Blood Lotus Essence

"Hm?"

Just as Nalan Sheng was practicing his curving spear technique, his sharp brows suddenly rose slightly, and he turned his attention to the system shop.

A month had passed since the system shop officially opened, so its stock had refreshed.

Like the previous ten items, the ten newly listed items ranged from cheap to expensive.

Several treasures among them made Nalan Sheng's heart race. Unfortunately, he was desperately short on villain points and could not afford them at all.

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Looks like it's time to make a trip to Qingshan Town.

After staring at the treasures in the system shop for a while, Nalan Sheng immediately left Wutan City and headed toward Qingshan Town.

Qingshan Town was the closest magical beast town to Wutan City. There was nothing particularly special about the town itself.

However, Xiao Yi Xian, who possessed the Woeful Poison Body, lived there. On a cliff near Qingshan Town, there was also a cave dwelling and treasure left behind by a Dou Wang expert.

Thus, even if the system shop had not refreshed, Nalan Sheng had planned to find time for a trip to Qingshan Town. Otherwise, he would not have been practicing his spear technique so diligently.

Early the next morning.

Dressed in a fitted black outfit, Nalan Sheng finally arrived near Qingshan Town.

Quite a crowd had already gathered at the town's entrance.

Judging by their clothing, they were probably mercenaries who made their living hunting magical beasts.

The mercenaries clustered in groups of three or five, freely discussing which women in town had the most flavor, where the liquor was strongest, and where the magical beasts were fiercest.

Nalan Sheng's arrival naturally attracted some attention, but when they saw that he was merely a boy of fifteen or sixteen, they soon looked away.

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Since Nalan Sheng's current clothes bore no insignia identifying him as a One-Star Dou Zhe, no one knew he was a Dou Zhe.

Normally, boys Nalan Sheng's age would only be at the seventh or eighth stage of Dou Qi.

Since Nalan Sheng was most likely not even a Dou Zhe, the mercenaries naturally could not be bothered to pay attention to him.

Nalan Sheng ignored their reactions. After strolling into Qingshan Town at an unhurried pace, he quickly scanned the shops lining both sides of the street.

Soon, his gaze settled on a rather spacious medicinal herb shop, and he walked toward the establishment named the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.

According to the original story, Xiao Yi Xian should have been a physician at the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.

If Nalan Sheng was lucky, he might encounter her there.

Although it was still early, quite a few customers had already gathered inside the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.

Most were mercenaries, presumably buying healing medicines and antidotes before entering the Magical Beast Mountain Range, just in case they needed them.

After entering the Myriad Medicine Pavilion, Nalan Sheng quickly surveyed the main hall, but saw no one who looked like Xiao Yi Xian.

He was not particularly disappointed. He had not expected to make contact with her so quickly anyway.

Seeing that Xiao Yi Xian was absent, Nalan Sheng did not hurry to leave. Instead, he approached the medicinal herb counter, pointed at one of the herbs inside, and told the young clerk behind it, "Bring out all the yellow lotus essence in your shop. I'll take every piece!"

"..."

The young clerk froze briefly, then asked uncertainly, "Sir, we have over a hundred pieces of yellow lotus essence in stock, and each costs a hundred gold coins. Are you sure you want them all?"

"Enough. Stop wasting words!"

With a flip of his hand, Nalan Sheng produced a Purple Gold Card and urged impatiently, "I'm not short of a little money like this. Hurry up and bring me all your yellow lotus essence."

"Of course. Please wait a moment."

At the sight of Nalan Sheng's Purple Gold Card, the young clerk's expression grew rather obsequious, and he hurried to the storeroom to fetch the yellow lotus essence.

His reaction was understandable. The Purple Gold Card in Nalan Sheng's hand was a top-tier deposit card officially issued by the Jia Ma Empire, capable of holding up to a hundred thousand gold coins.

However, Nalan Sheng's display of wealth also stirred greed in quite a few hearts.

The mercenaries browsing medicines in the shop could not help looking at him with growing avarice.

In their eyes, a wealthy young fellow traveling alone like Nalan Sheng was practically the fattest sheep imaginable, ripe for slaughter.

Though those mercenaries knew perfectly well that a wealthy youth like him must have a powerful background, men died for wealth just as birds died for food.

Besides, mercenaries who hunted magical beasts for a living already went about with their heads hanging from their belts. Naturally, they were not afraid of being hunted down for revenge afterward.

And if they did a clean enough job, who the hell would know whether Nalan Sheng had been murdered or eaten by a magical beast?

Nalan Sheng naturally noticed those ill-intentioned gazes, but he was not the least bit flustered. If anything, he felt like laughing.

In a magical beast town like Qingshan Town, even the strongest mercenaries were only Dou Shi at most. They posed no threat whatsoever to his safety.

If anyone truly tried to kill him and seize his treasures, they would merely be delivering their heads to him.

"Sir, there are a hundred and twenty-seven pieces of yellow lotus essence here. You may count them."

Soon, the young clerk returned carrying a wooden box and placed it on the counter.

Without standing on ceremony, Nalan Sheng picked up the pieces of yellow lotus essence to examine them, then put them into his Storage Ring one by one.

[Ding! The host has snatched the destined male protagonist's blood lotus essence first. Reward: 3,000 villain points!]

As Nalan Sheng put away the ninety-eighth piece of yellow lotus essence, a pleasant system notification suddenly sounded in his ears, making the corners of his mouth curl upward.

The reason he had bought yellow lotus essence in bulk was precisely to snatch the blood lotus essence hidden among it.

Blood lotus essence was an extremely rare, high-grade medicinal herb. It usually grew alongside yellow lotus essence, but in exceedingly small quantities.

Furthermore, blood lotus essence looked almost identical to yellow lotus essence. Even many alchemists struggled to distinguish between them.

In the original story, Xiao Yan had only discovered the blood lotus essence thanks to Yao Lao secretly alerting him.

Since Nalan Sheng had arrived in Qingshan Town a year before Xiao Yan, he was not sure whether the Myriad Medicine Pavilion had any blood lotus essence. He had merely wanted to try his

luck!

As it turned out, Nalan Sheng's luck was rather good. The piece of blood lotus essence from the original story had already been placed in the Myriad Medicine Pavilion's storeroom.

After obtaining what he wanted, Nalan Sheng did not linger at the Myriad Medicine Pavilion. He headed to the town's largest general store and bought several detailed maps of the area surrounding Qingshan Town.