89 - The Divine Physician’s Overbearing Wife

Chapter 89 Since Yan Zhu Guang and Yun Mi Xue had already shared these matters with Su Qian Er, there was no need to keep her around. They had promised the sect leader to escort Su Qian Er to the Qiao Family, and neither Yan Zhu Guang nor Yun Mi Xue would break their promise. Before leaving, Yan Zhu Guang made a special effort to remind her, "This matter concerns the Feng Hua Xian Sect. I am telling you, Junior Sister Su, because I don't want to deceive you. However, I must ask you not to disclose it." Su Qian Er chuckled, "Compared to the sect, I'm probably the one who least wants to reveal this, right? Senior Sister Yan, you’re worrying too much." Yan Zhu Guang replied, "That’s good. Please, Junior Sister Su, let’s pretend you never heard of this today." With this settled, the three of them left the Feng Hua Xian Sect and set off towards the Qiao Family’s main residence. Speaking of which, Yan Zhu Guang had never been to the Qiao Family's main residence before. Among the three, only Yun Mi Xue had attended a pill gathering held by their main family and knew the way there. They journeyed by flying sword, and to accommodate the novice Su Qian Er, they slowed their pace considerably. By the time they arrived at the Qiao Family’s territory, five days had already passed. Both Yun Mi Xue and Yan Zhu Guang managed quite well since one was at the Nascent Soul stage and the other at the Golden Core stage, making it effortless to keep up with Su Qian Er's speed. Su Qian Er, however, appeared delicate and fragile but was inwardly determined and strong. Even knowing the vast difference in power between her and Yun Mi Xue, she refused to drag them down, exerting all her strength during the journey. Despite Yun Mi Xue’s considerate offer to let her pause and rest, Su Qian Er would rather deplete her remaining spiritual energy to avoid even a brief respite. Yun Mi Xue and Yan Zhu Guang could not force her to rest, so they allowed her to push herself. By the time she reached the Qiao Family’s main residence, she was nearly exhausted to the point of collapse. “Now that we’ve arrived near the Qiao Family, there’s no need for you to push yourself further, Junior Sister Su. It would be better to rest before entering the Qiao Family, otherwise, you won’t have the energy to inquire about the investigation’s progress with such low spirits.” No matter how determined Su Qian Er was, she couldn’t magically recover to optimal condition. She knew Yan Zhu Guang was right; it was indeed best to rest. The three of them stopped in the Alchemy Saint City, where the Qiao Family was based, and instead of immediately heading to the Qiao Family, they rented a small courtyard for cultivation and recuperation. While Su Qian Er rested there, Yun Mi Xue and Yan Zhu Guang ventured out to see how the current situation stood. In truth, their outing was less about gathering information and more about notifying every influential party that they had arrived. There was no avoiding it. Either of these two individuals, renowned as they were, would draw significant attention on their own. Together, the impact was not just doubled—it was something far greater. The striking appearance of the two women, one in red and one in white, exuding both warmth and cool elegance, where they walked side by side seemed harmonious, like a natural whole that no third party could easily intrude upon. Yan Zhu Guang glanced around. “As expected, the Alchemy Saint City, where the prestigious Qiao Family resides, is filled with pill halls and emporiums. Just sweeping my eyes, I can see a strong sense of the aura of alchemy here. It’s far more impressive than what I recall of Dan Ye City.” The fragrance and quality of pills are essential criteria for judging a pill's excellence. After all, one cannot wait until it’s ingested to discern its true quality—what point would that serve? In theory, the scent of a pill also constitutes part of its efficacy; if too much fragrance were lost, it would lead to a decline in quality. Therefore, typically, aside from the unavoidable scent emission during the pill concoction process, most alchemists would employ special techniques at the end to seal in the fragrance. Ordinarily, it’s uncommon for a fragrance to permeate the entire street. However, as a means to attract cultivators to purchase their pills, some pill halls use the scent as an advertising strategy. The saying goes, "The fragrance of fine wine fears no dark alley," but this presumes the wine is indeed fragrant enough, does it not? Pills, being essential for a cultivator’s survival and advancement, are indispensable for nearly all practitioners. On the same note, anyone would prefer to keep good things to themselves. If one's competence is lacking, securing back-up resources like pills and talismans becomes crucial. If another holds what you presume to save your life, why reveal its source? Thus, some cultivators upon discovering a superior pill hall, might not only keep quiet but might even go so far as to eliminate other informants to ensure exclusive service. Yet, this method would certainly cause the resource-acquiring pill halls to suffer losses. Unable to rely solely on a positive reputation for promotion, especially in a world where life might end any moment, these halls couldn’t depend on regular customers living forever. Over time, some unknown pill hall began the trend, gradually popularizing the use of fragrance to draw customers. It became a customary, unspoken practice. Most pill halls would present their most exceptional, resource-efficient pills, using secrets to maintain their aroma to demonstrate their prowess. Of course, there were sometimes deceitful tactics involved, and one careless move could make someone the fool. Yun Mi Xue and Yan Zhu Guang walked side by side down the bustling street of Alchemy Saint City, paying no mind to those occasional covert glances casting over them, speaking quietly among themselves. “Do you have knowledge of alchemy, Zhu Guang?” Yan Zhu Guang had deliberately mentioned the fragrance, indicating his insights into Dan Ye City and Alchemy Saint City were not merely based on established perception; perhaps he had genuine knowledge about pills. Even cultivators capable of discerning pill fragrance could typically only identify the ones they frequently used. In a scenario where scents mingled, it would take exceptional experience, like that of a seasoned alchemist, to distinguish them in one go. Yan Zhu Guang nodded slightly, smiling at Yun Mi Xue. "Senior Sister, have you forgotten my spiritual root attributes? Though it’s not the fire-wood combination most alchemists possess, I am inherently quite sensitive to certain pills." Yun Mi Xue chuckled, “It seems Zhu Guang is capable of anything. I wonder how your mind works to hold all that knowledge.” Yan Zhu Guang could not exactly reveal it was knowledge from a past life, so he let it go with a smile... Indeed, Yan Zhu Guang had alchemical expertise, but primarily with poison pills... However, by extension, he knew a fair amount about other types, enough to successfully attempt concocting them if necessary. Before his unique poison spiritual root was fully developed, making conventional pills posed some challenge. However, now that there was time, he could attempt creating some. But today was not the time for creating pills. Yan Zhu Guang sniffed the air and pointed to one of the larger pill halls. “This pill hall seems to have quality assurance, and their variety is impressive. Shall we go take a look?” Their intention was to gather information, but since Yan Zhu Guang wished to check out the pill hall, Yun Mi Xue didn’t oppose the idea. The pair headed toward the selected pill hall. The pill hall was bustling with activity, patrons coming and going. Upon entering, they witnessed an array of cultivators continually weaving between several large medicine cabinets, engaging with attendants to inquire and retrieve pills. Oddly, for all the busyness, the pill hall held no undue noise. Acquiring pills is a private affair for cultivators, and aside from a few common prescriptions, no one would foolishly announce their needs in a public forum. Therefore, apart from queries about common pills and the clerks' corresponding responses, all one could hear was some unavoidable gossip in the air. Approaching a counter with fewer visitors, Yan Zhu Guang offered a smile to an available clerk, “Excuse me, could we have three bottles of Yellow-grade superior Qi Replenishing Pills and three bottles of Black-grade superior Qi Replenishing Pills?” The clerk hesitated for a moment, then pinched himself subtly, displaying a grin warmer than usual, “Certainly! Dear fairys, one moment please!” Qi Replenishing Pills were common enough, stored in the very cabinets behind them. However, Black-grade pills were less frequently displayed; it required fetching from inside the store. While waiting for the clerk to retrieve the pills, the two started listening to the exchanges within the hall among the cultivators. "Is this pill hall part of the Qiao Family's enterprise?" "Do you need to ask? Is there any other hall in the Alchemy Saint City that surpasses the Qiao Family's alchemists?" "And isn't the Qiao Family... What about the situation in Dan Ye City?" Indeed, the event of the Qiao Family's branch being slaughtered by demonic cultivators was a massive uproar in the cultivation world, and even after a year, it hadn’t lost much of its heat. If any new developments emerged, it would likely spark even greater discussion. "I heard the Qiao Family divided a marginal legitimate branch to oversee things there for now. Seems like they’re forming a new branch to reestablish in the vicinity of Dan Ye City." "Of course, Dan Ye City is quite the sizable pie; the main family alone couldn’t devour it all. It wouldn’t fall to any other branches. Those who were scrambling, well, wasn’t it just effort going to waste?" "If you ask me though, was it really demonic cultivators responsible for that extermination in Dan Ye City?" The person who had started to speak received a significant glance from someone else. Eyeing the pill hall, the speaker clammed up and chose not to continue. "Do you all think that the incidents with the Feng Hua Xian Sect and the Qiao Family were truly the work of the same demonic force?" "Who knows with these big powers?" "One is enough to deal with, but if it's different forces, can just any of them trample on us righteous cultivators without us losing face?" "Ah, it's been over a year with hardly any news." "Who says there hasn't been any news?" Another voice interjected, seemingly obscured as if its origin was hidden, making it unclear who had spoken: "I've heard the Qiao Family recently captured a few clan members possessed by shadow demons." Yan Zhu Guang and Yun Mi Xue exchanged a knowing glance. Could it be that the sect leader had taken action? "Shadow demons?" The utterance of these words caused a small ripple of fear: "Those demonic cultivators are truly brazen, daring to use shadow demons." "Weren't these major forces supposed to have methods to deal with shadow demons? How could anyone be possessed?" "Perhaps they took advantage of the chaos after the branch family's massacre, slipped in amidst the confusion, and possessed them." "Are shadow demons related to the Qiao Family branch's extermination?" "How could they not be? Shadow demons might lack brute strength, but they're adept at gathering and transmitting information. If they're leaking information out to the demonic cultivators, wouldn't we cultivators be stark naked before them?" "What a frightening thought. What if one of these shadow demons were to possess one of us?" "Hahaha." The others in the hall laughed. "What would they gain from possessing you? Don't flatter yourself too much. We're just small fry. As long as we're not entangled in the major powers' conflicts, would the sky really fall on our heads?" "Here are the Qi Replenishing Pills you requested, fairys. That'll be three hundred lower-grade spirit stones." The clerk handed over the six bottles of pills. Yan Zhu Guang easily accepted them, paying with three middle-grade spirit stones without waiting for the change, and took Yun Mi Xue's hand to leave.