Chương 52: Chapter 51 — Burning Money

what. I can't give you more. I need what I have left. Lin Che started to reply, but she was already typing. Here A contact card followed, then a message beneath it: Here's the supplier. Tell them you're buying for me and they probably won't overcharge you. The shop was called Yushu Apothecary and was located approximately twenty minutes by foot from Hu Baolin's pharmacy, so he roughly knew half of the route there already.

It seemed like most of the cultivators in the area, at least the ones who didn't reside within the Shen Clan, lived in this small neighbourhood near Hu Baolin's. Thank you. No reply. He assumed she had gone back to whatever she'd been doing and put his phone away.

Yushu Apothecary was located within a row of small shops, in between a tea distributor and a flower shop. The sign was carved into wood and the building was smoky enough that it was difficult to see through the glass from the outside. Lin Che pushed open the door and was immediately greeted by a layered and complex smell of different spices and woods. It reminded him of the oud Xu Fang had once gifted him after a trip to the Middle East, except it was far more potent, which he previously hadn't thought possible.

The shelving ran floor to ceiling along every wall, and there were small round tables dotted around the room, each containing a jar which held a lit stick of incense. These must have been the cheapest batches used for decoration and atmosphere, as the Qi they were releasing was extremely faint even despite their quantity. Behind the counter, a woman in her forties was writing something in a ledger with a ballpoint pen and did not look up. She had close-cropped hair and silver hooped earrings.

Lin Che stopped for half a second before continuing his walk to the front desk. He knew this woman. Or, rather, he knew a version of this woman from back when he worked at Hu Baolin's pharmacy over the weekend and she came to collect some prescriptions — she was called Wei Chunhua. In this life, however, they had never met.

"I'll be with you in a moment," she said, still writing in her ledger.

"Take your time," said Lin Che. She finished the line and capped the pen before looking up at him.

"What can I help you with?"

"I'm looking for some incense," he said, which was not very helpful given that he was in an incense shop.

"I'm buying on behalf of Shen Yue — I'm not sure which varieties she usually takes, but I was told to mention her name." Something shifted slightly in Wei Chunhua's expression.

"How much are you looking to buy?" Lin Che had considered this before deciding to enter the shop. The three sticks had taken him from nothing to over a month's progress in less than an hour. He needed enough for serious practice of the Boundless Intake Sutra to improve his proficiency in the technique. After all, if he were going to solo the holy land once again, he ought to rinse all the ambient Qi dry before handing it over to the Shen Clan.

"Enough for two months of daily use," he said. Wei Chunhua looked at him.

"Daily use," she repeated.

"If possible." She studied him for a moment before turning to the shelving behind her and looking for the correct incense. Unlike Hu Baolin, however, she was nowhere near what could be described as efficient — she kept on opening and closing boxes on each shelf to see if they contained the right one.

"What's your relationship with Shen Yue?" she asked, whilst still searching.

"I'm her fiancé," replied Lin Che.

"Well, it's about time that girl got married," said Wei Chunhua.

"Anyone would have done at this point," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing — just talking to myself about these sticks of incense." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Eventually, Wei Chunhua found the correct box and brought it to the front counter. She began counting out the correct number of sticks, before suddenly pausing and looking up.

"These are for Shen Yue, right?" she clarified. Lin Che felt his body being probed for its cultivation level, which was an uncomfortable feeling that caused a slight shiver down his spine.

"If you'd like some for yourself, they'd be nearer that shelf on the right," she said, pointing.

"They're for her," confirmed Lin Che. Wei Chunhua began totalling up the bill.

"Tell her I wish her good luck on her breakthrough," she said, sliding the bill across the counter. Lin Che looked at the total and blinked twice. He made sure to keep his expression neutral, but it looked like he'd have to sell his own apartment instead of keeping it as his potion brewing station as he had intended.

"Do you accept credit cards?" he asked.

"Of course." The transaction was approved, and Lin Che breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'll pass on your well wishes to Shen Yue," he said.

"Give her my regards," said Wei Chunhua. Lin Che pocketed the receipt and picked up the bag and made his way out of the shop. Outside, he stood on the pavement for a moment and looked at the street. Next door to the apothecary, a flower shop occupied a narrow frontage with its display spilling out onto the pavement. The flowers didn't seem too expensive. Lin Che stood there for a moment.

Since he had already planned on looping back for the Returning Mirror Refinement Art at some point, it was fine to be reckless with his finances. Money spent now would be money he hadn't spent in the next iteration, after all. He went into the flower shop.

Lin Che walked home with the bag of incense in one hand and flowers in the other. He let himself into the apartment and discovered, from the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, that Shen Yue was home and in the shower. He set the incense bag down in his bedroom and stood in the kitchen for a moment, considering.

He filled the kettle and set it to boil, before finding her specific mug — one which to him felt more like a bowl with a handle, and measured out her tea from the loose leaf caddy she kept by the stove. He put the flowers in a glass of water on the kitchen table, where she would see them the next time she went into the kitchen.

The electric blanket was in the cupboard by her study door and the cable was slightly tangled, as though someone had tried to fix it before promptly giving up and shoving it into the cupboard, leaving it somewhat drooping out. Lin Che took out the electric blanket and carried it to the living room. He plugged it in to preheat on the lowest setting and laid it out over Shen Yue's side of the sofa. The kettle finished and he poured the water and brought the mug to the living room.

He went back to his room and began emptying out the bag of incense when he heard the bathroom door open. After a minute or two of quiet, Shen Yue appeared at his doorway with damp hair, wearing an oversized sweater. She was holding the cup of tea he had prepared her.

"You already went to Chunhua's?" she asked.

"She sends her regards. Says she hopes the breakthrough goes smoothly." Shen Yue raised an eyebrow.

"How much did you spend?"

"Less than expected," said Lin Che, which was a lie. Shen Yue's expression did not change. She drank some of her tea and looked at the electric blanket through the living room doorway, which was visible from his doorway at this angle.

"I'm going to cultivate," she said.

"Alright," said Lin Che.

"Goodnight." She closed the door and left. Lin Che heard her study door open. Then, a minute later, footsteps back towards the living room, and the sound of something being unplugged from the wall before the footsteps went back to the study. The electric blanket and the tea, both relocating to the study. Lin Che looked at the incense sticks in front of him and put on noise-cancelling headphones to lessen all other distractions.

He worked through the first stick completely before drinking water and noting down the time taken to consume one stick in his notebook. He then opened the clock app on his phone and set a stopwatch. Lin Che lit the second. Once that was done, he pressed the 'lap' button, but didn't look at the numbers just yet. Placing numbers on this would make him subconsciously chase a goal, which could skew his results. He wanted to see if he could plot the proficiency gain on a graph.

After the third stick, he felt as though he could activate the Boundless Intake Sutra with much less effort. The first time round, he'd required what felt like two or so minutes just to sense the pipe, but now it was around half the time on the activation alone. The absorption rate also increased. The fourth and fifth sticks were similarly used up faster and faster. Lin Che stopped after the sixth.

Not because he was entirely saturated with Qi — it's true that he felt close to the limit and felt rather full, but he was afraid of reaching a breakthrough with Shen Yue at home. This entire time spent cultivating he had spent a fraction of his awareness sensing the outside of Shen Yue's door in case she were to leave and notice him. After all, if she saw his true rate of absorption, she would start asking too many questions, and he would inevitably crumble.

It was better to leave her thinking that he was faster than average or stockpiling incense for some closed-room cultivation in preparation for the holy land. As far as Lin Che was aware, the Boundless Intake Sutra was something the Shen Clan didn't have access to, which was why Elder Wong had provided it to him in the first place.

Once word got out that he had mastered the technique, or at least gained sufficient proficiency in it, there was a non-zero chance that they would get the technique out of him one way or another. And why should he provide the Shen Clan with his own clan's techniques?