Chapter 16

Outside the house, the wind and rain were raging, with thunder and lightning, and Lou Qinghe's three small huts seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

Lou Qinghe was refining the last batch of Spirit Gathering Pills; only one more time, and his Spirit Gathering Pill could be upgraded to LV2.

The medicinal spirit energy of the four herbs in the pill furnace had already been extracted and was undergoing the final fusion.

Finally, the medicinal spirit energy fused into one, forming a batch of pills.

The scent of the pills drifted and filled the entire room.

The panel in front of Lou Qinghe changed first; he saw the Spirit Gathering Pill change from LV1 (9/10) to LV2 (1/50).

Opening the pill furnace, thirteen round and jade-like pills were lying inside, two of which were much rounder than the others.

"I didn't expect that this batch would actually produce two First-Grade Middle-Grade Spirit Gathering Pills."

Lou Qinghe was somewhat surprised to see the pills in the furnace.

A First-Grade Low-Grade Spirit Gathering Pill can last for two hours, while a First-Grade Middle-Grade Spirit Gathering Pill can last for three hours. If one swallows this First-Grade Middle-Grade Spirit Gathering Pill every day, the cultivation speed will skyrocket.

Perhaps, it won't take two months to reach the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.

"Knock, knock!"

At this moment, there was a knock on the door outside.

"Who!?"

Lou Qinghe was shocked.

It was so late, and it was raining so hard; who would come?

"Three thousand beauties in the harem!" A familiar voice came from outside the door.

Huang Gensheng!

Only he knew this unique secret code.

Lou Qinghe opened the door and saw Huang Gensheng wearing a straw raincoat, carrying a sack, and standing at the door with a silly smile.

"Come in quickly."

Huang Gensheng put down the sack and said, "Brother Lou, I've come to see you. Look at what I brought you."

His words carried a bit of pride.

"Whoa, this is good stuff!"

Lou Qinghe opened it and saw a full bag of monster meat, weighing thirty or forty catties.

Monster meat is much more expensive than spirit rice. Normally, it costs five Low-grade Spirit Stones for ten catties. Now that the Zhou Family controls the market, monster meat is sold even more expensively, actually reaching the level of one Low-grade Spirit Stone per catty.

It's just not giving poor people a chance to eat meat.

"Longmen Market hasn't been safe these past few days. The Zhou Family is searching for Xu Family members on a large scale, so I came while it was raining hard today."

Huang Gensheng smiled and said, "I came this time not only to bring you this monster meat, but actually there is one more thing I want to find you for."

Lou Qinghe put the monster meat in the kitchen and said, "What is it?"

"Between you and me, I won't hide anything."

Huang Gensheng's expression became serious, "You were there for the last incident; that Old Man Xue is dead, and Xu Yu of the Xu Family cannot remain a widow without being married. Moreover, she has the task of continuing the Xu Family's bloodline, so I recommended you to the Eldest Miss."

Hearing this, Lou Qinghe fell silent.

He now had the panel's support, a 100% success rate in alchemy, and his cultivation was growing very fast. If he joined the Xu Family, it would be inevitable that he would be seen through by the Xu Family's experts, and discovering the strangeness would inevitably lead to more losses than gains.

Seeing Lou Qinghe not speaking, Huang Gensheng hurriedly said, "Don't look at the Xu Family as temporarily unable to compete with the Zhou Family, but I believe that this Longmen Market will sooner or later be the Xu Family's, because this Zhou Family is unpopular."

"And the area around Longmen Market is foul and chaotic; can you still cultivate peacefully here?"

Speaking of this, Huang Gensheng stood up and put a hand on Lou Qinghe's shoulder, "This world is full of deceit and human hearts are not what they used to be. You and I, as bottom-tier loose cultivators, have seen too much. Just as you once said, if people are not benevolent, ghosts are not weird. People who want you to die are as numerous as crucian carp in the river, but people who want you to live are few and far between, and I genuinely want to pull you up."

"Through my recent observations, the Xu Family is not as simple as it appears on the surface. Now that the Xu Family is weak, this is a very good opportunity. Adding flowers to a brocade is not as good as sending charcoal in the snow. If you go to defect now, the meaning is different..."

In this world, he knew better than anyone.

It is not unheard of for brothers to fight for a pill.

For a spot to enter the inner city, couples turning against each other is even more common.

Even close relatives, any beloved, are all nonsense in the face of surviving.

Only living is the eternal truth.

Lou Qinghe smiled bitterly in his heart and refused, "Brother Huang, I'm used to being idle; let's forget about the Xu Family."

Becoming a son-in-law of the Xu Family is essentially another kind of Dao Soldier.

External Dao Soldiers are basically impossible to become the core of the family.

In the end, this son-in-law is just for breeding and as cannon fodder when necessary.

If one has no resources and seeks protection, this is the best choice.

But Lou Qinghe now is different.

"Since that's the case, I won't force it."

Hearing this, Huang Gensheng sighed heavily and said, "But this is an opportunity for me, and I must grasp it."

Lou Qinghe nodded slightly, "I know, your cultivation has reached the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, right?"

Huang Gensheng said gloomily, "Yes, the spirit energy concentration in the outer city is higher than here, and there are Xu Family pills provided. I only reached the Qi Refining Fifth Layer a few days ago."

Lou Qinghe said, "Qi Refining Fifth Layer, not far from the mid-stage of Qi Refining."

"Yes."

"Didn't you used to nag in front of me every day about when you would break through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining? Now your wish is about to be fulfilled."

"That was a long time ago."

"Not long, just a year."

"A year can change many things."

"Yes, like a person's destiny."

"Brother Lou, will you look down on me?"

"Living is not shameful."

The two chatted for a few more sentences.

It seemed like they had many worries they wanted to say, and it also seemed like they had nothing to say.

Huang Gensheng suddenly said, "Brother Lou, I understand one thing you said."

Lou Qinghe said, "What words?"

Huang Gensheng mocked himself, "The dog inside the wall has a home, but it bows its head for life."

Hearing this, Lou Qinghe felt complex and subtle in his heart.

"Brother Lou, I won't disturb you anymore, goodbye!"

Huang Gensheng got up and prepared to leave.

Suddenly, his footsteps paused, as if he had accumulated for a long time, and he finally spoke, "I thought that if I went to the Xu Family, no one would look down on me, but I was wrong. The people of the Xu Family still look down on me, look down on me as a loose cultivator son-in-law, look down on my Qi Refining Fifth Layer cultivation, look down on my mid-to-low-grade Spirit Root, and even look down on my surname, Huang."

Speaking of this, Huang Gensheng turned his head to look at Lou Qinghe, "I always have a smile on my face, like a puppet that can be kneaded by anyone, but in my heart, I keep telling myself that I don't want to be a bottom-tier loose cultivator who suffers all the white eyes, nor do I want to be servile for a bite of food, and I don't want to sell my self-esteem to survive. I want to walk to the top step by step. I want to be a person above others. I want one day for them to look up to me."

"Do you know? I dream of this day."

Huang Gensheng turned his head, his eyes glowing with a hint of red, and strode out of the house.

Lou Qinghe watched the back disappear into the rain and looked at the monster meat in the kitchen.

After a long time, he let out a long sigh.