Chapter 152: Tomorrow, Grandfather? Ascending to Deityhood and Advancing

However, when the two of them left the next day, neither said goodbye to the other.

Seeming both afraid of the sorrow of parting, Liu Qiao'er left early in the morning.

As for Chen Yushu, he led a few people from the village and headed together toward Jianghuan Town.

These few people were the youngsters and their parents who had been drawn to martial arts because of Chen Yushu's demonstration back then.

Although the price was steep, for most villagers in Beijiao Village, the Liu Family Apothecary was indeed a good choice.

As for precious medicinal herbs:

Beijiao Village was actually one of the few herb-gathering villages within Jianghuan Town, second only to the Qian Family Village. Year after year, there would always be one or two herb gatherers who managed to unearth a stalk of precious medicine by sheer luck.

Although most were sold, there were always a few who, like Chen Yushu's father Chen Baihe, kept them hidden away as a prized family heirloom at the bottom of the chest.

Clearly, these few families were no exception.

As for the futures of these youngsters, Chen Yushu did not know what they held, and he had frankly told them that achieving success in martial arts was exceptionally difficult.

Yet whether it was the youngsters themselves or their parents, while they agreed verbally in their minds, they remained unconvinced and even somewhat disdainful.

In their view, since Chen Yushu could succeed in martial arts and become the manager's disciple, they believed they were no worse than him. Once they entered the apothecary, they naturally expected to make rapid progress and quickly win the favor of the physician-manager.

Chen Yushu was well aware of this, but he had already delivered his words; whether they chose to listen was no longer his concern.

His only task was to bring them safely to the Liu Family Apothecary.

Whatever happened afterward naturally had nothing to do with him.

The journey went smoothly.

The group soon arrived in Jianghuan Town, which happened to be holding a grand market day.

Yet even with the bustling crowds, this first market day after the New Year lacked much of the prosperity seen before the holiday, replaced instead by a greater number of low-status peddlers and street performers.

Despite Chen Yushu's repeated warnings, one of the youngsters felt his pocket and discovered that his money pouch was missing.

Fortunately, there were no silver ingots or the like inside the pouch, only a few dozen copper coins. Although it looked plump, its purchasing power was minimal.

Even so, those dozens of copper coins were no small sum to the youth, leaving him with a long, mournful face all the way, completely draining the excitement and curiosity he had shown earlier.

Soon, Chen Yushu led the group directly to the Liu Family Apothecary.

"Happy New Year, Yushu."

Upon seeing Chen Yushu, Manager Zhou wore a genial smile and greeted him warmly.

"Happy New Year, Manager Zhou!"

Chen Yushu replied smoothly in kind.

"Why didn't you rest a bit longer? Why return so early?"

Manager Zhou asked promptly. At the same time, his eyes drifted to the group behind Chen Yushu, prompting him to ask, "And these are..."

"They're folks from my village who also hope to earn a living here at the apothecary," Chen Yushu answered casually.

"That's certainly fine. But as you know, the apothecary has its rules; they won't be bent just because you're the manager's disciple."

Manager Zhou nodded first before adding those words.

"I am well aware of that. I've already told them as much."

Chen Yushu nodded and spoke.

"Of course, beyond the letter of the law, there is human sentiment. If the people from your village bring twenty taels of silver each, they may enter our apothecary as apprentices to learn martial arts."

Manager Zhou followed up smoothly.

"In that case, on their behalf, I thank Manager Zhou!"

Chen Yushu immediately cupped his fists in salute and said.

The villagers behind had actually been listening to the conversation all along. Hearing that Chen Yushu's influence had managed to shave ten taels of silver off the cost, their eyes flickered with a mixture of excitement and apprehension.

Excitement because they could save a large sum of silver; apprehension because they were suddenly recalling whether they had ever offended Chen Yushu in the past.

Chen Yushu paid no heed to this. After giving a few brief instructions, he walked straight up to the second floor.

"Greetings, Master."

At this moment, Manager Song was seated in a chair, checking some ledgers. Chen Yushu stepped forward to bow respectfully, then straightened up and said, "Master, this is a New Year gift sent by my parents. It is nothing extravagant, but I hope you will accept it."

With that, he produced a parcel and handed it over.

Indeed, it was nothing precious—just some homemade rice wine, along with a chicken and a duck raised at home.

Manager Su accepted it with a smile and casually handed back a red envelope, saying, "You are far too polite. This is your New Year red envelope."

After some pleasantries, Manager Su's expression turned serious as he said, "The genius assessment has been set for February, about twenty days from now. During this time, you should focus on your cultivation right here in the apothecary. As for resources, I have already prepared them for you. Find Manager Zhou later; he will hand them over to you."

He attached great importance to Chen Yushu participating in this genius assessment on behalf of the Liu family—and indeed, on his own behalf—which was jointly organized by the various factions in Qinghe County.

He had long known that Chen Yushu possessed exceptional martial arts talent.

Yet no matter how formidable one's talent might be, if the cultivation realm was lacking, the actual combat power one could display would remain severely limited.

Therefore, as his master, he naturally had to worry and plan ahead.

"Thank you, Master. However, I wish to head to Qinghe County ahead of time to familiarize myself with the environment."

Chen Yushu cupped his fists, speaking thus instead.

Hearing that the genius assessment was scheduled for more than twenty days away, a weight lifted from his heart.

This meant it would not interfere with his upcoming trip to Mount Huang, leaving him room to buffer his schedule.

Though the timeline was tight, they no longer conflicted with one another.

Of course, the prerequisite was that he needed to depart from Jianghuan Town early.

This was precisely why he had returned so early and directly asked his master for permission to leave in advance.

"Oh? That is not entirely unfeasible. However, with the New Year just past, there are countless matters to attend to at the apothecary, and I cannot spare the time to accompany you. How about this? Around this time every year, we need to arrange for a shipment of precious herbs to be escorted to Qinghe County for inventory and auditing. You might as well travel along with the cargo boat."

Manager Su pondered briefly before speaking abruptly.

"When?"

Chen Yushu frowned slightly.

"In five days, perhaps. After all, the New Year has just passed, and some of the guards from the apothecary have not yet returned. Besides, auditing and warehousing require coordination and cross-checking on this end, which also takes time..."

Manager Su murmured thoughtfully.

"Five days is far too long. Moreover, this time I want to go early to get a feel for the surroundings and also consult with the Third Young Miss more thoroughly..."

A troubled expression appeared on Chen Yushu's face.

At most ten days remained before the opening of the Mount Huang Legacy Cliff.

Subtracting the travel time, the days left to him were truly scarce.

Five days was indeed much too long for him.

"Then when do you wish to leave?"

Hearing this, Manager Su raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Tomorrow!"

...

Mount Huang lay to the west of Dragon Lake. Traveling by boat took three days, and combined with two days of overland travel, the entire round trip would require at least five days.

Chen Yushu currently practiced two cultivation systems.

One was martial arts; the other was Nether-Walking cultivation.

He was not particularly worried about his martial arts progress.

Because the Liu Family Apothecary had deep roots, backed as it was by the Medicine King Valley.

Although the Medicine King Valley claimed an inheritance of medical arts, it was equally renowned for its martial cultivation, standing as one of the powerful sects in the pugilistic world alongside a few other martial sacred lands and major sects.

Though classified as a second-tier faction, its unique and profound medical legacy, combined with the distinctive alchemy heritage of the Medicine King Valley, gave it an exceptionally lofty status in the martial world.

All he needed to do was follow step-by-step within the established cultivation framework of the Medicine King Valley, and he would never lack martial techniques to practice.

Through this path, he could ascend to relatively profound realms of power.

Nether-Walking cultivation, however, was a different story.

He was essentially operating as a lone practitioner outside the formal mainstream, having acquired the Li family's Nether-Walking inheritance. Yet the strongest figure in the Li family, Li Chao, had only reached the peak of the Three-Incense realm.

Once he entered the Dao, there was no established path ahead for him.

Even Liu Qiao'er, because her path ended after entering the Dao, had no choice but to head to Mount Tianxuan and join the Spirit-Ghost Sect, a faction fraught with unknown dangers and enemies.

Therefore, he placed immense importance on the legacy left behind by the Ancestor of Mount Huang, desiring it with an intense urgency.

While he could theoretically pursue only the sect-based cultivation path, joining a sect invariably came with numerous restrictions.

Furthermore, doing so would cause his martial cultivation to stagnate, an outcome he was unwilling to accept.

"This trip to Mount Huang is an opportunity for me. Only by securing that legacy can I have more choices available to me. Otherwise, I truly would be left with no other option than to join a sect and commit to a single cultivation path."

If he had to choose between martial cultivation and Nether-Walking cultivation, he would hesitate not a moment before choosing to walk the path of Nether-Walking alone.

After all, this was a world rife with demons, ghosts, and monsters.

While martial arts allowed one to walk freely through the mortal realm, they proved rather inadequate when confronted with the bizarre and unpredictable methods unleashed by endless waves of ghosts and spirits.

Only Daoist magic and the Nether-Walking inheritance could counter these entities and achieve true restraint over them.

Yet martial arts also served as a complementary supplement to his arsenal.

It was an external discipline that possessed distinct advantages compared to Nether-Walking physical tempering.

He did not wish to give it up either.

However, joining a Daoist sect implied relinquishing the possibility of advancing his martial arts further, something he naturally loathed to do.

Thus, passing the trials of the Mount Huang Legacy Cliff to obtain the legacy of the Ancestor of Mount Huang was a venture he had to undertake.

...

That night, Chen Yushu began packing his belongings.

Once he left this time, he had no idea when he might return.

Moreover, having purchased a property just before the New Year, he had already given the exact location and keys to his parents. On the day before the New Year, the couple had made a special trip to inspect it inside and out, finding it more satisfactory the more they looked at it.

As for the reluctance to leave one's ancestral home?

That did not exist.

Given the choice, who would not prefer to live within a town, a prefectural capital, or the imperial center?

It was simply that their strength had been insufficient, forcing them to huddle in a relatively remote mountain village.

Both Chen Baihe and Zhao Hehua were utterly delighted with their new residence.

The only reason they had not moved immediately was because there were still numerous social obligations and matters to settle back in their old home.

"Though these things look like a lot, there isn't actually much to carry."

After a brief sorting process.

Chen Yushu realized that he had very few items he truly needed to take with him.

Aside from silver and currency, the rest consisted of items like talisman paper and talisman brushes.

None of these objects were particularly bulky; he simply tucked them all away into his storage pouch in a single sweep.

"Brother Yushu, are we leaving now?"

Perhaps sensing their impending departure, a rare emotion flickered across Xiaohong's delicate face.

Seeing Chen Yushu nod, a hesitant look immediately surfaced on her small face.

"What is it?"

Chen Yushu asked with curiosity.

"It's just that Xiaohong has never left this place before, and I'm a little scared. Besides, Grandpa has also left. If I leave too, I might never see Grandpa again."

A rare look of melancholy shadowed Xiaohong's features.

Though she was a minor ghost and had been a spirit for less than three years, precisely because of this, she still carried many of the emotions common to living people.

"Rest assured, we are merely stepping out for a journey; that doesn't mean we won't return. As for your grandpa, he is a pest-grade malevolent entity—finding him again won't be difficult at all."

Chen Yushu smiled reassuringly.

"Grandpa!"

At that exact moment, Xiaohong suddenly raised her head in excitement, gazing intently into the distance in a specific direction.

Seeing this, Chen Yushu stood up instantly, his face turning grave.

Has the Old Ancestor of the Zuo family returned?

Whether for the entity itself or for him and Xiaohong, its return boded ill rather than good.

For a malevolent entity that had shown its face in a human town and displayed power above the pest-grade, the wisest course of action was to flee as far away as possible, hiding deep within the remote mountains and forests, and waiting eight or ten years for the storm to blow over before showing its face again.

This was because both the Nether-Suppressing Division and the surrounding deified spirits bore the responsibility of "pacifying pestilences and calamities."

Once a malevolent entity of that caliber revealed itself, they were obligated to suppress and pacify it.

Should the corresponding entity be dealt with, it counted as a grand achievement, frequently rewarded handsomely.

Deified spirits, in particular, stood to gain "human dao reinforcement."

This was akin to official "propaganda," allowing them to harvest massive amounts of faith power in a short span.

As everyone knew, for deified spirits, faith power was the very source of their strength.

The richer the faith power, the faster their strength would ascend.

Take Granny Jiang, for instance: before attaining deified status, she was merely at the spirit-ghost level, yet within a mere decade or so, she had ascended to the pest-grade.

Now, having been deified for decades, nobody knew what realm her power had reached.

Then there was the Wind-Cloud General residing in the General's Temple.

Right after his deification, he had merely been an old imperial general who died in battle, posthumously granted the title of "god" purely on account of his mortal deeds. Yet within a mere ten years, he transformed directly from a newly formed nether-spirit into an evil spirit on the verge of becoming a pest-grade entity.

Had Granny Jiang not wantonly disrupted his plans, he likely would have used faith power to ascend directly to the pest-grade more than a decade ago.

One could easily imagine just how crucial faith power was to various deified spirits.

Not to mention that executing operations to capture "pests" yielded extremely generous rewards, and in some cases, even allowed for "divine promotion."

...