Volume One, Chapter 11: The Reclusive Sage?

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Just as Tang Xi’s hand was about to touch Qingyi, Li Yan suddenly seized her outstretched wrist and said coldly, “You are not welcome here. Get out!”

Tang Xi cried out in pain.

Her otherwise attractive face twisted horribly from the pain.

“What are you, and how dare you touch me? Take your filthy hand off me!”

Zhao Ping had long been enamored with Tang Xi.

Now that he saw her being bullied, the scene of himself heroically rescuing her had already appeared in his mind. He immediately stepped forward. “Let go of my junior sister! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude!”

Li Yan’s dark eyes settled on Zhao Ping.

Zhao Ping felt as though he had been struck by lightning. He staggered back several steps, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

How was this possible?

Zhao Ping was both shocked and furious.

He was on the verge of breaking through to the early Foundation Establishment stage, yet he could not even withstand a single glance from this man!

No!

The man before him was definitely no ordinary mortal!

At that thought, Zhao Ping was seized by a wave of fear. He did not even dare look at Li Yan again.

Perfected Master Zhonghuai’s expression likewise turned grave.

Although his two disciples were only at the early Foundation Establishment stage, they were still far beyond the ability of an ordinary mortal to shake.

If even he could not discern the other man’s cultivation level, there were only two possibilities.

The first was that the man truly was an ordinary person.

The second was that his cultivation surpassed Zhonghuai’s own.

Clearly, the present situation pointed to the latter!

It made sense. An alchemical grandmaster of such stature was bound to have countless followers. Even his servants were not people they could afford to provoke lightly.

With that realization, Perfected Master Zhonghuai’s attitude changed completely.

“Fellow Daoist, please show mercy!”

Tang Xi wished she could kill the man in front of her. “Master, he is just a—”

“Silence!” Perfected Master Zhonghuai shouted.

They had come to pay their respects to a great master, not to cause trouble!

Besides, they were indeed in the wrong this time.

Tang Xi’s eyes reddened as she bit down hard on her lower lip.

Her master had never spoken to her in such a tone before!

It was all the fault of this wretched woman and that damned country bumpkin!

Sensing the venom in Tang Xi’s eyes, the chill in Li Yan’s gaze deepened. He was all too familiar with that look.

If he let such a person leave, she would become a source of trouble sooner or later.

But Qingyi was still here.

He could not bring himself to kill her outright.

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“Fellow Daoist, I came here only to pay my respects to Senior Qingyi. My two disciples offended you just now; I ask that you be magnanimous,” Perfected Master Zhonghuai said, humbling himself as he took the initiative to apologize.

Li Yan snorted and released Tang Xi’s wrist.

Clutching her swollen, reddened wrist, Tang Xi retreated several steps. Then she suddenly summoned her flying sword and sent it stabbing toward Li Yan.

“Bastard! I’ll kill you!”

“Ridiculous!” Perfected Master Zhonghuai blocked Tang Xi and struck the flying sword from her hand with a single palm. “Ungrateful disciple, are you even going to defy your master’s orders?”

The flying sword fell into the ground nearby, giving off a faint metallic hum.

Tang Xi stared at her master in disbelief.

Usually, he had never reprimanded her. In fact, he had always doted on her.

Yet now, he had actually struck her for the sake of these two mortals!

“Master, you are helping them too?”

Perfected Master Zhonghuai was furious as well. “If you still acknowledge me as your master, then step back!”

Tang Xi bit her lip and lowered her head.

Qingyi took Bai Ziye by the hand. “I am Qingyi! There is no Senior Qingyi here! If you don’t leave, I’ll have Prosper bite you!”

Bai Ziye trembled violently with rage.

You’re the one who’s Prosper!

Your whole family is Prosper!

Seeing Prosper tremble so hard, Qingyi assumed that he was frightened.

Prosper was truly far too timid!

Remembering Little Brother Li’s plan to train the dog, Qingyi suddenly felt a little expectant.

She believed that after Little Brother Li’s training, Prosper would surely become a brave dog!

Perfected Master Zhonghuai’s gaze sharpened as he suddenly recalled what the child had said.

The child had called that great master “Big Sister Qingyi.”

Could the young woman before him be that very master?

Tang Xi’s expression was poisonous.

Apart from possessing a seductive, foxlike face, what about this wretched woman resembled a reclusive grandmaster?

A fraud!

If only she could find an opportunity!

She would expose this fraud and make her master see clearly that this wretched woman was no grandmaster at all!

With great care, Perfected Master Zhonghuai took out the supreme-grade pill he had obtained from the child.

“Great Master, was this pill refined by you?”

Su Qing immediately recognized the so-called pill in the old man’s hand. It was the injury-relieving medicine she had refined herself.

“How did you get the pills I made?”

The moment Perfected Master Zhonghuai heard Su Qing admit it, his pupils contracted. He hurriedly performed a formal bow.

“This junior, Zhonghuai, pays his respects to the Great Master!”

Remembering the two bottles of pills she had lost, Su Qing looked at him suspiciously.

“Did you steal my pills?”

“Steal?” Perfected Master Zhonghuai froze for a moment, then hurriedly shook his head.

He briefly recounted how he had obtained the medicine.

No wonder he had never been able to understand why such miraculous pills had ended up in the hands of mortals.

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So they were pills the senior had lost!

That explained everything.

A boy and a woman.

It must have been Sister Zhang.

From the description, Su Qing already knew who had taken her pills.

Sister Zhang’s entire family was unreasonable. Going to demand payment from them would be nothing short of inviting trouble.

Besides, someone had already paid for the medicine on their behalf. This time, she would let it go.

“What’s wrong?” Li Yan noticed Su Qing’s expression shifting repeatedly and asked her in a low voice.

Su Qing shook her head again and again.

She was merely feeling a little heartbroken over her pills.

She had spent two sleepless nights refining them, only for someone to use them as marbles and throw them onto the ground!

Su Qing had already decided that she would never sell pills to Sister Zhang again.

Perfected Master Zhonghuai felt somewhat uneasy.

The instant Su Qing admitted that she had refined the pills, she had become unfathomable in his eyes.

He felt that although the great master before him appeared young, she was most likely an ancient monster who had lived for seven or eight thousand years.

As for her appearance—

For an alchemical grandmaster, refining a few youth-preserving pills would be as easy as playing a game.

“Great Master, would it be possible for this junior to purchase a few more of these pills?” Perfected Master Zhonghuai estimated his family’s wealth.

These supreme-grade pills were certainly precious.

But he had lived for more than three thousand years, after all, and had accumulated quite a collection of spiritual treasures and spirit stones.

Purchasing a few pills should still be within his means!

When Su Qing heard that he wanted to buy the pills she had refined, her eyes brightened.

“You want to buy my pills?”

Li Yan had taken Su Qing’s pills before, so he naturally knew how precious they were.

More importantly, the pills she refined could suppress the curse within his body.

But he could not reveal his identity.

“Yes. To be honest, Great Master, I was injured by a powerful demon cultivator, and now I am trapped in Peach Blossom Town, unable to leave.” Perfected Master Zhonghuai made himself sound particularly pitiful.

In his view, the great master was also a member of the human race.

She certainly would not stand by and ignore their plight.

Su Qing also remembered the fiendish appearance of the demon cultivators.

Her little face paled slightly.

This old man really was rather pitiful.

If they only wanted to buy medicine, she would be more than happy to get rid of all the pills.