Official of the Hundred Arts Bureau, Gongsun Zhe!

"Lord Zhang, my subordinates have pressing matters at home, so I shall take my leave first. I hope you will forgive me, My Lord."

With that-

County Defender Wang flicked his official robe, cupped his hands toward County Magistrate Zhang, and strode away.

Beside them, Chief Clerk Chen rose as well.

"Though my Chen Clan operates in the Ying River, it is mostly in the fishery, and even that is a side branch rather than our clan's primary trade. Naturally, we have nothing to fear."

"Presumably, the Qin Family cares little for these two fish."

"If the Qin Family is interested, we might as well just hand them over, and who knows, we might even strike up a good relationship."

"In that case, my Chen Family will not meddle."

"Then... Lord Zhang, Lord Li, this subordinate takes his leave."

Chief Clerk Chen cupped his hands, caught up with County Defender Wang, and departed together. Clearly, neither the Wang nor the Chen Household had the slightest intention of humoring the Li Household!

The trade on the Ying River-

had always been half occupied by the Zhang Household, with the Li Household holding forty percent.

The Wang and Chen families split a few worthless scraps, which did no great harm.

As for the Zhang Household, about to be elevated to an immortal clan, how could they dare to disrupt their own interests? Naturally, they stood aloof from the affair.

To put it bluntly, they meant to make the Li Household bear the whole burden!

Relying on connections in other counties to procure and peddle precious pills, the Li Household engaged in resale—the trade of cultivation resources.

A single precious pill had a market price of a hundred liang of silver.

Yet passing through the Li Household's hands, it cost a hundred and twenty or thirty liang of fine silver by the time it reached Yingchuan County!

After deducting the costs of greasing palms and smoothing relations above and below.

A single precious pill could net no less than ten liang of fine silver. A dozen or so could be resold at a time, and a single boat trip every month brought in hundreds of liang of white silver.

In a year, that came to thousands!

That was not counting other commodities; combined, several thousand liang a year were easily made.

If the Qin Family took over.

That would essentially sever the Li Household's financial lifeline, crippling a good half of the Li Household. County Magistrate Zhang, furthermore, would never fall out with an alchemist for the sake of the Li Household.

He had thought-

if he could drag the Wang and Chen families down with them.

At worst, the Li Household would cede a portion of the Ying River trade.

Then take over part of the Wang and Chen businesses, which could still be considered seeking a stable existence.

Yet these two families refused to fall for it.

They made it plain they meant to ruin the Li Household and clear the ground for the newcomers!

County Vice Magistrate Li opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, looking toward the magistrate:

"Lord Zhang, this..."

"This official is old and unwell. Vice Magistrate Li may do as he pleases..."

County Magistrate Zhang cut off the conversation.

He stood up and shook off the non-existent dust. The feeling was like an impassable chasm, revealing the immortals' disdain for mortals...

Or perhaps-a chilling indifference.

He turned and stepped into the inner hall, whereupon servants closed the doors of the inner hall behind him.

In the vast main hall, only County Vice Magistrate Li was left behind...

"..."

In the prolonged silence.

County Vice Magistrate Li drained his tea, flicked his official robe, straightened his back, and maintained his final shred of dignity...

This was no fairy tale, nor a secluded era of peace, but a world of Immortal Cultivation where people devoured one another—if you did not eat others, you would be eaten!

When a figure of greater value than you appears...

Then-

you are merely expendable material, another's stepping stone, or someone else's provision, transformed into nourishment to become the foundation for others to reach the summit...

The Hundred Arts Office.

Was a department established by the Great Zhou State to deal with all manner of eccentric talents, and its status and prestige were quite high.

Among them, the Four Great Immortal Arts held primacy!

As a discipline with an extremely high threshold, every grandmaster of the four arts was exceptionally rare and precious...

Therefore-

Qin Lu's news was swiftly reported upward level by level.

In the end-

the Hundred Arts Office established by the Prefecture dispatched an attendant to conduct an assessment, grading and categorizing him according to his skill level for subsequent arrangements...

At this moment-

a bamboo raft, like a single leaf of a boat, moved against the current!

Upon it stood an old man.

Wearing a bamboo hat and coir raincoat, he sipped fine wine, taking the magnificent landscape as his feast.

Unrestrained, carefree, and entirely at ease.

Azure-mystic spiritual light flickered around him, splitting the turbulent current in two, while beside him, a human-shaped wooden puppet worked the oars like a boatman...

"This one is good... Look at that little waist. The female cultivators of Chunyue Tower truly are top-tier!"

The old man appraised the sight in detail.

In his hand, he held an illustrated volume entitled: Chunyue Eighteen True Maidens Spring Palace Painting.

As he slowly toyed with it, it possessed a distinct and unique flavor!

At that moment-

the bamboo raft sailed into the mountains and rivers, a layer of mist rising all around to paint a scene of an otherworldly realm...

"This is the Bayi Region?"

"It can indeed be considered a blessed land, though unfortunately, the spiritual qi is a bit scarce..."

Gazing at the green waters and Qingshan, hearing the gibbons wailing from both banks.

The old man offered his critique without a second thought, finding it rather amusing. Perhaps advanced age made him somewhat sentimental toward everything he saw.

Just then-

a large boat sailed toward them from the opposite direction. At the bow, Qin Lu and the others bowed deeply from afar.

Clearly, they had been waiting respectfully for a long time.

"Your junior, Qin Lu, respectfully welcomes Senior!"

"Thinking that Senior must have had a tiring journey, your junior has already prepared a meal. We hope Senior will honor us with your presence."

"Yo-ho~"

"Quite a sharp one. Not bad."

The old man the corners of his mouth twitched into a grin, then stood up and soared into the air...

The bamboo raft beneath his feet transformed into a streak of spiritual light, stowed away into the Qiankun Pouch at his waist. He was undeniably a cultivator in the Qi Condensation Realm!

Upon landing at the bow of the boat-

the old man channeled his spiritual power to lift the gathered people one by one.

"You must be Little Friend Qin."

"Hearing you put it that way, this old man is indeed feeling a bit hungry."

"I am Gongsun Zhe, belonging to the Hundred Arts Office 'Department Official' of Longchuan Prefecture, serving as a Xuan-grade Attendant of the Refining Department and concurrently holding the post of examiner for Longchuan Prefecture."

"This assessment shall be overseen by this old man."

"The requirement is also very simple: just refine a batch of pills to completion before my very eyes."

Hearing this-

Qin Lu nodded slightly and cupped his fists in assent.

This Gongsun Zhe turned out to be quite easy to get along with. For a Qi Condensation Realm cultivator to speak to one in such amiable tones.

That was entirely a matter of others displaying noble character and extraordinary bearing!

It was giving you face!

Soon-

the entire company relocated to the ship's pavilion.

Following that, one delicacy after another was laid out on the table before them.

Flanking Gongsun Zhe, two young maidens fed him, picked out morsels, and waited upon his meal. What a scene of domestic bliss!

There were several other women as well.

Clad in light silks, they wriggled their waists and danced gracefully to provide entertainment.

Seeing this scene-

Gongsun Zhe beamed with joy, exceedingly satisfied with Qin Lu's arrangements. Clearly, the other party had long since inquired thoroughly into his preferences...

To prepare so thoroughly showed true sincerity.

"Qin Lu, you truly are an interesting fellow!"

Gongsun Zhe offered a word of praise, then drank deeply of the wine and ate heartily of the meat...

Cultivation was nothing more than following one's true heart.

Doing as he did now, satisfying his oral and mental desires, was precisely following one's true heart. Without grand desires, there could be no realm; only by facing one's true self directly could one validate the heart!

Muxuan Mountain-inside the Alchemy Chamber.

Qin Lu's techniques were practiced and skilled; refining a batch of Muxuan Pills required merely two days.

Gongsun Zhe sat to one side, observing his refining techniques while an Image-Recording Stone recorded the entire process, to be ultimately reported to the imperial court as proof.

Naturally, this recorded only the methods and the process.

The specific Pill Formula would not be leaked.

"Qi stabilized at the Dantian, techniques practiced and skilled, pill fragrance rising all around, smelting the purple qi."

"His identity as an alchemist is beyond doubt..."