. White walls and gray tiles, displaying a sense of aloofness against the mountain’s terrain.
She felt so high up that she couldn’t reach him.
“When did Chu Yun become so elevated? Making me feel he’s out of reach?” Ning Yiyi’s heart was startled, and a heavy burden seemed to press down on her chest.
Jin Bihan was also unsettled, watching Ning Yiyi’s retreating back disappear from view. As a woman herself, her emotions fluctuated.
“Beauty is indeed a woman’s pride, and also a woman’s sorrow. Ning Yiyi, because of her beauty, harbored pride and didn’t take Chu Yun seriously. Now she has to rely on her beauty to actively mend their relationship. It’s quite ironic. This kind of weapon might work against others, but against Chu Yun…”
Thinking this, Jin Bihan shook her head and walked back into the courtyard.
Seeing Chu Yun still diligently practicing the Eight-Section Brocade Pill Refining Hand Seal, she felt an urge to ask him what kind of woman would truly capture his attention.
“Ning Yiyi has left,” Jin Bihan said to Chu Yun.
“Oh.” Chu Yun didn’t look up, sweat dripping like rain from his face. He was fully focused on his two hands. His fingers flew, diligently practicing the Eight-Section Brocade Pill Refining Hand Seal.
During this period, he spent every day either refining pills or practicing the Ascendant Pill.
Coupled with the aid of the Jadeite Dreamscape, his hard work paid off. His progress in hand seals was astonishing.
He had now thoroughly mastered the basic pill refining hand seals. With the insights from the jade slip, he had also completely mastered the Upper grade Eight-Section Brocade Pill Refining Hand Seal, though he had not yet reached a proficient level.
“Take a break, it’s time to eat,” Jin Bihan said gently.
Chu Yun’s hand seal continued without stopping, like a phantom. He replied, “You eat first. I’m sensing something mystical. If I can grasp it, I can break through the bottleneck today and improve my Eight-Section Brocade Pill Refining technique, allowing me to refine pills with four Dao rhymes in their medicinal clothing.”
“Alright…” Jin Bihan shook her head, feeling both helpless and admiring. Chu Yun’s diligence made her feel ashamed.
As dusk approached, Chu Yun’s excited shout suddenly echoed from the courtyard: “Damn it, I broke through!”
…
“What? Four Dao Rhymes in the medicinal clothing? This batch of Ascendant Pills are all encrypted with four Dao Rhymes?!” Upon hearing this terrible news, the Ning Family Island Lord almost spat blood.
Initially, they only needed to acquire 30 more Three Dao Rhyme Ascendant Pills to decipher its components. But unexpectedly, Chu Yun’s pill refining skill had improved at this critical juncture!
An additional Dao Rhyme was added to the pills he refined. This meant that the Alchemists’ analysis and deciphering of the prescription would be postponed indefinitely.
“Yiyi’s efforts have also yielded no progress. This brat Chu Yun is much harder to deal with than his father. Humph, since that’s the case, you’re forcing my hand! Deploy the death warriors, assassinate Chu Yun, and seize the prescription!” the Ning Family Island Lord coldly commanded.
Another week passed.
“This is the third wave of assassination attempts?” Chu Yun’s expression was calm as he watched the black-clad assassins perish in the hands of Feng Bole, the director of Tiange Academy.
“Actually, there have been five waves. Two of them were intercepted directly outside the island. I have to say, Tiange Academy’s defense measures still need to be strengthened.” Feng Bole waved his sleeve at the body of a black-clad assassin, and it disappeared from its spot.
Over the past week, there had been almost daily attempts to assassinate Chu Yun and Shu Tianhao. However, this situation was well within Chu Yun’s expectations. The profits from sea salt were too enormous, making it worth the risk for most people.
Therefore, the three of them had moved into the academy director’s courtyard long ago and were personally guarded by Director Feng Bole, naturally eliminating any threat to their lives.
“While we’re not afraid of assassination, this is a warning. It shows that various forces are becoming impatient. It seems that Shu Family Island’s profiteering has made them red-eyed,” Yan Que said meaningfully, looking at Chu Yun.
Chu Yun smiled slightly, “I understand what you mean. One cannot be too greedy. Continuing further would be counterproductive. I’ve already sent a letter to my godfather asking him to handle the cleanup. I believe he has received it by now?”
Feng Bole also smiled. Looking at the young men before him, a hint of admiration flashed in his eyes. The ability to advance and retreat, such composure was rarely seen among young men.
Three days later, Shu Family Island released a surprisingly large amount of sea salt into the market.
Simultaneously, Shu Family Island dispatched envoys to various islands to establish commercial agreements.
The agreements significantly reduced the price of sea salt, bringing it almost back to its original price, with only a slight increase. While selling at this price to the various islands, they stipulated the annual import volume of sea salt for each island.
The content of the agreement reached the Ning Family Island Lord, making him furious and causing him to lose sleep for an entire night. He knew that this agreement alone would make Shu Family Island the leader in the sea salt trade of the Archipelago, its position firmly established and unshakeable.
The Ning family’s plan to suppress the economy of Shu Family Island for many years was officially declared a failure by this agreement.
The price of sea salt dropped significantly, stabilizing the entire market. Although Shu Family Island’s profits appeared to decrease, it was a strategy for long-term stability and risk avoidance, buying them time to digest wealth and build military strength.
With this large sum of money, Shu Family Island’s naval reconstruction plan would proceed unimpeded. It could even be easily expanded three times beyond its original scale!
At the same time, Chu Yun cooperated by releasing a large quantity of Ascendant Pills into the market. This immediately curbed the spread of the epidemic, like extinguishing a raging fire. The Archipelago, which had been in dire straits and restless, quickly stabilized.
Various factions, large and small, gained a reprieve. They began to regroup, lick their wounds, observe the situation, and prepare for the future.
What Chu Yun felt most profoundly was that the death warriors and assassins who had infiltrated the Academy to carry out assassinations suddenly vanished.
This was because the Ascendant Pill prescription no longer held value and was not worth assassinating and stealing. The Academy was also relieved; prolonged vigilance was exhausting. Every day, the academy director, Feng Bole, and the elder alchemist Bai Mei, carried heavy psychological burdens.
As for the Ascendant Pill prescription, Chu Yun planned to reveal it at a future moment.
He also knew that if pills could be encrypted, they could also be deciphered. With the increased quantity of pills he was releasing into the market, others would eventually analyze and deduce the recipe’s components.
Some might even create special effica pills with better effects and lower costs. In his past life memories, the Ascendant Pill prescription was developed by an ordinary person.
It didn’t involve much technical difficulty. A common method to reduce costs was substitution. Using cheaper ingredients to replace expensive ones and then conducting experiments.
The key was that experimentation required time and luck. In his previous life, the kelp epidemic had plagued the entire Archipelago, causing significant economic losses. Only then was the Ascendant Pill prescription researched and developed.
Once someone successfully experimented with a prescription that had good cost-effectiveness and efficacy, the value of the Ascendant Pill prescription would completely disappear. Therefore, Chu Yun decided to be magnanimous and release the prescription at that time.
However, before that, the Ascendant Pill still had residual market value, and it could be used to make a substantial profit.
Shu Family Island had truly undergone a rebirth through this crisis. Chu Yun had also gained significantly.
First, his pill refining hand seals. These days of continuous pill refining had elevated his basic pill refining hand seals to a “reflexive” level. Not only had he completely mastered the Eight-Section Brocade Pill Refining Hand Seal, but he had also progressed from beginner to proficient.
Second, his reputation. Ever since he publicly defeated Hua Ying, causing his challengers to forfeit, he had been implicitly recognized as the number one person in the Academy. With the development of the Ascendant Pill and its market success, this prestige was quickly solidified, and no one doubted Chu Yun’s status as the number one anymore.
On the “Flowing Rumors Vine’s Elite Ranking,” his ranking rose from 107th to 98th. Below the title “Young Tiger,” a new description was added: “Possesses pill refining talent. When the epidemic broke out, everyone was helpless, but only he could truly counteract it with his pills. The world marveled.”
Finally, his cultivation of the “Revolving Pill Origin Tree” reached 10 years recently, finally triggering the Lesser Demon Tribulation.
The Revolving Pill Origin Tree was about to undergo its tribulation.
