The Artifact Refiners Guild. While not as prosperous as the Alchemists Guild, it was not a place where one could cause trouble indiscriminately.
Ling Luoyi walked in, and a waiter immediately came forward.
“Miss, how may I help you?”
“I wish to see the Guild Master. Could you please inform him?”
“This…” The waiter hesitated, about to say something when he heard gasps from the surroundings.
“She’s the eldest daughter of the Ling family! What is she doing here?”
“Are you stupid? Of course, she has business here!”
…
Hearing the discussions around him, the waiter looked at Ling Luoyi blankly. “Eldest Miss Ling, please wait a moment. I will go and inform him for you.”
Ling Luoyi was stunned. If she hadn’t misread, wasn’t this waiter about to refuse? Why the sudden change of attitude?
Also, she had only chatted with Guild Master Lin and Vice Guild Master Duan for a while and was delayed on the road for a bit. It hadn’t even been half an hour. Had the news spread this quickly?
While Ling Luoyi was lost in thought, she heard a commotion.
“Where? Where? Where is Eldest Miss Ling?”
Ling Luoyi looked towards the source of the sound. The waiter from before was being dragged out by a gray-haired old man who looked somewhat weathered.
“Guild Master, she’s over there,” the waiter replied, pointing in Ling Luoyi’s direction.
As the Guild Master approached and looked closely at Ling Luoyi, he suddenly burst into laughter. “Good, good, good! Old Man Ling should be returning now!”
Ling Luoyi remained bewildered.
What was this old man’s deal?
“Ling girl, let’s talk upstairs.”
Saying that, he pulled Ling Luoyi upstairs.
Ling Luoyi, being pulled along, thought: Did I come to the wrong place?
The people downstairs thought: What is going on?
Upstairs.
Guild Master Chen Duanmian poured Ling Luoyi a cup of tea and said, “Little girl, you don’t recognize this old man? You used to call me Grandpa when you were little.”
Seeing Ling Luoyi’s confused expression, he explained, “I grew up with your grandfather and your butler, Old Man Liang. This old man even held you when you were a child.”
With Guild Master Chen’s explanation, Ling Luoyi finally found this person in the original owner’s memories. The last time she saw him was on the original owner’s fifth birthday. Later, she heard from her grandfather that he had gone to search for artifact refining materials, and she hadn’t seen him since.
Ling Luoyi remembered and performed a respectful junior’s bow. “Grandpa Chen.”
“Good, good, sit and talk.” Guild Master Chen looked at her, his voice filled with nostalgia. “You look exactly like your mother, but it’s a pity that neither of them saw their children grow up.”
“Grandpa Chen…” Ling Luoyi wanted to comfort him but didn’t know what to say.
“You don’t need to comfort me,” Guild Master Chen interrupted her. “It’s been so many years, this old man has come to terms with it.”
“Grandpa Chen, death of the body is never true death. Forgetting is.”
Guild Master Chen was taken aback, then laughed heartily. “That’s an unusual thought.”
“Isn’t it? As long as someone remembers them, they exist in this world.”
“Hahaha…” Guild Master Chen laughed heartily.
After a while, Guild Master Chen stopped laughing and asked, “You came to see me today about the Ling family’s affairs, didn’t you?”
It was a question, but it sounded very certain.
“Yes.” Ling Luoyi didn’t beat around the bush and admitted it directly. “I wonder if the Guild Master agrees?”
Guild Master Chen was stunned, then sighed. “Girl, do you think the Ling family could have survived until now without this old man’s help?”
Ling Luoyi was taken aback. She had suspected it before. When the Wei family attacked back then, they should have annihilated the Ling family, so why was the Ling family still here?
Seeing her expression, Guild Master Chen said, “The day after the Ling family had their incident, I went to the Wei family and made a deal with the Wei family head: they would spare the Ling family, and I would provide the Wei family with five hundred fifth-grade mortal artifacts annually, free of charge. It was fine for the first few years, but six years ago, after I advanced, they demanded an additional one hundred sixth-grade mortal artifacts each year.”
“Grandpa Chen, I didn’t know any of this, and they never told me.”
“They don’t know about this, and this old man doesn’t intend for them to know. So, girl, do you still have questions?”
Ling Luoyi suddenly knelt down, pressing her forehead to the ground, and said sincerely, “Luoyi thanks Grandpa Chen for everything you have done for the Ling family.”
Guild Master Chen quickly helped her up. “Quick, get up and talk.”
Watching Ling Luoyi sit down, Guild Master Chen said, “This old man didn’t tell you this for you to thank me.”
“Luoyi knows.”
He did all this out of friendship, to protect his friend’s family.
“Girl, do whatever you want. Although this old man doesn’t have much ability, I can still protect you.”
“Thank you, Grandpa Chen.”
Ling Luoyi truly respected the old man in front of her. She had always thought that the connections between people were based on interests.
But the old man in front of her was truly acting purely on emotion, doing his best to protect his friend’s family.
Ling Luoyi suddenly produced a blue porcelain bottle and said, “Grandpa Chen, this is for you. You should know about today’s matter. This can resolve the pill poison in your body. With this, I believe Grandpa Chen will be able to break through soon.”
Guild Master Chen looked at the pill in Ling Luoyi’s hand. It was hard not to be moved. That was a top-grade pill! And it could resolve pill poison!
Pill poison refers to the residual dregs left after a pill’s medicinal properties are absorbed. These dregs remain in the body and cannot be expelled. Over time, the meridians and dantian become blocked, causing cultivation to stagnate and progress to halt.
The higher the quality of the pill, the less pill poison it contains. Top-grade pills are defined as pills with no pill poison, so they can be consumed without any reservations.
However, most pills on the market are low-grade or mid-grade, with high-grade pills appearing only occasionally.
These pills all contain pill poison. The more you consume, the more pill poison accumulates in your body; the more pill poison there is, the slower your cultivation speed becomes.
Therefore, top-grade pills are coveted by the world.
However, it felt improper for him, an elder, to accept something from a junior.
Ling Luoyi saw his concern and said, “Grandpa Chen, you are my grandfather’s friend, so you are also my grandfather. If a granddaughter has something good, she wants to give it to her grandfather, wouldn’t Grandpa not recognize me as his granddaughter?”
“I recognize you! Of course, I recognize you! How could I not recognize such a good granddaughter!” Guild Master Chen said eagerly. “However, Luo’er, whatever good things you have, you should use them yourself. Grandpa is already so old; giving them to me would be a waste.”
“Grandpa, I have many of these pills. If Grandpa feels it’s a waste, you can waste them for many more years. Just take them.”
Before Guild Master Chen could refuse, Ling Luoyi placed them on the table.
“There’s one more thing,” Ling Luoyi said, taking out a handwritten notebook and a storage ring. “This notebook is the lifetime experience of an artifact refining master. The items in this storage ring will surely be useful to Grandpa for artifact refining in the future.”
Guild Master Chen was dumbfounded at this point. An artifact refining master! There were no artifact refining masters on this continent!
Thinking of this, Guild Master Chen asked, “Luo’er, where did you get this?”
Ling Luoyi didn’t speak, only pointed upwards.
Guild Master Chen looked up. Above? Could it be…!
Guild Master Chen asked no more questions. He reached out, took them, and put them away. Kuaishuge.
“Grandpa, I still need to visit other guilds, so I’ll be leaving now.”
“Go ahead. Grandpa will help you keep your secret.”
“Thank you, Grandpa. Luo’er will also help Grandpa keep his secret. I expect we will see first-grade spiritual artifacts at the Artifact Refiners Guild in a few days.”
After Ling Luoyi finished speaking, she went downstairs and left.
Guild Master Chen was stunned, then smiled. “This mischievous girl.”
Looking at the porcelain bottle on the table, Guild Master Chen sighed. It seemed he needed to pay a visit to the Wei family.