Chapter 21: Cheng Xi Harms Her

Cheng Xi knew her limits well; she took her leave after finishing breakfast, and before departing, she said with particular solemnity: "I will send the Spirit Nourishing Pill to you, my lord, once I have finished making it."

"No rush," Li Zhi'an said slowly.

Cheng Xi smiled and turned to leave.

She was in a rush; she least wanted to owe anyone a favor.

She couldn't do much else right now, but making a few pills was still doable.

After Cheng Xi left, Li Zhi'an went to find Bi'an.

Bi'an looked at Li Zhi'an, "Why have you come again?" Ever since he became the gatekeeper of the Tongtian Division, he hadn't had a moment of peace.

Li Zhi'an didn't care at all about Bi'an's dark face and took out the Incense Bait that Cheng Xi had made, "Help me see if there is any problem with this Incense Bait?"

Bi'an reached out his claws to pull it over. As soon as the box was opened, his expression instantly froze. He looked at Li Zhi'an and asked, "Where did this come from?"

Watching Bi'an's expression, Li Zhi'an said calmly, "It was seized. I felt it was a bit strange, so I came to ask you."

"Where was it seized? This kind of thing is not easy to find nowadays. If it were in the past, this Incense Bait wouldn't count for much, but ever since that great battle, many books on arts were destroyed, and many inheritances were severed," Bi'an sighed.

"You mean this Incense Bait was made from an ancient incense recipe?" Li Zhi'an was astonished. He knew this Incense Bait was unusual, but for it to be made from an ancient recipe, this... was truly inconceivable.

He had thought Cheng Xi was just trying to fool him; he hadn't expected that everything she said was true.

"I am not an Alchemist, so how would I know if it's authentic? I only remember that one year, a monster appeared in the Fox Clan who had cultivated nine tails. While he was traveling and cultivating, he killed an underage young dragon in a secret realm. The Dragon Clan hunted him everywhere, but he was truly cunning.

Later, in order to lure him out, the Dragon Clan spent a great fortune to hire Alchemist Jiangyin to make bait that foxes could not resist. Thus, Alchemist Jiangyin made a type of Incense Bait, and the Nine-Tailed Fox was lured and killed by the Dragon Clan because of it.

I was still young back then and had accidentally smelled it once while following my elders. This scent is somewhat similar to that one, but it also seems a bit different. It has been too many years, so I don't remember it very clearly."

Bi'an fell into memories of the past, not even noticing when Li Zhi'an left.

Li Zhi'an put away the jade bottle containing the Incense Bait; once Cheng Xi's Yangshen Pill was delivered, perhaps he would be able to find some answers.

Cheng Xi did not know that because of this bottle of Incense Bait, Li Zhi'an had become suspicious of her.

She stood in front of her house, looking at the two characters "Cheng Fu" hanging above, and only felt it was extremely unlucky. She immediately called Zhao Kang over and had him take down the plaque of Cheng Fu and throw it away, then replace it with a plaque for Du Mansion.

The original body's mother's surname was Du.

Zhao Kang moved quickly; by the afternoon, the new plaque was already hung up, the gilded characters shining brilliantly. Cheng Xi was very satisfied.

As night gradually descended, Cheng Xi adjusted the recipe for the Yangshen Pill several times but was still not satisfied; there were simply too many things missing from it.

She specifically made a trip to Ghost Street. Lao Wutou hadn't even heard of some of the things she needed, so Cheng Xi knew this was the difference between two worlds; some herbs might exist but might not be called by their later names.

She would have to go into the mountains to find them herself, but with her current body, she couldn't walk far even if she went into the mountains, so she had to write a reduced-version recipe instead.

This time, Lao Wutou frowned and gathered the items for her, muttering that Cheng Xi was giving him trouble; he hadn't earned much silver, but had spent a lot of effort—a loss, a loss.

Cheng Xi originally wanted to give him some extra silver, but Liang Popo dragged her away, "Do you have money to burn? How could Lao Wutou ever do a losing business? At most, he just earned a little less from you."

Thinking of the look on Lao Wutou's face—daring to be angry but not daring to speak—Cheng Xi couldn't help but be amused again.

Brine sets tofu; one thing subdues another.

She stood to the side, guiding the servant girls to process the medicinal herbs once more.

As soon as it turned dark, she ate dinner and prepared to sleep.

Just as she was about to fall asleep, she suddenly opened her eyes and saw a small figure flash in through a crack in the window.

Cheng Xi was stunned; she had actually forgotten about it.

She lifted the bed curtain and walked out. After that collision with the Four-Eyed Demon Fox, she couldn't even perform telekinesis anymore. If Cheng Fenglan were to send another Transmission Talisman now, she wouldn't be able to catch it.

She extended her fingertip and picked up the Wooden Figurine into her palm, then her brow furrowed slightly; there were several burn marks on the Wooden Figurine.

"Xuan Cheng Zhenren, how is it? Have you found the mastermind?" Li Shi asked hurriedly.

Xuan Cheng Zhenren looked at Li Shi and said, "The thing that gave you nightmares fled to the east. It was extremely fast and should have had the blessing of a Talisman on its body. It took several of my attacks, so I imagine it won't dare to come again."

Li Shi was happy at first, then said, "Zhenren, since you can track it to the east, can you find out exactly who is harming me?"

Xuan Cheng Zhenren shook his head, "It ran too fast; I was careless for a moment and let it escape. But it doesn't matter; if it dares to come again, I will definitely make sure it never returns!"

Li Shi had spent a large sum of silver, yet the thing harming her had run away. Although she was dissatisfied in her heart, she did not dare to offend Xuan Cheng Zhenren and sent him off respectfully.

The east?

Cheng Fu was in the east; it must be Cheng Xi harming her!

It was a pity she couldn't get evidence; Li Shi's face was dark.

"Mother, what did the Daoist say?" Cheng Fenglan returned from outside and, seeing her mother's poor complexion, asked with concern.

Li Shi looked at her daughter and said, "That thing ran away, but Xuan Cheng Zhenren said it ran to the east. I suspect Cheng Xi is harming me."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Fenglan immediately said, "I received a letter from Senior Brother Fang. In a few days, he will follow Dean Jiang and Yuan Dashi to Jindu. At that time, I will ask Yuan Dashi to take action; he will definitely be able to drag this thing out and avenge you, Mother!"

"Really?" Li Shi was overjoyed.

"Of course," Cheng Fenglan smiled. She had suffered setbacks one after another recently, but once Yuan Dashi arrived, it would be different. She was a disciple highly regarded by the Master; what could Cheng Xi compare to her?

"How is Jiang's arm?" Li Shi asked with concern.

"It needs to rest well this time." Cheng Fenglan felt unhappy thinking of the Duchess's sarcastic words; if it weren't for Cheng Xi, her marriage to Jiang Weiran would have been settled long ago. "However, it doesn't matter. When Yuan Dashi arrives in Jindu, I will ask the Master to help buy a Spirit Nourishing Pill. At that time, Brother Weiran's arm will surely recover as before."

"If that's the case, your marriage can be settled as soon as possible," Li Shi plotted how to use this pill to make the Duchess take the initiative to settle the marriage.

As Li Shi spoke, she couldn't help but yawn; the dark circles under her eyes were growing thicker.

Cheng Fenglan looked at her and asked with concern, "Mother, didn't Xuan Cheng Zhenren examine you? Why is your complexion still so poor?"

Li Shi said indifferently, "That little slut Cheng Xi harmed me with yin energy. The Zhenren said I must take medicine for three days to completely remove the yin energy from my body."

Cheng Fenglan always felt something was wrong, but although she had talent, she hadn't entered the path yet, so she couldn't say what was wrong for a moment.

Who would have known that by the middle of the night, Li Shi's courtyard would be in an uproar once again.