Chapter 20

Someone said timidly: "Fellow Daoist Hou, I don't know how to refine pills..."

"Stop playing dumb!"

Hou Peng glared and said viciously: "If you're told to come, then come; the Zhou Family wants you to refine pills, and you still want to slack off? Don't you want to hang around in the Longmen Market anymore?"

Hearing Hou Peng's words, the several rogue cultivators present looked at each other.

The Zhou Family was already powerful, and recently they had driven away the Xu Family, subsequently recruiting many mixed rogue cultivators, and were now in their prime in the Longmen Market.

Offend the Zhou Family, unless you don't set up a stall in the Longmen Market anymore.

Every cultivator present was very clear about this point.

"Hurry up, hurry up."

Hou Peng counted the number of people, then led Lou Qinghe and the others toward Shili Street.

On the way, several people had bitter expressions.

They were making money by setting up stalls, and suddenly they were dragged in to be laborers; no one could smile.

At this time, someone whispered: "I wonder what kind of pills the Zhou Family wants to refine this time?"

The person next to him said: "Maybe it's a third-grade pill, who knows."

An old rogue cultivator heard this and said softly: "If it's a third-grade pill, we might be able to observe from the side, which might not be a bad thing."

This old rogue cultivator was wearing a half-new Daoist robe, had a goatee, and his eyes were sharp and spirited.

Lou Qinghe knew that this person was named Ma Yu, a famous old rogue cultivator on Qingyun Street, and occasionally, when he had a flash of inspiration, he could also refine a few second-grade pills.

Among the rogue cultivators on Qingyun Street, he belonged to the respected and virtuous existence.

Usually, most of the family disputes and entanglements among rogue cultivators would be resolved by him coming forward.

Ma Yu sighed: "Sigh, in the current harsh environment, our Literary Cultivation Sect simply has no way to survive; back in the heyday of the cultivation world, our Literary Cultivation Sect occupied as much as eighty percent; how unprecedentedly prosperous and flourishing was that?"

A young rogue cultivator nearby heard this and asked curiously: "Old Ma, could the Literary Cultivation Sect have had eighty percent of the people back then?"

The Literary Cultivation Sect was weak, and nowadays, many cultivators were no longer pure Literary Cultivation Sect members.

Ma Yu sighed with emotion: "That was a thousand years ago, before the Weird appeared; this world had countless immortal gates, and heavenly materials and earthly treasures were everywhere; all cultivators were striving for the Dao and longevity, and very few cultivators thought about killing every day."

The young rogue cultivator was shocked: "Countless immortal gates? Heavenly materials and earthly treasures everywhere?"

It was as if such words overturned their cognition.

Lou Qinghe came from the Taiyi Sect, not an ordinary rogue cultivator, and also knew some history about the cultivation world, so he wasn't too surprised.

"That's right."

Ma Yu stroked his beard and continued: "At that time, there were countless spiritual plants on the spiritual lands between heaven and earth, feeding back the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and spiritual veins were not considered scarce; there were rumors of seventy-two blessed lands in the world, where great cultivators opened up caves in the blessed lands to preach and teach, until the Weird appeared, and heaven and earth underwent a complete upheaval, forming the current situation; we can only huddle together for warmth and form safety zones to resist the Weird."

"And resources are gradually drying up, and the restricted areas are too dangerous; unless you are a top martial arts faction expert, you cannot enter easily, thus leading to internal fighting and slaughter within the safety zones."

Many people were hearing this for the first time and were sighing endlessly.

They didn't expect the cultivation world to have been so prosperous and flourishing before.

It was a pity that they were now running around and busy for a mere few Spirit Stones.

At this time, someone thought of something and asked: "Old Ma, I heard that there were originally twelve safety zones in the Chu State? Is this true or false?"

Old Ma nodded slightly: "That's right, three hundred years ago there were twelve safety zones, but later these three safety zones couldn't withstand the Weird and eventually disappeared."

"Can safety zones also be destroyed by the Weird?"

The cultivators present looked at each other even more.

They originally thought that safety zones were existence that were foolproof, but now it seems that is not the case.

Is the Weird really that terrifying?

Lou Qinghe raised his eyebrows upon hearing this.

He couldn't help but recall the scene of the Weird breaking into the Taiyi Sect that day; it seemed to be the most terrifying thing he had ever seen in his life.

Old Ma said gloomily: "Relatively speaking, the richer the spiritual energy, the safer it is; this is why people break their heads trying to enter the Outer City."

After saying this, the rogue cultivators present all fell silent.

They were very clear in their hearts that it would be very difficult for them to have the opportunity to settle down in the Outer City in this lifetime.

The cultivators living there and them were people from two different worlds.

"We're here!"

At this time, Hou Peng in front said: "Be quiet, don't delay the big event."

Lou Qinghe looked up; this was a small courtyard hidden in Shili Street.

It looked unremarkable, and if Hou Peng hadn't brought him here, he wouldn't have believed that the Zhou Family would choose to refine pills here.

Subsequently, Hou Peng led everyone inside.

Tall trees were planted around the courtyard, blocking the sky and the sun, making the courtyard look very dark and cramped, and even the air was a bit damp.

Then, Hou Peng came to the main room and touched some kind of switch.

"Click--!"

An entrance to a cellar appeared in front of everyone.

Ma Yu couldn't help but ask: "Fellow Daoist Hou, what is this?"

Hou Peng said indifferently: "It's inside, come in."

Looking at the dim and cold environment around them, the rogue cultivators had no choice but to bite the bullet and go down.

The cellar was very long, and after walking for dozens of zhang, the front suddenly opened up, and a large hall actually appeared.

The hall was antique, and in the middle was a huge shrine, but at this time the shrine was covered with a red cloth, so it was unclear which god was worshipped inside.

Below the shrine was a huge pill furnace, and next to the pill furnace were several boxes.

At this time, faint spiritual energy was drifting out from the boxes, which was obviously extraordinary.

Looking further ahead, there were several small rooms, each facing the hall, but they couldn't see other rooms between each other.

Besides that, a young man was standing in the hall.

The man was different from the bottom-tier rogue cultivators; he was wearing gorgeous robes, with a jade belt tied around his waist, and hanging with jade talismans, giving people a feeling of being bathed in a spring breeze between his brows.

Hou Peng came to the young man and said respectfully: "Young Master, everyone is here."

This person was exactly the Zhou Family Young Master, Zhou Sheng.

Lou Qinghe secretly sized him up; according to rumors, this person had a gentle appearance, but his methods were extremely vicious, belonging to the ruthless character of the black-faced tiger type.

"Everyone, don't be nervous, and don't be afraid."

Zhou Sheng nodded and smiled: "I think everyone is very clear about the purpose of coming here, which is to help me extract the medicinal spiritual energy from the herbs."

"As long as I succeed in refining the pills, everyone present will get one Middle-grade Spirit Stone."

Hearing Zhou Sheng's words, the rogue cultivators present were all moved.

One Middle-grade Spirit Stone was not a small number for them.

Zhou Sheng said in a deep voice: "Okay, without further ado, let's start now; each of you stand in a small room, and later I will distribute the spiritual herbs to you one by one."

Everyone chose a room, and Lou Qinghe faced Zhou Sheng, but couldn't see the other rogue cultivators next to him.

Then Zhou Sheng waved his sleeves, and boxes fell in front of everyone.

The box opened, and in front of Lou Qinghe was a crystal-clear coral.

Jade Coral!

PS: Adding one chapter.