This statement was a little sarcastic, to be honest.
Back when Ye Shaohua was at the height of her glory, quite a few people envied her in secret. Now that they finally got to see her down on her luck, of course, they all started talking like that.
The City Lord of Xuanyuan never expected that his own foolish son would actually dare to speak up.
He took one look at the expressions of the Great Elder and the Clan Leader Ye, and he knew things had taken a bad turn.
But Ye Yuan’s father, on the other hand, happily agreed to Xuanyuan Che’s marriage proposal, completely oblivious to the expressions of the Great Elder and the others.
“In that case, I wish you both a pleasant journey. No need to see you out,” the Great Elder said coldly.
This had nothing to do with Ye Shaohua anymore.
The Xuanyuan family had basically trampled all over the Ye family’s dignity.
It would be strange if the Great Elder had any good grace left on his face.
Xuanyuan Che wanted a moment alone with Ye Yuan, but the City Lord of Xuanyuan grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out.
“Enough. Are you determined to make enemies of the Ye family?” the City Lord demanded sternly, pulling him outside the city gates before turning to look at him.
Xuanyuan Che opened his mouth, looking at the City Lord, “But Ye Yuan…”
“Enough. There’s no helping it now,” the City Lord’s expression softened a bit when he heard Ye Yuan’s name. “Just now, you mentioned that Ye Yuan has already reached the fourth level of Qi Condensation. She’s only sixteen, isn’t she? Reaching the fourth level of Qi Condensation at sixteen, and with a crippled spirit root at that – if she’s cultivated to this point, she must have stumbled upon some great fortune. But luck is also a form of strength. Get along well with her. Hopefully, through her, you can mend relations with the Ye family.”
After they finished talking, they headed back.
By then, the news that Xuanyuan Che had broken off the engagement with Ye Shaohua and proposed to Ye Yuan had already spread.
At every tavern, people eating would always gossip about this matter.
After all, the Ye family and the Xuanyuan family were both major clans; naturally, people heard about even the slightest stir between them.
Ye Yuan, knowing all of this, wasn’t surprised in the least.
In her past life, she had watched Ye Shaohua step by step rise to a position above everyone else. After being reborn, Ye Yuan felt she was superior because of her status as a reborn person.
Not just Ye Shaohua – she didn’t even hold the Ye Elders in any regard.
She not only wanted Xuanyuan Che to break off the engagement with Ye Shaohua but also wanted Ye Shaohua to feel the same pain she had endured in her previous life.
Thinking of this, she whispered a few things into her father’s ear.
In her past life, she was later married off by the Ye family to a wealthy merchant in the city named Liu Yunchen.
Now that she was engaged to Xuanyuan Che in this life, and Ye Shaohua’s spirit root was destroyed so she couldn’t marry a cultivator either, Ye Yuan was determined. This time, when she went to the Xuan Yue Sect, she wouldn’t take Ye Shaohua with her.
Ye Shaohua probably wouldn’t be able to escape this arranged marriage between the Ye family and the Liu family.
**
Ye Shaohua had no idea what Ye Yuan was plotting against her now.
Right at that moment, she was in her own courtyard, recalling how the original owner practiced cultivation and trying to absorb spiritual energy.
The original owner’s innate talent wasn’t bad to begin with, and Ye Shaohua’s mental strength far surpassed that of cultivators at the Qi Condensation stage.
The speed at which she absorbed spiritual energy was much higher than the original owner’s – and yet –
It couldn’t overcome the fact that her spirit root was destroyed, so there was no way for her to retain the spiritual energy.
If she could restore her spirit root, describing her cultivation speed as ‘a thousand miles in a day’ wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Thinking this, Ye Shaohua stopped wasting her efforts. Instead of continuing to cultivate, she just sat cross-legged on a stone stool, propping her chin on one hand, lost in thought…
Did she have to go back to her old profession? Start over as an alchemist?
Restore her spirit root first?
As she was thinking this, to the guards around the courtyard, it looked like something else entirely.
“Miss is truly pitiable. Not only was she dumped by Young Master Xuanyuan, but he turned around and proposed to someone from her own clan…” one person said, shaking his head slightly.
Another person also sighed. “She used to teach us how to gather spiritual energy. Now, seeing her try to gather it every day, only for the energy to dissipate from her dantian… it just feels a little bitter. Someone who was such a genius before… now reduced to being a tool for marriage alliances between two families… really…”
The group went on, starting to feel sorry for Ye Shaohua.
Ye Shaohua didn’t notice these remarks, but she knew from the plot that Ye Yuan was starting to stir up trouble again.
Not that Ye Shaohua cared. What she was concerned about was exactly which elixir she needed to restore her spirit root.
“008, does your store have any recipes for elixirs from this world?” Ye Shaohua asked.
She didn’t ask the system for the elixir directly, but for a recipe.
After all, if she got a recipe, those elixirs would be completely under her control. Getting just one elixir wasn’t her style.
Besides, Ye Shaohua also understood from the plot that what this world lacked most were ancient elixir recipes!
If she had those, never mind the Xuan Yue Sect – even getting into the Qian Yuan Sect, the number one sacred land in the cultivation world, wouldn’t be a problem!
[Yes, but it’s a bit expensive,] 008 flipped through its inventory. [It’s an ancient recipe book. It’ll be injected directly into your memory. Cost: 390 points.]
The tasks were getting harder and harder, with rewards mostly over 700 points now.
390 points wasn’t really that expensive.
Thinking this over, Ye Shaohua bought it outright.
As 008 deducted the points, a flood of information was injected directly into her mind.
While absorbing the recipe book, Ye Shaohua searched for a recipe that suited her current situation.
Just as she found the Tianyuan Elixir, which could restore her spirit root, she noticed that her mother in this world was sitting on the stone stool next to her, sighing softly. “Shaohua, why is your life so hard? First you’re dumped, and now the Elders’ Council wants to marry you off to the Liu family as part of an alliance? With your former water-type spirit root talent, you could have married even someone from the Xuan Yue Sect…”
