Four guards stood before the entrance, all at the peak of Foundation Establishment, with "Primordial Yang tokens" hanging at their waists. Their wary eyes swept over the passing pedestrians.
Li Yunjing did not approach. Instead, he chose a teahouse directly opposite the Hundred Herbs Hall, took a window seat on the second floor, and ordered a pot of spirit tea. He sipped leisurely, but his eyes never left the activity across the street.
There were few customers in the teahouse, mostly low-level cultivators gathered in twos and threes, chatting.
Li Yunjing quietly spread his divine sense, catching fragments of the conversations around him.
"...I heard the Hundred Herbs Hall has been buying blood spirit grass in bulk lately, paying thirty percent above market price..."
"Shh! Keep your voice down! That spirit grass is the main ingredient for Blood Origin Pills. The Dao Sect must have some special purpose for buying it..."
"I have a cousin who works as a servant at the Hundred Herbs Hall. He said security has been tight lately. Ordinary disciples aren't even allowed near the inner courtyard."
These scattered scraps of information came together in Li Yunjing's mind, gradually forming a hazy picture.
Blood spirit grass, Blood Origin Pills, tight security... linked together, these clues pointed to one possibility.
The Primordial Yang Dao Sect was secretly preparing some array or artifact related to blood energy.
Could this be the source of the confidence behind Xuanzhenzi's claim of "certain victory"?
As Li Yunjing pondered, the doors of the Hundred Herbs Hall suddenly opened, and a group of gray-robed cultivators strode out.
Leading them was a sinister-looking middle-aged man with a crimson token at his waist. His aura had reached the golden core seventh heaven.
More than ten disciples followed him, each carrying a sealed jade box