NovelOnline #118 - Rubbing salt into the wound
#118 - Rubbing salt into the wound
Originally, the fact that a bowl of Clary Sage Soup had inexplicably opened up his Conception and Governor Vessels was already enough to trouble Lu Jing.
He hadn't expected that after returning to the city, he would be forced to accept endless congratulations from all sorts of people.
It was simply like… a large-scale salt-rubbing-on-wound scene.
The key was that Lu Jing couldn't show any dissatisfaction during this.
The dark face of Grandpa Zhao on the side had already made him realize how much of a Versailles he had been previously.
After all, most martial artists in this world were like his master, Zhang Sanfeng.
Taiwan Novel Network → 𝓉 𝓌 𝓀 𝒶 𝓃 . 𝒸 ℴ 𝓂
As a young man, he became an apprentice and practiced diligently and assiduously throughout his life, never daring to slack off, but in the end, limited by his aptitude, he always found it difficult to enter the mainstream.
Even the heads of these second- and third-rate gangs and sects in front of Lu Jing might already be figures in the eyes of ordinary martial artists and the people in the city, and even be admired by many.
They seemed to be only one step away from being first-rate.
But precisely because of this, they knew better than anyone else how difficult this step was.
Even top sects like Sword Washing Pavilion and Hanging Temple, which were extremely strict in selecting disciples, had disciples who were more outstanding than the last, but in the end, only a few people in each generation could enter the first-rate realm.
Previously, Zhao Banshan lamented that he was forty-six years old when he opened up his Conception and Governor Vessels and became a world-renowned peerless master, but in fact, according to the average age of first-rate masters, he was still very young at that time.
Of course, it depended on who he was compared to.
In the past two years, when everyone talked about the masters in Wujiang City, the first one they would definitely mention was Golden Dart Iron Gall Zhao Banshan, Grandpa Zhao, and after that, it would be Lu Jing.
Considering that Grandpa Zhao had already retired, it wouldn't be controversial to say directly that Lu Jing was the number one martial artist in Wujiang City, without being humble.
In addition, everyone sincerely believed that Young Master Lu had a 99% chance of breaking through to the first-rate realm.
It was just that no one expected this day to come so quickly.
The first-rate realm itself was already out of reach, and a first-rate master under the age of twenty, even the storytellers in the tea houses probably couldn't make up such an outrageous story.
So while congratulating him, everyone couldn't help but have a hint of jealousy in their eyes.
There was no way around it, this was human nature.
While feeling happy for Young Master Lu, everyone couldn't help but ask themselves a question, which was, why is the gap so big when we are all human, with one nose and two eyes?!
In short, Lu Jing, considering everyone's psychological endurance, and seeing that Grandpa Zhao was holding the horse whip very tightly, in order to prevent the situation from further spiraling out of control and causing any tragedies, had no choice but to go against his heart again.
He squeezed out a somewhat stiff smile on his face and further accepted everyone's curses on him.
“Young Master Lu is exceptionally talented, and his internal strength cultivation will definitely become more profound in the future!”
“Young Master Lu's divine skill is invincible. Wujiang City has another first-rate master, which is really a blessing for the righteous path! A blessing for the martial arts world!”
“Young Master Lu entered the first-rate realm at the age of nineteen. If he continues to practice, one day he may reach the legendary realm of shattering the void and ascending to immortality!”
“Young Master Lu…”
This was probably a rare scene where both the person congratulating and the person being congratulated were smiling on the surface but bleeding in their hearts.
One side was thinking, damn it, why isn't it me! The other side was also thinking, damn it, why is it me!
After finally dealing with everyone one by one, Lu Jing found that it was almost noon.
Someone even suggested going to Gonglou to set up a few tables and celebrate properly, but Lu Jing, who was exhausted, politely declined.
He casually found a clean stall on the roadside and hurriedly ate a bowl of rice in broth, and then Lu Jing rushed to the herbal medicine shop of Baicao Sect located on Gulou Street.
Life is not a game, there is no rollback function.
Since the matter of entering the first-rate realm was a fait accompli, Lu Jing could only make some remedies in other directions.
The top priority was to store more 'Fallen into the Mortal World'.
Because from now on, Young Master Lu might have to rely on this poison to save his life.
The pharmacists in the pharmacy had already recognized him. When they saw him enter, they saluted him one after another.
Although Lu Jing was anxious, he was still very polite and returned the salute one by one. Then, he saw the old pharmacist who had first received him put down the prescription in his hand and walked towards him.
“Young Master Lu, are you here to buy medicine again?”
“That's right.”
Lu Jing nodded. In fact, after practicing Mad Demon One Hundred and Eight Staffs to great perfection, he no longer needed 'Fallen into the Mortal World' as much. He just bought some for backup, and then he hardly came here again.
“Is it still the previous five flavors of medicine?” the old pharmacist asked again.
“Yes, how much do you have this time, I want it all.” Lu Jing replied.
Life and death were at stake, and now was not the time to feel sorry for the money. Lu Jing had about six thousand taels of silver on him, plus the five thousand taels of reward money left over from killing Xiang Feixiong.
Adding up to more than ten thousand taels, Lu Jing no longer thought about the body-protecting martial arts in the Duobao Pavilion.
He planned to take half of it to stock up on medicine first. You must know that five thousand taels of silver was only enough for him to drink for two and a half years, and that was because Baicao Sect gave it to him directly at the purchase price out of consideration for his reputation.
The old pharmacist didn't say anything when he heard this, and asked a medicine boy to fetch the medicine from the warehouse.
However, in the end, the medicine boy only brought out about one thousand taels worth of medicine, which was only enough to drink for about half a year.
Lu Jing asked the old pharmacist, “When will the next batch of medicine arrive?”
“I'm not too sure,” the old pharmacist shook his head, “I told Young Master Lu before that the most precious of the five flavors of medicine you want are the Fire Lantern Cage Grass and the White-Eyed Silkworm Clothes, of which the Fire Lantern Cage Grass grows in the Western Regions, and the White-Eyed Silkworm Clothes are produced in the East Sea.”
“However, since the end of last year, the weather in the Western Regions has been much wetter than in previous years for some reason. According to the merchants who went there, many grasses and trees have grown on the Gobi Desert, which was originally only sand and stone, and some oases that had disappeared have reappeared.”
“However, the Fire Lantern Cage Grass has very harsh requirements for the environment and must grow in extremely hot and arid places, so the current output is very small, and we can't get any goods for the time being, and the White-Eyed Silkworm Clothes…”
“Is there also a problem with the White-Eyed Silkworm Clothes?” Lu Jing's heart sank when he heard the old pharmacist's words, but he didn't expect that there seemed to be more than one bad news.
“The world is not peaceful now. A very powerful pirate appeared in the East Sea two years ago. The leader is a first-rate master who claims to have obtained the inheritance of the Azure Lotus Sword Sect. His power has grown stronger and stronger over the years. It is said that he now has dozens of second-rate masters under his command.”
“And he is also colluding with the Demonic Path, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. The government and the righteous path can't do anything about them. The East Sea is now a mess because of them. The White-Eyed Silkworm Clothes are also pitifully few this year. The sect master actually instructed the people in charge of purchasing medicinal materials to pay more attention to what Young Master Lu wants.”
“That's why we were able to accumulate these stocks this year, but if we want to get new goods, I'm afraid it will be very difficult.”