binnovel Chapter 13 Different Paths
Chapter 13 Different Paths
"Ling'er, what are you going to do with this pot?" Seeing Zhang Yunling hurriedly running towards the backyard with an iron pot, Granny Wang couldn't help but feel curious. Zhang Yunling trembled and hurriedly explained, "Ah, I want to... uh... use this pot to make a bonsai for Mom!" Hearing this, Granny Wang nodded with a strange expression and then ignored him.
Having safely brought the iron pot to the back garden, Zhang Yunling returned to the spot where he had found the herb. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that there was indeed more than one; numerous scattered herbs of various kinds were planted there as ordinary flowers and grasses. Perhaps mortals couldn't sense the spiritual energy emanating from these herbs, and even Zhang Yunling hadn't noticed it in the past two years, simply attributing it to the abundant spiritual energy resulting from the lush growth of the plants.
"Excellent!" Zhang Yunling was secretly delighted. He placed the pot on an empty piece of land, then picked a few herbs needed for the Qi Condensation Pill. Using the alchemy method taught by Liao Daozi in his previous life, he activated his own fire spirit root and ignited a cluster of pill fire out of thin air.
After a flurry of activity, Zhang Yunling easily refined a Qi Condensation Pill. He eagerly swallowed it, and sure enough, it was delicious and visually appealing. His alchemy skills hadn't diminished. Feeling his body absorbing the pill's medicinal power, Zhang Yunling didn't stop. He continued to add herbs to the pot, using the pot as a cauldron, relying on his own alchemy expertise to continuously refine one pill after another to enhance his cultivation.
Although the Qi Condensation Pill was only a first-grade pill, Zhang Yunling had already refined dozens of Qi Condensation Pills in a few hours. The accumulation of quantity caused even the lowest-grade first-grade pill to begin to emit a faint fragrance.
Wang Po, who had been secretly following Zhang Yunling, witnessed everything from the corner. Generally speaking, as an ordinary person, seeing an eight-year-old child cooking soup in an iron pot in the flower bushes, with billowing white steam and a fragrant aroma, would seem extremely absurd to anyone.
But Granny Wang's face lit up with joy. She quietly crept over and carefully examined Zhang Yunling, who was engrossed in refining medicine. She thought to herself, "I've been paying attention to Ling'er for a while now. When I sensed the faint cultivation level on his body, I thought it was because his spiritual roots were too abundant. But now it seems that this child is indeed a cultivator, and a pill refiner at that..."
Just as Zhang Yunling was about to refine another pill, Wang Po took advantage of the break and gently patted his shoulder. Before she could even voice her question, Zhang Yunling suddenly sprang up, ignoring the iron pot used for refining the pill. He was so frightened that he used his superhuman speed to escape into the tulip bushes in the distance.
Seeing this, Granny Wang was not in a hurry. Instead, she smiled faintly and waved her hand to rekindle the almost extinguished fire in the pot. "The cultivation of alchemy requires composure. One should remain calm and composed in the face of adversity. Only by doing so can one maintain a stable mind during the alchemy process, exert one's full strength, and thus elevate the quality of the elixir to the highest level, achieving success naturally."
Zhang Yunling was startled when he saw Granny Wang squatting there chanting incantations. He never expected that the Zhang family, an ordinary mortal family, would hide a cultivator just like himself! Moreover, judging from Granny Wang's teachings, it seemed that the other party's cultivation level was not low, at least her cultivation experience and comprehension were much higher than his own.
"Old Wang, could it be that you're not a mortal, but a cultivator?" Zhang Yunling asked bluntly, getting straight to the point. Old Wang laughed heartily, sat cross-legged on the ground of the flower bed, looked at the green Qi Condensation Pills scattered on the ground, and nodded slightly, saying, "You child, from the day you were born, I sensed something was amiss. That's not the demeanor of an infant. You shouldn't be Zhang Yunling, but someone else whose soul has transmigrated into this body."
Zhang Yunling's body trembled violently. Just as she had expected, despite her best efforts to conceal it over the years, she had not escaped the old woman's discerning eyes. This gave Zhang Yunling a glimmer of hope, and she asked urgently, "Old Wang, since you know the whole story, why not lend me a hand? I want to leave the Zhang family as soon as possible. There is a terrible grudge against my father's killer waiting for me to avenge! If I achieve success in my cultivation in the future, I will definitely come back to repay your kindness!"
Zhang Yunling, with the face of an eight-year-old child, spoke in a voice that was both weathered and resolute. Upon hearing this, Granny Wang shook her head and smiled bitterly, "When will this cycle of revenge end? I once traveled far and wide seeking revenge, but now I am living in seclusion in this world. Everything is predestined, and cause and effect form their own cycle. There is no need to interfere."
Zhang Yunling couldn't listen to any of this. He loudly interrupted Wang Po, saying, "The hatred for the murderer of my father is irreconcilable! Wang Po, I beg you to help me. I won't implicate the Zhang family, nor will I implicate you. I will handle my own affairs cleanly. But I only ask that you help me!"
Looking at Zhang Yunling, who was pleading and kowtowing, Granny Wang looked helpless and finally nodded in agreement. "Very well, in that case, I will teach you to improve your alchemy skills. If your path to revenge is not smooth in the future, you can refine more pills to save your life." Zhang Yunling was overjoyed and kowtowed several more times to express his gratitude. Then he knelt down to the side and looked at Granny Wang attentively.
Originally just an ordinary old woman in the Zhang family, she suddenly unleashed her cultivation power, releasing an aura that Zhang Yunling found terrifying. Instantly, several herbs around her were uprooted and flew into the iron pot.
While manipulating the alchemical fire, Granny Wang muttered, "To be able to refine pills without a cauldron, using only an iron pot, you certainly have some talent, child. Watch and learn carefully. What you are refining now is a second-grade pill: the Lionheart Pill. After consuming it, one can instantly increase their cultivation level by one level, lasting for two hours. To refine this kind of power-enhancing pill, one needs to use a relatively gentle fire to slowly condense the medicinal effects of all the herbs, and then use a fierce fire to shape it, until the pill is finally complete."
Zhang Yunling listened with great interest. The valuable alchemy methods taught by these old alchemists could serve as his foundation, enabling him to shine brightly in the future.
Time passed quickly. Zhang Yunling sat with Granny Wang on the muddy ground, refining medicine in an iron pot. A day went by in the blink of an eye, and the flowerbeds, lacking many herbs, looked rather bare. Seeing this, both the old woman and the young girl panicked. Granny Wang hurriedly dusted off her clothes and was about to leave when Zhang Yunling, startled, grabbed her arm and cried out, "Grandma! You can't leave me here! If that old woman comes and sees this mess, I'm doomed!"
As she ran, Granny Wang turned back and replied, "Silly child, how could I abandon you? I'll go to the market to buy some flowers to plant before it gets dark!" Zhang Yunling breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, "Oh! I misunderstood you! Please hurry back!"
As dusk approached, a bond formed between the old woman and the child, and their somewhat comical life began. Day after day, year after year, Zhang Yunling grew up, inheriting his mother Yun Weier's stunning beauty. Though a boy, he possessed a face as beautiful as a woman's. His skin was fair, his nose high and straight, his eyebrows arched and his eyes bright. Long, dark brown hair cascaded down his back like a waterfall, with a fringe above his eyebrows, neither too long nor too short, moving gracefully in the wind. He wore a grey robe with wide-open sleeves, standing with his hands behind his back like an immortal, his feet clad in black cloth shoes—simple and unpretentious, yet possessing a quiet, understated beauty.
Together they traveled through mountains and rivers, searching for all sorts of rare and exotic herbs, constantly refining their alchemical skills. Zhang Yunling also mastered the most important herbal knowledge for alchemists, and now he can be said to have made some progress and begun to show his talent.
At this moment, Granny Wang and Zhang Yunling had already arrived at Mount Tai by leaping through the air. This was the end of their journey. Over the past few months, they had secretly gone out many times, which inevitably aroused suspicion among the people in the Zhang family.
Gazing at the thick clouds and mist atop the mountain, the constant noise below did not disturb their calm and peaceful state of mind.
"Child, how is it? Isn't the scenery here beautiful?" Granny Wang smiled slightly, looking at Zhang Yunling's confident and proud young face. Although they were not related by blood, they had been like grandmother and grandson over the years. Zhang Yunling faced the breeze blowing from the high mountain and slowly said, "Such a towering view, if paired with a young man with ambitions as high as the sky, would be the most magnificent scenery in the world."
Granny Wang nodded, smiling without saying a word. She simply stood silently beside Zhang Yunling, admiring the sunset she had seen countless times before, her heart filled with a myriad of emotions.
From the time he was discovered secretly practicing alchemy when he was eight years old, she devoted the next eight years to imparting all her knowledge to him, simply because of this chance encounter and her expectations for this young man with lofty ambitions.
Turning her head, Wang Po looked at the sixteen-year-old boy she had watched grow up since birth. These past ten years had truly been the happiest time she had ever had in her long life with the Zhang family. While the boy's talent was decent, it wasn't extraordinary. However, the most crucial thing was his thirst for knowledge; he approached everything with an open mind, humble and patient. This was the quality Wang Po valued most in him, and she was willing to impart all her alchemical knowledge to him.
"You little rascal, you even had a big fight with your parents just to learn alchemy from me, hahaha..." Granny Wang sighed and patted Zhang Yunling's head. "Your cultivation has already reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. All these years, I've never let you break through any further, so that now that your cultivation is stable, you can refine your own Foundation Establishment Pill and understand your true path to immortality."
A smile spread across Zhang Yunling's face as he turned and hugged Granny Wang tightly, his heart filled with reluctance. He had no feelings for his parents in this life and had only wanted to drift aimlessly through life in the Zhang family, but he had encountered an old woman who could bring warmth to this lonely ghost.
Wang Po helped Zhang Yunling up, turned around, and stepped into the air, leaving Mount Tai. A short while later, she reappeared in the back garden of the Zhang residence.
This powerful spatial control deeply shocked Zhang Yunling. "Wang Po, your cultivation is so high, why do you insist on serving as a servant in this mansion? Why not join me in a life of leisure and adventure, wouldn't that be wonderful?" Zhang Yunling grabbed Wang Po's hand and earnestly persuaded her.
Granny Wang held Zhang Yunling's slightly childish, fair hand tightly, shaking her head with a bitter smile. "I'm tired of all the fighting, killing, grudges, and passions of this world... Now, being a carefree mortal is quite nice..."
Zhang Yunling frowned, sighed, and ultimately failed to persuade Wang Po, so she had no choice but to leave alone. "After I leave, you must take good care of yourself. If my parents ask, just say that I am running away from home to work in another place, and tell them not to worry about me."
Granny Wang smiled kindly, watching Zhang Yunling walk away. Suddenly remembering something, she called out to him, then reached into her bosom and pulled out a patched storage bag. "You brat, take this with you. This is the storage bag I used back then. There are some things inside that haven't been used for a long time. You can use it if you need it."
Zhang Yunling accepted the old storage bag with both hands, bowed deeply in gratitude, hung it tightly around his waist, and with a leap, flew away.
"If I had met him a few years earlier, he would surely have been my prized student." Granny Wang said with her hands behind her back, and only after Zhang Yunling's figure had completely disappeared from sight did she gradually look away.
The setting sun cast its last rays upon her, highlighting her slightly hunched back. Time had worn away her ambitions, leaving only a regretful silhouette as she slowly walked away.