Chapter 28

Outside the window, night was slowly fading.

The next day, when Luo Qingchen came out of the first room, Chen Ju was in the stone house not far away, humming a tune while brewing medicine. He seemed to be in a very good mood.

Luo Qingchen's gaze shifted to the second room beside it.

The bloodstains by the door hadn't been cleaned up yet.

The door was ajar, and Wang Long and Wang Hu were nowhere inside.

Last night, after taking several bags of iron nails from under the bed and setting up the room, he had lifted a roof tile and slipped out, hiding in the first room.

He naturally knew everything that had happened just one wall away.

The hunters had suddenly become prey, falling into the hands of other hunters.

He didn't know how much blood the hunters lurking in the dark had taken from the brothers, but they should have "held back" and not let them die on the spot.

After all, every Blood Medicine here had a master of his own.

If two of them died at once, their masters might demand answers, and everyone here could get into trouble.

Besides, they weren't like the people above.

The people above didn't care how long a Blood Medicine lived, because they had more than one. But the people here had no Blood Medicine of their own, so they understood better than anyone that one had to make a little go a long way.

The longer their targets lived, the more chances they'd have to get their blood again.

So unless they had no other choice, they wouldn't kill anyone outright.

Luo Qingchen entered the second room and gathered his things.

After leaving the room, he went to the stone house.

Inside, Chen Ju stood by the stove, stirring the medicinal liquid in the pot with a spatula while humming cheerfully.

The strong fragrance of herbs filled the whole room.

"Brother Chen seems to be in a good mood."

Luo Qingchen called from the doorway.

Chen Ju turned to look at him, his face immediately breaking into a broad smile. "Brother Luo, you're up? How are you feeling? They took quite a bit of your blood yesterday. I was worried about you."

"Thanks for your concern, Brother Chen. I'm fine," Luo Qingchen replied calmly.

As he spoke, he looked at the pot. "Are you preparing a medicinal bath? Have you got some blood?"

Chen Ju smiled. "What blood? I'm just brewing some medicine to try, like you did before."

As he stirred the medicinal liquid, he let out a long sigh. "Cultivators like us, poor and without connections, have little chance of getting blood to cultivate with."

Luo Qingchen nodded. "You're right, Brother Chen. By the way, where's Head Zhang? I haven't seen him for days."

Chen Ju said, "It's that case involving the death at the pavilion. The Town Guard Bureau has been swamped lately, so they asked him to help out. Why, do you need something from Head Zhang?"

"No, I was just asking."

Luo Qingchen said no more and prepared to take his leave.

Chen Ju suddenly added, "By the way, you probably haven't heard, Brother Luo. The Wang brothers went out last night for some reason. When they came back, they were both injured, and neither of them can walk for now. They're also extremely weak. So tonight, you and I will have to take their turns patrolling."

"Oh?"

Luo Qingchen looked at him. "Are they resting in their room?"

"That's right. Brother Sun and I went to see them this morning. Would you like to visit them too, Brother Luo?"

"Of course. We're all brothers, after all."

Luo Qingchen smiled faintly and walked toward Wang Long and Wang Hu's room.

Chen Ju watched him go, still smiling.

Only after Luo Qingchen had gone some distance did the smile gradually fade from his face. He muttered under his breath, "That kid really is formidable. Those two brothers aren't easy to deal with either, yet the first time they crossed paths, they nearly lost their lives. I'd better be even more careful from now on."

"Knock! Knock!"

Luo Qingchen came to the door of Wang Long and Wang Hu's room and raised his hand to knock.

Wang Long's tense, chilly voice immediately came from inside. "Who is it?"

Now that both brothers were injured, they were probably on guard against everyone at all times. Even when one slept and recovered, the other was likely awake.

Luo Qingchen said, "I heard that the two of you were injured, so I came to pay you a visit. Luo Qingchen."

Wang Hu had woken up too. As soon as he heard the name, he couldn't help cursing, "Get lost! We don't need a little bastard like you pretending to care!"

Wang Long swallowed his anger and gritted his teeth. "Thanks for your concern, Brother Luo, but we're injured and can't get up to receive you."

Both their voices sounded weak.

Seeing that they were indeed still alive, Luo Qingchen said no more. He apologized for disturbing them and turned to leave.

It seemed those people really didn't dare kill anyone lightly.

That put him a little more at ease. At least he wouldn't have to constantly worry about being murdered at any moment.

Even so, he couldn't let his guard down for an instant.

No one could guarantee that next time they wouldn't get carried away by the sight of blood and drain someone to death.

What's more, that Heart-Plucking Monster was still lurking in the darkness, liable to leap out at any moment and strike a fatal blow.

Back in the second room,

he set up the traps, then lay down on the bed, planning to sleep for a few hours.

He had to be in top condition for his night patrol.

As he closed his eyes and fell asleep, Chen Ju finished brewing the medicine, carried the tub into his room, and locked the doors and windows before beginning his medicinal bath.

The Demon Stone collided with the blood, and soon turned into a powerful medicinal energy.

Chen Ju let out a groan of pleasure.

In the other two rooms, Sun Tong and Zhou Yan were also soaking in the rich medicinal liquid, their faces full of enjoyment.

Only Wang Long and Wang Hu lay weakly on their beds, groaning in pain.

"Whoosh!"

After getting up, Luo Qingchen continued to cultivate.

The medicinal energy remaining in his body tempered his bones at an even faster rate.

Pain and pleasure mingled.

At dusk, he took a bath, changed into clean clothes, and left the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.

The streets were unusually cold and empty, with few pedestrians in sight.

Zhao Shi sat alone at a roadside stall, his gaze vacant as he stared into space.

When Luo Qingchen walked over, Zhao Shi was about to call out to him. Then he recognized who it was, and his face lit up with delight. "A-Chen, it's you!"

Luo Qingchen sat down beside him and looked at him. "I heard something happened to Uncle Zhao?"

The expression on Zhao Shi's face turned wooden. "Yeah. Something happened to my father. I heard he was bitten to death by a rabid dog while walking down the road. I didn't even get to see his body."

Luo Qingchen fell silent.

Just as he'd expected, those people would never tell Zhao Shi the truth.

"A-Yun came yesterday. She said that night, my father went to the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, slept with a girl without paying, and ran up a debt."

After saying this, Zhao Shi gave a bitter smile.

He looked at the young man beside him. "A-Chen, do you look down on me and my father? We survived by relying on a weak woman, and even when we went to the Green Pavilion, A-Yun had to pay."

Luo Qingchen didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "Why didn't you go to Clear River City back then?"

Zhao Shi's face was full of bitterness. "A-Chen, not everyone can get into the city. And even if they can, not everyone can survive there."

Luo Qingchen said nothing.

"For people like us, just staying alive is already a blessing."

After speaking, Zhao Shi fell silent for a while, then said with mixed emotions, "Actually, with my father dead, A-Yun's been set free. Back then, my father did a lot of terrible things to force her to sell herself at the Green Pavilion, then kept going to her for money."

Luo Qingchen didn't interrupt. He listened quietly as Zhao Shi poured out his feelings.

Zhao Shi didn't seem particularly affected by Zhao Laosan's sudden death. After saying a few words, he asked Luo Qingchen, "A-Chen, are things going well for you at the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion?"

"Pretty well," Luo Qingchen said.

Zhao Shi gave a bitter smile. "If things were really going well, you wouldn't be borrowing silver everywhere. You've become a cultivator now, but I know your circumstances aren't much different from those of us ordinary Blood Medicines. You still have to donate blood, still have to eat, and you could still disappear at any time."

Luo Qingchen nodded.

That was true.

They watched the pedestrians in the street, stumbling along like walking corpses, and neither said anything more.

Luo Qingchen sat with him for a while longer, then stood up to leave.

"A-Chen, stay alive."

Zhao Shi offered him a word of encouragement.

Luo Qingchen looked at him. "You too, Brother Shi."

By then, night had fallen.

Luo Qingchen returned to the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion and went straight inside. He was about to patrol the private rooms when the steward, Sun Ping, walked over with a cold expression and demanded, "Guard Luo, Qingmei says that night while you were patrolling the second floor, you tried to force your way into her room and molest her. Is that true?"

The gazes of several girls and maids nearby turned toward them.