Lu Yunyi Leaves, Brand-New Medicinal Diet

"I do not know."

Lu Yunyi looked dazed, shaking her head. "Until they interrogated me, I had no idea my brother had been captured and locked away by them for over a month.

Yet my brother never told me he had any item.

Over all these years, my brother never provoked those villains; why would something like this happen..."

"They probably did not believe her?"

Shen Han guessed aloud.

Lu Yunyi burst into tears. "Yes, they were relentless, demanding I tell them, and then they knocked me unconscious, saying they were going to take me back for a harsh interrogation. Fortunately, they were killed by the Nameless Hero, otherwise..."

How close!

Shen Han inwardly called himself lucky.

If Lu Qiling's head had not happened to roll out, he and the Qiankun Two Rats would definitely have not come into conflict. Forget saving Sister Yun Yi, even where she had been taken would have been untraceable.

Perhaps, in some mysterious way, Lu Qiling was protecting his younger sister.

"Sister Yun Yi, this matter is of great consequence. Don't think too much for now, just get a good night's sleep."

"Mm, thank you, Little Shen, for rescuing me back."

Lu Yunyi nodded. "I... I'm going back to my room..."

After Lu Yunyi left, Shen Han fell into deep thought.

What on earth was the brick that the Iron Fist Martial Hall wanted to find?

For the sake of obtaining that item, they went so far as to interrogate Lu Qiling for over a month and even resort to murder. What was their goal?

And was Guan Shu, the top courtesan of Miaoyu Pavilion, connected to this matter?

Most crucially, was that item really hidden by Lu Qiling?

If so, where was it hidden?

All the clues seemed to slowly converge, yet it was difficult to form a clear conclusion.

Forget it, there was no use thinking too much; he might as well sleep first.

"Sister Yun Yi, are you leaving?"

Before dawn the next day, Shen Han was woken up by Lu Yunyi and learned of her plan to leave.

Lu Yunyi stood before him, her eyes red and swollen.

Clearly, she had not slept all night.

"My brother has been murdered, and I am left all alone and helpless. There is no need for me to stay in Three Rivers County either..."

Beside Lu Yunyi were two bundles. She bit her lip hard. "I'm planning to go to Yun Province. My father and my older sister live in Yun Province City.

Once I go this time, I won't be coming back.

Little Shen, practice medicine well at the medical hall; your future will surely be very bright."

As she spoke, she wiped away her tears.

"Things have come to this, Sister Yun Yi, don't be too sad."

"I understand."

"It's just that once you leave, I don't know when I'll get to eat your delicious cooking again."

"If you come to Yun Province, I'll cook for you again."

Yun Province City governed seven county towns.

Three Rivers County was the smallest among them, about eight hundred miles away from Yun Province City.

"Right, Little Shen."

At this moment, Lu Yunyi suddenly remembered something. She fished a piece of paper out of her bundle and solemnly handed it to Shen Han.

Shen Han took it and looked.

This was a medicinal diet recipe called Qi Condensing Powder. There were a total of eleven medicinal herbs in the formula, and the dosage of every single one was clearly marked.

"Qi Condensing Powder?"

Shen Han muttered to himself.

Lu Yunyi nodded. "This recipe is something I flipped through while packing my luggage last night.

It's a medicinal diet that my older sister bought at a high price.

At the time, she copied a share for me. According to her, it's a great help for tempering blood-qi, but since I don't practice martial arts, I never tried it."

Shen Han's eyes lit up.

That was to say, the Qi Condensing Powder before him was essentially the equivalent of a decoction like the Blood-Qi Soup! Judging from the herbal ingredients, the probability was high that its effects were even better than the Blood-Qi Soup!

"Little Shen, I'm leaving. Until we meet again."

Lu Yunyi shouldered her bundle and stepped toward the small courtyard's front gate.

"Wait!"

Shen Han told her to hold on a moment.

Lu Yunyi turned back. "What is it?"

Shen Han fished out ten taels of silver. "Sister Yun Yi, take this money with you to use as travel expenses."

"This won't do, Little Shen, you don't earn money easily..."

"Just take it!" Shen Han allowed for no argument, shoving the silver into Lu Yunyi's hand. "I've become a physician at the medical hall, and my monthly stipend is quite substantial."

He was not lying about this.

Yesterday he received twenty taels for his monthly stipend, five taels as a commission for treating Magistrate He's concubine, and on top of that, slaying the Qiankun Two Rats in the night and looting their corpses yielded forty taels, totaling a full sixty-five taels of silver.

A mere ten taels was nothing to him.

"Then... thank you so much, Little Shen."

Lu Yunyi's eyes turned red as she accepted the silver.

In truth, she really did need money. Setting out for Yun Province City from here, the journey was long, and it was hard without money.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Lu Yunyi ultimately left.

From then on, this small courtyard in the east of Three Rivers County City became Shen Han's dwelling alone.

"Brother killed, Sister Yun Yi has it hard too..."

Shen Han sighed. "Still, being able to reunite with her family is a fortunate thing."

Afterward, he focused his attention on the Qi Condensing Powder.

These past few days, his cultivation had stagnated, indicating that both his cultivation manual and decoction needed to be upgraded. There were no prospects for a cultivation manual or secret text for the time being, but fortunately, he had obtained a new decoction recipe.

"It's still early, no time to waste. I'll go to the south of the city to find Shopkeeper Qiao and buy a dose first."

Having made up his mind, Shen Han set off promptly, heading toward Hua'an Hall.

Passing by the crime scene from the previous night, the corpses of the Qiankun Two Rats had already been cleaned up. However, there were quite a few extra constables in the vicinity, seemingly investigating the events of the previous night.

"Has nothing to do with me..."

Shen Han did not approach, instead choosing another route and making a detour.

Soon, Hua'an Hall arrived.

The pot-bellied shopkeeper Qiao Shan had only just opened the doors.

"Young Master, here to buy medicine again?"

The moment he saw Shen Han, Qiao Shan immediately beamed with joy. "Young Master, rest assured, I've already prepared it for you."

As he spoke, he took five wrapped medicine packages out of the cabinet.

Naturally, they were all herbs for the Blood-Qi Soup.

Although he did not know Shen Han's full name, Qiao Shan recognized Shen Han's face. It had to be said that this young master was a major customer of Hua'an Hall, having spent quite a bit of silver over this period.

"Shopkeeper, I don't want these."

Shen Han waved his hand, pushing the medicine packages back.

"Ah?"

Qiao Shan's expression instantly froze.

Shen Han spoke again. "Shopkeeper, this time I've come wanting to dispense a new herbal formula."

"Oh, oh, Young Master, speak away."

Qiao Shan breathed a sigh of relief; so he was changing medicines, not stopping them.

Shen Han recited the ingredients of the Qi Condensing Powder one by one.

Qiao Shan noted them down as he listened. He worked quickly, and before long he had prepared the eleven herbs.

Shen Han asked, "How much for this single dose?"

Qiao Shan held up a single finger. "One tael of silver."

What? One tael?

Shen Han was startled inwardly. A dose of Blood-Qi Soup was three hundred wen, yet a dose of Qi Condensing Powder actually cost one tael!

"Shopkeeper, isn't that too expensive?"

"Young Master, my Hua'an Hall has sold medicine for many years, and you are my old regular customer; I would absolutely never overcharge."

Qiao Shan said righteously, "Of the eleven flavors of medicine you need, the first nine are relatively common, but it's the final two herbs—gathering them is extremely difficult, and the cost cannot be brought down.

On this dose of medicine, I haven't even made thirty wen in profit."

What Qiao Shan said was also the truth; some uncommon medicinal herbs indeed had very high costs.

"Alright then, buy one dose first and wrap it up for me."

Shen Han did not quibble, paying one tael of silver and taking away this batch of Qi Condensing Powder herbs.

Let's hope it's worth the price... he silently prayed in his heart.