In the days that followed, news of Guo Zhuang being burned down and Yi Qingchuan being murdered swept through the city.
Some said it was a master dispensing justice, while others called it a case of gangsters preying on gangsters. The arguments raged on.
Lu Li, meanwhile, stayed home and cultivated in peace, quietly building up his strength.
The day came to the first of July.
The courtyard of the clinic rang with the whistling of the Nine-Section Whip. It was half an hour before the sound finally stopped.
"With 'Body Follows Will,' training feels so much smoother!"
Lu Li let out a long breath, thoroughly satisfied with his progress.
He could feel the major tendons throughout his body gradually stretching.
His body was becoming more agile and supple by the day, and his qi and blood were growing ever more vigorous.
His Spirit Refinement was still advancing at a breakneck pace. He could now unleash "telekinesis" eight times in a row!
The gains were gratifying, and Lu Li was delighted.
Only with strength could he change his fate and take control of it!
Yet he still hadn't realized how unsettling his gaze could be.
At that moment, Wan Qing was carrying a basin of freshly washed clothes over to the line.
In the height of summer, people were already dressed lightly.
Every time the young woman lifted her arms, the pomelos in her bosom threatened to tumble out.
Lu Li's qi and blood were vigorous from training, and his senses were sharp. He glanced over instinctively.
His gaze lingered, and his Mind Power brushed over the tips of her breasts like a soft-bristled brush.
Wan Qing's face instantly flushed to the roots of her neck, and she froze with the laundry in her hands.
Lu Li assumed she was tired from working under the blazing sun, so he stepped forward to help. "Let me hang them."
"Thank you, Young Master."
Wan Qing held an arm across her chest, mortified with embarrassment, but she wasn't all that upset.
It was only natural for a young woman to admire a handsome young man.
Still, she was conflicted. Should she tactfully remind him? Being brushed like that out of the blue had been quite a ticklish sensation...
Lu Li had just finished hanging the clothes when familiar footsteps sounded at the front gate. Xiao Cha was back.
For the past several days, Xiao Cha had gone to the police station every day to gather news.
Now she wore a smug look as she told the two of them:
"Just as I predicted, the authorities have been investigating the Tooth Brokerage's rivals all along. They haven't suspected us at all~"
Hearing this, Wan Qing breathed a sigh of relief.
But then Xiao Cha turned to Lu Li and said:
"Jin Chaofeng of the National Martial Arts Association sent word that the Calming Incense supply is about to dry up."
"The supply's drying up?"
"Exactly! The price of Calming Incense has gone up three times a day lately, rivaling grain prices in a famine. Even if the Divine Heart Society has cut off its supply, prices shouldn't have gotten this bad... Someone's definitely hoarding it to drive up the price!"
Xiao Cha grew angrier as she spoke. "These unscrupulous merchants have always been like this! They use tricks like these to sell things at sky-high prices and bleed Rogue Cultivators dry!"
Great clans and sects had dedicated supply channels. Only Rogue Cultivators had to buy their own cultivation resources, and they were sure to get fleeced.
Lu Li frowned. "Can we buy more before the supply runs out?"
Xiao Cha hesitated. "At these prices, buying now is a terrible deal. We could use incense less often for a while. Maybe the supply will be back to normal soon."
Lu Li shook his head. "No. That would waste too much time. I'll go see if I can stock up."
Xiao Cha knew he couldn't stand to lose even a moment of cultivation time. There was no talking him out of it, so she said:
"All right. You can try a few different shops."
After lunch, Lu Li took his gun, tucked a few silver ingots into his pocket, and set off.
He went from shop to shop, but every one of them told him, "Out of stock."
It wasn't until he reached He Nian Tang, the shop printed on the Blood Vitality Pill bottle, that he found any in stock.
But they would sell him only one box, and quoted a steep price of 350 Ocean Dollars.
The money he had was stolen, so he didn't mind spending it. Lu Li bought it without hesitation.
He then made the rounds of several famous large trading houses in Jinmen, but managed to buy only two more boxes, both at the same steep price of 350 Ocean Dollars.
The 2,000 Ocean Dollars he'd thought would last him a long time had been cut in half in an instant.
As Lu Li walked home carrying the three hard-won boxes of Calming Incense, he suddenly thought—
This stuff was a lot like graphics cards on Blue Star at one point. The unscrupulous merchants had hoarded them and withheld stock, forcing prices sky-high.
"I don't care about money, but I can't let people hold such an important cultivation resource over my head. What if one day I have money but can't buy any...?"
At that thought, an idea suddenly occurred to Lu Li:
"Calming Incense... Could I make a replica on Blue Star?"
"Incense can be classified as processed medicinal materials. I'll ask Wan Qing about it!"
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed, and Lu Li quickened his pace.
But at that moment, three figures behind him hurried to catch up.
Lu Li raised an eyebrow. He instantly sensed the three men tailing him, then entered Bullet Time and saw right through them.
"They must be after the Calming Incense... Has it really gotten this bad already?"
Without the slightest panic, Lu Li headed into an empty, shadowy alley.
Before long, three men in worn-out clothes and with unfriendly expressions cautiously followed him inside.
Seeing that Lu Li was alone, they all drew Ox-ear Daggers and surrounded him, threatening:
"Cripple, put down what you're carrying and you can get lost!"
"If you want money more than your life, Grandpa will put a few more holes in you!"
The men's knives still bore dried bloodstains. They were clearly no good.
Lu Li didn't hold back. His eyes narrowed, and he unleashed "telekinesis."
Caught completely off guard, the knife in the right-hand man's grasp suddenly shot out and pierced the throat of the man on the left.
The next instant, an invisible force yanked the knife free and drove it into its original owner's heart.
The two wide-eyed bodies slowly crumpled to the ground. The man in the middle was the only one left; he cried out in terror and turned to run.
Lu Li narrowed his eyes. With a hiss, the knife pulled itself from the corpse, then plunged into the fleeing man's back with a thud.
Just like that, the three knife-wielding robbers lost their lives without even understanding what had happened. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought they'd turned on each other.
But the fact that even such low-level thugs were getting involved showed just how scarce Calming Incense had become.
Lu Li remained composed as he strolled out of the narrow alley.
Back at the clinic, Xiao Cha was practicing her punches.
Lu Li glanced at her generous rear without thinking, making the girl blush and lose her form.
He called both women over and asked, "Do you know how Calming Incense is made?"
Wan Qing discreetly held an arm across her chest and said:
"Various aromatic ingredients are soaked, boiled, roasted, and stir-fried to make it. The process is extremely complicated, and not the slightest mistake is allowed. That's why only Cultivators at the Thoughtless Meditation realm or above can make it."
"Is there anything unusual about the ingredients?"
"They're just natural animal and plant aromatics, such as sandalwood and musk."
Lu Li nodded thoughtfully. Though the two worlds differed in their supernatural powers, their natural resources were basically identical.
I could take a stick of Calming Incense back to Blue Star and see if I can make a replica. I could also buy some weapons while I'm there...
Once he'd made up his mind, Lu Li said decisively:
"I'm going away for a few days to see if I can figure out how to make my own Calming Incense."
Hearing that he was leaving, the two women felt a little relieved.
Xiao Cha chirped, "Go on, then. Have a safe trip~"
Wan Qing offered a tactful suggestion. "Young Master, when you have some free time, you could practice fine control of your Mind Power."
"Mm, all right. I'm off."
With his mind on other things, Lu Li took a stick of incense and left.
After he was gone, Xiao Cha said helplessly, "I don't think he caught the hint in what you said."
Wan Qing blushed. "Young Master Lu didn't do it on purpose... He'll get his Mind Power under control sooner or later. We just have to put up with it for now."
Xiao Cha giggled. "Where was he looking at you? At the two big watermelons on your grape trellis~"
Wan Qing couldn't be bothered to humor her. She turned and went back inside.
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