Story 10 - The Spy Who Rocked Too Hard (Part 20 🎸) (Patreon)

Author’s Note:

Thank you for being the best readers on Patreon! Here is the link to the Google Docs for those who prefer it.

Part 20

By the time I finished talking to Winter Fox, Little Spring had been pulled into a poison-concocting competition. Classic Xianxia. A main character couldn’t go five chapters without getting into something.

A borrowed cauldron steamed in front of him as he mixed various ingredients. He kept glancing at Water Viper and the girl from earlier, as if he was trying to figure out what order to put each toxic herb in.

Wait, was he copying these alchemists because I’d told him to keep a low profile? Very good!

Off to the side, Little Teasing Mouse quietly cheered them on while jumping up and down on the balls of her brocade slippers.

It didn’t take too much longer before large billows of purple vapor wafted from each cauldron. With a hand seal, the two regular disciples sent the misty poison to collect into a pill in the air.

Now that was an unusual pill-forming method!

Little Spring had been using the hand seals I first taught him while hiding it behind the old ones. Once he reached this point, he created a seal on the cauldron with his spiritual energy and then twisted his fingers into our pill forming seal. Beads of sweat covered his forehead.

Once they finished, Water Viper collected his pill into a jade bowl and brought it to a disciple who must have been nominated as the judge.

The judge rolled the pill around the bowl while he used a technique on his eyes I’d never seen before. “Oh, my! Look at the color and clarity! This is a high-quality Three Lines Decapitation Toxin. Its poison efficacy is 76%! Absolutely deadly.”

Now that was an interesting technique! It was hard to get exact numbers in this time period, so something used to examine a pill accurately was valuable. I’d have to learn it while I was here.

The girl sniffed disdainfully. “The last time I concocted this recipe, I had an efficacy of 80%.”

Water Viper snorted. “Don’t lie. That one was only at 70% at most.”

She handed her bowl to the judge.

His eyes glowed as he looked down at her submission, then shook his head. “Your pill has an efficacy of 72%.”

Water Viper sneered. “See, I told you I’d be the better poison arts teacher for Little Teasing Mouse.”

Little Spring gave the judge his own blow. “I’m undeserving of being Little Teasing Mouse’s poison arts teacher. But I will take the contribution points you promised me, seniors.”

The two looked at him like they couldn’t believe he thought he had a chance.

“But I don’t think I’ll be too much better than you, since this is my first time concocting this pill.”

The judge narrowed his eyes on the purple pill. “Wait. That can’t be right.” It looked glossier and clearer than the other two. “Hold on.”

Oh, no…. Did this brat forget to keep a low profile after all?

::You didn’t create a pinnacle pill right?::

::Of course not! Even you have trouble creating one your first time.::

Sure, but logic didn’t always work when it came to this kid’s protagonist halo.

“This pill… has 81% efficacy!”

Everyone in the room stared at Little Spring with wide eyes.

“Whoa!”

“Impossible!”

::That low? You must have worked hard.::

::Thank you, Sister Lin! I tried my best to add a few minor imperfections that match the ones my fellow disciples were adding. Sadly, our superior hand seals increased the quality too much.::

They did that. ::Regardless, I think you did an excellent job of keeping a low profile while not looking weak.::

::Thank you, Sister Lin!;;

::Return to your space once you’re done here. I’m going to teach you to craft a new instrument!::

::A new one?::

::you’ll like it. It’s called a Majestic Kick-Ass Aluminum Keyboard of Many Sounds - Lesser Version.::

He paused for a second. ::That’s an interesting name.::

::As you can see, I’m very good at naming things.::

::...:: He sent me a brief disbelieving glance. From that, I was sure it meant he couldn’t believe how awesome my naming style was.

Little Teasing Mouse ran over and hopped excitedly. “I told you that he’s a genius!”

“This has to be some kind of mistake!” Both Water Viper and the girl said in unison.

The judge huffed and crossed his arms. “If you don’t trust me, then don’t ask me to judge.”

Little Spring held up both hands. “Please don’t complain. It’s obvious that I was just lucky. It’s Senior Water Viper who deserves to be Little Teasing Mouse’s poison teacher.”

Water Viper crossed his arms. “Well, you’re right about that.”

The brat held his palm out. “While I can’t teach her, I will take those contribution points, seniors.”

Little Teasing Mouse grabbed Little Spring’s sleeve. “I knew you could do it!” Then she turned to her friends while wearing an adorable smile. “See! I said he was a genius! Now I get to be taught by a genius! This is so lucky!”

The kid’s eyes widened and briefly darted to me in panic.

::But I already said I couldn’t do it. Why is she ignoring me?::

::Uh. I can’t deal with her.:: She was too disgustingly cute. If I went over there, I might say something logical and aggressive that would make me the enemy of everyone in the room. Just like what always happened in my past life with Bloodsword’s wives. It was not something we needed while we were undercover. ::You’re going to have to get out of this on your own. We’re here to spy on this sect. If you spend all your time teaching that idiot how to concoct pills, you won’t be able to contribute to getting our asses home.::

His jaw tightened. ::I’ll take care of it.::

Bloodsword’s fucking braindead wives were the worst.

***

My large crucible with an exact mixture of spiritual metals flew into the furnace to melt. That was the signal. Little Spring automatically took over control of the flames. Next, I brought over the two special molds I had spent an hour preparing while I waited for the brat to enter his space.

Frankly, he should have returned sooner, but apparently, it was difficult to get away from his new friends. They had kept him way too long when I had a lesson planned.

I was not fucking happy. But, as his teacher and older martial sister, I wasn’t sure what to do about it.

Once the metal finished melting, I used a technique to lift the crucible and shake it.

“Remember, the metal for this instrument should be shaken, not stirred.”

“Why is that?”

“So that the metal becomes softer and more malleable on the inside, and harder on the outside.”

Before its perfect consistency was ruined, I poured it into each frame box. While I counted down until the boxes had cooled, Little Spring took care of the crucible.

“Quick, bring the hammers over. It’s about time you practice that new technique.”

“Yes, Sister Lin!”

The big and little hammers flew into the furnace.

I broke the seals on each box, exposing the steaming silvery metal to the air. With a flick of my wrist, I sent both sides of the keyboard into the forge.

I grabbed a handful of gold powder and threw it inside while controlling it with my spiritual energy. It formed the base for several enchantments and drew perfect lines between where each key would go and the slots for the recording crystals.

“Hit each line with the little hammer’s Long Dragon Tapping method.”

The kid closed his eyes and his hands moved. I could see the hint of an illusory dragon behind him before the hammer struck each line in quick succession.

God damn protagonists. When did he reach this level of forging? Didn’t I just fucking teach him this technique not too long ago?

I grabbed a handful of the local spiritual chrome powder and casually threw it into the furnace, so it covered the exterior of each side.

“Now, take the big hammer and use Hard Strike to harden it until it has a mirror finish.”

His brow furrowed as he concentrated. Then the big hammer crashed into the keyboard, causing it to bend.

The kid froze for a second and glanced over at me with wide eyes, checking my reaction.

Fuck. I didn’t let any shock show on my face. Usually, he did everything near perfect the first go around. Maybe his new friends were distracting him? Very calmly, I said, “Finish it perfectly.” Because I didn’t want to spend more money and time on this project.

“Right away!”

He used the big hammer to bend it back, then carefully hammered each side while looking very stiff. But he managed to finish it.

I pulled the two sides out and set them on a stone table to cool. Fortunately, I could tell by how each side settled onto the table that the bend had been fixed. Still, I needed to find out where his head was at.

“Something you feel like telling me?”

“The thing is... to get out of teaching alchemy to Little Teasing Mouse, I had to... promise to play together tomorrow.”

“...” A vein bulged in my forehead.

I could tell from the heat wafting off the two sides of the Keyboard’s aluminum frame that they’d cooled to the point I had to work on them again. I pulled out the bag of recording crystals and began slotting them into the round sockets made just for them. The kid grabbed a handful and helped from the other side.

“I know you warned me...”

“So you do remember!”

He winced, but continued to place the crystals inside the slots. “Sister Lin...”

“Whatever.” With a clack, I set the last crystal inside the slot.. “Just limit your time with her and don’t forget what I told you.”

“Don’t be mad. I couldn’t teach her alchemy, so I had to make up for it somehow.”

This fucker. If my physique wasn’t improved with body cultivation, I’d have a headache. “You did not need to ‘make up for it’. It sounds like you fell victim to some manipulative tactic.”

He winced. ”That’s… You didn’t see the way those seniors glared. If I hadn’t made that promise, it would have started a fight. And beating up so many people stronger than me wouldn’t be low key at all.”

With the bottom of the base completed, I pulled over the bin of keys we’d created and began painting their top with a glossy spiritual paint I’d concocted using several of the ingredients I had ordered earlier.

“Plus, I think going around the sect with Little Teasing Mouse will be a good excuse to search for more clues about the scroll.”

“Only if you can figure out a way to get an invitation to the second level of the treasure pavilion.”

”I’ll do that! I promise.”

When I finished painting the last key, I set my brush down and crossed my arms.

I did not like this. But the kid hadn’t done anything stupid in a while... aside from almost fucking up my instrument. Not that I’d ever admit it to him, but in some ways he’d been more responsible than me. Especially while my brain hadn’t been quite right back when I first time traveled. Of course, thanks to my cultivation, I was now perfectly sane. Muahahaha!

In the end, while I didn’t trust that mouse girl, I respected Little Spring’s ability to make a logical choice.

“Alright. Let’s finish this keyboard. Tomorrow we’ll have to record all the sounds.”

“You need my help for that?”

“No, but you should know how to forge one of these by yourself. By the time we complete it, you’ll be the second smith in the universe who can create a Majestic Kick-Ass Aluminum Keyboard of Many Sounds - Lesser Version.”

The kid’s eyes filled with determination. “I’ll do my best, Martial Sister Lin!”

***

With Little Spring’s help, it took only half a day to get the various notes and sounds I needed. Mostly because I had him stretch out a wire so I could hit it with a hammer while recording. It made things go much faster than doing everything by myself.

He also convinced Xiao Bai to bork at different pitches for some alternative sounds. Once I played his voice back to him, he tilted his head adorably, then howled along.

We next visited my students, who had continued to learn new songs. I recorded Three Drops Silent Toxin as he demonstrated each individual drum sound and had Shadow Panther play every bass note.

The two grinned when I played back the sounds they’d help with.

Recording like this was something I liked to call a Sound Wave Scavenger Hunt.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was fast.

Once we’d finished collecting the last notes we returned to the space. I finished the final adjustments to the instrument causing an illusory silver dragon to appear above the keyboard before vanishing.

[Image Link]

Finally! We’d finished. Muahahaha!

It looked so good and performed perfectly. This was going to make Melodic River look so cool.

Little Spring hesitated. “Sister Lin, are you sure some of those sounds were even necessary?”

I paused. “No. But I need this instrument to sound more complex to snag another bandmate.”

He looked exasperated, as if questioning why we had to go through all that.

“It will help us heal, Ghosty. Anyway, be grateful that this is a lesser version. I spent a whole month collecting sounds for the full Immortal rank keyboard once.” I stroked the smooth silvery surface of the instrument. “This one has merely reached sky rank. But it’s good for our current cultivation.”

He seemed to struggle for a bit. “Spending that long gathering sounds would be very frustrating.”

“It wasn’t terrible. I had all my Dao of Rock students help me with it. They’d kept coming up to me, wanting to add more sounds to it. They were all very proud of their contribution towards it. When you work together on a project like this, it’s fun.”

He grinned. “I agree.”

“Now that it’s complete, want to hear it?”

He nodded.

I grinned. “Then meet me outside my immortal cave as soon as you can.”

***

I exited my temporary home to find Melodic River drinking a small bowl of medical wine under a nearby tree. Her languid posture made her appear damn cool. She really would make a fantastic member of my rock band.

“There you are!” She smiled. “I’ve been waiting for you. Did you finish what you needed to?”

I pulled out the silvery keyboard and inserted my spiritual energy into it until it hovered at the perfect height for playing. Since I was a master weaponsmith, it had been simple to add a flying tool enchantment to the instrument. Especially since this was a tool for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Melodic River’s eyes widened. “You didn’t mention that it could fly!”

I grinned. “That’s part of the fun. If you get good enough, you can even play it while it’s above your head.”

“I think you might have been underselling it. Could you play for me?”

“In a moment. An… Older Martial Brother of mine is coming to listen in.”

“Oh,” she seemed slightly disappointed. But then grabbed a gourd filled with wine and shook it. “How about we drink until they get here?”

“I’m underage.”

Her eyebrows furrowed as a skeptical expression crossed her face.

I shrugged. “I’m a little younger than I look.” While also being much older than I was physically. Time travel was weird. And it made things like drinking age and when to treat myself as an adult fucking awkward.

I had been an adult in a child’s body for the first 9 years of my past life. Technically, this was my second time going through this kind of age awkwardness. Frankly, it was one of the reasons I avoided romance at the beginning of my first life here. By the time I’d become an adult, comfortable in my own body, I’d seen too much of this fucked up Xianxia world I lived in and decided to swear off romantic relationships altogether. They weren’t worth it. Not when someone could betray me for a heavenly treasure, sell me for their own benefit, or try to use me as a cultivation cauldron. Fuck that shit.

She sighed. “It would have been nice to know that earlier.”

“Well, it’s more good wine for you.”

“So it is!” She grinned.

I heard Little Spring call my name. I turned to see him running over, followed by Xiao Bai and Little Teasing Mouse.

God damn it. I had to deal with her again? Ghosty better appreciate the amount of frustration I was dealing with to heal his ass.

I raised an eyebrow at the brat.

::Sorry, Sister Lin. She followed me.::

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Author’s Note: Thank you all for reading! You are the best readers a writer could ask for!

Thank you so much for your patience as well. This illness really kicked my ass. Last week, since I ended up not improving much, I ended up going into urgent care where they gave me antibiotics for bacterial bronchitis and two inhalers due to low oxygen levels.

I am now feeling much better! By Tuesday this week I was able to start editing, but it went a bit slower than I’d like since I was still recovering. I actually still have a little bit of a cough.