"Do you know him?"
After bringing the medicinal ingredients into the alchemy room, Leng Yueyan finally could not hold back any longer and spoke.
Lin Shuguang's attention was entirely on the medicinal ingredients, so he seemed rather distracted by the question. "Nothing. I mistook him for someone else."
Leng Yueyan looked at him suspiciously.
She did not believe Lin Shuguang was telling the truth, but he clearly had no intention of continuing the conversation.
Although Leng Yueyan had not spent much time with Lin Shuguang, she understood this man's temper well enough. If he did not want to talk about something, there was truly no way to force it out of him.
So Leng Yueyan stopped pressing him. "The medicinal ingredients are all here. This is enough for one batch."
She had already explained how precious the Nine Revolutions Golden Core was. Being able to produce enough ingredients for one batch also demonstrated her sincerity.
Lin Shuguang understood the implications. After briefly examining the materials in his hands, he pondered for a moment.
After all, this was his first time refining a Nine Revolutions Golden Core, and he did not know how much these ingredients could produce. Thus, he asked, "How many Nine Revolutions Golden Cores can this batch produce?"
Hearing his question, Leng Yueyan thought briefly. "In theory, it can produce five. However, judging from the work of the few alchemy grandmasters I have seen over the years, two is the usual result. Only a few grandmasters have been lucky enough to produce three. As for four from a single batch, that is basically the stuff of legend."
As she spoke, Leng Yueyan also kept her eyes on Lin Shuguang.
People who asked such questions were generally quite confident. She did not bother asking how sure Lin Shuguang was. She was a smart woman, and when she saw him begin rolling up his sleeves, she quietly stood to one side and watched.
At the same time, outside the door.
The little old man handed Wang Fugui a section of towel. "What happened just now?"
When Lin Shuguang had tested Wang Fugui, the little old man had been outside busy with the medicinal ingredients. When he returned, he discovered that the boy was drenched in sweat and trembling all over.
Wang Fugui wiped away his cold sweat. His lips had turned purple, and his whole body had even begun to shake. He raised his deathly pale face. "S-Second Master, I feel like... my illness... is about to flare up."
"How did it suddenly flare up out of nowhere?" The little old man's expression changed. He hurriedly took some pills from a nearby cabinet and quickly poured out several purple pills no larger than grains of rice.
Before he could hand them over, Wang Fugui suddenly grabbed his wrist. The veins on the back of his hand writhed like earthworms, and his five fingers turned pitch-black, like the hands of vengeful ghosts.
The little old man instantly held his breath. Still clutching the medicine, he stood motionless before slowly turning his head to look.
Half of Wang Fugui's face looked as though it had been covered in runes, becoming unnervingly strange. His features were twisted as he seemed to be struggling desperately to control himself. "Second Master, I... I'm fine. I don't need to take... medicine. I can hold it back."
"The Young Miss and the others are inside. You can't let them discover your condition, or they'll burn you to death as a freak." The little old man spoke in a low voice, his face tense.
"I... I'm fine." Wang Fugui gasped heavily, as though a demon were lodged inside his body. He desperately suppressed it, unwilling to let the demon within escape. "Kill them!"
Suddenly, Baleful Intent surged from Wang Fugui's entire body. But in the next moment, his face returned to its human form—that of Wang Fugui, twisted with the effort of enduring the pain.
The little old man sighed. While Wang Fugui had yet to transform, he grabbed the back of his neck, pinched open his mouth, and forced the pills down his throat.
After ten seconds, the aura around Wang Fugui gradually stabilized, and he began gasping heavily.
The little old man let out a long sigh. "You can't go on like this. What exactly did that person say back then?"
Wang Fugui collapsed onto the bed and weakly rubbed his dizzy head. "That person... that person told me to wait."
"Wait for what? It's already been a year, and he hasn't even let out a fart." The little old man snapped irritably. "What was that person's identity? Did he explain it clearly to you? He left you to suffer this much for no reason at all?"
Wang Fugui slowly sat up and shook his head. "He said he could help me take revenge. As long as I can get revenge, I can endure all this."
The little old man frowned. "Turning into neither human nor ghost—what kind of revenge is that?"
Wang Fugui remained silent. He did not show the slightest trace of the panic he had pretended to display before Lin Shuguang. After a moment, he raised his head. "Who is the man the Young Miss brought with her?"
The little old man looked at him suspiciously. "He has a very unfamiliar face. I'm afraid the Young Miss obtained the ingredients this time to refine something for him. What happened to him?"
Wang Fugui said nothing. After recalling the sensation, he spoke. "That man is no ordinary person. The reason I had that attack cannot be separated from him... It seemed that something stimulated me. I will never forget that feeling. It was exactly the same as what that mysterious person made me feel back then."
The little old man hesitantly stroked his beard. "Could the mysterious person you met back then be the same person the Young Miss brought here today?"
"I can't be sure. That person knew my name back then, but this man today doesn't know my name..." Wang Fugui frowned as well.
The little old man raised his brows. "Could it be that he noticed you deliberately because he was wary of the Young Miss being here?"
"Was that necessary?" Wang Fugui asked, puzzled.
The little old man wore an expression that said he finally understood. "You're still young. The fact that he secretly met you back then shows that he didn't want to reveal his true identity. Think about who the Young Miss is. Would she easily associate with an ordinary person?"
Wang Fugui fell silent.
The little old man was about to say more when a terrifying force suddenly descended from the neighboring room.
Invisible ripples spread out like a bomb exploding.
The entire void seemed to have been affected by some kind of law.
Tables, chairs, and cabinets all trembled. This scene was not limited to the little old man's small shop—even the area within a radius of two li was ravaged by this mysterious force.
"What happened?"
"What's going on?"
"Who drew upon the power of the laws?"
"Did some powerful expert descend, or has some treasure been born?"
"A treasure being born? That can't be."
Many people rushed out into the streets to investigate the true source.
Unfortunately, the eruption had lasted only an instant, leaving many people completely baffled.
Inside the shop.
The little old man and Wang Fugui looked at each other, both bewildered.
"Aren't you going to take a look?" After a while, Wang Fugui spoke.
The little old man was silent for a moment. "You're coming with me."
"No, I'm afraid of dying." Wang Fugui hurriedly shook his head.
That strange power was deeply frightening. The moment he sensed it, he had felt as if his soul might be annihilated.
He could barely flee in time. How could he possibly want to go closer and investigate?
The little old man glared at the reckless boy and cursed as he left the room, carefully making his way toward the alchemy room.
Looking at the alchemy room's door, which had been visibly deformed but not shattered, the little old man swallowed. Only then did he cautiously raise his voice and shout, "Young Miss, are you all right?"
He had barely finished speaking when, with a bang, a hand pierced directly through the door and easily tore the sealed door apart.
The little old man recoiled in fright.
If he had not ultimately seen Lin Shuguang emerge with Leng Yueyan, he would probably have screamed.
"I'm fine. I'll have someone clean this place up for you." Leng Yueyan gestured toward the damage, then took a pearl from her pocket and handed it to the little old man. "This is your reward."
The little old man hurriedly said, "I'm sorry for the trouble, Young Miss."
Leng Yueyan looked at Lin Shuguang. "Let's leave quickly."
Lin Shuguang discreetly looked toward the room where Wang Fugui was staying.
During his earlier investigation, he had discovered that someone had implanted a strange and evil force inside Wang Fugui's body. Thinking of how this young man's name was exactly the same as the name on the Nine Demon Scroll, Lin Shuguang could not help suspecting that this was yet another scheme of the Ninth Prince, Gu Changhe.
Although Wang Fugui had no cultivation and was merely a mortal, his constitution was extremely special. The evil force hidden inside him seemed capable of growing stronger.
I wonder how much Golden Dew could be exchanged for his sacrifice...
"What did you say?" Leng Yueyan had not heard him clearly and turned back suspiciously.
"Nothing." Lin Shuguang left her behind and walked toward the door of Wang Fugui's room.
The little old man had just spoken with Wang Fugui, so he had been secretly paying close attention to Lin Shuguang's actions. Now that he saw Lin Shuguang suddenly walk over, his expression changed slightly, and he tried to find an excuse to stop him.
However, the vast aura around Lin Shuguang directly kept him three meters away.
"Young Miss!" the little old man shouted urgently.
Leng Yueyan did not understand what Lin Shuguang intended. However, her relationship with him was still in its "honeymoon period." Besides, the entanglement between them was too deep, and she did not want to stop him. Still, she consoled the little old man, "With me here, nothing will happen."
The little old man did not know what to say.
He did not dare reveal Wang Fugui's strangeness, but he could not help worrying as Lin Shuguang approached.
"Creak."
The door opened.
Wang Fugui had opened it himself.
It was unclear whether he had heard the commotion outside or had happened to come out.
His black eyes fixed on Lin Shuguang. He no longer pretended to be as cowardly as before, but he still could not help feeling somewhat nervous. "Are you looking for me?"
Lin Shuguang looked at him and said indifferently, "Are you willing to come with me?"
Wang Fugui's eyes brightened, but he still forcibly restrained himself. "Does my lord remember what you promised me before?"
He had ultimately mistaken Lin Shuguang for the Ninth Prince, Gu Changhe.
Lin Shuguang looked at him calmly. "This is not the place to discuss that. Come with me first. You should know that if I want to kill you, it will be effortless."
"Fugui?" the little old man called out worriedly.
Leng Yueyan sat in a chair to one side, arms folded as she watched the two of them. She felt that things had become increasingly interesting.
Earlier, she had asked Lin Shuguang whether he knew this Wang Fugui.
But Lin Shuguang had said he did not.
Yet Wang Fugui's words now made it clear that he knew Lin Shuguang.
What Leng Yueyan could not understand was this: if they knew each other, why had this young man named Wang Fugui pretended earlier to look like a complete stranger who did not recognize him?
What exactly had happened here that she did not know about?
"Interesting."
"I'll go with you."
Before you continue