Transcending Dreams - D2 - Chapter 58

After the egg had used William’s spirit beast corpses as a snack, he didn’t see much point in going to the peak. Yes, it would be nice to find an alchemist who could have rendered the corpses into something useful, but there was nothing to render now.

He didn’t even consider Ren Bo’s request. The quest related to that had a negligible penalty in his view.

[Penalty: Decreased reputation with Ren Bo]

It wasn’t like William wanted to have Ren Bo dislike him. He simply didn’t bring himself to care. He would accept that penalty if there was something else that he felt was a priority. Besides, it wasn’t like he couldn’t go to the Jade Cauldron Peak afterward.

“I changed my mind, Senior Yang. I’d rather go to the library first.”

Lan Yang tilted his head slightly before shrugging. “I’m guessing you want to find out more about that egg of yours?”

“That’s part of it,” William nodded.

“Hm,” Lan Yang looked past him into the apartment. “Your… friend not going to join us?”

“She headed to sleep after her tiring day. It’s just us.”

“Mortals,” Lan Yang rolled his eyes as if sleeping was unimaginable. “Anyway, that’s for the better. She would just slow us down.”

William did an eye roll of his own and followed him out, shutting the door behind him. “By the way, a voice announced that you were waiting outside. How did it know you were there for me?”

“That,” Lan Yang pointed to the blank slate next to the door, “It’s not just for entry. Visitors can hold their pass to it and say the resident’s name to be announced.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing these are formations again?”

“Correct.”

Wang Xiaoling was right. This was fancy. A little too fancy. He was looking forward to visiting Xu Feng at his sect to see what a normal sect is like.

***

William felt a sense of excitement at seeing the library looming over him. He was well aware of his hypocrisy by having that feeling.

He had rejected the idea of being an alchemist because he didn’t want to study, something he had never been a fan of… ever. Now, he intends to do that exact thing.

Yes, William was going to gather all the information he could about spirit eggs, but along with that, he was going to finally make a proper attempt to learn formations. Unlike alchemy, which he admittedly didn’t give much of a chance other than the few times he browsed through books with Li Xinyue, the field of formations and arrays had some strange attraction over him.

… Or not so strange. The teleportation formations around the Empire, the illusion array that trapped him in the Shard, the multitude of variations he had seen formations being used for inside the sect. All of that was almost assured to draw his interest.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Brother Yang!” A disciple broke off from a group near the entrance. “You’re back!”

William decided to try to avoid using the system to get the disciple’s name. She seemed far more normal than Kae, so carrying a conversation shouldn’t be torturous.

“Su Rou?” Lan Yang greeted with surprise. “What are you doing here? You were to be stationed in Dazhou Kingdom for ten years.”

“It was way too boring,” Su Rou scrunched her nose. “They kept telling me to make pills for them.”

“Su Rou…” Lan Yang pinched the bridge of his nose. “That was why you were sent there. It was meant to be your last test before entering the Golden Pill Peak.”

“Well, Peak Master Li will have to find some other thing for me to do,” Su Rou pouted. “She knows I don’t like boring things.”

William reevaluated Su Rou. This had to be the brattiest cultivator he had seen so far, including Princess Jin. Given how things usually are, he leaned toward Su Rou coming from some powerful clan that catered to her every need… or the Jade Healing Sect doing so due to talent.

After all, they were doing so for him.

“This is the fourth time you’ve done—” Lan Yang cut himself off. “You know what, I’ll speak with you later. I have to show my junior around the sect, and I’ve already delayed enough.”

“So that’s who this is,” Su Rou finally looked at William. “I didn’t mean to ignore you. I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine, Senior,” he mentally questioned how that made any sense. “I don’t mind waiting until you’re done with—Actually, I could explore the library on my own if that’s better?”

That was directed at Lan Yang, and it was immediately denied. “I don’t think so. Su Rou, I’ll meet you here when Junior Wei is comfortable with the library’s layout.”

Su Rou pouted in dissatisfaction but stepped back, apparently agreeing with Lan Yang. William smiled at her politely as they passed, but that was a mistake.

“Oh, Brother Yang, how about I help?” Su Rou was suddenly far closer than before, crowding William in the middle.

“With what? Alchemy? Junior Wei doesn’t specialize in that,” Lan Yang waved his hand at William’s bare sleeve, the red star missing.

“I’m sure I could convince him otherwise, but even if not, you know I’m nearly as skilled in the healing arts!”

He had noticed Su Rou’s sleeve had four red stars and three gold stars, the former representing alchemy and the latter healing. It was the reason he assumed the sect could be the one pampering her.

It couldn’t be forgotten that Ren Bo was seen as a prodigy, and he was basically out of control before he had achievements.

Still, William couldn’t deny his interest in the healing arts. Not that he wanted to specialize in it, but more for saving his own skin. Whatever the system did to his body, it had made him incapable of healing naturally. He refused to be reduced to the point of having to gorge down Vitality Restoration Pills to survive like he had in the Shard.

“Junior Wei doesn’t specialize in that either,” Lan Yang said dryly. “Anything else?”

“Er, actually, Senior Yang,” William spoke up, “I don’t think—”

He shut himself up when he recognized the warning in Lan Yang’s eyes. Alright then, he wasn’t supposed to engage with Su Rou. Unfortunately, it was too late.

“Great!” Su Rou announced, moving even closer. Enough for William to get out of the way and stand on the other side of Lan Yang. It seemed that was her goal all along. “I can’t wait to catch up, Brother Yang!”

“… Fine,” Lan Yang sighed.

A lightbulb flickered on weakly in William’s mind. She was romantically interested in Lan Yang. Her insistence suddenly made sense… and also became highly annoying in his eyes.

Not for how frustrated Su Rou seemed to make Lan Yang, though that was also a thing. More importantly, she was coming between Lan Yang and whoever was the intended recipient of the bracelets the man spent a fortune on.

William was personally invested in seeing that succeed. In a way, he had provided the Spirit Stones to buy it. Ignoring that it wouldn’t have been necessary if he hadn’t stolen it in the first place. Mere technicalities.

He forcefully inserted himself between them and smiled brightly. “This is great! I’ll have two of my seniors showing me around! Senior Su, I would actually be interested in learning the basics of the healing arts. It might save my life.”

“Hm, looks like I was wrong about Junior Wei’s interest,” Lan Yang commented, smiling. “Su Rou, it seems like I should thank you for your help.”