A' Man

Long Chen couldn't help but be startled, that woman?

"The one who fought you earlier," Master Yun Qi said with a serious expression.

"What? Is there something wrong with her?" Long Chen asked, confused.

Master Yun Qi hesitated for a moment, then said, "Follow me."

Long Chen followed Master Yun Qi back to his previous residence, feeling curious. That woman was only at the Qi Gathering Ninth Heaven stage; she shouldn't be enough to warrant Master Yun Qi's special attention, should she?

After entering the room and closing the door, Master Yun Qi waved his hand over his ring, and a scroll appeared in his hand.

"Whoosh!"

The scroll unfurled, and Long Chen was stunned. The scroll depicted a beautiful woman with delicate features, a rustic alchemy cauldron placed before her as she refined pills.

What surprised Long Chen was that the woman's face was almost identical to the crazy woman he had encountered.

However, the woman in the painting was pure and serene, exuding a gentle aura, while the crazy woman was vastly different.

"This is..." Long Chen ventured tentatively. The scroll was ancient, clearly an item of considerable age. Long Chen didn't understand why Master Yun Qi was showing him this painting.

"The person in the painting is my wife," Master Yun Qi said, a rare hint of tenderness appearing on his usually stern face as he gazed at the portrait.

Long Chen's jaw dropped. This was something he never expected, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

After a long pause, Master Yun Qi gently rolled up the scroll and sighed, "My beloved wife passed away a long time ago.

When I first saw that woman, I almost thought I was hallucinating. It took me a long time to calm myself down.

But when that woman insisted on taking me as her master, it immediately put me on guard."

"What? Does she have some ulterior motive?" Long Chen asked, taken aback.

Master Yun Qi smiled faintly, not answering. After a while, he said, "She is also a Pill Apprentice, with excellent talent, possibly even better than yours. So, you need to be careful."

Long Chen felt a bit lost, but Master Yun Qi refused to say anything more. He took Long Chen's Jade Token and inscribed his unique mark on it.

That mark contained a trace of his soul power. With this mark, Long Chen could pre-order precious medicinal ingredients from the Alchemist Guild's pharmacy.

After inscribing the mark, Long Chen was promptly kicked out, leaving his mind filled with countless questions.

It seemed the arrival of that crazy woman was no coincidence. If it was deliberate, what did she want?

Master Yun Qi? But thinking about Master Yun Qi's age, that seems unlikely.

But even if it were, he should have found someone more demure. Who could tolerate such an arrogant and overbearing woman?

Could it be that Master Yun Qi has other secrets? Maybe she's his illegitimate daughter?

No, that doesn't make sense. An illegitimate daughter of Master Yun Qi would have no connection to his beloved wife, so how could she look so much like her?

His head was spinning. Long Chen decided to stop thinking about it. Master Yun Qi wouldn't harm him anyway, but it was still best to be cautious.

Carrying his Jade Token, he went directly to the pharmacy. When Long Chen presented his Nameplate, the young attendant's attitude immediately became respectful.

Long Chen inquired about the procedures for pre-ordering medicinal ingredients and learned that with Level 1 credit, he could pre-order up to five million Gold Coins worth of ingredients, limited to Tier 1.

His credit level was Tier 2, allowing him to pre-order Tier 1 ingredients worth up to thirty million Gold Coins, and up to five sets of Tier 2 ingredients.

This result made Long Chen exclaim that the trip was worthwhile. With this credit limit, he would never have to worry about not having money to buy medicine again.

Typically, when an Alchemist refines pills, it takes five sets of ingredients for one successful attempt. This usually breaks even. If they succeed twice, they make a substantial profit.

For Long Chen, who possessed the memories of a Pill Emperor, the failure rate for refining Tier 1 pills was zero. If his Pill Fire wasn't so poor, his efficiency would be even higher.

However, Long Chen decided against refining Tier 2 pills for now. With his current Pill Fire, refining Tier 2 pills would exhaust him to death.

For now, he needed to continue condensing the Wind Mansion Star. The Wind Mansion Star had just formed and had significant room for improvement. He needed to condense it to the perfect stage.

Long Chen wanted to buy all the ingredients for refining the Wind Mansion Pill at once, but to his disappointment, the Guild didn't have enough stock.

Reluctantly, Long Chen withdrew fifty sets of ingredients and also purchased some other Tier 1 medicinal ingredients. After all, refined pills could be sold to the Guild, which was also a source of income.

The Phoenix Cry Empire had a strong martial tradition, a large population, and countless adventurers. Pills were always in short supply.

Fortunately, the Alchemist Guild was a conscientious establishment and never engaged in price gouging. Otherwise, the Guild's wealth accumulation speed would undoubtedly be the fastest and most ruthless.

After returning from the Guild, Long Chen was walking when he suddenly heard a commotion ahead. He could hear shouting and curses from a distance. Long Chen hurried over to see what was happening.

He saw more than a dozen workers beating a man. A round, plump middle-aged man, pointing with fingers as thick as radishes, was loudly cursing the person on the ground.

"Brother, what's going on here?" Long Chen asked a bystander.

"Heh heh, you'll die laughing when you hear this. See that chimney, over eighty feet tall? That kid built it.

The boss came to inspect it today and almost died of anger when he saw the chimney. That big idiot misread the blueprints; they were supposed to dig a well, hahaha..."

Long Chen almost burst out laughing when he heard this. Was there such an oddball in the world? He looked at the man being beaten on the ground and his heart trembled slightly.

The man looked young, likely not older than Long Chen, but he was tall and exceptionally strong. He lay on the ground, taking the punches and kicks without retaliating.

What shocked Long Chen was that when the blows landed on the man, a strange force seemed to deflect them.

If Long Chen's soul power wasn't extraordinary, he wouldn't have noticed the subtle fluctuations. However, the young man showed no spiritual energy fluctuations; he wasn't a cultivator at all.

The young man had been beaten for a long time without any reaction. In contrast, his attackers were panting and their hands and feet were swollen from exhaustion.

"Damn it, you're making me furious! How much money is this idiot going to cost me? Beat him to death!"

That fat boss, looking at the giant chimney in front of him, felt a surge of anger. He cursed repeatedly and even kicked it a few times himself.

"Stop!" A voice suddenly called out.

"You tell me to stop, and I stop? Who the hell are you?"

The boss, still fuming, didn't even think before cursing upon hearing the voice. Only then did he look towards the speaker.

However, upon seeing who it was, sweat immediately broke out on the boss's face. He stammered, "M-Marquis..."

"Stop it. Here are a hundred Gold Coins, enough for you to tear down the chimney and dig a new well," Long Chen said, too lazy to argue with such a person. He tossed him a bag of Gold Coins, too lazy to resort to force when money could solve the problem.

Seeing this, the others quickly stopped. The fat boss hurriedly said, "Marquis, this..."

"Take it and get lost."

Long Chen frowned and said coldly.

Seeing the fat man's expression, Long Chen knew this idiot probably wanted to curry favor with him. He let out a cold snort; such people shouldn't be treated kindly.

"Yes, yes, I'll get lost now."

The fat man quickly gathered his group and slunk away dejectedly.

"Little brother, get up," Long Chen said, looking at the young man still lying on the ground.

The young man seemed to be asleep. Hearing Long Chen's call, he blankly raised his head and found that the people who had been hitting him were gone.

"Did you save me?" the young man asked, a little dazed.

"Get up first, then we'll talk," Long Chen smiled. The young man looked very honest and kind, making people feel good towards him.

"Oh."

When the young man stood up, he couldn't help but draw a gasp from the onlookers. While he was lying on the ground, everyone had only thought he was large, but now that he stood up, they were astonished.

The young man was nearly ten feet tall, like a behemoth, putting pressure on everyone around him.

"So tall."

Long Chen was also surprised. In front of him, everyone else seemed like children.

"They were hitting you, why didn't you fight back?" Long Chen asked. Seeing how strong he was, and that the people hitting him weren't martial artists, he could have easily knocked them down.

"They said I did something wrong, and they hit me, so I couldn't fight back," the young man said honestly.

Long Chen shook his head. Although this big guy was strong, his intelligence seemed childlike. It was rare for someone to be so honest and simple, but being able to cap a well and turn it into a chimney was enough to cause concern about his intelligence.

"Where do you live?"

"I don't have a home. Big brother, do you need a laborer? I don't need wages, just food. I'm so hungry," the young man pleaded.

Just as Long Chen was about to speak, someone suddenly reminded him, "Little Marquis, don't be fooled! This kid can eat a whole cow in one meal. Hiring him is definitely not cost-effective."

"No, I can not eat meat. I just need food," the young man said somewhat anxiously.

"Alright, then come with me. What's your name?" Long Chen asked.

"My name is Man Niu, thank you, big brother," Man Niu said excitedly.

"Mm, from now on, I'll call you A' Man. You can call me Brother Long," Long Chen nodded.

"Okay, Brother Long," A' Man nodded honestly.

After Long Chen and A' Man left, the people present couldn't help but feel envious. They envied the simple-minded giant for being appreciated by a young lord; truly, a fool's luck.

Along the way, Long Chen asked about A' Man's past. A' Man said he was found by kind people, but when he was five, a plague took the lives of everyone in the village, and only he survived.

So, he wandered alone to the imperial capital, making a living by doing odd jobs, but because of his enormous appetite, he was quickly driven away. His life was very hard.

"A' Man, from now on, follow me. I won't let you go hungry," Long Chen felt a pang of sympathy.

Indeed, powerful people shared a common greatness, while unfortunate people had their own misfortunes. Although their statuses were different, the degree of their misfortune was not much different. Long Chen had only just begun to turn his luck around.

As the two walked, they entered a wide road when suddenly a cry of alarm came, and a massive figure sped past.

It was a luxurious carriage, pulled by a Blood-Red Yak in front, a first-tier magical beast. It galloped forward without regard for the people around.

A little girl, about five or six years old, was playing by the roadside. She suddenly saw the giant Blood-Red Yak and was so scared she froze, forgetting to dodge. She was about to be crushed under the carriage.

Long Chen let out a cold snort. With a bang under his feet, several solid paving stones were shattered. He moved like lightning, scooped up the little girl, and quickly dodged to the side.

Just as Long Chen stabilized himself, the carriage sped past them. As Long Chen thought everything was over, an angry voice rang out:

"Audacious lowly peasant, how dare you block the carriage! You're seeking death!"

With a cold snort, a long whip, carrying a strong wind, whistled towards Long Chen.