Chapter 355 - People Seeking Medicine
When Gu Zuo bade farewell to Shopkeeper Fang, he went straight back to the sect.
He needed to do what he previously promised that fellow. Therefore, he called over the people of the mouse race, and ordered them to pick several members to keep watch over that tavern and its surroundings. In addition, he also sent some senior mice to observe the movements of that Shopkeeper Fang.
Once they met any of Shopkeeper Fang’s people, the mouse race members would keep the matter hidden. They would take the initiative to receive the other party’s message and deliver it into his hands.
This was considered a long-term mission. According to Gu Zuo’s words, if the mouse race did well, he would naturally bestow them with some medicinal pills. He had the authority to reward them.
With Gu Zuo’s position next to Gongyi Tianheng, even if he gave nothing in return, it was a foregone conclusion that the mouse race would work for him. However, this time around, not only did Gu Zuo intend to give them rewards, he would be generous about it. As such, the mouse race would handle matters even more carefully and diligently.
Soon, several mouse race members were who especially good at self-concealment were chosen to receive this mission. They swiftly turned around, and burrowed into the ground in the blink of an eye. Then, they vanished from sight —
Gu Zuo: “…”
As it turned out, the Gold-Devouring Mouse Race also had the ability to dig underground.
That was very useful.
After he finished giving instructions to the Gold-Devouring Mouse Race, Gu Zuo didn’t bother about this matter any longer.
During this trip, he had earned back so many spirit crystals. After he leveled the previous accounts, he ended up saving a bit of a private fund. In the future, he wanted to buy medicinal ingredients for himself and raise subordinates for his big brother. Due to this connection with the prismatic pills, it seemed that this future was right around the corner.
However, the implementation of his plan would have to wait until after his big brother came out of seclusion.
Subsequently, Gu Zuo continued his love for the scientific process. He spread out the dozens of types of medicinal ingredients he previously bought outside, and started to research the method of utilizing the source sand.
He felt that this work would take a long time, but at this moment, he finally caught a glimpse of the way ahead.
The biggest difference between the source sand and ordinary medicinal ingredients was that the source sand was hard to dissolve. And if the source sand didn’t dissolve, it couldn’t be blended with other medicinal fluids. If there wasn’t any blending, no remarkable reactions would occur with each component. And without the addition of any reactions, it couldn’t be condensed into a medicinal pill… At the present time, it seemed that using a Wondrous Fire to heat up the source sand could allow it to soften. Merely, besides this, he also needed to use other medicinal fluids to undergo exposure. With the corresponding Wondrous Fire, both sides would catalyze one another, which would thoroughly dissolve the source sand.
However, the medicinal fluids of certain ingredients were insufficient. As such, Gu Zuo was now trying to devise a way to blend and refine many ingredients that similarly reacted with the source sand. By extracting the characteristics which would dissolve the source sand, and striving to completely superimpose all of these characteristics, it would increase the melting effects by tenfold or even more — In coordination with the Wondrous Fire, this could result in the thorough melting of the source sand.
Of course, this was only to dissolve it… After that, whether he could smoothly blend and refine the source sand into a medicinal pill depended on numerous attempts and constant revisions. Moreover, continuous adjustments were required for the source sand’s power in the finished product to be gentle, easily absorbed, and maximally utilized.
…In terms of researching this kind of targeted pill prescription, it was complicated and troublesome.
Yet, Gu Zuo absolutely had to do this.
He spent three or four days handling this delicate work. He conducted compatibility testing for one type of medicinal fluid after another. Just the medicinal decoctions that achieved different efficacies already numbered a dozen or so. Only, these dozen decoctions weren’t considered anything special. Some of the effects weren’t even that good. Later on, he still had to discard them.
Fortunately, after passing through this period of experimentation, the medicinal fluids he refined had approximately five times the efficacy. They could also coordinate with the Wondrous Fire to dissolve more than fifty percent of the source sand.
If this continued, he would be able to reach his objective very soon…
Just when Gu Zuo started neglecting his sleep and forgetting his meals, a slender figure appeared in front of him.
Feng He’s thin lips were stretched towards both sides, making his handsome face appear somewhat strange. His voice was thready: “Reporting to Pharmacist Gu, the senior mice have brought back news. Does Pharmacist Gu wish to see them?”
Gu Zuo was still a bit leery of this member of the wild dog race. Whenever he saw how the wild dog race looked like they could have a frenzied outbreak at any given moment, he felt a little timid in his heart… However, he kept his cool: “I’ll go take a look.”
Feng He stood up straight — Although while one would say that he stood up straight, his back still looked somewhat hunched. It gave one an incredibly strange feeling.
Gu Zuo didn’t stare.
In any case, his big brother would certainly be able to manage this group of wild dogs… En.
A mouse race member was waiting a quarter of the way up the mountain when Gu Zuo arrived.
Upon seeing Gu Zuo, the mouse race member hurriedly bowed down: “Greetings, Pharmacist Gu.”
Gu Zuo wasn’t too accustomed to being saluted by others. However, since he followed his family’s big brother, he needed to get used to such things regardless. As a result, he just nodded his head: “Feng He said that you’ve brought me news.”
The mouse race member promptly presented a message with both hands, and replied: “In front of the West Garden Tavern, I took a card delivered by Medicine Heart Pavilion. Pharmacist Gu, please take a look.”
Gu Zuo received that message. He opened the card to read it.
It pertained to Everlasting Happiness Restaurant, which was the location Shopkeeper Fang and Gu Zuo agreed upon previously. It said that someone with true and honest intentions had requested a meeting. Shopkeeper Fang hoped that Gu Zuo could find some time in his busy schedule to go over. And so on and so forth&#k2026;
From these “true and honest intentions”, Gu Zuo seemed to notice something.
However, Shopkeeper Fang shouldn’t have been that sort of person with a heart overflowing with kindness, right?
On second thought, he didn’t feel that this was odd.
Shopkeeper Fang probably wanted to deepen the relationship with him. Perhaps, this was to scout out his origins.
No matter what, it wouldn’t hurt to see how things went.
In any case, the other party had given him many spirit crystals. Back when he was on the Peripheral Continents, he was cautious at all times. This was for the sake of not inviting trouble for his big brother. Now that his big brother’s position was so high, it was unreasonable for him to cower and flinch in fright.
— Even if his identity was seen through, what was so important about that?
Could it be that the enormous Ten Ultimates Sect couldn’t protect the people who stood next to an all-star prodigy? Besides, he wasn’t going to do anything bad…
With such thoughts, Gu Zuo put away the message. Then, he brought along that crowd of concealed bodyguards, summoned a wild bird, and headed towards Shijue City.
Everlasting Happiness Restaurant was a well-known establishment on a bustling street within Shijue City. It was classified as property of a powerhouse’s subordinate within Ten Ultimates Sect. Naturally, it was very popular in the city. Some people would discuss secrets here, and these secrets were kept well.
Shopkeeper Fang reserved a special-ranked private room. Anyone who had their meals in here was able to guarantee that whatever they said wouldn’t leave the room. They also wouldn’t be easily overheard by others.
After taking out the card, Gu Zuo was guided straight to the second floor. After turning several corners, he entered through a small door.
Ao Ying maintained a guarded posture as he followed inside. Meanwhile, those battle slaves who were concealed in some hidden place were blocked by the room’s formation. Their forms emitted thread-like ripples as they bumped into the locked space.
Gu Zuo noticed this, and immediately said: “These are my people.”
Soon after, it appeared that the formation was manipulated by someone. While staying hidden, the battle slaves also followed inside.
After walking through the door, Gu Zuo saw Shopkeeper Fang sitting on the side.
The room’s interior was decorated lavishly. It didn’t seem like a place purely for eating. Rather, it was comprehensive. One could rest and relax, eat meals, drink tea, and chat all the while. The room was so spacious that a person could even practice martial arts.
But relatively speaking, the price would’ve been quite costly.
Since Shopkeeper Fang booked this room, there were no doubts over his respect for Gu Zuo.
At this moment, he saw Gu Zuo walk in. He stood up, smiled, and greeted: “Pharmacist Gu, many thanks for honoring this one with your presence. I haven’t seen you for many days, but Pharmacist Gu is still as elegant and graceful as always.”
Gu Zuo felt exasperated.
These formal greetings were truly a mouthful…
After that, Gu Zuo nodded his head in an aloof manner: “Shopkeeper Fang, for what purpose have you asked for me?”
Right. His disposition would be this frank and straightforward.
Shopkeeper Fang smiled, and poured Gu Zuo a cup of tea: “I won’t hide this from Pharmacist Gu. Ever since the auction, many people have come to our Medicine Heart Pavilion to figure out who the owner of that prismatic Innate Mending Pill is. As one of its many branch managers, this Fang also received many questions. Most of those inquirers were sent away by this Fang, but a small number have friendly relations with our Medicine Heart Pavilion. It would be difficult to reject them outright.”
Speaking up to here, he observed Gu Zuo’s expression. After discovering that there wasn’t any displeasure, he continued speaking: “Naturally, this Fang never divulged any information. I only asked about their general circumstances… While the rest were doing alright, there were a few who were really pitiful. After finding out about them, this Fang felt sympathetic, and took the liberty to invite Pharmacist Gu.”
Gu Zuo listened to this, and calculated in his heart. He roughly understood Shopkeeper Fang’s intentions.
In short, Shopkeeper Fang first mentioned that this venture would be profitable. Then, he moved people with emotions. If one was softhearted, he could raise the benefits and bargaining chips once more. By painting with two brushes, he strove to establish a favorable relationship with both sides as the middleman.
…Gu Zuo shouldn’t have guessed incorrectly, but the specifics depended on Shopkeeper Fang’s following performance.
However, Gu Zuo also wanted to deepen the relationship between himself and Medicine Heart Pavilion.
After all, Medicine Heart Pavilion’s social connections were much broader than what he and his big brother possessed. The pavilion’s network of relationships was far-reaching. Apart from opening their stores, his family’s big brother still needed to rope in many other people to get things done.
At first, what Gu Zuo wanted to do was to open his own medicine store. The Wu Clan, which they had roped in, already owned several medicine stores, and the Wu Clan’s pharmacists provided the refined medicinal pills. Yet, the current situation indicated that, no matter how much Gu Zuo wanted to do so, it was impossible for them to simultaneously manage even more medicine stores and open his own… Even though their body cultivation methods had been upgraded and their efficiencies would be even higher in the future, they weren’t able to reach that level yet.
Of course, Gu Zuo could supply some of the medicinal pills. Moreover, his speed was very fast. However, he couldn’t supply the pills for that many medicine stores all by himself — If he only accumulated wealth by supplying a small quantity of top-notch pills, then it wouldn’t be worth the effort of specially opening a store.
As a result, the notion of opening a medicine store couldn’t be achieved within the short-term.
Thus, at the present stage, it was more feasible to find a good collaborative partner.
It was just that this partner had to be chosen carefully.
Shopkeeper Fang was the first collaborative partner who came into contact with Gu Zuo. So long as Shopkeeper Fang had a clear understanding of the situation and was sincere enough, Gu Zuo felt that this person, as a representative of Medicine Heart Pavilion, could try out a long-term cooperation.
As he thought about this, Gu Zuo didn’t show anything on his face. He just slightly lifted his chin: “Alright. Then, let’s meet. If Shopkeeper Fang can get in touch with those people, have them come over now. My schedule is very busy, and I can’t wait here for too long.”
Shopkeeper Fang’s complexion showed joy: “Pharmacist Gu, rest assured. They are people who have a request. How could they dare to make thee wait? Those people have long been waiting in the adjacent private room. Just give the order, and they’ll arrive promptly.”
Gu Zuo had a new understanding of those people’s eagerness. After that, he harrumphed, which was considered a positive response.
Shopkeeper Fang immediately sent someone to invite them inside.
At this moment, Gu Zuo reached into his sleeve, and pulled out a black cloak. He shook it open, and draped it over his shoulders.
In a split second, the teenaged pharmacist with bright and cheerful qi emissions was nowhere to be found. While the figure still seemed the same, the feelings he gave one were completely different.
If Shopkeeper Fang hadn’t been watching the entire time, he wouldn’t have thought that this gloomy and reclusive pharmacist had any connection to Gu Zuo whatsoever.
But after looking at this scene, Shopkeeper Fang realized that Gu Zuo didn’t want others to know his face. Shopkeeper Fang’s mind slightly moved. He deliberated, and spoke to Gu Zuo: “Pharmacist Gu, rest assured. Without thy permission, this Fang absolutely won’t divulge thine appearance to the outside.”
Naturally, those on the inside would still know…
The head, which had been covered by the cloak’s hood, nodded. The voice that transmitted outwards had become hoarse: “Very good.”
This kind of voice caused Shopkeeper Fang to shiver slightly. He only felt that this Pharmacist Gu appeared even more enigmatic and unfathomable.
Not long after, someone knocked on the door.
Shopkeeper Fang glanced at Gu Zuo, and beckoned the subordinate to open the door and come inside.
At this time, several men and women entered. Each person’s appearance was outstanding, but their temperaments were all different. It looked like they were decent geniuses at the very least. Such people should’ve been arrogant and overbearing giants among their peers. Yet, after these people came in, they were filled with hopeful emotions. If their complexions were carefully observed, they also seemed somewhat dispirited and faintly exhausted.
What unsolved problem was gnawing at their minds?
Under Gu Zuo’s sweeping gaze, he thought of something.
He reckoned that these people came looking for him because an important person of theirs needed medicinal pills…
The facts proved that Gu Zuo’s guess was correct.
After those four people entered, they courteously bowed to Gu Zuo in a cramped line. Under Shopkeeper Fang’s gesture, they sat on circular stools across from the pharmacist. After exchanging glances with each other, Ming Wanzhu, the beautiful young lady who was the eloquent and fluent speaker among them, quickly explained the entire sequence of events as well as the cause of their eagerness.
On the Central Continent, strength was respected above all. As far as ordinary people were concerned, when powerhouses weren’t restricted, even an inadvertent move could become a calamity that wiped out the common folk.
Among these disasters, the most commonly seen ones occurred when powerhouses passed through certain villages. This was because they were being pursued or were chasing after someone, and got into a big fight. At that time, the village would usually be utterly destroyed, creating a scene where almost none of the villagers survived. Not to mention the powerhouses with vile temperaments who vented their anger for some reason or another… To put it briefly, many families were ruined, and the people were left destitute, orphaned, or dead.
This was how the story of these four people began.
The four of them were orphans whose mountain village had been devastated. The four had known one another since childhood, and their relationships were good. Each of them had been individuals who excelled beyond their common peers in the village. When the village was being destroyed, they happened to be together to celebrate Ming Wanzhu’s birthday up on the mountain. However, once they returned, what they saw was a village in ruins — If it wasn’t for Chang Min’s steady disposition, which allowed him to obstruct the impulsive Yu Fei at the appropriate time, perhaps they would’ve been discovered by those venting powerhouses. Had that happened, it would’ve basically been impossible to keep their small lives.
After the village was gone, the four vowed to take revenge for their village. They stayed together, and hoped to find a strong dojo or similar organization to rely on and to study martial arts.
However, these four people resided in an isolated and remote place, and they were dressed like street urchins. When the local organizations got a look at the four orphans, they weren’t willing to see them. Naturally, it was even more impossible to receive them.
If a charitable clan hadn’t offered them shelter, let alone being able to attain their present Immortal Realm and Atomic Realm strengths, even survival would’ve been brought into question!
As for the person they wanted to provide life-saving treatment to, it was the rightful grandson of the clan that took them in!
— In fact, that clan was rather small. It couldn’t even be treated an iron-ranked organization. It was merely at the nonconventional rank.
The number of people within this clan also wasn’t very high. When the members of the main branch and cadet branches were added together, there were just a few dozen. When calculating the other subordinates, there were only about a hundred-something people. However, this kind of clan was already considered a bit powerful in that region. Originally, it shouldn’t have taken in those orphans.
At that time, the clan head was bringing along his grandson to visit a friend. When the group of four was beset by hunger and cold, their first meeting with the grandson was when the other young girl, Lian Xinzi, barred the carriage’s way.
The clan head’s grandson was just four or five years old, but because he was sympathetic to the plight of these young boys and girls who were only three or four years older than him, he asked the clan head to offer them shelter and to treat their wounds and ills.
Later on, the clan head saw that Lian Xinzi and the others treated his grandson with much gratitude. He took the initiative to give them pleasant-sounding first names on the premise of retaining their respective surnames. He also nurtured and trained them to become his grandson’s right-hand men and women.
The relationship between that grandson and the four people was very good. After the four became his sworn older brothers and sisters, he also took the initiative to join with them. Because there was a difference between master and servant, they naturally declined at the time, but this still greatly improved the relationships between them.
As the orphans grew up, their natural talents gradually appeared, and they obtained even more vigorous training. The four protected this grandson, and they cherished him very much. In this way, ten pleasant and cheerful years passed by.
One decade later, there came a day when a rival family invited a powerhouse to destroy the entire small clan. The four fled with the grandson, but they were almost overtaken at the final juncture.
In the end, it was the grandson who facilitated the four’s escape. The grandson blocked the other party’s move, which left an opening for the four to get away. The four weren’t willing to flee, but they were forcefully pushed away by the grandson. In order to not let down the grandson’s final wish, they had no choice but to reluctantly run away and plot revenge! That powerhouse was very conceited — He believed that the grandson would perish under a single strike, and felt it was beneath him to hunt down the people who escaped. After the powerhouse left, the four promptly returned, and found the grandson’s corpse. They wanted to bury him.
Perhaps because the grandson was fated for bigger things, there was unexpectedly still a trace of life inside him. It was just that his internal organs and meridians were completely ruined by that powerhouse’s energy. If they wanted to save his life, it would be incredibly difficult.
However, even though it was like this, the grandson’s survival was enormously good news to the group of four. They carefully carried away the grandson to settle him down. Meanwhile, through their own power, they started to constantly venture out to slay wild beasts. They did everything they could to earn money and accumulate funds to treat the grandson.
Their intentions weren’t in vain. As their strengths increased, the grandson’s wounds gradually stabilized. Then, he woke up. At this time, the feelings shared between them couldn’t be described as master and servants any longer. The grandson, Xue Shen, swore himself to them, and became their most precious fifth brother.
Ming Wanzhu’s eyes were reddened: “After years of hard work, we finally gained some strength and obtained more resources. We invited quite a few pharmacists to take a look at little brother. The most useful medicinal pills they offered were Tiger Vitality Pills. It was just that the Tiger Vitality Pills could only preserve little brother’s life, and weren’t truly capable helping him get better. Later on, a prestigious and preeminent pharmacist proposed another method. A flawless Innate Mending Pill would be enough to let little brother thoroughly recover! Of course, if we could get a prismatic Innate Mending Pill, not only would little brother recover completely, maybe he could luckily hear a Pill Note Mantra Echo to improve his potential…”
The Tiger Vitality Pill was a golden-level medicinal pill. Ten spirit crystals could purchase one pill. Normally, it would be swallowed by Atomic Realm or Ascendant Realm martial artists, but Xue Shen was a special case. The energy within his body was left behind by an Atomic Realm martial artist. If Tiger Vitality Pills were used to counteract this energy, the pills needed to be melted into a medicinal liquid to soak the body. It would temper the physical body amid the boundless pain. This prevented the collision of both forces from crumbling the body.
Under these circumstances, even though Ming Wanzhu and the others had become more powerful and they could earn lots of spirit crystals with hard work, they had to purchase Tiger Vitality Pills all year round. They also had to take into account their own cultivations, so there would often be nothing left. Besides this, they wanted to find a way to save up some spirit crystals to scout the whereabouts of flawless Innate Mending Pills. However, they knew that hopes were vague and uncertain — As for prismatic Innate Mending Pills, they didn’t dare to think about those things at all!
For the sake of Xue Shen, the four brothers and sisters did their best to maintain good relationships with all sorts of places. Supporting the Wind God Trading Company was just one of these places. This time, they obtained some good things in exchange for a large sum of spirit crystals. However, they didn’t expect to see the unimaginable prismatic Innate Mending Pill in such an ordinary auction!
It was a pity that the spirit crystals gathered by the four brothers and sisters couldn’t win the prismatic Innate Mending Pill. But when they caught sight of hope after so many years, how could they just give up on it?
After the auction, they made discreet inquiries everywhere, but couldn’t obtain any information. Later on, they suddenly had the bright idea of finding the Medicine Heart Pavilion, which had an extremely good relationship with the Wind God Trading Company.
As it turned out, the four brothers and sisters were familiar with Shopkeeper Fang. They didn’t want the product grades of any Tiger Vitality Pills to deviate from their expectations. As a result, they selected Medicine Heart Pavilion to buy Tiger Vitality Pills from the beginning. They were considered old customers after many years.
As for Shopkeeper Fang, he went through many deliberations, but he didn’t directly tell them the origin of the prismatic Innate Mending Pill. He only said that someone might know some information, and told them to wait every day.
Even though the four brothers and sisters only had a glimmer of hope, they persevered unremittingly. Thus, after quite a few days of waiting, they were finally lucky enough to see Gu Zuo.
It wasn’t until they were summoned by Shopkeeper Fang that the four brothers and sisters realized that he facilitated a meeting with the person who took out that prismatic Innate Mending Pill!
Right away, they didn’t dare to neglect anything in the slightest. They also didn’t dare to hide anything as they laid all of their cards on the table. This was so that they could express their greatest sincerity.
Gu Zuo finished listening to their story, and he felt somewhat sympathetic.
No matter what was said, this was a tale of charity and vengeance… The feelings between these few brothers and sisters were quite moving.
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