Welcome to Ability Store-Chapter 77 - 76: Then... I’ll Leave It to You
In the upstairs restaurant, the three gathered around the table, enjoying a Chinese feast prepared by Lin Qing.
The main dish was a roasted duck, which, despite being an ordinary duck bought casually from the market, when cooked in the machine, was surprisingly not much different from the ones served in the famous Jing-Jing Roast Duck restaurants.
Even Liu Shuyue, who ordinarily had no particular preference for food, couldn’t resist eating several pieces of the crispy, oily duck skin.
Chen Xuan had also just finished listening to all the incidents she encountered along the way.
"Why didn’t you invite me along?"
He nearly lost an important client.
"I hadn’t expected that there would really be a sect disciple hidden there, and that he would fall so completely..." Liu Shuyue’s spirit was noticeably lower compared to before, even more than when she learned there was no disaster relief grain arriving at Qing State, "Besides, this is an internal sect matter, I shouldn’t trouble you further..."
Chen Xuan nodded, understanding her "family scandal should not be spread" mentality. Perhaps the other party had realized that a disciple who fails to make any secular achievements, even if messages remain, probably won’t be good news.
"If Liu Zhidong didn’t deceive you, then wouldn’t you disciples be equivalent to being exiled by the sect?" Lin Qing sipped her cola.
"It certainly wouldn’t be exile!" Liu Shuyue immediately refuted, "Lotus Cloud Sect spent so many resources and energy to train cultivators, only for them to have to go through multiple rounds of selection to choose qualified disciples to go out. If it was just to throw them out without care, this clearly doesn’t make sense."
"Liu Zhidong indeed tried to return to the sect." Chen Xuan recalled the dark green gate standing on the snow-capped summit, "But no one in Lotus Cloud Sect paid attention to him."
"How do you know?" Lin Qing asked curiously.
"A side effect of Guess the Coin, it allows me to see some of his memories before he died." Chen Xuan did not elaborate further, "All in all, he spent a long time traveling to different places, which matches up with what Liu Shuyue said. He even went to the ocean and saw a monstrously sized beast swimming there."
"Abyss Sea..." Liu Shuyue was somewhat shocked, "Why did he go to such a place?"
"Not sure, maybe to see the other side of the sea?"
"Indeed, he was doubting the sect." She sighed, "Master said Abyss Sea is an extremely dangerous barrier; since ancient times, it has been a place rampant with demon beasts. Those who can cross it and reach this continent are truly fortunate. In its presence, cultivators and ordinary people are no different."
Once you start doubting, all the knowledge taught by the sect becomes less credible.
"What do you think is the key?" Chen Xuan asked. After experiencing various upheavals, Liu Zhidong losing faith in Lotus Cloud Sect wasn’t surprising, but Liu Shuyue was his guest after all.
"I think... maybe this is some sort of trial on the path of cultivation." She hesitated for a moment then murmured, "Cultivators train both body and heart. Master taught that the more resilient one’s heart is, the more Spiritual Qi will favor such a person, minimizing the backlash from the inner demons. Cultivation essentially is like rowing upstream, defying heaven and earth. Those loose cultivators spend several times more time yet can’t match sect disciples, and this is the reason—they are too prone to comply with their inner desires and get defeated by them."
"Liu Zhidong got one thing wrong; rapid aging wasn’t due to the sect imposing any restrictions, but rather because he strayed from his inner self, therefore breeding an inner demon." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
"Inner demon?" Chen Xuan heard her speak on specifics of cultivation for the first time.
"Yes, the world is divided into yin and yang, positive and negative. We’ve absorbed too much Spiritual Qi, naturally attracting corresponding impurities. When cultivators are not highly skilled, it manifests as unusual emotions and high desires... but when skilled enough, it can even materialize into touchable entities."
This theory sounds... quite like positive and negative particles annihilating.
"Have you seen it? A physical inner demon." Chen Xuan couldn’t help but be more interested.
"How could I!" Liu Shuyue waved her hands repeatedly, "My level is just that of a rookie. Even if everything goes smoothly, it will take cultivation until sixty or seventy years of age to have the chance to produce an inner demon."
"Then what about losing the soul?" Lin Qing interrupted, "Sounds like suddenly having consciousness drawn away."
"This... I’m not sure." She thought for a moment, "Maybe when we die, we all return to the sect? To be honest... it indeed goes against the principle of the cycle of heaven."
"If not, we just wait until the sect opens next time to ask." Lin Qing suddenly grabbed Liu Shuyue’s hand, "But you cannot be unprepared for the Lotus Cloud Sect!"
"I know... but death..."
Chen Xuan coughed twice, "Your words are almost like telling her not to die." Who would mind their life being too long?
"No no no, I mean, death is a passive trigger, what if they have an active trigger method? Miss Liu needs to guard against this." Lin Qing said seriously, "In my opinion, the sect is like a big company, and one with a monopoly. If it were me, there’s no way I would trust them to have good intentions."
Uh... your reasoning is indeed quite novel.
At this moment, his phone suddenly rang.
Chen Xuan picked it up and found that it was a message from Lin Qing: "Quickly cooperate with me to discredit this damn sect! Now her concerns are only her own sect and this shop. Thoroughly stomp Lotus Cloud Sect, and she and Hot Pepper Village will be our firm allies against Dimensional Limit Mechanism!"
Looking up at Lin Qing again, she was vigorously blinking her eyes.
"Even if what you said is true, how can it be prevented?"
Chen Xuan checked all of Liu Shuyue’s abilities and found no clues in them.
"There is a method, install a consciousness backup device for her, or simply like me, wear an auxiliary thinking chip." Lin Qing immediately said, "It periodically backs up all the electrical impulses in the brain, in other words, it can archive memories. Even if consciousness is taken away, Liu Shuyue can still wake up."
"New... chip?" Liu Shuyue looked confused.
"Is the archived person still her?" Chen Xuan was doubtful.
"Of course! This is like undergoing general anesthesia surgery, being drugged equals complete loss of consciousness. After the drug wears off, the brain gradually resumes its original impulses, which appears as recovery. You can’t say you are no longer yourself after anesthesia, right?"
"Makes sense." Chen Xuan thought about it, feeling it quite logical, "But how do we get such prosthetics?"
"That’s the hard part." Lin Qing tapped her forehead, "As far as I know, there is an intrusion point leading to a place similar to the future world, with matching technology paths, but this place was discovered and strictly monitored by Dimensional Limit Mechanism two years ago. The risk of infiltrating is very high."
"Wait... are you discussing my matter?" Liu Shuyue didn’t understand most of it, but grasped the last phrase of high risk, "Manager, you’ve already done too much for me. Before repaying this debt, I really have no face to ask for more help. I will try to deal with this sect issue myself, it’s better if you don’t interfere."
Another message came: "Don’t trust such excuses, she’s thin-skinned, you’re not. Be firm, fists/store/fire."
Internally, Chen Xuan found it amusing, but he kept a serious face, "This is just a discussion, not necessarily to take action. And don’t you think that since we met, we’ve gone beyond just guest and shop owner?"
Liu Shuyue froze for a moment, then subconsciously averted her gaze, with a hint of blush on her face.
"Considering the impending frenzied counterattack from King of Qi possibly arriving, with neighboring sect disciple-led armies coveting threats, plus the uncertainty of Lotus Cloud Sect, it’s time for us to make progress." Chen Xuan offered his open palm to her, "I hope you can join the shop, becoming my employee and companion—now is the shop’s expansion period, not only encountering many challenges but also attracting many strong enemies seeing me as a thorn in their side. After you join, our interests will be bonded together, cooperation won’t be one-sided assistance, but mutual benefit."
Liu Shuyue clenched her fists, "Besides cultivation and demon slaying, I don’t know much else, can I really serve the purpose you say?"
"Of course." Chen Xuan affirmed. For this shop to endure today without closing down, the abilities provided by the Immortal Master have been very beneficial.
She took a deep breath and then released her fists, placing her hand into Chen Xuan’s palm.
Through the palm, a warm feeling surged into her heart.
"Then... I’ll entrust this to you."
