At most, Shu Tiantian could currently lower its grade by one level, patch things together and make it Earth-rank. However, with her present cultivation and strength, refining Earth-rank pills was still too difficult.

Shu Tiantian felt that one must still have dreams—what if.

She was going to try this Great Creation Pill. If it truly did not work, if metaphysics could not solve the problem, she could still try science.

She planned to attempt artificial dragon skin. After all, in the field of artificial skin, Shu Tiantian had read quite a lot of literature in her previous life. Although one was human skin and the other dragon skin, she believed science was universal!

Full of confidence, Shu Tiantian opened the pill formula. The very first ingredient made her hand tremble.

Thousand-year jade marrow?

Five Aggregates Grass, Spirit Rhinoceros Horn…

Closing the pill formula, Shu Tiantian calculated. At her level, attempting to refine an Earth-rank pill would inevitably incur losses. It was known that the cost of one furnace of this pill was about fifty thousand or more. Adding the fact that she would likely blow up the furnace several more times… her hands trembled slightly.

Not to mention that the first ingredient, thousand-year jade marrow, was priceless and unavailable. She might not even be able to buy it even if she had money.

However… perhaps someone had a way.

After leaving the Medicine God Cauldron, Shu Tiantian took out a communication talisman and contacted her number one sucker—oh no, big client—Song Shao.

This cousin from the novel was the young master of an auction house. Shu Tiantian thought that now that the Jingsha Pill had taken effect, asking him for this favor should not be difficult.

Sure enough, a voice of surprise and delight sounded from the other side of the communication talisman.

Ever since that day he had taken away a bottle of leftovers, Song Shao who had originally been on the brink of death, looking like a sickly ghost—had, following medical instructions and half in doubt, poured the Jingsha decoction from that plain little bottle into the burner. He had actually recovered quickly.

The Jingsha Pill was originally a supreme treasure that could dispel ordinary yin baleful qi with just a touch of willow branch essence. Although Song Shao was entangled with yin qi, what he attracted was only ordinary baleful qi, so the effect was naturally immediate.

Song Shao, who had been plagued by yin qi since childhood, could hardly contain his inner excitement. Although when he thought of the difficult path of seeking treatment for two hundred years being resolved by one small bottle of medicinal soup, he often felt as though his worldview had collapsed.

This delicate young master was just worrying that his chance to repay the favor would vanish in an instant—who would have thought Shu Tiantian would contact him on her own. After hearing the materials Shu Tiantian wanted, he examined them carefully and immediately smiled,

“These spirit herbs are indeed difficult to find, but they are not hard to obtain at our Song clan auction house. What a coincidence—this thousand-year spirit marrow happens to be one of the items for the first day of our auction.”

Although it had already been listed as an auction item and could not be withdrawn, Song Shao’s family had vast wealth and power, and he also wished to repay the favor. He would simply bid to buy it back.

Shu Tiantian was somewhat interested in this auction. After all, if she remembered correctly, in the original story Ling Ruoshui had bought the Medicine God Bell at this very auction.

Especially after hearing that the thousand-year spirit marrow was not even the final item, Shu Tiantian grew even more curious about the items this time and asked a few more questions. Sure enough—perhaps it was her butterfly effect—this time’s auction items were already completely different from those in the novel.

Then… Shu Tiantian heard about the Tianji Cauldron at the sect entrance, forged entirely from pure spirit iron.

Shu Tiantian: ?

She thought it was just the same name, and at first did not pay much attention.

Until she heard about the pure gold divine beast statue at the entrance of Tianji Sect, Elder Bu Nanzhang’s top-grade snuff bottle, the spirit walnuts the sect master had been polishing for hundreds of years…

By the end, Shu Tiantian even heard the name of the sect master’s chief disciple—of course not sold to be someone’s son, but hired as a temporary bodyguard.

The once lofty chief disciple of the Sword Sect was now priced at five thousand spirit stones for one week of use…

Shu Tiantian’s pupils trembled.

Song Shao also sighed with emotion. “No one knows what misfortune has struck Tianji Sect this time. They’ve been selling off everything they own for the past few days. Originally they refused to hold a public auction, but it’s said that for the Ten Thousand Sects Assembly they already filled in quite a lot of funds. Supposedly they’re still short more than ten million spirit stones and truly can’t come up with it, so since auction prices are higher, they came to us.”

It also happened that the Song clan auction lasted three days. The first day consisted only of appetizers, so the Song clan agreed to include Tianji Sect’s items in the auction.

Shu Tiantian thought—could it be they were really selling everything to repay her? Completely forgetting that during the heart demon tribulation she had forced them to swear a Heaven-and-Earth Oath, Shu Tiantian was stunned for a moment.

Her cousin continued to sigh. “Speaking of which, Tianji Sect truly has terrible luck. Not long ago, it’s said someone broke into their forbidden grounds. The culprit even dug up the grave of Tianji Sect’s founding ancestor. It’s said that when the Tianji Sect elders saw it—including the sect master—they nearly fainted on the spot. How much hatred must there be to go dig up someone’s ancestral grave?”

Shu Tiantian froze. Although it was a bit immoral, she still very much wanted to say—wasn’t this the legendary… double happiness arriving together???

“By the way, will you personally attend tomorrow’s auction?”

The expert’s voice was firm and decisive. “Go. Of course I’ll go!”

The Tianji Sect’s sect master and elders would definitely attend the auction. Enduring the grief and anger of having their ancestral grave dug up, yet still forcing themselves to sell everything to repay her—just imagining the scene made Shu Tiantian so sympathetic that… she laughed out loud.

With a voice full of sympathy, Shu Tiantian asked Song Shao what the final auction item was, thinking perhaps it might be Tianji Sect’s ten-thousand-year spirit wood plaque?

But her hopes fell through. The item placed before the thousand-year jade marrow was merely several Profound-rank pill formulas.

Speaking of this, Song Shao was also full of displeasure.

Logically speaking, how could pill formulas compare to the legendary jade marrow? How could they possibly be the final item?

But these pill formulas had been provided by Ling Ruoshui. Song Shao’s younger brother, Song Ting, was deeply devoted to this cousin. As the second young master, adjusting the order of the auction items to let these pill formulas jump ahead and become the finale was not difficult.

Since the first day consisted only of appetizers, even though Song Shao was very displeased, he could not embarrass his younger brother.

Song Shao had always disliked this cousin. Ever since she left Tianji Sect and returned to the Ling family, she had indeed behaved herself for a time. No one knew what had happened, but the Ling family’s attitude suddenly changed—they had actually sent her to the Song family.

If it had been before, Song Shao would not have thought much of it. But coincidentally, envoys from the Upper Realm were also attending this three-day auction. The Song family was responsible for receiving them, and over the past two days, Song Shao had learned their purpose.

They had actually come to search for a descendant of the Medicine God’s daughter.

Putting everything together like this, why Ling Ruoshui wanted to auction off her own pill formulas became very clear. Presumably this cousin had heard some news from somewhere. Ling Ruoshui’s identity had always been somewhat suspicious, and her age also matched…

After thinking for a moment, Song Shao still told her about the envoys from the Upper Realm.

Shu Tiantian was shocked. “You said they’re looking for what?”

The matter of the Medicine God’s daughter was not really a secret. Song Shao repeated it again, and kindly gave this reclusive expert a brief explanation.

The name of the Medicine God might not be widely known in the Lower Realm, but in the Upper Realm, that title was like thunder in the ears of all who heard it.

Even Song Shao only knew of the Medicine God’s existence. The only confirmed fact was that the Medicine God seemed to have a daughter who, during the great chaos in the Upper Realm back then, was lost and ended up in the mortal world.

Shu Tiantian lowered her head and looked at her pot for stewing mushy soup. On it were three large characters: “Medicine God Cauldron.”

Shu Tiantian: …..

For some reason, she had a bad premonition.

If Shu Tiantian had not gone through what happened with Tianji Sect, she would at most have observed quietly for a while and then see whether her relatives had come to take her home.

But now, after the Tianji Sect incident had shattered her worldview into pieces, and she had evolved into Niu Hulu¹Niu Hulu: A famous Manchu clan name (钮钴禄氏) from the Qing dynasty, strongly associated in pop culture with powerful, scheming, or “reborn and upgraded” female characters (especially after the TV drama Empresses in the Palace). Used humorously online to mean someone who has transformed into a tougher, more formidable version of themselves. · Tian, hearing this news did not make her imagine a grand welcome for the young lady returning home. Her first reaction was—

? Who wants to harm me?

Shu Tiantian cautiously asked a few more questions about the Medicine God, but Song Shao, being a person of the Lower Realm, had only heard that the Medicine God had disappeared. He did not know who this Medicine God actually was, where they were, or what happened after their disappearance.

It seemed that only those envoys from the Upper Realm who came to search for the Medicine God’s daughter would know about this matter.

Shu Tiantian decided to immediately keep her little disguise tightly hidden. At the very least, she had to figure out their purpose and be prepared, so that no matter how others schemed, it would not reach her!

She had originally only planned to go to the auction house to get the jade marrow and watch the excitement, but now she had no choice but to go.

The auction would be held tomorrow night. Song Shao proposed sending someone to pick her up. Shu Tiantian thought that this cousin’s character in the novel was decent, and she could take the chance to inquire about this matter. Of course, perhaps she could also make secondary preparations and look for materials for artificial dragon skin. So she agreed.

She packed up her small medicine box. Whether the dragon had awakened or not, she chattered endlessly beside the sleeping dragon about how she would be going out for a trip. Who would have thought that when she turned around, she saw a familiar figure.

It was the Ancestor of Void Abyss.

He gathered his cloak around him. His expression could not be seen. His ink-black long hair scattered in the wind. He was looking at her, who knew for how long.

Shu Tiantian met those golden eyes and suddenly noticed that compared to the first time she saw him, the Ancestor of Void Abyss’s complexion was even paler. Even his crimson lips had lost their color.

His voice sounded, “Come with me.”

Shu Tiantian froze for quite a while. Her first reaction was relief—she had thought her dragon-stealing grand plan had been exposed. Her second reaction was: ?

What are you going for? It’s not the full moon tonight. Do you need to bring a temporary worker along when you go kill people?

He slightly narrowed his eyes, gathering his cloak, and said casually, “You must already know about the thousand-year calamity.”

Shu Tiantian nodded.

“I am currently very weak.”

“When the thousand-year calamity comes, if it rings, it will disturb my sleep.”

Shu Tiantian followed his gaze toward the Medicine God Bell on her wrist, which had turned into a small bell. She remembered how she had previously rung it to summon him for help every time. She immediately felt ashamed and was just about to say she would keep quiet, when she heard Ancestor calmly deliver his conclusion, “So, you are going with me.”

Shu Tiantian: ?

His expression showed a trace of impatience. To admit that during the thousand-year calamity, in order to conserve strength, he might very well not hear the bell’s ringing—this matter clearly put him in a very bad mood.

Raising a flower was troublesome.

But it was the first flower grown in this barren land in thousands of years.

If it went out once, with its leaves withered and petals pecked by insects, and came back unable to survive, the barren land would return to being bare and empty again. That was always irritating.

Footnotes

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  Niu Hulu: A famous Manchu clan name (钮钴禄氏) from the Qing dynasty, strongly associated in pop culture with powerful, scheming, or “reborn and upgraded” female characters (especially after the TV drama Empresses in the Palace). Used humorously online to mean someone who has transformed into a tougher, more formidable version of themselves.