A Rivalry So Great, You Buy Poison by the Pound

Extreme Misfortune Pill: When the user is in high spirits, they will burst into tears. Side effect: Overactive tear glands.

The Glazed Bottle's random pill production was truly unpredictable. Either the upper limit was terrifyingly high, or there was no lower limit at all.

At the high end was the Life Creation Pill; at the low end were pills for breast enhancement, beauty, lactation, and virility. And today, it had once again plumbed the depths.

"Only a ghost would eat this pill!"

Hanyu gave his powerless evaluation in his mind.

"I've never produced such low-end stuff." Little Glazed chuckled beside him.

At that moment, Hanyu suddenly discovered that there was another pill in his mind. After thinking it over carefully, his face turned deathly pale.

Muscle Strengthening Bone Fortifying Pill: The user gains a robust body. Side effect: Complete lack of self-control in the face of food, accompanied by an urge to eat.

Wasn't this the pill that the stupid bottle had spontaneously spat out that day after coveting the Sarira of that eminent monk?

By his calculations, today was exactly the seventh day. If he did not use it before midnight, he would have to digest it himself.

He clenched his palm and opened it again, and the pill appeared in his hand. He pinched it between his fingers, his brows tightly furrowed.

The words "complete lack of self-control" and "urge" made Hanyu apprehensive. The last time something similar had appeared, Bai Jingliang had been dragged from the city into the mountains by a flock of pheasants.

Mortal entered without making a sound. When he saw the pill at Hanyu's fingertips, curiosity arose in him. His palm flashed past Hanyu's hand, and in the next moment, the pill had appeared in his own palm.

"What good stuff are you eating?"

Mortal grinned as he made a show of swallowing it.

Hanyu watched him with anticipation. Mortal was as sly as a fox; the moment he saw Hanyu's expression, he hurriedly returned the pill.

"What kind of medicine is this, anyway?"

Mortal asked curiously.

Hanyu gave a slight smile and explained the pill's effects. Mortal listened in open-mouthed amazement.

"You'd better stick to being a Body Cultivator! Medicine Master isn't for you. Even though Medicine Masters are rare in the cultivator world, we can't let someone who randomly concocts medicines like you sneak into their ranks!"

Mortal was still shaken. Who knew what would have happened if he had eaten the pill just now?

Hanyu merely smiled and said nothing. The Glazed Bottle was naturally a secret that could never be revealed.

Before long, Cousin arrived as well.

He pushed open the door listlessly and sat down across from the two of them, looking utterly dispirited.

Mortal stared at him in surprise, reached out to feel his forehead, and joked, "You're not running a fever!"

Cousin rolled his eyes at him, then sighed and said, "My cousin has confined me."

Hanyu looked at him in amusement. "You're wandering around everywhere, and you call this confinement?"

Mortal nodded in agreement from the side.

Thus, Cousin let out a series of long sighs and recounted the matter. Su Wanjun had always felt that the two fires were no simple accidents. Moreover, Zhu You Sect's attitude had been far too indifferent. Although she had no evidence, Su Wanjun firmly believed Cousin.

So many disciples had died, and Cousin was even an insider. The Mastermind behind the two fires was probably a high-level cultivator. If they still needed to silence witnesses, Cousin and the other two would likely be in danger.

She was worried that the arsonist Mastermind was still in Shuzhou Prefecture, so Su Wanjun had directly confined Cousin to the city.

"My cousin hasn't restricted the two of you. If you're willing to wait in the city for a few more days, you can leave once there's some progress or once it's confirmed that the Mastermind has left Shuzhou Prefecture."

Cousin relayed Su Wanjun's words.

She naturally had no authority to restrict the other two, which Cousin found quite enviable.

"I'm not planning to leave until my leg has completely healed."

Mortal had always prided himself on his speed and movement techniques. Until he had fully recovered, he probably wouldn't dare go out.

Hanyu, meanwhile, was thinking about how to get the two pills out of the city.

Cousin was delighted to have the two of them with him. With company, it no longer felt like confinement. In high spirits, he generously invited them to dinner.

Along the main road of Shuzhou City, the streets were lined with bustling, prosperous scenes. Pedestrians streamed endlessly past, and the roads and lanes intertwined in a ceaseless flow.

Whenever Hanyu spotted a thin man, he went over to strike up a conversation. "Brother, wait a moment. You and I are fated to meet..."

"What is he doing?"

Cousin stared blankly at the oddly behaving Hanyu, then secretly turned his head and asked Mortal in a low voice.

Mortal narrowed his eyes. He seemed to have caught sight of a pill flashing through Hanyu's hand, and realization dawned on him. He quietly told Cousin the pill's effects.

Cousin's expression grew even stranger. Shaking his head, he said, "Why keep such a bizarre pill instead of throwing it away?"

Mortal pondered for a moment, then guessed in surprise, "Could he be looking for someone to test it on?"

That certainly fit the image of an eccentric Medicine Master. It was just that Hanyu was far too young for it to make sense. If he were already a gray-haired old man, the resemblance would have been perfect.

Mortal suddenly remembered something else and cried out, "That day, I saw him put something into his mouth too. Then he became an idiot for three days. Could that have been another botched pill?"

Their expressions turned solemn, and they said in unison, "We'd better not touch his medicines in the future."

While they were whispering among themselves, Hanyu returned listlessly.

Cousin and Mortal hurriedly lowered their voices. The three soon arrived at Shuzhou City's largest restaurant, Shuzhong Xian, without another word.

According to Cousin, the restaurant's owner was so confident that his food was the best in all of Shu Prefecture that he had dared to give it that name.

Whether that was an exaggeration was hard to say, but the place had been open for several decades without going under.

After entering the restaurant, the three went straight up to the second floor and took a spacious seat by the window.

"Order whatever you like. During my confinement, I can charge all my expenses in the city to the tab."

Cousin waved his hand with great swagger.

The other two rolled their eyes. No wonder he was so generous—it turned out he was spending someone else's money.

Mortal teased him further. "Didn't you say a while ago that you made a huge sum designing a mechanism for a wealthy household here? Why do you still need to charge things to the tab?"

At that, Cousin's expression became listless, which immediately piqued the other two's interest. They hurriedly pressed him for an explanation.

Only after a while did Cousin stammer, "Forget it. My cousin confiscated the money."

That made them even more curious, and Cousin's explanation left them both laughing and crying.

He had indeed designed a set of mechanisms to protect a wealthy household's home. But, on a sudden whim, he had also designed some offensive mechanisms. He had no idea what bandit had possessed such terrible luck that he chose that very household to rob.

The bandit died on the spot, while the neighboring residence was blasted flat. Fortunately, it had been vacant, so no further casualties occurred.

The matter naturally alarmed Su Wanjun. When she pulled a Spirit Stone out of the mechanism with a dark expression, she had already guessed almost everything. Only one person could have caused such a disaster.

That pile of machinery could be slightly modified and replicated in batches—enough to attack a city. Su Wanjun immediately classified it as controlled military equipment and ordered the Prefectural Guards to destroy it on the spot. Cousin's money was confiscated as well, and he had even been locked up for two days...

The two laughed so hard they bent forward and backward, tears nearly spilling from their eyes.

Just then—

Clatter, clatter, clatter!

The staircase right beside them erupted in noisy footsteps, and two figures strode upstairs like dragons and tigers.

Hanyu suddenly noticed that Cousin's face had turned much uglier. He followed his gaze.

The two who had just come upstairs were one man with a face as handsome as carved jade, dressed in white brocade dyed with elegant lotus patterns and carrying a long sword.

The other had a sharp, narrow face and a pair of slender eyes filled with a sinister chill. He wore black fitted clothing, with a Three-Foot Long Blade hanging from his waist.

"What happened?"

Mortal turned his head as well. The two distant figures sat down, then looked over at them.

When their eyes met, the sinister man's expression also turned ugly. He immediately let out several cold snorts, a mocking smile hanging from his lips.

The other man's expression remained normal, but there was something faintly off about the way he looked at Cousin.

"Enemies?"

Hanyu turned back and guessed.

Cousin shook his head and clearly did not intend to say more. He only said stiffly, "If anything happens later, try not to interfere. Let me handle it."

"At worst, we won't eat. Let's leave first."

Mortal also vaguely sensed that the other party was at odds with Cousin, so he spoke up.

Cousin shook his head. "Why should I hide from them?"

The three of them lost their mood for conversation and quietly waited for the food.

"Isn't this the famous wastrel Young Master Mo of the Mo Family? Have you come looking for your sister like a child who refuses to grow up?"

A voice like a quacking drake suddenly rose noisily behind them.

The sinister man had come over and spoken with a mocking expression.

Suppressing his anger, Cousin stood and said coldly, "I have guests today, Wang Shiyi. You'd better not force me to sever all ties."

Wang Shiyi sneered. "A person like you has friends too? Could they be nothing but a pack of worthless drinking companions?"

With one sentence, he had cursed all three of them at once. Their expressions changed simultaneously.

Mortal suddenly gave a cold laugh and said, seemingly to himself, "I wonder whether your family reminded you to take your eyes with you when you left home. Look where you're going and don't recklessly crash into people, unless you want to die without even knowing how."

Though Hanyu said nothing, he raised his right fist, and the air around them suddenly grew scorching hot.

"Shiyi!"

The friend in the distance called out with a frown. Only then did Wang Shiyi glare and snort several times before leaving.

"If this idiot were overseas, I'd be sorry to his parents if I let him walk out alive."

Mortal was furious as he spoke in a muffled voice.

Cousin shook his head with a bitter smile. "You should have endured it. My family has always been at odds with them. Whenever both sides meet, they act exactly like this. There was no need for you to offend them."

"If I've offended him, so be it. What can he do?" Hanyu had two divine abilities at his disposal and was not afraid. He smiled indifferently.

"Overseas cultivators repay grudges on the spot. I'm still extremely unhappy."

The more Mortal thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. He abruptly turned to Hanyu.

"What happened to that pill from this morning?"

Hanyu took out the Muscle Strengthening Bone Fortifying Pill. Mortal snatched it away, hurried down the stairs without using them, and vaulted over the railing, leaving the other two staring blankly.

About a quarter of an hour later, he leisurely came back upstairs.

"What were you doing?"

Hanyu thought for a moment and came to a rough guess.

Mortal gave him a mysterious smile but said nothing.

Soon, waiters from both sides brought out the dishes. Mortal kept observing them from the corner of his eye.

"How can you be sure he'll be the one to eat it?"

Hanyu suddenly asked in a low voice.

Mortal's eyes flickered, and he bared his teeth in a cold grin. "It's simple. I just need to slip the waiter some money."

After thinking it over, Hanyu still did not understand. "What if something goes wrong and someone else eats it?"

This time, Mortal looked utterly unconcerned. "Do it first and worry about the rest later. Whether it works or not is another matter. If someone else eats it, that's his bad luck."

Were all overseas cultivators this wild?

Hanyu gained a new impression of Mortal.

Behind them, Wang Shiyi and the other cultivator clinked cups and exchanged toasts. Soon, they picked up their chopsticks. When Wang Shiyi lifted a piece of sweet-and-sour pork, a glimmer flashed through Mortal's eyes.

"See? It worked."

Mortal grinned brightly.

"If you want to test medicines in the future, just pick an enemy or someone you dislike. Look how easy this is."

Hanyu pondered, then chuckled. "I'm afraid you'll need quite a few more pills to test."

Mortal shook his head. He tapped his chopsticks lightly against the table, crossed his legs, and burst into prolonged laughter. "You don't understand. As long as you have enough enemies, you'll be buying poison by the pound whenever you go out."

He had no idea how many people would suffer because of those words in the future.

Hanyu merely felt as if his mind had been opened to a whole new way of thinking.

At the table behind them, the medicine's effects finally took hold...

I was going to beg... Ah, forget it. I can't even bring myself to beg anymore. It's enough if everyone enjoys reading.