Universal Knowledge Of The Dao 15 "Who Wants A Golden Worm Root Flower?"

It wasn't the first time she had tried one of the pills. During her waiting at the waterfall she had actually tried one, just to ensure it worked.

Shin Sumi knew the sweet taste of mint would linger until the effects of the pill stopped about twelve hours later.

She didn't feel anything else change, just like the previous time. Looking at her reflection in the pond she was almost as surprised as the first time.

"It is so strange! My face is completely different! These Immortal pills sure are something."

The second pill had the exact same effect as the first one. Her new face was the same both times. Her nose was slightly shorter, her hair shortened significantly, and her eyebrows became thinner.

Her eyes lost their clear blue tone for a black as dark as night. Her lips became a little bit more voluptuous.

Shin Sumi admired herself for a few seconds more. She liked her new appearance. It wasn't as good as her real face according to her, but it looked really convincing.

Shin Sumi was really pretty normally, and although her new face was completely different, she could still be considered a beauty.

Shin Sumi locked the gate of her courtyard behind her and made way for the market area of the lower valley.

As always the place was very busy when she arrived.

Now that she was a bit more familiar with the market, she went directly to where she could make business.

"The spirit plants area! Here I go, time to install my little shop!"

Shin Sumi took out of her bag of holding a white rectangular piece of fabric she had found in her house. She laid it down on the floor between two other similar shops.

Nothing was out of the ordinary and n.o.body even looked at her from the hundreds of disciples pa.s.sing by every second.

Shin Sumi grinned mischievously. It wouldn't be long before people noticed her.

And she was right. The moment she took the first evolved Worm Root flower out of her bag, a dazzling brilliance caught the eye of every pa.s.serby. It was a strange light that was actually darker than normal. Such a strong Yin type plant would often react this way to the Yang light from the sun, emphasizing the contradiction in their nature.

For a second everybody who saw the plant stopped to look at it. Shin Sumi was smiling openly but it didn't last for long before a voice rang out.

"Umpf. Who cares, it's just a Worm Root flower..."

The man who had spoken was a red robed disciple appearing to be thirty years old. He held a hint of disappointment in his eyes and turned away with a sigh.

Upon realizing that he was right, a handful of disciples turned away as well.

Shin Sumi had her brows furrowed and spoke in a voice that was not her real voice but was even more entrancing "Just a Worm Root flower ? Oh I'm sorry fellow disciple. Yes I, Yan Yan, am very sorry that your eyes are not good enough!"

She had come up with the name 'Yan Yan' on the spot and it went perfectly with her new face.

Without waiting for the response of the disciple she insulted, 'Yan Yan' kept talking.

"Indeed it's a Worm Root flower. But even a mortal would be able to spot the golden touches on the leaves. How come you didn't notice, fellow disciple? And have you ever felt such a strong Yin Shinsoo energy radiating from a spirit plant? I bet not. Maybe this treasure of mine isn't for you after all. These top grade spirit plants are only for deserving people. Heh." she punctuated with a snort.

The red disciple that had been insulted over and over stopped in his tracks and turned his head. He opened his mouth angrily to rebuke Shin Sumi but no word came out.

With his face as red as his robes from shame, he turned away once more and left the place.

Everybody else was speechless before Yan Yan's strong words and powerful voice. In fact many people turned their head to look at the commotion.

"Such gall, insulting Brother Ke like that! I bet the Worm Root flower is quite incredible!"

"I've seen many Worm Root flowers before, but never with such Yin Shinsoo."

Shin Sumi smiled openly to her clients once again, her calm and composed manners contrasting with the scene just a few seconds before. She had lied about the strong Yin Shins...o...b..fore, herself not being able to sense anything, but she was relieved people approved. Her bluff had paid off and now she could hear more and more people being interested.

It only took a few seconds before the first client stepped forward.

"Sister Yan, I would like to purchase this flower please. Name your price!"

Shin Sumi beamed at him and replied: "Two spirit stones."

Upon hearing the price, all the conversations stopped. It seemed as if the whole area just became silent, except from the sound of jaws. .h.i.tting the floor.

The disciple who wanted to buy the flower was the most surprised of all. What were two spirit stones for a plant as rare as it looked? Even normal Worm Root flowers this big would be at least three to four spirit stones!

The disciple hurried to take out the spirit stones and started laughing like it was the luckiest day ever for him.

Behind him, a lot of disciples had regained their senses and started talking.

"Not so fast! I, Bao Huan, offer three spirit stones!"

"Hmpf! I will pay five low grade spirit stones for the Worm Root flower!"

"Sister Yan, I offer ten spirit stones!! This flower will really help my future cultivation of Yin type techniques!"

Before long, a real auction was taking place in front of Shin Sumi's shop. People were starting to get angry at each other, not even paying attention to the ridiculous price they went for.

Shin Sumi sighted openly, but was all smiles inside "My plan is working perfectly! The next step is to get all these customers hooked!"

Inhaling to fill her lungs to maximum capacity, Shin Sumi shouted: "EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!!!"

All the disciples stopped arguing for a second and listened to her: "This disciple here was the first to want to purchase the plant, so it is normal that he will be my first customer. Fellow disciple, here you go, sold for two spirit stones" she said as she handed the flower to the guy in the front. He was holding the flower like a precious treasure, ignoring the look of envy in the eyes of the others. But Shin Sumi wasn't done yet.

"To be fair, I admit that this is Yan Yan's first time selling spirit plants. I don't know the prices well right. But since I asked for two spirit stones, it will remain as it is. Don't try to win a plant by auctioning it right before my eyes, I will not sell it if it turns all of you into animals. Ten low grade spirit stones? That's almost a year's worth of cultivating resources given by the sect! That is ridiculous. Besides I don't want people to spread rumors about me trying to steal your spirit stones."

All the disciples had calmed down by now and started to realize that what she had said made sense. Besides, Yan Yan's beauty was captivating and who would not listen to the words of such a fairy? One thing still had some disciples perplexed though.

Shin Sumi smiled again after observing a slight pause. Handling her bag at a vertiginous speed, she took out flowers after flowers and laid them out neatly on the white fabric.

"Now who wants a Golden Worm Root flower?"

She had spoken about 'flowers' in plural, meaning that she had more. All the disciples were once again flabbergasted. In an instant she had taken out more than fifty flowers!

All of them had the golden touches on the leaves and they were all perfectly grown, without damage or anything.

During the first hour of Yan Yan's botanical shop being opened, the Worm Roots flowers were sold out. Shin Sumi even took out the second batch of fifty plants that she had kept on reserve.

All the customers were satisfied and word quickly got out in the market. The only disappointed disciples were those that had not been able to purchase a flower. Some of them even asked Shin Sumi when she would open shop again.

Shin Sumi now had more than two hundred low grade spirit stones in her bag of holding! If people knew that in half a day's time she would own that many high grade spirit stones, they wouldn't believe it. Even a patriarch or elder of the sect would turn crazy upon hearing how rich she was going to be.

Shin Sumi put away her white cloth and left the market quickly. She randomly walked in the forest for a stick of incense worth of time before going back to her courtyard. She didn't want people following her, just in case.

She was feeding the nut her newly acquired spirit stones when it started raining.

"It's strange, Yue told me it never rained normally. The clouds are always there, but it's the first time I've seen rain." she pondered while looking at the sky. It took a few more seconds for her to realize that the rain was purple.

***

High above the clouds forever enshrouding the Dark Sky Starry Sect, an old man sat atop a stone altar, looking at the clear blue sky.

The stone altar was located on the very top of the highest mountain of the sect. Only the Patriarch had access to such a remote location and it was his personal cultivating place.

The moment the purple rain started appearing down below, his brows as sharp as swords furrowed and his gaze peered in the distance, to the west.

The next instant, the old man vanished, flying at high speed towards the western border of the sect.

"Reverend Purple Rain, I should have known you would visit, the clear sky spoke of good omens today."

Before him stood a middle aged man wearing a dark purple cloak that hid his face.

A suffocating pressure emanated from the hidden figure floating in the sky, rivaling the pressure coming from the gentle but severe looking old man.

The mouth under the cloak moved, "Patriarch Sen, have you nothing to do besides sitting there alone all day? You should work on your cultivation, I am afraid you have fallen behind recently."

The two experts flew, unmoved neither by the wind nor the attacks spoken by each other.

"Cut the c.r.a.p Purple Rain. What do you want?" asked the Patriarch of the Dark Sky Starry Sect, with a look in his eyes that contrasted with his otherwise gentle countenance.

Reverend Purple Rain responded with a sneer. "You know exactly what I am here for. I want to retrieve our ancestor's corpse and the land that is rightfully ours."

"Then you know I won't let you do that. Besides, do you really think that you alone will be enough to take over our land? Go back to your puny Sky Earth Sect."

"I came here in the quality of an old friend to offer you either a deal or a warning. I see you have chosen the latter, old codger. Fine, but you better remember what happened to ancestor Dark Sky in the old days. He was bold like you, see how it ended."

The figure hidden behind the purple cloak flicked his sleeves, sending a white piece of jade flying at high speed towards the old man. Patriarch Sen stopped the jade mid flight with a casual move of his fingers.

"This transmission jade links to me personally. For old time's sake I will give you another chance. If five years from now I haven't received the answer I'm looking for, this is war."

Under the light of an incantation gesture, Reverend Purple Rain's feet shone as he flew away with unbelievable speed.

A few seconds later, Patriarch Sen was back on top of the stone altar, looking at the piece of jade in his hand. In his mind, a figure appeared that was no more than skin and bones. The man had lost all of his hair and nails and seemed on the verge of death.

Patriarch Sen remembered the last words his ancestor had spoken as his hand obscured the skies with dark, neverending clouds. His torso was split open from shoulder to hip and the wound had turned blacker than ink.

"What did he want?" spoke a voice behind the sitting Patriarch's ears.

The voice resembled the sound of sandpaper on a piece of metal. An old woman had came into existence behind Patriarch Sen at some point. She was wearing bright and colorful robes, forming a powerful contrast with the long grey hair draping her shoulders.

"Same as always" replied Patriarch Sen with a sigh, "He wants the western training grounds to look for Old Man Mui's relics. Lady Fang, do we have a chance to win at this?"

The woman surnamed Fang clasped her hands behind her back, looking at some unknown point beneath the clouds.

"I don't know, it will all depend on what happens next."

***

Shin Sumi stuck her hand through the open door of her house. The rain had stopped.

The last few purple drops were absorbed by the soil as fast as a thirsty beast drinks up water. It had only lasted a few minutes but there was definitely something strange going on.

"I've never seen rain that strange before. I should ask Brother Lan when I see him. If somebody knows something here, then it's definitely Brother Lan."

Wary of the purple rain, Shin Sumi didn't dare go out for a bath yet. She prefered waiting a little bit for the stream of spring water to renew the waters in the pond.

She meditated patiently for a few hours, stopping only for eating and stretching her legs. She was impatient to set her eyes upon a mountain of high grade spirit stones.

"If with this many spirit stones I don't reach Shinsoo Gathering, then I had better give up on cultivation altogether!" she thought.

Her eyes were glittering with impatience and her jaw was clenched with determination. This time she would give it her all and stop only when she had reached the Shinsoo Gathering stage.

Of course this was false. During the course of the next following week, Shin Sumi had to stop at least once a day to eat a little bit. She was far from being able to ignore mortal needs yet.

Nevertheless, she went into a cultivation session like never before.

Shin Sumi's eyes slowly gained a red tinge as she forced herself to endure prolonged meditations. After a day she was completely numb in her legs and bottom.

Gritting her teeth, she looked like a mad woman as she took out the tenth high grade spirit stone.

Her voice was hoa.r.s.e from the breathing exercises that were done mouth closed, and she let out a low roar.

"I can keep going! I have to!" she said, encouraging herself to continue. Between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the little grey nut was silent and unmoving, not leaving her for a second while she meditated.

At the end of the first week, Shin Sumi had depleted a quarter of her ressources. And yet, not once had she felt the sensation of progress.

The high grade spirit stones were by far the best cultivation ressources that existed on the continent and anybody that saw her would have cried tears of blood. By now it was clear that Shin Sumi had virtually no talent for cultivation and everyday she was wasting enough spirit stones to run a small sect for months.

But Shin Sumi endured it, again and again, taking out spirit stone after spirit stone. Even when she stopped cultivating for the briefest of moments, she kept a stone in each hand, plunging her in deep Shinsoo concentration. Even when she bathed after the end of the first week to remove the filth and sweat that had acc.u.mulated against her soft skin, she lay in the refreshing waters with spirit stones in her hands.

The quality of the ambient Shinsoo in her courtyard had gone up by several levels and the place now looked even more like a celestial paradise.

The old plum tree above the pond seemed younger and st.u.r.dier, and fresh fruits were beginning to appear, although it wasn't the season.

The gra.s.s in the courtyard garden was now three times taller than it had been previously and radiated a lush green tinted with a silver lining.

The entire place was being influenced by the concentrated Shinsoo held by Shin Sumi, but herself showed no signs of improvement.

It was only after three intense weeks of cultivation that Shin Sumi's eyes opened with a strange gleam inside her blue irises.

She was running out of spirit stones and her anxiousness could be read in the shape of her brows as well as small wrinkles that had appeared on her jade forehead.

It was only for a moment but inside her body, Shin Sumi felt something like a flame flickering into existence before disappearing the next instant.

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"A spark?" her subconscious instantly brought up.