Universe Infinite Canteen.

Chapter 394 A shocking case
The middle-aged scholar called himself Han Guangzhong. He was very talkative and chatted with Malu about the customs and culture of Qingzhou along the way.

He had a wide range of interests, and was well-versed in everything from music, chess, calligraphy, and painting to cuju and donkey ball. He even knew many anecdotes in the martial arts world.

Malu also took this opportunity to ask him some questions, including the source of food in this plane which he was currently most concerned about.

After all, it is impossible for him to be so lucky every time and run into an escort agency transporting medicinal materials, and then all the people died, which is a good thing for him.

"Hey, you are a man of the underworld, don't you even know where the secret medicine comes from?"

Han Guangzhong looked at Ma Lu with an increasingly strange gaze, "Well, since I have nothing to do, I'll talk to you.

"Our Daqian Dynasty is vast and rich in resources. There are secret medicines growing in many mountains and fields. If you are lucky, you can find them. There are many extremely rare species, and one plant can be worth ten thousand taels of silver.

"Every once in a while there will be a lucky person who becomes rich overnight with a secret herb, and from then on he can buy land and have no worries about food and clothing. Some people go into the deep mountains and old forests where few people go, regardless of poisonous miasma and ferocious beasts, just to find precious secret herbs.

"These people are generally called medicine seekers. Medicine seekers are mostly desperate criminals. They not only have to fight against the heavens, but also against people. Every time a priceless secret medicine appears in the world, there are often many lives hidden behind it."

Upon hearing this, the monk who was reciting scriptures nearby put his hands together and said "Amitabha".

Han Guangzhong continued, "However, the secret medicine in the wild is rare after all, and it is far from meeting the needs of people in the martial arts world to practice martial arts. Moreover, these martial arts masters are already very busy practicing and playing cards every day, and most of them don't have time to go into the mountains.

"So some people tried to grow these secret medicines themselves, but after they succeeded, they inevitably attracted the covetousness of others, so they opened the gates of the mountains and recruited disciples to protect those secret medicines. This is the origin of the martial arts sects.

“Nowadays, all the big and small forces in the martial arts world basically grow secret medicines. In addition to satisfying the daily cultivation of their disciples, the excess can be sold or exchanged for other secret medicines in need.

“And those famous sects and martial arts families often occupy famous mountains and rivers in order to grow secret medicines. They also have rare secret medicines that complement the practice of their own martial arts.

“This way, even if the martial arts of our sect are accidentally leaked out, without the corresponding secret medicine, others will not be able to practice the martial arts secrets even if they get them.”

“Well, in addition to the two sources I mentioned above, the Western Regions also have some unique secret medicines that are brought to the Central Plains by caravans and sold. They are an important source of income for them.

“As for those small sects that don’t have their own mountain gates and can’t grow secret medicines, if they want to practice, they can only use silver to buy secret medicines grown by those big sects. For example, Baicao Sect is a sect that specializes in secret medicine business.

"Their medicine shops are all over Daqian. They both buy and sell secret medicines. The prices are fair, but the secret medicines themselves are very valuable. The cheapest secret medicine costs hundreds of coins. It is not something that ordinary people can afford."

After listening to Han Guangzhong's talk about the secret medicine, Malu started asking him about Tianlongmen.

"Tianlong Sect is a new sect that suddenly emerged in the Qingzhou martial arts world in recent years. It has developed rapidly. In less than ten years, it has tens of thousands of followers.

"The sect leader Li Tianlong is quite skilled in martial arts. It is said that he once played cards with Song Tangzhang from the Zhengqi Academy. The two were evenly matched and became good friends because of this.

"But his origins are quite mysterious. He is usually hard to find, and he rarely reveals his true identity even to his fellow members. There are no more than a handful of people in the world who know his identity."

Han Guangzhong paused, "Also, I heard that the people of the Beggars' Sect don't seem to get along well with the Tianlong Sect."

"why?"

"Li Tianlong founded the Tianlong Sect. He did not ask about their backgrounds or pasts, and recruited a large group of martial arts heroes. Among them, there were inevitably good and bad people, and there were many frictions with the Beggars' Sect disciples. In addition, although the Beggars' Sect's influence spread all over the world, Qingzhou was the headquarters.

"Now that there is suddenly another person beside my bed, I can't help but feel unhappy. Fortunately, the former gang leader Deng Youtai and Li Tianlong were both very restrained and restrained their disciples, so there was no conflict. "However, now that Deng Youtai is dead, I don't know how the new gang leader plans to treat Li Tianlong and his Tianlong Gang. I'm afraid that the Qingzhou martial arts world will be in turmoil again."

Han Guangzhong sighed, but soon changed the subject and said with a smile, "But this matter has nothing to do with ordinary people like us. But you, Young Master Ma, please don't get involved in the fight between these two gangs when you go to Yuchang County."

"Thank you, Brother Han, for the reminder." Malu thanked him, and the two chatted for a while afterwards.

As they were about to reach the outskirts of Yuchang County, Han Guangzhong suddenly felt like getting off the bus early and going to pay tribute to a nearby historical site.

Malu followed the caravan to the South Gate safely, got off the carriage, and led back his packhorse, but he did not see Gu Qingyi.

Just when Malu was wondering whether Gu Qingyi had encountered any accident, he discovered that someone in the crowd was secretly looking at him.

He was a boy about twelve or thirteen years old, and looked quite smart. When he saw the millipede looking at him, he first lowered his head, then raised it again, then lowered his head again and rubbed his eyes.

When he looked up again, Malu had already arrived in front of him and said to him, "What are you looking at? Let me see too."

Before the boy could answer, Malu snatched the paper from his hand.

There was a picture of a little man riding a horse and holding a sword. With just a few strokes, the man and the horse came to life on the paper. The face of the man on the horse was 70% similar to Millipede.

"Who gave you this painting?" Malu asked the child.

However, the little boy did not answer, but asked, "Is it Master Ma?"

"Yes, it's me."

Hearing his answer, the young man breathed a sigh of relief. "Someone hired me to wait for you here. Please follow me, Ma Shaoxia."

"Wait a minute," Malu did not go with him, "Who hired you? What's his name?"

"This... I don't know either." The little boy said, "He just said he was your friend and had an appointment with you at the South Gate."

After hearing the second half of the sentence, Malu knew that the person who ordered the boy must be Gu Qingyi.

I just don't know why she is so mysterious. Could it be that she met some enemy in the city?

While thinking about this, Malu walked towards Zuiyan Tower with the little boy. The latter led him to the door and then disappeared in a flash.

Malu then revealed his identity and the waiter from the restaurant took him to a private seat on the second floor.

When Malu entered the room, he saw Gu Qingyi sitting by the window, but she had changed her clothes and looked like a wealthy country lady, with a few strands of beard on her chin.

But she was still very happy when she saw Malu, "Brother Ma, have you finished your work?"

(End of this chapter)