309: Chapter 245 309: Chapter 245 The shop assistants, heeding the boss’s directive, decided to close up for a rest.
They too sensed something was off, as the crowd queued but made no purchases, surrounding the boss instead.
They were clearly targeting the boss.
They knew their boss was capable, having heard about his remarkable skill in concocting pills, it was just unfortunate that they lacked the means to sell Supreme Elixirs.
They had never seen a Supreme Elixir, let alone hoped for the chance to consume one to enhance their cultivation.
Jiang Tang looked at the mountain gate he hadn’t entered for over a month, and perhaps due to a different state of mind, found that even the gateway of this top-tier sect seemed rather ordinary today!
In the past, he found the mountain gate imposing and unattainable, but now, with his improved cultivation, his mood had changed, and he felt that a top-tier sect was nothing special after all.
The guards at the mountain gate, upon seeing Jiang Tang, felt he looked somewhat familiar, as if they had seen him somewhere before?
Suddenly, they remembered—he wasn’t that the most sought-after Supreme Alchemist in the martial world recently?
The rumors said that this Supreme Alchemist hailed from their North City Immortal Sect, a fact which they heard but found hard to believe.
When had their sect possessed such a distinguished figure?
Jiang Tang, in contrast to his portraits, was much whiter and handsomer.
Could this pretty boy really possess the legendary abilities as rumored?
The gatekeeping disciples sized up Jiang Tang from head to toe, completely overlooking Yan Weiwei by his side.
Noticing people inspecting him, Jiang Tang understood that they wanted to see his token for identification.
He retrieved his newly-acquired Elder’s token.
“Greetings, Elder…” On seeing the token, the two disciples bowed in respect.
Jiang Tang, accompanied by Yan Weiwei, entered the familiar North City Immortal Sect.
He had spent over three years in this sect and although he hadn’t visited every mountain peak, he knew which elder managed each one.
Every peak had its name and specific use.
The mountain where his new position as an Elder was located wasn’t where he used to work as a Servant Disciple.
Previously, as a Servant Disciple, he was assigned to the Elixir Gardens and had to take on miscellaneous tasks.
He had accommodations before, though not very decent; living with others, the spiritual energy in their living space was the weakest within the Sea City Immortal Sect.
Now holding a token issued by the Immortal Sect, Jiang Tang didn’t need to go to the Affairs Hall to handle it again.
He believed that the necessary arrangements had already been made for him.
Being the focus of attention within the sect, they certainly wouldn’t treat him lightly.
“Jiang Tang, I’m going to check out the place where you’re registered first.
I want to see what the living conditions and treatment are like for an Elder like you.”
Yan Weiwei was reluctant to part with Jiang Tang so soon.
As a Direct Disciple of the Artifact Refining Hall and being a female disciple, she didn’t need to return too early.
Yan Weiwei had already sent a message to Ye Tian, her senior brother, who said he had matters to attend to and couldn’t return yet.
Thinking that her senior brother was still absent, Yan Weiwei decided to go back later, forgetting that Cai Xiangxiang, her maid, was waiting for her at the Artifact Refining Hall.
“Sure, that works.
But in a while, I need to visit your Artifact Refining Hall.
It’s filled with so many men, and you’re the only woman.
Your master really isn’t worried, not assigning a female disciple to accompany you.”
Jiang Tang knew that his senior sister was still concerned about the sect treating him poorly, but he worried that Yan Weiwei, being a female disciple among so many men, might be bullied.
“I’ve taken in a maid from outside.
You know her; her name is Cai Xiangxiang.
It’s the same Cai Xiangxiang we met when I went with Lord Qianchen to look for you after your mishap.
Those people had bound her, and we rescued her.”
Only then did Yan Weiwei remember Cai Xiangxiang and thought that Jiang Tang might also know her.
“Cai Xiangxiang?
Isn’t she Huang Chen’s junior sister?”
Jiang Tang recalled the Oasis experience in Liusha Sea City, the red-clad woman who begged him to spare her brother and was then bound by them, even as she pleaded piteously while Huang Chen and his fellow disciples attempted to kill him.
It wasn’t that he had a fondness for this woman; he just felt that she was the catalyst for the misfortune he encountered.
However, he harbored no hatred toward her, for she had never harmed him with her actions.
If it weren’t for that mishap, he wouldn’t have fallen into the Hell Palace.
Perhaps it would have taken him much longer to attain such a high level of cultivation.
This was a blessing in disguise.
“Yes, that’s her.
At the time, we both thought you were dead.
When we saw this woman bound, we killed those men, yet we took her in.
She too is a pitiable person—taken in as a disciple by her master at a young age and earnestly taught to cultivate.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Jiang Tang, after hearing Yan Weiwei’s words, realized that the spells and cultivation techniques used by Cai Xiangxiang were indeed odd.
Her fellow disciples, with similar levels of cultivation, were so easily bound by them—why?
Even now, he couldn’t understand why the techniques taught by the same master could differ so drastically.
“It’s not that Cai Xiangxiang wasn’t diligent enough.
It’s that her master had ulterior motives, teaching her a different technique from her fellow disciples, hardly treating her as a true disciple.”
“Senior sister, the more you speak, the more confused I get.
Can you explain more clearly to me?”
Yan Weiwei, until now, had been speaking indirectly.
If she were talking to someone more experienced in the martial world, they might have understood, but Jiang Tang wasn’t quite like those veterans, nor was he a complete novice.
All at once, she was embarrassed to explain that Cai Xiangxiang was being used as a cauldron, her cheeks flushed red.
But eventually, Jiang Tang would come to know of this, unless he never had the chance to see Cai Xiangxiang and she could refrain from telling him.
But now Jiang Tang had come to the Immortal Sect, and Cai Xiangxiang was in her courtyard—how could she not make things clear to him?
“Jiang Tang, have you heard that some women are born with a yin physique?”
“A natural yin physique?” Jiang Tang echoed Yan Weiwei’s words, recalling when he was a teenager in his previous life, he had read some online novels, both genuine and pirated.
The authentic ones were more strictly regulated, but pirated books had everything on display.
He read some of those peculiar cultivation stories where women with yin physiques were perfect for those unscrupulous cultivators to use as cauldrons, as a means to enhance their own cultivation level.
Some even worse, demon cultivators with their high cultivation would seek out women with yin physiques, or simply beautiful women, regardless of whether they practiced cultivation or not, to serve as concubines in their harem.
“Yes, fortunately, you encountered that mishap, and she met us, giving her my protection.
It was Su Chang’an who discerned her physique, and I even had Ye, craft a jade token for her to conceal her yin physique.
I still owe Ye for the jade token, a debt of gratitude.”
Jiang Tang didn’t understand why Ye Tian was so generous, and although he hadn’t seen the jade token, even as a newcomer, he knew such an item wouldn’t be cheap.
“Brother Ye isn’t short of money; he wanted to help you.
You don’t need to worry about it, and paying him back isn’t necessary, right?
If Brother Ye needs money, let me pay it back!
I’m collaborating with him anyway; I can give him some pills, and we can consider the matter settled.”
“Jiang Tang, how could I possibly accept that?
I owe a debt of gratitude!”
“Senior sister, who are we kidding here?
Do we really need to stand on ceremony?
Besides, helping others doesn’t require repayment of favors.”
Jiang Tang could tell from the way Yan Weiwei talked about Ye Tian that her eyes sparkled differently; perhaps Brother Ye also had feelings for his senior sister, or why else would he assist so generously?
There are many beautiful women in the sect, but truly kind and gentle ones are rare.
Yan Weiwei was the only senior sister in the sect who cared for him.
He had long known about the woman’s kindness—helping him, a former good-for-nothing, and also supporting Cai Xiangxiang, who she had just met, perhaps out of sympathy.
Jiang Tang had found his first taste of human warmth in the Cultivation World through Yan Weiwei, followed by meeting Su Chang’an.
He felt not alone in the Cultivation World, especially with a ghost cultivator as a family member in his domain.
Now that he had met so many women, he was doing quite well for himself in the Cultivation World.
By the time they reached the Elixir Hall mountain, they had arrived at their sect, where flying was not allowed.
With their cultivation, they were faster walking than running.
Without using Qinggong, they were still quicker, and the disciples guarding the Alchemy Hall stopped the unfamiliar man and woman from entering.
Jiang Tang, not one to respond arrogantly, took out the Elder’s token and said, “I am Jiang Tang, the newly appointed Alchemy Hall Elder from the North City Immortal Sect.
Here is my token.”