Chapter 70: Promise
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They say a man’s knees are worth their weight in gold, and one shouldn’t kneel lightly. In his previous life, he had never knelt before anyone, only kneeling in silent tears before his deceased parents. In this life, he had only knelt before his master. What harm was there in kneeling once more for a promise? Moreover, this was an old lady who could be his ancestor’s generation – kneeling before her was perfectly appropriate. Yue Qianchou shook his head with a bitter smile and said, “This disciple begs Ninth Aunt to help with something. This matter is truly difficult to speak of, so I can only kneel and beg.”
Ma Jiugu’s opened eyelids drooped again. She walked a few steps with her staff, stared at him and asked, “What matter actually requires you to kneel and beg?” The other two women also looked at him.
‘Damn it! You think I like kneeling?’ Yue Qianchou thought, then said, “I want to ask Ninth Aunt for some spiritual herb seeds needed to refine Foundation Building Pills.”
Yan Zixia and Lan Bingxue were stunned, both thinking they had heard wrong. Asking for Foundation Building Pills was understandable, but asking for seeds – did he want to grow spiritual herbs and refine pills himself? There was no need for that! It would be much better to wait three years and get three Foundation Building Pills at once.
What they thought of, Ma Jiugu naturally thought of too, and she thought even more deeply.
“Stand up and speak first.” Ma Jiugu asked, “Are the seeds for yourself or for someone else?” What she was thinking was whether Yue Qianchou might be sent by another sect. Yan Zixia was slightly startled – she also thought of this possibility. She knew that Yue Qianchou came from Qingguang Sect.
Who likes kneeling before others? There’s no one born to enjoy being a slave. Yue Qianchou stood up and said, “It’s for this disciple himself.”
Ma Jiugu said calmly, “To grow spiritual herbs yourself?”
“Yes.”
“You want to refine Foundation Building Pills yourself?”
“Yes.”
“To use the refined pills yourself?”
“Yes.”
“This old body just can’t understand. In three years, you can clearly get three Foundation Building Pills. Why would you still do this?” Ma Jiugu turned to look at him and asked, “Can you tell me why?”
Yue Qianchou hesitated slightly, then said resolutely, “A promise! For a promise. Otherwise, I could wait three years.”
“This old body still doesn’t understand. You’ve stayed in Mulberry Grass Garden for so long, you should know that several main ingredients for Foundation Building Pills are very difficult to grow successfully. Even if you could grow them successfully, even if this old body gave you the seeds, three years wouldn’t be enough to grow them. By this calculation, you’d be better off waiting another three years. I don’t know if this old body is getting senile, but I can’t figure out this calculation. Yue Qianchou, can you explain it to this old body?” Ma Jiugu lightly tapped her staff on the ground.
Yue Qianchou paused, then shook his head and said, “This disciple cannot explain clearly.” He naturally couldn’t tell her the secret of the golden pearl.
Ma Jiugu said “Oh,” walked a few steps with her staff, stopped and said, “You know Fuxian Island’s rules – spiritual herbs and seeds must not be passed to outsiders.”
Yue Qianchou knew the rules too. Just as he was feeling dejected, Ma Jiugu continued, “Speaking of which, you are also a Fuxian Island disciple. Giving you seeds wouldn’t count as passing them to outsiders. Giving seeds to a disciple for private cultivation – this hasn’t happened before… but I can give them to you.”
Yue Qianchou was stunned. Yan Zixia and Lan Bingxue were equally surprised.
“The condition is that you must not pass Fuxian Island’s seeds to outsiders. If you don’t follow this rule, I absolutely will not give you the seeds.” Ma Jiugu said with her back to him.
Yue Qianchou was overjoyed and quickly said, “This disciple absolutely will not pass the seeds to anyone.” He hadn’t expected Ma Jiugu to actually agree.
“Good. You must remember what you said today. If you dare to violate it, not only will this old body have broken the sect rules, you will have broken them too. When that time comes, even if you flee to the ends of the earth, this old body will grind your bones to dust. Do you believe that?” Though Ma Jiugu was old, her calm words carried unquestionable confidence.
Ma Jiugu’s cultivation level was there for all to see. If she wanted to kill someone else, Yue Qianchou certainly believed she had that ability. But he had the golden pearl, and inside the golden pearl was a white fox who was also at the late Tribulation Crossing stage. Even if she was confident, it probably wouldn’t matter.
But there was absolutely no need for that. Yue Qianchou had never thought of giving the seeds to anyone else. He immediately said solemnly, “This disciple Yue Qianchou swears to heaven that I absolutely will not pass the seeds to anyone. Otherwise, may I die a terrible death.”
What the cultivation world feared most were oaths. Cultivators were already going against heaven’s will, and violating oaths often led to their fulfillment. This was no joke.
“Don’t agree too quickly. I have one more thing I need you to agree to before I’ll give you the seeds.” Ma Jiugu turned around, stared at him and smiled.
Another condition? Yue Qianchou frowned slightly but still said respectfully, “Please speak, honored elder.”
Ma Jiugu glanced at Yan Zixia and said slowly, “Since you are someone who values promises, then this old body wants a promise from you. As long as you agree to this promise, I can give you the spiritual herb seeds immediately.”
“A promise? What promise?” Yue Qianchou asked in bewilderment. Yan Zixia and Lan Bingxue also looked at Ma Jiugu together, not knowing what kind of promise she wanted.
Ma Jiugu shook her head and said, “You agree to this old body first.”
Yue Qianchou hesitated. How could he casually agree to such a thing? What if you asked him to die, or to do something impossible – how could he agree?
Ma Jiugu knew he had concerns and smiled, “This promise won’t be difficult for you to fulfill, won’t harm you, and will even bring great benefits. Will you agree or not?”
“Uh…” He didn’t believe in things falling from the sky, but he couldn’t resist the temptation of the spiritual herb seeds. He said timidly, “If it’s truly as Ninth Aunt says, then this disciple Yue Qianchou naturally agrees. Please speak, honored elder!” But in his heart he added, ‘If it’s something I can’t do, don’t blame me for going back on my word later.’
Ma Jiugu laughed heartily, which was rare for her, “Good! Since you’ve agreed, that’s fine. I also believe you are someone who keeps promises. As for what the promise is, we’ll talk about it later. Perhaps there will never be a need to speak of it again. When it’s time to speak of it, I’ll naturally tell you. You just need to remember that you owe me a promise.”
Yan Zixia and Lan Bingxue looked at each other, not knowing what riddle this old lady was playing. Yue Qianchou felt something was strange and had the feeling that a big conspiracy was waiting for him.
It was clear that Ma Jiugu was very happy. She tapped her staff and said, “Lan girl, prepare ten seeds each of the spiritual herbs needed to refine Foundation Building Pills for him. Go now.”
“Yes.” Lan Bingxue went to get the seeds with a belly full of doubts.
“Thank you, Ninth Aunt.” Yue Qianchou smiled awkwardly. Logically, having obtained something he had dreamed of, he should be happy. But he couldn’t feel happy at all, and didn’t know whether trading a promise for spiritual herb seeds was a loss or a gain. For now, he could only take things one step at a time.
Before long, Lan Bingxue returned with the items – a small cloth bundle. She handed it to Yue Qianchou and said, “Open it and see if it’s what you want.”
Yue Qianchou didn’t hesitate and stuffed it straight into his storage bag, smiling, “No need. How could something Elder Lan personally selected be wrong? This disciple thanks Elder Lan.”
Lan Bingxue smiled lightly and returned to Ma Jiugu’s side. Both she and Yan Zixia were somewhat confused – first, they didn’t know what Yue Qianchou really wanted the seeds for. Saying he wanted to grow spiritual herbs himself seemed somewhat unbelievable. And Ma Jiugu’s promise was also incomprehensible.
After asking if there was anything else and being told there wasn’t, Yue Qianchou withdrew from the inner garden. When passing through the outer area, he saw Furong working but didn’t greet her. He excitedly returned to his small house and immediately disappeared.
