"Faster," Chen muttered, his stride eating up the ground. "The ritual cannot wait. If the… supplier… is displeased, the flow of goods might stop."
"Right, exactly," Yi Lin agreed, jogging slightly to keep up. "The supplier is very particular. And hungry. Very, very hungry."
He patted his chest, feeling the phantom sensation of two sad, weeping slimes tugging at his conscience
They rounded the corner of the main dining hall and burst into the kitchen courtyard.
Three figures stood near the entrance, blocking the path.
Yi Lin skidded to a halt. He recognized them instantly. Everyone did.
They were the "Three Jade Flowers" of the Broken Blade Sect—Sect Master Chen's daughters.
On the left was Chen Yue, the eldest. Tall, icy, holding a fan that looked sharp enough to decapitate a goblin. In the middle was Chen Xing, the wild one, leaning against a pillar with a massive hammer resting casually on her shoulder.
And on the right was Chen Hua, the youngest and arguably the most vicious, smiling a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
Yi Lin gulped. These weren't just pretty faces. They were prodigies.
In this world, power was everything. The ranks were absolute.
Levels 1 through 4 were the Qi Condensation stage—basically the "grunts." Yi Lin wasn't even on the chart yet. Levels 5 through 9 were the Foundation Establishment stage. This was where you stopped being a human and started being a monster.
Level 10 was the Golden Core, the bottleneck that trapped most geniuses, including the Sect Master. Above that were the Nascent Soul (Levels 11-15) and Spirit Severing (Levels 16-20).
All three of these girls were solidly in the Foundation Establishment realm. Level 5. Their skin glowed with that annoying "I eat better food than you" vitality.
"Father?" Chen Yue, the eldest, stepped forward, her silk robes rustling. She looked at the Sect Master, then her gaze slid down to Yi Lin like he was a piece of gum stuck to her shoe. "And… the latrine cleaner? Why is he walking beside you? Did he forget to empty your chamber pot?"
Chen Xing snorted, hefting her hammer. "Maybe he's the new target dummy. I need to test my 'Thunder Smash'. He looks squishy enough."
The youngest, Chen Hua, just giggled. "Oh, don't be mean, sisters. Look at him. He's shaking. It's cute."
Yi Lin grit his teeth. I don't have time for this high school drama bullshit.
Usually, he would have bowed, apologized for existing, and scuttled away. But the image of Mochi's sad, wobbly face flashed in his mind. A hungry slime was a ticking time bomb.
If they got agitated, they stopped making crystals. No crystals meant no money. No money meant death.
"Excuse me," Yi Lin said, stepping around the icy beauty of Chen Yue. "I need to get to the vegetable storage."
The three girls froze. The courtyard went silent.
A mortal had just… ignored them?
Chen Yue's eyes narrowed. "You—"
"Move!" Sect Master Chen barked, cutting his daughter off.
The girls jumped. They had never heard their father shout at them like that. Not over a servant.
"Father?" Chen Xing lowered her hammer, confused. "What is going on? Why are you with this piece of trash?"
"He is not trash!" Chen roared, his eyes wild. "Now get out of the way!"
The Sect Master shoved past his bewildered daughters, grabbing Yi Lin by the shoulder and practically throwing him into the kitchen.
"Go! Identify the… ritual components! I will handle the logistics!"
Yi Lin scrambled inside, leaving the three stunned prodigies in the courtyard.
Inside the kitchen. Old Liu, the head cook, nearly had a heart attack when the Sect Master stormed in, demanding every carrot in the inventory.
"All of them?" Old Liu stammered, holding a ladle like a weapon.
"But Sect Master, tonight is stew night! The disciples need vitamin A!"
"Screw the stew!" Chen yelled, tossing a silver coin onto the prep table. "Give him the carrots! And the radishes! Anything crunchy and orange!"
Yi Lin was already raiding the pantry. He found two massive burlap sacks and started shoveling carrots into them with the speed of a man possessed.
"Good, good," Yi Lin muttered, tossing in a few parsnips for variety. "This should last them a few days."
He hefted the sacks over his shoulder. They were heavy, easily fifty pounds each.
He grunted, his "trash" muscles complaining immediately.
Suddenly, the weight vanished.
Sect Master Chen had grabbed the sacks from him.
"Allow me," the Sect Master said, his voice trembling with eagerness. "We cannot risk you… straining yourself. You have a delicate task ahead."
Yi Lin blinked. "Uh, thanks."
They marched back out into the courtyard. The scene that greeted the three daughters was enough to shatter their worldviews.
Their father, the dignified Sect Master of the Broken Blade Sect, a Golden Core expert, was carrying two dirty sacks of vegetables like a common mule.
And walking ahead of him, empty-handed and looking bored, was Yi Lin, the latrine boy.
"I must be dreaming," Chen Xing whispered, rubbing her eyes.
"Father is carrying… vegetables?"
"Is he under a spell?" Chen Hua asked, her hand drifting to the hilt of her dagger. "Is the rat a demon in disguise?"
Yi Lin ignored them again. He looked at the sky. It was getting dark. The forest would be dangerous at night, even for a Slime Rancher.
"Sect Master," Yi Lin said, stopping near the gate. "I need to go. The… place… is far. I can't walk there fast enough with these."
"I will fly you!" Chen offered immediately. "I can grab you by the scruff of your neck. We will be there in minutes!"
"No!" Yi Lin shouted, a little too loud.
The daughters flinched. A mortal yelling at the Sect Master? He should be dead. He should be a red mist on the pavement.
"I mean," Yi Lin coughed, lowering his voice. "The… location… is sensitive to high-level Qi signatures. If you fly there, you might scare the… sources. They're very skittish."
Chen nodded sagely. "Of course. The sources. We must not startle them."
He looked around frantically. "A horse! Someone bring a horse! Now!"
A stable boy, terrified out of his mind, ran up with a sturdy brown mare.
Yi Lin awkwardly climbed into the saddle. He'd never ridden a horse before, but he'd seen plenty of cowboy movies. How hard can it be? You just sit and steer, right?
"Wait," Chen said, grabbing the horse's bridle. He looked at Yi Lin with sudden concern. "The forest… it is not safe. There are beasts. Bandits. You have no cultivation."
"I'll be fine," Yi Lin said, though he wasn't entirely sure of that. "I run fast."
"Take this."
The Sect Master reached to his waist and unbuckled his own sword. It was a magnificent weapon, the sheath inlaid with silver and blue jade. He held it out to Yi Lin.
"This is 'Flowing Water'," Chen said solemnly. "It is a Spirit Rank weapon. Even without Qi, the blade is sharp enough to cut through iron. If anything touches you… stab it."
Yi Lin stared at the sword. This was a weapon worth more than his life, the lives of everyone in his village back on Earth, and probably the horse he was sitting on.
"Uh… okay. Thanks." He took the heavy sword and shoved it through his belt.
"Bring me the good news soon," Chen whispered, his eyes burning with that scary intensity again.
"I'll do my best. Ten gold coins, remember the price," Yi Lin reminded him.
He kicked the horse (gently), and the mare trotted out of the gate, heading toward the tree line.
Silence returned to the courtyard.
Sect Master Chen stood there, watching the dust settle, a look of hope on his face that none of his daughters had seen in years.
"Father," Chen Yue finally spoke, her voice sharp as broken glass. She stepped forward, her fan snapped shut.
"Have you finally lost your mind?"
Chen turned to look at his eldest daughter. "Mind your tongue, Yue."
"I will not!" she snapped, her aura flaring, causing the dust to swirl around her feet. "You just gave your personal sword to a latrine cleaner! You carried carrots for him like a servant! You let him speak to you as an equal! Why? Why are you helping this… this mortal waste?"
Chen Xing nodded aggressively.
"Yeah, Dad! I wanted that sword! You said I wasn't ready for it, but you give it to him?"
The Sect Master looked at his three beautiful daughters.
He reached into his robe and touched the empty space where the pink crystal had been.
"You see a mortal," Chen said softly, his voice distant. "You see a latrine cleaner. You see dirt."
He turned back to look at the dark forest where Yi Lin had disappeared.
"I see the future," Chen murmured. "I see the key to the heavens."
He turned back to his daughters, his expression hardening. "And if any of you touch him, bully him, or so much as look at him with disrespect… you will be in secluded confinement for a year. Do I make myself clear?"
The three girls gaped, their mouths hanging open in unladylike shock.
"Crystal clear," Chen Yue whispered, though her eyes narrowed with a dangerous curiosity.
"Crystal clear."
Deep in the forest, Yi Lin clung to the horse's neck as it navigated the rocky path.
"Okay, horsey," he muttered, patting the beast's mane. "Just get me to the sci-fi barn before the slimes eat the drywall. Then we can figure out how to use this sword without cutting my own leg off."
He reached back and patted the sacks of carrots tied to the saddle.
"Dinner is served, boys," he grinned. "Now, let's make some money."