Bai Xiaochun lamented as he left Hou Yunfei’s place and returned to his courtyard. He gazed at the sky then looked towards the earth; he first thought about the Legacy Order, then he thought back about those cultivator clans. Recalling Hou Yunfei’s words, he felt that his Senior Brother Sect Head was simply too cruel. But as he thought about it further…even though he could no longer receive any gifts, he needn’t return those he had already accepted either.
“That’s right, they can’t blame me for it. After all, it was the order of Senior Brother Sect Head!” Once Bai Xiaochun realised this, he felt somewhat relieved. After he organised the gifts that he had received these past few days, he went down the mountain to exchange them for a large amount of medicinal herbs needed for the Grade Two spirit medicines. When he returned, he immediately headed for the Medicine Refining Pavilion and started meditating and refining medicine.
Actually, Zheng Yuandong didn’t want to interfere between Bai Xiaochun and the cultivator clans, but he couldn’t help but be alarmed; the nine Honourable Disciples before Bai Xiaochun all had their titles bestowed upon them after they had died in battle. Though those disciples may not have had any descendants, they all originated from cultivator clans and had clan members. Hence, there were no problems as these family clans would just naturally become an Honourable Clan.
And the sect would spare no effort to protect those families and emphasise on developing their clan members.
But currently, Bai Xiaochun was a living Honourable Disciple; the terror of such a position was not evident in the beginning, but was now slowly revealing itself. Half a year after the news had spread, Zheng Yuandong and many others suddenly realised that they had neglected the temptation a living Honourable Disciple presents to those cultivator clans.
When countless cultivator clans had come to visit, Zheng Yuandong had only watched from afar; whichever clan Bai Xiaochun chose would’ve been fine, he thought. But he hadn’t imagined that those clans, under the situation of overwhelming demand, would be desperate enough to present their young clanswomen as maidservants, asking only for a descendant of Bai Xiaochun’s bloodline.
Zheng Yuandong could imagine that as long as Bai Xiaochun’s determination wavered and caved in to such demands, then… in a matter of years, tens and hundreds of Bai Xiaochun’s blood descendants would crop up. And according to the sect’s rules, the first generation of descendants of an Honourable Disciple would all be inner sect disciples from birth, and every single one of them would need to be developed by the sect with their utmost effort… but that wasn’t all. As those tens and hundreds of people started their own families, tens and hundreds of Honourable Clans would appear, and by a few hundred years, the entire Spirit River Sect would belong to the Bai Family…and this was a grave problem.
Moreover…...Bai Xiaochun would still be alive. As long as he kept producing new descendants, then the sect would be in an everlasting nightmare.
For this matter, Zheng Yuandong had to convene the council of elders overnight, and even report this matter up to the Grand Elders. They finally reached a unanimous decision that within a hundred years, Bai Xiaochun was not allowed to have a partner. Though this decision may seem cruel, Zheng Yuandong had no choice - he dared not place his bets on Bai Xiaochun’s restraint. He could only hope that after Bai Xiaochun lived for a hundred years, he would become more mature.
Time flashed by, in the blink of an eye, a year had passed.
Throughout this year, it was as if Bai Xiaochun had vanished from the South Bank; barely anyone saw him as he spent his entire time refining medicine and meditating in the Medicine Refining Pavilion, working tirelessly to refine a Grade 2 Spirit Medicine.
His cultivation level had also slowly increased unknowingly and had reached the mid-stage of the seventh level of Qi Condensation. Moreover, under his constant efforts, the problems he had in refining Grade Two spirit medicines were also gradually resolved.
Actually, if it was any other Medicine Apprentice, they would have long since been capable capable of refining Grade Two spirit medicines. But Bai Xiaochun, he always had that meticulousness to him - as long as a problem was not resolved, he would not start the next furnace.
Finally, on this day, after an entire year, he felt that other than making adjustments for the different problems corresponding to the different Grade Two medicine pills during refinement, he had an impeccable foundation when it came to refining Grade Two spirit medicines. With that thought in mind, he started his next furnace.
“Purple Rising Qi Pill!” Bai Xiaochun’s eyes were bloodshot. This Grade Two medicine pill was suitable for cultivators under the eighth level of Qi Condensation. As such, it was exactly what Bai Xiaochun currently needed. At this moment, he took out the various items and medicinal herbs, organising them with practiced hands before he began throwing them into the furnace.
While controlling the fire, he observed the changes within the pill furnace by sending out Qi from time to time. Six hours later, the pill furnace shook vigorously and medicinal aroma wafted out. Bai Xiaochun’s eyes immediately brightened as he quickly stood up and moved closer to the pill furnace. With a slap onto it, three red-coloured medicine pills instantly flew out.
“Success!” Bai Xiaochun said excitedly as he grabbed onto these three medicine pills. However, when he looked closer, he became startled. He sighed and inspected the medicine pills thoroughly once again.
“This isn’t right, the Purple Rising Qi Pill should by purple-coloured according to the description in the medicine recipe. How come the ones that I refined are all red?” Bai Xiaochun scratched his head in confusion. Taking the medicine pill close to his nose for a sniff, he noticed that the medicinal aroma was not only very heavy, but it also contained some Qi. With it having such a weird smell, and in addition, a wrong colour, Bai Xiaochun did not dare swallow the pill.
Bai Xiaochun fell silent as he carefully recalled the entire refinement procedure. It was not until two hours later that he suddenly opened his eyes and let out a bitter laugh.
“It was when I put in the Agate Flower, that stalk had a little more pollen than usual and contaminated the other medicinal plants, causing such a bizarre change.” Bai Xiaochun placed the three red-coloured medicine pill aside and began refining another batch.
This time around, together with the shaking of the pill furnace and the appearance of the medicinal aroma, a single purple-coloured medicine pill appeared. After closely inspecting it, satisfaction surfaced on Bai Xiaochun’s face.
Immediately after, he started yet another furnace. This time, he continued refining for numerous days; only after he had refined over a dozen Purple Rising Qi pills did he finally sit by the side, exhausted. While he was resting, he took out those three red-coloured Purple Rising Qi pills once again. There was hesitation in his eyes, he felt that it would be a pity if he were to just throw these pills away. After all, each and every single Purple Rising Qi pill was not cheap, and his stock of medicinal herbs had also been considerably depleted at this point.
“According to the laws of medicine refining, as long as a pill is formed, then it is considered a spirit medicine. These three red-coloured Purple Rising Qi pills had a change in colour because of a little bit more of the Agate Flower’s pollen, I wonder what effect it will have.” Bai Xiaochun hesitated for a moment before he slapped his storage pouch with his left hand as a needle immediately appeared.
The needle was made of bamboo and was green in colour.
This was an essential item for medicine refining that Bai Xiaochun had obtained from the sect. It could be easily determine whether or not a spirit medicine contained poisonous elements harmful to humans. Bai Xiaochun slowly poked the bamboo needle into the red-coloured medicine pill and took it out half a moment later - the bamboo needle was the same and didn’t turn black.
“There’s no poison!” Bai Xiaochun heaved a sigh of relief. However, because of his cautiousness, he still did not consume the medicine pill. He held onto the pill and left the Medicine Refining Pavilion. It was still the early morning outside when Bai Xiaochun walked along the path in the sect.
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Translated by: Xin
Translated by XianXiaWorld