Chapter Seventy-Four: Miss Bai in Trouble

With a loud clang, the door was pushed open by Chen Jiu, letting in the whistling winter wind. Pages of the ledger on the medicine cabinet fluttered noisily. A young assistant lay slumped across the cabinet, his thin clothes rising and falling with his breath. Chen Jiu closed the door tightly and hurried over.

“Are you… suffering from a chill?” Chen Jiu brought his hand near the boy, sensing for a moment before making his judgment.

The assistant coughed weakly and then lifted his pale, haggard face. “Master, you’re back… That’s good, I was worried.”

Chen Jiu paused, then understood. The boy must have thought that, because of the incident with the medicinal decoction, Chen Jiu had attracted the attention of some powerful figure and was summoned for questioning.

“No need to worry, I’ve already taken medicine. I should be well by morning,” the assistant muttered, sweat covering his brow, his eyelids drooping, and spiritless.

“You prescribed the medicine yourself?” Chen Jiu asked.

The boy shook his head. “I had someone fetch a remedy for chills from Miraculous Hands Hall. I can only help out here—I wouldn’t know how to select the herbs myself…”

Hearing this, Chen Jiu narrowed his eyes. Miraculous Hands Hall—this pharmacy was likely deeply entangled in the matter of the demonic poison.

Though he lacked concrete evidence, the odd behavior of Qin Miraculous Hands suggested it was not a place to be trusted.

Chen Jiu helped the assistant up, quietly channeling a strand of pure spiritual energy into him, and then asked, “Is it the medicine in this bowl?”

On the cabinet sat a porcelain bowl the size of a face, filled with brown medicinal liquid. The boy nodded feebly.

Chen Jiu supported him back to his room, urging him to sleep, then returned to the cabinet to inspect the bowl carefully.

The medicine appeared ordinary—no trace of demonic energy or other strange aura, merely the scent of herbal remedy.

He pursed his lips, then a thought struck him. His Longevity Pearl could test whether there was anything amiss in the medicine!

A soft chuckle escaped him, and he opened his mouth to spit out the Longevity Pearl, wrapped in emerald light. Guided by Chen Jiu, it plunged into the bowl.

His pupils contracted as he watched, his expression growing serious.

Moments later, the Longevity Pearl began to flicker wildly under his gaze.

Chen Jiu’s heart tightened. As expected, something was wrong with the medicine.

He formed a seal with his hands, then pointed at the porcelain bowl. “Quick!”

The spell was as inexorable as a mountain; under Chen Jiu’s command, the Longevity Pearl spun rapidly, drawing out whatever strange substance was hidden in the liquid.

Soon, the brown decoction began to whirl on its own, forming a vortex at the center.

After a short while, a blob of black liquid, no larger than a fingernail, rose from the vortex and settled in Chen Jiu’s palm, floating up and down.

His gaze sharpened. “Is this the demonic poison…?” From the liquid, Chen Jiu sensed the same aura as the black blood vomited by previous victims.

His mind raced. At last, he had evidence.

Yet this was not enough to force Miraculous Hands Hall to confess, for many questions remained.

Touching the now-cold porcelain bowl, Chen Jiu determined the assistant had drunk the medicine long ago. Yet, up to now, there were no signs of the poison taking effect.

Because Chen Jiu had left a strand of spiritual energy in him, he would sense any anomaly immediately.

Thus, though the medicine contained demonic poison, consuming it did not trigger immediate symptoms—its activation was unpredictable.

“However, if someone could control the outbreak of the poison, that would be another matter entirely…” Chen Jiu mused, sighing softly.

There was little more he could do; it would be best to wait for the officials from the Bureau of Public Welfare to return and hand the matter over to them.

Setting aside these distracting thoughts, Chen Jiu extinguished the candle and ascended the loft.

…

Seated upright on the bed, Chen Jiu did not meditate but instead reviewed his gains from recent days.

First, his Public Welfare Order now contained a thousand merit points, and he carried one hundred and fifty-one Longevity Coins.

His magical tools and treasures included the Lotus Platform, a small banner, a magic sword, a sword pouch, and the insect bag from Master Insect-Expeller.

Of course, the Blood Demon Sword, in Chen Jiu’s view, was already beyond the realm of ordinary magical tools.

Most importantly, he had succeeded in breaking through, stepping into the First Floor of Immortality, and obtained his natal artifact, greatly increasing his power.

These were his possessions now.

For a moment, Chen Jiu felt a bit dazed.

He recalled descending from the mountain in autumn, when all things withered, his purse and cultivation both equally barren.

But now, as autumn gave way to winter, mere months later, he had ascended to the First Floor of Immortality, greatly improved his cultivation, and his purse was well-filled.

With over a thousand merit points and more than a hundred Longevity Coins, his wealth rivaled that of a small cultivation family.

Such families typically remained hidden from the secular world, not getting involved in worldly affairs.

Once he settled here for good, Chen Jiu intended to apply to the Bureau for the purchase of a mountain imbued with spiritual energy, to establish his own abode.

That way, he could cultivate in peace, relying on the spiritual energy stored in the Longevity Pearl, and if fortune favored him, he might even touch the threshold of the Second Floor of Immortality.

Then Chen Jiu took out the five yellow beans he kept close to his chest.

He had been so busy lately that he had little time to attend to these five companions.

Focusing his mind, he formed a seal with one hand and softly uttered, “Quick!”

At once, the five beans began to transform with crackling sounds.

When the white smoke cleared, Chen Jiu was startled.

Before him stood five childlike figures, each with sheep-horn braids, though their red bellybands had vanished, replaced by coarse blue tunics.

It seemed that as Chen Jiu’s cultivation advanced, the beans' manifestations grew older as well.

Surprise filled his eyes, for he sensed a surging aura within each of the five children, comparable to his own power before his breakthrough.

In other words, these five companions no longer relied solely on brute strength—they could now wield magical tools and talismans as Chen Jiu did!

This change delighted him; these five would surely become great allies in the days to come.

Yet one flaw remained: the five children were still vacant-eyed and expressionless. Though they possessed the breath of life, they were like puppets, obeying whatever Chen Jiu commanded.

He sighed softly, restored them to their bean form, and put them away.

Unnoticed, dawn was already breaking.

Chen Jiu rose from bed and went downstairs.

The assistant was already up, tidying up the herbs.

“Good morning, Master!” the boy greeted him respectfully.

Chen Jiu smiled. “You seem to have recovered from the chill.”

The boy grinned. “Yes, yes! To be fair, Qin Miraculous Hands’ medicine is really effective!”

Chen Jiu half-closed his eyes at that. “You only brought back one packet of medicine?”

The boy shook his head. “I brought two.”

“Then hand me the remaining packet,” Chen Jiu said suddenly.

The boy was puzzled and asked tentatively, “Master, did you catch a chill as well?”

Chen Jiu shook his head and took the packet.

Without another word, he went into the back room and began to decoct the herbs.

Soon, a steaming bowl of brown medicine was ready.

The medicinal aroma was rich, but there was a hint of bitterness, quite different from the scent he detected last night.

Chen Jiu’s heart stirred; he quickly dropped the Longevity Pearl into the bowl.

Moments later, his heart sank.

This time, the pearl showed no reaction.

This meant there was no demonic poison in the medicine.

Chen Jiu frowned deeply. The same herbs—how could they yield such different results?

The matter grew ever more perplexing.

Just as he was about to investigate further, a butterfly shrouded in white light fluttered in from outside and into the back room, landing on his shoulder.

Chen Jiu’s expression changed. The butterfly bore the aura of Lady Bai.

He quickly pointed his finger, drawing the butterfly over with spiritual energy.

The butterfly dissolved, leaving only a line of writing in Chen Jiu’s hand:

The village has been slaughtered, monsters run rampant—Master, come quickly!