Gou Zai Xianwu Chaos World, Physical Sainthood

In order to conceal his presence and lie in ambush, Zhao Cheng did not carry any weapons.

But Zhou Yunxiang's junior brother on the other side was carrying a knife.

The strength of martial artists at the Refining Energy Realm is superior to that of ordinary people in terms of integrated power generation, reaction, and endurance.

Their basic physical qualities are still not much different from those of ordinary people.

Therefore, Zhao Cheng had no choice but to stop the person.

This further demonstrates the importance of martial arts skills.

Lu Cheng, relying on the Seven Strikes of the Black Eagle, fought against the long sword with his bare hands, and not only suppressed Zhou Yunxiang from the very beginning.

Within three moves, he knocked Zhou Yunxiang's weapon off and injured his right arm.

At this moment, Zhou Yunxiang felt both hatred and fear towards Lu Cheng.

He finally understood why Lu Cheng had been able to handle things with ease ever since they encountered the river bandits.

This isn't just good luck, it's clearly a matter of high skill!

More importantly, this guy is really insidious.

Despite the perilous situation during the day, it didn't reveal the slightest hint of the Seven Strikes of the Black Eagle.

And even though they were clearly stronger than me, they still launched a sneak attack!

That's truly despicable.

But as resentful as they may be, the most important thing to think about at this moment is how to get out of the situation.

Seeing Xiao Kuang and his many guards surrounding him, a plan immediately came to mind.

Taking advantage of the moment when Lu Cheng knocked him away with an elbow strike, he shouted at Xiao Kuang:

"Brother Xiao, quickly help me capture Lu Cheng! He's an inside man colluding with the bandits!"

"What?!"

Upon hearing Zhou Yunxiang's words, Xiao Kuang and the others were all taken aback.

But Xiao Kuang wasn't stupid; why would he believe everything Zhou Yunxiang said?

Lu Cheng only managed to retrieve the two cartloads of medicinal herbs that night, so it sounds very strange to say he was an inside agent.

Seeing that Xiao Kuang was standing outside without moving, Zhou Yunxiang became anxious.

But then Lu Cheng attacked again, and he had no choice but to defend himself with all his might.

When the two clashed again, Zhou Yunxiang was struck in the chest by Lu Cheng's palm, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

In his desperation, he disregarded Xiao Kuang and shouted at the three disciples of the Lin Clan Martial Arts School:

"Junior brothers, quickly capture Lu Cheng! We've lost the medicinal herbs this time; only by catching the culprit can we make up for it!"

As he spoke, he grabbed the burning quilt from the bed and used it as a weapon to defend himself against Lu Cheng.

The quilt was flung around, sparks flew, and the curtains quickly caught fire.

The three men from Lin's Martial Arts School were all Zhou Yunxiang's junior brothers, so they naturally didn't hesitate upon hearing this.

They all drew their swords and were about to pounce on Lu Cheng.

Seeing this, Zhao Cheng hurriedly spoke up:

"Captain Xiao, don't believe him. Lu admitted that the bandits' origins were fake, just to lure out the mole in the team."

"Lu Cheng and I had been lying in ambush on the rooftop, and sure enough, Zhou Yunxiang, feeling guilty, came to assassinate us!"

Even if Zhao Cheng hadn't said anything, Xiao Kuang wouldn't have sent anyone to help.

The scene before him was exactly what he wanted to see.

Because regardless of whether Lu Cheng or Zhou Yunxiang is the inside man, they can clear themselves of any wrongdoing.

With both an inside accomplice and a formidable enemy, no one could have made a move.

Thinking of this, Xiao Kuang almost burst out laughing.

With a "whoosh," the longsword was drawn and stood in front of the three people from the Lin Family Martial Arts School:

"The situation is still unclear, so let's wait and see what happens until they decide the winner."

"Anyway, they're in this room, so we're not afraid they'll run away."

Seeing this, Zhou Yunxiang was both shocked and furious.

He roared in exasperation:

"Xiao Kuang, don't think I don't know you're trying to pin the blame for poor security on my Lin Family Martial Arts School!"

"Junior brothers, act quickly! Only by capturing Lu Cheng can we clear our names!"

Upon hearing this, the three of them no longer hesitated.

One person parried Xiao Kuang's longsword with a knife.

The two took the opportunity to rush towards Lu Cheng.

Cuiyun Temple suffered heavy losses in this attack, leaving only Xiao Kuang and one junior brother.

Neither of them had the will to fight to the death, and the two of them were evenly matched against one.

Zhao Cheng, who was watching from the side, was furious.

Zhou Yunxiang was about to give up when two people arrived in time to help him, allowing him to catch his breath.

The moment Lu Cheng and the other man clashed, Zhou Yunxiang threw the cotton quilt he was holding into the fray.

He darted to the window and jumped out without saying a word.

By this time, the room was already filled with smoke. Lu Cheng didn't realize that Zhou Yunxiang had already run away until he had defeated his two opponents.

Just as they were about to give chase, Liu Xitian's loud shout came from the backyard:

"Guard the goods! Someone come quickly to guard the goods!"

As soon as Zhou Yunxiang ran away, everyone immediately understood what had happened.

Xiao Kuang stopped what he was doing first.

Before Zhao Cheng could even exchange blows with the Lin family martial arts school disciple opposite him, Lu Cheng dodged past him and struck him on the shoulder with a palm strike, rendering him helpless.

……

The backyard of the inn.

After Lu Cheng finished recounting the whole story, Liu Xitian was dumbfounded:

"Then... so does that mean the remaining medicinal herbs can't be recovered?"

Lu Cheng shook his head slightly:

"Not entirely."

As he spoke, his gaze shifted to the figure bound in the courtyard.

"Zhou Yunxiang escaped, but doesn't he still have an accomplice?"

The other three disciples of the Lin Family Martial Arts School were not bound because they did not rush to help Zhou Yunxiang immediately and stopped fighting quickly.

Only the disciple who had followed Zhou Yunxiang in the initial night raid on Lu Cheng's room was arrested.

Liu Xitian followed Lu Cheng's gaze, suddenly shouted, grabbed a horsewhip, and charged forward.

He cursed and slapped at the same time.

"You traitor! I'll teach you a lesson for betraying your own people! I'll teach you to harm me! I'll teach you to steal my family's medicinal herbs!"

Liu Xitian was so angry he felt like his lungs were about to explode.

He thought he could get the medicinal herbs back, but he never expected that Lu Cheng was lying to him.

But he didn't dare to vent his anger on Lu Cheng, so he could only direct it at the person in front of him.

He used every last bit of strength he had when he wielded a hoe for the past forty years.

He only stopped when the whip in his hand was almost smoking and his lungs felt like they were on fire, panting heavily as he roared:

"Speak quickly, where did that villain Zhou Yunxiang run off to? And who's behind you all!"

The other three disciples of the Lin Family Martial Arts School moved their mouths, sighed, and turned their heads away.

The disciple's head and face were covered in bloody welts from being whipped, and tears and blood streamed down his face.

"I don't know, I really don't know."

"It was Senior Brother Zhou who said that Lu Cheng was the inside man and that I was sent to kill him."

Upon hearing this, Lu Cheng felt disappointed.

It seems this disciple was indeed being used.

Zhou Yunxiang had just run away, but he still wouldn't give up. He's clearly a stubborn guy.

They had hoped to help the Liu family catch an inside man, but that too failed.

Upon hearing this, Liu Xitian was about to strike again, but Lu Cheng stopped him:

"Manager Liu, there's no use fighting now. Let's go back as soon as possible. If we delay any longer, the remaining two carts might be robbed again."

Liu Xitian was about to nod, but suddenly froze:

"Two trucks?" He pointed nervously to the four large trucks in the yard. "Aren't there four?"

Lu Cheng said "sorry," walked to a car, reached out and ripped open a pocket with a "whoosh," pulling out a handful of withered branches and leaves.

"In order to lure Zhou Yunxiang into making a move, I rushed back with two truckloads of fake medicine."

"Those people were clearly prepared. By the time I caught up with them, all eight cartloads of medicinal herbs had vanished."

Liu Xitian felt the world begin to spin, and the already dimly lit sky instantly darkened again.

All his strength was suddenly drained away, and he collapsed with a thud.

……

When Liu Xitian woke up again, it was already broad daylight.

The gray clouds moved rapidly across the sky, and the ground beneath us was extremely bumpy.

I tried to get up, but found that I had no strength in my limbs.

I wanted to speak, but suddenly realized I couldn't even control my mouth.

"Mmm...mmmmm, mmmmm..."

Before he could even finish a few notes, his saliva was already uncontrollably dripping from his mouth.

"Manager Liu, you're awake." Lu Cheng turned to look at Liu Xitian upon hearing the noise.

Upon looking at it, he frowned slightly.

Liu Xitian's mouth was crooked to the left and right, and his eyes could only look sideways.

Lu Cheng sighed and shook his head slightly:

"Manager Liu, after you fell into a coma, the doctor said that you were suffering from a sudden onset of anger and a sudden invasion of wind-evil. Now it seems that you may have contracted a severe syncope."

The term "大厥" refers to stroke.

In other words, Liu Xitian is paralyzed.

Liu Xitian's eyes trembled with anxiety, but he still couldn't utter a complete sentence:

"Lu...Lu...uh..."

No matter how anxious they were, they couldn't change the facts. After struggling for a while, they quieted down as if resigned to their fate.

Seeing this, Lu Cheng spoke again:

"Without the manager's permission, I left the other two carriages as compensation for the inn. I also informed the manager of the location of the other six carriages. I hope Manager Liu will not blame me."

Liu Xitian:

"Mmm..."

Lu Cheng nodded:

"Then thank you for your understanding, Manager Liu."

Liu Xitian:

"Hmm? Hmm..."

Lu Chengdao:

"Don't worry, Manager Liu. We have a small fleet and skilled crew, so we can cover the distance that would take three days in two."

"Even if we encounter robbers again, the few of us are enough to protect these two carts of medicinal herbs."

Two mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators and five early-stage Qi Refining cultivators—unless facing opponents three to five times stronger, it would be impossible to stop them.

Liu Xitian tried to say something more, but found that no matter what he did, he could only make "uh-uh" sounds, so he simply closed his eyes and fainted again.

……

For the rest of the time, the two carriages did not stop, except when the horses got tired and needed to rest.

Finally, two days later, they arrived back at Liujia Village.

Upon hearing the news, all the key figures in Liujia Village came out.

When they saw that the convoy had been reduced to only two cars and nine people, even the clan leader Liu Xun almost fainted.

But this person was educated, so his willpower wasn't too bad.

First, they arranged for a convoy and Liu Xitian to be stationed. Then, they sent someone to take the four people from the Lin Family Martial Arts School to Yangcheng.

As one of the top five powers in Yangcheng, how to handle this matter ultimately depends on what the Lin Clan Martial Arts School has to say.

Only after everything was finished did he speak with Lu Cheng and the others.

Seeing that Liu Xun had no intention of pursuing the matter of the guards, the two men from Cuiyun Temple left Liu Family Village without even asking for their reward.

Seeing this, Liu Xun divided the silver between Lu Cheng and Zhao Cheng, saying apologetically:

"Young Master Lu, Young Master Zhao, I am truly sorry."

"As agreed, you encountered robbers three times, and the reward should have been twenty taels."

"But right now, Liu Family Village doesn't know how to resolve the issue of the breach of contract regarding the medicinal herbs, so we'll just have to pay off the remaining ten taels for now."

They wouldn't even part with ten taels of silver; it seems Liu Family Village is really going to lose a lot of money.

Lu Cheng thought of the chubby boy and his friends, and asked a question:

"Clan Chief Liu, has this loss really had such a significant impact?"

Lu Cheng should have kept quiet until he asked, and the patriarch, who had always maintained an extraordinary demeanor, suddenly had tears in his eyes:

"These ten truckloads of medicinal herbs were all agreed upon with the Zhang family in Yunshan County, and the deposit has already been received, but now..."

"A single dose of Blood-Activating Powder contains a full eighteen ingredients, yet it only costs five qian of silver."

"The compensation can be three times the amount."

"It's not just about compensation; growing these medicinal herbs is also hard work."

"Every single plant needs constant care. When it's windy or rainy, the whole village has to worry about it. All the hard work of the entire Liu family village is put into it."

It's a pity Liu Xun had never heard of "working for nothing for a year," otherwise he would have cried out to the heavens.

As Lu Cheng listened to Liu Xun's account, he suddenly remembered something and asked:

"Clan Chief Liu, if that's the case, why don't you train your own alchemists to concoct the Blood-Activating Powder?"

Lu Cheng did not believe it was the cause of the pill formula.

Since that important figure was able to transport so much medicinal soil, it means that his power is extraordinary.

Even if we can't send an alchemist, getting a pill formula shouldn't be too difficult.

All eighteen ingredients of the Blood-Activating Powder are grown in the medicinal herb fields of Liujia Village.

Even if the final success rate of pill formation is only 20% or 30%, like other alchemists in Yangcheng, it is still better than the higher profits from directly selling medicinal materials.

The risks wouldn't be as great as they are now.

Liu Xun shook his head:

"Alchemists... cannot be trained, and Liu Family Village cannot retain alchemists either."

Lu Cheng asked in confusion:

"Please enlighten me, Clan Chief Liu."

"I wouldn't presume to offer guidance; these things aren't difficult to understand." Liu Xun shook his head and countered with a question:

"Let me ask you this: if you were an alchemist, would you spend your entire life only making Blood-Activating Powder?"

Lu Chengdao:

"Of course not, the Blood-Activating Powder is only a medicine used by martial artists who cultivate internal energy."

"As far as I know, there are also various elixirs in the Body Refinement Realm, such as the Hundred Essence Pill and the Bone Strengthening Powder."

"Not to mention the Qi Condensation Pills for even higher realms; if possible, of course..."

At this point, Lu Cheng suddenly understood.

Liu Xun nodded and continued:

"Yes, alchemists are just like martial artists. Which martial artist doesn't want to pursue a higher realm?"

"But Liu Family Village only grows Blood-Activating Powder. Even with an alchemist, will they have to buy the ingredients for other elixirs?"

"Those medicinal herbs can't be bought for five coins; some of them aren't even sold to outsiders."

"So if you want to have an alchemist, you have to expand your medicinal fields tenfold and grow hundreds or even thousands of different kinds of medicinal herbs."

"But that's obviously impossible."

At this point, Zhao Cheng interjected:

"That's true. Among the three major alchemy families in Yunshan County, the Zhang family is actually the smallest."

"Even so, the family still owns over 10,000 mu of medicinal herb fields, with more than 30,000 herb farmers!"

"The Blood-Activating Powder only accounts for a small part of it; the rest are mostly medicinal materials needed for Body Refinement and Qi Refining."

"I've heard that the Zhang family's most prized twenty acres of high-grade medicinal herb fields are planted with the herbs needed for the Qi Condensation Pill!"

"With these medicinal herbs, these three families carry considerable weight even in the county town."

Qi Condensation Pill!

Lu Chengke was very familiar with this thing.

Yun Huizi came to Yangcheng to escort a Qi Condensation Pill!

That's a martial artist at the mid-stage of the Qi Refining Realm, a figure who can roam freely throughout the entire Dongyang County!

This demonstrates the importance of the Qi Condensation Pill.

Since those three families planted the medicinal herbs for the Qi Condensation Pill, it means they have the ability to refine it!

Even without a Qi Refining Realm expert, such a family would still wield considerable influence.

In comparison, neither Yangcheng County nor Liujia Village is anything special.

Liu Xun nodded:

"Young Master Zhao is absolutely right. If it weren't for that lord, the Zhang family wouldn't even look at our few medicinal herbs."

After saying that, he turned to look at Lu Cheng:

"Therefore, unless a family member can become an alchemist, how can such a small amount of medicinal fields, only a thousand or two acres, attract an alchemist?"

"But the requirements for alchemists are truly extraordinary."

Even ordinary medicines for treating illnesses require consideration of the "principal, assistant, adjuvant, and auxiliary" principle, taking into account the conflict and complementarity of their effects.

"The elixirs used by martial artists are even more extraordinary, with requirements a hundred times higher than those for ordinary medicines."

"Even medicinal herbs grown in the same medicinal field have different medicinal properties from one plant to another."

"One prescription contains eighteen ingredients, each different from the last."

"An alchemist must be able to quickly identify this difference during the alchemy process and adjust the dosage of other medicinal materials according to the properties of the medicine."

"But this process is extremely difficult to control!"

"If there is even the slightest mistake or delay, not only will the medicine be ruined, but it may also produce toxic pills."

"Only those with a high wood element in their body, who can more keenly perceive changes in the properties of medicine, have the opportunity to become alchemists."

"Liu Family Village has nearly a thousand people, but none of them are qualified to become alchemists."

Is the wood element too high?

This requirement is indeed quite demanding.

But suddenly, something else came to Lu Cheng's mind.