Starting with a blind date with a female constable, you acquire the Nine Swords of Dugu.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Medicine King Valley

Perhaps the people from the Four Extremes Hall were worried that killing people would leave traces, especially since Gu Guanqi and An Yi were both doctors and sensitive to the smell of blood. So, they didn't actually kill many people from the Liu family. Dozens of people were all drugged, had their acupoints struck, and tied up in a cave in the back mountain.

After rescuing the Liu family,

Gu Guanqi and An Yi went to the county government office again.

Early the next morning,

The two then left Wei County with the Bright Moon Pearl, and led by An Yi, headed towards Medicine King Valley.

As the two of them left, news of what had happened in Wei County began to spread.

……

Yunzhou, the prefectural capital.

In a large courtyard, a handsome young man was lying on a couch, while several young women dressed in very thin clothes were massaging him.

This man was Zhang Donglou, the youngest son of Zhang Jiexi, the current Left Chancellor.

At this moment,

A guard entered, cupped his hands, and said, "Young master, something has happened."

Zhang Donglou sat up, waved his hand to disperse the women, and then asked, "What's wrong?"

The guard said, "We just received news that in Wei County, the Second Vermilion Bird and Ding Yue have failed. The Four Extremes Hall assassins led by the Second Vermilion Bird have been completely wiped out, and Ding Yue is also dead."

Zhang Donglou frowned and asked, "Did Gu Guanqi kill him?"

"Yes," the guard said, "However, what they claim to the outside world is that Ding Yue was poisoned by the Four Extremes Palace."

Zhang Donglou raised an eyebrow and said, "It seems that Ding Yue revealed the information before his death and changed his posthumous name. This man was troubled by fame all his life, which is in line with his style."

The guard remained silent.

Zhang Donglou took a deep breath and said, "This is troublesome. When I get back, my dad will beat me to a pulp. I shouldn't have been so clever."

As he spoke, Zhang Donglou waved his hand, dismissing the guards, and then said with a headache, "I thought I could easily crush Gu Guanqi and Yan Wangchuan, but I never expected that one miscalculation would lead to such serious consequences!"

As he spoke, he slowly stood up.

Then I went to the back room, opened the door, and there was a middle-aged man sitting cross-legged inside. The man was pale and was practicing his internal energy.

"Zhuque, something's happened!" Zhang Donglou shouted.

That middle-aged man was none other than Zhuque, the master of the South Hall of the Four Extremes Palace.

Zhuque was dressed in a simple blue robe, her brows and eyes seemed to hold unspoken worries. She slowly opened her eyes, revealing a pair of deep, calm eyes with a faint sadness hidden in them.

"I heard everything," Zhuque said calmly. "You can explain to the Prime Minister yourself. I was just following your orders."

Zhang Donglou patted his head and said, "I didn't expect this to happen. I thought that with your martial arts skills, you could easily kill Gu Guanqi and Yan Wangchuan. When the public opinion was in control, we could not only suppress the eunuch faction, but also take the opportunity to gather the power of the Qingzhou martial arts community and the government to deal with the eunuch faction. The Qingzhou martial arts alliance could also fall into our hands."

Zhuque remained silent.

Zhang Donglou curled his lip and said, "But who knew that you would go to Qingzhou and come back half dead? How could I have predicted that? Qingzhou is known for its lack of martial arts, how could it possibly hide such a master?"

Zhuque nodded slightly and said, "This was indeed unpredictable. I never expected there would be such a high-level expert in Qingzhou. By the way, have you found out about that old Taoist's background?"

Zhang Donglou shook his head and said, "No, I have no clue."

Zhuque sighed and said, "The world of martial arts is vast, and there are countless extraordinary people."

Zhang Donglou said helplessly, "Who knew you'd run into this? Otherwise, if you had personally taken the Moon Pearl, there wouldn't have been any accidents. Sigh, or perhaps, if I hadn't sent you to kill Yan Wangchuan and Gu Guanqi, they wouldn't have come to Yunzhou. Sigh!"

Zhuque waved his hand and said, "You need to find a way to remedy this now. I sought out the Heavenly Physician's Poison Manual so that I could accurately control my Soul-Destroying Poison. It would be crucial in helping the Listening Tide Sword Sect compete for the Alliance Leader position. But now, without the Heavenly Physician's Poison Manual, I can't use my Soul-Destroying Poison."

Zhang Donglou smiled and said, "There is a way to remedy this, I'm just having a headache about how to explain it to my father."

Suzaku asked, "How can we remedy this?"

Zhang Donglou said, "The Mechanism Sect has a treasure called the Void-Breaking Shuttle. It is one of the few top-tier hidden weapons in the Mechanism Sect that is said to be able to kill a Grandmaster. It looks like an iron nail, but it contains a secret. It can continuously swirl and gather the user's true energy along the lines, compressing it layer by layer, and finally condensing the true energy to the extreme before it bursts out."

The biggest problem with your Soul-Sealing Poison is that you can't perfectly control it in battle, making it easy to injure yourself. But the Void-Severing Shuttle solves this problem perfectly. You don't need to control the Soul-Sealing Poison; you can store it in the Shuttle beforehand, and only need to control the Shuttle during battle.

Zhuque pondered for a moment and asked, "You can get the Duanxu Shuttle? The Mechanism Gate is not to be trifled with. Even I dare not enter the Mechanism Gate. Its various mechanisms and hidden weapons are not easy to deal with."

Zhang Donglou waved his hand and said, "It's not like we have to resort to trickery and force."

Suzaku asked, "What are you planning to do?"

Zhang Donglou chuckled, "Everyone has weaknesses, especially those powerful forces. Their internal strife is incredibly rampant. If you find one or two fatal flaws and exploit them, you can easily break through. Tang Yu, the leader of the Mechanical Gate, has a legendary tale of a snake fairy repaying a debt of gratitude. Hehe, it's quite interesting!"

"Okay." Zhuque nodded slightly, then asked, "By the way, are you still going to kill Gu Guanqi and Yan Wangchuan?"

Zhang Donglou thought for a moment and said, "Killing him now is pointless. You failed in Qingzhou, and Yan Wangchuan discovered in advance that you were the one who was trying to kill him. This matter has already reached the capital. The eunuch faction has already taken action."

Others may not know the relationship between your Four Extremes Hall and my father, but the eunuch faction does, though they lack concrete evidence. And when it comes to smearing someone, speed and catching them off guard are crucial. If the opponent is prepared, it's ineffective.

Zhuque nodded and said, "Then we won't kill them."

"No, we must kill him, but there's no need to rush. We can postpone it a bit!" Zhang Donglou said. "He should already know that I ordered the Four Extremes Hall to kill him. The feud is already set in stone. That kid's martial arts talent is too high. I can't sleep at night until he's dead."

"However," Zhang Donglou added, "Gu Guanqi was able to turn the tables and slaughter everyone under the siege of so many experts from your Four Extremes Hall. With such high cultivation, could you possibly kill him?"

"A direct confrontation is definitely not going to be successful," Suzaku said. "But I'm an assassin, why should I face him head-on?"

"What you said makes a lot of sense!" Zhang Donglou chuckled.

Zhuque nodded slightly and then asked, "By the way, did you find out who the eunuch faction is planning to support as their leader?"

"No," Zhang Donglou said. "The eunuch faction doesn't seem to be making any moves yet."

……

The sun was shining brightly at noon that day.

The mountains on both sides of the official road gradually became lower, and the view opened up. On the distant horizon, a cluster of buildings could be vaguely seen, with green tiles and white walls, nestled among the lush trees.

An Yi reined in the reins and said, "Junior Brother Gu, Medicine King Valley is just ahead."

Gu Guanqi rode forward and looked over, a smile appearing on his face. He said, "We've finally arrived. I wonder how the food is at Medicine King Valley. I heard that Medicine King Valley comes from the Taoist sect. Are there any taboos? I'm getting a little tired of eating dry rations these past two days!"

Standing behind Gu Guanqi, An Yi looked at him and couldn't help but smile, saying, "Junior brother, don't worry, the food in Medicine King Valley is very good. Moreover, although Medicine King Valley originated from the Taoist sect, it has been seven or eight generations since then, and they no longer abstain from meat."

"That's good, Senior Sister, let's go!"

Gu Guanqi gave a shout, spurred his horse, and galloped away.

An Yi watched Gu Guanqi's figure and thought to herself, "Let's stop here. I can't let my mind wander anymore. My thoughts these past few days have been very wrong. Junior Brother Gu and Junior Sister are destined for each other. Even Heaven is helping them and can't bear to let them miss each other. The Heavenly Medicine and Poison Manual, which has been lost for over a hundred years, has even reappeared."

Thinking of this,

She took a deep breath and whispered, "We're leaving the valley tomorrow. Junior Brother Gu won't be back before he leaves!"

immediately,

She quickly spurred her horse and gave chase.

quickly,

Gu Guanqi and An Yi arrived at the gate of Medicine King Valley.

The mountain gate is a tall stone archway with the three large characters "Medicine King Valley" inscribed on it, written in a vigorous and imposing style. On either side of the archway stands a stone-carved medicine furnace, with wisps of smoke rising from its top.

A group of people were waiting in front of the mountain gate, led by none other than Su Qingxing, the master of the Medicine King Valley.

Behind Su Qingxing stood seven or eight people, men and women, young and old, all with extraordinary bearing, clearly high-ranking figures from Medicine King Valley.

Gu Guanqi knew Su Qingxing; it was Su Qingxing who personally picked up Xue Fuling in Qingyang City last year.

Upon seeing Su Qingxing, An Yi quickly dismounted, walked briskly to him, bowed, and said, "Master."

Su Qingxing reached out to help her up, his voice tinged with concern: "Are you injured?"

An Yi shook her head and said, "I'm fine now, thanks to Junior Brother Gu's help."

Su Qingxing nodded, took An Yi's hand, and led a group of Medicine King Valley leaders toward Gu Guanqi, cupping his hands and saying, "Great Hero Gu, your presence is an honor to Medicine King Valley."

Gu Guanqi had just dismounted when he cupped his hands and said, "Senior Su, it's been a long time."

Su Qingxing said with a smile, "It hasn't been long, only a year. However, I never expected that in just one year, that young man would become a renowned swordsman!"

Gu Guanqi smiled and said, "I dare not accept such praise."

Su Qingxing gestured and said, "A feast has been prepared in the valley. Please come in, Hero Gu."

"Please, Senior Su." Gu Guanqi asked, "Senior Su, has Elder Yan arrived?"

As Su Qingxing walked, he said, "Comrade Yan arrived five days ago and is currently receiving treatment at the Medicine House in the valley. Our Medicine King Valley's Grand Elder personally helped him neutralize the Seven Soul-Destroying Palms."

Gu Guanqi asked, "Did it go smoothly?"

"No surprises," Su Qingxing said. "The Grand Elder is the most powerful cultivator in our Medicine King Valley in this generation. With him personally taking action, there is no chance of failure. However, the Soul-Sealing True Qi in Yan Tongzhi's body has been seeping into his mind for too long, so it is taking a while to dissolve. It will take at least a month to completely resolve it."

"Thank you for your trouble," Gu Guanqi said.

Su Qingxing chuckled, "Why are you so eager to owe favors? Treating Magistrate Yan is a favor owed by Ma Wanli. Are you trying to make me gain two favors for one thing?"

Gu Guanqi said, "Old Yan and I are close friends, so it's understandable for me to accept this favor. I'm just afraid my favor won't be worth much."

Su Qingxing said, "If even the favors of a sword immortal are worthless, then what favors are worthless? However, if we're talking about debts, it's our Medicine King Valley that owes you one. An Yi is our Medicine King Valley's young master, and you saved her. Medicine King Valley has a debt to repay for that."

Gu Guanqi said, "This is my duty, senior, please don't take it to heart. Besides, Senior Sister An's martial arts are superb, and I was just adding to her skills, it can't be considered as rescuing her."

Hearing Gu Guanqi address An Yi, Su Qingxing was somewhat surprised, but didn't press the matter. He simply said, "Medicine King Valley will always remember Hero Gu's kindness. If Hero Gu ever needs our assistance again, Medicine King Valley will be there without hesitation!"

Gu Guanqi smiled and said, "Since you've said so, senior, I do have a favor to ask."

Su Qingxing quickly said, "Please speak, Master Gu."

Gu Guanqi said, "I want to go into the Four Symbols Cave."

Su Qingxing chuckled and asked, "You want to see Fuling?"

An Yi, who was standing to the side, was slightly taken aback, then lowered her head and remained silent.

Gu Guanqi nodded and said, "Yes, you know about my relationship with Fuling. Although we lacked some connection, but... well, you should understand what I mean, I just want to see her."

Su Qingxing smiled slightly and said, "I did guess you would have this request."

Gu Guanqi quickly asked, "What does Senior mean?"

Su Qingxing said, "The Four Symbols Cave is a forbidden area of ​​Medicine King Valley. Medicine King Valley has an ancestral rule that only direct disciples of the valley are allowed to enter."

Gu Guanqi said, "But I heard that outsiders have entered."

Su Qingxing nodded slightly and said, "Yes, but one must pass the test of the Medicine King Valley Elders before entering."

Gu Guanqi asked, "What kind of test?"

Su Qingxing slowly said, "Logically speaking, Hero Gu has done a great favor for our Medicine King Valley, so we shouldn't refuse your request. However, this is our ancestral precept, and we cannot disobey it."

I guessed you might ask to enter the Four Symbols Cave to visit Fuling, so I discussed it with the elders a couple of days ago. If you really want to enter the Four Symbols Cave, please deliver a few bottles of pills to the mechanism gate for us.”

Gu Guanqi asked doubtfully, "Is that all? Weren't the trials of the Medicine King Valley elders supposed to be very difficult?"

Su Qingxing said, "We can't make things difficult for our benefactor, can we? Rules are rules, but people are flexible!"

"Senior is right. No wonder Medicine King Valley is so glorious. With a Valley Master as insightful and righteous as you, it would be difficult for it not to prosper." Gu Guanqi flattered him, then asked, "Since...that's the case, Senior, could you please be a little more flexible? I'll go check on Fuling first, and then deliver the things, is that alright?"

Su Qingxing smiled slightly and said, "Okay."

"Thank you so much, senior!"

Gu Guanqi was somewhat taken aback, not expecting Medicine King Valley to be so understanding. He quickly asked, "Then, senior, when can I go to see Fuling?"

Su Qingxing said, "I have prepared a welcome banquet for you. You should go and eat first. I was originally going to accompany you personally, but since you are in a hurry to see Fuling, I have to excuse myself because I need to go and communicate with the elders. Although I am the Valley Master, the Four Symbols Cave is managed by the elders, and you need their warrant to enter."

"Okay, thank you, senior."

Subsequently,

As he spoke, Su Qingxing led Gu Guanqi into a courtyard in the valley, and then arranged for several high-ranking officials who were accompanying him to accompany them.

Then she left with An Yi.

As soon as she stepped out of the courtyard, An Yi asked in confusion, "Master, don't the elders always take the ancestral precepts and sect rules very seriously? The so-called test is just a symbolic formality, so why do we have to enter the Four Symbols Cave first and then undergo the test later?"

Su Qingxing smiled slightly and said, "I told you, rules are rigid, but people are flexible. Gu Guanqi first saved the young valley master, and then helped find the Heavenly Medicine Poison Manual. You know that the Heavenly Medicine Poison Manual is for your junior sister to cultivate. She will simultaneously master the Heavenly Medicine Divine Manual and the Heavenly Medicine Poison Manual, and Medicine King Valley will produce the strongest grandmaster in history."

So, how great is Gu Guanqi's kindness to our Medicine King Valley? Perhaps Gu Guanqi himself doesn't realize how great his kindness is, but we can't pretend we don't know! Why are we making such a big deal out of this matter of entering the Four Symbols Cave?

"Oh, I see," An Yi nodded and said, "I have learned a lot."

"By the way, what do you think of Gu Guanqi?" Su Qingxing suddenly asked.

"what?"

An Yi suddenly felt a pang of panic and quickly said, "Master... Master, why are you suddenly asking this? I..."

Su Qingxing said, "It's all thanks to those old guys in the Elder Council. Once they find out that the Heavenly Medicine and Poison Manual has been found, Fuling is very likely to regain her freedom in three to five years, or even one to two years."

So, one by one, they began to wonder if she could rekindle her romance with Gu Guanqi. Gu Guanqi had great potential; if Medicine King Valley could form a marriage alliance with him, the future benefits would be immeasurable.

At this point, Su Qingxing sighed again and said, "You know, I mentioned it to you before. I said those old guys were thinking of letting you and Gu Guanqi give it a try, but since you weren't interested, they couldn't force you! Now that Fuling might be able to rekindle her relationship with Gu Guanqi, they've naturally started thinking about it again."

An Yi suddenly felt a mix of emotions and said, "Is...is that so? Junior Brother Gu...it's quite good!"

Su Qingxing nodded slightly and said, "Let's see how fate works between them!"

An Yi sighed softly and said, "Master, I'm planning to go to Bashan County tomorrow. There was a problem with a batch of medicinal herbs there, and I'll go and handle it!"

Su Qingxing waved his hand and said, "You can leave that matter to someone else. You have more important things to do. Go to the Mechanical Gate with Gu Guanqi in a couple of days."

An Yi was taken aback at first, then panicked a little, and quickly asked, "Master, what am I going to do at the secret gate?"

"With the Martial Arts Tournament approaching, Medicine King Valley and the Mechanism Sect have always stood together in solidarity," Su Qingxing said. "Our Grand Elder is now too old to run for the position of Alliance Leader, so we have decided to fully support the Mechanism Sect."

"Perfect timing. In a few days, it will be the birthday of Sect Master Tang of the Mechanical Gate. You will go to the Mechanical Gate in my place to offer your congratulations, and at the same time, bring along the Heavenly Spirit Pill from Medicine King Valley. Sect Master Tang is about to break through to the next level; with the Heavenly Spirit Pill's assistance, his chances of success will be even greater."

"Alright, disciple understands." An Yi said, "Then...then I'll go to the mechanism gate with Junior Brother Gu."

"Um."

Su Qingxing nodded slightly, then looked at An Yi with some suspicion and asked, "Are you still injured?"

"It's alright, Master. It won't affect my travel. I can go to the secret gate without any problem," An Yi said.

Su Qingxing frowned and said, "Why are you so impulsive today? This isn't like you at all."

"I...I'm probably just a little tired!"