Chapter Thirteen: Deceiving Zhang Cuishan

"Ah...! Huh! Why doesn't it hurt? In fact, it feels a little warm!" Zhang Cuishan cried out instinctively at Tang Yi's action, but the result surprised everyone.

"Not bad, let me take a look." Tang Yi reached out his left hand and placed it on Zhang Cuishan's arm, instantly releasing his superpower—a power he rarely used. Normally, this ability merely allowed Tang Yi to assess whether any of a person's major organs were abnormal. Since he also had a direct healing superpower, he seldom bothered with this diagnostic one. But right now, it was just what was needed.

Tang Yi discovered that ever since receiving a kiss from Hua Ruoxue, his superpower seemed to have undergone more than just an upgrade. Now, he could delve into every single cell in Zhang Cuishan's body, sensing the birth and death of each one.

"Excellent. It seems this potash is indeed very effective—the wound is no longer worsening." After observing for a while, Tang Yi reported his findings to everyone. "Hmm, Zhang Cuishan, is it? I'm now going to treat you officially. Calm yourself first, alright?... Good, that's it. I'm starting now." Tang Yi noticed the potash not only neutralized the virus from the ghost creature's saliva but also attracted the virus to cluster around it. Now, curing Zhang Cuishan would be easy.

"Alright, how do you feel now?" A few minutes later, Tang Yi asked Zhang Cuishan.

"...I'm well, truly well! I feel like I could take down a few of those ghost things with my bare hands! Haha, this is fantastic. By the way, senior—this life-saving grace is more than I can ever repay, I—" Zhang Cuishan hadn't finished when Hua Shaojie interrupted him.

"No, no, there is a way to repay it—it just depends on whether you're willing!"

"Oh? What do you mean by that? Please enlighten me, brother!" Hearing this, Zhang Cuishan turned to look at the speaker, who seemed to be of similar cultivation level to himself, and asked politely.

"I wouldn't dare to 'enlighten' you," Hua Shaojie replied, glancing at Tang Yi and seeing no reaction from him, continued, "Speaking of our Brother Tang here—oh, he prefers being called Brother Tang. If you keep calling him 'senior,' he says it makes him feel old. Just call him Brother Tang. Sorry, back to the point. First, you could give Brother Tang a hundred thousand or so high-grade spirit stones, and the debt would be settled. Second, if you don't have that many, you could work for him for about a hundred years. By then, you could even earn a hundred thousand or so high-grade spirit stones yourself. Of course, that's if Brother Tang agrees to let you work for him; it's not easy to join the Tang Group, you know. Third, if you happen to have any rare heavenly treasures or some top-tier artifacts, those would do as well. That's all I can say!" As he listened to Hua Shaojie's words, Tang Yi chuckled inwardly. Hua Shaojie was becoming more and more adept at negotiation. Perhaps it was time to consider raising his salary.

"Um, Brother Tang, does your Tang Group still recruit people?" Zhang Cuishan was not one to owe favors; since there was a chance to repay the debt, he was determined to do so. In fact, if he had shown Tang Yi the materials he’d obtained from the ghost creatures, it would have certainly impressed him.

"Alright, since you've been advised, and considering your name is Zhang Cuishan, I'll accept you. Report to work immediately. As a start, you'll earn a hundred high-grade spirit stones per month. How does that sound?" Tang Yi responded to Zhang Cuishan's inquiry.

"So many? A hundred high-grade spirit stones a month?" Zhang Cuishan thought he’d misheard. Here on Mawei Star, risking his life all year long only earned him three or five high-grade spirit stones. Of course, if he sold his materials over in the Solar System, he'd get several times the price. But in the Pegasus System, such materials were common enough for the price to drop.

"You heard right. Oh, Brother Tang, look! The black stuff on his foot is disappearing," Hua Shaojie said, noticing the potash on Zhang Cuishan's toes slowly fading away.

"Oh, so that's how it is. Good. Zhang Cuishan, listen well—your first task is to get dressed, then go down and organize the others to gather wood. We need to burn it to produce wood ash."

"Yes, right away!" Zhang Cuishan sprang up.

"Fellow Daoist Tang, is this stuff that can heal ghost wounds really just wood ash?" Yi Mishui was utterly amazed. Over the millennia, tens of thousands of cultivators had died from ghost creature bites, yet no one had ever thought wood ash could heal such wounds.

"You could say it is, but also not quite. This potash is formed from wood ash on a heated iron block. Its composition is slightly different. As the saying goes, a tiny difference can lead to a huge error. Though the ingredients vary just a little, the effect is drastically different. Come, fellow Daoist, let's go down to the ship together and share this good news with the others," Tang Yi explained earnestly to Yi Mishui.

…Below the ship, in the cultivators’ camp.

"Isn't that Zhang Cuishan? Weren't you bitten by a ghost creature? I saw you taken aboard the ship with my own eyes, and now you're already well! Looks like those on the ship are truly experts!" a fellow cultivator called out, spotting Zhang Cuishan returning to camp.

"Brother Hu, you're right. I've joined the crew of that ship now. Could I trouble you to help organize some people to gather wood with me? This is important—it's for treating ghost wounds," Zhang Cuishan replied.

Upon hearing it was for healing, everyone eagerly joined the wood-gathering effort. Soon, a five-meter-high pile of timber stood outside the camp. Tang Yi and the others descended from the ship to the scene.

"Very good—you work efficiently. Well done," Tang Yi praised Zhang Cuishan when he returned with his report. Afterward, Tang Yi's expression grew solemn. He instructed everyone nearby to step back, then took out a large chunk of black iron. This piece, larger than a lion's head, became as soft and pliable as dough in Tang Yi's hands. Ten minutes later, the solid iron block had been fashioned into a huge iron plate. Tang Yi set up a simple levitation array on it, pressed a medium-grade spirit stone into the array’s core, and with a wave of his hand, sent the iron plate floating above the woodpile.

"Zhengyang, light it," Tang Yi instructed Lu Zhengyang behind him.

"Got it! Watch me!" Lu Zhengyang faced the woodpile, stretched out his right hand, bent his middle finger, hooked it with his thumb, and flicked—a blue spark shot out, landing squarely on the pile. Whoosh...