Chapter 640: Chapter 553: A Costly Tumble

Xiao Man scoffed inwardly. ’So the Gongsun Clan actually has a strict hierarchy? Judging by their ranks, Gongsun Ruxue and the two younger girls are cousins. But even though they call her "sister," they act like servant girls from the old days in her presence, letting her scold and order them around at will!’

Shi Jiu, who was standing under the covered walkway, was clearly defiant toward Gongsun Ruxue. Seeing her two older cousins walk away, she stomped her foot, muttered a curse or two under her breath, and chased after them.

Xiao Man naturally followed Shi Jiu. ’Gongsun Li set a specific time, telling his great-granddaughter Gongsun Ruxue to go add herbs punctually, even in the middle of the night. They must be refining some kind of elixir, right?’ Thinking of the pitch-black, spinning Pill Furnace of indiscernible material in her own Treasure Pearl Space, she grew curious about what the Gongsun Clan’s Alchemy Furnaces looked like. ’Since I’m here, I might as well take a look.’

Shi Jiu trailed five or six steps behind Gongsun Ruxue and Seventeen. Xiao Man followed her like a shadow, listening to the conversation between Gongsun Ruxue and Seventeen up ahead.

"Sister Sixteen, you don’t need to be upset. Didn’t Great-Grandfather say the other day that as long as we get the Spirit Plant, he can refine a top-grade pill? Restoring your cultivation will be a piece of cake then!"

"Hmph. That’s only if we can get our hands on the Spirit Plant," she snorted.

"What about that girl Grand-uncle brought back? We’ve been giving her the best medicine and the best food, and she’s been recuperating well at the manor down the mountain. As long as we send her back, that should be enough, right?"

"If it were really that easy, why would the elders go to all this trouble? The hard part is that the sect in possession of the Spirit Plant is not one to be trifled with... Sigh! It’s all because the elders weren’t farsighted enough. If our family had secured a marriage alliance with the Gu family first, we wouldn’t have any of these problems, and we could have gotten the Spirit Plant without lifting a finger!" Gongsun Ruxue was lost in her daydreams again, her voice mournful and her spirits low.

Xiao Man was both infuriated and amused. ’What kind of person has a brain like that? Her imagination is really something else!’

Walking behind them, Shi Jiu’s lips tightened and then relaxed. She looked quite anxious. Finally, she couldn’t hold back any longer and said, "Sister Sixteen, you shouldn’t be thinking about unpleasant things right now. Great-Grandfather said that when you go to add the herbs, you must avoid having an unstable state of mind..."

"Shut up! Do I need you to teach me what to do? I’ve been by Great-Grandfather’s side since I was two or three. By the time I was ten, I was the one adding the herbs and monitoring the furnace fire for all the different pills he refined, meticulously keeping records of every single detail. Do you know how to do any of that? Could you?" Gongsun Ruxue stopped in her tracks, spun around, and glared at Shi Jiu.

Seventeen also shot Shi Jiu a nasty look. "If you’re here to learn, you should act like it. Stay quiet, do more, and talk less. No one’s going to think you’re a mute just because you keep your mouth shut!"

With that, she turned back and brought up another topic with Gongsun Ruxue—a few days ago, Gongsun Ruxue had prescribed medicine for a sick woman in the manor down the mountain. The woman recovered after just two doses and was eternally grateful, saying that Miss Sixteen was like a celestial fairy who had descended to earth...

Sure enough, this was pleasing to Gongsun Ruxue’s ears, and her mood improved. When she spoke again of her task of "adding the herbs," she was much calmer and more composed.

"For this one furnace of Elixir Pills, the two ancestors spent a full seven or eight years preparing. They exhausted countless efforts and resources just to gather enough herbs, and I was the one who handled most of them. Once the furnace is lit, it must be monitored closely for forty-nine days. We’re just over halfway through, and at this critical juncture, Great-Grandfather had to leave for seven days. I’m the only one in the family watching over the alchemy room, so how could I not be cautious and diligent? You two are just new apprentices. If something really were to go wrong, Great-Grandfather would only hold me responsible. Don’t tell me you two could bear the blame and accept the punishment? I don’t even know what you’re making such a fuss and panicking about!"

Shi Jiu lowered her gaze, pouting, but didn’t dare make another sound.

The group walked into a quaint and serene old courtyard. Xiao Man looked around and concluded that this must be where Gongsun Li lived.

They went straight to the main building, passed through the Quiet Cultivation Hall to the back courtyard, which was an empty plot of land. After passing through another connecting hall, they finally arrived at the alchemy room.

As expected of a great cultivation clan, the Gongsun Family’s alchemy room was extremely impressive, despite its gloomy appearance. It consisted of five tall main rooms. The three central rooms housed three large Copper Furnaces, all of which were currently fired up. Two young men stood guard by each furnace, while others patrolled continuously under the eaves of the covered walkway and below the steps.

Gongsun Ruxue entered the alchemy room and inspected the furnace fires one by one, giving a few instructions to the young men tending them. Then she came out, walked to the room on the far left, and pushed the door open to enter.

Seventeen and Shi Jiu did not follow her inside. When Xiao Man approached the doorway, she felt a form of resistance. It was a restrictive ward set by Gongsun Li. She couldn’t break it, which meant she couldn’t get in.

After waiting by the door for a moment, Xiao Man saw Gongsun Ruxue emerge, carefully cradling a wooden box in her hands.

Just as she lifted her foot to step over the threshold, she suddenly felt a sharp sting behind her knee, as if bitten by an ant. Her leg went weak. She tripped over her own feet, and her long robes made the tangle worse.

Her body tumbled uncontrollably to the ground. Amidst several screams, everyone saw the wooden box Gongsun Ruxue had been cradling like a treasure fly from her grasp. It burst open with a CLATTER, and its contents—whether they were herbs or something else—scattered everywhere!

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