This shop really was quite good.
Xu Tong took little time to examine all the pills in the shop.
If his guess was correct, the shop's owner had taken at least three disciples, though two of them had not practiced alchemy for some time.
The pills displayed in the shop were probably kept there only as tokens of those two disciples.
After examining the entire shop, Xu Tong had discovered traces of three different methods among all the pills.
Perhaps "methods" was not quite the right word. They could be considered the alchemists' habits.
Every type of pill had its own fixed formula, along with prescribed heat control and hand seals for its refinement.
But ultimately, a person still had to refine the pills. People could not reproduce every step perfectly like machines. Personal differences would always leave individual traces during refinement.
It was through these traces that Xu Tong determined the shop's owner had taken at least three disciples.
As for why he believed two of them were no longer here, whenever he tried to examine the pills bearing those other two sets of traces more closely, Geng Shu would come over and tell him they were not for sale.
Once he finished looking around, he left.
Azure City was large, with plenty of other places for him to wander.
The Zhang Family residence.
Zhang Yuanrang had not yet called back his former servants. Although he knew he had a senior like Xu Tong backing him, the Yuan Family had not fallen, and he would still have to contend with them. His servants were only ordinary people, so he had not recalled those who had dispersed, lest they be dragged into this.
Thus, even purchasing daily necessities required him, the head of the Zhang Family, to go out