Surrounded

After dinner, Chen Hao hailed a taxi and took Liu Yan home.

As soon as he turned around, Chen Hao saw Long Guangsheng following him, with Fatty and Blondie trailing some distance behind.

"Why are you following me?" Chen Hao asked, puzzled.

Long Guangsheng grinned. "Brother Hao, let me work under you."

Chen Hao was so annoyed he laughed. "Are you kidding? I'm not a gangster. What the hell would you follow me for?"

"You know the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Shirt, don't you? I want to learn a few moves from you. Are you still taking disciples, Master?" Long Guangsheng asked without a shred of shame.

"Metal, my ass!" Chen Hao was utterly defeated by Long Guangsheng's shamelessness. "Stop following me. I don't know any Golden Bell Shield."

"You're too modest, Master. When you used your Golden Bell Shield earlier, even my club couldn't hurt you at all. Please teach me."

Long Guangsheng followed behind Chen Hao, bowing and scraping as he chattered endlessly, trying to coax information out of him. Chen Hao looked thoroughly disgusted and occasionally raised a hand to scare him off.

While the two were messing around, they reached a dimly lit stretch of road, where a dozen or so figures suddenly blocked their path.

Chen Hao immediately guessed who they were. "Damn it, these bastards just won't leave me alone."

Long Guangsheng had figured it out too. His carefree smile vanished, replaced by a cold look.

Fatty and Blondie, who had been following close behind, immediately jogged over and whispered to Long Guangsheng and Chen Hao, "Brother Long, you and Brother Hao get out of here. I'll hold them off."

Chen Hao hadn't expected such loyalty from these two underlings. But there were too many opponents, and the difference in strength was enormous. Those two wouldn't even slow them down.

He was just about to tell them to leave when the dozen or so men charged at them, steel pipes in hand.

Long Guangsheng showed no fear. With a curse, he was the first to charge forward, with the hotheaded Fatty and Blondie right behind him.

Chen Hao stared, dumbfounded. Three unarmed men thought they could take down over a dozen armed opponents? They thought far too highly of themselves.

Sure enough, the three had barely charged in before a flurry of blows knocked them flat.

Chen Hao covered his face. How fucking embarrassing.

After beating Long Guangsheng and the other two to the ground, the Black Tiger Society's men closed in on Chen Hao.

As the dozen or so men charged at him, Chen Hao remained perfectly calm. His fists tightened slightly, and a cold gleam flashed in his eyes.

A steel pipe whistled straight toward his face. Chen Hao turned slightly and easily dodged it, then unleashed his waiting fist like lightning, smashing it squarely into the man's face.

There was a crisp crack as the man's nose broke. With a muffled grunt, he flew backward, the force of the blow sending him crashing into two other men and knocking them to the ground.

The swift, brutal punch caught them completely off guard. Everyone froze.

Chen Hao gave them no chance to recover. His left foot and then his right lashed out, sending the two men closest to him flying.

One of them slammed straight into a utility pole beside the road, hitting it so hard that even the pole tilted.

Chen Hao had already possessed a powerful physique, but he had lacked fighting techniques. Now that he had learned the Tiger-Subduing Arhat Fist, combining technique with physical strength had fucking multiplied his combat power.

And during those attacks, Chen Hao seemed to have sensed qi in the air.

The Tiger-Subduing Arhat Fist's teachings had mentioned the concept of "qi."

Qi had neither form nor substance. Like air, it existed in every corner of the world.

At first, Chen Hao hadn't understood qi very well. But while attacking just now, he had clearly sensed its existence for the first time.

Sensing qi was only the first step. If Chen Hao wanted to advance further in the Tiger-Subduing Arhat Fist, he would have to learn to harness it.

Within a few seconds, Chen Hao had effortlessly knocked down five men. The rest looked terrified, their fighting spirit completely gone.

Pressing his advantage, Chen Hao rushed up to them in a few strides and sent one flying with a clean slap.

Seeing this, another man swung his steel pipe at the back of Chen Hao's head, attempting a sneak attack.

But Chen Hao's reflexes were now far beyond those of an ordinary person. With his newfound ability to sense qi, he also clearly picked up the airflow stirred by the descending pipe.

Without even turning his head, Chen Hao reached up with his left hand and caught the steel pipe firmly. No matter how hard the man tugged, it wouldn't budge.

As Chen Hao slowly turned his head, the man holding the pipe trembled all over and backed away step by step, as though he had seen the Grim Reaper.

In the end, Chen Hao used the steel pipe to knock him unconscious, leaving him sprawled on the ground.

The few men still standing didn't dare come forward. Scared shitless, they scattered and fled, abandoning even their fallen companions.

Seeing Chen Hao rout over a dozen Black Tiger Society thugs in an instant, Long Guangsheng and his two companions, who lay bruised and battered on the ground, were utterly awestruck. They hurried over and dropped to one knee, begging him to take them as disciples.

Looking at their faces, swollen like pigs' heads from the beating, Chen Hao softened. Although he didn't agree to take them as disciples, his attitude toward them changed completely.

After finally managing to send the three away, Chen Hao developed a murderous hatred for the Black Tiger Society. Unless he dealt with them first, even a simple stroll would bring him endless trouble.

The next day, Chen Hao called Long Guangsheng again. "Look into the Black Tiger Society for me. Make a list of every business connected to them and send it to me right away."

Since the Black Tiger Society kept coming after him, they couldn't blame Chen Hao for showing no mercy.

After making arrangements to handle those annoyances, Chen Hao immediately sent the Alchemy Boy a message. "Exalted Alchemy Boy, are you there?"

Development of the new product had already begun. According to Liu Yan's estimates, it would go on sale and enter mass production within a week at most. They would need enormous quantities of furnace ash then, so he had to find out what supply he could count on.

The Alchemy Boy quickly replied, "I'm here, Great Immortal. What can I do for you?"

Chen Hao got straight to the point. "Nothing major. I just wanted to ask when the Eight Trigrams Furnace will need cleaning again. Remember to let me know."

"Oh, not anytime soon. We usually clean it once every few years."

Chen Hao nearly passed out when he heard that. "Wh-what? Once every few years? Are you kidding me?"

If what the Alchemy Boy said was true, this was one hell of a nasty surprise!

The stock in his Qiankun Bag probably wouldn't last very long. Without a fresh supply, shutting down production would be the least of his problems. They still had that huge wager with Uncle Ming coming due in two months!

Chen Hao hurriedly replied, "Is there any way to get something similar to furnace ash? This is really important to me."

That completely baffled the Alchemy Boy. "Why would you want something as filthy as furnace ash, Great Immortal?"

Chen Hao was on the verge of tears. "Great Immortal Alchemy Boy, please stop asking questions and help me think of a solution!"

After some thought, the Alchemy Boy replied, "The ash in the Eight Trigrams Furnace is an accumulation of dust and impurities produced during pill refining. There aren't many impurities during normal refining, unless..."

Hearing there was still a chance, Chen Hao immediately asked, "Unless what?"

"Unless the pills are deliberately ruined during refining. That might produce a large amount of impurities," the Alchemy Boy said.

"Holy shit, it's that simple!"

Refining high-quality pills might be difficult, but surely ruining them was easy. Chen Hao began trying to persuade the Alchemy Boy. "Then could you ruin some pills for me on a regular basis?"

The Alchemy Boy refused outright. "Absolutely not. The medicinal ingredients used for pill refining are extremely scarce now. Forget ruining an entire batch—Lao Jun would punish me even if I ruined just a few pills."

Reading the Alchemy Boy's reply, Chen Hao found himself in a bind.

If he couldn't work something out with the Alchemy Boy, he would have no way to explain things to Liu Yan.

"Then would you mind telling me what medicinal ingredients you need for pill refining?"

"Dragon Scale, flood dragon saliva, celestial beast essence crystals, qilin deer antlers..."

Chen Hao had hoped he could support the Alchemy Boy by supplying raw materials. But he had never even seen any of the things listed, and they certainly couldn't exist in this world. His last shred of hope vanished.

But when he saw the second message the Alchemy Boy sent, Chen Hao's eyes lit up.

"Cicada shells, angelica root, bupleurum root, rhubarb, musk..."

Holy shit, aren't those traditional Chinese medicinal ingredients?

Excited, Chen Hao hurriedly sent a reply. "Alchemy Boy, you use these ingredients too?"

"Of course," the Alchemy Boy replied. "They're generally used as supplementary ingredients in pill refining."

"Are those in short supply too?" Chen Hao asked.

"Yes. Although these ingredients are ordinary, they're also very scarce in the Heavenly Court."

Snap!

Chen Hao snapped his fingers in delight. They might be scarce in the Heavenly Court, but Earth had plenty!

"Alchemy Boy, as long as you agree to supply me with furnace ash regularly, I can provide all these ingredients free of charge."

The Alchemy Boy was stunned. "Really, Exalted Immortal?"

"Of course. But you have to promise me one thing: this secret stays between us." Afraid of creating complications, Chen Hao added a little precaution of his own.

Whenever the Supreme Lord Lao refined pills, the entire task of gathering ingredients fell to the Alchemy Boy. Some were difficult to find, forcing him to seek help from other immortals. He spent a great deal of time on it every day, and the task had made his life miserable.

Hearing that Chen Hao could provide medicinal ingredients for free naturally delighted him. He immediately agreed. "Don't worry, Exalted Immortal. I'll definitely keep it secret."

"In that case, I'll prepare a batch of ingredients right away. Try refining one batch for me first. If it really meets my requirements, we can make this a long-term arrangement."

"No problem. I'll wait for your ingredients, Exalted Immortal."

As soon as he closed the chat window, Chen Hao's phone rang. Seeing that it was Liu Yan, he immediately answered.

"Chen Hao, come to the company right away! Something serious has happened!" Liu Yan's frantic voice came through the moment he picked up.

Chen Hao frowned. "Wait for me. I'll be right there."

When Chen Hao arrived at Liu Yan's office, he saw her, Zhang Jing, and several unfamiliar people sitting together in discussion.

Seeing a stranger stride into the meeting room and sit directly beside Liu Yan, an arrogant-looking young man immediately pointed at him. "Liu Yan, Dad made a mistake putting you in charge of the company. Look at you, letting any random nobody in here. You have no respect for the rules."

Liu Yan didn't hold back. "Watch your mouth, Liu Qi. This is Chen Hao, our new shareholder."

Hearing Chen Hao's name, Liu Qi immediately grew worked up again. "Oh, so you're the bastard who swindled my sister out of ten percent of the shares."

"Liu Qi!" Unable to tolerate him any longer, Liu Yan slammed the table and shouted, "We're in a meeting. Behave yourself, or get out right now!"

Seeing that Liu Yan was truly angry, Liu Qi stopped making trouble. He snorted, sat back down, and smoked in sullen silence.

An elderly man sat beside Liu Qi. His hair was graying, but his eyes were sharp and lively, and he exuded an imposing authority without showing any anger.

"You're Chen Hao?"