Shangguan Ruolin looked at the bewildered Shu Han with annoyance and snorted, "You little guy have picked up a bargain. Those fragments of Golden Core are worth a hundred years of hard cultivation. If you refine these fragments, they should be enough to help you break through the initial peak and reach the middle stage of Foundation Establishment."
Shu Han was stunned. He quickly sat cross-legged, examining his body's meridians and Dantian. Sure enough, near his Dantian, he could indeed see some golden fragments wandering. These small golden fragments made Shu Han feel an overwhelming and pure spiritual power.
Shu Han quickly said, "There are fragments of senior in my body, won't it affect senior's cultivation? Shouldn't I extract them and return them to senior?"
"If it was possible to extract and repair my Golden Core, I would have done it already!" Shangguan Ruolin crossed her arms, not very pleased, and said, "It's not that easy to repair a shattered Golden Core. Kid, you better recover from your injuries quickly. I'll assist you in absorbing these fragments of Golden Core. The emergence of the Heavenly Creation Fluid is not far away. If you can improve your cultivation, it will be beneficial to our mission."
Shu Han nodded, sincerely saying, "I will do my best to obtain the Heavenly Creation Fluid for the senior."
"That's a must! I've imparted you with secret techniques and given you fragments of Golden Core. If you can't get it, I'll eat you alive to compensate for the loss!"
Shu Han chuckled, although Shangguan Ruolin was becoming increasingly fierce towards him, he could vaguely feel the cold distance between them gradually melting. Thus, Shu Han took out the healing spiritual medicine from his storage bag and started to repair his damaged Dantian and meridians. He had not settled into meditation for a while when he was awakened by a slap from Shangguan Ruolin.
Shangguan Ruolin held out her small hand in front of him and angrily said, "You're just going to eat all of it yourself? Where's my share?"
Shu Han scratched his head and said, "You've eaten up all the stock in these past few days, and I haven't had time to make more. How about I give you some spirit stones? I have plenty of those, the old man in the mine gave me a bunch."
"Spirit stones aren't as gentle as elixirs, but they'll do. Give them here."
Shu Han directly tossed a big bag of spirit stones to Shangguan Ruolin. Shangguan Ruolin, with her small body, struggled to carry the large bag of spirit stones. She said, "Kid, from now on, you must follow me everywhere. That damned girl won't give up so easily. If she comes looking and you're not by my side, I won't be able to do anything."
So, he was just a meat shield!
Shu Han: "...As you command."
And so, Shu Han and Shangguan Ruolin settled down in Zhang Village, at Madam Song's house. Currently, only Madam Song and her son were living in the house, and there were no adult men in the entire village. It was said that they had all been taken to nearby snowy mountains by surrounding gangs to dig for snow lotus. So, all the farm work and household chores were left to the village women and children.
The people of Zhang Village were simple and honest, and Madam Song was particularly hospitable. She was especially fond of Shangguan Ruolin, always complimenting her on her beauty and even giving her snacks that she normally wouldn't even give to her own child. Even though Shangguan Ruolin had a temper, she was helpless against this enthusiastic rural woman and was neatly arranged by her.
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Seven days later, Shu Han had consumed all the healing elixirs, and his meridians and Dantian began to show some signs of recovery.
Next, Shangguan Ruolin began assisting him in absorbing the Golden Core fragments.
Shu Han originally couldn't refine these Golden Core fragments at all, but he could absorb them with Shangguan Ruolin's help. Every time he absorbed a bit of the massive Golden Core spiritual power, his cultivation visibly increased.
However, Shu Han found it odd because he felt that there were two different breaths of spiritual power in this Golden Core. These two distinctly different spiritual powers fought against each other, often making Shu Han feel uncomfortable all over. But whenever he asked about this, Shangguan Ruolin would avoid the topic and even directly threatened to kick him.
Shu Han thought everyone had their own secrets. Since Shangguan Ruolin didn't want to talk about it, Shu Han was tactful enough not to ask any more questions.
However, during these days, Shangguan Ruolin was always with him, and only then did Shu Han realize that Shangguan Ruolin's real condition wasn't as good as he imagined. She might seem full of energy, but Shu Han knew that the more clingy she was, the worse her current situation was. Being followed by Shangguan Ruolin all day, he didn't get a chance to use the black jar to replicate medicinal materials for pill refining.
The villagers joked that the pretty girl liked to stick to her brother. Shu Han retorted in his heart that she didn't like to stick to her brother; she just couldn't do without a human shield!
Since he couldn't refine pills quietly by himself, Shu Han felt bad about freeloading at Madam Song's house and volunteered to take over all the fieldwork.
Madam Song tried to decline several times, but she couldn't resist Shu Han's enthusiasm and let him take up the hoe and work in the field.
Madam Song originally thought that Shu Han, as a scholar from the city, wouldn't know how to do farm work and was just trying to find something to do. But she didn't know that Shu Han had been delivering food and water to his parents in the fields since he was very young, and he was very familiar with farm work.
Coupled with years of martial arts training and a sturdy physique from the Foundation Establishment stage, Shu Han was even faster than several oxen combined when he worked in the fields.
This stunned the women of Zhang Village, and his impressive performance immediately ignited the women's enthusiasm for finding a son-in-law. Those who came to propose marriage almost broke Madam Song's threshold. There was even a madam who brought her three-year-old daughter to Shu Han, boasting about how beautiful her daughter would be in the future, saying that she wanted to marry her daughter to Shu Han.
Whenever the eligible girls in the village caught sight of Shu Han while working outside, their faces would turn red with shyness.
Shu Han was dumbfounded. He was just farming, how did he become a hot commodity in the surrounding villages?!
The same situation happened with Shangguan Ruolin. This noble and aloof porcelain doll stunned all the boys and girls of Zhang Village as soon as she appeared.
Shangguan Ruolin didn't need to do anything. She just stood at the door and glanced coldly at the children, instantly becoming the de facto leader of the Zhang Village children.
As a result, sniffling children were lining up all day long, offering Shangguan Ruolin their treasured toys and snacks. Wherever Shangguan Ruolin went, a group of children would follow her from a distance. Her mysterious, noble, and cold aura left these children in awe.
Today, while Shu Han was loosening the soil in the field, Shangguan Ruolin was idly watching from the ridges. Madam Song's son was following her from a distance, clutching a bunch of small wild chrysanthemums, his little face full of hesitation.
Among all the children in Zhang Village, Madam Song's son liked Shangguan Ruolin the most.
Madam Song often scolded him, "My boy, Ruolin is a city girl and she's too beautiful. You can't hold onto her."
However, her son wouldn't listen and always watched Shangguan Ruolin from a distance, dreaming of holding her hand and playing with mud together.
Seeing Madam Song's son, Shu Han walked over with an idea in mind. He came to the boy's side. At this time, Shangguan Ruolin was still sitting on the ridge, not caring about what Shu Han was doing as long as he didn't leave her side.
Shu Han said to the boy, "Boy, Ruolin doesn't like picking flowers. If you want to impress her, you have to take her to see a sea of flowers! I think the one ahead is perfect! Then you have to tell her these..."
The boy, with his nose running, listened blankly to Shu Han's instruction.
Shu Han patted him on the shoulder, encouraging him, "Be braver! Invite her to play! Brother supports you!"
The boy nodded heavily.