Divine Medicine Pavilion
The towering building stood majestically in the heart of the northern region of Glory City. Inside were the bustling noises of customers and sales representatives conducting business.
On the upper floors, where the alchemy lab was located, several primary and intermediate alchemist masters could be seen running around as they busily concocted new batches of elixirs to meet the demand.
At the highest floor, where several important offices were located, a female alchemist master in her early twenties could be seen rushing toward the president's office.
This person was Shu Mao, an intermediate alchemist master and Chen Wenrou's personal student.
Shu Mao was a commoner who was taken in by Chen Wenrou after her parents died in an accident when she was a child.
Being close to her mother, Chen Wenrou took the responsibility of raising Shu Mao, which eventually led her to follow in Chen Wenrou's footsteps and study alchemy herself.
Currently, Shu Mao was working as the head supervisor of the Divine Medicine Pavilion and Chen Wenrou's assistant.
Arriving at the door, the female alchemist fixed her appearance first, making sure she looked presentable before entering. Once her breathing steadied, she slowly slid the door open, expecting to meet Chen Wenrou.
"President Wenrou, I have an urgent question. I wonder if you have time to spa… Master Hui!?" Shu Mao looked on in surprise upon seeing that instead of Chen Wenrou, the one sitting in her chair was the hidden alchemy grandmaster of the Divine Medicine Pavilion, Xue Hui.
Rocking back and forth in the chair, Xue Hui's eyes drifted from the trinket he was shuffling in his hand to Shu Mao. His lips curved upward upon seeing the familiar senior sister.
"Oh! Senior Sister Shu Mao, you look out of breath. Is there any problem?"
Shu Mao, who was caught off guard, shook her head to snap herself back to the matter at hand, eyes looking around for any signs of Chen Wenrou inside.
"Um... Master Xue Hui, where's the president? I have an inquiry concerning the matter of purple haze grass," Shu Mao asked, making Xue Hui pause from what he was doing and sit properly to answer her.
"Aunt Wenrou went to the alchemy lab, probably to check all the new batches of herbs that just arrived."
Shu Mao groaned inwardly. That meant her teacher was going to become absorbed in concocting pills again.
She would be lucky if she was able to see Chen Wenrou at all, knowing that the president had a habit of isolating herself during pill refinement.
Seeing her troubled expression, Xue Hui smiled as he beckoned her to take a seat.
"Tell me about it, Senior Sister Shu Mao. I might be able to help you."
Hearing Xue Hui's words, Shu Mao's eyes lit up. As an alchemy grandmaster, Xue Hui held considerable authority in matters concerning the Divine Medicine Pavilion.
It just so happened that Shu Mao had forgotten about this, since Xue Hui rarely showed himself within the Divine Medicine Pavilion.
"Ah, right... you see, Master Hui, a group of commoner kids has been going around buying all the stocks of purple haze grass throughout the city. They also visited our Divine Medicine Pavilion to purchase our stock. The amount we have can last the entirety of Glory City for six months of usage. It was a lot, but even so, they wanted all of it. I found it quite suspicious, so I came here to seek the president's advice."
Hearing Shu Mao's words, Xue Hui nodded as he pondered. Now that he thought about it, purple haze grass was indeed a miraculous herb with countless uses.
However, the methods of utilizing it had long since been lost, meaning that someone had probably unearthed its secrets and was trying to profit from them.
And somehow, Xue Hui had a strong hunch that Nie Li had something to do with it.
"M-Master Hui, the buyer is waiting downstairs. Do we sell it or not?" Xue Hui was pulled out of his thoughts by the now fidgeting Shu Mao.
Smiling, Xue Hui shook his head as he pulled out a piece of paper from the table and began writing on it.
"Of course not. If we sell all our purple haze grass, we won't have anything left for ourselves to use. And since all the stores have already sold out, once the purple haze grass in the market is gone, where do you think people will buy more? Naturally, from the only store that still has stock left to sell."
Although confused as to why the sudden demand for a useless herb like purple haze grass, which was only used to ward off mosquitoes, had risen to the point that every store's stock was selling out, Shu Mao still followed Xue Hui's instructions and immediately sent a voice transmission to the store manager below to halt all sales of their purple haze grass.
Afterward, Xue Hui passed the paper he had written on to Shu Mao, causing the girl to look at him in confusion.
Without saying anything, Xue Hui gestured for Shu Mao to read what was written there, only for her eyes to bulge in shock as she scanned the parchment.
What Xue Hui had written on the paper were sixty different uses for purple haze grass. From enhancing pill efficacy to cosmetic remedies, every single listed use could easily cause the value of purple haze grass to skyrocket.
"Is this real!? That herb has this many uses!? Why has no one ever tried to research this before... oh my god! We're all idiots, burning such a precious herb as mosquito repellent!" Standing up abruptly, Shu Mao's body stiffened and her face contorted in visible pain as she thought about how much purple haze grass had gone to waste and turned to ashes.
Watching her reaction, Xue Hui couldn't help but chuckle.
Seeing this, Shu Mao pouted at him. Xue Hui was treating this matter far too casually. This discovery carried enormous significance for Glory City. Purple haze grass was one of the most common herbs that could easily grow within the city, meaning that all these newfound uses would greatly improve the quality of life for its people.
"Master Hui, if you knew about this, why didn't you say anything at all?" Although it was presumptuous for Shu Mao to question what was technically her superior in such a reproachful manner, she couldn't help but feel indignant in her heart.
With a sheepish smile, Xue Hui leaned back in his chair and raised both hands in surrender.
"Senior Sister Shu Mao, don't look at me like that. I didn't say anything because I never thought about it until now."
Looking at his apologetic expression, Shu Mao's shoulders slumped as she questioned herself on what she was even doing, trying to make Xue Hui feel guilty or something.
Feeling apologetic, Shu Mao bowed toward Xue Hui. "Sorry, Master Hui. I just felt bad about all the wasted purple haze grass. I didn't mean to question you like that."
Xue Hui, on the other hand, merely laughed it off, not taking offense to Shu Mao's words.
"Please, Senior Sister Shu Mao, you're taking this far too seriously. You were just expressing your opinion. There's nothing wrong with speaking your mind."
In Shu Mao's defense, Xue Hui truly had neglected many things regarding the improvement of living conditions within Glory City.
Too engrossed in laying his foundation, Xue Hui had spent the last seven years cultivating at Silver Rank in order to create more Laws of Origin and solidify his strength.
The more Laws of Origin he created, the more his cultivation difficulty increased severalfold. In terms of cultivation resources alone, even Soul Strengthening Pills had long lost their effectiveness on him. This resulted in Xue Hui needing to travel outside the city just to find opportunities to increase his strength.
And because of that, he had neglected simpler ways of helping Glory City, such as revealing the uses of purple haze grass.
'Well, better late than never,' Xue Hui thought to himself.
Pulling out another piece of paper, Xue Hui wrote several pill formulas onto it before passing it to Shu Mao, who looked confused upon receiving it.
"Give this to Aunt Wenrou immediately. I'm pretty sure she won't mind being interrupted during pill refinement once she reads what's written on it."
With a perplexed expression, Shu Mao scanned what was written on it.
As soon as she did, Shu Mao's entire body trembled violently. With a dumbfounded expression, she looked at Xue Hui as though he were a god inhabiting a boy's body.
Pill formulas, an entire page filled with them.
While most of them were life-improving pills, such as medicine for minor injuries, cold-dispersing pills, and vitality-enhancing pills, there were also several formulas that could be considered long-lost legendary elixirs.
Meridian Detoxifying Pill, Demon Spirit Enchantment Pill, Soul Forging Pill, Core Fortification Pill, Body Rejuvenating Pill, and the Legend Physique Tempering Pill.
"T-This... h-how... who are you!?" Shu Mao couldn't believe what she was seeing. These pill formulas alone were more than enough to drastically improve the overall strength of Glory City.
The Meridian Detoxifying Pill was used to remove impurities from the body. Legends claimed that the fewer impurities an expert possessed, the faster they could cultivate.
The Demon Spirit Enchantment Pill and Soul Forging Pill were hundreds, perhaps even thousands of times more effective than the current Soul Enhancement Pills everyone used to increase their soul force.
Then there was the Body Rejuvenating Pill, a life-saving elixir capable of regenerating severed limbs. Its effects were even superior to the Divine Medicine Pavilion's signature medicine, the Nine Transformation Pill.
But the most important aspect of all these pills was that their ingredients were relatively easy to obtain, just like purple haze grass, which had once been considered a useless herb.
Shu Mao looked left and right as though afraid someone would suddenly appear and steal the formulas from her hands.
She then looked at Xue Hui with a complicated expression. To Shu Mao, Xue Hui had always been a mysterious person. Despite his young age, he possessed astonishing knowledge in many fields, especially alchemy.
"U-Um... Master Hui... if you'll excuse me, I need to speak with the president about this."
After bidding him farewell, Shu Mao immediately ran toward the alchemy lab where Chen Wenrou was located.
Left alone, Xue Hui stood from the chair and walked toward the window. His eyes traveled across the entire northern region as he admired the city below.
"I think it's time for me to head out again."
It had been a while since his last journey. With the twelve Origin Spheres acting as extra Soul Realms, the only way for him to increase his cultivation now was to find unparalleled treasures capable of supporting his growth.
Suddenly, the image of a girl flashed through his mind.
He had gotten into a lot of trouble with his two aunties after they found out about the kiss he received last time.
Not because Xue Hui was seeing another girl, or so they claimed, but because he had failed to mention his current status as Chen Linlin's fiancé to Xiao Ning'er.
Something about not being honest with Xiao Ning'er and unintentionally leading her on.
Fortunately, after explaining that he genuinely had no idea about Xiao Ning'er's blossoming feelings for him, Chen Yinying and Chen Wenrou stopped lecturing him and merely stared at him with expressions as though he were a hopeless case.
At the same time, Chen Linlin, the trio of girls, and even Chen Zhenlong muttered words like "dense" and "idiot" under their breaths while shaking their heads.
Xue Hui huffed in annoyance.
He wasn't dense. Women were simply difficult to understand.
Having made up his mind, Xue Hui summoned an Origin Sphere. Floating before him, the sphere activated its ability, and both he and the sphere vanished from the office.
Meanwhile...
Glory City North Gate,
Chen Linlin, Jing Ya, Mei Lin, and Yue Ling were all waiting at the Glory City North Gate. Together with them were Ye Ziyun, Nie Li, Shen Yue, and several other students, mostly upperclassmen, who had decided to meet at this location after agreeing to join Chen Li Jiang's group in searching for the treasure hidden within the Ancient Orchid City Ruins.
Currently, the only people they were waiting for before heading into the outside world were Chen Li Jiang himself and his men, who had left to purchase more elixirs in preparation for their journey.
This left the rest of them sitting around while waiting for Chen Li Jiang and his group to return.
"I can't believe Boss isn't coming with us. Here I thought he liked things like treasures and ruins," Mei Lin exclaimed. She had been hoping to see Xue Hui in action after hearing stories about how skilled he was at exploring ruins.
Hearing Mei Lin's words, Chen Linlin huffed in annoyance. Even she couldn't believe that Xue Hui would pass up the opportunity to explore another ruin with her.
"Hui-Hui does like exploring for treasure, believe me. He totally turns into a treasure gremlin whenever he gets the chance. It's just that, for some reason, he doesn't seem interested in the Ancient Orchid City Ruins."
Unbeknownst to Chen Linlin, Xue Hui already knew about the existence of the Ancient Orchid City Ruins and the treasure hidden beneath it, but had decided to leave it alone so that other people in Glory City could search for it themselves.
Partly because Xue Hui felt generous enough to let others experience the joy of discovering treasure, and partly because he considered the Ancient Orchid City Ruins far too insignificant to bother with.
Truthfully, what Xue Hui sought in ruins was not wealth, but unparalleled treasures that could aid him in cultivation.
"Maybe Master isn't feeling well. He looked extremely tired the other day," Yue Ling uttered, worry crossing her face as she remembered Xue Hui's exhausted appearance.
"Of course Xue Hui would feel tired. He got 'the talk' from Aunt Wenrou and Aunt Yinying the other day, thanks to Mei Lin snitching on him," Jing Ya said in her usual flat tone. Although she maintained her stoic expression, she was secretly excited to finally explore the outside world for the first time.
"J-Jing Ya! It... it was an accident! I didn't know Aunt Yinying was listening to us when I mentioned Xiao Ning'er kissing the boss!" Mei Lin let out an "eep!" when several nearby students turned toward her with shocked expressions, having overheard their conversation.
Seeing this, Chen Linlin merely shook her head and sighed in resignation. She could already tell that Xue Hui would be in a lot of trouble over the coming days.
Still, Chen Linlin wasn't worried.
Unlike Nie Li, who had been surrounded and nearly beaten up by Shen Yue's men the other day, if not for Ye Ziyun stepping in to rescue him, Xue Hui was someone the Sacred Family could not easily deal with.
Heck, Chen Linlin herself couldn't wait for Xue Hui to deal with Shen Fei.
Chen Linlin had heard all the rumors surrounding that vile person. Just hearing stories about the many girls Shen Fei had toyed with was enough to make her blood boil.
And the thought that Xiao Ning'er was being forced into marriage with Shen Fei only strengthened Chen Linlin's resolve to let Xue Hui take action and save Xiao Ning'er from him.
Not far away from them, Ye Ziyun, who had also overheard Mei Lin's words, looked toward their group in shock, unaware of the complicated emotions written across her face.
Nie Li, who was standing beside her, let out a heavy sigh. Despite making progress in befriending Ye Ziyun, he could tell that she held a very favorable impression of Xue Hui.
It also didn't help that Xue Hui and Ye Ziyun shared a past together, making it difficult for Nie Li to shift Ye Ziyun's attention entirely onto himself.
While everyone was still reeling from the pieces of information they had just heard, Chen Li Jiang and his men finally returned after purchasing the necessary elixirs.
After giving the expedition group a few reminders regarding the journey, Chen Li Jiang led everyone out into the outside world.
End of Chapter 46