Chapter 381 : The Elder Appears (2)
Who would dare to impersonate as an Elder of the Qing Yun Clan? No one in their right mind would dare to do it.
Moreover, that person possessed the symbolic badge of the Qing Yun Clan, leading the people witnessing the commotion to believe them.
With the disappearance of the Qing Yun Clan, the meaning behind those three words attracted attention of an unprecedented level.
The man in white looked at the pleading youth before him and said: "The Qing Yun Clan is no more and I am no longer an Elder of the Qing Yun Clan. It must be fate that we met here today. I have a few more of that elixir you want but I do not have much left. If you really want it so badly, I can part with one more for the same price that you paid previously."
The pleading youth was ecstatic and could not stop bowing in gratitude. He reached into his sleeves and pulled out three bank notes showing an amount of one hundred thousand taels each and handed it over to "Mu Chen".
The other youths who were watching them intently all widened their eyes. Three hundred thousand taels for one elixir!?
What kind of a price was that!?
Besides the elixirs of the Qing Yun Clan, who else was able to command such prices!?
Anyone looking to enroll into the exorbitant Zephyr Academy were from families of prodigious wealth and hundreds of thousands of taels were well within their means. They were now presented before their eyes, a chance meeting with an Elder of the disappeared Qing Yun Clan, and he had just agreed to sell an elixir from the Qing Yun Clan to that youth!
Mayhem ensued!
Groups of youths swarmed out from the queue and rushed towards the tree.
"Mu Chen" was just concluding his deal with the youth when he saw a large group of sweat drenched youths rushing towards him and before he knew it, they all knelt down at his feet.
"Elder Mu! May we ask what elixir did you just sell to that youth?" A cautious youth before "Mu Chen" asked in audacity without even stating his intentions but asking about the use and effects of the elixir impudently.
Three hundred thousand taels was not a small sum and not many elixirs across these vast lands was worth that heavenly price tag!
If they splashed such a huge sum of money but got themselves an elixir they had no use for, they would undoubtedly be shown up as fools.
"Mu Chen" stared at the crowd of youths who had suddenly surrounded him and his handsome face registered a moment of surprise but was quickly suppressed and he calmed down before saying in a soft voice: "It was just an elixir that widens your veins and arteries that speeds up the development of spiritual power in training and nothing else."
"Mu Chen's " tone was nonchalant, but when those words registered in the minds of the youths, their hearts started beating faster!
Widening of the veins and arteries!?
That effect was just incredibly fascinating!!
That would mean that the progress in their future training would be faster than their peers! For elixirs such as this, its effects were better when they consume it at a young age to strengthen their foundation. The youths were all below sixteen years of age and it was the perfect time for them to consume it!
Moreover, before this, they had not known that an elixir with such effects existed!
So, who else would have the ability to produce an elixir with such heaven defying effects besides the Qing Yun Clan!?
But the Qing Yun Clan had ceased to exist and only the Heavens knew when they would meet anyone from the Qing Yun Clan again. It might turn out to be the only chance in their lifetime to buy that phenomenal elixir!
"Elder Mu!" Please grace me with one of the elixir! I'll pay! Any amount you want!" A quick thinking youth pleaded immediately, waving a handful of bank notes in his hand!
The state of their veins and arteries would affect the future development of their spiritual powers in training, who could refuse such a heavensent opportunity?
"Elder Mu! Sell one to me too!"
"Me! Me! Elder Mu! I want one too! At whatever price!"
After the first outburst from one youth, a second youth quickly followed, and a third.....
The crowd around "Mu Chen" was still growing and the first youth who had already made a purchase was pushed out by the crowd.
The youths were all on their knees as they surged around "Mu Chen", as wads and wads of bank notes were waved in the air, begging for just one elixir!
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Chapter 382 : The Elder Appears (3)
The youth who was pushed out behind the crowd stared at the endless wads of bank notes waving in the air and discreetly threw a thumbs up at his three other companions standing behind the tree.
The explosive shouts of demand continued for awhile more and the commotion drew more eyes to look in the direction of the tree. In moments, the neat queue before the academy broke as many more youths rushed to come under the tree.
"Mu Chen" suddenly stated that the demand was too overwhelming and he had only four more elixirs with him.
Upon hearing that, the crowd erupted in chaos!
It would be reasonable that elixirs with such astounding effects would be rare and its quantity extremely limited. But since they had chanced upon such an opportunity so hard to come by, they were not prepared to lose it!
While the price was previously set at three hundred thousand taels previously, the overwhelming demand pushed the price up and it rocketed to five hundred thousand taels easily for each elixir sold.
After the four elixirs were sold out, the rest of the disappointed youths refused to give up and continued to pester for other elixirs to be sold to them as pity for not being able to get one of those four elixirs.
That's right, they asked to be pitied.....
Hundreds of thousand taels splashed out and they feel "Mu Chen" sold them the elixirs out of pity.
Those elixirs would change their life completely and with their families' prodigious wealth behind them, the money spent would barely be a drop in the sea.
However, Elder "Mu Chen" said that he was cleared out of elixirs and a wail of despair subsequently swept through the youths before they dispersed in dejection.....
As "Mu Chen" left, many pairs of eyes were staring at his back in regret.
All but four pairs. Four youths were laughing hilariously behind the tree.
"Little Xie! That was just too wicked! With each elixir, you swindled them of five hundred thousand taels! We got ourselves two million taels with just those four elixirs! The returns were just astronomical!" Qiao Chu looked at those youths staring forlornly at "Mu Chen's" back as he departed and he laughed even harder then. Qiao Chu wondered if those youths ever find out that the "Mu Chen" they saw was actually Hua Yao in disguise, what kind of thoughts would go through their minds.....
Hua Yao's ability to freely control his bones coupled with Jun Xie's talent at changing a person's outlook enabled them to imitate anyone they met completely and they had absolutely no problem copying the looks of Mu Chen whom they had close contact with in the Qing Yun Clan!
"I spotted the kid who mocked us before and he managed to win one of the elixirs from us. Hahaha..... If he only knew that he spent five hundred thousand taels to purchase an ordinary elixir, I wonder if he would vomit out blood then!" Qiao Chu felt better the more he thought about it. Jun Xie's underhanded scheme was really too much! If anyone else had claimed to possess such Heaven defying elixirs, no one would have believed a word of it. But they had brought out Mu Chen of the Qing Yun Clan, who specialised in veins and arteries, to make that claim, which lent undeniable credence to their words.
No matter how rotten the Qing Yun Clan was in reality, in the eyes of the people throughout the lands, they were the epitome of Medicine!
Jun Wu Xie stared at the guffawing Qiao Chu and said in a chill voice: "Those were not ordinary elixirs."
"WHAT?" Qiao Chu was stupefied.
Fei Yan who heard Jun Wu Xie looked at her in shock while she asked: "Little Xie, you mean those elixirs would really change the state of their veins and arteries!?"
Jun Wu Xie nodded.
Qiao Chu and the others suddenly became speechless.
All these youths in Lower Realm claimed they had not heard of it, even the four of them who were from the Middle Realm did not know that elixirs that could change the state of veins and arteries even existed!
"You..... you mean it's real!?" Qiao Chu still had not recovered from the shock. He had thought that the elixirs they sold were ordinary elixirs and never in his wildest dreams would he expect them to possess the effects they had claimed!
Jun Wu Xie nodded again.
"HOW CAN THIS BE!!!?" Qiao Chu shouted in disbelief. His shout shocked Hua Yao who was just returning to the group after shedding his disguise.
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Chapter 383 : The Elder Appears (4)
"What's going on here?" Hua Yao asked as he looked at Qiao Chu's shocked face and then at Fei Yan's and Rong Ruo's perplexed expressions.
Qiao Chu was incapable of speech and could only raise a heavily shaking finger to point at Jun Wu Xie.
Rong Ruo cleared her throat before she could speak and said: "Little Xie said..... Those elixirs we sold were real."
Even the usually calm Hua Yao paled at the news.
"Jun Xie, you cultivated those pills?" It was Hua Yao's turn to stare in incredulity at Jun Xie as he asked again, still unable to believe his ears. When Jun Xie had suggested that he impersonated Mu Chen and use the famed name of the Qing Yun Clan to peddle those elixirs, he had thought the very same way as his companions that Jun Xie had intended to hoodwink the disgustingly rich brats here with mere common elixirs and he would never have expected that.....
That little kid had given him the real deal..... Those elixirs' effects were as they claimed!
Jun Wu Xie nodded slightly and her eyes were expressionless. She did not understand why a few elixirs would elicit such dramatic reactions from her companions.
Even Hua Yao who was already mentally prepared found himself unable to respond to Jun Xie's honest reply that had thrown a bolt at him.
The four pairs of eyes that stared at Jun Wu Xie were incredulous. Was this kid really from the Lower Realm? They were the ones from the Middle Realm..... How was their Little Xie pulling out all these elixirs that they had never even knew existed?
Jun Wu Xie looked at her four companions staring at her as if she were some hideous monster. She was silent a moment before she reached into her cosmos bag and pulled out a white porcelain bottle.
"You want it?"
All at the same time, four pairs of eyes sparkled brightly!
They had just seen a similar bottle earlier, it looked just like the bottle Jun Xie had handed to Hua Yao to peddle.
As to what was inside, they all only knew too well by now.
"It..... It's really for us?" Qiao Chu asked swallowing noisily and he could not take his eyes off the white porcelain bottle in Jun Xie's hand.
Jun Wu Xie pushed the bottle that contained the Heaven defying elixirs into Qiao Chu's hand without a word.
To her, it was just some excess elixirs left over from the batches she had cultivated for the Rui Lin Army, and did not matter much.
At that time, Jun Wu Xie had singlehandedly cultivated one hundred thousand elixirs just like those for the Rui Lin Army!
Jun Wu Xie herself was surprised that her elixirs would sell so well. She had never had to worry about money and she did not even consider how much her elixirs were worth. The figure she gave Hua Yao earlier was based entirely on the amount they needed. She had absolutely no idea if they were worth that much or not.
But the chaos that ensued had proven it.....
Worth every cent!
Jun Wu Xie might have unilaterally decided to steal Mu Chen identity, but she had no intention of sullying the man's name as he made his way towards the Qi Kingdom's Imperial City.
When the thought of the Qi Kingdom came to mind, Jun Wu Xie's head lowered. She had gotten Ye Sha to send news to Jun Wu Yao, and to have Jun Wu Yao inform the Jun Family's father and son that she had embarked on a journey of training with her Master, and there was no need to worry about her.
But Jun Wu Xie's spontaneous little "fund raiser" though unintentional, brought about quite a bit of headache for Mu Chen.
As till far into the future, news of Mu Chen's ability to cultivate those Heaven defying elixirs spread throughout the Lower Realm and when these elixir hungry people heard that Mu Chen was in the Qi Kingdom's Lin Palace, they all swarmed to him, scaring Mu Chen into hiding in the Lin Palace and not daring to take a single step outside.
That is the future, and would not be discussed now.
Now, they had the money. The five of them did not have to worry about the fees any longer. Jun Wu Xie generously gave five hundred thousand taels to each of them and dispersed the group, to join the queue.
After the "Mu Chen" commotion died down, the queue before the Zephyr Academy regained its order.
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Chapter 384 : The Elder Appears (5)
Alas.....
After queueing for one whole day, the five of them did not even manage to touch the Zephyr Academy's gates. In the midst of the sea of people, Jun Wu Xie decided to leave and stood on one side. The Zephyr Academy's enrollment would cease when night fell and resume the next morning. She watched as the sun made its way down towards the horizon and decided that they did not stand a chance today.
Just as the sun was about to set, a group of people dressed in white clothes trimmed in blue came out through the gates of the Zephyr Academy. The man leading them looked to be in his early thirties, his face upright with a pair of eyes brimming with energy. The others behind him were all youths between eighteen and nineteen years of age and they all wore on their chests a jade emblem carved into the shape of a star.
When the group stepped out through the gates of the Zephyr Academy, all the youths who had been in the queue for one whole day suddenly became excited.
"Where is the Qing Yun Clan's Elder Mu?" The leader of the group asked of the guards standing at the gates.
One of the guards whispered a few words and the man's eyes frowned, his face a look of disappointment. With a heavy sigh, he brought the group back inside the academy.
Fei Yan watched on hidden behind the other youths and with his pretty looks which did not determine his sex, he went one round within the crowd and came back to assemble with Jun Wu Xie and the others after that.
"Looks like Little Xie's bait not only won us money, it had also baited a big fish." Fei Yan said with a smile as he leaned against a tree branch.
"What did you find out?" Qiao Chu asked excitedly.
Fei Yan did not play coy and shared all that he gathered: "That man who just came out is one of the teachers from the weapons spirits branch. The Headmaster of the Zephyr Academy has one son who suffered from a weak constitution and has been sickly from a young age. He has been kept alive with the help of countless medication taken daily and the Headmaster's various rare and treasured herbs and elixirs. As the young master's body is weak and he is unable to undertake long journeys, the Headmaster had kept him at home to strengthen him up. The son had finally recovered enough to make a trip to the Qing Yun Clan for Qing Yue to treat him when unexpectedly, the Qing Yun Clan disbanded! That man earlier must have gotten wind of Mu Chen's appearance and rushed out to take a look, but a pity....."
Fei Yan's smile was wide as he related the information to the others. Wherever there are crowds, he could always get the information he needed.
"Hey, do you think if the Headmaster of the Zephyr Academy finds out that the very same culprits responsible for the annihilation of the Qing Yun Clan are currently applying to enter his academy, would he send all his men to come kill us off?" Qiao Chu added fuel to the fire with a laugh.
The Qing Yun Clan was not as benevolent as they seemed, to get Qin Yue to help, one would need to pay a heavy price.
"Definitely! But Little Ruo and me would be fine though. As for you....." Fei Yan said with a wicked laugh.
But on the other hand, the Headmaster's son must suffer from bad luck. Having lived for so many years, he was unable to recover enough. And his body only chose to become well enough for travel just after Jun Wu Xie annihilated them.
It was such a shame.
"I heard that the Headmaster had resorted to inviting prodigious doctors to come to the Zephyr Academy to treat his son and no one knows whether that had yielded and improvements." Fei Yan said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as his eyes turned.
Right after Fei Yan said that, the eyes of the other three fell at the same time onto the tiny figure of Jun Xie.
Prodigious doctor?
Wasn't this small framed petite figure beside them the most prodigious doctor with hidden talents!?
After seeing Jun Xie treat Qiao Chu and Hua Yao and they had almost knelt and completely prostrated themselves before his skills in Medicine.
Jun Xie looked up to face the stares thrown at him and simply turned to walk towards the inn they had arranged accommodations at earlier.
"It's late."
He didn't seem to be interested at all!
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Chapter 385 : Enrollment (1)
Back at the inn, Fei Yan handed a clear and sparkling crystal to Jun Wu Xie.
"The Zephyr Academy enrollment calls for a check on your ring spirit. You don't need to summon it but just to put your hand on this and it will make a copy of your ring spirit and ascertain its grade. It would be better if you used the little black cat in place of the lotus." Fei Yan had found out everything there was to know for the enrollment in half a day's time and there was nothing to be worried about for the others but only that Jun Xie's ring spirit must not be exposed.
"Qiao Chu told me that the little black cat is also your ring spirit. You should give it a try." Jun Xie's little black cat's origins had been a mystery and Fei Yan together with the others had not asked too much about it.
Jun Wu Xie nodded and after Fei Yan left, she put her hand on the crystal. A very faint image of a lotus soon appeared in the crystal, so faint it was almost unnoticeable.
Jun Wu Xie narrowed her eyes and opened up her cosmos bag to take out a huge sealed sphere. The bottom half of the sphere was filled with water from the Heaven's Spring and the Snow Lotus sat upon the water's surface within the sphere.
When she left the Phoenix Academy, Jun Wu Xie had brought the Snow Lotus with her as she had the Heaven's Flask with her and she did not need to worry that she would run out of the water from the Heaven's Spring.
It was because the Snow Lotus was not within Jun Wu Xie's body that the crystal had formed such a fuzzy image, but the shape of a lotus flower could still be seen faintly.
Jun Wu Xie had experienced first hand what disaster the knowledge of the existence of a plant ring spirit within her could bring. The human skin maps showing the location of the Dark Emperor's tomb originated from seven of the Twelve Palaces. Now that it was known that a portion of the map existed within the Zephyr Academy, she was certain that they had received the map from the Twelve Palaces. Jun Wu Xie's eyes flared with a cold chill. The Zephyr Academy must have some secret link with one of the Twelve Palaces.
Fei Yan had understood the dangers involved and had brought the crystal earlier to Jun Wu Xie for her to prepare for it.
Using the little black cat in replacement for her real ring spirit. Jun Wu Xie had never attempted that before and she could only feel her way around on her own. She concentrated her spiritual power onto her hand. When Jun Wu Xie placed her hand on the crystal once again, the faint image of the lotus disappeared and in its place, a translucent image of a little cat showed up within.
It had taken her only moments, but the concentration and effort needed made her short of breath after.
The little black cat was still in a coma and its soul was close to complete exhaustion. Jun Wu Xie had not dared to move it much and could only employ the link her soul had with the little black cat as a cover up. Her own soul was not in any better shape and with that short period of utilisation of her soul's powers had completely drenched her back.
She wore a fake replica of a ring on her finger and Jun Wu Xie laid back on the chair to catch her breath.
Early the next morning, Jun Wu Xie and her companions proceeded to go to the Zephyr Academy. Due to the expected large number of people there for the enrollment, the five companions decided to split up.
As it was still early when they reached, there were not many people at the gates. The five companions were able to find themselves separate stations to carry out the checks in a short period of time. Jun Wu Xie went to the station at the extreme end and the man behind the station looked at Jun Wu Xie head to toe before he impatiently stretched out his hand to dangle a crystal before Jun Wu Xie's eyes.
Jun Wu Xie pressed her hand upon the crystal without a word and pushed her soul power into it. Immediately, a translucent image of a cat appeared within the crystal and the man cast a nonchalant glance at it and said: "Beast spirit..... Wait!"
The man seemed to have noticed something and the lazy look on his face disappeared. He stared questioningly at the translucent image in the crystal and when he turned his eyes to look at Jun Wu Xie, his eyes seemed to be searching for something on her.
"Infuse your spiritual power into this crystal." The man took out another crystal and put it before Jun Wu Xie once more.