Hidden Turmoil

"According to my subordinate's investigation, aside from an old man and two youths, there was no one else at the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion on ordinary days."

"One of the youths showed signs of martial training, but his strength should not have exceeded the Inner Strength Realm. The old man and the other youth were completely ordinary people."

The man in black reported all the information he had gathered about the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion over the past few days to the middle-aged man.

"That doesn't make sense. Without anyone above the Qi and Blood Realm, how could they refine pills?"

The middle-aged man frowned after hearing the man in black's report.

"According to what my subordinate learned, there are rumors that a late True Qi Realm expert has appeared at the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion."

In response to the middle-aged man's question, the man in black added this. When he mentioned the late True Qi Realm expert, the awe in his heart was obvious, because the middle-aged man before him was only at the mid True Qi Realm.

"A late True Qi Realm expert?"

"That makes things rather troublesome."

Upon hearing the man in black say that the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion had a late True Qi Realm expert behind it, the middle-aged man's expression also turned solemn.

This middle-aged man was An Hexuan, the person in charge of Dan Cao Hall in Ningyun Prefecture.

Recently, the Crimson Blood Pill's explosive popularity had caused the sales of Dan Cao Hall's pills for Qi and Blood Realm martial artists to fall sharply. Naturally, An Hexuan had also taken notice of the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion's existence.

After learning that the Crimson Blood Pill's medicinal effects were nearly three times those of a Qi and Blood Pill, An Hexuan had set his sights on its formula. In his view, the Crimson Blood Pill held enormous potential.

For a place like the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion to sell only in Ningyun City, and even limit its sales, was simply wasting such a precious pill.

If their Dan Cao Hall could seize the Crimson Blood Pill's formula and promote it throughout Great Gan, it would bring them boundless profits. Perhaps their Dan Cao Hall could even use those profits to raise its overall strength to another level.

That was why An Hexuan had sent people to investigate the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion's background a few days ago. He had planned to act personally once he understood the situation, take down the entire Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion in one stroke, and seize control of the Crimson Blood Pill's formula.

At that time, he would also be able to rely on this achievement to receive Dan Cao Hall's vigorous cultivation. Perhaps in this lifetime, he might even have hope of glimpsing the Condensing Gang Grandmaster realm.

But now, there was actually a late True Qi Realm expert behind the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion. This was no longer something he could handle alone.

"I'll write a letter later. Take it to headquarters and deliver it to the Second Hall Master."

After thinking for a while, An Hexuan spoke to the man in black. Though he was extremely unwilling, he had no choice.

An Hexuan knew that once he sought help from Dan Cao Hall's headquarters, he would receive very little credit. But a late True Qi Realm martial artist was not someone he could deal with, so he had no choice but to do this.

"Yes."

When he heard An Hexuan say that he would send a letter to Dan Cao Hall's Second Hall Master, the man in black replied excitedly.

That was because the Second Hall Master they had mentioned was one of Dan Cao Hall's two Condensing Gang Grandmasters—Yang Chaoxing, who was at the early Condensing Gang Realm.

The reason they were sending the letter to Yang Chaoxing was that An Hexuan belonged to his faction within Dan Cao Hall. Moreover, Dan Cao Hall's two Condensing Gang Grandmasters had always been at odds. The First Hall Master had constantly suppressed Yang Chaoxing, while Yang Chaoxing had always been ambitious and wanted to rise to the top.

Thus, after discovering this opportunity, An Hexuan naturally thought of Yang Chaoxing first. In his opinion, with Yang Chaoxing's cultivation as a Condensing Gang Grandmaster, he would certainly be able to capture the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion with ease once he acted.

After receiving his orders, the man in black vanished from the spot, and the room once again fell into silence.

However, a storm targeting the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion was secretly brewing.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Today was the final day for Bi Changsheng to remove Fang Yaoyang's poison.

"Here. This is the cultivation method I promised you."

"That boy really is stubborn. If he became my disciple, wouldn't he be free to choose any cultivation method from my Divine Fist Sect?"

After taking the final detoxification pill and confirming that all the poison in his body had been completely eliminated, Fang Yaoyang took out a cultivation method and handed it to Bi Changsheng.

Bi Changsheng accepted the cultivation method from Fang Yaoyang. After seeing that it was called Vast Sea Fist, he placed it on the table.

Bi Changsheng merely smiled at Fang Yaoyang's question without answering him. Fang Yaoyang had asked similar questions countless times over the past few days.

"Good disciple, just wait. I'll definitely make you willingly take me as your master."

After receiving no satisfaction, Fang Yaoyang went to Liu Zhengqing and declared this boastful ambition before finally leaving the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion.

After interacting with him for these days, Fang Yaoyang also understood that Liu Zhengqing's mind would not be changed easily. But it was absolutely impossible for him to give up on Liu Zhengqing. Their Divine Fist Sect had finally encountered an Azure Heaven Hegemonic Body after three generations—how could they possibly let him go?

Therefore, Fang Yaoyang decided to proceed gradually.

"Take this cultivation method and study it for now. Ask me if there's anything you don't understand."

After Fang Yaoyang left, Bi Changsheng handed the Vast Sea Fist on the table to Liu Zhengqing.

"Thank you, Young Master."

"Work hard."

After encouraging Liu Zhengqing for a while, Bi Changsheng entered the room.

Now that Fang Yaoyang's matter had come to an end, Bi Changsheng was preparing to begin planning his path toward the Condensing Gang Realm.

More than half a month ago, Bi Changsheng's cultivation had already reached the late True Qi Realm. The reason he had not acted then was that he wanted to wait until his Killing Sword Art broke through to the Perfection Realm, raising his strength to the limits of his current realm, before taking action.

A few days ago, Bi Changsheng had finally cultivated the Killing Sword Art to the Perfection Realm. Relying on his experience with multiple life-burning cultivation methods, he had even comprehended the Killing Sword Art's ultimate technique in one stroke—the Self-Sacrificing Sword.

Thus, Bi Changsheng decided to begin accepting missions from the Demon Extermination Society to earn contribution points and gather enough to exchange for the second layer of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Law.

A few days ago, Bi Changsheng had gone to the Demon Extermination Society and accepted a mission to clear out a Yellow Heaven Cult stronghold. The mission reward was nine thousand contribution points. Together with the one thousand contribution points Bi Changsheng still had, it was exactly enough to exchange for the second layer of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Law.

The only drawback of this mission was that the destination was rather far away, and the round trip would take some time.

Ever since the Divine Fist Sect's Supreme Elder Fang Yaoyang and the Demon Extermination Society's president, Ying Tianqing, had devastated Jin'an City three months ago, the Divine Fist Sect and the Demon Extermination Society had continuously sent people to Ningyun Prefecture to eliminate the remnants of the Yellow Heaven Cult.

Bi Changsheng's mission was also in Ningyun Prefecture.

That was why Bi Changsheng had spent the past few days preparing to leave. First, he had set aside more time each day to refine pills, lest the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion run short of pills while he was away.

On the other hand, he had spent time familiarizing himself with and fully mastering the supreme sword technique he had just comprehended—the Self-Sacrificing Sword.

Moreover, something happened yesterday that delighted Bi Changsheng: after more than three months of cultivation, Little Black had finally completed its transformation and become a Demonic Beast at the Qi Refining First Layer.

After its transformation, Little Black could fight Inner Strength Realm martial artists with its physical strength alone. It also seemed to have awakened some bloodline and acquired an innate spell that allowed it to spit fireballs. The might of those fireballs was even somewhat greater than that of Old Daoist Su's Fireball Talisman. A martial artist in the early Qi and Blood Realm would definitely suffer if struck by one.

The extent of Little Black's transformation seemed miraculous even to Bi Changsheng. Before transforming, Little Black could not even fight an ordinary formal martial artist, yet now its strength had suddenly risen to such a level.

Fortunately, with Little Black guarding the household after its transformation, Bi Changsheng could leave to complete the mission without worry.

The next day, after giving Uncle Fu, Liu Zhengqing, and Little Black separate instructions, Bi Changsheng set off for Ningyun Prefecture.