Chapter 2601 — The Quiet Trouble
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Absolutely. And the materials I traded from Wei Zhao came in stages—only this latest exchange brought me anything good. Before that, it was all ordinary fare!" You Panhu said. "Besides, when Han Jingyi refines pills, she doesn't have any of that material. Their materials must be their own—they didn't come from Leader Bai!"
"That makes sense." Elder You nodded. "So then, Han Jingyi must have good pill-refining materials in her possession, yes?"
"That has to be it," You Panhu said. "Otherwise, why would she refuse to show me her materials every time I went to see her? By any reasonable account, I'd already traded for everything she had. If she still won't show me the rest, something's definitely off."
"Father, something just occurred to me!" You Zhentian frowned, his expression suddenly grave. "We've overlooked something important!"
"What is it?" Elder You was slightly taken aback.
"Father, do you remember—back near Songshan City, they discovered the tomb of Zhang Lifeng, the first-generation Pill God?" You Zhentian said. Among ordinary folk, Zhang Lifeng was called the Medical Sage, but among cultivators he was known as the Pill God.
"That's true enough, but what does that have to do with Wei Zhao?" Elder You had once harbored designs on that ancient tomb himself, but later heard it was so perilous that he had let the matter drop.
"It seems unrelated, but in fact it has everything to do with it! Father, do you remember how Wei Zhao stirred up trouble between the Hidden Yu and Hidden Zhao families back then? And where exactly did Yu Huoxing of the Hidden Yu family get his Qi-Gathering Pill?" You Zhentian asked.
"The ancient tomb! Wei Zhao went to the ancient tomb too!" Elder You understood in an instant. Yes—if Wei Zhao had snatched one of the Qi-Gathering Pills, that proved he had been to the tomb. How else could Wei Zhao have known so many details?
And later it was said that Yu Huoxing, after thinking it over, admitted as much—the man in the ancient tomb had been Wei Zhao in disguise!
"Exactly. So tell me—is it possible that Wei Zhao found Zhang Lifeng's pill-refining notes in the tomb and gave them to Han Jingyi?" You Zhentian said. "Otherwise, how is Han Jingyi so formidable at pill-refining? And improving at such astonishing speed?"
"Right. That explains everything!" Elder You nodded. "It must be so—Wei Zhao obtained Zhang Lifeng's pill-refining notes! No wonder he turned his nose up at what Leader Bai gave him, and so readily traded Leader Bai's notes to us. He already had something better!"
"Grandfather, then shall I go trade with Wei Zhao again?" You Panhu asked hastily.
"No. If you go to Wei Zhao again, he still won't give you Zhang Lifeng's pill-refining notes, and it would only risk exposing our purpose." Elder You shook his head decisively, rejecting You Panhu's proposal. "This matter is now beyond the capabilities of the Hidden You family. Since we cannot obtain it by trade, and we cannot seize it by force—last time we had You the Third pose as a robber and he nearly died for it—we cannot take that risk and offend Wei Zhao again."
"So we just give up?" You Panhu was a pill refiner himself. He knew the value of good notes, and he knew how difficult it was for Han Jingyi to refine so many high-quality pills in such a short time. He wanted to learn from them too.
Of course, no one in the Hidden You family even entertained the notion that Han Jingyi could refine pills in tandem with Wei Zhao—or that she could produce several extra pills in the bargain. To them, such a thing was unimaginable.
"Of course we can't give up. But this matter must be reported to the Mystic Pill Sect and left for them to handle. If the Mystic Pill Sect obtains these notes, we can claim our share of the spoils—after all, we're the ones who brought the intelligence."
"I suppose you're right." You Panhu was somewhat disappointed. It seemed this matter had little to do with him now.