Chapter 98: Without Butcher Zhang, You Still Don't Eat Hairy Pork

"Martial Uncle, I'll be leaving first!" Hongle nodded to Xuchen, then walked out expressionlessly.

"Go ahead, remember my words!" Xuchen was equally expressionless.

Elder Xuchen had a very youthful face, not yet thirty, yet possessed an aura that looked down upon all below. His silver-gray hair filled him with an exceptionally mysterious air.

His voice was clear and pleasant to hear, with a unique charm, but the haughty attitude in his tone made Wei Yuning feel very uncomfortable.

Xuchen turned back, but with Wei Yuning's keen spiritual sense, he noticed that Xuchen's eyes lingered on him for a brief instant. The time was short, but the disgust in his gaze was clearly visible.

"What's wrong with him? When did I ever provoke him?" Wei Yuning thought to himself. Actually, he already had a guess—it was surely the matter with Qingfei that had caused this trouble. This Xuchen doted extremely on his disciple Qingfei.

Previously, Xuchen had basically ignored him. Now that he finally had feelings toward him, it would have been better to just keep ignoring him as before!

"Hello, Martial Uncle Hongle!" Wei Yuning greeted the herb garden manager who had walked up close.

Hongle's face was gloomy, but upon seeing Wei Yuning, he still forced a faint smile and asked gently, "Qingmo, do you have business here?"

Wei Yuning looked at the two menial workers and, seeing their cold expressions with still no intention of making any accommodation, could only say, "Never mind then, Martial Uncle. I'll be leaving too!"

Hongle also noticed something was off. He glanced at the menial workers, his mouth moved as if about to say something, but ultimately closed it again. Turning to Wei Yuning, he said, "Perfect, I have some business with you. Let's talk as we walk."

"Alright, Martial Uncle." Wei Yuning followed Hongle away.

The two left the pill refining chamber area and walked north along the streets within the valley. The northern district was where the herb garden was located. The primary function of the herb garden area within the valley was to cultivate seedlings. Although the vast majority of spiritual herbs could grow in the medicine gardens on the mountain, a small number of precious spiritual herbs were extremely fragile during the seedling stage and had to be cultivated in specially suitable environments.

"From now on, the source of spiritual herbs for the pill refining chamber can only be the Pill Medicine Peak herb garden. The pill refining chamber will dispatch disciples to specifically supervise this matter.

The Hundred Flower Garden's goods can no longer be sold to the pill medicine room." Hongle spoke first.

"Because of the spiritual beast dung matter?" Wei Yuning asked.

Hongle nodded and said, "Yes, Elder Xuchen scolded me thoroughly. The spiritual herbs I gave him ruined his new pill refinement. The spiritual herbs I gave were clearly all premium grade—how could there be any problem? It was obviously his own inadequate refinement skill, yet he actually blamed this on me! Hmph, truly hateful and infuriating!"

"Such a thing actually happened? This Xuchen... does something's wrong with the old man's head?" Wei Yuning echoed.

The term "old man Xuchen" had always been Man Niu's private way of referring to him, because after Xuchen learned of the ambiguous relationship between Man Niu and Qingfei, he had once said in front of Qingfei that Man Niu was "a toad wanting to eat swan meat," strongly urging his most favored disciple to stay away from Man Niu. These words were then relayed from Qingfei's mouth to Man Niu's ears. So, although Man Niu normally respected his teachers and elders, he was the sole exception when it came to Elder Xuchen—he felt extreme aversion and had not a shred of respect.

Hongle heard Wei Yuning's words, gave a snorting laugh, and said, "Whether something's wrong with his head, I don't know, but he is indeed too stubborn and pedantic, making himself disagreeable. However, seeing the way he lost his temper today, I almost doubted that it might be true!"

"Never mind him. Martial Uncle, I also have something to say." Wei Yuning lifted a cloth pouch at his waist, rummaged around, and pulled out a jade token from a pocket underneath. "Take a look—what is this?"

Hongle took the jade token in puzzlement, looked at the front, then the back, and read aloud, "Hundred Alliance Commerce? Ah, I remember now—this is the Hundred Alliance Commerce, the largest commercial alliance in the South Pole Sea. What is this jade token?"

Wei Yuning said excitedly, "This is a Hundred Alliance Commerce member jade token. The sole partner within a hundred-li radius of the entire Cloud Concealment Sect is me. If the sect wants to sell anything, it can all go through the Hundred Alliance Commerce channels—there are many benefits!"

Hongle nodded, but was not as excited as Wei Yuning. He handed the jade token back to Wei Yuning and said, "The sect doesn't lack anything, nor does it need to sell anything. Apart from some useless waste products sold externally at Guest Arrival Peak, it's best to keep the other resources for the sect itself. This jade token is nice, but it's of no use to the Cloud Concealment Sect either."

"Then what about the Hundred Flower Garden's spiritual herbs? If the pill medicine room doesn't want them, I can't possibly turn them all into flower tea, can I?" Wei Yuning said regretfully.

"What's wrong with flower tea? That's genuinely good stuff. It's just a pity that people don't recognize its worth." Hongle, sensing that Wei Yuning looked down on the flower tea he made, immediately grew angry.

"Martial Uncle, you wrong me! I certainly didn't mean that!" Wei Yuning protested his innocence.

"Forget it, let's not bring that up. Do you remember what I told you last time?" Hongle wouldn't truly be angry. He continued the earlier conversation.

"What words?" Wei Yuning asked curiously.

"Of course it's related to your spiritual herbs. The Cloud Concealment Sect isn't such that only Martial Uncle Xuchen knows how to refine pills, and those who can refine pills aren't necessarily all in the pill medicine room. Besides, the Hundred Flower Garden produces mid-to-premium grade spiritual herbs—there's no need to worry about nobody wanting them. I know several quite good pill refinement experts within the sect. I used to only consider the pill medicine room's interests, but since Xuchen... the old man, haha, this name is good, it rolls off the tongue—since old man Xuchen doesn't appreciate the favor, you can sell to them from now on. I'll be the middleman. Also, let me tell you, don't sell spiritual herbs to outsiders just for a little profit. But rest assured, selling to my friends, the price won't be lower than the pill medicine room's—I won't let you take a loss!" Hongle said.

Hongle was old and shrewd, considering every aspect thoroughly. Wei Yuning naturally had no dissatisfaction.

"Many thanks for your understanding, Martial Uncle!" Wei Yuning said with a smile.

"Hehe, no need for courtesy between you and me! You have a wood-element spiritual root. Going to the pill refining chamber would originally have had more promise—staying in the herb garden is a bit of a pity! However, with your current cultivation..." At this point, Hongle seemed to suddenly realize something. He looked Wei Yuning up and down in puzzlement and asked, "What is your cultivation level now?"

Just now, Hongle's mind had been preoccupied with his argument with Elder Xuchen, and he hadn't paid much attention to Wei Yuning. This time, when he focused his attention on Wei Yuning, he immediately noticed the difference.

Hongle had an earth-element spiritual root, but his Dao method direction was very unconventional. It was called "Heart of Thick Earth," and only cultivators with an extreme love for the land could produce it by chance. This Dao method could generate the most suitable soil according to different plants' needs—an excellent spell for planters.

For this reason, this type of earth-element spiritual root cultivator was especially sensitive to wood-element things.

Regarding Hongle's Dao method, there was an even more wondrous point. The ultimate ascended form of this Dao method was the legendary "Breathing Earth," a kind of soil that could endlessly grow on its own automatically. However, with Hongle's aptitude, becoming a Golden Core cultivator was the limit he could reach. The thing called Breathing Earth was merely something to fantasize about.