I Have to Try; If I Don't, He Dies

As he spoke, Li Guanqi crooked his fingers. Lin Wujiu froze. "What does that mean?" Li Guanqi said in exasperation, "My payment! You promised me five bottles of Xuanyuan Pills." The corner of Lin Wujiu's mouth twitched, and he looked down at the storage ring on Li Guanqi's finger. "Didn't you just take a bottle of healing pills from me? That bottle alone is worth fifty thousand immortal crystals!" Li Guanqi put on an expression of deep sorrow and indignation. "That was an apology gift, and this is my payment! How could they possibly be the same? Look—just look at these injuries on me. Tell me yourself, shouldn't you compensate me with a bottle of healing pills?" Lowering his head, Li Guanqi grumbled to himself, "If it weren't out of respect for your upright character, Lin Wujiu, I would have turned up my nose at a single bottle of pills as an apology! Now that your sword path has broken through, you actually want to brush me off with just that?" Lin Wujiu scratched his head. The more he listened, the more reasonable it sounded. Taking five bottles of Xuanyuan Pills from his storage ring, he handed them to Li Guanqi. "Right, right, Brother Li is right..." With lightning-fast hands, Li Guanqi snatched the jade bottles away and stowed them. Standing up, he rotated his arm and said, "Let's go. Time to head out." Lin Wujiu hurried to support Li Guanqi by the arm as they walked outside. Light flashed, and two figures vanished from the grand hall. Waiting outside, Qian Ronghe started with a jolt and sprang up from his chair. Two blood-drenched figures had just stepped out of the hall suspended in midair. Not only that, but the usually aloof Eldest Young Master Lin was actually supporting Li Congxin with a face full of guilt. The way he leaned down with solicitous inquiries made it look as though Li Guanqi were the exalted young master of some prestigious clan. Yet Qian Ronghe's sharp senses picked up on something else! The sword Dao rhymes lingering on both men were extraordinarily dense! Moreover, Li Guanqi's cultivation realm showed signs of loosening. Lin Wujiu's sword intent surged, his sword Dao rhymes clearly manifest, with wisps of illusory sword qi circling his body. *Could it be... that Li Congxin was actually capable of sparring with Young Master Lin?!* What the old man didn't know was that Li Guanqi hadn't merely sparred with him—within the same cultivation realm, he had nearly killed Lin Wujiu! "Old Qian, quickly find another place for Brother Li to stay... Ah, forget it. He can stay with me." With that, Lin Wujiu took Li Guanqi straight to his own private courtyard. Li Guanqi lay on the soft bed, closing his eyes to heal. Lin Wujiu sat by the bedside, without a shred of his usual aloofness remaining on his face. His mind was tormented by guilt. *I truly am a bastard... In a gentleman's sparring match, I actually unleashed my full power. If not for Brother Li's extraordinary reflexes, that sword strike would have ended in tragedy.* Lin Wujiu let out a long breath and looked down to rifle through his storage ring. He wanted to see how many pills he had left... Observing his actions through his mind's eye, Li Guanqi chuckled inwardly. *This kid shouldn't be called Lin Wujiu anymore. He should just call himself Lin Guilt.* Another hour passed before Li Guanqi noticed an extremely rich celestial spiritual energy gathering around him. Opening his eyes, he discovered a palm-sized golden array disc placed beside him. Embedded in the disc were three second-grade immortal crystals. Li Guanqi curled his lip, murmuring inwardly, *He really is loaded...* Without a second thought, Li Guanqi pried out the three second-grade immortal crystals and replaced them with three first-grade immortal crystals. "No sense letting them go to waste." After ascending to the Immortal Realm, Li Guanqi had no burdens weighing on his mind, and his mental state was utterly relaxed. It felt just like when he had left the Great Xia Sword Sect back then, completely free of worries. That penny-pinching streak from his childhood flared right back up. Even though he held a substantial amount of immortal crystals, he understood well that cultivation resources were exceedingly rare in the Immortal Realm. At his current cultivation speed, his breakthroughs in the short term would be very rapid, and his demand for immortal crystals and medicinal pills would only skyrocket. After an unknown amount of time, Li Guanqi and Lin Wujiu woke from their cultivation one after the other. Joy showed on Lin Wujiu's face; he had clearly achieved full mastery over the seventh strike of his sword art, and had even gained some insights into the eighth strike. Yet the more he progressed, the more stunned he became by Li Guanqi's strength! That sword strike... how had he managed to dodge it? Moreover, when Li Guanqi swung his sword back then, Lin Wujiu had clearly felt him pull his strength. Had that not been the case, and had Li Guanqi swung with everything he had, Lin Wujiu would have been stripped of a layer of skin even if he survived! That strike... had been too formidable. And it wasn't just that final strike. Every sword strike Li Guanqi unleashed was powerful, yet they didn't belong to a complete sword technique or manual; each was an independent move and form. Even so, there was no denying that Li Guanqi's mastery of the sword path was terrifying. From the bottom of his heart, Lin Wujiu admired him. During their sparring match, he had distinctly sensed that Li Guanqi's cultivation manual was of a very low grade; the circulation speed of his immortal essence couldn't keep pace with his reflexes at all. Seeing Li Guanqi awake, Lin Wujiu slowly rose and asked with concern, "How are your injuries recovering?" As Li Guanqi climbed out of bed, he smoothly pocketed the spirit-gathering array disc. Clutching his shoulder, he sighed mournfully. "My internal injuries have recovered fairly well, but the wound itself still aches faintly." The corner of Lin Wujiu's mouth twitched, and he couldn't help asking, "Are you... very poor?" Li Guanqi nodded repeatedly, speaking with solemn earnestness. "Nothing I can do about it. The Spirit Realm where I come from is starved of resources. When I arrived in the Immortal Realm, I didn't even have a single immortal crystal on me." Lin Wujiu frowned slightly. After a moment of hesitation, he handed over a storage bag. "There are thirty thousand immortal crystals in here. Take them and use them." This time, Li Guanqi actually felt a bit embarrassed. Swindling something out of someone was entirely different from them offering it willingly. Lin Wujiu's gesture left Li Guanqi feeling a twinge of guilt. He rubbed his nose. Before he could speak, Lin Wujiu smiled and said, "Take it. My sword art breaking through to the later stage this time was all thanks to you, Brother Li." Reaching out toward the storage bag, Li Guanqi chuckled softly. "Ah, Brother Lin's talent and attainment in the sword path are rare sights in my lifetime. Sparring with you brought me immense benefits and many insights as well." Lin Wujiu pondered for a moment, then frowned and asked, "By the way, I kept forgetting to ask—why are you in the Castellan Estate in the first place?" Li Guanqi shrugged and gave a brief account of the reason. Realization dawned on Lin Wujiu, and he blurted out, "For a trivial matter like that, I could just have my father send word to the Tianshu Ascension Hall. Why go through all this trouble?" Li Guanqi looked at him as if looking at a fool. "If I had come to you with this before today, would you have helped?" "No." "Then aren't you just talking out of your ass?" "Fair point..." Lin Wujiu paused, then continued, "Do you really have a way to make that Qi-whatever-Bai become an alchemist? You might not know this yet, but becoming an alchemist in the Immortal Realm is extraordinarily difficult—it's completely different from the Spirit Realm!" Sitting in the chair, Li Guanqi said in a low voice, "I have to try. If I don't, he dies." Lin Wujiu looked at Li Guanqi as though seeing him in a new light. He suddenly realized that Li Guanqi wasn't the kind of selfish person who only cared about money and recognized no ties. He was someone with his own principles and an unshakeable Dao heart. Otherwise, there would have been no need for him to take such risks for this matter! Lin Wujiu smiled, carrying himself with elegance in every motion as he sat beside Li Guanqi. Pouring a cup of tea without looking at Li Guanqi, he spoke softly. "Don't worry. No matter the outcome, I will ensure that neither you nor that Bai fellow dies." Li Guanqi raised his teacup, looking at him with a grin. "You're actually pretty nice, you know." Pleased by the praise, Lin Wujiu took a sip of tea and smiled. "People on the outside don't think I'm nice. They... are all afraid of me." Seeing the young man's nose pointing to the sky with pride, Li Guanqi teased, "Afraid of what? Afraid you'll guilt-trip them to death?" Looking at the completely baffled Lin Wujiu, Li Guanqi burst into hearty laughter. Once Lin Wujiu caught on, a smile formed at the corners of his lips as well, his expression showing a helpless indulgence toward Li Guanqi.