Chapter 29: The Storm Is Coming

Pill poison accumulates within the body; if not treated with spirit pills,

it will cause minor disruption of spiritual energy, or in severe cases, death.

But Murong De was in great haste, allowing Chen Zhao to select his goods first, then perform alchemy.

According to him,

he was stuck at Qi Refining Sixth Layer, his cultivation method was unique and could ignore pill poison, requiring vast amounts of Spirit Qi as support.

He had sought other Alchemists, but their prices were too low; no one would take the job, and only one person gave him a wooden token for the Alchemist Exchange Meeting, which yielded nothing.

He arrived here early, intending to intercept an Alchemist, but unexpectedly met Chen Zhao.

This time,

the payment was still valuable.

Chen Zhao chose a Heaven-grade Upper-tier Yin Thunder Sword Art and a First-grade Mid-tier Duyi Pill prescription.

The former suited him well—its feints were grand and noisy, its true strikes silent and sudden, with paralysis effects and armor-piercing capability.

This grade of technique was estimated at fifty Low-grade Spirit Stones.

The latter was a detoxification pill prescription, unavailable in Wan Bao Lou.

Chen Zhao put both into his Storage Bag.

He promised delivery within half a year.

After half a year,

Chen Zhao had saved sixty Low-grade Spirit Stones through "proxy alchemy."

He had already learned the Yin Thunder Sword Art, and his success rate for Duyi Pills reached seventy percent.

During this time, Su and Fang frequently sent people to harass Juxian Pavilion, but thanks to Chen Zhao's Divination Tube alerts, he defused each threat in advance.

He retaliated with curses every few days, preventing Su Muqing from entering meditation for short periods.

But over time, the Huanglong Pill had dwindled to only half a pill.

"I've vaguely felt the threshold of Qi Refining Fifth Layer, but it's still not enough—the Corpse Puppet cannot inflict damage."

Chen Zhao possessed the Ninefold Controlling Origin Technique; his pill quality far surpassed Su Muqing's, yet her family was wealthy, and even with his interference, her cultivation might still outpace his.

He looked at the Array Disk before him.

"That insect is back again."

Since he was poisoned by Five Poisons Pulse-Eroding Powder, a strange ladybug had flown to him every night, detected by his Vortex Guarding Origin Array.

He suspected it was an informant of Su and Fang, and out of caution, he fully activated the Concealing Breath Technique, suppressing his cultivation to Qi Refining First Layer.

This tactic worked well—Su and Fang never made any major moves.

Unfortunately, it could only deceive them temporarily.

Now that the poison in his body had dispersed, they would surely sense the anomaly.

On the contrary, the effects of his Peiyuan Pills were nearing saturation; his physical strength had approached that of a Qi Refining Third Layer body cultivator.

Chen Zhao stepped out of his Cave Abode.

Before him lay scattered stalls of all sizes.

After the strange ladybug departed,

he carefully counted them and asked in confusion:

"Why has business suddenly surged?"

For half a year, Juxian Pavilion had been harassed daily, and even after charging fees, the number of stalls had not decreased—it had doubled since opening.

"I heard business below the mountain is bad; disciples who used to buy at the Market now come here to sell."

Liu Chen also stepped out, gently stroking the counter.

As foot traffic increased, Juxian Pavilion changed its trading system: sellers could write their supply and demand on wooden plaques and store them at the counter.

Buyers could then freely select plaques, locate the corresponding stalls, greatly improving transaction efficiency.

In addition,

Chen Zhao and Liu Chen could also use the wooden plaques to aggregate information.

"The Nourishing Life Technique excels in cultivating body and spirit, with an extremely low risk of deviating from the Dao—why are Qingxin Pills selling so well lately?"

Liu Chen laid out the wooden plaques one by one, puzzled.

Chen Zhao handed him a Qingxin Pill.

"I've exchanged for five myself; this pill has nothing special about it."

He had asked the Divination Tube.

He discovered these people took Qingxin Pills solely to prevent deviating from the Dao.

Coincidentally,

three months ago, Murong De also asked him to brew Qingxin Pills; when he asked why, Murong De said pill prices had risen and he wanted to speculate on Qingxin Pills.

But Chen Zhao didn't have the Spirit Pill Prescription, and after that day, he never saw Murong De again.

Chen Zhao still thought of this man—more precisely, he thought of the Muchen Stone.

The item that could merge with the Qingming Naling Sword, and which required Chen Zhao to reveal his trump card to obtain, was destined to be extraordinary.

He had asked Su Wanyao to investigate him; all he learned was that Murong De was an Outer Sect Disciple of the Discipline Hall, but his whereabouts remained unknown.

"If Elder Fang were on our side,"

Liu Chen sighed, sitting beside the counter,

"there are too few stalls—if we lay out more, we'll block the mountain path, and then Fang Zijing will find an excuse to shut us down."

They had approached the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall, but their status was too low to be granted land.

And that communication Jade Slip had never lit up again; Liu Chen was growing anxious and wanted to contact Elder Fang unilaterally, but Chen Zhao stopped him.

Since last month, black-robed disciples have been arriving one by one to linger here—eight out of ten are Elder Zhang's spies.

This shows the other side is still watching, but the profit isn't enough to make him step in.

Pressing too hard will only cause Elder Zhang to ignore the Jade Slip entirely, wasting the opportunity.

This Jade Slip must still be used at a critical moment.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

The Su Family has stirred again.

"According to Sister Wan Yao, her grandfather was assassinated four months ago, but her father arrived in time to save him—he suffered no serious harm, though the assassin remains at large."

Liu Chen sighed softly.

"It's like the wind fills the tower before the mountain storm."

Since being drawn into the Su family's internal struggle, Liu Chen has begun paying attention to Su Family affairs.

After hearing the full details, Chen Zhao harbored a quiet suspicion.

After Su Muqing set her trap, the Su Family has been too calm—Su Ancestor has sent only guards to protect the path, with no resistance at all.

He suspects this is a self-staged plot by Su Wanyao's branch, using the opportunity to imprison Su Muqing's father, waiting for the right moment to deliver the final blow.

But if so, they will inevitably clash with Elder Fang, and within the sect, they may be doomed.

He sat beside Liu Chen and whispered:

"Fang Zijing is meticulous—he likely also suspects this is self-staged. Given his nature, he'll strike first."

Before he finished speaking,

Su Xin and the other two hurried over.

"We just got word: three Qi Refining mid-stage Evil Cultivators may be hiding in the Market—the Discipline Hall is issuing trial missions!"

Su Wanyao said urgently.

Chen Liu exchanged a glance, both faces grim.

No wonder no disciples are trading below the mountain anymore.

Without needing to say more, Fang Zijing will use this to assign them a mission, then send someone to ambush them secretly and frame the Evil Cultivators.

Chen Zhao thought further.

He summoned the Divination Tube and cast a divination to determine if the Evil Cultivators were connected to the Qingxin Pill.

He received an affirmative answer.

But what kind of connection, Chen Zhao could not fathom.

Midnight was approaching.

The ink in his palm shifted again—

【Divination has been refreshed】

【Today's Divination·Bad】: Avoid travel; to interpret the sign requires five Low-grade Spirit Stones.

After interpreting the sign, Chen Zhao's eyelid twitched involuntarily.

【Today's Divination·Bad】: You kill the Evil Cultivator, pick up her Storage Bag, and while breaking the Evil Technique's seal, you fall into demonic deviation.

Demonic deviation?

He carries Qingxin Pills—he shouldn't fear it.

But if the Evil Technique's seal can cause demonic deviation, could it be turned into a weapon?

As Chen Zhao pondered,

A command arrived from the Discipline Hall.

Chen Zhao and the other three, plus Murong De, He Chengdao, and Su Muxuan—seven in total—will be led by He Chengdao; no outsiders allowed.

Chen Zhao was somewhat surprised.

In his view,

Murong De had often visited Juxian Pavilion—he didn't seem like Fang Zijing's man.

The rest:

One He Chengdao, Qi Refining Eighth Layer; one Su Muxuan, Qi Refining Fifth Layer.

Not to mention killing them—they couldn't even defeat Chen Zhao's group.

What game is Fang Zijing playing?