The First Summoner - Chapter 58

Gan Shuyan eventually left the restaurant early and returned in the Jiang family’s carriage.

Only Shen Yan and Jiang Xianyue remained in the private room.

“Yanyan, if anything my grandmother said offended you, please don’t take it to heart. I apologize on her behalf.”

“Not at all.”

Jiang Xianyue’s smile deepened.

“What do you want to buy at the auction?”

“Medicinal pills and pill formulas.”

Jiang Xianyue looked surprised. “You want to refine pills?”

“I want to try.”

“I’ll teach you.” When Shen Yan looked over, Jiang Xianyue explained, “Although I was born into an artifact-refining clan, I’m actually an alchemist. Apart from my family, you’re the only person who knows.”

Shen Yan paused in surprise. “Why tell me?”

Resting her chin on one hand, Jiang Xianyue looked entirely at ease. “I told you already. I consider you a friend.”

Alchemists were extraordinarily rare. Whenever one appeared, all the major factions fought to recruit them.

Some factions preferred to destroy what they could not obtain.

Unless an alchemist had powerful protectors or possessed tremendous strength themselves, assassination was always a danger.

Shen Yan’s voice remained flat. “You shouldn’t have told me.”

Jiang Xianyue idly played with one braid. “Will you tell anyone else?”

“No.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

She smiled brightly and took two jade bottles from her storage space.

“Since you think we aren’t close enough to discuss such things yet, I won’t teach you alchemy. But I consider you my friend, so these two bottles of pills are gifts.”

Shen Yan intended to refuse, but Jiang Xianyue interrupted with an almost aggrieved request.

“Do me the courtesy of accepting them, all right?”

“Thank you.”

Shen Yan stopped declining.

Jiang Xianyue smiled. “Both bottles contain second-grade healing pills. Twenty pills altogether.”

Shen Yan’s expression did not change, though waves surged within her heart. Why would Jiang Xianyue give her something so precious? Merely because she wanted to become friends?

A single second-grade healing pill cost at least three thousand taels of gold.

And there were twenty here…

Shen Yan raised her eyes. “Thank you.”

She seemed to possess nothing suitable as a return gift except the potions in her ability space.

Using her spiritual sense, she drew out three potion vials and placed them before Jiang Xianyue.

“These are potions. They’re for you.”

“What are potions?” Jiang Xianyue’s eyes lit with immediate interest.

“They’re another kind of healing medicine. Their primary effect is to restore stamina and blood vitality quickly. I obtained them by chance.”

Jiang Xianyue picked up a bottle and studied it, but found nothing unusual. She opened the cap and sniffed.

The scent was unfamiliar.

It deserved investigation.

She carefully sealed and stored the bottles, then excitedly threw her arms around Shen Yan.

“Thank you, Yanyan! I love them! I absolutely love them!”

Shen Yan’s entire body stiffened.

“Mm.”

After releasing her, Jiang Xianyue put all three bottles away in her storage space.

“Yanyan, Western Region Academy begins recruitment in three months, so I’ll soon leave for Western Region City to register. If I truly enter the academy, I may have little time to return to Xuanwu Kingdom.”

“What are the entry requirements?” Shen Yan asked.

“Applicants must be under twenty and at least at the eighth level of the Yellow-rank realm. Practitioners of special professions—alchemists, artifact refiners, rune masters, spirit-plant masters, healers, and other support professions—may register at one minor level below ordinary cultivators.”

Shen Yan’s expression became unreadable.

Summoners belonged to a combat profession.

Jiang Xianyue smiled. “Yanyan, if you can cultivate someday, you’ll definitely enter Western Region Academy.”

Shen Yan had no intention of hiding the truth. “I can cultivate now.”

“Really?!”

“Mm.”

Jiang Xianyue excitedly seized her hand. “That’s wonderful! I knew you were extraordinary. You had to be an insanely strong lunatic in battle—”

Her voice abruptly stopped. Her face stiffened, and she gave Shen Yan an awkward smile.

“Yanyan, I didn’t mean to insult you.”

Shen Yan did not know whether to laugh or cry. “I understand.”

Jiang Xianyue laughed too. “What level are you?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Shen Yan answered, “The sixth level of the Yellow-rank realm.”

Jiang Xianyue was stunned again. She asked how long Shen Yan had been cultivating, and Shen Yan told her the truth.

Her face collapsed. She blinked her large eyes and pouted, looking so wounded beneath her long, curling lashes that she appeared exceptionally adorable.

“There is always a higher heaven, and there is always someone stronger.”

She sighed, then said sincerely, “Yanyan, congratulations on becoming a better version of yourself.”

Shen Yan froze briefly before smiling.

“Thank you.”

…

The two talked at length and grew considerably more familiar with each other.

Soon, it was time for the auction to begin. Jiang Xianyue invited Shen Yan to the Jiang family’s private room in the auction house.

Shen Yan did not refuse.

Outside the venue, however, she encountered Shen Xue, Nangong Jin, Lu Shaohuai, and their companions.

She merely glanced at them and was about to enter with Jiang Xianyue when Shen Xue called out.

“Shen Yan.”

Shen Yan paused and turned.

Shen Xue wore a solemn expression. “Grandfather and the clan elders did not blame you for disrespecting your elders and beating both an elder and your fellow clansmen. If you’re willing to return, the Shen family will always welcome you.”

Shen Yan scoffed. “Who came crawling to my front door to demand my money? You’re skilled at reversing right and wrong, Shen Xue. When will the people around you finally see your hypocrisy? Or will they only understand after you’ve squeezed every last benefit from them—”

Shen Xue’s face darkened.

“Stop slandering me!”

“Ask your own conscience whether it’s slander.”

Shen Yan cast her a mocking glance, then entered the auction with Jiang Xianyue.

Shen Xue remained rooted in place, looking deeply humiliated.

Lu Shaohuai looked down at her with distress. “Xue’er, we all know how kind and gentle you are. That kindness is precisely why others bully you.”

Nangong Jin added, “Ignore that shrew Shen Yan.”

Shen Xue’s expression soured. Every time she confronted Shen Yan, she seemed to end up at a disadvantage. The situation infuriated her.

Lowering her eyes, she murmured, “Let’s go inside.”

…

The auction house had three floors.

The first contained only rows of seats, while private rooms occupied the second and third.

The Jiang family’s room stood at the center of the second floor.

The light inside was dim. Most astonishingly, a crystal screen floated in midair, displaying everything on the auction stage.

Jiang Xianyue walked to the table, picked up a booklet with practiced ease, and handed it to Shen Yan.

“Today’s auction items are listed here. Take a look, Yanyan.”

Shen Yan accepted it.

Hongri and Yinyue had never attended an auction and were curious about everything in the room. They quietly crowded beside Shen Yan to see what the booklet contained.

She skimmed several pages.

There were weapons of every rank, spiritual treasures, herbs and medicines, spiritual objects, and even several high-level spirit beasts.

Of everything listed, the pill formula interested her most. But this auction offered only a first-grade formula, and its opening price was ten thousand taels of gold.

Jiang Xianyue smiled at her. “Yanyan, if you don’t have enough money, I can lend you some.”