Chapter 253: Spiritual Fire

Three days passed in a row; the Su family spies scoured Qingyang City but found nothing.

"Finally over!"

After kneading the last Coagulating Blood Pill, Xu Yang let out a long sigh; having not slept for three days and three nights while continuously refining elixirs, even with his cultivation base having reached the Minor Success of the Gang Qi, he still felt a touch of exhaustion.

Beside him lay a pile of medicine bottles, a full forty-two of them.

From twenty furnaces of elixirs, two hundred and ten pills were successfully formed.

Sitting down to circulate the Fu Yue Xiong Jing to recover some spirit, he packed the elixirs into a sack, changed his appearance once more, and only then rose to head out for the Zhu family pharmacy.

The Zhu family pharmacy!

Zhu Bin was restless; he had received news that the Su family was investigating the alchemist cooperating with the Zhu family.

The Zhu family intended to help, but they did not know the identity of that alchemist.

"Shopkeeper, that my lord still has not appeared," the young servant said, running in from outside.

Zhu Bin spoke heavily: "He acts cautiously; he should not have been discovered by the Su family. Do not keep coming and going looking around, or you will draw others' attention."

The good news for now was that even his Zhu family did not know the identity of that alchemist, so the Su family probably could not find out either.

However, refining elixirs requires purchasing large quantities of medicinal herbs; if this continues, they will inevitably be traced by the Su family.

"Isn't this just worry? The Su family is truly no good; they can't stand to see our Zhu family do well," the young servant muttered.

Zhu Bin sighed: "Who can help it that our Zhu family's strength is inferior to the Su family's, and we have even generated a conflict of interests with them?"

The Zhu family wants to seize the elixir market with the Blood Qi Pills; inevitably, they must swallow others' share, which is unavoidable.

Fortunately, their ancestors were all disciples of the Ziyang Sect; although there are struggles over interests, they will not resort to violence.

Suddenly, he felt his vision go dark before his eyes; he hurriedly looked up and saw a familiar figure carrying a large sack walking in.

Zhu Bin's face lit up: "My lord, you have finally arrived."

Xu Yang, wearing a bamboo hat, spoke indifferently: "This is for this month; Shopkeeper Zhu, please count it."

Zhu Bin shook his head and spoke heavily: "No rush; my lord, could you follow me to the rear hall to discuss in detail? You may not know, but the Su family is already searching the entire city for you."

Xu Yang nodded: "Good!"

Although he did not know, he could guess; having crushed the Su family spies, with the Su family's arrogance, how could they let it go? They would surely be looking for him like madmen.

Yet Qingyang City is so large; having changed his clothes, how could they possibly know who he is?

Zhu Bin gave the young servant a look, telling him to keep an eye on the situation outside, and immediately led Xu Yang into the rear hall of the pharmacy.

A quarter of an hour later, Xu Yang walked out from the rear courtyard.

He did not reveal his identity to Zhu Bin, but he had already settled with Zhu Bin: henceforth, the Zhu family would send people to deliver the medicinal herbs needed for refining to the rented courtyard, and after refining was finished, the Zhu family would come to collect the pills themselves.

In this way, the risk of him being traced by the Su family would be reduced.

Of course, this counted as a risky trust in the Zhu family; if the Zhu family had evil intentions, he would be in danger too.

Fortunately, he had already reached the Minor Success of the Gang Qi, giving him some confidence in protecting his life, so he was not too worried about the Zhu family having evil intentions.

After fixing the address of the courtyard and the time for delivering the herbs, Xu Yang took fifteen hundred and eighty taels of silver and one Returning Origin Pill and departed.

Though three days were tiring, he had earned seven hundred taels of silver and one Returning Origin Pill.

Returning to the courtyard without incident along the way, he changed his attire again, planning to go to Wanbaoge to buy some Eight Treasures Body-Strengthening Pills before returning to the Ziyang Sect.

After walking two streets, he saw a familiar figure at the entrance of a brothel.

Hu Hu Fengyi!

That rascal seemed to have just woken up, parting reluctantly with two women.

Those two women seemed reluctant to let him go; they walked away but then pulled him back.

Xu Yang did not look closely; a sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and he hurried to Wanbaoge, spending four hundred and fifty taels of silver to buy thirty Eight Treasures Body-Strengthening Pills, then left the city directly.

Soon, he hid in a place with an open view.

Half an hour later, from far away he saw Hu Hu Fengyi strolling leisurely toward him.

He had a blade of grass in his mouth, as if savoring something.

Xu Yang withdrew his gaze, put on a face veil, hid the elixirs on his person, and immediately slipped behind a large stone by the roadside to conceal himself.

"Those two little wenches are truly lewd; I almost couldn't handle them alone. It must be because I've been hammering iron every day this month. Once I recover my body next month, I'll come back and make them beg for mercy."

Thinking of last night's scene, Hu Hu Fengyi felt the urge rise again, wishing he could immediately turn back to Qingyang City to fight another three hundred rounds.