"I remember now. The faction that spent a fortune buying the Cyan Silk Algae back then seems to have been the Hundred Flowers Pavilion." Li Ban recalled another matter.
"That's right. The portion of the Cyan Silk Algae you snatched belonged to them," the cat girl said, tilting her head. "Do you want it? I already sold my portion. If I'd known you needed it, I would have sold it to you."
At the time, Li Ban hadn't had a use for that much Cyan Silk Algae.
Furthermore, he had been stuck in the Death Prison with nowhere to hide something so large. He hadn't even had a way to store the spiritual rhinoceros extracted from the remaining Cyan Silk Algae.
He didn't even know where the excess spiritual rhinoceros had gone.
The spiritual rhinoceros in the air hadn't increased, either.
Now, Li Ban was starting to suspect that his Wizard Embryo Fragment had devoured the remaining spiritual rhinoceros.
"Do you want to steal the Hundred Flowers Pavilion's Cyan Silk Algae?" The cat girl's eyes sparkled at the prospect.
Li Ban stroked his chin, but ultimately shook his head. "We're still being hunted by the Assassin Hall. It's not a good time to do something so troublesome.
He left the cat girl to rest in her room; Shi Ming and Deng Jun were in the bedroom opposite hers.
With the cat girl present, Li Ban wasn't worried about those two running off.
Leaving the courtyard, he found the servant who had been waiting at the door hurrying over to catch up with him. "Young Master Wen, would you like to tour the gardens?"
"Yes. What interesting sights do you have here?"
"Plenty! You certainly won't be disappointed by the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. How about this: I'll first take you to the Elegant Pavilion to rest and arrange for a flower maiden to show you around?"
"A flower maiden?" Li Ban wondered if it was the kind of profession he was imagining.
"Please follow me." The servant smiled, bowing to point the way.
Since Li Ban had chosen a secluded, quiet courtyard, they had to walk for a while before reaching the Elegant Pavilion.
The Elegant Pavilion was much livelier.
Guests came and went, mingling with brightly dressed women.
These women were mostly young, ranging from fourteen or fifteen to their mid-twenties. Though their attire varied, they all wore different kinds of fresh flowers pinned in their hair.
They were mostly accompanying guests on tours, chatting cheerfully and behaving with refined etiquette.
Noticing Li Ban's gaze, the servant trotted ahead and soon brought back a girl. She wore a light purple dress and a delicate cluster of blue-purple flowers in her hair.
She was neither too young nor too old, exuding a serene and gentle beauty—a completely different style from the persona Miaomiao that the cat girl was currently playing.
"Young Master, this is Lady Lan Xue. She is intimately familiar with the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. How about having her accompany you on your tour?"
Li Ban wasn't here to pick out women anyway, so he naturally nodded in agreement.
Lan Xue gracefully stepped to Li Ban's side, folded her hands at her waist, and curtsied. "Young Master Wen."
She led him on a brief stroll through the nearby gardens, introducing the various entertainments available there.
Li Ban listened to her rundown, but didn't hear about the place he was looking for. He simply stopped in a spot with no outsiders around.
"Lady Lan Xue, I've heard the Hundred Flowers Pavilion has a renowned physician. Do you happen to know what ailments they specialize in treating?"
The corner of Lan Xue's professional smile twitched slightly. "Lady Kui is a female physician. She specializes in women's afflictions."
Li Ban was taken aback. So that was her area of expertise.
Then again, considering how the Hundred Flowers Pavilion operated, it certainly couldn't be separated from women.
Seeing his reaction, Lan Xue asked softly, "Are you seeking a doctor, Young Master Wen? Lady Kui possesses profound medical knowledge and has treated men's injuries as well. If you need her, I can take you to see her."
"Is Lady Kui a spirit practitioner?"
"Yes, Lady Kui is a 3rd Tier intermediate physician. She studied in the Mist Valley."
Li Ban had seen the name Mist Valley in the Records of the Nine Provinces' Landscapes. Located in the western Lan Province, it was a humid region teeming with lush vegetation.
Because it produced a vast array of rare herbs, many physicians and apothecaries flocked there.
Over time, these physicians and apothecaries formed an Alliance, founding the Mist Valley.
After gaining recognition from the Imperial Court, it became a faction capable of independently managing identities, much like the Assassin Hall and the Myriad Ancient Pagoda.
For Lady Kui to have reached the rank of intermediate physician there, her foundational medical skills had to be impeccable.
"That's wonderful. Can I bring someone to see her today?"
Hearing this, Lan Xue hurriedly explained, "Lady Kui is currently out for the day and hasn't returned yet. If you need her to make a house call, Young Master Wen, I can bring her to your courtyard once she returns. How does that sound?"
"That works."
Lan Xue could tell that Young Master Wen hadn't come out to find a confidante or enjoy the scenery; he had a clear goal in mind.
Dropping her previously deliberate coquettish demeanor, she became much more natural.
"Do you have anyone here who can repair elements?" Li Ban decided to just ask her everything.
"We do. Lady Rui specializes in that field. However, repairing an element also depends on the situation. Not all damaged elements can be fixed. Lady Rui will need to inspect the element personally."
Li Ban was pleasantly surprised. "Your Hundred Flowers Pavilion is truly full of hidden talents. Is Lady Rui available right now?"
Lan Xue nodded. "Lady Rui is currently in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, though I don't know if she's attending to other guests. Would you like to head over and check, Young Master Wen?"
Li Ban readily agreed.
The two passed through the Elegant Pavilion, Tranquil Heart Lake, Alluring Beauty Gardens, and several other scenic spots of the Hundred Flowers Garden before stepping through a festooned gate.
Beyond this gate, the guests and servants all vanished from sight, and the surroundings grew much quieter.
They first walked past a small courtyard with tightly shut doors, then another that wafted with the aroma of cooking food. Finally, following a forest path, they arrived at a pleasure boat at the center of a lake.
The melodious strains of string and bamboo instruments drifted from the boat.
As the two of them approached the boat, two maids in blue dresses immediately stepped forward.
Surprisingly, their beauty was on par with Lan Xue's.
"Lady Lan Xue," one of them greeted, stepping up.
"Sister Xiangdi." Lan Xue appeared far more respectful. "This is Young Master Wen. He would like to ask Lady Rui to repair an element."
The maid named Xiangdi nodded. "Young Master Wen, please follow me."
Li Ban followed Xiangdi, but soon noticed that Lan Xue was still waiting outside.
It seemed she wasn't permitted to enter at all.
The painted pleasure boat had three floors. Li Ban was led up to the second.
The music overhead paused. A moment later, a woman in her early thirties, draped in sheer gauze with her long hair cascading down her back, slowly descended the stairs.
She looked as languid as if she had just rolled out of bed. Stopping across from Li Ban, she slumped onto a couch, utterly devoid of energy.
Xiangdi stepped forward to explain his purpose, then quietly retreated behind Lady Rui.
"Forgive me, Young Master Wen. My constitution is poor, so I won't stand up," Lady Rui said with a smile, tossing a lock of black hair that draped over her shoulder and chest. "What tier and type is the element you wish to repair?"
"It's a mortal-grade creation-class, the Iron Fish Scale," Li Ban replied.
The Assassin Hall had no idea he possessed this element, so mentioning it wouldn't draw any unwanted attention.
Hearing it was the Iron Fish Scale, Lady Rui lost most of her interest. "Young Master Wen, I will speak frankly. Please don't take offense.
"Unless that Iron Fish Scale is two chi square in size, it's completely not worth repairing. The money and resources you'd spend fixing it could buy you two brand-new Iron Fish Scales."
Li Ban tapped his finger lightly on his armrest.
He actually wanted to ask what would happen if it were a sublimated Iron Fish Scale.
But fearing he might arouse her suspicions, he swallowed the question.
A sublimated Iron Fish Scale would likely demand an even steeper price to repair.
And since repairing a standard Iron Fish Scale would cost around forty taels of silver, why wouldn't he just buy a new one?
After all, any element would sublimate once attached to him.
Li Ban sighed in feigned regret. "Then never mind. Thank you for the advice, Lady Rui."
He stood up and bid his farewell.
As he left the painted boat, he vaguely felt someone watching him from the third floor.
He pretended not to notice, quietly following Lan Xue away from the boat.
On the boat's third floor, a woman in men's clothing with her hair bound in a high topknot threw a fleeting glance out the window at Li Ban before looking away.
She gripped a long flute in her hand.
Diagonally across from her sat another woman, wearing only an outer robe and nothing underneath.
Resting her head on her slender, snow-white arm with her cleavage half-exposed, she absentmindedly plucked the strings of a guqin.
A moment later, Lady Rui leisurely sauntered up the stairs.
"He's gone. Just another penniless scholar pretending to be wealthy."
"I wouldn't be so sure," the woman with the high topknot said. "When he spoke, the muscles in his face moved unnaturally. He must be wearing a human-skin mask."
Lady Rui strolled over to the woman with the high topknot. Suddenly shrugging off her gauze robe to reveal the chest-high ruqun dress beneath, she sat sideways in front of her.
"Is there a shortage of guests wearing human-skin masks around here? Who cares about him. Kui, hurry up and help me loosen up."
The woman with the high topknot was none other than Lady Kui, the very physician supposedly out on a house call.
Setting down her flute, Lady Kui pinched the back of her left hand with the index and middle fingers of her right. With a flick, she pulled out a near-transparent ice needle as fine as a hair.
She quickly pierced the needle into the hollow of Lady Rui's left shoulder. With a light flick of her ring finger, the ice needle began vibrating intensely.
"Ah—" Lady Rui let out a satisfied sigh; it seemed her body had been experiencing some discomfort.
At the same time, the woman clad only in an outer robe began to play the guqin, the music masking Lady Rui's voice.
Lady Kui swiftly applied seven or eight more needles in succession. Occasionally, she would raise her head to glance out the window at the departing figure.
Parting ways with Lan Xue, Li Ban returned to his small courtyard.
The other two had behaved themselves, but the cat girl had grown so impatient that she'd torn her hair buns apart.
One hair bun drooped by her ear, and the other had slipped all the way down to her shoulder—a gentle shake would send it falling off entirely.
A furry ear poked a tiny tip through her messy hair, twitching rhythmically.
Li Ban closed the door behind him. "The physician here is called Lady Kui. She's an intermediate physician. She specializes in women's afflictions, but she knows her foundational medicine. Once she gets back from a house call, I'll have her come take a look at you."
The cat girl couldn't care less, though she was quite happy to have Li Ban look after her.
"Okay."
Sprawled on the bed, she had already kicked off her socks.
One snow-white sock lay on the footstool; the other had flown off to who knew where.
She crossed her legs lazily, hardly looking like a patient at all.
Ignoring her, Li Ban reached past her to retrieve the Iron-Eating Sword from their luggage at the back of the bed.
"What do you think of this Iron-Eating Sword element?"
"It's not bad." The cat girl recognized it with a single glance. "That's the signature element of the Gold Badge assassin, Iron Thorn."
"The Iron-Eating Sword can accumulate edge qi. The more iron you feed it, the sharper it gets. If you release all the gathered edge qi at once, at its peak, it can pierce straight through a city wall. However, he had just used it on me not long before, so he didn't have enough edge qi left when he fought you. That's why he only managed to injure your arm."
"It's that good of an element?"
"But there's far too little iron available for it to absorb. It's a great trump card for killing, but you have to be extremely cautious in daily combat. You wouldn't dare use its ultimate strike lightly, because who knows how long you'd have to gather iron to charge it up again."
Li Ban's initial stirring of interest quickly died down.
Along his current journey, he likely wouldn't have many opportunities to feed the Iron-Eating Sword with iron weapons.
Metal resources in the Wizard World weren't particularly abundant. At the very least, an ordinary individual in the mortal realm would find it extremely difficult to hoard vast quantities of ironware.
And if Li Ban went out to steal from an iron mine just for the sword, the moment he unleashed its edge qi, the Imperial Court would undoubtedly pin him as a prime suspect.
It would be great if creation-class elements could be brought to the Shadow World, Li Ban thought with a twinge of regret. Since they have space capsules over there, they shouldn't have any shortage of metal goods.