The Liu Clan's Trouble

To conceal himself for the ambush, Zhao Cheng had not brought a weapon.

But Zhou Yunxiang's junior brother on the other side carried a blade.

What made Force Refining Realm martial artists stronger than ordinary people lay in their coordinated bursts of strength, reactions, endurance, and other such aspects.

Their basic physical qualities were still not greatly different from those of ordinary people.

Thus, Zhao Cheng could only stop the man.

This made the importance of martial techniques all the clearer.

Relying on the Seven Strikes of the Black Hawk, Lu Cheng faced a long blade barehanded and not only suppressed Zhou Yunxiang from the very start.

Within three moves, he had even knocked Zhou Yunxiang's weapon from his hand and injured his right arm.

At that moment, Zhou Yunxiang both hated and feared Lu Cheng.

At last, he understood why Lu Cheng had remained so unruffled and at ease ever since they had encountered the river bandits on the water.

This was not good luck at all. It was plainly superior strength!

More importantly, this bastard was truly insidious.

During the perilous situation in daylight, he had stubbornly revealed not the slightest trace of the Seven Strikes of the Black Hawk.

And despite clearly being stronger than him, he had still resorted to a sneak attack!

Truly detestable.

But resentment was resentment. What he should have considered now was how to escape.

Seeing Xiao Kuang and the many guards closing in, a plan immediately sprang to his mind.

Using the opening created when Lu Cheng's elbow smashed him away, he shouted at Xiao Kuang:

"Brother Xiao, quickly help me capture Lu Cheng! He is an insider colluding with the bandits!"

"What?!"

Upon hearing Zhou Yunxiang's words, everyone present, including Xiao Kuang, was startled.

But Xiao Kuang was no fool. Why would he believe whatever Zhou Yunxiang said?

Lu Cheng had only recovered two carts of medicinal herbs that night, yet now Zhou Yunxiang claimed he was an insider. No matter how one listened, it sounded strange.

When he saw Xiao Kuang standing outside without budging an inch, Zhou Yunxiang grew anxious.

Yet Lu Cheng attacked again at that moment, leaving him no choice but to defend with all his might.

As the two exchanged blows again, Lu Cheng struck Zhou Yunxiang in the chest with a palm. Zhou Yunxiang spat out a mouthful of blood with a "pfft."

In his desperation, he could no longer spare any thought for Xiao Kuang and shouted at the three disciples from Lin Martial Arts Hall:

"Junior Brothers, quickly help capture Lu Cheng! We lost the medicinal herbs this time, and only by catching the culprit can we make up for it!"

As he spoke, he grabbed the burning quilt from the bed and used it as a weapon to fend off Lu Cheng.

The quilt flailed in every direction, scattering sparks as it swiftly set the curtains and drapes ablaze.

The three men from Lin Martial Arts Hall were all Zhou Yunxiang's junior brothers, so naturally they no longer hesitated upon hearing this.

They drew their blades and prepared to charge at Lu Cheng.

Seeing this, Zhao Cheng hurriedly spoke up:

"Captain Xiao, do not believe him. Lu Cheng's claim that he recognized the bandits' origins was false, meant to lure the insider among the convoy into acting."

"Lu Cheng and I had long been lying in wait on the roof. Sure enough, this Zhou Yunxiang came to assassinate him because he had a guilty conscience!"

Even without Zhao Cheng saying so, Xiao Kuang would not have allowed anyone to go help.

The present scene was exactly what he wanted to see.

For regardless of whether Lu Cheng or Zhou Yunxiang was the insider, he could wash his hands clean of the matter.

With both an insider and powerful enemies involved, who could possibly have had a solution?

At this thought, Xiao Kuang nearly laughed aloud.

With a sharp clang, his longsword left its sheath and blocked the three men from Lin Martial Arts Hall:

"The situation is still unclear. Let us watch quietly for now and wait until the two of them determine victory and defeat."

"Besides, they are in this room. There is no fear of them escaping."

Seeing this, Zhou Yunxiang was shocked and enraged.

He roared furiously:

"Xiao Kuang, do not think I do not know what you are doing! You want to pin the blame for poor guard duty on Lin Martial Arts Hall!"

"Junior Brothers, quickly attack! Only by capturing Lu Cheng can we clear our names!"

The three no longer hesitated upon hearing this.

One raised his blade to block Xiao Kuang's longsword.

The other two took the opportunity to rush at Lu Cheng.

Emerald Cloud Abbey had suffered grievous losses in this attack, leaving only Xiao Kuang and one junior brother.

Neither had any desire to risk his life, yet the two fighting one man actually ended in an evenly matched deadlock.

The sight greatly infuriated Zhao Cheng at the side.

Zhou Yunxiang had already been on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, the two arrived in time to help, allowing him to catch his breath.

The instant Lu Cheng engaged the two men, Zhou Yunxiang suddenly hurled the quilt in his hand into the melee.

He darted to the window and, without another word, flipped himself out.

By then, the room was already thick with smoke. Lu Cheng did not discover that Zhou Yunxiang had fled until after he knocked down his two opponents.

Just as he was about to give chase, Liu Xitian's shout came from the rear courtyard:

"Guard the goods! Someone, quickly guard the goods!"

The moment Zhou Yunxiang fled, everyone immediately understood what was going on.

Xiao Kuang's side stopped fighting first.

The disciple from Lin Martial Arts Hall facing Zhao Cheng still intended to fight, but Lu Cheng flashed over and struck his shoulder with one palm, leaving him unable to resist any longer.

The inn's rear courtyard.

After hearing Lu Cheng recount everything from beginning to end, Liu Xitian was dumbfounded.

"Th-then does that mean... the remaining medicinal herbs cannot be recovered?"

Lu Cheng shook his head slightly.

"Not necessarily."

As he spoke, his gaze shifted toward the bound figure in the courtyard.

"Zhou Yunxiang has escaped, but is there not still an accomplice here?"

The other three disciples from Lin Martial Arts Hall had not rushed forward to aid Zhou Yunxiang right away, and they had stopped fighting quickly in the end, so they had not been tied up.

Only the disciple who had accompanied Zhou Yunxiang in the nighttime attack on Lu Cheng's room from the beginning had been captured.

Following Lu Cheng's gaze, Liu Xitian suddenly let out a roar, grabbed a horsewhip, and charged over.

He cursed as he whipped the man:

"You traitor! I'll teach you to betray those who fed you! I'll teach you to harm me! I'll teach you to steal my family's medicinal herbs!"

Liu Xitian was so furious that his lungs were about to explode.

He had thought the medicinal herbs could be recovered, but he had never expected Lu Cheng to have deceived him.

Yet he did not dare vent his anger on Lu Cheng, so all his rage could only be poured onto the man before him.

He brought out every last bit of strength he had used swinging a hoe during the first forty years of his life.

Only when the horsewhip in his hand was nearly smoking from the force of his swings and his lungs burned with pain did he stop. Panting heavily, he roared:

"Speak! Where did that villain Zhou Yunxiang run? Who is the mastermind behind you?"

The other three disciples from Lin Martial Arts Hall moved their lips, sighed, and turned their heads away.

The disciple had been whipped until his face and head were covered in bloody welts. Tears and snot mingled with blood as they streamed down his face.

"I don't know. I truly don't know!"

"Senior Brother Zhou said Lu Cheng was the insider and told me to kill him."

Lu Cheng was disappointed upon hearing this.

It seemed this disciple had indeed been used.

Even after Zhou Yunxiang had fled, he had still refused to stop. Clearly, he was a one-track-minded fellow.

He had wanted to help the Liu Clan capture an insider, but now that plan had failed as well.

Liu Xitian raised the whip to strike again, but Lu Cheng stopped him.

"Steward Liu, beating him is useless now. We should return as soon as possible. If we delay further, perhaps the remaining two carts will be robbed again."

Liu Xitian had been about to nod, but suddenly froze.

"Two carts?" He pointed at the four large carts in the courtyard, uneasily asking, "Aren't there four?"

Lu Cheng said, "My apologies," then walked to one cart, reached out, and with a ripping sound sliced open a sack. He grabbed a handful of withered branches and rotten leaves.

"To lure Zhou Yunxiang into acting, I brought back two carts of fake medicine."

"Those people had clearly come prepared. By the time I chased after them, the medicinal herbs from all eight carts had already vanished."

Liu Xitian felt the world begin to spin. The sky, which had only just begun to brighten, instantly went dark again.

All strength drained from his body at once, and with a thud, he collapsed.

When Liu Xitian woke again, the sky was already bright.

Gray clouds swept swiftly across the heavens, while the ground beneath him jolted violently.

He wanted to sit up, only to find that he could not muster even a trace of strength in his limbs.

He wanted to speak, but suddenly discovered that he could not even control his mouth.

"Mm... mm-mm-mm, mm-mm..."

Before he could make more than a few sounds, drool began to spill uncontrollably from his mouth.

"Steward Liu, you're awake." Hearing the movement, Lu Cheng turned to look at Liu Xitian.

At the sight, his brows furrowed slightly.

Liu Xitian's upper and lower lips were twisted in opposite directions, while his eyes could only look diagonally to one side.

Lu Cheng sighed and shook his head slightly.

"Steward Liu, after you lost consciousness, the physician said you had been overcome by urgent rage and invaded by pathogenic wind. Looking at you now, it is highly likely that you have Apoplexy."

So-called Apoplexy was a stroke.

In other words, Liu Xitian was paralyzed.

Liu Xitian's eyes trembled anxiously, but his mouth still could not form complete words.

"Lu... Lu... mm-mm..."

But no matter how anxious he was, he could not change the truth. After struggling for a while, he quieted down as though resigned to his fate.

Only then did Lu Cheng speak again.

"Without the steward's permission, I took it upon myself to leave the other two carts behind as compensation for the inn. I also revealed the location of the remaining six carts. I hope Steward Liu will not blame me."

Liu Xitian:

"Mm-mm..."

Lu Cheng nodded.

"Then many thanks for Steward Liu's understanding."

Liu Xitian:

"Mm? Mm-mm..."

Lu Cheng said:

"Rest assured, Steward Liu. We have fewer carts and fewer people now, so we can finish a three-day journey in two days."

"Even if we encounter bandits again, the few of us will be enough to protect these two carts of medicinal herbs."

Two Refining Strength Mid-Stage martial artists and five Early Stage of Strength Refining martial artists—unless the enemy had three to five times their numbers, there was no way they could stop them.

Liu Xitian wanted to say something else, but discovered that no matter what he did, he could only make "mm-mm" sounds. He simply shut his eyes and fainted again.

For the time that followed, aside from resting whenever the horses grew tired, the two carts never stopped again.

At last, two days later, they hurried back to Liu Village.

Upon hearing the news, several of Liu Village's leading figures all came out.

When they saw that only two carts remained of the nine-person convoy, even Liu Xun, the clan chief, nearly blacked out.

But he was, after all, an educated man, and his composure was not too poor.

He first arranged for the convoy and Liu Xitian to be settled, then immediately had the four men from Lin Martial Arts Hall taken to Yang City.

As one of Yang City's five foremost powers, how this matter would be handled still depended on what Lin Martial Arts Hall had to say.

Only after everything had been dealt with did he speak with Lu Cheng and the others.

Seeing that Liu Xun had no intention of pursuing the matter of their guard duty, the two men from Emerald Cloud Abbey did not even ask for their payment and swiftly left Liu Village.

Seeing this, Liu Xun gave their silver to Lu Cheng and Zhao Cheng, speaking with deep apology:

"Young Heroes Lu and Zhao, I truly am sorry."

"According to our agreement, you encountered bandits three times, so including your payment, you should have received twenty taels."

"But Liu Village does not yet know how to resolve the issue of breaching the medicinal-herb contract. We can only owe you the remaining ten taels for now."

They were unwilling to part with even ten taels of silver. It seemed Liu Village truly had to pay a tremendous sum.

Lu Cheng thought of Fatty and the others, so he could not help asking:

"Clan Chief Liu, is this loss truly so devastating?"

It would have been better if Lu Cheng had not asked. At his question, the clan chief, who had always carried himself with exceptional poise, actually reddened around the eyes.

"All ten carts of medicinal herbs had already been agreed upon with the Zhang Family of Yunshan County, and we had even accepted the deposit. But now..."

"A single packet of Blood-Activating Powder requires a full eighteen kinds of herbs, yet sells for only five mace of silver."

"But once we compensate them, it will be triple the amount."

"And it is not only the compensation. Growing those medicinal herbs was hard work too."

"Every single stalk requires constant tending; when the wind blows or rain pours, the whole village worries, and the entirety of Liu Village's heart and soul is poured into them."

Pity Liu Xun had never heard of "working a whole year for nothing," otherwise he surely would have looked up to the heavens and wailed.

Hearing Liu Xun's account, Lu Cheng suddenly thought of something and asked,

"Patriarch Liu, since that is the case, why don't you cultivate your own alchemist to refine the Blood-Activating Powder?"

Lu Cheng did not think it was because of the alchemy recipes.

Since that influential figure could transport so much medicinal soil, it showed his power was far from ordinary.

Even if he could not send an alchemist, procuring a recipe should not be difficult.

The eighteen herbs for the Blood-Activating Powder were all grown right there in Liu Village's medicinal fields.

Even if the final success rate were only twenty or thirty percent like other alchemists in Yang City, that would still yield higher profits than selling raw medicinal herbs directly.

The risks would not be as great as they were now either.

Liu Xun shook his head.

"Alchemists... are not something you can just cultivate, and furthermore, Liu Village cannot keep an alchemist."

Lu Cheng asked in confusion,

"I ask Patriarch Liu to enlighten me."

"Enlightenment is out of the question; these things are not hard to understand." Liu Xun shook his head and countered with a question:

"Let me ask you, if you were an alchemist, would you refine only Blood-Activating Powder for your entire life?"

Lu Cheng said,

"Naturally not. After all, Blood-Activating Powder is merely medicine used by Strength-Refining Martial Artists."

"As far as I know, the Body Refining Realm also utilizes various pills such as the Hundred Essence Pill and Bone-Strengthening Powder."

"Not to mention the Qi Condensation Pill for even higher realms. If it were possible, of course..."

Hearing this, Lu Cheng suddenly understood it himself.

Liu Xun nodded and continued,

"Indeed, alchemists are just like martial artists—I ask you, which martial artist does not want to pursue a higher realm?"

"Yet Liu Village only grows Blood-Activating Powder. Even if we had an alchemist, would we have to rely on purchases for the herbs of other pills?"

"Those herbs cannot be bought with five coins of silver; some are not even sold externally."

"Therefore, if you want to have an alchemist, unless you expand the medicinal fields tenfold and plant an extra hundred or so varieties of herbs."

"Yet that is clearly impossible."

At this point, Zhao Cheng also chimed in:

"That is indeed the case. Among the three major alchemy lineages of Yunshan County, the Zhang Family is actually the smallest."

"Yet even so, their lineage still boasts over ten thousand mu of medicinal fields and more than thirty thousand herb farmers!"

"Among them, Blood-Activating Powder accounts for only a very small portion, while the rest are mostly herbs needed for the Body Tempering and Qi Refining Realms."

"I heard that in the Zhang Family's core twenty mu of superior medicinal fields, they grow the herbs for the Qi Condensation Pill!"

"Relying on these medicinal herbs, even down in the prefecture capital, these three families wield considerable clout."

The Qi Condensation Pill!

Lu Cheng was far from unfamiliar with this thing.

Back then, Yunhuizi had come to Yang City precisely to escort a Qi Condensation Pill!

That was a martial artist at the Mid-Stage Qi Refining Realm, a figure who could walk sideways across the entire Dongyang Prefecture!

From this, one could see the importance of the Qi Condensation Pill.

And since those three families cultivated the herbs for the Qi Condensation Pill, it showed they possessed the capability to refine it!

With such a lineage, even without a Qi Refining Realm expert, their right to speak would not be weak.

By comparison, neither Yang City nor Liu Village amounted to much.

Liu Xun nodded:

"Young Hero Zhao speaks the absolute truth. If not for that lord, the Zhang Family would never deign to look at our meager batch of herbs."

Having spoken, he turned his head back to look at Lu Cheng:

"Therefore, unless someone in one's own family can turn out an alchemist, how could a mere one or two thousand mu of medicinal fields ever attract one?"

"Yet an alchemist's demands are truly extraordinary."

"Even ordinary medicinal treatments for illnesses require attention to "monarch, minister, assistant, and guide," taking into account the conflicts and complementary effects of the medicinal properties."

"A martial artist's pills are even more out of the ordinary, and their stringent requirements surpass ordinary medicines a hundredfold."

"Even for herbs grown in the very same medicinal field, the medicinal properties of every single stalk differ."

"A single batch of medicine has eighteen components, and every single stalk is different."

"An alchemist must rapidly discover these differences during the pill-refinement process, increasing or decreasing the dosage of other herbs according to the medicinal properties."

"Yet this process is extremely difficult to control!"

"The slightest error or delay will not only ruin the medicine, but might even give rise to pill poison."

"Only those with a higher wood affinity in their own bodies who can more acutely perceive changes in medicinal properties have the opportunity to become alchemists."

"Liu Village also has nearly a thousand mouths, but not a single one possesses the aptitude to become an alchemist."

Wood affinity on the high side?

This requirement was indeed rather harsh.

Yet suddenly, Lu Cheng's heart thought of something else.