Chapter 18: Prospering Day by Day

The Shen Qi Pill is being rejected; this isn't just about losing a few Shen Qi Pills, nor is it something that can be fixed simply by refining a different pill...

Instead, it will trigger a chain reaction causing the price of Hanying Grass to crash. The cartload of herbs bought yesterday at a price higher than gold will instantly plummet to the value of a dog's tail grass.

And what about the Hanying Grass I've been growing on half the mountain?

Liu Qingcang felt a chill run through his body; a mere speculation made his hands and feet turn cold and his head spin with dizziness.

The fastest way to resolve the rumors is to have the Pill Department issue a "refutation," proving the pill toxicity of the Shen Qi Pill is not severe, and that would be the end of it.

Liu Qingcang reacted extremely quickly, turning around and rushing back to the Pill Department.

Lu Xingzhou was inside undergoing the assessment for refining a Seventh Grade Pill. Seeing Liu Qingcang rush back, Director Chen frowned and blocked him: "Assistant Liu, please do not disturb the pill refining."

"I am here to see Director Chen," Liu Qingcang hurriedly said. "Previously, our Shen Qi Pills were approved for sale by the Pill Department. Now they are being maliciously slandered, claiming the pill toxicity is too high. Director Chen, you must speak up for us..."

As he spoke, he took out a jade piece and quietly slipped it into Director Chen's hand.

Director Chen's expression twitched; he glanced at Lu Xingzhou refining pills nearby. A Little Daoist was sitting beside him, chin in hand, eyes blinking as he stared right at them!

You're giving me something right in front of others! Won't a child go out and blab? Children are even better at blabbing, you know!

Director Chen, furious, threw the jade piece directly back: "Assistant Liu, it is true the Pill Department approved the Shen Qi Pill. If anyone inquires, we will answer truthfully: while the Shen Qi Pill's toxicity is higher than average pills, it has not exceeded the permitted standard. There is no need for Assistant Liu to make special arrangements; please return."

Liu Qingcang was furious. What use is a truthful answer saying it didn't exceed the standard? Is that what people care about now? Everyone, in this environment of purifying pill toxicity, naturally doesn't want to use pills with heavier toxicity!

Director Chen's expression turned stern: "What? Does Assistant Liu intend for the Pill Department to lie for you and cover up the facts?"

Liu Qingcang was speechless. Glancing over, he saw Lu Xingzhou and his master pretending to refine pills seriously while actually watching the show; the chubby Daoist's mouth was stretched from ear to ear, making him even angrier.

Why didn't I find this little chubby girl so annoying before!

Actually, putting aside the fact that Lu Xingzhou standing there made it impossible to pull any strings behind the scenes: if Lu Xingzhou hadn't interrupted just now, allowing Bai Chi to pass the certification smoothly, there would have been a half-master-disciple connection with Director Chen, and there would still have been a chance to get his help.

But now?

Not only did we fail to build a good relationship, we offended him; now even bribing him is useless.

What should be done this time!

In that instant, Liu Qingcang almost felt that Bai Chi had been sent by an enemy to harm him; from the start of refining the Shen Qi Pill until today's Seventh Grade certification process, everything had been digging a pit for him.

But rationally, he knew it wasn't Bai Chi's fault; aside from being too eager for quick results in pill refining which led to severe toxicity, the rest wasn't intentional on his part.

Nor could it be a coincidence... at least the sudden raid on Hanying Grass in Xiazhoucheng a few days ago was a premeditated malice; the one digging the pit is someone else.

Who is it?

Liu Qingcang turned his head tremblingly, looking at Lu Xingzhou.

Is it him?

Yes, only Lu Xingzhou would specifically design something like this. This is his revenge, revenge for the assassination that day and for the Danxia Gang's recent slander of his pill refining skills...

Since the Shen family merchant started the campaign to purify pill toxicity, this chain of interconnected schemes began!

Liu Qingcang, a brute who fought his way up, had never seen this kind of gang warfare before; it seemed the entire Danxia Gang's martial strength had completely lost its meaning.

He truly regretted it now; Lu Xingzhou was not only a talent in planning, but his actual pill refining skills were superior to Bai Chi's as well! Why had he thought Bai Chi, coming from a prestigious family, must be better than Lu Xingzhou, and switched without hesitation?

What he regretted even more was letting the loss of spirit stones at Lu Xingzhou's hands spark a desire to kill. If he hadn't sent assassins, Lu Xingzhou, having made his money, would probably have been too lazy to bother with his small gang. Fortunately, the assassins never reported back; Lu Xingzhou presumably doesn't know about this, so there is still room.

Liu Qingcang quickly put on a smile and said to Lu Xingzhou: "Xingzhou... regarding the previous matter, I'm afraid there was some misunderstanding."

Lu Xingzhou looked at the pill fire with a smile: "Indeed, Assistant Liu misunderstood that I like Liu Yan'er. She has flowers on her too... hmm, things normal people wouldn't like."

"Ah, I didn't mean that misunderstanding," Liu Qingcang gritted his teeth in anger but forced a cheerful laugh: "Xingzhou, with such strong pill refining skills, why didn't you say so earlier? If you had, we would have made you the Head of the Pill Hall long ago. How could we have been deceived by Bai Chi's background? Ahem, now that we know, Xingzhou, why not come back? Triple the salary, appointed as Hall Master. What do you think?"

Lu Xingzhou's gaze finally moved away from the pill fire; he smiled slightly: "So this is the second misunderstanding... Assistant Liu, my choice to stay on Danxia Mountain for half a year has other reasons; I truly didn't come to beg for a job, promotion, or raise. What Hall Master? To me, it's not as important as watching Bai Mao raise his eyes."

Liu Qingcang could only say: "Since Xingzhou is so open-minded, then this matter..."

Lu Xingzhou interrupted: "Assistant Liu, the assassin hasn't reported back to you. You don't think he hasn't acted yet, do you?"

Liu Qingcang's face changed instantly; he forced out: "What is Xingzhou talking about? I don't understand."

"Assistant Liu, do you think I look like a fool?" Lu Xingzhou sighed, with a hint of meaning: "Come to think of it, as long as you don't continue to court death, it will be hard for me to continue making moves... Danxia Mountain is small, but living a small life here is quite good. Please return."

Since the assassination matter was known to Lu Xingzhou, there was no room for negotiation anymore. Liu Qingcang said nothing more, his face iron-green, and swept his sleeve away.

Behind him came A Nuo's sarcastic voice: "Assistant Liu, may you prosper day by day~"

Lu Xingzhou praised his disciple: "A Nuo truly has magnanimity, even blessing Assistant Liu..."

Liu Qingcang held a mouthful of blood in his throat and sped up his pace, fleeing rapidly.

Otherwise, he feared he would kill someone right there in the Pill Department.

Stepping outside, he saw Liu Yan'er and Bai Chi fighting; Liu Yan'er was crying and scratching Bai Chi's face: "What's wrong with the sickness on your body? Do I have it too? You bastard!"

Bai Chi dodged left and right: "This sickness can be cured, it can be cured! I am a Pill Master..."

Liu Qingcang was now so angry he couldn't find words; he kicked forward furiously: "Do you still have the leisure to fight! Have you come up with a solution!"

Liu Yan'er cried softly.

Bai Chi wiped his sweat and said: "I've thought about it. As long as we can launch a pill with better effects, we can immediately turn the tide. Uncle, rest assured, I will launch the Break Through the Realm Pill immediately; this thing is rare on the market..."

Liu Qingcang almost wanted to slap him in the face; he angrily interrupted: "Your pill was criticized by Director Chen right to his face for having severe toxicity! You still dare to launch it in this fiery situation? Do you think we haven't died fast enough!"

Bai Chi's face turned pale. As a Pill Master from a prestigious family, this fellow actually had no solution for this situation.

Because the exclusive pill formula of the Incense Burning Pavilion isn't something you can just take out to refine for others at will; the only thing he was permitted to use was the Shen Qi Pill. And his ability to formulate his own pills had just been proven to be quite mediocre; what's the use of making up some Ninth Grade formulas?

To replace the Shen Qi Pill, one can only refine those common pills; in that regard, his skill level is indeed quite good. But in this situation, if you refine common pills, can you break the deadlock?

Liu Qingcang held his anger for a long time before finally saying hatefully: "You two go back first, dig up all that Hanying Grass, replant something else, and switch to refining the regular Qi-Benefiting Pill! Also, double the pill refining time for those apprentices!"

After all, the bulk of the gang's pill sales comes from the low-grade pills mass-refined by the apprentices; no matter how much the Shen Qi Pill incident was set up to fail, we can still squeeze some profit back from here.

"Want the Danxia Gang to die? Not so easy!" Liu Qingcang threw out a sentence, speaking coldly: "The Shen family merchant offended the City Lord; Lu Xingzhou is mixing with them and still wants to stay out of it? You two go back first; I will go see the City Lord again!"

Inside the room, Director Chen had eaten the whole melon of the drama; he glanced sideways at Lu Xingzhou for a long moment: "So you are saying Liu Qingcang drove you away, chose Bai Chi, and thus created the grudge?"

"Yes."

Director Chen looked at the Supreme Grade Guiyu Pill jumping out of the pill furnace; his old face twitched, and he let out an incredible sigh: "Is Liu Qingcang blind? You surpass Bai Chi by more than ten times!"

Lu Xingzhou smiled faintly: "Actually, it's not his problem... Director, who in the entire world doesn't value prestigious families? Who doesn't care about status? Everyone is like this. Who has ever truly valued a cripple like me, with no parents and only apprenticed to a ruined Taoist temple?"

Chen Zhangsi fell silent for a long moment, then handed over a seventh-grade Alchemist certification plaque: "You are young, yet your attainment is one in ten thousand; such talent is rare. Since you are an Alchemist from Xiazhou, as long as I live, I will not let you be obscured. If I recommend you for advanced studies at the commandery, would you be willing?"

Lu Xingzhou felt a slight stir in his heart.

In truth, he possessed a highly refined Alchemist inheritance... not the worthless scraps from the old Daoist Priest back then, but one from Yuan Muyu.

His cultivation had always been difficult to advance due to his constitution and his broken leg; reaching seventh-grade Daoist cultivation at this age was already the result of great genius combined with hard work, and to go further was far too difficult. Yet his mastery of various skills far surpassed his cultivation, for what Yuan Muyu taught was extremely profound; eight years of guidance had provided endless benefit.

In a sense, Yuan Muyu was his master, though they had never addressed each other as master and disciple.

But strictly speaking, Yuan Muyu had never taught him the fundamental cultivation method, so they were not entirely master and disciple. His fundamental method was a trophy looted from the Yama Hall, belonging to a demonic cultivator; its grade was quite high, but it was not some top-tier inheritance.

In short, learning has no end; knowledge cannot be exhausted in eight years. Now that he had left Yuan Muyu, Lu Xingzhou indeed still needed to seek other opportunities for learning. Besides better alchemy techniques, he would ideally obtain the blessings of a top-tier cultivation method.

It was just not now... and furthermore, the standard of the commandery might not even meet his needs, so it would be of little use.

Nevertheless, Lu Xingzhou was deeply moved by Chen Zhangsi's kindness. He accepted the certification plaque and sincerely bowed: "Thank you, Zhangsi. Lu cannot free himself at present... If an opportunity arises in the future, I hope Zhangsi will not disdain my dullness and offer much guidance."

(End of this chapter)