Never Bowing to Trouble

The Zhao Family of Taiyu City had also been one of the foremost great families over thirty years ago. But later, after offending a Personal Disciple within the Qingyuan Sect, the cultivation resources they had to offer up each year kept increasing. They held on for only a few years before the Zhao Family began to decline.

Once a great family began to show cracks, the forces around it would swarm in like hyenas, devouring it until not even scraps remained.

Members of the Zhao Family either died or fled.

Zhao Qiyang was one of the Zhao Family. When he had reached the end of the road, Lingyu Palace took him in, changed his identity, and had him join the Qingyuan Sect as an undercover agent.

The ultimate cause of the Zhao Family's downfall was the Qingyuan Sect. Thus, without a second thought, Zhao Qiyang agreed. Revenge was his obsession.

Later, Lingyu Palace found his younger brother, Zhao Ziqing, and arranged for him to enter the Qingyuan Sect as well. Zhao Qiyang secretly pulled strings to transfer Zhao Ziqing to the Medicine Hall, then intended to help him become an Alchemist Assistant.

Everything had originally been planned out. He had also set his sights on the vacant Alchemist Assistant position under Xu Gaocen, because as an Intermediate Alchemist, Xu Gaocen knew more of the Qingyuan Sect's secrets.

Unfortunately, Yang Chan got there first.

He had originally intended to help, secretly arranging for Zhao Ziqing to become another Alchemist Assistant. But then he was reassigned and sent down the mountain, leaving the Qingyuan Sect with Liu Xuan and the others. Naturally, the matter could only be postponed.

Though the two were biological brothers, they rarely revealed their relationship in public, and they had very little private contact as well.

Thus, to outsiders, the two seemed to have no connection at all.

Yet Zhao Qiyang had never expected that their meeting before he descended the mountain last time would be the final meeting of their lives. It filled Zhao Qiyang with boundless fury.

He had secretly cursed the powerful Qingyuan Sect countless times, the sect to which he had sent endless intelligence, yet it remained immensely powerful.

Even with the Three Great Sects joining forces, they had been forced back to defend their mountain gates. The battle had nearly reached the sect's doorstep.

And that was with the benefit of all the extremely useful intelligence he had supplied.

Because of that intelligence, the Qingyuan Sect had also discovered that there were problems within its ranks and had been investigating continuously. Several undercover agents had already been captured, though their statuses had all been relatively low, so nothing had yet led back to him.

But if this continued, he too would be in great danger. Therefore, he wanted to find a scapegoat. Yang Chan, the true culprit behind Zhao Ziqing's death, was the target he had chosen these past few days.

Only now, it seemed that this chosen target was not so simple either.

"The medicine for Xu Yuan, in the third bed upstairs in Block C Room, was prepared by me."

Yang Chan quickly recalled the process of preparing Xu Yuan's medicine packet. Though his tasks had been busy, his memory had improved greatly after the Tai Chi Health Cultivation Technique reached the third tier. Naturally, he soon recalled the entire process.

He went over it once and confirmed that someone must have tampered with it afterward.

"I know you prepared it. By preparing such medicine, you intended to kill Xu Yuan."

Zhao Qiyang flew into a rage again, directly deciding the conclusion of the matter.

"Physician Zhao, why are you being so arbitrary? Could it be that something went wrong on your end, and you want to find an Alchemist Assistant like me to take the blame?"

Yang Chan frowned slightly. The moment he spoke, he broadened the issue, intending to draw more attention.

"Besides, even if something happened in the pharmacy, it should be handled by Pharmacist Xu, not you."

Yang Chan continued, bringing up Pharmacist Xu.

His five senses were keen, and he had naturally noticed the inexplicable malice coming from Zhao Qiyang. The person handling this matter could not be Zhao Qiyang, this Junior Alchemist; it had to be Xu Gaocen, the person in charge of the pharmacy.

He was Xu Gaocen's Alchemist Assistant. Having Xu Gaocen handle this would naturally be far better than leaving it to Zhao Qiyang.

"Are you saying that I, a pharmacist, am not qualified to deal with you?"

Zhao Qiyang raged, his voice icy.

"Of course not. I am a Formal Disciple of the Qingyuan Sect. If someone is to deal with me, it may be Pharmacist Xu, the person in charge of the pharmacy, the Law Enforcement Hall, or others—but not you."

Yang Chan answered directly. When trouble came knocking, if it could be resolved, he naturally could not bow his head. Otherwise, the situation would only grow worse afterward.

It was like the workplace: when major trouble arose, someone would inevitably seek out a person to shoulder the blame. Those who lowered their heads and took the blame would surely face even more trouble in the future—their reputation would be ruined, their standing in the profession tarnished, and in severe cases they might bear enormous compensation or even go to prison.

Therefore, at a time like this, the bigger the matter became, the better. Let someone more impartial handle it, and the blame would naturally not fall on his head in the end.

"Besides, Pharmacist Zhao, with just one sentence you want to pin the matter of the medicine packet on me. You have not even asked who handled it in between, or whether someone switched the medicine. Are you being too arbitrary, or are you in such a hurry to place this matter on me?"

Yang Chan tossed the trouble back at Zhao Qiyang.

He was certain that there was no problem on his end. Then the problem must lie with the one causing trouble. He was not afraid of an investigation, but the other party might not be.

"What happened?"

Hearing the commotion, Xu Gaocen came out as well. There were quite a few matters to handle, and many people had gathered to watch, so he had no choice but to come out and deal with it. After all, he was the person in charge of the pharmacy.

"Pharmacist Xu, this is what happened..."

Yang Chan strode over quickly, not giving Zhao Qiyang the chance to speak first, and clearly explained the cause from his own perspective.

"I see. Pharmacist Zhao, is there anything you wish to add?"

After listening, Xu Gaocen nodded in understanding. He did not rely solely on Yang Chan's words, instead asking Zhao Qiyang as well.

He naturally understood the principle that listening to only one side led to bias, while hearing both sides brought clarity.

"Today, I was..."

After glaring at Yang Chan, Zhao Qiyang recounted what had happened on his end and his own assessment.

Things had already gone beyond his expectations, but at this point, he naturally still had to nail the matter down.

"So that's how it is..."

After Xu Gaocen finished listening and was about to state his conclusion, Yang Chan interrupted.

"Pharmacist Xu, this disciple recalls the process of preparing the medicine. The box containing February Red was taken from the pharmacy in Block C Courtyard, from the tenth medicine box on the fifth shelf. It was a medicine box selected by Senior Brother Lü Le."

"Besides this disciple, Sun Qi Wu, Xu You, and others also used that medicine box when preparing medicine packets containing February Red. Those medicine packets should still be there now, at the sickbeds..."

As Yang Chan recalled the events, these memories also surfaced. He had not yet reached the point of never forgetting anything he saw, but his memory far surpassed that of ordinary people.

"If there is nothing wrong with those medicine packets, and nothing wrong with the medicine box selected by Senior Brother Lü Le, then the original Two Liang of February Red becoming the current Two Liang of Zhuzhu means that someone tampered with it. They may even have used this to harm disciples of the Qingyuan Sect."

"There was also an incident of switched medicine in the Qingyuan Sect before. If someone has switched the medicine now, it is very likely the work of an undercover agent from an enemy faction."

"Therefore, this disciple suggests that the matter be thoroughly investigated."

Yang Chan began by clearing himself of suspicion, then guided the matter toward undercover agents from enemy factions, making the matter bigger and forcing the person who had tampered with it in secret to reveal their true form.