The Secret of the Blood Strengthening Pills!

Lu Changsheng had seen that Red-Robed Figure in the crowd before.

A month ago, when Lu Changsheng had gone to the Black Market and several martial artists had tried to force him into buying Blood Strengthening Pills, he had encountered this red-robed martial artist.

At the time, the red-robed martial artist had invited Lu Changsheng to investigate the Blood Strengthening Pills with him.

Lu Changsheng had not wanted to wade into those muddy waters, so he had refused.

He had not expected to see the Red Robed Man again now, and for the other man to have found Xu Family Manor as well.

Though the Red Robed Man was alone, his strength was formidable. With a single blade in hand, he had slaughtered his way through until no one around him dared approach.

However, Lu Changsheng had not come here to kill people. He had come to save someone.

"Where is Apothecary Cheng being held?"

Lu Changsheng looked around. The Underground Hall was enormous; it had clearly not been built in a day.

To construct such a vast Underground Hall, who knew how much manpower and material wealth it had consumed?

As time passed, more and more Xu Family Manor guards arrived.

"These guards are coming from the passage to the northeast."

"Let's go take a look."

Lu Changsheng's heart stirred.

Quite a few apothecaries and Doctors had disappeared during this period. Since they had been captured rather than killed, someone must have had a use for them, and they would certainly need guards to keep watch over them.

And there could not be too few guards.

Perhaps these guards had been the ones watching the apothecaries and Doctors before.

Following the passage, Lu Changsheng indeed found another enormous secret chamber.

Inside the chamber were many apothecaries and Doctors. Under the guards' urging, they were preparing all kinds of medicinal ingredients.

There was also a blazing pill furnace in the chamber.

Bare-chested strongmen kept tossing medicinal ingredients into it.

Before long, large quantities of Blood Strengthening Pills came rolling out of the pill furnace.

Only then did Lu Changsheng understand that the Blood Strengthening Pills had indeed come from Xu Family Manor.

Lu Changsheng searched through the crowd and finally found Apothecary Cheng.

Not only Apothecary Cheng, but also many Doctors and apothecaries from Miraculous Garden—people Lu Changsheng recognized.

"Xu Family Manor captured so many apothecaries and Doctors just to make them refine Blood Strengthening Pills?"

Lu Changsheng looked at the guards.

Most of the guards had actually been sent out to deal with the Red Robed Man.

There were only around twenty or thirty guards left. It should not be difficult for Lu Changsheng to deal with them.

Whoosh.

The next moment, Lu Changsheng shot out from a corner.

He was as fast as a phantom, like a gust of wind beneath the dim yellow lights of the underground chamber.

"Huh? Did you just see a shadowy figure?"

"What shadowy figure? Are your eyes playing tricks on you?"

"There are intruders outside. We should be more careful."

"Got it. With so many brothers out there, can't we handle one intruder? Just do our job and hurry them along in refining the pills."

Several guards chatted among themselves.

Though someone had vaguely glimpsed a shadowy figure, after rubbing his eyes and seeing no stranger, he merely thought his eyes had deceived him.

Slash.

But in the next moment, a sharp sword blade swept across their throats.

Blood spurted out at once, and two guards collapsed to the ground.

Only when they saw the two guards fall did the remaining guards react.

"An intruder!"

"He's over there, stop him!"

"We can't let him destroy the pill furnace..."

Quite a few of these guards were Bone Forging martial artists.

With twenty or thirty of them rushing forward together, even an Organ Refining martial artist would likely have to avoid their edge for the moment.

Martial artists below the Divine Strength Realm could not completely disregard the "number" of their opponents.

If there were enough people, even the strongest Organ Refining martial artist could be beaten to death by a mob's random fists.

But Lu Changsheng was different. He followed the path of "speed."

So long as they were not Divine Strength Realm martial artists, as long as their flesh and blood could not withstand blades and swords, then no matter how many there were, they posed no threat to Lu Changsheng.

Swish, swish, swish.

Lu Changsheng drew his sword.

His swift sword immediately became a series of phantoms. Combined with his movement speed, Lu Changsheng was like a tiger plunging into a flock of sheep; whenever he raised the sword in his hand, someone would surely fall.

In just a few breaths, all twenty or thirty guards had fallen to the ground.

Drip. Drip.

Drop after drop of blood fell from Lu Changsheng's blade.

The sword had been completely dyed red.

Twenty or thirty corpses lay scattered haphazardly across the floor.

Not a single one groaned. They were all dead, nearly every one killed with a single stroke!

The apothecaries and Doctors all shuddered when they saw this scene.

Lu Changsheng walked step by step toward the apothecaries and Doctors. He glanced at the pill furnace, then asked, "You are refining Blood Strengthening Pills here. Do you know what is wrong with these Blood Strengthening Pills?"

The many Doctors and apothecaries exchanged looks, staring at one another in bewilderment.

They did not know who Lu Changsheng was either.

But one Doctor still spoke up tremblingly. "Yes, there is something seriously wrong with these Blood Strengthening Pills."

"They added a rare chronic poison to the Blood Strengthening Pills. Taking it once or twice is harmless, but long-term consumption will cause poisoning."

"Once poisoned, without the antidote, one will suffer agonizing pain throughout the body before dying. By relying on these Blood Strengthening Pills, they could probably control a vast number of martial artists in just a few months."

Lu Changsheng's heart tightened.

He had not expected the Blood Strengthening Pills to be so sinister—actually a chronic poison?

As an apothecary, even he had failed to detect the chronic poison within them. This showed just how well concealed it was.

Yet Xu Family Manor had refined such harmful Blood Strengthening Pills and sold them on a massive scale, intending to control so many martial artists. Their ambitions were immense!

This was definitely not something a mere Xu Family Manor, or Benefactor Xu alone, could accomplish.

"Who exactly is Benefactor Xu? Or rather, who stands behind him?"

Lu Changsheng asked.

Yet the many apothecaries and Doctors all shook their heads.

Lu Changsheng did not continue questioning them. These apothecaries and Doctors basically knew only this much.

"Now that I have killed these guards, you can choose to remain here for a while longer and wait until this is over. Or you can leave now, but fighting is still going on outside, and there may be danger."

"The choice is yours."

After saying that, Lu Changsheng turned and left.

At this moment, the Red Robed Man in the outer hall was already in grave danger.

For some unknown reason, the guards had produced Crossbow Bolts one after another.

A dense rain of Crossbow Bolts shot wildly at the Red Robed Man.

No matter how strong the Red Robed Man was, he was still flesh and blood. Unable to block so many Crossbow Bolts, he could only overturn a stone table and hide behind it. His situation was already perilous.

Benefactor Xu stood to one side, his gaze fixed on the Red Robed Man.

At that moment, several guards stumbled over, shouting loudly, "Master, this is bad! Someone broke into the Pill Furnace Room and killed dozens of our brothers. He's already fought his way out again..."

"Hm?"

Benefactor Xu was startled.

Slash.

The next moment, many guards came stumbling back.

Then Benefactor Xu saw a Black-Clad Masked Man. His figure was as swift as lightning, and with every light sweep of his Short Sword, someone would clutch their throat and fall to the ground.

The guards all aimed their Crossbow Bolts at the black-clad man.

But it was useless. The black-clad man was too fast, and his movement technique too strange. He charged directly into the guards, and with every rise and fall of his sword, another guard fell into a pool of blood.

Benefactor Xu's face turned livid at the sight.

He slammed his cane hard against the ground, producing a crisp crack, then shouted, "Esteemed Envoy, please capture this intruder!"

Boom!

No sooner had Benefactor Xu finished speaking than the entire Underground Hall seemed to shake with Vibration.

At the same time, what had been a wall beside Lu Changsheng suddenly burst apart.

A towering Ironclad Man charged out from within, one arm reaching fiercely for Lu Changsheng.