The weather was particularly bright and clear today.
Deep among bamboo and dense trees, where insects chirped, a coolness sometimes came that was not the wind.
Li Ping'an crouched deep in the Bamboo Forest, studying health-preserving tea.
Chrysanthemums, dried tangerine peel, honey-roasted licorice, osmanthus... and many other Chinese medicinal herbs.
Li Ping'an held a small bottle in one hand and kept stirring with a little stick in the other.
Lately, he could no longer afford to refine Pills. The process of refining them cost a great deal of money to begin with.
This was no small sum.
Some time ago, Run Tu and Li Ping'an had broken through to new realms.
That had sent all the savings Li Ping'an had accumulated over the years down the drain. Not only that, he had also incurred debts.
He owed money to several friends, as well as a sum to the Black Market.
And on a debt this large, the interest alone was an enormous sum.
Li Ping'an was not particularly worried, though. As the old saying went, a man without debts walked light.
Another old saying went: with enough fleas, you stopped fearing the itch.
"Old Ox, stoke the fire."
"Whoosh, whoosh~"
Before long, the tea was ready.
He had grown all the tea leaves himself.
Li Ping'an sniffed it. The tea smelled fresh and fragrant, hot and strong.
He took a sip, but the taste seemed a little off.
"Old Ox, we followed all the steps correctly, right?"
"Moo!" Old Ox nodded.
Li Ping'an rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It seemed the way of tea was no simpler than the way of alchemy.
Old Ox agreed.
"Big brother! Big brother, something's wrong!!"
Just then, Run Tu came running over in a hurry.
"What happened? Why the rush? Take your time."
"Qing... Qingfeng...