Several days later, Nanli City
Snow fell in flurries, flakes drifting through the air.
After stopping for several days, goose-feather snow began falling from the sky once more.
Nanli City was peaceful and tranquil, yet its streets had become even livelier and more bustling than usual.
That was because before long, it would be time once again for the annual festival of auspicious snow promising a bountiful year, welcoming the New Year.
Every household along the streets had begun busily preparing New Year's goods, while windows throughout the city were being adorned with paper-cut decorations for the new year.
Brilliant scarlet lanterns hung high overhead, decorating every street and alley.
Stalls and shops selling New Year's goods could be seen everywhere on the streets.
Even cultivators who had lived in Nanli City all their lives could not help being swept up in the festive atmosphere of the mortal world.
The whole of Nanli City overflowed with a joyous, celebratory air.
Yet the Jiang Family estate alone was steeped in lifeless gloom, its atmosphere incomparably oppressive.
A few days ago, the Qi Family had suddenly begun buying up all kinds of Immortal Herbs and Spiritual Medicine throughout the city—and at exorbitant prices.
Among the herbs they purchased were many medicinal ingredients that were utterly worthless and served no purpose whatsoever.
Many cultivators and medicine merchants had practically sold all the herbs in their possession to the Qi Family at high prices.
Jiang Zhen's keen business instincts told him that the Qi Family's massive acquisition of Immortal Herbs and Spiritual Medicine was anything but ordinary.
He had spent night after night gathering numerous cultivators skilled in pill refinement to study the herbs the Qi Family had acquired, yet no matter what they did, they could not figure out what new pill the