Chapter 337: A Great Cart Carries, Its Load Full Without Ruin

"The islander has been captured, but no anomaly occurred—his Jade Shattering plan has failed. Whether he lacked the resolve to go through with it or his enemies were far stronger than anticipated, leaving him no chance to kill himself, this line must be abandoned."

Inside the Silla Pharmacy, the owner was conversing with a military attaché from the consulate who had come disguised to buy medicine; upon hearing this, the attaché frowned.

"Can't you activate it directly?"

"We've tried. Their sealing technique is extremely powerful; remotely triggering it is very difficult. The new head of the Kyūkiku sect will arrive soon to take over his position, but before then, we still need a direction for the plan." The pharmacy owner’s tone was grim; thinking of all the efforts he’d invested over the years, he added:

"Don’t worry about the other branches. After so long, even if discovered, eradicating them would take at least one or two years. But this port city is too vital—without it, even if the plan succeeds, its effect will be severely limited."

"Technical matters are your responsibility. I only need to know when the plan can be activated." The attaché’s reply was blunt and direct, silencing all the pharmacist’s carefully prepared explanations.

Suppressing his anger, the owner spread out a map of the port city and circled several locations. Though the attaché was a novice in occult matters, his familiarity with the local terrain was sharp—he immediately understood the significance of the marked spots and frowned: "The Central Lands are about to summon deities from all directions. Won’t you wait?"

"This is the only opportunity. The plan has been exposed. By the ninth day, when the Heavenly Lord’s birthday arrives, local Dao cultivators may use the occasion to purge evil and dispel curses. If they succeed, all our years of work and centuries of planning will be destroyed."

The attaché nodded, said nothing more, and turned to leave. Seeing this, the owner picked up a package wrapped in oiled paper from the table.

"Don’t forget to take this."

"Understood." The attaché took the package, hesitated, then asked:

"What’s inside?"

"An aphrodisiac."

…

"Why do we need to prepare medicine?" Feng Xue frowned as he read the summary provided by Little Bell. She replied:

"The body cultivation techniques you obtained all mention medicinal baths and herbal meals, but my database lacks records of this world’s herb properties. Based solely on formulas and theoretical components, it’s nearly impossible to determine actual effects—especially since the reverse cultivation method you’re studying has no precedent and requires extensive drug trials."

"Alright." Feng Xue conceded—it made sense. After all, even if a weather station stored medicinal knowledge, it would mostly consist of ready-made drug usage and synthesis data; delving into pharmacological mechanisms was out of the question, let alone accounting for this world’s occult influences on herbal combinations.

Still, he didn’t go buy the herbs himself—he simply didn’t know which local vendors had quality ingredients. Rather than visiting shop after shop, he preferred to delegate to specialists.

So…

"Feng Daoist, long time no see!" The broker cultivator, having seen Feng Xue just two days prior, immediately smiled and approached him. Feng Xue said nothing, simply pulled out a list:

"I need these herbs, but I don’t know where to buy them. I’d like to commission your brokerage to procure them."

"No problem." The broker glanced at the list and saw mostly tonics for strengthening the root and nourishing the primordial, with very large quantities.

But since the buyer ran a clinic, the broker didn’t think much of it—even if the herbs were for hiding a secret formula, it didn’t matter; the more he bought, the more the broker earned. He immediately said:

"Procuring herbs isn’t simple. Our brokerage charges a ten percent commission on the transaction value, but we guarantee authenticity. How does that sound?"

"Fine." For Feng Xue, money was no issue. He signed the contract immediately, left a deposit, and left the brokerage. As he walked, he suddenly felt uneasy and frowned.

"The ice lump has already been taken by Bai Yi and Sixth Aunt. What else could threaten me? Could that goddess have followed me?"

Feng Xue thought it over and decided he was overthinking—after all, with Delis’s intelligence, even if she came, there was nothing to fear.

Still, he noted the intuitive warning in his mind. When he returned home, he immediately pulled out the tortoise shell and copper coins and began shaking them. As the coins rolled, he said:

"Little Bell, interpret this!"

"Yes, Master. The primary hexagram is Li above Qian below—Great Possession. Line Nine Two: 'A large cart carries, there is somewhere to go, no blame.' This indicates great gain; as long as handled carefully, there is no danger.

"The second line changes: Li becomes Fire, favorable to remain correct, prosperous. To raise a female cow is auspicious—meaning rigidity leads to breakage; one must rely on the righteous path, calm the mind, and avoid aggressive confrontation.

"The mutual hexagram shows Dui and Xun intersecting, hinting at a bent beam—crisis approaches; a drastic measure is needed to break the deadlock."

After a period of growth, Little Bell’s divination skills seemed to have improved—but Feng Xue didn’t understand divination, so he couldn’t tell whether this was genuine progress or merely because her database had grown larger and she’d become more verbose.

Still, overall, it was a divine omen. He should believe at least a little.

"Great gain, rigidity leads to breakage, rely on the righteous path, avoid aggression? That means I shouldn’t rush ahead, but stay calm and rely on local forces? And what about the bent beam? A drastic measure to break the deadlock… the only thing I can think of is sheer luck."

Feng Xue rolled his eyes, then relaxed. Overall, the omen aligned with his own instincts. As for the bent beam…

Well, if it comes to it, he’d just use sheer luck to break through!

"By the way, there isn’t constant luck here… I need to check out the port city train station—see if there are any old locomotives lying around. Damn, why doesn’t this place have a train museum? If there were, I could just leave a 'Flying Thunder God' mark and never have to bother again."

Feng Xue muttered to himself as he prepared to leave for the train station—when he opened the door, he saw Bai Yi approaching.

"Oh? Going out?" Bai Yi greeted cheerfully. Feng Xue smiled:

"I just got back, but since I’ve got nothing to do, I thought I’d take a walk. Are you here to pick up the Emperor’s Flow?"

"Exactly!" Bai Yi raised her hand, revealing a white mouse she held between her fingers. "This is my junior. He has good potential, but he was born at the wrong time—if he doesn’t get a chance, he’ll just die on his own. But isn’t this perfect timing?"

(End of Chapter)