Chapter 31

The Four Seasons…

Located in the most prosperous part of Miaoyin City, the Four Seasons had a distinguished background. Some people even said that the Four Seasons had been established by the city’s founder and the man it was named after, Master Miaoyin. However, no one really knew the truth.

However, this did not prevent the Four Seasons from becoming the most prestigious restaurant in Miaoyin City.

On this day…

The owner of the Linchuan Drugstore, Kang Zizai, was hosting a banquet, to which he had invited Lu Qingfeng and the owners of other major drugstores, including the Huichun Drugstore, as his guests.

In the evening, Lu Qingfeng arrived at the appointed time.

“It’s a great honor to have you show up, Mr. Lu.” Lu Qingfeng went upstairs, entered a private room, and was greeted enthusiastically by a middle-aged man with a big belly in brocade robes.

“No need for such courtesy, Mr. Kang.”

As the saying goes, one can’t be angry at a person with a benign countenance. So Lu Qingfeng responded with a smile.

Kang Zizai looked at the owner of the Emery Drugstore:

Sedate!

Worriless!

Baptized by the vicissitudes of life!

According to the intelligence he’d unearthed, this young man had been born in Blackwood Village in Jiuzhai County, which was under the jurisdiction of the Truth Sect. Why would a mere rural boy who was less than 16 years of age have such a mature temperament?

Kang Zizai was surprised.

Lu Qingfeng had been engaged in cultivation for nearly one year. The boy who had been rickety and scrawny in the past had transformed into a graceful young man with a visage of great fortitude and defined features.

Standing tall and straight, his temperament was very different now.

The vicissitudes of life left on him by the passage of time in “Primitive” and the experience of being a sought-after Pill Refining Master in Emery Town and the guild of Singularity have created a unique temperament in Lu Qingfeng.

At first glance, he looks just like an ordinary boy.

At the second glance, however, it could be discovered that this young man was terrifyingly mature. In his every act and every move, if one were to ignore his face and the information that they had previously acquired about him, they would probably think of him as a highly experienced person in his 30s.

Most people completely forgot the fact that Lu Qingfeng was only 16 years old.

“Have a seat, Mr. Lu.”

Kang Zizai had a rich experience of life. He glanced over Lu Qingfeng with seemingly impassive eyes, then invited Lu Qingfeng to take a seat with a smile.

In the private room, aside from Kang Zizai, there were five other people. They were either tall or thin, middle-aged or elderly. In short, there was no one as young as Lu Qingfeng.

“Mr. Lu, this is the owner of the Huichun Drugstore, Mr. Zhou Hong. This is the owner of the Renxin Drugstore, Mr. Liu Ren…”

Kang Zizai introduced the five other people who had come to the dinner to Lu Qingfeng.

The Huichun Drugstore, the Renxin Drugstore, and Kang Zizai’s Linchuan Drugstore were all quite famous and influential in Miaoyin City.

The scale of their business was incomparable to that of the Emery Drugstore.

They acquired their medicinal herbs by cooperating with herb pickers in the Guangyuan Commandery and even in the Dangyang Commandery to ensure a stable supply. The Emery Drugstore, on the other hand, mostly relied on the sale of Spirit Cleansing Power and Nourishing Pills in exchange for medicinal herbs from the many people in Miaoyin City.

The power and influence of the three major drugstores were well above Lu Qingfeng’s Emery Drugstore, but there was definitely something that they wanted from him.

For Lu Qingfeng, time was of the essence. After sitting down and going through the getting-to-know-you session, he asked straightforwardly, “I wonder what is the reason that you’ve called me here, gentlemen?”

When everyone heard what he’d said, they were surprised. They hadn’t expected Lu Qingfeng to be so direct. They were all thinking to themselves that Lu Qingfeng was still a young man after all.

After trading glances, Kang Zizai laughed heartily. “A straightforward person you are, Mr. Lu. Then I shall not go around in circles anymore.”

He said, “A few days ago, someone from the Four Seas Hall of Sapphire Gate came to me and asked me to be their middleman. They wish to purchase ten prescriptions from you. About the price, Mr. Lu, you can ask whatever amount that you deem fit. I believe that with Sapphire Gate’s financial capabilities, they will not treat you shabbily.”

After Kang Zizai had finished speaking, he regarded Lu Qingfeng with a smile, constantly watching for the changes in Lu Qingfeng’s expression.

“Purchasing our prescriptions?”

Without a change in his expression, Lu Qingfeng said with a smile, “My apologies. The Emery Drugstore is only able to survive in Miaoyin City with these prescriptions. I’m afraid that I cannot sell them.”

He, Qingshan, and Qingyu relied solely on the Spirit Cleansing Powder and Nourishing Pills to maintain the supply of the resources they needed in their cultivation.

In the future, they would still have to rely on them to refine puppets.

How could he possibly sell them that easily?

Lu Qingfeng had never seen pills that were as beneficial to cultivation as the Yellow Dragon Pill, Golden Pith Pellet, and so on, in Miaoyin City. Lu Qingshan had also told him that he had never seen pills that could be compared with the Yellow Dragon Pill in the Truth Sect.

Giving it some thought, Qingfeng had decided that it was either because Lu Qingshan had been too low in status that he wasn’t eligible to come into contact with such pills or that there simply weren’t any pills for cultivation in the Truth Sect.

But, in either case, the preciousness of the Yellow Dragon Pills could be discerned.

If Lu Qingfeng were to sell the prescriptions of the Spirit Cleansing Power and the Nourishing Pills to Sapphire Gate, with Sapphire Gate’s power and influence, how could the Emery Drugstore possibly compete with them?

Besides, as Yellow Dragon Pills were rare and hard to sell, they might become unsustainable.

A one-time trade truly wasn’t worth it.

“I admire your straightforwardness, Mr. Lu!” Surprisingly, there wasn’t any dissatisfaction on Kang Zizai’s face. He added, “Sapphire Gate is now in short supply of all kinds of medicinal supplies. Since it isn’t convenient for you to sell the prescriptions, I wonder if you would be willing to cooperate with Sapphire Gate?”

“Cooperate?”

Lu Qingfeng looked at Kang Zizai.

“Precisely.”

Seeing that Lu Qingfeng was somewhat tempted, Kang Zizai quickly added, “Herbs will be provided by the Sapphire Gate, while you and the Emery Drugstore must prioritize your sales of the Mending Gold Powder, Blood Jade Ointment, Detox Pellet, and the other medicines, totaling ten types, to Sapphire Gate. The price difference can be converted into silver taels or other resources.

“What do you think, Mr. Lu?”

Kang Zizai’s first goal in inviting Lu Qingfeng to this banquet was to acquire the prescriptions in Lu Qingfeng’s possession, and, in the case of rejection, he would seek what was less attractive than his original objective.

“Cooperation is most welcomed,” Lu Qingfeng nodded and agreed.

When Kang Zizai heard him, he was overjoyed.

Both sides quickly set the seal on the details of the cooperation, and, without delay, Lu Qingfeng bid them adieu.

“Mr. Kang, we didn’t get anything from him this time.”

Watching Lu Qingfeng departing from the window, Zhou Hong, who had white hair on both his temples, turned to Kang Zizai and said, “Lu Qingfeng is no simple person if he was able to have escaped the heart of the Truth Sect’s jurisdiction along with his younger brother and sister. According to our intel, he is at least in Level 7 of the Fetal Phase and is responsible for the death of a deacon of the Truth Sect’s Punishment Hall. But from what I’ve seen of him today, he has revealed none of his Inner Chi. No matter how I look at him, he doesn’t seem like someone who has come across an inheritance and has the potential to amount to something by cultivating on his own.”

Kang Zizai’s smile never left his face. His tone of voice was calm and his eyes revealed a thoughtful look.

When Liu Ren, who was standing nearby, heard these words, he said with a frown, “Mr. Zhou, do you mean that there must be someone providing him with guidance from behind the scenes?”

“Probably an 8 or 9 out of 10. I dare not confirm.”

Kang Zizai shook his head and said with a smile, “This time, we didn’t get the prescriptions, nor did we find out who are the ones behind Lu Qingfeng. But at the very least, we did establish some long-term cooperation with him. It is only a matter of time for us to find out what kind of person is behind those siblings.”

…

“They are testing me.”

Lu Qingfeng walked out of the Four Seasons, smiling mischievously to himself.

Although Kang Zizai and the others have seemingly revealed nothing, Lu Qingfeng could tell that they were trying to sound him out.

But it does make sense.

Lu Qingfeng’s sudden appearance in Miaoyin City along with his siblings and running a drugstore with a pretty good business was naturally going to draw someone’s attention. After all, this probing hadn’t come until they’d been here for two months. Lu Qingfeng felt that in fact they had been a little slow. He had overestimated the alertness of the people of Miaoyin City.

However, based on Kang Zizai’s courteous behavior from beginning to end today, he must’ve misunderstood and believed that someone powerful was behind Lu Qingfeng.

It was true that, if Lu Qingfeng were to encounter three siblings walking out of a village in the Truth Sect’s hinterland, passing through mountains after mountains, settling down in Miaoyin City, and then running a pretty impressive drugstore, he wouldn’t look down upon them either.

“That’s fine, I guess.”

“At least I don’t have to worry about my herb supply.”

“I can also seize this opportunity to collect materials required to craft puppets through Sapphire Gate.”

Refining a puppet required a huge amount of materials. Although the materials weren’t all that precious and they could be found everywhere within the Sun Nation, quantity was the main issue. With Lu Qingfeng’s lack of connections, acquiring the materials wasn’t going to be an easy task.

If Sapphire Gate would do it for him, it could save him a lot of energy.

Certainly, however, Lu Qingfeng also knew that long-term cooperation could easily get him exposed.

Once Kang Zizai, or should we say, Sapphire Gate was behind him, and they had seen through their fantasy that there was someone behind Lu Qingfeng, Lu Qingfeng couldn’t predict what actions they would take.

“In terms of pill refining, I have mastered the Golden Pith Pellet that will be used at the later stages of the Fetal Phase, and the Chi Infusing Pill and Chi Cycling Powder that wield miraculous effects during one’s ascension to the Genuine Chi Phase and improving one’s Genuine Chi. Next, I shall mainly focus on my research in Puppet Crafting.”

Lu Qingfeng felt an overwhelming sense of urgency.

If Sapphire Gate could notice him, who knows if Miaoyin City’s leader would also cast an eyes on him as well?

By relying on Miaoyin City, he could deter Sapphire Gate. As long as he doesn’t go out of the city, even if Sapphire Gate wanted to do him harm, they could only do it secretly. Under the circumstances where their information about him was amiss, he was confident that he could escape.

But as for Miaoyin City!

After all, the siblings were right within Miaoyin City. If Miaoyin City’s leader wanted to deal with him, sending a group of his Black Soldiers would give them more than enough trouble.

“Well, becoming stronger, it is!”

Lu Qingfeng clenched his fists and returned to his dwelling.

…

“Qingfeng!”

In the small courtyard, Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyu stood anxiously waiting. Seeing Lu Qingfeng pushing the door open, they could finally relax.

“Just a regular banquet.”

Lu Qingfeng smiled at the two.

Lu Qingshan pursed his mouth and did not speak, but Lu Qingyu stepped forward, hugged Lu Qingfeng’s arm, and muttered, “Who knows if it was a Feast at Hongmen [1]? What if those people aren’t afraid of Miaoyin City’s leader and put poison in the wine and food?”

When Lu Qingyu had come home and heard Lu Qingshan say that her eldest brother had gone to the Four Seasons for a banquet, she had been on pins and needles.

Imagining an ambush!

Imagining the food being poisoned!

She did a great job of frightening herself.

Now that she saw Lu Qingfeng returning safe and sound, although she was relieved, she still couldn’t keep herself from complaining.

“……”

“I’ll be more careful next time.”

Lu Qingfeng could never defeat Qingyu in an argument, so he had to nod to her constantly and promise her that he wouldn’t risk himself ever again.

The siblings talked for a moment more in the courtyard.

Their conversation was mainly about safety awareness.

Lu Qingfeng exhorted Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyu to pay special attention in the future days, especially toward strangers that approached them or that frequently appeared.

As Sapphire Gate couldn’t find anything on him, he couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t shift their target toward Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyu.

Later on that evening…

Lu Qingfeng answered the questions the two of them had about their cultivations, then he logged into “Primitive”.

…

[1] Feast at Hongmen. Refers to a famous episode in 206 BC, when future Han Emperor Liu Bang escaped an attempted murder by his rival, Xiang Yu.