Invisible War (Seeking Recommendations)

After leaving the council hall, Lin Qingyun headed straight for the Xiao Family Back Mountain.

In the small woods behind the cliff, Xiao Yan was still training bitterly.

He stopped at the edge of the cliff, took out that Medicine Cauldron, lit the fire, warmed the cauldron, and began refining. Everything was as usual.

The sky gradually darkened.

Inside the brightly lit great hall, the atmosphere was thick with uncertainty.

On the table at the center of the hall stood a small green jade bottle, a faint medicinal fragrance drifting out from within.

Quite a few people sat in the hall. Judging from their clothes, they were clearly all higher-ups of the Jia Lie Family, while Jia Lie Bi sat in the seat of honor.

In the seat to the left of the head of the hall, a young man dressed in white lounged lazily against the back of his chair. The youth was rather handsome, but the lecherous glint that flashed through his eyes from time to time deeply ruined those looks. At that moment, one of the young man's hands was slowly slipping beneath the clothes of the pretty maidservant standing beside him. His unrestrained manner showed not the slightest restraint just because there were many people present.

Under the young man's violation, the pretty maidservant's cheeks were slightly pale, moisture gathered in her eyes, and her delicate body trembled lightly without stop, yet she did not dare make the slightest sound.

"So this is Rejuvenation Powder? Mister Liu has truly worked hard." Completely ignoring the young man's actions beside him, Jia Lie Bi picked up the small jade bottle on the table and gently sniffed the faint medicinal fragrance drifting out. A trace of a smile appeared on his old face.

"It can hardly be called hard work. This is merely the lowest-grade healing pill that I am skilled at." The young man smiled proudly, but the hand beneath him grew more and more brazen.

"Indeed, indeed. I only wonder how many Mister Liu can refine in a day? That way, I can prepare accordingly." Jia Lie Bi chuckled as he set down the jade bottle in his hand, stroked the beard on his chin, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I can refine around two hundred bottles a day. In three days at most, we can begin supplying them." The young man smiled as he spoke. Suddenly, a strange smile appeared on his face. "However... when it comes to payment, it must be sixty percent for me and forty for you."

"How about that?"

The young man stopped the hand roaming over the maidservant's body, propped both hands on the table, and said indifferently.

Jia Lie Bi's expression froze and darkened slightly, but he soon smiled and said, "Everything will be as sir says."

Having received a satisfactory answer, the young man sat back down in his chair again and even more recklessly pulled the pretty maidservant beside him into his arms, groping her up and down.

"Mister Liu, I have already sent people to the Miter Auction House to purchase medicinal herbs again. When the time comes, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to work a little harder." Jia Lie Bi smiled, then added, "In addition, I have already selected two pure young girls, and they have been sent to sir's room."

Hearing that he would have to start refining medicine again, obvious impatience appeared on the young man's face. However, when the words "two young girls" reached his ears, the impatience immediately turned into lust. His eyes shone as he nodded and said with a sweeping promise, "As long as there are enough medicinal herbs, Clan Leader Jia Lie need not worry about the quantity of Rejuvenation Powder."

Seeing Liu Xi nod so easily, the corner of Jia Lie Bi's mouth lifted with a touch of smugness and disdain. He sneered inwardly, A piece of trash with a head full of nothing but lust. Aside from refining medicine, he's useless.

Shaking his head with a cold smile, Jia Lie Bi lifted his teacup and took a sip, then chatted with Liu Xi with a face full of smiles about the romantic affairs that interested him most.

After laughing and chatting with Liu Xi for a while longer, a clan member hurriedly barged into the hall, then quickly walked to Jia Lie Bi's side, lowered his head, and whispered softly into his ear.

Jia Lie Bi listened with a smile to what the clan member said. A moment later, the smile on his face gradually stiffened. The teacup in his hand went crack and turned into powder. The powder mixed with the tea and flowed out through the gaps between his fingers.

"Damn Miter Auction House! They're actually pulling this on us!"

Jia Lie Bi stood up with a face full of menace and roared angrily. A violent aura suddenly surged wildly from within his body, and small gusts of wind let out wailing cries in midair.

Jia Lie'ao, who was closest to Jia Lie Bi, already had a pale face, and under the pressure of that powerful aura, it became even paler. He hurriedly took a few steps back and shouted anxiously, "Father!"

Jia Lie'ao's shout allowed Jia Lie Bi to regain a little clarity. His face twitched slightly, then he sat down gloomily and said coldly, "The Miter Auction House actually raised the price by a full three times. Even some of the medicinal herb trading firms that follow the Miter Auction House have raised their prices too. That damned vixen."

As soon as these words came out, the hall was thrown into an uproar. Everyone looked at one another in dismay.

A price three times higher had suddenly exceeded the range they could bear.

"Hmph. Looks like that woman Ya Fei has noticed something as well." Jia Lie Bi, who had gradually calmed down, slowly sat down too, took a deep breath, and said.

"Then what should we do? A price three times higher has already exceeded our ability to bear it." Jia Lieku, whose face was fat and greasy, said in a shrill voice.

"Buy. What else can we do? At the very least, we have to open up the market quickly in these first few days. No matter what the price is, buy them all for me!" Jia Lie Bi took a deep breath and said.

The arrow was already on the string and had to be released. Otherwise, if they kept dragging this out, the two hundred thousand gold coins' worth of medicinal herbs they had bought before would be smashed into their own hands.

What was more, the Miter Auction House was the only trading firm that could provide the quantity of medicinal herbs he needed.

It was already two days later. Beneath the morning sun, in front of the marketplace bearing the Jia Lie Family crest, Lin Qingyun wore white robes, his face handsome as polished jade, graceful and elegant. A cloth band tied up his long hair, and he held a folding fan in one hand, giving him somewhat the air of a scholar.

Dressed in this disguise, Lin Qingyun paid no attention at all to the gazes of those Jia Lie Family guards and swaggered inside.

The marketplace presented a lively scene. In particular, the stall flying the Jia Lie Family's banner was even more explosive with business.

"Rejuvenation Powder! Rejuvenation Powder! One bottle is worth two! Don't miss it if you want something effective!"

Amid the frantic hawking, one could also see a burly man standing at the highest point, holding a knife in his hand and aiming it at his bare arm.

He stuffed a piece of cloth into his mouth, then fiercely drew the knife across, cutting out a long gash.

Very soon, bright-red blood seeped from the wound.

A trace of sweat appeared on the burly man's forehead. The intense pain twisted his face, but he quickly took out a small jade bottle. Pale-green liquid poured out and dripped onto the wound.

Under the witness of the surrounding crowd, in only a few minutes, the wound no longer had blood flowing from it and slowly began to clot.

Such a miraculous effect immediately made the onlookers cry out in surprise.

This kind of medicinal effect was life-saving medicine for mercenary groups that often risked life and death in the Monster Beast Mountain Range.

Being able to make wounds heal in just a few minutes could greatly increase a merchant's chances of survival.

"How much for one bottle? I want ten bottles!"

A mercenary wearing leather armor had already begun shouting.

"I want ten bottles too!"

"I got here first! Get the hell aside!"

"Move, move! Don't block my damn way!"

"Two hundred gold coins a bottle. Jia Lie Bi really dares to sell it at that price!"

At last, it was Lin Qingyun's turn. After paying two hundred gold coins, he successfully obtained a bottle of Rejuvenation Powder as well.

He opened the seal at the mouth of the bottle, and a faint medicinal fragrance quickly spread out. He poured out a tiny bit, letting it fall onto his palm, where there was a slight cooling sensation. After sensing it briefly, Lin Qingyun threw it away anywhere like tossing out trash.

Although he was not some Alchemist Master, he could still manage basic discernment. Just like that bottle of Rejuvenation Powder, its medicinal effect could hardly be spoken of; at most, it could only cause blood to clot.

"Sigh, I hope you can hold on." Looking at the Jia Lie Family people still shouting with all their might in the distance, Lin Qingyun sighed.

And as his sigh fell, the bustle gathered in front of the Jia Lie Family's stall suddenly came to a halt.

The crowded flow of people was immediately parted.

"It's all your fault! You're selling fake medicine! Look, my brother's leg has already swollen up like this!"

In the crowd, several burly men were carrying a stretcher and loudly cursing there.

"What's going on? What's going on?"

In front of the Jia Lie Family's stall, a greasy, fat man hurried forward, constantly wiping the sweat from his forehead with the cloth towel in his hand.

"You're the one in charge here? Tell me, just what is going on with the medicine you're selling? Why did my brother end up like this?"

The burly man in the lead angrily scolded him, his face full of fury. Following the direction his finger pointed, the person lying on the stretcher now had a thigh swollen like a huge sausage.

There was also a knife wound on the leg, with some green liquid still remaining on it.

Just from that residual liquid alone, one could tell it was Rejuvenation Powder.

Jia Lieku's face was full of difficulty as he explained, "What we sell absolutely cannot be fake medicine. This is only an isolated case. We are willing to compensate you."

"Hmph, an isolated case? I think what you're selling is fake medicine. If my brother's leg can't be saved, even if you are people of the Jia Lie Family, I'll still beat you up." The burly man's face was full of rage, and the three companions behind him were the same.

"We will compensate you and do everything we can to heal your brother's leg. Brother, could we step aside?"

Seeing more and more people gathering around, even more sweat broke out on Jia Lieku's face. This was the first day the Jia Lie Family was selling Rejuvenation Powder. If they suffered a setback on the very first day, the losses and consequences were simply not something he could bear.

Cursing Liu Xi viciously in his heart, Jia Lieku squeezed a smile onto his fat face and said, "Everyone, this is only an accident. There is no need to worry. Our Rejuvenation Powder is very safe."

"We..."

At this moment, Lin Qingyun had already quietly withdrawn, a faint smile on his face.

Following the street, he looked all the way at the Jia Lie Family's shops, where the same situation occurred from time to time.

He turned a corner. At the end of the main street was the Miter Auction House.

Smack!

In the council hall, Jia Lie Bi stood with his hands on his hips. On the ground beneath his feet, there was also a puddle of water and fragments of a shattered teacup.

"Who is it? Who wants to deal with us?"

Jia Lie Bi's furious roar spread throughout the entire council hall.

In merely two or three hours, incidents had continuously occurred where wounds swelled, or even rotted, because of Rejuvenation Powder.

To him, who had been in such high spirits, this was simply a blow straight to the head.