Chapter 46

The dark night was illuminated.

The men of the Town Guard Bureau raised their torches, surrounding the entire Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.

Everyone inside the building was subjected to an inspection.

This included Sun Ping and the guests.

Every corner of the building was searched multiple times.

This included the wine cellar and the latrines.

However, there was still no sign of that monster.

"Captain Zhou, could that monster have jumped over the courtyard wall, and then, while you were chasing it toward the back, jumped back out and escaped into the nearby Black Forest?"

"It likely escaped before you even surrounded the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion."

Sun Ping speculated.

Zhou Qingyang's expression was grim. He scanned the people in the building one more time before ordering in a low voice, "Leave five men to guard the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion! The rest of you, follow me to the Black Forest!"

Zhang Jiu dared not stay in the building any longer. He quickly said to Luo Qingchen, "Brother Luo, let's skip the patrol tonight; the brothers from the Town Guard Bureau are guarding the place. You're injured, so go back and rest. I'm going to follow Captain Zhou out to take a look."

With that, he immediately followed closely behind Zhou Qingyang.

The group departed in a grand, imposing procession.

The building soon returned to silence.

After such a disturbance, the guests dared not stay the night and left one after another.

Sun Ping sighed and had no choice but to tell the girls to return to their rooms to rest.

Luo Qingchen returned to the backyard alone.

He sat in the pitch-black room for a while, took out the pink money pouch, stared at it quietly for a long time, and then put it away.

He lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

The next day.

Just as the sky brightened, Xiao Cui came to knock on the door: "Guard Luo, hurry to the front courtyard, someone is looking for you!"

Luo Qingchen got up and touched the wound on his shoulder.

It was still throbbing with pain.

He did not hesitate and immediately went out.

Who else could it be but Tian Feng coming to collect his blood?

He understood clearly that the more critical the moment, the more he needed to endure.

Fortunately, he was not short on blood.

When he arrived at the front courtyard, it was indeed Tian Feng.

However, Tian Feng looked somewhat haggard today; his hair, which had turned black, had reverted to a grayish-white.

He seemed to have aged significantly.

It appeared he had been severely injured during his last mission down the mountain.

Without any wasted words, he took out a dagger and a large bowl and said, "Come here, I need to draw some blood."

Luo Qingchen naturally dared not speak; he lowered his head, walked forward, and voluntarily extended his arm, rolling up his sleeve.

The bandage on his shoulder wound was obvious, but Tian Feng did not spare it a glance, nor did he ask any questions, simply beginning to draw the blood.

The large bowl on the ground was soon filled with fresh blood.

As Tian Feng picked up the blood and prepared to leave, he suddenly paused and looked at him, saying, "There is something I need to tell you in advance: in half a month, I will come to draw blood again. At that time, I will also need a kidney for refining medicine."

Having said this, he walked away directly.

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

Black, withered leaves swirled on the ground.

Luo Qingchen stood where he was, watching the cold back disappear into the distance. His face was hidden in the shadows of the courtyard wall, making his expression impossible to discern.

"Needs a kidney for refining medicine?"

Sun Ping stood in the corridor behind him, having watched the entire scene and naturally heard Tian Feng's words.

At this moment, her expression held a trace of pity.

But she knew this was normal.

She had been here for many years and had seen such things happen more than once.

The medicine men of Medicine Man Town were, after all, merely medicinal materials for the disciples above to cultivate with.

They could be bled at any time, or taken away to be refined into medicine at any time.

There had even been youths who were telling her jokes and dreaming of the future in the morning, only to become a mere skin, hanging coldly from a disciple's waist by the afternoon.

She had witnessed this kind of thing far too many times.

Therefore, at this moment, she merely let out a soft sigh before turning and entering the building.

Luo Qingchen returned to the backyard with unsteady footsteps.

Once inside his room, he locked the door and, without a moment's hesitation, immediately topped off his blood.

Then, he began to cultivate.

What was the pain in his shoulder? He certainly didn't want to lose a kidney.

Perhaps it wouldn't just be a single kidney.

Having a kidney removed here might cost him his life, and by then, his entire body would have become medicinal material for others to refine.

Thus, he only had half a month left!

To achieve better and faster cultivation results, he decided to start by cultivating with human blood.

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

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

He had to break through within these fifteen days!

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

He ate some food and then went to bed.

At dusk, he got up, left the building, and headed to North Street.

After circling through a few small alleys, he quickly ducked into a Blood Shop and spent fifty taels of silver to purchase a portion of fresh blood.

Of course, before buying it, he asked the shopkeeper whether the person who provided the blood was already dead, and how long ago the blood had been drawn.

He only bought blood from the dead, and only blood that had been drawn recently.

Fortunately, the Blood Shop had not only the blood of the living but also blood freshly drawn from the dead.

In truth, he suspected that these Blood Shops might keep special Blood Medicine on hand, drawing all the blood from them on the very day it was to be sold.

Just like livestock raised in captivity, slaughtered and sold on the same day.

After leaving the shop, he ducked into a nearby alley.

By the time he emerged from the alley, that portion of blood had been converted into 25% blood volume, stored within the second blood bar in his body.

He did not return immediately.

After wandering around for a while, he went to a Blood Shop on South Street and spent one hundred taels of silver to buy two more portions of blood.

After entering an alley, he finished absorbing them quickly.

At this point, the blood in his second blood bar had reached 80%.

Seeing that night was about to fall, he immediately returned to the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.

Because of the monster that had appeared the previous night, the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion was even more deserted than before.

Once it turned dark, everyone stayed in their rooms, not daring to come out.

The men from the Town Guard Bureau also stayed cautiously inside the building.

If they had to go out on patrol, all five of them went together.

Luo Qingchen lived alone in the backyard, which gave him a better opportunity to brew his medicinal bath.

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

On the stove sat the ordinary tonics he had bought earlier.

If someone were to suddenly walk in, these were the only medicines they would see.

After all, he had just had his blood drawn today; brewing some medicine to nourish his body was perfectly reasonable.

Once the medicine was brewed, he did not hesitate and immediately took his medicinal bath.

Everything outside was calm and quiet.

After successfully finishing the bath, he cleaned up the stone hut, returned to his room, locked the doors and windows, set up traps, and prepared to cultivate.

While taking advantage of the fierce and surging medicinal power, he had just finished a set of fist techniques when a faint sound of footsteps suddenly came from outside.

Then, a knock sounded at the door.

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

He had just had his blood drawn during the day, and in the eyes of others, he was currently at his weakest and most vulnerable.

Although he had safely avoided many attacks, human greed and desire could make people temporarily lose their reason.

Moreover, in half a month, he might become a corpse.

So, some people might already be unable to restrain themselves.

"Knock! Knock! Knock!"

The person outside continued to knock.

Just then, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from outside the door: "Brother A-Chen, it's me, A-Yun."

"A-Yun?"

When Luo Qingchen heard this voice, his heart gave a violent jolt.