Zhang Xiaohua asked curiously, "Something worth as much as gold?"
Then he seemed to understand at once. Putting on an incredulous expression, he murmured, "Could Great Leader Chen mean...?"
Zhang Xiaohua shaped his mouth into the word "pill."
Chen Fengxiao laughed loudly. "Little Brother, you really are clever. No wonder Hui Chun Valley selected you for the Incense-Passing Cult. You grasp things the moment they're pointed out."
Nonsense. Zhang Xiaohua had done this sort of thing plenty of times. Hadn't pill refining at Hui Chun Valley worked just like this? Still, back then he had been the only one refining pills, and nobody else knew. Besides, Hui Chun Valley had agreed to it, so taking them was hardly improper. But Pill-Refining Hall of the Incense-Passing Cult had hundreds of people refining pills together. Even walls had ears. Whatever tricks one played could be seen by someone.
Seeing Zhang Xiaohua's confusion, Chen Fengxiao lowered his voice. "The pills refined by our Pill-Refining Hall are all for outer sect disciples. The inner sect disciples refine their own pills themselves; it has nothing to do with us. The outer sect's pills are of average quality, so the sect will not pay special attention to them. Besides, who these days does not want a little extra income? They say, 'A magistrate who stays clean for three years still earns one hundred thousand snowflake silver.' Could it be that the people of our Pill-Refining Hall do not understand that 'a terrace near the water gets the moonlight first'?"
"Besides, there has been no conflict for hundreds of years, so few pills are consumed, while we refine plenty. Which of the sect's higher-ups still knows the exact numbers? Ah, what a pity. The brothers in our Herb Department only know how to grow herbs and do