Aftereffects

"On the one hand, I receive a salary from the imperial court, and on the other hand, I teach over a thousand students in Chang'an City. These students always bring gifts when they visit, so I've never had to worry about money."

A cultivator with the potential of a great Confucian scholar was actually thinking about making money, and Dong Zhongshu couldn't dissuade him, which made Dong Zhongshu sigh with dismay.

However, under Zhang Xuezhou's repeated questioning, Dong Zhongshu revealed the source of his wealth.

Dong Zhongshu felt that he had enough to eat and drink and was useful, so he didn't have a special concept of money. He simply spent more when he had money and less when he didn't.

What he truly lacks is the fortuitous opportunity to reach a higher level.

For a cultivator, fortuitous opportunity are rare and hard to come by. When it became difficult to advance further in the imperial court, Dong Zhongshu also focused his efforts on the fortuitous opportunity of the Sole Self Realm.

"You are a wise person..."

Even the wisest person needs to eat!

Dong Zhongshu's experience was of little use; it had nothing to do with the ways of getting rich that Zhang Xuezhou had imagined he could learn from.

He kept nagging about earning money to buy medicine, and then proceeded to promote the unique alchemy techniques of the Yin-Yang School, which made Dong Zhongshu shake his head for a long time.

"If you truly wish to improve your alchemy skills, you must gain the support of a powerful local force," Dong Zhongshu said.

"What powerful figures?"

"At least princes and noblemen," Dong Zhongshu said. "Aside from wandering cultivators who occasionally refine pills, only these people can afford to spend money on real pill refining!"

Do you have any powerful figures you could recommend?

Zhang Xuezhou didn't care who he refined the elixirs for.

As a successor to Zou Bugui, he may not have mastered all the real skills yet, but he certainly has the knack for leaving something behind after handling it.

If any powerful figure were to refine a hundred or so pills of the Grain Avoidance Powder, Zhang Xuezhou felt he could certainly keep ten or eight portions for himself.

"I don't know any powerful families," Dong Zhongshu said, pursing his lips. "Powerful Aristocratic Clan don't need Origin-Nurturing Pill paste or Grain Avoidance powder dregs!"

"Are you saying that my alchemy skills are insufficient, and there's basically no chance that I'll be noticed by powerful and influential Aristocratic Clan?"

"Yes!"

Dong Zhongshu's straightforward response left Zhang Xuezhou rather bored, feeling as if he had only encountered a useless possibility of alchemy.

Dong Zhongshu offered suggestions, but Dong Zhongshu advice was still more valuable than any other advice.

"Your ability to circulate magical Law Power throughout your body is quite unique. Would you like to discuss it with me?"

When Dong Zhongshu took Zhang Xuezhou to the canteen of the prefectural governor's mansion to freeload a meal, he also had some ulterior motives.

His words seemed to rouse Zhang Xuezhou.

"Master Dong, do you think anyone will come to listen to my lectures?" Zhang Xuezhou asked expectantly. "My requirements aren't high. I just hope they can bring me some ginseng, poria cocos, atractylodes macrocephala, polygonatum sibiricum, fleeceflower root, arborvitae seed, coix seed, rehmannia root, and pine nuts!"

"Did you see the scene where Wen Weng couldn't even gather enough people to give his lectures?"

I saw it!

Dong Zhongshu's reply immediately made Zhang Xuezhou dejected and give up on going to freeload a meal.

Making small money is difficult, making big money is even more difficult and possibly impossible.

The commerce in Shu County was extremely primitive, and Zhang Xuezhou found no useful references in reality.

If there's any way to generate a steady stream of income, it's only if Zhang Xuezhou seizes a pig slaughtering stall and then runs a pig slaughtering business.

With his current True Spirit Realm cultivation, bullying some local bullies wouldn't be a problem, but it's hard to say what will happen to Zhang Xuezhou once his body is out of control.

He was not only unable to resist the thugs who came knocking on his door after discovering his physical ailments, but he also couldn't run his business normally when he returned to reality.

Without the help of powerful figures, Zhang Xuezhou would have little chance of making money.

Unfortunately, the powerful figure he was currying favor with, Dong Zhongshu, was someone who spent money only when he had it and didn't spend it when he didn't, while Prefect Wen was someone who constantly invested his family's income into the construction of Shu County City and was not a spendthrift.

It's virtually impossible to skim any profit from these two.

"Brother Zhao, you haven't been eating or drinking for the past few days, and you don't look too well either?"

"To be honest, Brother Zhang, I've been having recurring dreams these past few days, each time dreaming of that serpent swallowing me whole. I'm afraid something unclean has gotten on my body!"

The dining room in the prefectural governor's mansion was packed with people. Zhang Xuezhou followed Dong Zhongshu to find a seat and sat down, listlessly eating the food.

He was preoccupied with his grand scheme to make a fortune until the sound of something breaking rang out, at which point Zhang Xuezhou finally looked away.

More than ten meters away, Zhao Liang had already placed the ceramic bowl on the ground beside the dining table.

His eyes were somewhat vacant, and his face was pale. He lacked the surging Qi and Blood of a martial artist, and even looked at the pottery bowl that had fallen to the ground with a hint of fear.

Zhang Xuezhou glanced at the earthenware bowls and food scattered on the ground, then looked at the contents of his own earthenware bowl.

The meal consisted of rice, along with sunflower leaves, two taro roots, and a palm-sized piece of pork—a nearly full bowl.

This diet may look simple, but compared to the common people, the food served in the prefectural government office was already extremely high-class.

As the highest official institution in Shu Commandery, the meals at the Commandery Governor's Office were clearly of high quality.

Zhang Xuezhou looked at the various foods in the ceramic bowl, and his gaze quickly settled on the sunflowers.

Malva verticillata is a staple green vegetable, characterized by its green color and long length.

Zhang Xuezhou glanced at Kui Cai, then looked at Zhao Liang's lingering fear. He figured that Zhao Liang's involvement in the Bashe mission might have caused him to be paranoid, and that seeing Kui Cai had triggered his hallucinations and frightened him.

It's absurd that a living person would be frightened by a piece of vegetable, but it might actually be true.

This was clearly not a good reason to explain, and Zhao Liang's face immediately turned extremely ugly. When he looked at the sunflowers on the ground, cold sweat even kept pouring down his forehead.

Seven days have passed since the mission to kill the Bashe has begun, but many things have not yet calmed down.

This includes the escaped Bashe, as well as Zhao Liang, who was injured during the mission.

Shooting the Bashe from a distance and making close contact with it are two different things. Zhao Liang can still feel the coldness of the Bashe's body, including the profound aura that made him despair after touching it.

He was not only injured when he was hit by a bamboo raft while hunting snakes at Taipingyan, but he also developed a fear of seeing long sticks and long, thin objects.

Whenever his mind is unsettled, any such object he sees may transform into the shape of a snake.

Just as he was eating, the sunflower in the earthenware bowl clearly transformed into the shape of a Bashe snake, and it almost frightened him when he picked up the food and put it in his mouth.

Even when the sunflowers were thrown to the ground, they remained unchanged. Zhao Liang looked up and saw many people swallowing snakes with their mouths full.

In just a few seconds, as the people who swallowed the food shook their heads, they transformed into the shape of a giant snake.

Zhao Liang felt a sense of fear. He looked at Zhang Shu beside him, only to see Zhang Shu's kind face change and transform into a serpent staring at him.

This made him shout, and he drew his long sword from his waist and slashed at Zhang Shu.

Ah~

Zhang Shu blocked the attack with his earthenware bowl, but the longsword shattered the bowl and landed on his shoulder.

The pain from the blow to his shoulder made Zhang Shu unable to hold back any longer. He mustered Qi and Blood strength and threw a punch back.

Zhao Liang's resistance was not as strong as expected. His friend, who was usually on par with him, was sent flying by a single punch and lay on the ground, never to get up again.

A fierce battle erupted in a short time, and the dining room was thrown into chaos.