Jade Splendor Essence-Nourishing Pill

Chen Chong wondered if it was his imagination, but Pingyang City seemed larger and more prosperous than Dingyuan County.

In fact, Pingyang City really was somewhat larger than Dingyuan County, with longer city walls, wider streets and alleys, and more shops.

Most importantly, though, there were no refugees inside the city.

On the streets of Dingshan County, huddled figures were everywhere—at the foot of walls, beneath eaves, and at alley entrances. They were packed so thickly that people had to walk around them.

Pingyang City was different. Its streets were clean, and people came and went at an unhurried pace. No one rummaged through rubbish heaps for food. No one crouched in a corner, clutching a child and begging.

It seemed far less crowded and chaotic.

Chen Chong headed farther into the city. It was late, and he planned to find an inn first.

Most of the roadside shops had already put up their shutters, but the lanterns beneath their eaves still glowed, casting alternating stretches of light and darkness across the flagstone road.

Figures streamed back and forth: women hurrying along with baskets, peddlers carrying shoulder poles as they packed up for the night, young men laughing with their arms around one another's shoulders, and elderly people walking slowly with canes.

Chen Chong felt a little dazed. It had been so long since he had seen this many people out walking at night.

In Dingshan County, the streets emptied before darkness had fully fallen. Everyone hid indoors, afraid to venture out. Even the night watchmen could not be bothered to strike their clappers.

Chen Chong could not help reflecting that the presence of gangs suggested the local authorities still had a fairly strong presence here.

Everyone knew how far they could reach. The Clear River Gang collected protection money, but once paid, they did their job rather than squeezing people to death. Someone kept order on the streets, someone took responsibility, and there were rules.

Dingyuan County had no gangs, but that did not mean no one collected protection money. Rather, its powerful clans never bothered with such niceties. They were like beasts choosing people to devour: when hungry, they pounced and tore off a mouthful, then tossed aside the bones without so much as an explanation.

Chen Chong stopped in front of a rather luxurious inn.

Its frontage spanned three bays, with black-lacquered pillars and a row of red lanterns hanging beneath the eaves.

A sign stood at the entrance, bearing the words "Welcome Inn" in gold.

Inside, attendants in clean, short blue-cloth tunics wore white towels over their shoulders, greeting and seeing off guests with beaming smiles.

Chen Chong walked in. The proprietor was a plump man in his forties with a round, doughy face and eyes that narrowed to slits when he smiled.

Seeing the saber at Chen Chong's side, his straight-backed bearing, and an air that set him apart from ordinary people, the proprietor hurried out from behind the counter to greet him personally.

Chen Chong paid ten taels of silver and said he would be staying for ten days.

The proprietor readily agreed and personally led him upstairs to inspect his room. It was small but clean, with fresh bedding, tables and chairs polished to a shine, and even a potted plant on the windowsill. Chen Chong nodded in satisfaction.

He also learned a little about the situation from the proprietor.

"Are you heading to Anyang Commandery City, sir?" The proprietor lowered his voice. "That road isn't easy to travel these days. Bribing your way through the checkpoints alone costs a fair bit of silver. Then there's the carriage service, the guards, and food and lodging along the way. I hear it costs nearly ten thousand taels to get there now."

Chen Chong was startled. Nearly ten thousand taels. Anyang Commandery City was only a few hundred li from Pingyang City, yet getting there cost so much.

"Don't think it's overpriced, sir." The proprietor sighed. "Even Pingyang City isn't safe these days. Roaming bandits are running wild in the surrounding countryside. Who knows when they might turn into a rebel army? Many nearby cities have already been hit by rebels, too. Several cities to the north and east have fallen into chaos. There's no telling when the rebels might reach Pingyang City."

He paused, then continued, "You noticed how few refugees there are outside the city, didn't you? That's because they've all been sent elsewhere. Those who couldn't be sent away were driven off. The county office says that refugees gathering for too long will cause trouble, so they must be dispersed. Some curse the officials for being heartless, but those of us who run businesses understand perfectly well. Too many refugees gathering in one place are bound to disrupt normal life. The ordinary people of Pingyang City still have to get by."

Inwardly, Chen Chong agreed with Pingyang City's approach.

From the perspective of its ordinary residents, who would want a crowd of people without enough clothes or food squatting outside their home every day? Who would want strangers on the verge of starvation lying outside their shop? It was not cruelty. There was simply no other choice.

In that luxurious inn, Chen Chong slept until the sun was nearly overhead.

It was the soundest sleep he had enjoyed in months.

There was no clamor from the refugee district, no cursing in the streets, and no clash of weapons in the middle of the night. The bed was soft, the quilt clean, and only the occasional vendor's cry or rattle of passing traffic drifted through the window.

He went out and headed for the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

The Hundred Treasures Pavilion was a large chain of shops.

Chen Chong had heard of it back in Dingyuan County. Its shops were said to span several commandery cities, offering everything from rare medicinal ingredients and precious pills to cultivation methods and secret manuals.

But there was no branch in Dingyuan County. The county was too remote.

Chen Chong stepped inside, and a faint fragrance of sandalwood greeted him.

The shop was spacious, with counters lining three sides. Deep-blue velvet covered their surfaces, displaying an assortment of pills and medicinal ingredients beneath glass covers, with names and prices written on labels below. Bright yet gentle lighting made the pills gleam like gemstones.

A smiling young woman came forward to greet him. She was in her twenties, slender, and dressed in a jade-green, narrow-sleeved tunic with a silk sash of the same color at her waist.

Her hair was coiled into a single spiral bun, secured with a plain silver hairpin. She wore no makeup, but her features were delicate, and the corners of her mouth curved when she smiled.

Chen Chong explained that he wanted to purchase some medicinal ingredients and use one of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion's pill furnaces.

The woman led him around several turns. They passed through an ornamental gate behind the shop, then along a narrow passage. Beyond the pavilion lay a series of courtyards.

The courtyards were small but tastefully arranged, with blue-stone paving, slender bamboo in the corners, and wind chimes beneath the covered walkways. Chen Chong entered one of them. After showing him into a room, the woman asked him to wait a moment.

The room was small, with a bronze pill furnace standing in its center. It had three legs, two handles, and cloud patterns cast into its body.

Beside it stood a worktable holding a pestle, mortar, bronze spoon, and porcelain bottles. Several chairs and a low table stood in one corner. Light streamed through a south-facing window and fell directly upon the furnace.

The medicinal ingredients were soon brought in, all of them required for the Jade Splendor Essence-Nourishing Pill. He took out a thousand-tael banknote, and the attendant accepted it and left.

Today, he intended to try making the Jade Splendor Essence-Nourishing Pill straightaway.

The Jade Marrow Essence-Coalescing Pill now gave him fewer than a hundred experience points. Its gains kept dwindling. It was time to switch to a new pill.

Once the ingredients went into the furnace, the pill-making proceeded smoothly. Chen Chong discovered that the improvements to his cultivation method and strength had also greatly enhanced his alchemy. His hands were steadier, his force more sustained, and his sensitivity to the heat keener.

The batch yielded three pills. The Jade Splendor Essence-Nourishing Pills had the creamy hue of solidified fat, their surfaces suffused with a faint radiance like moonlight falling on snow.

Chen Chong swallowed one. 46523/100000. It rose by five hundred at once. He was astonished. The money had not been wasted. Five hundred per pill meant fifteen hundred for three. Even accounting for the cost of the ingredients, there was still a profit to be made.

He packed the other two pills into a wooden box and carried them out of the pill-making room. When he said he wished to sell them, a female attendant took a look.

She picked up the wooden box and opened it for a glance. A troubled expression crossed her face. "Please wait a moment, sir," she said, then summoned an elderly man.

The old man was in his seventies, thin and gaunt, wearing a dark reddish-brown silk robe. His graying hair was meticulously combed.

Deep wrinkles marked his face, but his sunken eyes shone with a brightness unusual for his age. He took the wooden box from the attendant, opened it, and picked up a pill.

First, he looked. Holding it beneath the light, he turned it to examine the flow of its lustrous patterns and the fineness of its surface. Then, he smelled it. He brought it close to his nose and inhaled gently, one eyebrow lifting slightly.

Next, he lightly scraped its surface with a fingernail, removing an exceedingly thin layer of powder, and tasted it on the tip of his tongue. Finally, he returned the pill to the wooden box and closed his eyes in thought for a moment.

"A special variety of Essence-Nurturing Pill," the old man said, his voice quiet but clear. "Considerably more potent than the ordinary kind. Its medicinal power is sustained, gentle, and nourishing without excessive heat. Suitable for those at the Bone-Forging Stage. Our purchase price is two thousand three hundred taels per pill."

After speaking, he gave Chen Chong a couple of interested looks. His gaze slid from Chen Chong's face to the saber at his waist and back again, as though weighing something.

Beside him, the female attendant's lips parted in surprise. Two thousand three hundred taels per pill? She had worked here for three years and handled plenty of pills, but this was the first time she had seen such a high purchase price.

Chen Chong expressed his satisfaction. After a pause, he asked, "Do you have any more of these ingredients?"

The old man smiled, a hint of deeper meaning in his expression. "Our shop only receives enough of these ingredients for one batch each day." His gaze lingered on Chen Chong's face. "If you want more, sir, just come back tomorrow."

Chen Chong nodded, sold the two pills, and received four thousand six hundred taels in banknotes. Combined with what he had left, he now had nearly five thousand taels again. He put the banknotes away and left the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

Dusk was spilling down from Pingyang City's rooftops, and the lanterns along the streets lit up one by one. Chen Chong walked with a lighter step. If the Hundred Treasures Pavilion only had one batch of ingredients each day, he would simply come every day.

He turned into the Welcome Inn, went upstairs, opened his door, and sat by the window.

On the distant city walls, torches flickered in the wind. Pingyang City's nights were far livelier than those of Dingshan County.