Chapter 46

The night was lit up.

The Town Guard squad surrounded the entire Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, torches in hand.

Everyone inside was inspected.

That included Sun Ping and the guests.

Every corner of the pavilion was searched several times.

Including the wine cellar and the latrine.

Yet the monster was nowhere to be seen.

"Captain Zhou, could it have jumped over the courtyard wall first, then slipped back out while you were chasing it around the back, and escaped into the Black Forest next door?"

"Maybe it had already fled before you surrounded the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion."

Sun Ping guessed.

Zhou Qingyang's face darkened. He looked over everyone in the pavilion again, then gave a low, firm order. "Leave five people here to guard the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion! Everyone else, follow me to the Black Forest!"

Zhang Jiu didn't dare stay in the pavilion either. He hurriedly said to Luo Qingchen, "Brother Luo, there's no need to patrol tonight. The brothers from the Town Guard Bureau are standing watch. You're injured, so go back and rest. I'll go with Captain Zhou and take a look."

With that, he immediately followed close behind Zhou Qingyang.

The group left in a grand procession.

The pavilion soon fell quiet again.

After all that commotion, the guests didn't dare stay the night. They all took their leave.

Sun Ping sighed and sent the girls back to their rooms to rest.

Luo Qingchen returned to the rear courtyard alone.

He sat for a while in the pitch-black room, then took out the pink purse and gazed at it silently for a long time before putting it away.

Then he lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

The next day.

Just after dawn, Xiao Cui came to knock on his door. "Guard Luo, hurry to the front courtyard. Someone's here to see you!"

Luo Qingchen got out of bed and touched the wound on his shoulder.

It still throbbed with pain.

He didn't hesitate and went out at once.

Who else could it be but Tian Feng, here to take his blood?

He understood all too well that the more critical the moment, the more important it was to know how to endure.

Fortunately, he wasn't short on blood.

When he reached the front courtyard, sure enough, Tian Feng was there.

But today Tian Feng looked rather haggard. His hair, which had once turned black again, was now gray-white once more.

He seemed much older.

It looked like he'd been badly injured on his last trip down the mountain for a mission.

As usual, he said nothing unnecessary. He took out a dagger and a large bowl. "Come here. I need to take some blood."

Luo Qingchen didn't dare say anything either. He lowered his head, stepped forward, and offered his arm, rolling up his sleeve.

The wound on his shoulder was clearly bandaged, but Tian Feng didn't give it so much as a glance or ask about it. He simply began drawing blood.

Soon the large bowl on the ground was full.

Tian Feng lifted the bowl, ready to leave, but suddenly stopped and looked at him. "There's something I need to tell you in advance. I'll come back for more blood in half a month. This time, I'll also need a kidney to refine medicine."

With that, he left without another word.

The cold morning wind swept in through the gate, carrying a chill.

Black, withered leaves skittered across the ground.

Luo Qingchen stood where he was, watching Tian Feng's cold figure stride away. His face was hidden in the shadow of the courtyard wall, making his expression impossible to see.

"A kidney to refine medicine?"

Sun Ping stood in the corridor behind him. She'd witnessed the whole scene and had naturally heard what Tian Feng had said.

Her expression held a trace of pity.

But she knew this was normal.

In all the years she'd been here, she'd seen this happen more than once.

The Blood Medicine of Medicine Man Town were nothing more than medicinal ingredients for the disciples above to cultivate with.

Their blood could be taken at any time, and they could be carried off for refining medicine whenever it was needed.

Some boys had joked with her in the morning, full of hopes for the future, only to become a sheet of skin by the afternoon, hanging coldly from some disciple's waist.

She'd witnessed far too much of this with her own eyes.

So now, she only let out a soft sigh before turning and going back inside.

Luo Qingchen staggered back to the rear courtyard alone.

After entering his room and locking the door, he filled up his Blood Bar without the slightest hesitation.

Then he began cultivating.

What did a sore shoulder matter? He didn't want to lose a kidney.

And it might not stop at just one kidney.

If they took his kidney here, he might lose his life outright. By then, his entire body would become someone else's medicinal ingredients.

That meant he had only half a month left!

To get the best results as quickly as possible, he decided to cultivate with human blood first.

Three hundred taels of silver would pay for six medicinal baths.

If that wasn't enough to break through, he'd use the remaining twenty taels to buy blood from other animals.

He had to break through within the next half month!

Because he was still injured, he stopped after cultivating for half a day.

He ate something, then went to bed.

At dusk, he got up and headed out to North Street.

After walking through several alleys, he quickly turned into a blood shop and spent fifty taels of silver on a portion of fresh blood.

Before buying it, he'd asked the shopkeeper whether the person whose blood it was had died, and how long ago it had been taken.

He only bought blood from the dead, and it had to have been drawn recently.

Fortunately, the blood shop sold not only the blood of the living, but also blood freshly taken from the dead.

He suspected these blood shops might keep special Blood Medicine on hand. When it was time to sell blood, they would simply drain every last drop from them.

Just like cattle and sheep raised in pens: slaughtered and sold for meat the very same day.

After leaving the shop, he turned into the alley beside it.

By the time he came out, the portion of blood had been converted into 25% blood and stored in the second Blood Bar inside his body.

He didn't head back right away.

After wandering around for a while, he went to another blood shop on South Street and spent a hundred taels of silver on two portions.

Once he entered an alley, he quickly absorbed them.

By then, the blood in the second Blood Bar inside his body had reached 80%.

With nightfall approaching, he immediately returned to the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.

After the monster's appearance the night before, the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion was even quieter than before.

As soon as it grew dark, everyone stayed in their rooms, afraid to come out.

The people from the Town Guard Bureau were also on their guard inside the pavilion.

Whenever they had to patrol outside, all five of them went together.

Living alone in the rear courtyard gave Luo Qingchen a better chance to boil his medicine and take a medicinal bath.

After dark, he went into the Small Stone Hut and began boiling his medicine.

The ordinary tonics he'd bought earlier were still sitting on the stove.

If someone suddenly came in, all they would see were those medicines.

After all, he'd just had his blood taken today. Boiling up some medicine to replenish himself was perfectly reasonable.

Once the medicine was ready, he immediately took his medicinal bath.

Everything outside remained calm.

After successfully finishing the bath, he cleaned the hut, then returned to his room, locked the doors and windows, and set up traps before beginning his cultivation.

Fueled by the surging, ferocious medicinal power, he had just finished a set of punches when faint footsteps suddenly sounded outside.

Then came a knock at the door.

His gaze turned cold. He immediately drew his dagger and retreated into a dark corner.

He'd had his blood taken that very day. In other people's eyes, this was when he was at his weakest and easiest to attack.

Although he'd safely survived many attacks,

greed and desire could make people lose their reason, at least for a while.

Besides, in half a month, he might be nothing but a corpse.

So some people might already be losing patience.

"Knock! Knock! Knock!"

The person outside kept knocking.

Then a familiar voice suddenly came from beyond the door. "Brother A-Chen, it's me, A-Yun."

"A-Yun?"

At the sound of her voice, Luo Qingchen's heart gave a sudden leap.