Secret Medicine and Schemes

Early morning.

Outside, the sound of firecrackers shook the heavens, while in his courtyard, Lin Zheyu struck a wooden post with his fists, producing a rhythmic thudding sound.

After practicing his fist techniques for several hours, his insight into the momentum of his strikes had improved once again.

Walking down the street.

Everywhere people were worshipping the gods, and the crackling of firecrackers erupted from all directions.

The Great Wei had as many gods as there were hairs on an ox; on this day of the Little New Year, people were either busy worshipping the gods or preparing to do so.

Every household burned paper money and offered incense with piety, praying that the coming year would be better and that the chaos of war would finally subside.

Most adults wore faces devoid of smiles, etched with deep sorrow and worry.

Business was poor, bandits ran rampant outside the city, and crops could not be planted because they would only be seized by thieves.

Even Lin Zheyu himself was having a hard time, as his income had shrunk repeatedly.

From his peak period, when he earned about two thousand wen a day, it had dwindled to the present; all told, including the monthly wages from the Flying Rainbow Gang, he was barely making over a thousand wen.

It had shrunk by nearly half.

Unlike the difficult lives of the commoners, the noble families continued to live in luxury, surrounded by song and dance.

The clear, melodious singing of a songstress rose, accompanied by the sound of musical instruments.

Inside the Songning Garden of the Xing Family, the scene was one of revelry, completely untouched by the impact of the war.

The dancers wore extremely revealing outfits—pink, sheer gauze with nothing underneath—leaving little to the imagination and drawing every eye.

Today was the Little New Year, and the younger generation of the Xing Family had gathered in the Songning Garden to enjoy the dance, listen to music, and revel, showing no signs of the economic depression.

Xing Jinglong and Xing Penghai were also there, along with other collateral descendants of the Xing Family and the sons and daughters of allied families.

"Exquisite, absolutely exquisite!"

The young master sitting opposite Xing Jinglong clapped his hands in admiration.

The dancers invited for the day had graceful figures and performed with an ethereal, captivating beauty that was truly a feast for the eyes.

"Brother, if you like them, I'll have the servants arrange for a few to stay the night later. Wouldn't that be delightful?" Xing Jinglong said with a smile.

"Leave one for me as well; I want to have a taste too, hehe."

Xing Jinglong and Xing Jing'an were biological brothers, with a thirteen-year age gap. Xing Penghai was the son of Xing Jinglong's third uncle, making him their cousin.

Although the two were brothers, their appearances were vastly different.

Xing Jing'an looked refined and well-proportioned, exuding a sense of elegance. Xing Jinglong was tall, fat, and burly, looking somewhat wretched and fierce.

"It won't be my turn. These dancers have already been claimed by others; there's no way it'll be our turn to choose," Xing Jing'an said with a shrug and a laugh.

"True, in previous years, the direct descendants always picked first before it ever reached us," Xing Jinglong said regretfully.

"There are plenty of beautiful girls. After the banquet ends, let's go to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion; I've already booked a large private room," Xing Penghai laughed.

"Brother Hai, how is your progress going over there?"

Xing Jing'an asked; Xing Penghai was a few years older than him and was his cousin.

"Those bandits are all cunning foxes; they aren't easy to persuade. Besides, Lion Valley is fraught with danger, and its natural terrain makes it easy to hide, so they aren't easy to find."

"After all this time, I've only managed to subdue a small group of less than fifty people. The leader has decent strength, having reached the peak of the Organ Refining realm."

Xing Penghai said nonchalantly, his eyes fixed on the dancing girls.

"Same here. Every family has taken precautions, making it very difficult to turn them," Xing Jing'an said.

"With Uncle and the others acting so brazenly, aren't they afraid of being discovered by the City Lord? The City Lord's strength is terrifying; if we were found out, then..."

Xing Jinglong said with some concern.

"What is there to fear? The City Lord doesn't concern himself with these matters, as long as we don't cause too much trouble or disrupt the order of Songyi City."

"Besides, we are only incorporating the bandits from outside the city into the City Guard. We are both pacifying the bandit threat and strengthening Songyi City; we are doing a great service."

Xing Penghai chuckled, unbothered.

He turned his head to look at Xing Jinglong and asked, "That kid I told you to keep an eye on, has there been any movement lately?"

"His talent for comprehension is quite good. If we can subdue him, control him, and use secret medicine to cultivate him and stimulate his potential, we could produce a Blood Energy Realm expert within half a year."

The Xing Family possessed an ancestral secret medicine formula capable of stimulating the future potential of talented martial artists, allowing their strength to skyrocket in a short period.

However, this formula had extremely high requirements for a martial artist's potential; it only worked on geniuses with astonishing comprehension, and it had no effect on ordinary people.

After using it, regardless of success or failure, the martial artist's lifespan would be drastically reduced to less than five years.

Therefore, the Xing Family would scout for geniuses from the outside, control them with drugs, and then use the secret medicine to boost their strength, turning them into the family's enforcers.

This secret medicine was extremely expensive, and with only five years of life left after use, it was not very cost-effective.

Only in times of war would they use the secret medicine to boost the strength of those talented martial artists to deal with the impending crisis.

"I've already had people watching him, but that guy is slippery and rarely goes out. In the city, there are too many eyes and ears, making it difficult to make a move."

Xing Jinglong said, "As soon as he leaves the city, the people from the Wuding Gang will report it to me. I'll take some men and intercept him outside the city walls."

"Hmm, there's no rush for this. It's truly difficult to make a move inside the city; one wrong step could trigger a chain reaction and provoke a backlash from the other families."

Xing Jing'an nodded as he spoke, and the group's gazes shifted back to the dancing girls.

The dancers hired for today were truly stunning, one and all. Even these men, who were well-accustomed to beauties, couldn't help but want to linger on the sight.

He crossed the street and arrived at Bidan Tea House.

Whenever he had free time, Lin Zheyu liked to sit at the tea house or the Hundred Flowers Pavilion to cultivate his refined interests.

Although there wasn't much work to do in the Flying Rainbow Gang, and the underlings could handle most trivial matters, Lin Zheyu, Jia Yanyong, and the others couldn't just wander off; they needed to be ready to handle any emergencies that might arise.

As people from other cities flooded in, the number of troublemakers in Songyi City had increased, though they had easily dealt with all of them.

Today was the Little New Year, so there were many people in the tea house accompanied by their families.

Jia Yanyong and his group were there too, though it was just the three of them, huddled together and laughing with lecherous grins.

All three of them were huge fans of the Legend of the Condor Heroes stories, and since Lin Zheyu often drank tea here, it had gradually become their base of operations.

From time to time, they would hang out here to drink, gamble, and gossip.

"It's the Little New Year. Why aren't you lot at home helping out instead of being here?"

Lin Zheyu walked over and sat down with them.

"Bah, staying at home is boring. The missus and the old folks nag about this and that; it's incredibly annoying," Jia Yanyong said impatiently.

The other two nodded in agreement.

These guys were never the type to care for their families, always out and about, and Lin Zheyu felt sorry for their wives, though he kept his thoughts to himself.

"Young Master Xu called you over yesterday. Was there some good news?" Xie Jiang asked curiously.

"Just went over for a drink and met Young Master Chen and Young Master Ren," Lin Zheyu replied.

"That's it?"

"That's it. What else were you expecting?"

Lin Zheyu shot him a glance; he didn't want to tell this gossip-monger that Xu Qinyi wanted to introduce a girl to him.

If he said it, it would probably be all over the Flying Rainbow Gang by tomorrow.

He took a sip of tea and changed the subject: "Do you guys know how strong the City Lord is?"

He had asked Gang Leader Xu about it before, but the gang leader hadn't said anything.

Later, he had secretly asked others for information, but none of them knew much about the City Lord.

The City Lord had always been extremely low-key; many of the commoners in the city only knew of the officials at the prefectural office and didn't even know there was a City Lord in Songyi City.

"The City Lord?"

"Why are you asking about that?"

Jia Yanyong asked, puzzled. In his personal perception, the City Lord didn't really have much of a presence.

"I'm not sure. I only know the City Lord's surname is Chen, his name is Chen Qingfeng, and he was appointed by the imperial court of Great Wei."

"He's been in Songyi City for over a dozen years and has no real presence. The City Lord serves a twenty-year term, so in a few years, he'll be transferred out and replaced by another official," Xie Jiang said.

"You've been in Songyi City for so long, have you ever seen him make a move?" Lin Zheyu asked.

After he returned that day, he had searched through the memories of his predecessor, but the impression of the Jiunan City Lord was extremely vague.

His predecessor had been focused entirely on his studies, and his memory was filled mostly with countless books of the sages.

"No."

Jia Yanyong and Xie Jiang both shook their heads.

"I do know some rumors about the City Lord, but you lot better not go blabbing about it."

Ning Hui carefully looked around, and seeing that no one was eavesdropping, he lowered his voice to continue.

This cautious demeanor instantly piqued the curiosity of the others.

"Especially you, Xie Jiang. Swear you won't tell anyone, or else don't listen." Ning Hui looked at Xie Jiang, full of distrust.

Xie Jiang looked at Ning Hui speechlessly, cursing under his breath.

But he still reluctantly swore a solemn oath, because he was just too curious!

"Over a dozen years ago, there were five major clans in Songyi City, but now there are only three left. Do you know why?"

Ning Hui said mysteriously.

"Wasn't it said that a plague broke out and the people of those two families all died?" Jia Yanyong said.

He was still young back then, but he had some impression of it; a lot of people had died at the time.

One night, without any warning, two of the five major clans in Songyi City had been wiped out overnight, silently and completely.

Even some of the farmers nearby, along with quite a few people in the city, had died quietly that very night.

Afterward, the government began an investigation, but before long, they issued a statement claiming that a virulent plague had broken out in the city.

"That was just the official story for the public."

"I heard it was the City Lord who did it, wiping those two families out overnight!" Ning Hui said, lowering his voice.

"Damn, for real?" Jia Yanyong said, shocked.

"Where did you hear that gossip? How come I've never heard of it?"

Xie Jiang asked with a hint of doubt and disbelief, "And what kind of major crime could they have committed to be wiped out so quietly, leaving not a single soul behind?"

Jia Yanyong also raised his doubts: "At the time, both families vanished overnight without a sound, everyone dead, not a single one left."

"If the City Lord was the one who did it, just how terrifying must the City Lord's strength be!"

Lin Zheyu pondered the same question.

To silently erase the entire population of two families, including Blood Energy Realm martial artists, was unimaginable just to think about.

"I have evidence."

"Come on, lean in closer, don't let anyone else hear."

"A few years before the incident, my old man was a steward at the Bai Mansion. He was kicked out later for messing up, but he knew the Bai Mansion inside and out."

"According to my old man, the Bai Mansion might have been suspected of treason!"

Ning Hui lowered his voice to a whisper, speaking with great gravity.

"Holy crap!"

Jia Yanyong couldn't help but exclaim, only to have his mouth covered by Ning Hui, whose eyes warned him that he'd beat him up if he dared to blab.

"Is that for real?" Xie Jiang was also stunned.

"It's true, why would I lie to you guys?"

"You guys remember that great famine from over a decade ago, right?"

"During the famine, a nursery rhyme circulated in Songyi City, something about the Yellow Heaven being dead, the Azure Heaven rising, and the year being such-and-such."

"Those who spread that rhyme were all rounded up and beheaded."

"And by some stroke of luck, my old man discovered that the Bai Family was secretly worshipping another deity, called the Supreme Emperor of the Azure Heaven, Myriad Daos, and Golden Palace."

"That is a divine title that only the founding emperor of the dynasty is entitled to use!"

Ning Hui whispered, "So I suspect they were secretly involved in treason, and after the City Lord found out, he wiped them out overnight."

Xie Jiang: "..."

Jia Yanyong: "..."

Lin Zheyu: "..."

Hearing this piece of gossip, the group was somewhat shocked.

Seeing their stunned expressions, Ning Hui looked smug.

"You kid didn't just make up a story to fool us, did you?"

Xie Jiang recovered, still somewhat skeptical.

Even if those two noble families were truly suspected of treason, the City Lord was just too strong.

What kind of strength would it take to silently wipe out two noble families, both possessing Blood Energy Realm experts, in a single night?

"It's true, why would I lie to you about this?" Ning Hui said earnestly.

"I have heard the name of this Supreme Emperor of the Azure Heaven, Myriad Daos, and Golden Palace before."

Lin Zheyu said, "I spent some time as a refugee, and among the refugees, I heard the name of this Supreme Emperor of the Azure Heaven, Myriad Daos, and Golden Palace."

"Many people simply called him the Heavenly Sovereign, molding clay statues to worship and praying to survive."

Among the refugees, people worshipped all sorts of chaotic deities.

However, those who worshipped the Heavenly Sovereign were the most numerous; it seemed someone was deliberately spreading it in the shadows.

Lin Zheyu hadn't paid much attention to it at the time; when people face despair, they always like to believe in some void deity, praying for a miracle to descend.

Back then, he had even secretly prayed to the deities of his past life—Jesus, Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, and God—all of them.

But it was completely useless.

If he hadn't fought desperately to grab a bowl of porridge when Ren Qingying of the Ren Family was handing out food, he probably would have been dead long ago.