Chapter 806: Chapter 738: Secrets of Qilin Valley (Part 2)

However, none of this had anything to do with him.

The elders of Qilin Valley didn’t think much of him either.

Most of what they gave him were belittling remarks and barbed words.

So why should he bother meddling?

In the days that followed, Shen Han would take on some tasks in the valley during the daytime.

When he was alone, Shen Han would use his ability to extract entries and finish things early.

With the extra time he gained, he would sometimes pick up an additional task.

With that mysterious ability to extract entries, he could indeed save a large portion of effort compared to others.

Whether in labor or in study, he held a considerable advantage.

Shen Han was very clear on where his edge lay.

If he didn’t have this ability, he probably wouldn’t have set foot in Qilin Valley at all.

To rent Cultivation Technique Manuals, anything related to Pills required spending Contribution Points.

But as for those books on the history of Qilin Valley, as long as one wished to read them, they could be borrowed freely.

Ever since Shen Han entered Qilin Valley, he’d sensed a certain air of flattery here, a culture fixated on praise and eulogies.

Occasionally he would borrow a couple of volumes to read, and most of them were records trumpeting achievements.

When reading these books, Shen Han could only try to guess from between the lines.

Every group inevitably carried its own cultural imprint.

In Qilin Valley, that imprint seemed to be pure flattery.

But today, Shen Han had found a somewhat peculiar book.

It was also a volume on the history of Qilin Valley, but it looked rather worn and shabby.

The key point was that its entries were marked as [partially deleted].

In other words, this old book had once been artificially altered.

Someone had plucked out things they didn’t want others to see.

That, instead, made it all the more enticing.

After bringing the book back to his room, Shen Han immediately removed the gray entries from it.

The originally thin volume thickened visibly to the naked eye.

This book had at least one-third of its content cut out.

Only after leafing through it did Shen Han understand why it had been censored.

Qilin Valley had once experienced a major incident.

Judging by the wording in the book, it should have been a rebellion.

The former masters of Qilin Valley had been the Qin Family.

During the rebellion, the Qin Family was nearly wiped out, leaving not a drop of bloodline behind.

When the Qin Family Patriarch died, he cried out loudly in fury.

He cursed those rebels and their descendants, that they would never be able to learn the Qin Family’s methods of Alchemy.

And afterwards, the Qin Patriarch’s curse seemed to have taken effect.

Those rebels had all been people of Qilin Valley; they already had a foundation in Pills.

Yet after the Qin Family perished, even with the sect’s most exquisite Techniques in hand and the finest medicinal herbs, they still could not reach the Pill quality the Qin Family had produced.

Later on, after countless trials.

The Alchemy Techniques of Qilin Valley began to improve somewhat.

But the success rate of refining Pills still fell far short of the Qin Family’s era.

The book ended its account there, with nothing further.

By cross-checking with other events, Shen Han judged that the book must have been compiled seven to eight hundred years ago.

Let alone the time when the incident itself took place.

After reading it through, Shen Han naturally understood why these passages had been excised.

Because the current leadership of Qilin Valley was not the valley’s orthodox line.

They were the descendants of those rebels.

At the same time, a conjecture took shape in Shen Han’s mind.

Most likely, the Qin Family had long been prepared for this.

In the Cultivation Technique Manuals and Pill Formulas they compiled, there were many hidden errors.

Without guidance from the Qin Family themselves, simply cultivating according to what was written in the manuals, it was absolutely impossible to truly grasp the Qin Family’s Pill arts.

Very likely in the earlier books, the mistakes had been even more numerous, the flaws even more glaring.

Only after years of corrections and experiments had they obtained the current results.

Yet the manuals were still full of fallacies.

Having finished reading, Shen Han felt that if these contents hadn’t been deleted, that would have been the truly strange thing.

He hadn’t expected Qilin Valley to have such a hidden Chapter in its history.

No wonder the Qilin Valley of today loved to sing its own praises so much, so fond of boasting.

Mid-Winter Month.

According to the rules, Master Gan had to devote at least one day each month to lecturing everyone.

It was the first time Shen Han was hearing Master Gan teach; he took it quite seriously, wanting to see whether any key points would be mentioned.

Yet as soon as the lecture began, Shen Han understood why so many looked listless.

In the courtyard, Master Gan sat down and said nothing at all.

A few disciples at the front began to ask questions, and he simply discussed matters with those three or four disciples.

As for everyone else, they were completely ignored.

"Don’t go crowding around, you’ll just get scolded..."

Pei Mao saw what Shen Han intended and quietly warned him.

A moment later, he leaned closer to Shen Han again.

"Master Gan only ever instructs the geniuses; people like us can’t afford his guidance.

If you go up and ask something, he’ll just answer with questions.

He’ll keep asking until you can’t respond anymore, then he’ll curse you and tell you not to waste his time."

As Pei Mao spoke, a senior sister really did go forward.

Shen Han and Pei Mao both turned to watch, wanting to see how Master Gan would react.

A quarter of an hour, then another quarter...

The senior sister stood off to the side; she spoke up, but Master Gan didn’t respond at all.

He acted as though he hadn’t heard her speak.

Pei Mao shook his head helplessly. "Why bother, just asking for trouble..."

The senior sister remained on the platform for a long time; nearly a full two-hour span passed, and Master Gan still had no intention of acknowledging her.

Previously he would at least respond with questions, say a few lines.

Now he truly regarded the rest of them as invisible.

The senior sister seemed to realize that Master Gan simply didn’t want to pay her any heed.

Or rather, that aside from those few people, Master Gan couldn’t be bothered with anyone else.

After midday, aside from the few still in discussion with Master Gan, everyone else left.

Shen Han and Pei Mao left together, intending to take on more work since it was only just past midday.

"Honestly, Master Gan doesn’t need to treat us this harshly.

His status remaining stagnant has nothing to do directly with us disciples.

Why put on a face for us?"

Shen Han spoke softly, puzzled.

Even if the students’ talent was weak, there was no need to act as though they were enemies.

At this, Pei Mao gave a small laugh.

"Don’t rush it, Junior Brother Shen, you haven’t yet seen the more disgusting side of him.

Give it some time, you’ll see."

Pei Mao clearly bore a deep grudge against Master Gan; whenever the man was mentioned, his mouth spilled complaints.

But people at the bottom, facing bullying, could only swallow it.

"Did you notice the man standing next to Master Gan today?

Bao Xin, our Senior Brother Bao, personally designated as the chief disciple by Master Gan.

In Master Gan’s eyes, only Bao Xin has any future; everyone else is just wasting time in Qilin Valley.

Wouldn’t surprise me if, before long, he has us demonstrate our ’value’."

"How are we supposed to demonstrate it?"

Seeing Shen Han’s slight frown, a hint of bitterness crossed Pei Mao’s face.

"You’ll find out when the time comes. Knowing early will only make you more upset."

Seeing that Pei Mao didn’t wish to elaborate, Shen Han thought for a moment and didn’t press.

As long as it didn’t affect him, they could cause whatever mischief they liked.

What mattered most to him now was earning more Contribution Points and renting more Cultivation Technique Manuals.

To study and improve as quickly as possible—that was what he ought to be doing.

As for Master Gan and the others, he might as well treat them as though they didn’t exist.

In Qilin Valley, comprehending the Dao of Pills while listening to these so-called masters’ instructions might very well give him negative feedback instead.

Much of what they understood was wrong.

Yet each of them clung stubbornly to that little notion in their own hearts.

Just like the very first day he arrived—he’d merely asked a single question and Qu Zhongjin had immediately reprimanded him, slapping him with the label of "presumptuous."

"By the way, in about half a month it’ll start snowing.

When the time comes, they’ll send us into the mountains to search for medicinal herbs, so remember to prepare.

Don’t waste that opportunity; if you find extremely rare herbs, you can even trade them for several thousand Contribution Points in one go."

"Wouldn’t it be even harder to find anything after it snows?

Can’t we go now?"

For a moment, Shen Han didn’t quite follow.

"Junior Brother Shen, you’re thinking too optimistically. Before the snow, the valley has dedicated Herbalists—how could it ever be our turn?

It’s only once the snow falls and everything’s harder to find that they let us go try our luck."

That did make a certain kind of sense.

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