Volume One: Days in the Shantytown - The Fake Medicine Factory (Part One)

Ling Xiaose's mysterious cousin did not appear. He merely sent Ling Xiaose with a hundred pieces of High-Grade Immortal Jade to retrieve the jade pendant. Du Lengning had matters to attend to these past few days, leaving Luo Qian on his own. He had been in a foul mood lately and could not be bothered to visit the Mortal Realm, so he holed up in his cave residence and began experimenting with Luo-Style Lazy Stewed Rice.

The three ingredients he had on hand seemed rather meager. Luo Qian bought another five or six from a grain shop on Ningyao Mountain and tried mixing several together. For his first attempt, he combined Jade Ying Rice and Azure Sea Millet in equal portions and poured them into the Rice Cooker. As it bubbled away, crackling with blue arcs of electricity, Luo Qian closed his eyes and began cultivating.

So what if I'm a Tribulation Immortal? A Tribulation Immortal can survive in the Immortal Realm by his own strength!

Time passed slowly in the Immortal Realm, yet three days went by in the blink of an eye. Luo Qian had just completed two cycles of cultivation when the Rice Cooker's green light came on. Rubbing his hands together, he opened it eagerly. The white steam dispersed, and his brow furrowed: there was only a puddle of dark green liquid inside. No Elixir had formed at all.

He shook his head, cleaned the Rice Cooker, replaced the Immortal Jade in the power box, and tried mixing Cloud Ying Rice with Phoenix-Eye Grain. That failed too.

Luo Qian did not lose heart. Failure was discouraging, but a single success would bring enormous returns. After a few attempts, though, he grew impatient. It was not that he had lost confidence; with only one Rice Cooker, every experiment took three days. It was simply too slow.

After some thought, he left his cave residence and headed straight for Xiushui Cliff.

"Brother Xiao! Brother Xiao!" he called from outside. Traps surrounded Xiao Xiangzi's workshop, with danger at every step. He had no desire to barge in and get blasted into charcoal.

"Oh, if it isn't Brother Luo! Come in, come in." The sight of his biggest customer immediately warmed Xiao Xiangzi's manner. Luo Qian entered the courtyard. "Brother Xiao, is there a formation that can conceal everything inside it, leaving not the slightest trace?"

"Of course. Quite a few, in fact. For instance—" Seeing that Xiao Xiangzi was about to launch into a lengthy discourse, Luo Qian hurriedly cut him off. "That's why I'm here today. Please make me a set of Flag-Gate Formation flags like that, powered entirely by Immortal Jade, with no need to channel spiritual power into it. What do you say?"

"No problem," Xiao Xiangzi agreed readily. "Come pick it up in three days. It's nothing difficult, so I'll only charge you fifty thousand standard Immortal Jade." "Deal."

Three days later, Luo Qian received the Flag-Gate Formation from Xiao Xiangzi, who took five pieces of Mid-Grade Immortal Jade in return. The set consisted of triangular flags in seven colors—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. There were seven flags to a row and seven rows in all: forty-nine flags planted in a palm-sized jade box. It was exquisitely made, with wisps of immortal mist curling around it.

Delighted, Luo Qian carried the Seven Luminaries Desert-Heaven Formation back to his cave residence on Toad Mountain. In his storeroom, he tossed it out. The flags fluttered down and planted themselves across the floor in an orderly pattern. A hazy mist rose. Standing outside the formation, he could no longer sense a trace of anything mundane within. "Hahaha..." Luo Qian laughed, set the jade box aside, and flung his arms wide. "Old Luo is off!"

He took a deep breath of Immortal Spirit Energy, then frowned. Contrary to his expectations, he had not vanished from the Immortal Realm. "Damn it, that problem's back!" he cursed. He truly could not fathom what was happening to his body. With no other choice, Luo Qian sat cross-legged and began another round of "diligent" cultivation.

This time, it took him a full three days to barely fill that gap. Luo Qian shook his head. He had no idea how much trouble it would cause the next time it appeared.

Although cultivation yielded scant results for Tribulation Immortals, that did not mean they could not absorb Immortal Spirit Energy. On the contrary, they absorbed it remarkably quickly—even faster than ordinary Mystic Immortals and Spirit Immortals, and no slower than True Immortals. But they released it just as quickly. A Tribulation Immortal's problem was that the energy could not settle within them. However much they absorbed, they could only breathe it back out, as naturally as taking a breath.

Without Immortal Spirit Energy settling in the body, one's cultivation realm naturally could not advance.

Over those three days, Luo Qian had absorbed an enormous amount of Immortal Spirit Energy. No matter the type of immortal, the ratio of energy absorbed during cultivation to energy that settled within the body was never better than twenty to one. Thirty to one was already respectable. But every bit of Immortal Spirit Energy Luo Qian absorbed went into filling that gap. None of it needed to settle within him!

So the amount of Immortal Spirit Energy Luo Qian had poured into that gap over three days was truly frightening.

Bang! Luo Qian appeared in the Mortal Realm, back at his base in City X. His first order of business was to buy rice cookers. He rushed into an appliance store and bought twenty of the most advanced models in one go, all with pressure-cooker functions. Even ten rice cookers took up a great deal of space, and Luo Qian could not be bothered to carry them home himself, so he arranged for delivery and returned to his base to wait. He could not move so many things to the Immortal Realm at once. If he appeared there with the lot, the Immortal Apprehension Office would discover him. He would have to smuggle them over in several trips, just as he had last time.

At the base, Luo Qian settled himself into an S-shaped lounge chair and narrowed his eyes to rest. A steaming cup of fine tea sat on the small table beside him. Its fragrance curled through the air, and he drifted into a pleasant haze.

But someone had to disturb his peace. Knock, knock, knock... A knock sounded at the door. Luo Qian bristled. That woman who collected the utility bills certainly knew how to seize an opening. He had only just returned, and already she was at his door.

He yanked it open, face dark and ready to snap—then froze. "What are you doing here?"

Seeing how displeased Luo Qian looked, Pei Sefei felt a sudden, inexplicable pang. What, does he dislike me that much? She considered herself at least a little attractive to men. That "little" might not sound like much, but in her twenty-two years of life, it had been enough to make at least a platoon of men fall at her feet.

Yet she had run into Luo Qian. If she had known his true identity, she would never have given it another thought, but she did not. Her pride was a little bruised, stirring a small competitive streak. She was curious about him, too. This man had spent millions helping her, then acted as though he did not know her. Why?

Pei Sefei could think of only one explanation: after seeing her in person, he had been disappointed, so he refused to admit what he had done.

That guess had bothered Pei Sefei ever since their last meeting. Stubbornly, she thought, What's so great about you? I'm a lovely young woman, and you're still not satisfied?

Because of her unusual identity, Pei Sefei had grown up wary of the men who surrounded her. If Luo Qian had swarmed around her like a fly, she would certainly have swatted him away. Instead, whenever he saw her, he seemed desperate to shake her off. That attitude only made her more determined to prove him wrong.

Uncle Xiao Liu had investigated him for her. The man had no background records at all; there was simply nothing to find! The house did not have clear title, so Luo Qian had paid the former owner, taken the keys, and lived there ever since without handling any transfer paperwork. He was like someone who had sprung from a crack in a rock.

Pei Sefei knew what Uncle Xiao Liu was capable of. If even he could find nothing, that only made her more curious about Luo Qian.

Curiosity could kill a wildcat with nine lives. Pei Sefei did not realize that, driven by this dangerous impulse and her touch of wounded pride, she was inching closer to Luo Qian without even knowing it.

"Hmph. What, are you unhappy to see me?" Pei Sefei pouted. "Plenty of people line up hoping to see me, and I don't even give them the time of day." Luo Qian gave a wry smile. "That's not what I meant. It's just... Look, I really don't know how those ballots got mailed from my address. Maybe someone used it without my permission."

Pei Sefei glanced at the arm Luo Qian had once again placed in front of her, as though by accident—or perhaps on purpose. She pushed it aside and marched into his base uninvited.

Luo Qian could do nothing about it. She had already let herself in.

"No taste." Pei Sefei surveyed Luo Qian's cramped little place with disdain. Without ceremony, she took over his favorite S-shaped lounge chair, tilted her smooth forehead toward him, and said, "I'll work for you."

Luo Qian blinked. "What?" Pei Sefei smiled slyly. "I don't recall telling you I found this place through the address on the ballots."

Luo Qian's heart sank. Damn. I let it slip.

Pei Sefei stood, clasped her hands behind her rounded bottom, and skipped over to Luo Qian. "Caught you, didn't I? Ha! Let me guess..." She struck a detective's pose, knitted her delicate brows, and, after a bout of "deep thought," declared, "Hmm. You take on commissions, don't you? People pay you, and you do things for them. That includes helping me, right?"

Luo Qian breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, this "clever" girl had come up with an excellent explanation for him. Otherwise, he truly would not have known what to tell her. Looking at the triumphant Pei Sefei, he gave her a heartfelt smile. "That's right. You guessed it. Very clever."

Pei Sefei was quite pleased with his "praise." She clasped her hands behind her back again and paced around the room like an elderly scholar, head lowered and back bent. "Naturally. Well? Don't you feel honored to have an outstanding talent like me volunteer to join you?"

Luo Qian burst out laughing. Annoyed, Pei Sefei grabbed his sleeve. "Hey, don't laugh! I'm serious." Then Luo Qian reconsidered. He really did need an agent in the Mortal Realm. Someone else could handle many matters on his behalf, sparing him from showing his face and helping him avoid danger. He nodded. "All right, but I can't pay you much. Five thousand a month. How's that?" Pei Sefei held out her small hand and slapped his. "No problem. Deal."