Mortals: Take Mo Juren at the start

"Although I have the opportunity to obtain a large number of 'Primordial Essence Pills' this time, I am still deeply grateful for your kind gesture in gifting me these pills." Sensing the other party's unusual expression, Mo Juren immediately understood what was going on, and then sincerely thanked her with a smile. Sure enough, upon hearing this, Xiao Yunhuang was secretly delighted, but still maintained a stern face and snorted:
"At least you have a conscience, it hasn't been in vain for me..." Halfway through her sentence, Xiao Yunhuang suddenly realized something was amiss, stopped abruptly, and immediately changed the subject.

"By the way, the Medicine God Sect is making such a big show of refining pills, surely they're not just making 'Primordial Essence Pills'?"

“This…” Mo Juren paused slightly, then continued.

“I really don’t know about that, but Zeng Lu found out about it. If you want to know anything, I can just call him over and ask him.”

"No need to call them over, we'll go together later." Xiao Yunhuang quickly waved her hand.

"That's fine, I was actually planning to go to Tianhua Tower anyway." Mo Juren nodded slightly, then his expression suddenly changed, and he asked again.

"You suddenly asked about this; is there something you're planning?"

"Well, I also happen to need some pills. If there's a real opportunity this time, I certainly can't miss it." Xiao Yunhuang's bright eyes flickered slightly, and then she continued earnestly.

"Furthermore, based on my understanding of the Medicine God Sect, such events have been held more than once, and each time they were quite large in scale. At that time, not only most of the alchemists in the sect would participate, but some rogue alchemists would also go to sell or even openly accept custom orders from others to refine pills."

Of course, the materials needed for this kind of customized alchemy must be provided by the user. The alchemist is only responsible for the refining process and does not guarantee success, yet still charges a considerable fee.

"I see!" Mo Juren really didn't know much about this, but providing materials and inviting alchemists to refine pills was commonplace in the cultivation world, so it wasn't surprising.

Furthermore, if independent alchemists also attend, the scale will naturally be considerable, enough to be considered a 'Alchemy Gathering'.

"So, you're planning to come along too?"

"you are not willing?"

"How could that be?" Mo Juren chuckled. It was just a small favor, how could he possibly refuse? Besides, with the other person by his side, he could ask for help if he encountered anything he didn't understand.
"In that case, you should make preparations. I plan to set off in the next couple of days."

“Great! I’ll ask Seventh Sister if she needs any pills. If we find any suitable ones, we can buy them too.”

……

Shortly after, the two left Youranju and then went to Tianhualou together.

As soon as he entered the lobby, he ran into Zeng Lu. To Mo Juren's surprise, Zeng Lu looked very serious and seemed to be about to go out.

Not only the other party, but also three figures followed behind him. The leader was Che Laoyao, and two other members of Tianhua Tower.

"My lord, what brings you here?" Zeng Lu was somewhat surprised to see Mo Juren, but he quickly reacted and stepped forward to greet him. The three members of the guild did the same, bowing respectfully.

"Something happened?" Seeing this scene, Mo Juren immediately understood what was going on and asked.

“Your Majesty is wise. There has indeed been a problem. A shipment of goods was intercepted en route, but it is a minor matter. I will take a few retainers and we can resolve it.” Zeng Lu nodded slightly.

"The goods were robbed? Do you know who did it?" Mo Juren narrowed his eyes. How dare they touch his Tianhua Tower's things? They really have a lot of nerve.

"Judging from the information that has been transmitted so far, it should be the work of the 'Seven Fiends of Yuanku Mountain'. These seven people are seven brothers born of the same mother, and all of them have good aptitude and have reached the early stage of the Nascent Soul stage in cultivation."

These seven people are of one mind and have cultivated a special technique that allows them to unite as one. They are not afraid of even facing a Nascent Soul cultivator in the early stages.

Furthermore, these seven individuals were rogue cultivators with ruthless natures, who were particularly fond of robbing and plundering, and had robbed many cultivators.

"But this time it's a bit strange. Logically speaking, although these seven people are ruthless, they have always been bullies who prey on the weak and fear the strong. They usually only attack those weak rogue cultivators, while they never touch those who are powerful and have a strong background..." Zeng Lu explained briefly, while a look of doubt appeared on his face.

“They don’t touch those with powerful backgrounds, but they’ve specifically targeted Tianhua Tower. That’s rather unusual.” Mo Juren narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then his expression suddenly changed.

He almost subconsciously thought of someone, someone he had always been wary of: Ximen Feng. Since the other party arrived in Tianyuan City, he seemed to have been unusually quiet.

Given the other party's vengeful nature, there is absolutely no way they would give up their hatred for him. However, they are cautious in their actions and will not take open action after learning about his background.

Therefore, it's not surprising that they would secretly sabotage us.

Have similar incidents occurred in recent years?

"There have been five or six times before, and this is the seventh time, all in recent decades. The attackers have all been ignorant rogue cultivators, but we have easily dealt with them each time without causing much damage."

"In recent decades?" Mo Juren smiled coldly. Although he had no evidence, he instinctively felt that these things did not happen by accident. Someone was probably behind them, and the only person who could be that was Ximen Feng.

"Have you questioned anyone about who was behind this?"

"Of course it has happened, but as for the mastermind behind it, we haven't found out."

"There's none?"

Upon hearing Zeng Lu's answer, Mo Juren frowned again.

It's not surprising that they couldn't find it; with Ximen Feng's current strength at the early stage of the Void Refinement realm, he has plenty of ways to do this.

The only thing he couldn't understand was, if it really was the other party, what exactly was their purpose? Such petty squabbles couldn't possibly have a significant impact on Tianhua Tower; it was completely futile!
Surely it couldn't all be just to annoy him, could it?
Thinking about it, it seems unlikely. If I'm not mistaken, they must have a deeper purpose.

How long will this trip take approximately?

“Yuanku Mountain is located in the western part of Luoyun City. You can go there directly through the teleportation array. It won’t take too long. If all goes well, you can return on the same day.”

"In that case, go ahead, but be extremely careful. It would be best to capture them alive and bring them back for me to interrogate personally." With his thoughts back to the present, Mo Juren immediately gave the order.

There were only seven Nascent Soul stage cultivators, and even if they joined forces, they were only comparable to the early Nascent Soul stage cultivators. However, Tianhua Tower sent three Nascent Soul stage elders, which was enough to solve the problem.

"Rest assured, my lord, I will certainly not disappoint you." Zeng Lu cupped his hands in greeting and, without hesitation, led his retinue away. After they disappeared, Mo Juren brought Xiao Yunhuang to the top floor, but at that moment, the latter suddenly asked:
Why don't you come along? Wouldn't it be safer that way?

"If I have to do such a small thing myself, then what was the point of forming the offering team in the first place?" Mo Juren shook his head slightly, thinking of the offering team of Tianhua Tower, which has grown stronger over the years and has indeed played a huge role.

"That's true!" Xiao Yunhuang suddenly realized, but then changed the subject.
"When I saw Zeng Lu just now, it seemed you had forgotten something, hadn't you?"

"Uh..." Mo Juren then realized that he had been so focused on the theft of the goods that he had completely forgotten the purpose of his visit, which was to inquire about the Medicine God Sect from Zeng Lu.

But it doesn't matter, this kind of thing must have spread long ago, and it's not just Zeng Lu who knows, you can ask other people too.

Thinking of this, he immediately scanned the area with his divine sense and locked onto a middle-aged man on the second floor.

If he remembered correctly, this person's name was 'Wu Chang', a junior of Manager Wu, and also the deputy manager of Tianhua Tower.

Many years ago, when Manager Wu was summoned back to the Wang family by Wang Ke'er, he asked his descendant, Wu Chang, to stay behind and act as Wang Ke'er's representative at Tianhua Tower.

The position of head manager naturally transitioned to Zeng Lu, a trusted confidant of Mo Juren, who had gradually matured and was capable of fulfilling the role.

As for Wu Chang, although he was nominally the deputy manager of Tianhua Tower, he was no longer in the core management and was only responsible for some trivial matters.

Mo Juren's reason for seeking out this person was simple: although this person didn't manage much affairs, he was indeed famously a "know-it-all" and had some knowledge of many things happening in the current cultivation world.

In this way, the other party will definitely know about the Medicine God Sect.

Not long after, Wu Chang received a telepathic message and came to pay his respects. Upon hearing the host mention the alchemy conference of the Medicine God Sect, he immediately recounted it without reservation.

"Very well, you may leave now." After hearing this, Mo Juren waved his hand to dismiss Wu Chang, then looked at Xiao Yunhuang and said...

"It seems your guess was right. The Medicine God Sect is indeed preparing to hold a large-scale alchemy gathering. Not only people like you and me will participate, but some business alliance forces will also likely attend."

"The Pill Gathering will last for a whole year and will gather so many alchemists, so the variety of pills produced will be countless, which will naturally attract some merchant alliance forces to go and purchase them."

In addition, as Wu Chang just mentioned, Zeng Lu has already planned that Tianhua Tower will also send a team to attend the meeting, and presumably the other shops in the market will follow suit.

The only pity is that although this alchemy gathering was quite large, more than 90% of the participating alchemists were still at the ordinary level, and it was impossible for them to refine many high-quality alchemy pieces.

Those truly top-tier alchemists, like Xue Changyun, are still a minority, and unless there are special circumstances, they almost never accept custom orders.

"It is indeed a pity, but it doesn't matter. My purpose in going there is only the 'Primordial Essence Pill'. It doesn't matter whether I have other pills or not."

"In that case, I'll take my leave now. See you in two days."

"Walk slowly..."

After saying this, Xiao Yunhuang got up to take her leave, while Mo Juren stayed at Tianhua Tower.

Firstly, they wanted to wait for news from Zeng Lu, and secondly, they planned to meet Xiao Yunhuang here in two days and then set off directly.

Time flies, and the next day arrived in the blink of an eye. Zeng Lu and three retainers finally returned, accompanied by three unfamiliar men.

After inquiring, it was learned that these three were the so-called "Seven Fiends of Yuanku Mountain". Of course, only three of them remained, as the other four had been dealt with by the three retainers.

Most of his brothers were dead, and the remaining three were filled with hatred. Unfortunately, their cultivation had already been destroyed, and they could do nothing but hate.

"Have you interrogated them?" Mo Juren asked suddenly after looking the three of them over.

"Not yet," Zeng Lu shook his head slightly, then continued.
"In order to escape, the other four evil spirits self-destructed one after another, their souls completely scattered. Only these three remained, but they were subdued in time by the three elders. Otherwise, they would have suffered the same fate."

"Quite resolute," Mo Juren chuckled, his gaze sweeping over the Three Fiends once more, before suddenly asking,
"I am very curious. Aren't you Seven Fiends known for 'bullying the weak and fearing the strong'? Then why did you plunder the supplies of my Tianhua Tower? Surely you don't think my Tianhua Tower is a pushover and easy to bully?"

Upon hearing this, the three Fiends exchanged a glance but remained silent, offering no explanation whatsoever.

"Interesting!" Mo Juren sneered repeatedly. Since the other party was so ungrateful, he was too lazy to waste words. He immediately raised his hand and pulled one of them close, then pressed his hand on the Baihui acupoint on the other's head.

In an instant, the man's face contorted in agony, and he let out a piercing scream. Seeing this, the other two thugs beside him paled and began to curse loudly.
"If you have the guts, give us brothers a quick death. Why torture us like this?"

Unfortunately, Mo Juren remained unmoved upon hearing this and continued to relentlessly probe the memories within the other party's primordial spirit. Moreover, he examined the matter with extreme care, going back and forth countless times, all to ensure that no clue was overlooked.

A full quarter of an hour passed before he finally withdrew his hand. By then, the person being examined was already dazed and barely breathing, beyond saving.

Mo Juren remained expressionless, then raised his hand and took the second person into his palm, continuing the soul search. However, when it came to the third person, he suddenly stopped and then stroked his chin thoughtfully.

He examined the memories of both individuals countless times, but strangely, he found nothing. It was as if the three of them had simply taken advantage of the situation for money.

However, it was precisely because of this that he became even more puzzled, since it simply didn't make sense.

These Seven Fiends, having cultivated to the Nascent Soul level, are naturally of sound mind. It's impossible that they would break their own code of conduct and target a force like Tianhua Tower simply because they are tempted by wealth.

There must be something fishy about this, but he just can't figure it out yet.

After thinking for a moment, he suddenly waved to Zeng Lu and the three retainers, signaling them to step back. Then, with a thought, he summoned Ancestor Chi Yun.

"You summoned me here for something, young man?" Patriarch Chi Yun asked, glancing around as he prepared to extend his divine sense, but Mo Juren stopped him in time.

"This is Tianyuan City, where there are countless experts at the Integration Realm. Senior, you should be careful."

"Tianyuan City!" A trace of reminiscence flashed in Patriarch Chi Yun's eyes, and he immediately abandoned his intention to investigate, lest he be detected by those Nascent Soul Realm beings. (End of this chapter)