Chapter 14: Poisonous Advisor

The Pill Bureau spent two days preparing and finally issued new regulations in accordance with the City Lord's instructions.

The new regulations pointed out that the people of Xiazhou, due to long-term and massive consumption of low-grade pills, have accumulated toxic residues in their bodies, which is not only detrimental to cultivation but may also cause chronic illness and even affect lifespan.

Since the entire Xiazhou relies on pills, the government naturally would not call for a reduction in pill consumption; instead, it ordered all major pill shops to place antidote pills and purification talismans in the most conspicuous locations.

With the government taking such measures, the people of Xiazhou finally began to take it seriously, and the number of people buying antidote pills started to increase.

But antidote pills are so expensive... besides, isn't this thing itself a pill? Isn't it a bit like taking off one's pants to let out a fart?

What exactly is a purification talisman? It sounds like a type of talisman, yet no one has been seen selling them...

A major pill merchant familiar with Xu Bingkun went to see him: "City Lord, the new regulations have been issued, and many citizens are asking about purification talismans. Originally, the Shen Merchant House said they had a large stock ready for immediate use, but why did you instruct us to hold off?"

Xu Bingkun sneered slightly.

Of course, we hold off.

He, Xu Bingkun, has his own power base, and his own forces can produce similar talismans; by then, a vast amount of silver will be his own, so he will definitely push this matter forward. Shen Tang's proposal was indeed quite good. But if it were left to Shen Tang's side, at most she would receive a small share of the profits, and there would be no need to consider which side gains more.

Moreover, he was not particularly willing to see the Heavenly Traveling Sword Sect rise in Xiazhou.

As City Lord, he is morally obligated to respect the Sect Master. Now that the Heavenly Traveling Sword Sect is in decline and must rely on his care, it is one thing; but once the Heavenly Traveling Sword Sect rises, it will be hard to say who will be in charge then.

Shen Tang is a person with ideas and capability; Xu Bingkun would rather replace her with an incompetent sword elder as Sect Master than see Shen Tang revive the sect, so naturally, he must trip her up.

By delaying the time for Shen Tang's sword talismans to enter the shops and rushing his own forces to produce replacements, he can both suppress Shen Tang and make money for himself, killing two birds with one stone.

Originally, it would have been even better to delay the issuance of the new regulations, but who knew Shen Tang was so sharp; she went straight to the Pill Bureau to get things implemented on the spot. Since he had spoken in front of her, he couldn't contradict himself right then and there, so he had to accept it and even put on a show of high righteousness, urging the Pill Bureau to issue the new regulations quickly. It was incredibly frustrating.

Xu Bingkun did not explain everything to the pill merchants, saying only: "Anyway, just delay them for two or three days."

The pill merchants looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

Although the City Lord has power and authority, in this era everyone has a few backers. Xiazhou sounds like a prefecture, but in reality, it is merely a large county in scale; there are many people in the city with connections to the commandery, and they may not obey you in everything. What good is it if just our few families delay?

Xu Bingkun knew what they were thinking and stroked his beard, saying: "At least they must grant us the small courtesy of delaying for a few days. Go ahead."

Before he finished speaking, a subordinate rushed in: "City Lord, City Lord!"

Xu Bingkun frowned: "So frantic, what kind of decorum is this?"

The subordinate spoke cautiously: "More than ten pill merchants, including Jishi Pavilion, Yunpo Hall, and Yuyuan Pill Workshop, have already signed agreements with the Shen Merchant House and listed their 'Soul-Purifying Talismans'!"

Xu Bingkun rose in astonishment. If it were just a few families, perhaps Shen Tang had some other connections. But how could so many families be involved?

Are none of them giving this City Lord face?

"Originally, Shen Tang herself had indeed only secured agreements with three or four families. But early this morning, when the Demon Suppression Bureau patrolled, they were all wearing these Soul-Purifying Talismans on their chests, and the news spread throughout the city. Some merchants who had been politely refusing the Shen House saw that even the Demon Suppression Bureau had used them first, felt that this matter could not be stopped, feared falling behind others, and quickly signed agreements with the Shen House."

Xu Bingkun held his head, suffering from an intense headache.

The Demon Suppression Bureau is directly managed by the imperial court, follows only the City Lord's orders, and is not subject to his control. Sheng Yuanyao is also a capital official and the beloved daughter of Vice Chief Sheng! Such a young lady of high birth, he truly cannot manage.

This time it is difficult to handle; with long-term agreements from more than ten major pill merchants, the barely surviving Heavenly Traveling Sword Sect can instantly undergo heavy Nirvana burden and be reborn, the Shen Merchant House will be firmly established, and the bet between Shen Tang and those elders will be without a doubt.

Even if others produce similar items to compete in the market a few days later, many people will already recognize the Shen brand due to first impressions; besides, that woman even named it so beautifully and made the talismans so exquisite.

"Very well, in the end, we can still get a share..." Xu Bingkun narrowed his eyes slightly: "Someone, go invite the Red Cloud Gang's Gang Leader Liu to meet; it seems they had a dispute with the Shen House over talent?"

Liu Qingcang was recently in pain yet happy.

The happiness came from the fact that the "Spirit Vitality Pill" was very popular in the market, its price was being driven higher and higher, and it seemed wealth would flow in abundantly.

Therefore, Lu Xingzhou was good for nothing, only able to refine those common pills, not even worth a single hair on Bai Chi's head.

The pain came from the fact that one of the main ingredients of the Spirit Vitality Pill was Cold Glowing Grass.

Cold Glowing Grass was originally an external medicinal herb, unsuitable for internal consumption, and naturally not very suitable for pill refining, so it had never been planted in large quantities. They had only just begun refining the Spirit Vitality Pill a short while ago, had some temporary stock, and had not thought of hoarding it in large amounts.

As a result, a few days ago, someone with a messed-up brain suddenly bought up large quantities, causing the already scarce Cold Glowing Grass on the market to become extremely tight, with prices soaring.

The Red Cloud Gang hurriedly bought up all the remaining Cold Glowing Grass on the market at high prices, yet it still would not last long enough for their needs.

Liu Qingcang tackled the problem on two fronts: sending people to other cities to purchase while simultaneously planting it extensively on his own medicinal mountain. This thing matures quite quickly, taking only two or three months to grow; since the price of Cold Glowing Grass is high now, even if he couldn't use that much himself, selling it on would still yield huge profits.

When he received the City Lord's invitation, Liu Qingcang was very satisfied inspecting the planting situation of Cold Glowing Grass on the mountain; hearing this, he became even more confident: "Even the City Lord wants to cooperate with me; indeed, Mr. Bai is a lucky star."

Bai Chi smiled reservedly from the side: "The apprentices brought up by Lu Xingzhou are far too incompetent... Once I recover my strength, I will train a new batch."

How could Liu Qingcang not hear that this was slandering the "old subordinates of Lu Xingzhou"? In fact, these days Bai Chi did nothing but enjoy finding fault with those apprentices, treating them like beasts of burden and deducting their wages, causing the apprentices to complain bitterly.

But now Bai Chi was a hot commodity; Liu Qingcang himself also wanted to remove the lingering influence of Lu Xingzhou, so he turned a blind eye, and deducting wages only fattened the gang anyway... Besides, the apprentice contracts were right there, and those people couldn't run even if they wanted to. As for Lu Xingzhou, he himself was now only fit to mix with a merchant house that had just arrived and possessed nothing; how could he possibly help these old subordinates?

"Oh, by the way," Bai Chi added, "I still hope the Cold Glowing Grass purchased from outside arrives quickly; we are running out, and by the time these grow, it will be too late."

Liu Qingcang patted his shoulder: "I will go see the City Lord first, and I will definitely implement it as soon as possible upon my return."

Not far after descending the mountain, a group of people escorting a carriage returned up the mountain, exactly the gang members he had sent out to purchase Cold Glowing Grass.

Liu Qingcang frowned: "Why did you return so quickly?"

The gang members hurriedly bowed: "Gang Leader, we had just left the city when we encountered a merchant caravan from a neighboring county; they happened to have a cart full of Cold Glowing Grass, so we brought it back."

Liu Qingcang lifted the cover to look; indeed, the cart was full of Cold Glowing Grass, and the quality looked quite good: "What a coincidence... at what price did you buy it?"

The gang member smiled: "Gang Leader, rest assured, it was at the current market price; this cart cost two hundred and fifty taels of gold."

It was indeed expensive; after all, medicinal herbs are priced by the qian and the qian, and with the sheer volume of a whole cart, even at previous lower prices, it would have cost several dozen taels. Now that prices have soared, this price was not too outrageous.

Liu Qingcang estimated slightly and found it was actually a bit lower than the market price, as if just to make a round number... yet it still made his heart ache.

Previously, Lu Xingzhou had swindled almost all of their spirit stones; recently, they had bought up the remaining Cold Glowing Grass on the market at high prices and purchased a large quantity of seeds to plant themselves; now the Red Cloud Gang truly had very little cash on hand... This two hundred and fifty taels of gold had nearly drained half of their working capital.

Never mind, in any case, the principal will be earned back soon. He sighed and waved his hand: "Take it up the mountain and store it first."

At the Shen Merchant House, Lu Xingzhou played with a gold ingot in his hand, tossing it up and down.

A'nuo sat cross-legged, hugging a huge pile of gold ingots, laughing happily as she lay on top of them: "Gang Leader Liu is truly a good person."

Lu Xingzhou smiled: "Wrong, we are the good ones; Gang Leader Liu should thank us for saving him from an urgent crisis."

Shen Tang sat speechless before them, turning her head to look at the warehouse over there; it had originally been filled with Cold Glowing Grass, but now it was completely empty.

Du Gu Qingli stood behind her, her cold blue eyes staring tightly at Lu Xingzhou, her expression still blank, as if pondering something.

That was right; the so-called "merchant caravan from a neighboring county" was impersonated by people from the Heavenly Traveling Sword Sect, selling the Cold Glowing Grass they had hoarded previously.

"You knew long ago that one of the main ingredients of their Spirit Vitality Pill was Cold Glowing Grass?" Shen Tang could not help but ask: "This is a unique formula of the Incense Tower; how did you obtain it?"

"Hmm? I don't know his unique pill formula, but as a Pill Master, it's easy for me to taste a pill and roughly identify its main ingredients. For Bai Chi to spend his own money to buy a Spirit-Qi Pill, he's already gained considerable face."

"..."

Lu Xingzhou grinned, baring his teeth: "Who would have thought that something as unsuitable for pill refining as Cold-Glazed Grass could be utilized by the Incense-Burning Pavilion? One cannot help but admire the boldness and experimentation of the Pill Master predecessors. It's a pity that the Spirit-Qi Pill's pill toxicity is too severe, precisely because of this herb... especially since Bai Chi is eager for quick success and immediate gain, the ratio might even be slightly off, making the toxicity even worse."

Shen Tang pressed her lips together, not knowing what to say.

Precisely because this thing is unsuitable for pill refining, it is planted very little, allowing Lu Xingzhou to exploit it to the fullest. If it were anything widely planted, he wouldn't be able to make this money.

The problem now seems to be more than just earning this one sum...

Lu Xingzhou wiped away his smile and spoke in a low voice: "Have you had people spread the news? About the Spirit-Qi Pill's pill toxicity."

Shen Tang took a deep breath and exhaled slowly: "People were sent to spread it that day; it should start fermenting within these two days."

Once the news that the Spirit-Qi Pill has excessive toxicity ferments at this time, not only will the sales of the Spirit-Qi Pill vanish, but the Cold-Glazed Grass that the Red Cloud Gang just purchased at a high price will result in a massive loss. Even so, it amounts to a loss of only a few hundred taels of gold; the Red Cloud Gang can afford it.

But what about the Cold-Glazed Grass planted on a large scale in the Medicine Mountain?

Dig up the Cold-Glazed Grass temporarily and plant something else?

Lu Xingzhou never intended to merely slap the Red Cloud Gang; from the moment he proposed the idea of purifying the pill toxicity, his goal from start to finish was to destroy the Red Cloud Gang!

He truly didn't need to compete with them in pill refining; he even provided a strategy for the Sky-Walking Sword Sect to establish itself.

Where did this poisonous strategist come from... did the Red Cloud Gang push such a person from being one of their own into becoming an enemy?

Shen Tang finally couldn't help but ask: "So the idea of purifying pill toxicity you proposed to me that day was always just for this step?"

Lu Xingzhou turned to look at her and smiled gently: "You said it yourself; this is mutual aid."

After speaking, he pointed out the window, where many members of the Sky-Walking Sword Sect were gathering towards the council hall: "Look, the three-day period has arrived; your wager must be fulfilled, isn't it? Let me congratulate you in advance, Sect Master Shen."

(End of this chapter)