The Partnership Was Sealed!

"Giant Spirit God."

This secret technique was far harder to come by than the Blood Arrow Secret Technique.

To cultivate it, spiritual energy, spirit sand, and precious materials were indispensable—but so were personal talent and perseverance.

"The secret technique has seven hundred and seventy Qi Circulation Diagrams. Each one is a hundred times more complex than the visualization diagrams in the Thunder Illumination Scripture."

"Even completing a single Qi Circulation Diagram is no easy feat, let alone stacking them one after another. The difficulty keeps growing, too."

"Seven hundred and seventy!"

"That's harder than climbing to the heavens!"

When Meng Nan first encountered the Giant Spirit God secret technique, he'd been stunned, too.

A secret technique like this could probably only be mastered by an Immortal Master at the Qi Refining stage.

It was too difficult for ordinary people to cultivate.

In his third life, Meng Nan and Zhao Xiaoshuang had spent decades cultivating it, yet they'd only managed to construct thirty Qi Circulation Diagrams. The Giant Spirit God had begun to take shape, and its framework had stabilized enough to start devouring spiritual energy and spirit sand.

But filling those thirty diagrams required a vast amount of spiritual energy and spirit sand. That was another hurdle.

And that was only the first thirty diagrams.

The remaining seven hundred and forty were almost unimaginable.

During the seven or eight years Meng Nan spent cultivating this secret technique in his third life, he had only just reached eighteen diagrams. He was still a long way from thirty.

So there was no need to rush to the site of Angming City, which hadn't been built yet.

"With my current Embryonic Breathing cultivation, I can construct at most two or three diagrams."

"I'll manage more once I reach the Inner Qi Stage. By the peak of the Inner Qi Stage, getting to thirty shouldn't be difficult."

"Then I can go there and initially master this secret technique. I'll be invincible among those at the Inner Qi Stage."

Meng Nan had already made plans.

For now, he was just getting ready.

Meng Nan had killed Zhou Shan at the end of September.

The next day, he'd gone to see Qian Yu and asked her to help procure medicinal ingredients.

Then he'd killed Zhou Boren on October twelfth, followed by two more wicked Inner Qi practitioners over the next ten days.

The third life had begun on October twenty-second.

The fourth day after it ended.

October 26, Year 18 of the Immortal Calendar.

Qian Yu finally delivered the medicinal ingredients. She also brought a small alchemy furnace and a small bag of coal for the alchemy.

Everything was ready, from head to toe.

"Auntie Yu!"

Zhao Xiaoshuang was surprised to see Qian Yu.

She was at the True Qi Stage, one of only a dozen or so people at that level throughout Yinlian Village—a genuine big shot. What was someone like that doing, carrying bags and bundles to their house?

"Auntie."

Seeing Qian Yu again left Meng Nan feeling rather awkward.

He'd spent seven years with her in Qingtian Market, and had always called her "Senior Sister." Now he'd suddenly gone back to calling her "Auntie." Being a generation below her was one thing; the main problem was that it felt so unnatural.

But there was no time to dwell on that now.

He hurried over, took the bags and bundles from Qian Yu, and smiled. "Sorry for the trouble, Auntie. You could've just let me know, and I would've come to pick them up."

"It's no trouble."

"I was just coming by to see how you were doing."

Qian Yu was easygoing. She waved a hand, then looked around Meng Nan's neat, orderly courtyard. Even with all the odds and ends, nothing was out of place. She could tell a lot about his character from that.

Then she looked at Zhao Xiaoshuang, standing beside Meng Nan. Her bearing and complexion gave Qian Yu a general idea of Meng Nan's character and virtues, too.

After taking it all in, Qian Yu asked, "Are you going to start refining now? May I watch?"

"Sure."

"You can watch."

"But watching me do this won't be enough for you to learn it."

Meng Nan joked with Qian Yu for a couple of sentences, then carried the bags and bundles into the backyard.

During October, Meng Nan had built a shelter there to keep out the wind and rain. It was the third room in their home, and for the time being, he'd use it as an alchemy room.

Later, they could replace it with something better.

As he hurried toward the alchemy room, Meng Nan explained to Zhao Xiaoshuang, "Our family has a secret recipe for refining medicine, and I'm very talented at it. I realized over the past few months that carpentry doesn't earn much, so I discussed it with Auntie Yu and decided to try my hand at refining medicine. I hadn't settled on it before, so I didn't tell you."

"My husband can refine medicine, too?"

Zhao Xiaoshuang listened, utterly dumbfounded.

Only after marrying him had she learned that Meng Nan was a carpenter and a bamboo weaver. She'd already been amazed and delighted then, knowing their family would never have to worry about food and clothes.

But these past few months had been even better than she'd imagined.

And now Meng Nan had some sort of medicine-refining technique that could earn even more than carpentry. If he succeeded, how wealthy would their family become?

Zhao Xiaoshuang followed close behind, full of anticipation.

Qian Yu hadn't thought much of it at first, but seeing how serious Meng Nan was now, she began to look forward to it, too.

You couldn't understand the difficulty of cultivation until you reached the True Qi Stage.

Qian Yu had advanced to the True Qi Stage several months ago. Only then had she realized that cultivating at this stage required not just hard work, but also plenty of money and resources.

So she'd been pondering ways to make money for the past few months.

At first, she'd considered tea.

Later, after Meng Nan had interrupted her train of thought, she'd decided that medicinal ingredients were indeed promising, with even better prospects. But there were more obstacles and complications, which had kept her hesitating.

If Meng Nan could truly refine medicine this time, Qian Yu would be able to make up her mind.

The three of them entered the alchemy room.

Two watched curiously.

Meng Nan remained composed.

In the seven years he'd spent in Qingtian Market, he'd refined medicine more than ten thousand times. He had an incredible amount of experience.

Selecting the ingredients.

Preparing them.

Measuring the quantities.

Following the proper sequence.

Controlling the heat.

Every step proceeded smoothly and methodically. He was as composed as a master of the craft, each motion effortless.

Before they'd even reached the halfway point, Qian Yu's eyes were already shining. She knew that Meng Nan's skill at refining medicine was genuine. And if she could partner with an alchemist, making money would be all too easy!

Full of anticipation.

Caught up in her excitement.

Qian Yu was no longer as calm as before. She stared intently at the little alchemy furnace.

No one knew how much time passed.

A faint fragrance drifted into their noses.

"It's done?"

Qian Yu jolted. Meng Nan lifted the lid of the furnace, revealing a lump of paste inside.

It didn't look very appealing.

Meng Nan picked up a small wooden spoon beside him and gently scooped into it. A pill formed.

"This is Hemostasis Powder."

Seeing Qian Yu's delighted expression, Meng Nan knew their partnership was sealed.

Qian Yu had arrived looking perfectly calm.

Half a day later, she left in high spirits.

Before leaving, she warned Meng Nan and his wife, "Don't go out for a few days. Something's been off in the village lately."

"What's off?" Meng Nan asked curiously.

"Zhou Shan went berserk."

"Zhou Boren has disappeared."

"And seven more Inner Qi practitioners are missing. No one saw them alive, and no one found their bodies."

"Anyway, be careful."

Qian Yu gave them a few more warnings, then left.

She still had to continue investigating.

Seven Inner Qi practitioners vanishing all at once, right after the incident with Zhou Shan, was bound to raise suspicions.

How many Inner Qi practitioners did Yinlian Village have to begin with?

She had to get to the bottom of it. Otherwise, Yinlian Village might not be peaceful for long.

Watching Qian Yu leave, Zhao Xiaoshuang felt a little frightened, too. "So many Inner Qi practitioners have disappeared? Could Zhou Shan's accomplices have come for revenge?"

"It's fine."

"Even if they want revenge, they won't come after us. We're only at the Embryonic Breathing stage."

Meng Nan smiled.

Zhou Shan.

Zhou Boren.

And six of the seven Inner Qi practitioners who'd disappeared afterward had all been killed by Meng Nan himself.

He didn't know what had happened to the extra Inner Qi practitioner. It was probably just a coincidence.

Since that person had disappeared around the same time, they'd been counted among the missing, too.

Such a tiny place as Yinlian Village had seen so much happen in only a month. So many Inner Qi practitioners had vanished, and it had all happened right after Zhou Shan's death. No wonder Qian Yu and the others were on guard.

They'd probably connected these incidents already.

And they weren't wrong.

They just had the wrong idea about what had happened.

"Whatever they think, I can't make another move for a while."

"Besides, there aren't many wicked Inner Qi practitioners left in Yinlian Village for me to kill."

Meng Nan had expected this, so it didn't bother him much.