Divine Medicine Pavilion
The towering building stood majestically in the heart of the northern region of Glory City. Inside, the bustling sounds of customers and sales representatives conducting business could be heard throughout the building.
On the upper floors, where the alchemy laboratories were located, several Primary and Intermediate Alchemist Masters could be seen rushing about as they busily concocted new batches of elixirs to meet the ever-growing demand.
On the highest floor, where several important offices were located, a female alchemist in her early twenties could be seen hurrying 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 had been taken in by Chen Wenrou after her parents died in an accident when she was a child.
Having grown close to her, Chen Wenrou took responsibility for raising Shu Mao. Under her guidance, Shu Mao eventually followed in her footsteps and began studying alchemy herself.
Currently, Shu Mao worked as the head supervisor of the Divine Medicine Pavilion and Chen Wenrou's assistant.
Arriving at the door, the young alchemist quickly straightened her clothes and fixed her appearance, making sure she looked presentable before entering. Once her breathing had steadied, she slowly slid the door open, expecting to find Chen Wenrou inside.
"President Wenrou, I have an urgent question. I wonder if you have time to spa…Master Hui!?"
Shu Mao froze in surprise.
Instead of Chen Wenrou, the person sitting in the president's chair was none other than 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 idly 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 something wrong?"
Caught off guard, Shu Mao shook her head to snap herself back to the matter at hand. She glanced around the office, seemingly hoping to find Chen Wenrou somewhere inside.
"Um... Master Xue Hui, where's the president? I have an inquiry concerning purple haze grass."
Xue Hui paused what he was doing and sat upright.
"Aunt Wenrou went to the alchemy laboratory, probably to check all the new batches of herbs that just arrived."
Shu Mao groaned inwardly.
That meant her teacher was probably going to become absorbed in concocting pills again.
She would be lucky if she managed to see Chen Wenrou at all, knowing that the president had a habit of isolating herself whenever she began refining pills.
Seeing her troubled expression, Xue Hui smiled and beckoned for her to take a seat.
"Tell me about it, Senior Sister Shu Mao. I might be able to help you."
Hearing this, Shu Mao's eyes lit up.
As an Alchemy Grandmaster, Xue Hui held considerable authority within the Divine Medicine Pavilion. It just so happened that Shu Mao had forgotten about this since Xue Hui rarely showed himself there.
"Ah, right... You see, Master Hui, a group of commoner kids has been going around buying up all the stocks of purple haze grass throughout the city. They even came to our Divine Medicine Pavilion to purchase our entire stock. The amount we have could last the entirety of Glory City for six months, so it's quite a lot. Even so, they wanted all of it. I found that quite suspicious, so I came here to seek the president's advice."
Hearing Shu Mao's words, Xue Hui nodded thoughtfully.
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 now 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?"
Shu Mao's fidgeting pulled Xue Hui from his thoughts.
Smiling, Xue Hui shook his head before pulling a piece of paper from the table and beginning to write on it.
"Of course not. If we sell all our purple haze grass, we won't have anything left for ourselves. And since all the other stores have already sold out, once the purple haze grass in the market is gone, where do you think people will go to buy more? Naturally, they'll come to the only store that still has stock left."
Although confused as to why the demand for a seemingly useless herb like purple haze grass, which was primarily used to ward off mosquitoes, had suddenly risen to the point that every store's stock was selling out, Shu Mao followed Xue Hui's instructions and immediately sent a voice transmission to the store manager downstairs, ordering them to halt all sales of purple haze grass.
Afterward, Xue Hui handed the paper he had written on to Shu Mao, causing her to look at him in confusion.
Without saying anything, Xue Hui gestured for her to read it.
The moment her eyes scanned the parchment, they widened in shock.
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 use listed 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! We've been burning such a precious herb as mosquito repellent!"
Shu Mao shot to her feet.
Her body stiffened, and her face twisted in visible pain as she thought about how much purple haze grass had already gone to waste, reduced to ashes without anyone realizing its true value.
Watching her reaction, Xue Hui couldn't help but chuckle.
Seeing this, Shu Mao pouted at him.
Xue Hui was treating the 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 be cultivated within the city, meaning that all these newfound uses could 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.
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."
Seeing his apologetic expression, Shu Mao's shoulders slumped.
She suddenly questioned what she was even doing, trying to make Xue Hui feel guilty.
Feeling embarrassed, Shu Mao bowed toward him.
"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 merely laughed it off, not taking offense at her 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 difficult his cultivation became. In terms of cultivation resources alone, even Soul Strengthening Pills had long since lost their effectiveness on him. As a result, Xue Hui often needed to travel outside the city just to find opportunities to increase his strength.
Because of this, he had neglected simpler ways of helping Glory City, such as revealing the uses of purple haze grass.
'Well, better late than never.'
Pulling out another piece of paper, Xue Hui wrote several pill formulas onto it before passing it to Shu Mao, who stared at him in confusion.
"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 the formulas.
The moment she did, her entire body trembled violently.
With a dumbfounded expression, she stared at Xue Hui as though he were a god inhabiting a boy's body.
Pill formulas.
An entire page filled with them.
While most were life-improving pills, such as medicine for minor injuries, cold-dispersing pills, and vitality-enhancing pills, several formulas could even 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 countless 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 laboratory where Chen Wenrou was located.
Left alone, Xue Hui rose 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 additional 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 quite a bit of trouble with his two aunties after they found out about the kiss he had received the last time.
Not because Xue Hui was seeing another girl, or so they claimed, but because he had failed to mention his 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. Instead, they merely stared at him with expressions that seemed to say he was a hopeless case.
At the same time, Chen Linlin, the trio of girls, and even Chen Zhenlong had 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 waiting at the Glory City North Gate. With them were Ye Ziyun, Nie Li, Shen Yue, and several other students, mostly upperclassmen, who had decided 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 gone to purchase more elixirs in preparation for their journey.
This left the rest of them sitting around while they waited 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 he 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 his cultivation.
"Maybe Master isn't feeling well. He looked extremely tired the other day," Yue Ling said, worried 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!" as 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 couldn't 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 a 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, Ye Ziyun, who had also overheard Mei Lin's words, turned 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