Chapter 106: The Nalan Clan has an unforeseen event
Translator: Misty Cloud Translations Editor: Misty Cloud Translations
Sima You Yue's subtle change in expression didn't escape Sima Lie's old eyes as he stared at her and frowned, saying, "still not going to confess?"
Sima You Yue forced out two dry laughs, saying, "Grandfather, didn't you say that you were battling with the Full Ape? How would you have seen us?"
She thought that as long as Sima Lie didn't expose her, she would not directly admit to it.
"hmph, I didn't see you but I saw that brat from the Qu Clan. The three people beside him should also be the few people from your dorm. They were all there so how could you, this guy, possibly not be there?" Sima Lie said, "Although I was battling, I still saw them during the brief intervals."
When she heard what Sima Lie said, Sima You Yue secretly let out a breath. Right now, he was merely guessing that she was at the mountain slope as an observer. If he knew that she was the person who had stolen the Golden Snake Fruit, the incident involving Mo Sha could no longer be concealed. Furthermore, she would definitely be harshly taught a lesson.
In any case, that Golden Snake Fruit could not be used directly, so when that time came, she would just refine pills and directly feed it to them and that would be settled.
"Hey hey, Grandfather, you weren't afraid of being injured by the Full Ape either." releasing the worry in her heart allowed Sima You Yue to relax her body.
"The situation the Nalan Clan faced was caused by the few of you?"
Although it was a question, Sima Lie's tone was as if he was just taking it as a confirmation.
Sima You Yue nodded, saying, "I heard them saying that they would come over to our house to cause trouble for us the moment they returned from the Pu Luo Mountain Range, so I might as well just let them remain in the mountain. However, Grandfather, how are those guys now?"
"How else could they be, almost half of the guards that they brought with them died and those that didn't die had lost half their lives. Nalan Lan's life is currently hanging on by a thread and Nalan He has lost an arm." The joy on Sima Lie's face was unconcealed as he spoke about the tragedy that had befallen the Nalan Clan.
"The two of them actually didn't die!" Sima You Yue said with some disappointment.
Sima Lie stared at Sima You Yue, saying, "This is really a heavy blow to the Nalan Clan! At the very least, they wouldn't dare to directly fight with our clan for now."
"Then what about that crappy Great Elder; why is he still coming to make trouble." Sima You Yue pouted.
If Nalan He had really been killed on the Pu Luo Mountain Range like she wished, the head of the clan would have passed away and the Nalan Clan would be thrown into a period of disarray. However, she never thought that he would only have lost an arm.
"What you're currently thinking isn't wrong. It's just that they have been weakened on this front by quite a bit, but the other areas have been strengthened as well." Sima Lie sighed.
"what's wrong?" Sima You Yue looked at Sima Lie with confusion.
"During the time that you left the capital, the Nalan Clan had, at some unknown time, invited a Alchemist into their residence. Rumours have been going around saying that he is a Alchemist of second rank. Furthermore, at their shop, they have been increasingly selling their goods and greedily eating up all our business. Your eldest brother and second brother have been going crazy over this recently." Sima Lie said, "It's also because Grandfather has been in a bad mood lately and my relationship with Alchemists are not good. As a result, during this period of time, nobody is willing to step forward and help us."
"No wonder their clan head would act this way. They actually dare to come over to our place to raise a fuss." Sima You Yue got a good grasp of the situation and said, " However, Grandfather, you don't have to worry. They just have a second ranked Alchemist? We will have one too."
She understood that Alchemists was very attractive to cultivators and there were some Mercenaries that yearned for alchemy. If the Nalan Clan had an Alchemist enter their Clan, the would be able to arrogantly occupy that position of advantage.
However, this was under the prerequisite that the Sima Clan would be unable to find an alchemist. They had confidence in the fact that Sima Lie had bad relations with the Alchemists, so none of them would be willing to enter their clan. However, they would never expect that an Alchemist would appear from within the Sima Clan.
Sima You Yue thought back to the time where she had just entered this world and Sima Lie had given her medicine to eat. The two of them had ridiculed the fact that those Alchemists always walked with their noses high in the air and she even said that she would become an Alchemist. It had not even been half a year since she said that, but she had already fulfilled what she said she would do.
"So what if it's a second ranked alchemist." she mumbled, " I want to see for myself how powerful that second ranked alchemist is!"
"What did you say?" Sima Lie saw that Sima You Yue was talking to herself and asked.
"Nothing. Grandfather, if there's nothing else then I will head back first." Sima You Yue said .
"What do you mean nothing else!" Sima Lie thought about how he still had something he had not talked about yet, and asked, "Where have you been these last ten days? Your third brother only said that you left because of some situation but didn't tell me where you went or what you went to do. You caused me to be worried to death!"
It was only now that Sima You Yue recalled the situation regarding the Spirit Beasts and said "I didn't really go anywhere, I just went to look for a friend to tame some Spirit Beasts before I returned. Didn't you say that those people could come at any time? I was just thinking that we didn't really have any way to increase our strength. It just so happened that the Nalan Clan attracted a few Spirit Masters, right? Then we will use Spirit Beasts to catch up."
After she finished speaking, she called out a few Spirit Beasts from within her Spirit Pearl and the Study Room was suddenly filled with transformed Spirit Beasts.
Sima Lie was shocked by the sudden change that happened right in front of his eyes and looked at Sima You Yue, saying, "Where did all these come from?"
"I told you that I asked my friend to get it done, remember?" Sima You Yue said, "half of this group are Saint Beasts, and only a few of those are third ranked Saint Beasts, so we'll leave those few for my brothers. Their current strength should allow them to tame their second Spirit Beast right? As for those lower ranked ones, we can just sell them away at the shop. We'll take it as offsetting some of the setbacks that occurred because of the pills. The higher ranked ones can be given to a few trustworthy guards to form a contract with. How does that sound, Grandfather?"
Sima Lie looked at all those Spirit Beasts with excitement. He had initially been wanting to find a Beast Tamer Master to help the people in his residence contract some Spirit Beasts, but highly ranked Spirit Beasts weren't cheap. If they were to go to the Beast Tamer Master Guild, they would only be able to contract those one rank below Saint Beast since those above and of the Saint Beast rank were only found once or twice a month. Aside from having to be provided with a Saint Beast, one still had to spend a large amount of money on the taming fees.
He never expected that Sima You Yue would have settled this problem during the period of time that she was away. He was incomparably excited about this and was, at the same time, praising Sima You Yue's accurate and detailed planning. He had just told her about their current dangers but she had already thought of using Spirit Beasts to increase their strength.
"Oh right, I have something to add. That person told me that the Spirit Beasts she tamed were more special. If they were to be contracted by someone, they would both experience an increase in strength. When they were strong enough, they would be able to directly increase in rank. Furthermore, when the Master increases in rank, the Spirit Beast will also increase in rank." Sima You Yue added.
"What?" Sima Lie suspected that he had heard wrongly and asked again, "You said that it would be able to increase in rank even after forming a contract? And anytime the Master increases in rank, the Spirit Beast will as well?"
"Mm. that's what that person told me. It seems like the way in which she contracted the Spirit Beasts was pretty special. However, I don't know whether it's really true." Sima You Yue said, "Grandfather, first look for men to come and settle these Spirit Beasts. With regards to the Nalan Clan and their pills, it will be settled in awhile."
Chapter 107: Looking for help
Translator: Misty Cloud Translations Editor: Misty Cloud Translations
Sima Lie saw that Sima You Yue had so much confidence and decided in his heart that he would believe her. It seemed like it had really been a long time since an Alchemist had come to help the Sima Clan.
"Mm, you can return first. I will properly settle these Spirit Beasts." Sima Lie said.
The Sima Clan had suddenly gained so many Spirit Beasts, furthermore, they were under circumstances that nobody else knew about. If they continued to keep this a secret, this would turn into a card that they could play.
As a result, they could only depend on people that they could trust to settle these. Only those who were, towards the clan, faithful to the death would be able to receive this incentive.
"Right, that person told me that this has to remain a secret and they won't tell others. Alright, I'm heading back." After handing the Spirit Beasts over to Sima Lie, Sima You Yue left the study room and no longer asked anything about the situation related to the Spirit Beasts.
Sima Lie had lived a hundred over years more than her so he would definitely be more prudent and rational about settling these kinds of things.
Returning back to her own room, she instructed Chun Jian and the others not to disturb her as she locked herself in the house. With a flash, she entered the Spirit Pearl.
"Mo Sha." She came beside the Golden Snake Fruit tree and she saw Mo Sha sitting beside it.
Mo Sha opened his pair of enchanting eyes and when she saw them, she was suddenly confused.
Why was it that she felt that it was so familiar every time she saw Mo Sha's eyes?
"What do you want?" Mo Sha asked.
"I want to quickly become a second ranked Alchemist " Sima You Yue held back the thoughts in her heart and said.
"Why?"
Sima You Yue explained the entire situation with the Nalan Clan once over and said, "Because Grandfather has never cared about those Alchemists, their relationship isn't good. At this point, those Alchemists will be unwilling to help us. Wanting to look for a more relaxed Alchemist outside is also not easy. As a result, I need to quickly become a second ranked Alchemist. Only then would I be able to contend with the Nalan Clan.
Mo Sha knitted his brows, saying, "It hasn't been long since you became a first ranked Alchemist. Wanting to become a second ranked Alchemist in such a short period of time won't be an easy thing to accomplish."
"I know, that's why I came to you for help. You will definitely be able to help me become a second ranked Alchemist."
"It's not like there's no way." Mo Sha said, "However, no matter what you do, you have to take it step by step. So your best course of action is to increase in practice. Quickly familiarise yourself with each and every single part of pill refinement. Practice makes perfect, and when your crucial moment comes, you will naturally become a second rank."
"Will that take a long time?" Sima You Yue asked.
"With your natural abilities and my teaching, it shouldn't take that long." Mo Sha said.
"Okay, then I will go arrange everything before we start " Sima You Yue left right after she finished speaking.
She had initially thought to return to the academy tomorrow, however, her current circumstances required her to go into closed door cultivation. But if she continued to remain in the Spirit Pearl, would Sima Lie realise anything if he couldn't feel her aura?
Thinking about it, it was still better for her to return to the academy. Inside the down, even if Fatty Qu and the others were there, they would not realise that she wasn't inside the house.
After settling on this idea, she started to cultivate inside the house. She waited until the second day before she rushed to head to the academy.
Chun Jian and Yun Yue sighed when they saw Sima You Yue's empty room.
In the past, they would always be scolded and beaten by Sima You Yue, but now they could barely catch a glimpse of his shadow, leaving them with nothing to do everyday. This kind of change made them incomparably puzzled. However, they had already decided in their hearts that their current Young Master was good to them and gave them enough time and resources to cultivate. They definitely had to improve their strength so they would be able to protect him in the future.
This was still their practice period so they didn't have classes to attend everyday. The students could live in the academy and they could cultivate within the dorms or head to the library to read.
When Sima You Yue arrived at the academy, Bei Gong Tang and Ouyang Fei had already gone out. She wasn't surprised at all when she thought about how it was normally impossible to catch even a glimpse of the two of them. Fatty Qu had already returned to his clan and Wei Zi Qi was the only one left in the house leisurely reading a book.
"You Yue?" Hearing the sound of the main door opening, Wei Zi Qi looked up. Seeing Sima You Yue, he happily stood up.
"Zi Qi, how come you're the only one here?" Sima You Yue asked as she walked over and sat down.
"Ouyang Fei and Bei Gong Tang left early in the morning, while Fatty Qu left for home yesterday and hasn't returned." Wei Zi Qi said, "You Yue, where did you go when we were in Salt City? Why did you leave without a word?"
Sima You Yue touched her nose, saying, "At that time, here was something urgent I had to attend to, so I just got Third Brother to help me pass on the message. Have we submitted our mission yet?"
Wei Zi Qi nodded, "We went to submit it on the second day. I kept all the pill ingredients, so even though you weren't here, the four of us had more than enough and it just happened to be enough to make up for your portion. As a result, we got full marks for our mission this time!"
"Really?" Sima You Yue was also happy when she heard that they scored full marks for their mission, "Thank you guys so much!"
"What's there to thank." Wei Zi Qi said, "If you didn't give us the opportunity to learn how to work together, it would not have been possible for us to obtain the carcasses of so many Spirit Beasts. How long will you be staying here this time?"
"I plan to stay here for a period of time." Sima You Yue said, "I plan to spend the rest of my time in closed door cultivation, so I may not be out much."
"You want to go into closed door cultivation?" Wei Zi Qi looked at Sima You Yue with astonishment. People normally went into closed door cultivation when they wanted to breakthrough in rank. Could it be that she was once again close to making a breakthrough?
Could she not give people this kind of attack!
If he knew that Sima You Yue had already broken through in rank, it was possible that his little heart would not be able to take the impact and would suffer even more.
"Right, I'll head back first to tidy up the house a bit.' Sima You Yue headed back into the house the moment she finished speaking.
Wei Zi Qi looked at Sima You Yue's retreating figure and thought about how she was so addicted to working hard, so what reason was there for him not to? He purposed in his heart that as long as he wasn't spending his time in the library researching, he would be cultivating in his room.
Sima You Yue swept her place clean and then entered the Spirit Pearl to cultivate. Right now, she was already familiar with refining rank one pills, so when Bei Gong Tang and Ouyang Fei returned, she had already refined a few furnaces worth of pills.
When she knew that they had returned, Sima You Yue exited the Spirit Pearl and interacted with them for a bit before telling then that she was going into closed door cultivation and heading back into the Spirit Pearl.
"Let's start the closed door cultivation now." Sima You Yue looked to Mo Sha as she said.
Mo Sha nodded, saying, "From now on, you will spend the mornings cultivating in the Spirit Pearl and the nights recovering your mental strength and Spiritual Qi. Although this Golden Snake Fruit tree is able to give off an aura that can nourish the soul, it needs to absorb moonlight. So, we will need to go outside at night."
Sima You Yue glanced at the Golden Snake Fruit tree and realised that it did not have the white mist lingering around it like it used to. She reckoned that the moonlight that strengthened the body had almost been completely consumed.
"You have already spent the day refining pills, so you should first rest tonight to recover your mental strength." Mo Sha said.
Mo Sha nodded. With a single thought, she brought the Golden Snake Fruit tree and Mo Sha with her as they left the Spirit Pearl.
It just happened that the moonlight was shining bright this night so she let Little Roar take away two pieces of the wall tiles, allowing the moonlight to shine inside.
The moment the moonlight shone on the Golden Snake Fruit tree, the leaves emitted a faint misty aura. Sima You Yue and Mo Sha crossed their legs and sat beside each other, using the Golden Snake Fruit tree to recover their Soul and Spirit.
Chapter 108: Sima Clan's dilemma
Translator: Misty Cloud Translations Editor: Misty Cloud Translations
Like this, Sima You Yue began her days madly cultivating her pill refining skills. In the day, she was inside the Spirit Pearl refining pills, while in the night she came out to recover her mental energy while helping the Golden Snake Fruit tree to replenish some strength while she was at it.
In order to help her Sima Clan, Sima You Yue spent a huge amount of time refining pills that they would use often. Ranging from those pills that stopped the bleeding, to those that recovered dispersed aura; all these pills that were commonly used by Mercenaries and Spirit Masters. The reason why the Nalan Clan was able to get the favor of the Mercenaries was because their prices were slightly lower than the ones from the Sima Clan.
Speaking up to this point, the Sima Clan were also helpless. Because of their lack of an Alchemist, their shop never sold pills to begin with. However, this was the reason why other achievements got affected.There was no choice, they had to go to other shops in order to buy pills wholesale, pushing the prices slightly lower, then setting their prices according to the usual market rate in order to sell them to the public.
This was also the reason why the pills they sold could not be priced that cheaply. Looking at the Nalan Clan, who was using this to pressure them, they could only glare at them till their eyes turned dry.
The Sima Clan did not have an alchemist, this was the main crux of the problem. Sima Lie had once thought of recruiting alchemists as well, but those guys had their noses so high in the sky that he really could not do it in the end.
Sima You Yue understood that when refining pills, they would spend most of the time refining commonly used pills. Furthermore, these pills were the easiest to refine. There was a complete set of pill ingredients in the Spirit Pearl, so after one month, she had a few hundred bottles of pills in her hands.
Today, when she pulled the pills out of the furnace, Mo Sha appeared in front of her once again.
"You can now try to refine a Second Ranked pill." Mo Sha Said.
"I can?"
Sima You Yue looked at Mo Sha. He said before that if he didn't say it, she had to continue refining first ranked Spirit Pills.
She had listened to his instructions all along. Even though she had felt as if she was able to refine second ranked pills a few days back, she had continued refining first ranked pills..
Mo Sha nodded, saying, "Even though you perfected refining first ranked spirit pills earlier, but according to what I said before, practice makes perfect. Continuing to refine first ranked pills would allow you to increase the possibility of you entering the ranks of a second ranked alchemist.
"I understand." Sima You Yue said.
Mo Sha gave a thought and a piece of paper appeared in front of them.
"This is the second ranked pill method I found inside the study room. You should go and recover your mental strength first, after that, memories this pill method. You should first take a look yourself, what the important points of this method are. After that, I will tell them to you again when we are in the midst of refining."
"Mm." Sima You Yue took the pill method and sat on the ground and began studying it.
Mo Sha saw her single-mindedly sit down to study the pill method and his eyes lit up.
During this period of time, he could say that he had spent the entire day with her. Seeing her rise in ranks from a first ranked alchemist with his own eyes, from a success rate of 60 percent to a rate of 90 plus percent, from three pills appearing in the furnace to ten over pills!
He had never seen someone who was talented and so hardworking, where her tenacious willpower moved him.
He thought back to the time where a genius like him appeared, but before his life changed, he hadn't worked as hard as she did.
In order to avoid disturbing Sima You Yue's study, he left the Pill Refinement Room.
Sima You Yue had always had a photographic memory, so she managed to memorise everything in the book at a glance. However, she did not immediately go and refine things, but continually tried to digest and understand the information. It was only after she mulled it over completely that she stood up once again to leave.
When she stood up, she realised that the table had, at some unknown time, had already been prepared with pill ingredients necessary to refine the White Lotus Pill. She secretly smiled in her heart and closed her eyes to recall the pill method for awhile before taking to action to refine them.
Sima You Yue was extremely familiar with regards to this step of refinement, so there was no large problem than occurred. When she took a final whiff of the completely purified pill ingredients, Mo Sha appeared behind her.
"The White Lotus Pill is relatively the easiest pill out of the second ranked pills, its process is also easier than the others. However, it's still a bit more complex when you compare it to a first ranked pill. However, it is this point that requires one level more of your mental strength."
Thinking about what he had said before, mental strength was the most important part of pill refinement. No matter what, whether or not she would be able to progress further was dependent on this.
"Begin, I will go over to that side to watch you."
Sima You Yue nodded, as she began to take the purified pill ingredients and followed the sequence from the pill method to place them inside.
On her first try, as expected, it resulted in failure. However, she was not discouraged as the difference between a second ranked pill and a first ranked pill was not different by only a small bit. It was normal for her to not be able to grasp a hold of it.
She let out a long breath and summarised the reason why she failed just now, then took the pill ingredients again to start refining them all over again.
Mo Sha looked at Sima You Yue satisfactorily. If this was something that took place in the past, he would possibly have recruited her into his troop. He believed that she would one day stand at the top of the world.
The first time she failed was during the fusion process. The second time she failed was during the binding process. The third time, she managed to successfully refine a single White Lotus Pill. Although this was as ugly as the pill that she has made when she had just learnt alchemy, it was a sign that she had already entered the ranks of a second ranked alchemist.
"Not bad, you managed to grasp the requirements of a second ranked alchemist on your third try." Mo Sha said, "When you feel the difference between a second ranked alchemist and a first ranked alchemist, your future days in refining second ranked pills will be easier."
"Mm." Sima You Yue looked at the pill in her hands as she smiled happily.
"Take this moment to recover your mental strength then continue..."
It was when Sima You Yue closed her eyes to cultivate that the Sima Clan encountered danger once again.
Inside the General's study room, Sima Lie,Sima You Ming, Sima You Qi and the steward all had on worried expressions.
"Grandfather, these shops are not willing to supply us with pills anymore." SIma You Ming said worriedly, "When we finish selling our pills, those mercenaries and Spirit Masters will no longer patronise our shop, causing our other areas of business to suffer an impact as well."
Sima You Qi slapped the table beside him, saying angrily, "They even said before that they would always supply us with pills, but they actually went back on their word now. It is definitely the Nalan Clan who gave those shops some kind of bribe!"
"This is not the time to chase after the reason why." Sima Lie said with furrowed eyebrows, "How long will our current stock of pills last?"
"It should last another half a month." Sima You Ming said, "Because the price of the Nalan Clan's pills are lower than ours, so recently those who came to our shop has lessened by quite a bit. So the turnover for the decrease in stock should be around one third to a half."
"Only half a month?"
"Grandfather, we have to find a new shop within this half a month and get them to supply us with the pills." Sima You Qi said.
"It is truly troublesome without our own Alchemist." Sima Lie said, "Steward, send mend to go and recruit an alchemist. No matter what the other party asks for, as long as it is within the capabilities of the General's residence, accept it all."
"Yes, General." The steward gave a bow as he retreated outside.
According to the relationship between the General's residence and the Alchemists, wanting to find an alchemist quickly was something that was definitely not easy!
"It looks like I can only go outside to find an Alchemist who doesn't hold a grudge with us." The Stewards sighed as he left to make the arrangements.
Chapter 109: The family members receive a shock
Translator: Misty Cloud Translations Editor: Misty Cloud Translations
After half a month, Sima You Yue had already been very familiar with refining second ranked pills. Refining for such long periods of time left her quite exhausted, so she gave herself time to rest and came out to see what the others were doing.
"You Yue, you're out?" Fatty Qu quickly walked over when he saw Sima You Yue.
"What's up, Fatty? Seeing you look so anxious, could it be that some beauty is chasing you?" Sima You Yue laughed and teased.
Fatty Qu came over, looked at Sima You Yue and said, " There's no beauty chasing me only because no beauty has yet to appreciate this older brother's charm. I would have gone to call on you if you remained inside any longer!"
"What happened?" Sima You Yue asked.
"it's the General's residence. They've recently got into big trouble... hey, Sima You Yue, what are you pulling on me for!"
Fatty had yet to finish speaking when Sima You Yue pulled him into a run.
"Follow me back and talk as we go. Tell me what happened during this period of time."
When Sima You Yue returned to the residence, aside from Sima You Ming and Sima You Qi who were constantly settling things, even Sima You Ran and Sima You Le had returned.
This was the first time, aside from the previous time when Sima You Yue had been beaten, that the whole family had conjugated together.
Seeing that Sima You Yue had returned, Sima Lie and the others were very surprised. Earlier on, when they had sent men to get her from school, Fatty Qu and the others had sent a letter back indicating that she was in closed door cultivation. They had not gone to disturb her so they never expected that she would directly return.
Seeing that Fatty Qu had returned with her, Sima Lie said, "Steward, being Young Master Qu to the hall to drink a cup of tea."
"Yes, General." The steward stepped forward, saying, "Young Master Qu, this way please."
Fatty Qu glanced over at Sima You Yue, saying, " Then I will head there first. If you have anything important to tell me then get someone to call me over. Within the Qu Clan, I currently have the ability to say a few words."
Sima You Yue smiled smiled lightly and nodded towards him. She had noted it in her heart, his desire and willingness to stretch forth a helping hand to them during this period of time.
Fatty Qu cupped his hands towards the others as he followed the steward and left.
The smile on Sima You Yue's face slowly faded away, as she turned towards Sima Lie, saying, "Grandfather, Older Brothers, I heard older Brother say that our General's residence has searched fruitlessly for half a month for an Alchemist?"
"It's not that we couldn't find any." Sima You Ming said, "It's just that when those Alchemists heard about the General's residence's situation, like a lion that opened its mouth too wide, they demanded far too much and put too many requests. Grandfather raged and chased them all out."
After he finished speaking, he looked begrudgingly at Sima Lie.
"Cough cough, taking advantage of us when we're down, these kind of Alchemists still want us to pay tribute to them, what a joke!" Sima Lie still did not feel like he was in the wrong and was still fuming over those few Alchemists.
Sima You Yue realized that Sima Lie's prejudice towards Alchemists was huge. As long as he met this kind of Alchemist, he would end up in an uncontrollable rage.
"Grandfather, we have already ended up at this level. Can't you reign in your temper." Sima You Ming said as if he could feel a headache coming on.
"Grandfather, although your raw strength is more than your elders of the Nalan Clan, they're not coming at us with swinging fists. We have to find a way to protect our family's business." Sima You Qi said.
"The people in our clan are few and our time here has been short. That Nalan Clan is one that has been here for ages. Now that they have incessantly battled us on the business front, Grandfather cannot go up and directly kill them." Sima You Ran analysed, "However, they can continually weaken us. We have to think of something to stop this situation from continuing down it's path."
"I think we should continue to look for Alchemists." Sima You Le said, " This imperial capital is so big, don't tell me that every single alchemist has been bought over by the Nalan Clan, or every single one of them wants to loot a burning house."
"But we ran out of pills yesterday, and ever since yesterday, the customers in our store has been dwindling." Sima You Ming said, "within such a short period time, where are we going to find an Alchemist."
"This... sigh!"
Sima You Yue sat on her seat and listened to them discuss. Seeing each and every single one of them frowning with knitted brows, she said, "Uhm, how many pills do you need? I could possibly..."
"Fifth Brother, you don't have to intervene in this now. It's better for you to properly cultivate in the academy. Leave the issues of the family to us." Sima You Ming spoke and interrupted Sima You Yue.
It enough to let just them worry about it. There was no need to drag Sima You Yue in to worry with then.
"I have pills." Sima You Yue said.
"Even if you have pills it's no... what? You have pills?" Sima You Ming was speaking halfway when he realised what Sima You Yue said and look at her with shock.
Sima You Yue nodded, saying, "First ranked pills. I have them. You can take it to tide you over first. Furthermore these don't really cost anything so you can put a price that is lower than the Nalan Clan's."
"Fifth Bro, you really have pills?"
"Fifth Bro, how come you have pills?"
"You even have those pills? How many?"
Everyone reacted and looked at her.
"I have the common ones like pills to stop blessing, recovering dispersed Qi and so on." Sima You Yue waved her hands as she spoke and a few hundred pill bottle appears in the Study Room."
"These are all pills?" Sima You Ming asked without daring to believe.
"Big Brother's, you just have to look to know." Sima You Yue said.
Sima You Qi and the four of them walked forward as they each took a had bottle and opened them to see each one filled with pills.
"All these pills added together should amount to more than a thousand!" Sima You Qi said excitedly.
Sima Lie stepped forward, took a Jade Bottle and opened it. It truly contained pills.
"Fifth Bro, where did you get so many pills from?" Sima You Ming looked at Sima You Yue agitatedly, "How much did you spend?"
Sima You Yue touched her nose and said, "I didn't spend any money."
" Didn't spend money? Then how did you obtain this?"
"You Yue, you better not have promised other people that you would do bad things for the sake of obtaining these pills!"
The eyes of every single person in the room turned from the pills and were focused Sima You Yue.
Eh-
Sima You Yue's face turned completely black from their response. How did they end up reaching this verdict?
"These are all pills I refined myself, that's why I didn't pay anything. I didn't go and promise others to do anything, like what you all assumed."
They all calmed down after hearing her explanation. As long as nothing happened to her, all was well.
"You really gave us a shock." Sima You Qi said, "There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world so we were afraid that something had happened to you. It turns out that you were the one who refined it. If so then we can relax. What?! You refined them!"
This time, everyone was even more surprised than when they had seen the pills just now. They all looked at her speechlessly.
"Fifth Bro, all these pills were refined by you?? You, when did you learn how to refine?" Sima You Le suspected that he was hallucinating. They had never known that Sima You Yue could refine pills. Now that this kind of situation occurred, everyone was completely stunned.
Sima You Yue was secretly pondering whether it now not they should have this kind of large reaction and she smiled and said, "I said the previous time that I wanted to learn alchemy, remember. When I could cultivate I started to learn how!"
It was fine if she didn't say it, but now that she said it, everyone's already astonished heart was once again mercilessly given another attack.
Chapter 110: Birthday Banquet
Translator: Misty Cloud Translations Editor: Misty Cloud Translations
"Fifth Bro, you're saying that you only took half a year to become an Alchemist?" Sima You Le looked at Sima You Yue and was extremely suspicious about what she said.
Sima You Ran look a look at the pills, then looked at her. Thinking about how she had suddenly known medical arts, he thought that the art of refining pills was somewhere in her memories as well, so compared to the rest of them, he was much less surprised.
"Ha ha ha!" With huge bellows of laughter, Sima Lie walked beside Sima You Yue and patted her shoulders, saying proudly, "I just knew that the heavens would not abandon my Sima clan! At that time, you, this little brat, said that you wanted to become an Alchemist, but I never expected that you would really do it. Not bad, not bad!"
Sima You Yue grimaced as she endured Sima Lie's strength. He never held back his strength whenever he was excited, as these pats on her shoulders were almost going to knock her down.
"Now that we have so many pills, furthermore, it's Fifth Bro that refined them, the Nalan Clans plan of using pills to defeat us can only come to a premature end." Sima You Qi said.
"Fifth Bro, this time, it's really all thanks to you!" Sima You Ming said.
"As long as I can help, it will be okay." Sima You Yue smiled, "Take these first to meet our needs, just tell me what types of pills we need and I'll refine them again. Apart from that, I'll refine some more commonly used pills, and when I'm done refining them I will let Chun Jian and the others send it over.
"Okay." Sima You Qi received the pills, "right, what ingredients do you need for those pills? I'll get the men to prepare them."
"No need, I can settle the issue of the pill ingredients myself." Sima You Yue said.
"How will you do it?" Sima Lie said, "We may not have these pills but we have many pill ingredients."
"The previous time when I went to Pu Luo Mountain Range, I picked up an interspatial ring that had many pill ingredients inside. It's enough for me to use to refine pills." Sima You Yue said, "Don't tell anyone about my ability to refine pills, so our quantity of pill ingredients will not change too much. Big Brother, Second Brother, this pill and pill ingredients don't have to be calculated within the cost so you both can just decide the price and we will just set it as that. The Nalan Clan wants to use this method to drag us down? We can do the same."
"Great!" Sima You Ming and Sima You Qi grinned at each other.
In the past, it was always the Nalan Clan that attacked first, now it was their turn!
"Since we have pills now, You Ming and You Qi, both of you should go and settle it first." Sima Lie said.
"Okay, then we will head to the shop first." Sima You Ming and Sima You Qi stood up and bowed towards Sima Lie before turning to leave.
"You Ran, You Le, do you both want to return to the academy?" Sima Lie asked.
"There are no classes taking place right now so we can just stay at home to see if there's anything we can help with." Sima You Ran said.
"That's good too."
"Grandfather, since there's nothing else, we will take our leave first." Sima You Le said.
"Go ahead." The large issue that had been weighing upon his heart was settled, so Sima Lie was feeling much better. "You Yue, stay behind for awhile."
Sima You Yue was just preparing to leave with them, but hearing what Sima Lie said, she sat back down on her seat.
Sima You Le and Sima You Ran glanced at her and left.
Only the grandfather-grandson pair was left in the house, so Sima You Yue asked, "Grandfather, is something the matter?"
"I have already distributed the Spirit Beasts that you brought back with you the last time." Sima lie said.
"Then when they formed a contract, did they advance in rank?" Sima You Yue asked.
"This is the reason why I asked you to remain behind." Sima Lie said: "That person who had formed a contract with the Saint Ranked Beast practically advanced by two or three ranks. That beast that was contracted also advanced by one rank."
"So they were really able to advance in rank!" Sima You Yue said happily. Since they really were able to advance in rank, the fact that the Spirit Beasts would advance in rank during the owner's cultivation was written in the book and must be true as well!
"Mm." Sima Lie nodded definitively, " Right now, the strength of our clan has silently increased by more than a bit. Adding on the fact that you know alchemy, we have even more confidence and increase in the strength we have to battle with the Nalan Clan."
"Grandfather, there's one thing I don't understand.' Sima You Yue said.
"What?"
"Grandfather, aren't you the General of the Dong Chen country? Now that the people from the Nalan Clan has dealt us this blow, was has the Imperial family not moved at all?" Sima You Yue voiced out the confusion in her heart.
"The most important point is that the Nalan Clan is not an ordinary clan, furthermore, they did not use military force to move against us so it is hard for the Imperial family to come forth and stop it." Sima Lie said, "However, I feel the main reason is because his Majesty is wary against us and wants to use the hands of the Nalan Clan to weaken our power."
"Why? Could it be because Grandfather is too powerful?"
"Not only because of me." Sima Lie said, "When others look at your four brothers, they see that they are all extremely talented. Adding on the fact that, within the Dong Chen country, I am getting more prestigious as the days go by, His Majesty should be threatened by our good standing."
Sima You Yue pursed her lips, " If what you're saying is true, his Majesty is definitely not a man with foresight."
The Sima Clan was not the least bit interested in the throne. If the reason they were wary was just because Sima Lie was too powerful and Sima You Ming and the rest were extraordinarily talented, that emperor must not be someone who had any foresight.
"That's right, these few days will be his Majesty's birthday banquet and we have to attend. When the time comes, you will be able to see the emperor." Sima Lie said.
"Oh, when the time comes, see whether I feel like it or not. If there's nothing else, I'll head downstairs first." Sima You Yue stood to leave the moment she finished speaking.
It was only when she walked past the Owners Courtyard that she thought of Fatty Qu, who was still in the hall drinking tea. So she walked by a different route and headed to the hall.
This was the first time Fatty Qu had come to the General's residence and the Steward had served him tea before rushing off to do his duties. He had already drunk a few cups of tea but Sima You Yue had yet to come so he planned to walk around. Just as he walked to the door, he bumped into the target person, who had come in.
"You Yue, why didn't you make a sound before you came in!"
"How would i know that you would be at the door." Sima You Yue said, "What are you doing here?"
"I just planned to look around the house when you came in." Fatty Qu replied.
"Alright. You never came to the residence before, go, I'll bring you to tour around.
"Before we tour around, I have to go and pee... go to the toilet." Fatty Qu remembered that Sima You Yue was a girl and changed what he wanted to say.
"Pfft-" Sima You Yue saw how awkward he was and laughed. She stretched for a hand and hooked his neck, saying, "Lets go, I'll take you to go peepee."
Once he settled the basic need of life, Sima You Yue brought Fatty for a tour around the General's residence. Seeing the simply constructed houses, Fatty Qu felt completely strange. He always thought the Generals residence would be as magnificent as an imperial house.
Sima You Yue brought him to a little pavilion to sit down and got men to deliver some snacks. The two of them ate while chatting leisurely.
"Oh right, You Yue, these will days will be His Majesty's birthday, will you be going?"
"You know about this as well?"
"Mm. My older brothers and the third Prince have a relatively close relationship. My clan has also entered into the sights of the Imperial family, so they invited my father, brothers and me to go and participate in the banquet together. Your Grandfather is the General, you'll definitely be going right?"
"Things like banquets are the most boring. I'll decide whether or not I'll go when the time comes." Sima You Yue said.
"It'll be good even if you don't go. That Nalan Clan will definitely go so you may end up bumping into them. You can avoid unnecessary trouble."
"People from the Nalan Clan are going as well?"