Gou Zai Xianwu Chaos World, Physical Sainthood

Feng Zhan naturally wouldn't refuse Lu Cheng's request to spar and learn from him.

This also makes it easier for the three of them to keep track of Lu Cheng's progress.

The two chose a grove of trees not far from the north of the city as their meeting place.

Every ten days at midnight, the two meet in the woods.

As the saying goes, plans can't keep up with changes.

Originally, he was to go to the Black Workshop once every ten days to refine the Blood-Activating Powder.

As a result, the black market started appearing only once every ten days, leaving Lu Cheng somewhat helpless.

With the three镖头 (bodyguards/escorts) settled here, the next step is to deal with the chubby boy.

In Lu Cheng's plan, the role of Little Fatty and others is indispensable.

Firstly, it's inconvenient for me to frequently enter and exit the black market.

Secondly, they need someone to help them create a situation that pushes up or lowers the price of Huoxue San (a traditional Chinese medicine).

This is crucial at the start of the plan and at every turning point.

Even deciding when to detonate the bomb that requires a large amount of blood-activating powder at the seventeen houses will depend on the little fat guy and his team.

But the specific plans and arrangements were unclear to them.

Lu Cheng only told them to go to the Black Market in five days, to Old Pi's shop, and to "find Old Pi".

In return, Lu Cheng paid for the trip by paying for each carriage ride.

From now on, he will be responsible for providing all the blood-activating powder.

……

That night, Lu Cheng returned to the Black Market.

"Only twenty doses of medicine?"

Old Pi's efficiency is undeniably fast.

In a house located at the very edge of the Black Workshop underground palace, the ingredients for twenty doses of Blood-Activating Powder were gathered in just one day.

But twenty sets are far too few.

Lu Cheng now stands in meditation for two hours a day, which consumes four doses of Blood Activating Powder.

With the eight sets still in hand, it's only enough for seven days of cultivation.

"Didn't you say we can't buy too much in Yangcheng?"

"Only three days after the last twenty doses, people were already asking me if I had started taking the herbs directly."

Lu Cheng nodded in agreement. In less than four days, they had bought forty doses of medicine, but there were some problems.

In four or five days, the Vermilion Bird Martial Arts School produced less than two hundred doses of pills and medicinal herbs.

"How many days will it take to collect the medicinal herbs from other counties?"

Old Pi thought for a moment and said:

"The closest county to Yangcheng is Yunshan County. It takes four days to go there and back, and with the cost of collecting medicinal herbs, it will take at least seven days."

"Yunshan County?" Lu Cheng shook his head, somewhat worried.

"They can't possibly be unaware of this approach in other counties, and I estimate that Yunshan won't collect much either."

"Moreover, we can't be completely foolproof just by accepting only a thousand doses of medicine."

"We will be making large-scale purchases in the next month, so we absolutely cannot allow the price of medicinal herbs to rise."

As he spoke, Lu Cheng brought out paper and pen and began to calculate.

"Cuiyun Temple and Tianquan Temple are the strongest. They prioritize talent when accepting disciples. Eight out of ten disciples are at the Refining Strength Realm. If we count a hundred disciples from each temple, it shouldn't be too many."

At this point, Lu Cheng picked up his pen and wrote on the paper, "Tianquan, Cuiyun, two hundred."

"The Chen family and the Lin family martial arts schools are somewhat inferior to the other two. Together, they might have about a hundred students?"

Lu Cheng then wrote "Chen, Lin, one hundred" on the paper.

Old Pi watched from the side and immediately shook his head:

"No, no, no, you underestimate these two families. The Chen family has a large population. The main branch has three halls with more than 300 members, and the branch has eleven halls with more than 1,000 members. There are at least 100 martial arts practitioners who have mastered internal energy."

Lu Cheng was stunned for a moment upon hearing this:

"So many!"

Old Pi said:

"And that doesn't even include their servants and disciples."

Lu Cheng: "Then what industries do they rely on to support so many people and martial artists?"

Old Pi snorted coldly: "Rely on what?"

"Firewood gangs, charcoal gangs, cloth gangs, water gangs, rice shops, oil shops..." He gestured around, "They deal in everything a living person needs. Feeding them wouldn't be a problem, not just for them, but for twice as many!"

Lu Cheng paused for a moment upon hearing this, realizing that Old Pi was absolutely right.

Fish Gang and Vermilion Bird Martial Arts School are the best examples.

From this, it can be seen that the entire population of Yangcheng, numbering over 100,000, was supporting these people.

Old Pi continued speaking from the side:

"As for the Lin Family Martial Arts School, it claims to have four hundred disciples, all of whom are qualified to learn martial arts. The number of disciples with a hundred levels of internal strength is not that many."

Lu Cheng nodded, crossed out "one hundred" on the paper, and changed it to "two hundred".

The two of them talked and wrote, and after a quarter of an hour, a long string of numbers had been written on the paper.

The final calculation revealed that there were over eight hundred martial arts practitioners practicing internal energy cultivation within the entire Yangcheng County!

Lu Cheng continued calculating while marveling at the sheer number of people:

"Out of eight hundred people, it would be good if half of them could afford the blood-activating powder."

"One dose every five days, that's nearly 2,500 doses of pills needed per month."

Lu Cheng looked at the number and slammed his hand on the table:

"The cost is five qian, and the selling price is at least one liang and eight qian... With such a large market, pills are indeed profitable."

Old Pi shook his head:

"That's an exaggeration. Not to mention that 1.8 taels is the price in the black market, no other alchemist has a success rate like yours."

That makes sense, Lu Cheng nodded in agreement.

"Let's put that aside for now and continue calculating."

As he spoke, he drew a horizontal line to separate the two lines:

"The number of martial artists is determined, but what about alchemists? How many Blood-Activating Pills can Yangcheng refine each month?"

Old Pi counted on his fingers and said:

"Tianquan Temple and Cuiyun Temple both have their own alchemists, but I estimate their skill level is only average, because both temples frequently need to purchase Blood Activating Pills, totaling at least three hundred doses per month."

"The Chen family and the Lin family martial arts school are really impressive. They not only have enough medicine for their own use, but they also sell a large quantity of pills in their shops."

"I don't know how many we can sell in a month, but we've never run out of stock."

Lu Cheng wrote down this crucial information.

"The only remaining force is the Huang family, who have an old alchemist, but his skill is terrible, with a pill-making success rate of less than 30%, which is barely enough for the two families to use themselves."

"Finally, there are the pharmacies in the city and the illegal workshops here."

"Black Market is alright, but those other pharmacies are the real big players."

……

The two of them wrote and calculated, and after a while, the paper was filled with numbers.

Finally, a relatively accurate number was obtained:

Three thousand.

The maximum number of doses of Huoxue San (a traditional Chinese medicine) that can be produced in Yangcheng Market each month is three thousand.

So, after accounting for the pills needed by the eight hundred martial artists in Yangcheng.

There is a surplus of 500 doses of blood-activating pills each month.

That's 1,500 sets in three months.

Adding the resources needed by the seventeen families, the total would be over two thousand sets.

The rest can be purchased from other counties, and we can actually gather five thousand sets.

Looking at the number, Lu Cheng couldn't help but admire Shen Yi's cunning.

Five thousand sets are enough to cause serious damage, but they are not impossible to complete.

Thinking of this, Lu Cheng was suddenly startled again.

Good heavens, Shen Yi had already calculated the number of martial arts forces in Yangcheng!

Not only do they know the number of people, but they also know everything about cultivation resources!

"Wait, that's not right."

Looking at the "eight hundred" and "three thousand" on the paper, Lu Cheng wanted to slap himself.

"Then what does my calculation mean?"

"Why not just calculate it as five thousand?"

After a long pause, Lu Cheng looked at Old Pi:

"Old Pi, you need to get at least three hundred doses of medicine within ten days."

"We must get all 1,000 sets by the end of the month."

"Otherwise, this plan won't work."

Half of the month has passed, and by the end of the month, those seventeen families should be able to collect at least a thousand doses of the Blood-Activating Powder.

If the plan is started next month, it won't affect them.

Old Pi:

"..."

For the next few days, Lu Cheng did not leave the house.

Every day, without fail, he would take the Blood-Activating Powder and cultivate for two hours.

With ample support from the elixirs, Lu Cheng's cultivation progress changed dramatically every day.

Five days later, the mastery of the Xuan Ying stance skill exceeded two hundred.

【The Twelve Forms of the Black Eagle Stance】

[Grade: Low-grade human grade]

[Realm Level: Minor Success (208/300)]

At this pace, the stance training can be mastered within seven days, which means successfully entering the later stage of refining internal strength.

This speed far exceeded Lu Cheng's original expectations.

Besides his martial arts prowess, Lao Pi's progress also greatly exceeded Lu Cheng's expectations.

They were originally supposed to be back in seven days.

But now, not only did they arrive two days early, but the quantity of medicinal herbs they brought back also far exceeded Lu Cheng's expectations.