Chapter 19: This Is No Trivial Matter

Returning to his own small courtyard in the merchant house, Lu Xingzhou sat quietly by the window, lost in thought.

Thinking about his future cultivation back at the Elixir Bureau, his thoughts came flooding in one after another.

Most people in the world who refine elixirs are not doing it to cure illnesses and save lives... For nearly every alchemist, the point of refining elixirs is to produce pills that let them break through quickly, or even ascend to immortality outright.

Although pills that grant instant ascension only exist in legends, every person in the world firmly believes they exist.

Therefore alchemists don't really value cultivating themselves — they rely on swallowing pills to advance anyway. The vast majority of alchemists spend all day refining elixirs, and their cultivation is also piled up by pill-popping, which leaves their combat power pretty terrible; they usually need attendants to protect them.

On the surface, Lu Xingzhou has also been popping pills all along, but he is different from other alchemists — he doesn't use this method to advance, only to treat his illness.

He had studied alchemy painstakingly in the first place to cure his own illness; he didn't have much interest in alchemy itself.

If he didn't get his body properly conditioned, there was no hope of cultivating well.

In his early years he really was a sickly strategist — sitting in a wheelchair wasn't enough, he coughed all day long, his face pale and listless. After all these years of long treatment and cultivation, he was finally fair of lip and bright of tooth, dashing and handsome; only a tiny remnant of his old ailment remained, and it would soon be completely resolved.

His cultivation may not be high, but it is very solid, built up bit by bit through his own bitter practice. Even when he borrows external aid, it is through spirit-gathering arrays laid with spirit stones, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth — not by popping pills.

So Lu Xingzhou really has never refined a breakthrough pill.

He has refined countless Qi-Gathering pills to boost cultivation, but they all went into Anuo's belly — that's Anuo's food.

But this premise works fine for practicing in the lower three grades; once he wants to enter the middle three grades, his broken leg becomes the greatest obstacle standing in his way. Without achieving the union of heaven and earth, he can never break through to sixth grade.

Over the years Yama Hall has accumulated plenty of resources, including high-grade cultivation methods — medicines to treat his leg couldn't possibly be absent. But Yuan Muyu was willing to provide him with medicinal ingredients for his treatment, willing to teach him all kinds of skills, willing to let him pick any cultivation method he wanted, yet alone refused to treat his leg.

"Xingzhou, you are my strategist; you don't need to go out and kill people. Cultivation isn't that important..."

"No matter what I do, no matter how high my cultivation needs to be — first and foremost, I am a person... As a person, I want to stand up."

"... I had them look for it. The required medicinal ingredients couldn't be found."

"Isn't it because they said Lu Xingzhou's mind is too cunning, and now that he's crippled and his cultivation is low it's acceptable, but once his weakness is fixed, he'll become uncontrollable?" 【44】 "That's only a prerequisite. At most, she can now initiate tentative contact. Without uncovering the cause of the massacre, how could she be that naive?"

"I never thought that way."

"But you acted that way."

"..."

"Sister, what am I, in your eyes?"

"Your life is mine. That's all."

"I'm eighteen. I'm already an adult."

"So what?"

"I want to be able to... upright and proper... stand beside you."

"Do you know what you're saying?"

"I do."

"Then I'll give you a clear answer — say such things again, and you can leave. It also happens to dispel your doubt: I never intended to use your leg to keep you by my side, because whether you're here or not isn't that important."

"If that's the case... here is my token; I return it now. For the rest of my life... Yama Lord, take care."

"You—!"

What was her expression at the time?

He had already turned away; he could no longer see it... and it didn't matter.

Whether it was words chasing words that led to this point didn't matter either — the fact remained that she refused to help treat his leg, and no one could just keep waiting like that forever.

Time flew; a long separation passed, and she never sent anyone to look for him. Presumably, whether Lu Xingzhou existed or not really made no difference to her.

After all, anyone can get along without anyone else... especially since her strength was the greatest Lu Xingzhou had ever seen in his life.

The so-called strategist... shamefully, really wasn't as important as imagined. With Yuan Muyu alone, Yama Hall was enough to strike terror into people's hearts; others were merely the icing on the cake.

"Master, master, what are you thinking about?" Anuo's voice came. Lu Xingzhou turned his head to look — the little girl was waving her chubby little hand, swaying it back and forth in front of his eyes: "You've been spacing out ever since we got back from the Elixir Bureau — could you be thinking about Sister Yu?"

"No." Lu Xingzhou straightened his face: "I'm thinking about how Liu Qingcang will deal with me. Most likely he went to find the City Lord. Xu Bingkun wants to deal with Shen Tang, Liu Qingcang wants to deal with me — the two sides are like dry tinder meeting a raging flame, and I and Mr. untie the battle robe..."

Anuo didn't expose him either, and said with a grin: "But the City Lord can't openly move against Sister Shen Tang. What's the use of sending assassins? Not enough for Miss Qingli to practice sword on."

"There's plenty of angles a City Lord can use against someone... Unless Shen Tang dares to make contact with the royal family right now, it's very hard for her to withstand a City Lord."

"Didn't she say she'd dare once she'd purged the inside?"

"That's only a prerequisite. At most she can start试探 contact now. Without figuring out the cause of the灭门, how could she be that naive?"

"Since the City Lord already knows, can she hide it from the imperial court?"

"The whole thing is very mysterious right now. Xu Bingkun should also be completely in the dark about the situation — he doesn't know which side wants her dead, which side wants to protect her. If he rushes to report upward, what if the other party actually wants to protect her? Then Xu Bingkun would just be delivering his own head. He wouldn't dare."

"What if he just spreads the word outside that remnants of the Heaven-Traveling Sword Sect are right here, to lure enemies over?"

"Then this City Lord who came from the Heaven-Traveling Sword Sect would be the first to be plucked of his head as a protective umbrella. Not only would he not dare spread it recklessly, he would actually help cover it up."

Anuo: "..."

Shen Tang's laughter came from outside the door: "Mr. Lu is indeed a clear mirror of the mind. Xu Bingkun really doesn't dare speak of it outside."

Lu Xingzhou had long known she was coming, and said lightly: "Didn't we say to each stay well? What does Miss Shen come for?"

"First, to congratulate Mr. on passing the seventh-grade alchemist certification." Shen Tang entered the room, smiling: "Second, to bring Mr. something."

Saying so, she handed over an item wrapped in a handkerchief. Lu Xingzhou took it in puzzlement, held it to his nose and sniffed — his expression shifted slightly: "Five-Wisdom Grass..."

Shen Tang smiled: "Just now I went to the Elixir Bureau to discuss some follow-up matters regarding sword talismans, and heard Chen Zhangsi praising you to the skies. When Chen Zhangsi heard I was living here at your place, he mentioned you'd written out a list of medicinal ingredients for an elixir recipe to treat yourself. I took the liberty of asking about the general ingredients, and thought you'd need this."

Lu Xingzhou was silent.

Five-Wisdom Grass was indeed an important main ingredient for refining the Life-Returning Elixir.

The main ingredients required for a seventh-grade elixir already count as fairly high-end in Xiazhou, and aren't easy to find in ordinary shops. Lu Xingzhou's conditioning hadn't reached that step yet, so he hadn't deliberately gone looking.

He never imagined an outsider would care enough to keep this in mind...

Shen Tang asked: "Useful to Mr.?"

Lu Xingzhou came back to himself and said softly: "Yes... thank you for the trouble, Miss Shen."

"It was no trouble at all — the Elixir Bureau had it in stock, I just bought it directly." Shen Tang smiled gently: "If you'd asked Chen Zhangsi one more question, you could have bought it yourself."

Lu Xingzhou pressed his lips together and said nothing.

What is rare is not whether the thing is hard to find, but that someone will listen to your request and simply want to find it for you.

Even if it is just a dog's tail grass, such a heart is rare... especially now, with memories spreading just now, it felt like a heavy hammer, smashing the scene into fragments.

"Mr., do not overthink it; even in ordinary villages, if one makes dumplings, one will bring a bowl to the neighbors." Shen Tang turned her wheelchair directly and left the door: "It will not affect Mr.'s peace of mind; each will live their own life."

Lu Xingzhou remained silent the whole time, not even saying a word of thanks, silently watching Shen Tang depart.

After a long while, he suddenly said to A Nuo: "Search the memories of the residual souls in the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to see what is going on with the demonic qi, and whether it is related to the City Lord."

A Nuo blinked her eyes: "You clearly did not want to get involved before, not wanting to create complications when the Huo family is about to arrive."

Lu Xingzhou looked down at the handkerchief in his hand; the handkerchief emitted a fresh fragrance, though he did not know if it was the scent of medicine or something else...

Only after a long time did he respond in a low voice: "This is not a complication."

A Nuo sighed, turned around, and left.

She said as she said, but in her heart she was clearer than anyone else how much this matter touched her master.

A Nuo herself was also very grateful... Sister Shen Tang is really so good...

Lu Xingzhou thought quietly for a while again, then wheeled himself out of the door to find Dugu Qingli: "Miss Qingli, could I trouble you to help with something?"

Dugu Qingli was sitting cross-legged practicing her martial arts in her own small courtyard; hearing this, she opened her eyes and said indifferently: "I am neither your subordinate nor your friend."

"What if it concerns Miss Shen Tang?"

"Miss Shen Tang just went to find you; if it concerns her, why do you not speak directly to her, but ask me?"

"She is not very convenient." Lu Xingzhou handed over several prescriptions: "I trouble Miss to sneak into the Alchemy Workshop of Danxia Mountain tonight and give these prescriptions to the alchemy apprentices; give them to any one of them, just do not be discovered by the Danxia Gang guards. Only Miss has the power to be invisible and soundless; Miss Shen Tang herself and the others of the Tianxing Sword Sect probably cannot manage it well."

Dugu Qingli took the prescriptions and asked in confusion: "Is there anyone alchemizing in the Alchemy Workshop late at night?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, not only is there someone tonight, but it will be very lively."

Dugu Qingli's beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly, as if she was trying very hard to think: "What does this matter have to do with Shen Tang?"

"The Shen Merchant House and the Danxia Gang have already formed a grudge; that night Liu Qingcang also came to attack, but was blocked back by Sheng Yuanyao. He will surely collude with the City Lord to cause trouble again... therefore, dealing with the Danxia Gang is also cutting off one arm of the City Lord, making things easier for Miss Shen."

Bai Mao was not stupid after all: "... The Danxia Gang is your own enemy; you certainly do not need to say this is for Shen Tang."

Lu Xingzhou fell silent for a moment, then slowly said: "You may think so."

Only he himself knew that if it were only for himself, he would originally have followed a different line of thought and would not have been so impatient. Now wanting to do something... it was only for the intention wrapped inside that handkerchief.

(End of this chapter)