Heaven's Gifted Genius 天赐奇才

Chapter 4 - Smuggling contraband

WARNING: things get slightly strange here. If you don't like that you can skip this chapter

Thi En Tran almost leaped in excitement "Senior sister, you really sell Vitality Restoring Pills here?" 

The promiscuous woman looked up at him strangely. "Of course we offer Vitality Restoring Pills here. Does this place look like a dump to you?" 

Ignoring the woman's remark, he quickly shouted. "Please give me as many Vitality Restoring Pills as I can buy!" 

"You seem to be quite vigorous, why would you... Whatever, if you wish to waste all your spirit stones on something as worthless as dirt, be my guest!" The woman shouted, now not bothering to put Thi En Tran in her eyes. She expected that he would be different from the others, being in such good condition regardless of his poor physique, but now she thought that he was as deranged as the other good-for-nothing slaves.

With a happy expression on his face, Thi En Tran did not seem to care, he quickly snatched the jade bottle filled with pills from the counter and left. 

"Junior Brother Tran, wait!" Bu Lan Deng called while running after him. "Why did you suddenly decide to purchase all those restoration pills? You're in peak condition, they will be useless to you."

In many cases, Bu Lan Deng would be correct. Vitality Restoration pills were pills with a quality so low and refinement method so simple it could be 'refined' by mashing a bunch of herbs together. Furthermore, the best it could do was provide energy to the fatigued bodies of ordinary mortals and heal minor scrapes and cuts. However, for Thi En Tran's purposes, it would be perfect. While this kind of pill was the lowest of the low, inferior to most, it was still composed of herbs that grew on this earth with medicinal properties. To an actual cultivator, it would be absolutely useless, like eating weeds on the side of the road, but to Thi En Tran, the leftover traces of qi it contained was absolutely necessary to growing stronger.

"I can't tell you that right now, senior brother Bu, but I will once I'm strong enough." He replied and continued running towards his cell.

"Stronger? Do you really plan on rebelling? Wait, junior brother Tran!" Bu Lan Deng called out, but Thi En Tran was already gone, leaving only dust behind.

Thi En Tran sprinted through the field, before retreating to the shade of a large willow tree. To re-enter his cell, he would first need to be checked by the guards for any contraband, such as spirit stones. 

Spirit stones were not allowed in the cells as firstly, they were all expected to be turned in, and secondly, they could also be used as a means of cultivation. Some of the slaves here were actually cultivators and could be identified as they gave off weak energy fluctuations as they mined. While having stronger and more efficient slaves were excellent for the camp, if an individual gained too much strength, it wouldn't be easy to stop them from escaping. Thus, to limit how strong a person could get, spirit stones were absolutely banned from the cells. Coupled with the weak ambient qi, it would be impossible for any slaves to revolt. 

Even only being here for a day, Thi En Tran was sharp and learnt a lot about the environment he was placed in. As he stood underneath the willow tree, a breeze fluttered past his cheek. He learnt from another slave that there was only one way to get Spirit stones into the cells undetected. 

"Well, here goes nothing..." Thi En Tran quietly said to himself. In his mind, he kept on repeating to himself that it was all for the sake of his revenge. Gripping the four lustrous Spirit Stones in his hands, he thread them through one by one. 

After a while, Thi En Tran revealed himself from behind the willow tree, his face slightly flushed. If anybody was watching him right now, they could tell that something was off. He walked with a limp and hobbled over to the guards that were blocking the entrance to the cells.

"Thi En Tran! Here for an early retirement?" The guard greeted him merrily. It seemed that most of them took pity on the poor boy. "Well, since you have met all your quotas, I'll allow your entry."

Thi En Tran responded with a grunt. "Thank you, senior, this one will not forget your kindness..." 

"Hold it, you seem a little strange today, you're not hiding anything are you?" The man quickly shuffled over to block the entrance. Thi En Tran could not help but sigh internally.

"I'm going to have to do a quick inspection, I would kindly ask you not to move!" The guard moved over to pat down Thi En Tran's body, to ascertain that he was not hiding any Spirit Stones in his clothes. 

"Ow!" Thi En Tran involuntarily whimpered. His face grew an even brighter shade of red. He quickly spoke again. "My apologies senior, I ask that you be a bit more gentle with this one, as this lowly slave is very weak." 

The guard silently stared down at him again, but finally relented. "Alright then, I'll allow you to enter."

The guard finally moved out of the way. As soon as there was an opening, Thi En Tran rushed through as fast as he could. If he still had qi, he would definitely have used his movement technique to get past.

As he finally reached his cell, he immediately dropped to the floor, panting and tearing up slightly.

"Damn trash, tricking me like this!" Thi En Tran yelled. Never in his thousand years of living as the heavenly demon had he ever suffered this much humiliation. If he knew that the inspection was going to be so lax, he would have kept the spirit stones in his shoes under his feet. Instead, he had to put them in that place. 

However, now that they were in there, it would actually be ideal if he used them now to perform his technique.

Back when Thi En Tran was just a child, he had discovered this method after invading a pill shop and consuming all the restoration pills. When he returned home, he attempted to use spirit stones to continue refining the impurities in his body. After growing impatient, he ended up consuming them instead which created a large burst of energy all at once, shocking his body into instantly forming his dantian without any drawbacks. If anything, it was much better than standard cultivation as it instantly expelled the impurities from his body all at once.

Since they were in 'there' the qi inside the spirit stones would integrate with his body much more effectively, allowing him to achieve far greater results.

If not for this fact, Thi En Tran would have died out of shame.

With nothing else to lose, Thi En Tran consumed all of the Vitality restoring pills in one bite and with a solemn expression on his face,  he began circulating his Nine Heavens Yang Secret Art.