Chapter 90: 88. Walking Down a Path to the End (3/3)

88. Walking Down a Path to the End (3/3)

About half a cup of tea's time passed.

The looting of the corpses was finished.

Chen An and his three wives and concubines counted their spoils together, his heart pounding with excitement; he instantly understood the meaning of the saying, "Murder and arson lead to golden belts."

Storage Bag: 1.

Middle-grade Spirit Stone: 15.

Lower-grade Spirit Stone: 129.

Changjian: 3.

Changdao: 2.

Low-tier dharma robes: 3.

Various Talismans: A number of them.

Various medicinal pills: A number of them.

Other valuable items: A number of them.

"Husband, we've struck it rich!"

Wen Zhiyun's face was full of excitement; she had never seen so much money before.

Gu Xinyue was also excited, but only inwardly; she did not show much of it on her face.

"Ugh!"

Song Huaying could no longer hold it in and bent over to vomit, spilling all the breakfast she had eaten this morning onto the ground.

Chen An went over and patted her back, saying with a look of concern, "Ying, are you alright?"

"I'm... I'm fine, Husband. Ying will be better after vomiting a few more times... Ugh!"

Before Song Huaying could finish her sentence, she suddenly began to vomit again.

Chen An had medicinal pills that could stop vomiting, but he did not take them out for her to eat, wanting her to overcome it herself.

Otherwise, if she felt nauseous every time she saw blood, this would not be a sustainable way to live.

There had to be some change.

"Husband, where are we going next?"

After the excitement passed, Wen Zhiyun soon began to worry.

While using the Cleaning Talisman obtained from looting the corpses to clear the scent of blood from his wives and daughter, Chen An said calmly, "The matter here shouldn't be discovered so quickly. We will go to Zhenbao Hang first; as long as the test is passed, subsequent matters will not be a problem."

Wen Zhiyun: "Mm, I will listen to everything Husband says."

After putting everything into the Storage Bag and packing it away, the family of five immediately set off for Zhenbao Hang.

On the way.

Chen An took out the three low-tier dharma robes and gave them to Song Huaying, Gu Xinyue, and his daughter to wear.

They all wore them underneath their clothes to avoid being recognized by others.

Everyone else had one, but she did not, yet Wen Zhiyun had no objections to this.

Because she was a Qi Refining Eighth Layer expert and had a certain ability to protect herself, these three dharma robes should rightfully be worn by her two younger sisters and her sister's daughter.

Before long.

The group arrived at Zhenbao Hang.

As he brought his wives and daughter inside, Chen An ran into Shen Qingyi and Pan Hui, who were just coming out.

"Alchemist Chen, you are...?"

Seeing Chen An dragging his family to Zhenbao Hang, Pan Hui could not help but look puzzled.

She did not know that the Gang Leader had just sent Elder Zhao to kill Chen An, so she did not find it strange to see Chen An still alive at this moment.

Chen An casually made up an excuse and smiled naturally, "It's nothing, it's just that today is the day my test results come out, and my wives and daughter were clamoring to come and witness it."

"So that's how it is. Alchemist Chen really dotes on his wives and daughter; it's truly enviable. I have things to handle with Qingyi, so we will take our leave first."

"I wish Alchemist Chen success in passing the test!"

After speaking, Pan Hui and Shen Qingyi left.

Chen An did not pay much attention to those two and soon led his wives and daughter into Zhenbao Hang.

"Alchemist Chen, you are...?"

Upon seeing Chen An dragging his family inside, Manager Liu had the same reaction as Pan Hui earlier, both feeling somewhat confused.

Chen An gave the same perfunctory answer.

Afterward, he asked, "Manager Liu, how much security can one have staying in your guest rooms?"

"I wouldn't dare say too much, but at the very least, no one can cause you trouble here in the Bamboo Leaf Forest, not even the Gang Leader of the Bamboo Leaf Gang."

Manager Liu said very confidently.

Two months ago, he certainly would not have been this confident, but ever since the Xuanhuang Sect sent Shen Qingyi to oversee this place, he had been.

After all, he had seen with his own eyes how Shen Qingyi had been punishing the wicked and eliminating evil throughout the Bamboo Leaf Forest recently, even killing members of the Bamboo Leaf Gang without hesitation, while the Bamboo Leaf Gang didn't dare to let out a peep.

Hearing Manager Liu say this, Chen An's heart was somewhat put at ease.

Next, he asked, "Manager Liu, what are the prices for your guest rooms here?"

"There are three tiers: lower-class guest rooms at 10 Lower-grade Spirit Stones a day, middle-class guest rooms at 20 Lower-grade Spirit Stones a day, and high-class guest rooms at 30 Lower-grade Spirit Stones a day."

"Can you take me up to take a look?"

"Of course!"

Manager Liu was full of enthusiasm, thinking he could make another profit.

As for why Chen An was not living at home but instead bringing his wives and daughter to Zhenbao Hang to rent guest rooms, he did not care about any of that.

Even if he cared, he would not ask.

This is a guest's privacy; asking would be a major taboo.

After spending some time looking through the three grades of guest rooms.

Chen An did not even think about it, directly taking out 30 Low-grade Spirit Stones to hand to Manager Liu, renting a high-class guest room to settle his wife and daughter.

Afterward, he went downstairs alone to sit and wait for Manager Li from the Treasure Pavilion to come and verify the goods.

Wen Zhiyun had originally wanted to come down too, but Chen An was uneasy about leaving Song Huaying, Gu Xinyue, and his daughter alone in the room, so he had Wen Zhiyun, whose cultivation had reached the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, stay behind to look after them.

He sat downstairs waiting for nearly half an hour.

Manager Li of the Treasure Pavilion finally arrived.

Seeing this, Chen An hurriedly stood up to greet him, his face full of smiles as he said, "Manager Li, you have finally come; you kept me waiting."

As he spoke, a thought moved through his mind, and he took 5 Middle-grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Bag and stuffed them into Manager Li's hand, showing his sincerity with a heavy investment.

This time, he had to join the Treasure Pavilion.

He could not allow any accidents to happen.

Manager Li glanced at the Spirit Stones in his hand, and his gaudy, opulent face was instantly filled with smiles.

He patted Chen An on the shoulder and laughed, "Alchemist Chen, not bad, very not bad."

He only said "not bad" twice, and said nothing else beyond that.

But Chen An knew that he was definitely Wen this time.

In the time that followed.

Accompanied by Chen An and Manager Liu, Manager Li walked into the pill storage room of Zhenbao Hang.

Manager Liu took out all 20 Clear Spirit Pills that Chen An had refined.

Chen An checked the markings on the Clear Spirit Pills once.

After confirming they were indeed the 20 he had refined.

He handed the Clear Spirit Pills to the Manager Li standing to the side, smiled, and said, "Manager Li, these are the 20 Clear Spirit Pills I refined, please take a look."

"Good."

Manager Li gave a response, took the Clear Spirit Pills, and began to examine them carefully.

A moment later.

Manager Li nodded with a satisfied look on his face, looked at Chen An, and praised, "Alchemist Chen's pill-refining craftsmanship is truly superb; it is even more refined than many experienced Second-tier Alchemists, and it doesn't look like the work of a newly promoted Second-tier Alchemist at all."

Upon hearing this, Chen An immediately showed joy on his face, knowing that he had successfully joined the Treasure Pavilion.

Manager Liu, who was to the side, also smiled and offered his congratulations, saying, "Alchemist Chen, congratulations, congratulations; from now on, we are colleagues."

"I have troubled you quite a bit during this time, Manager Liu; after Zhenbao Hang closes tonight, I will treat you to a good meal."

Chen An's face was full of smiles.

Just as the two were chatting and laughing.

Manager Li, who was to the side, suddenly said very inappropriately, "Alchemist Chen, you passed the test perfectly this time, but... I have some bad news to tell you."

"Just a few days ago, the Pavilion added a new requirement for recruiting Alchemists."

"It requires that for an Alchemist to join, they must be able to refine at least 3 types of Second-tier pills."

As he spoke, he asked Chen An, "I wonder how many types Alchemist Chen can refine?"

Chen An was stunned.

Must be able to refine at least 3 types of Second-tier pills?

He had only just been promoted to a Second-tier Alchemist not long ago, how could he possibly know how to refine Second-tier pills?

And as many as three types at that!

Thinking of this, he furrowed his brows, his tone no longer as polite as before, and he coldly questioned, "Manager Li, why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"Alchemist Chen, you might not believe it, but I have been truly too busy during this recent period, and I accidentally forgot about this matter."

As he spoke, Manager Li continued, "However, Alchemist Chen need not worry; it doesn't matter if you don't know how to refine Second-tier pills. I have Second-tier pill recipes for sale here. Considering it was my fault for not reminding you in time, I can give you a discount on these Second-tier pill recipes. The original price is 50 Middle-grade Spirit Stones each, but I will only charge you 20 Middle-grade Spirit Stones each now."

20 Middle-grade Spirit Stones each?

After hearing this, Chen An's entire face turned cold.

He suspected that he had encountered a "pig-slaughtering" scam.

"Alchemist Chen, this..."

Manager Liu noticed the atmosphere was wrong, and his heart suddenly became a bit nervous.

Chen An ignored him, instead looking at Manager Li with a gloomy face and questioning, "Manager Li, are you treating me like a fool?"

"After taking so many Spirit Stones from me, you just want to brush me off by saying you were too busy and forgot?"

"And now, you even want to sell me Second-tier pill recipes to squeeze me further?"

Manager Li laughed upon hearing this: "What squeezing or not squeezing? There are plenty of Alchemists who want to come to me to recommend them. If it weren't for Manager Liu's sake, do you think I would even pay attention to you?"

In fact, the quota for recruiting Alchemists at the Treasure Pavilion this year was already gone, but this Manager Li did not want to give up this reason for making money, so he continued to use the recommendation as a pretext to amass wealth.

Not only did he treat Alchemists as free labor, but he also tried every possible way to swindle money from them using various excuses.

Many Alchemists found out afterward that they had been set up in a "pig-slaughtering" scam, but in order to be recommended by Manager Li to join the Treasure Pavilion when there were quotas next year, most would choose to swallow this bitter pill.

Chen An did not know this; he only knew that the other party was definitely trying to cheat him now.

He tried hard to calm himself down, and looking at Manager Li with an expressionless face, he said, "Manager Li, return all the Spirit Stones I gave you before, and pay the processing fees for the previous Qi-Condensing Pills and this time's Clear Spirit Pills in full; I will treat this as if it never happened."

"A dog biting Lu Dongbin—you're sick!"

After cursing, Manager Li turned around and flicked his sleeves to leave. As he walked, he did not forget to look back and say to Manager Liu, "Manager Liu, don't introduce such ungrateful Alchemists to me in the future; I feel sick..."

"Swish!"

Before Manager Li could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt a heat in his neck, and his entire person instantly lost its voice.

Then, the next second, his head completely detached from his body, slammed heavily onto the ground with a "thud," and rolled to the feet of Manager Liu.

Looking at the human head at his feet, Manager Liu froze in place, his lips trembling with fear as he said, "Alchemist Chen, you, you are doing this..."

Chen An ignored him and instead stepped forward, crouched down, and began looting the corpse.

In any case, he had already killed all the Elders and Deacons in the Law Enforcement Hall of the Bamboo Leaf Gang, making it impossible to stay in this Bamboo Leaf Forest any longer; now that he could not join the Treasure Pavilion either, he did not care about killing one more Manager of the Treasure Pavilion.

From this moment on, he would walk this path to the very end.

Before leaving the Bamboo Leaf Forest, he had to get his hands on everything he was supposed to get, and then find another place to survive.

PS: Setting out my bowl, begging for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets!