IOU

Having successfully defused the crisis and wiped out every enemy, everyone visibly let out a breath of relief. As their tense nerves relaxed, all but Ye Tong were covered in wounds, looking both bedraggled and miserable.

"Little Master, I need healing pills. I suffered some internal injuries."

Medicine Slave sat cross-legged beneath a towering tree, his face somewhat pale. Killing that Xiantian Fourth Level expert had not come without cost to him.

Ye Tong gave a bitter smile. "Where am I supposed to get healing pills? I didn't bring the cauldron, and I don't have any ingredients for pill refinement at the moment. Even if I gathered herbs locally and found enough ingredients nearby, I still couldn't refine pills without a cauldron!"

Medicine Slave hesitated for a moment, then took a one-foot-tall jade cauldron from his basket. Crystal-clear and exquisite, it was carved with a strangely shaped beast, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, lifelike in every detail.

"This is the Jade Medicine Cauldron?"

The instant Ye Tong saw the jade cauldron, he cried out in surprise. He snatched it over and played with it in his hands for a long while before murmuring, "That old bastard didn't take the Jade Medicine Cauldron with him when he left?"

Medicine Slave shook his head. "No."

Ye Tong snorted. "Since he didn't take it, leave it with me! It belonged to that old bastard anyway. Even if I smash it someday, I won't have to feel bad about it."

"..."

Medicine Slave gave an awkward, bitter smile and said nothing further.

Mu Xiaochen and the other two had heard every word between Ye Tong and Medicine Slave. They had never expected Ye Tong to be capable of refining healing pills. Their injuries were several times worse than Medicine Slave's; if they relied on slow recuperation, they would have to wait until monkeys grew old and seas ran dry before they fully recovered.

But!

If they had healing pills, things would be different.

If the healing pills were of decent quality, their injuries might be Restored to their Original State in merely a day or two.

Mu Xiaochen moved closer to Ye Tong and said warmly, "Brother Ye Tong, I never expected you to know pill refinement. You've truly surprised me. Look, we're friends now, aren't we? How about we help you find the herbs for pill refinement, and you give each of us one healing pill from the batch you refine?"

Ye Tong said expressionlessly, "No free handouts."

"I'll buy them!"

Mu Xiaochen was annoyed, his eyes fixed straight on Ye Tong.

Sure enough.

After saying those two words, he noticed a smile appear in Ye Tong's eyes. His words had clearly moved him.

Ye Tong smiled. "Since we're friends, I'll give you a discount! As for the effects... my pill-refining skills are average. If the pills I refine don't satisfy you, don't blame me for lacking ability."

"Of course not!"

Mu Xiaochen said repeatedly.

The relatively tall woman in the green dress was Yu Wanmei, the eldest daughter of the Yu family of Zifu County. At that moment, her brows were tightly furrowed, her expression skeptical as she asked, "How could a cultivator who has not reached the Foundation Establishment Realm possibly refine healing pills? As far as I know, true healing pills have formations inscribed within them. Even experts of the Innate Realm would find it difficult to set up formations, much less inscribe them inside pills."

Ye Tong asked in return, "Who made that rule?"

Yu Wanmei said, "No one made it, but it's common sense!"

Ye Tong curled his lip and said disdainfully, "That only proves how little you've seen. The world is vast, and wonders are everywhere. Can all of them be understood through common sense? Judged by it?"

"This..."

Yu Wanmei was rendered speechless. She discovered that this youth was not only skilled at poisoning people, but his tongue was poisonous too. The moment he opened his mouth, he left others unable to respond.

Ye Tong took paper and a brush from his basket and wrote down a string of herb names. Then the brush tip moved, and drawings of herbs appeared one after another on the paper. He marked the appearance and characteristics of every herb.

"These are the herbs needed to refine healing pills. Go find them! We'll use half a day as the limit. No matter how much you find, return here within half a day," Ye Tong said calmly.

Mu Xiaochen, Yu Wanmei, and the third person stared wide-eyed at the more than ten herb illustrations on the paper, scarcely believing their eyes. They had watched Ye Tong draw every one of them.

But!

They were far too lifelike!

Every flower and every blade of grass, the brushwork and the shapes, were beyond words. They even had the illusion that real medicinal plants were growing right on the paper.

Yu Wanmei's eyes shone as she looked at Ye Tong. "Little Brother Ye Tong, your painting skills are incredible. I was once fortunate enough to attend an imperial banquet in the Sky Net Empire and personally saw the skills of the court painters. Their paintings were good, but compared with yours, there is still a tremendous gap. I dare say that with this skill alone, if you went to the imperial palace of the Sky Net Empire, you would win His Majesty's appreciation and be hailed as a master of calligraphy and painting."

Ye Tong laughed despite himself. "Stop flattering me. I don't have that kind of refined leisure. If I can stay alive, I'll be thanking Heaven, Earth, and my ancestors."

Yu Wanmei smiled. "You're so young. Naturally, you'll live for a very long time."

A very long time?

Ye Tong thought of his physical condition several days ago. He had nearly failed to suppress the poison inside his body, nearly died at its hands. He did not even know whether, if he had died from the poison then, the fusion of two souls would have allowed him to survive.

Medicine Slave stood silently to one side, his gaze becoming exceedingly strange. The Ye Tong he knew had enjoyed writing and drawing before, but compared to the calligraphy and paintings on this sheet, his former skill was as different as heaven and earth.

What was going on?

What had happened?

That fire hadn't burned Little Master! So why did he seem reborn, like a completely different person? Not only his calligraphy and paintings, but also his personality, his schemes, his combat power...

Could it be...

Medicine Slave suddenly thought of something terrifying. His gaze instantly turned sharp as he locked onto Ye Tong and asked word by word, "Little Master, do you still remember the first thing you said to this old servant after Master brought you back to the Precious Medicine Workshop?"

Ye Tong felt his body tense. He immediately realized that his skills in calligraphy and painting had made Medicine Slave suspicious. However, he had inherited Ye Tong's memories and naturally understood everything about Ye Tong. Slowly, he said, "Old man, do you have anything to eat?"

Medicine Slave's aura eased.

Back then.

The first words Ye Tong had said upon meeting him were precisely these: "Old man, do you have anything to eat?"

Medicine Slave fell silent for a moment before asking again, "Did Master have some hidden danger?"

This matter.

Only Medicine Slave and Ye Tong knew of it, because it was Poison Demon Huo Lanqiu's greatest secret.

Ye Tong said, "Poison Body."

The aura Medicine Slave had released was instantly drawn back completely. He knew Ye Tong was still Ye Tong; something unknown had simply happened to him, bringing about a reborn transformation. Perhaps he had encountered some wondrous opportunity during this past year.

Ye Tong looked calmly at Medicine Slave and said, "Don't stand around either. If you want to take healing pills, go find the herbs needed for pill refinement."

"Yes!"

Medicine Slave answered respectfully.

Time passed.

Like an old monk in meditation, Ye Tong sat cross-legged beneath the ancient towering tree, tightly clutching Silver Crystals as he continuously absorbed the spiritual energy contained within them into his body. Earlier, he had used the Book of Life and Death to help Medicine Slave kill Um Bato, but the vital energy within his body had been drained completely. After cultivating for half a day, more than half of the vital energy he had expended had finally recovered.

"Little Master!"

Medicine Slave returned to Ye Tong with his basket on his back. He took out herbs one by one and laid them before Ye Tong. Before long, Mu Xiaochen and the other two returned as well. The herbs they had found were far fewer than Medicine Slave's, but several were ones Medicine Slave had failed to find.

Ye Tong sighed. "The Golden Phoenix Mountain Range truly contains countless heavenly treasures. It really is a treasure land. But among the herbs you found, one main ingredient is still missing."

"White Chrysanthemum?"

Mu Xiaochen's expression shifted as he asked.

Ye Tong nodded. "That's right, White Chrysanthemum. This flower is a precious medicinal ingredient. It generally grows on sheer cliffs, on the shady side facing away from the sunlight."

"We'll go look again."

Mu Xiaochen said hurriedly.

Ye Tong shook his head. "Forget it! Since we can't find White Chrysanthemum for now, we'll substitute other herbs! Among the herbs Medicine Slave found, two have medicinal properties inferior to White Chrysanthemum, but their attributes are the same. With those two herbs replacing it, we can still refine healing pills."

A full two hours.

Ye Tong exhausted all the vital energy within his body once more before successfully refining six healing pills. However, the healing pills he refined could not be mentioned in the same breath as those Huo Lanqiu had once refined; they were even slightly inferior to the healing pills refined by ordinary Pill Masters.

"Nine thousand taels of blue silver."

Ye Tong wiped the sweat from his face and looked at Mu Xiaochen with a smile.

Mu Xiaochen rolled his eyes. He was now utterly convinced by Ye Tong's money-grubbing nature. He directly tossed out the ten-thousand-tael blue silver note and said, "Now you have change to give me back, right?"

"Take it."

Ye Tong returned the one-thousand-tael note to him, then happily and carefully tucked the ten-thousand-tael note into his clothes. After all, one banknote was worth one Silver Crystal. After the two souls had fused, Ye Tong discovered that he had become far more interested in money.

Suddenly, Ye Tong seemed to remember something. He took out the paper and brush again, quickly wrote an IOU, and handed it to Mu Xiaochen. "Sign it."

"Thirty-six?"

Mu Xiaochen looked at what was written on it, his gaze ultimately locking onto the words "thirty-six." As the son of a county prince, if he wanted Silver Crystals, countless people throughout Zifu County—even the entire Sky Net Empire—would eagerly deliver them before him. Who would dare make him sign an IOU?

If there was someone!

It was probably only this oddball before him.

Filled with gloom, Mu Xiaochen took the paper and brush, then swiftly signed the first IOU of his life.

Ye Tong took it back in satisfaction, lightly blew on the page, then tucked it close to his chest with complete contentment.

After glancing at Medicine Slave, Ye Tong finally said to Mu Xiaochen and the other two, "Everyone, meeting is fate, but all fates have their beginning and end. It is time for us to part. Mu Xiaochen, if you return to Cold Mountain City, remember to visit the Precious Medicine Workshop and repay your debt."