Jia Rong put on a flattering smile and said, “Young Master Yun, what do you want from me?”

　　Yunxiao pointed to Lu Yao and said coldly, “She is my friend.”

　　Lu Yao was caressing her throat. She had a feeling that it was almost broken, and there was a streak of a purple bruise on her fair skin, which was pitiable to look at.

　　Jia Rong froze for a moment, then stepped forward without saying anything. He raised his hands above his head while bowing deeply, and said sincerely, “Miss Lu Yao, I was reckless. Please accept my apology!”

　　Taken aback, Lu Yao waved her hand in panic and stepped aside, quickly pulling Jia Rong up. She wanted to say something, but then felt a pain in her throat and began to cough violently.

　　Ji Meng had a bitter face. ‘If only these alchemists could treat me like this!’

　　Jia Rong took out a milky pill from his ring and handed it to Lu Yao. “This pill can promote blood circulation and dissolve bruises.”

　　Lu Yao refused to accept the pill, so it was Jia Rong’s turn to panic, and he desperately stuffed the pill into her mouth. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and looked carefully at Yunxiao’s face.

　　After witnessing Yunxiao refining pills and a mystic weapon, Jia Rong had elevated his position in his mind to the same level as the Holy One of alchemy, a supreme guru. Since he began to cultivate in seclusion, he pondered hard about Yunxiao’s explanation to Zhang Qingfan and Xu Han, and soon had a vague feeling that he was about to break through into the second tier. He was extremely shocked and delighted.

　　However, at this critical moment, his cultivation was interrupted by Lu Yao. One could imagine how angry he was. If it were not Yunxiao who was looking for him, the Alchemist Association would have exploded by now.

　　“You are more gifted than I imagined. I didn’t expect you to break through the second tier so soon. Your future achievements will definitely be greater. I’m going to refine a log of medicinal pills this time, so I need your help.”

　　“Refining pills!” Jia Rong’s eyes burst into light as he said excitedly, “What raw materials do you need? I’ll get them all ready!”

　　“I have all the raw materials ready. This refining may take a long time. Find me a training room first, as I need to settle Ji Meng.”

　　Many alchemists were also warriors. Although their achievements in martial arts were relatively low, they also needed to cultivate in seclusion, so there were many training rooms in the association. Jia Rong chose the largest one for Ji Meng to use.

　　In the training room, Yunxiao walked to a wall. After pondering for a brief moment, he took out his Black Girl and held it high before slashing it down against the wall.

　　His sword styles were wide open, fierce and sharp. The walls of the training room were all made of hard black iron, but every strike he made took away a piece of iron with sparks flying out in all directions. Soon, small characters appeared one by one in neat rows.

　　Those small characters were exquisite and beautiful, carved out one by one by the rough big sword like flowers blooming.

　　The sword styles were powerful and fierce, but they managed to produce such lifelike, delicate handwriting. Ji Meng was deeply shocked by the sharp contrast between two decisively different styles appearing under one man’s sword at the same time.

　　Jia Rong was also a one-star warrior. Although his understanding of martial arts was not profound, he could feel the uniqueness of Yunxiao’s sword styles. He held his breath and did not dare to disturb.

　　A moment later, a poem was carved on the wall, the characters of which looked like blooming flowers.

　　‘In the Peach Blossom Land there is a peach blossom plot,

　　A peach blossom lover lives in a Peach Blossom Cot

　　The peach blossom lover plants peach trees in days fine

　　He sells his peach blossoms for money to buy wine.’

　　With the appearance of the poem, a place full of peach blossoms suddenly emerged in front of the two men. They felt as if they were suddenly under peach blossoms falling from all over the sky.

　　Yunxiao seemed to be very satisfied with his work as he smiled and said, “Ji Meng, if you still can’t comprehend the higher artistic conception of peach blossom from this poem by the time I finish my cultivation, it proves that you are not gifted, and you won’t have to follow me again.”

　　After he had finished speaking, he did not wait to hear Ji Meng’s answer.

　　Ji Meng was completely immersed in the strokes that contained the amazing sword intent, and peach blossoms were in full bloom over his spiritual altar. He could no longer hear Yunxiao. All of a sudden, he sat cross-legged down and began to rotate his Primordial Qi, falling into deep thought.

　　Jia Rong said in astonishment, “Young Master Yun, he…”

　　Yunxiao shook his head slightly. “Let’s go! It’s time to do our own thing.”

　　They closed the door of the training room and went back to the place where Yunxiao had refined the Black Girl. This time, Jia Rong gave a very strict order, that was no one was allowed to disturb them even if the king died. His rebellious order startled Lu Yao, but she nodded and passed on the order nonetheless.

　　After Liang Wenyu learned about this, he sent four Martial Masters to guard the door for them, just in case.

　　Yunxiao walked around the refining room and chose several tough cauldrons, tapping them a few times to show that he was satisfied. Last time, he had blown up an excellent cauldron. If it were other alchemists, they would have been asked for compensation. But instead of scolding him, Zhang Qingfan and Xu Han took the damaged cauldron to study.

　　“We’ll use these few cauldrons. Let’s make the first batch of pills,” said Yunxiao. “Your job is mainly to learn, but you will take over when my soul power is exhausted. I don’t expect you to do much, but I need you to do all the odd tasks for me.”

　　Upon hearing that his main job was to learn, Jia Rong’s eyes lit up and he said hastily, “Odd tasks are good, I like to do all the odd tasks for Young Master Yun!”

　　Yunxiao narrowed his eyes slightly and sent a stream of divine sense into the Divine Realm Tablet in his dantian. Suddenly, a beam of light flowed over the tablet and then rushed to his eyebrows. A third eye seemed to appear between his two eyes, from which came shooting out a beam of light. In just a flash, the whole refining room was filled with various materials.

　　Jia Rong was taken aback. Staring blankly at the roomful of things, he exclaimed in horror, “Young Master Yun, you didn’t empty the association’s inventory, did you?”

　　“These things are from the Li Family’s vault. I’ve moved them all here. We will use what we need, and I will return them to their original place when we are done.”

　　Jia Rong clicked his tongue secretly. The Li Family was the number one leader in Tianshui’s military, but Yunxiao had emptied its vault…

　　As his mind wandered, Yunxiao said in a low voice, “Some of the medicinal pills I’m going to refine this time are things of pure Yang. With my current soul power, I fear that I cannot control the whole process. Even if a person’s skill is excellent, it is absolutely impossible to replace the role of soul power. Therefore, the first thing we have to do is to advance to the second tier of alchemists. You and I both need to advance!”

　　Jia Rong put on a straight face. His flattering appearance suddenly disappeared, and his eyes flashed with the light of an alchemist. “Understood, Young Master Yun!” he answered loudly.

　　“Good!” Yunxiao was very satisfied with his attitude. “But before that, I’ll have a cup of tea.”

　　Jia Rong, “…”

　　While Yunxiao was cultivating in seclusion, a major event occurred in Tianshui.

　　The patriarch of the Li Family, Li Chunyang, who everyone thought was controlled by Li Yi, suddenly appeared. Not only did he regain the power of the family, but also declared Li Yi a spy of the enemy state. He issued a statewide killing order, and swore that he would kill anyone who sheltered this man!

　　His high-profile comeback had cheered up the military circle of Tianshui which had been in the doldrums, as if it had been re-injected with vitality. Military figures began to appear frequently and actively in the court, making everyone speculate.

　　In addition, Li Chunyang also took the opportunity to root out Li Yi’s accomplices and confiscate the property of several court officials in the capital. These court officials were all those who supported Li Yi and suppressed the Li Family during his absence. Several of them were beaten to death while trying to stop the Li Family from ransacking their mansions, and their bodies were fed to the dogs. This had completely shocked all other officials in the court.

　　For a moment, people were in a panic. In the beginning, many powerful officials requested the king to impeach Li Chunyang. However, after the bodies of the killed officials were dragged to the market and fed to the dogs, the whole court immediately quieted down and no one dared to say another word.

　　The whole state seemed to acquiesce in his misbehavior, allowing him to beat all his political opponents and confiscate their properties until the matter gradually subsided. But, the main character of the whole incident—Li Yi—seemed to have disappeared completely, never to be seen again.

　　In the prime minister’s residence, the Lan Family’s courtyard…

　　The current chief advisor of the state, Prime Minister Lan Hong, was sipping tea and listening to the report given to him by his men.

　　“The Deputy Minister of Rites, Zhang Baisheng, had seven family members killed and was robbed of seven million gold coins worth of property. Among those killed were his sixth concubine, one of his nephews, and five servants. Twenty-three people were seriously injured with either their arms or legs broken, and hundreds were slightly injured. Zhang Baisheng himself had his left leg broken.”

　　A well-dressed man beside Lan Hong—his eldest son and also Lan Xuan and Lan Fei’s father—Lan Guang said angrily, “Father, do we just let that old codger act arbitrarily and kill all the loyal officials of the court at will? Does he mean to revolt?”

　　Lan Hong put down his cup and said with a smile, “Lan Guang, you are still too short-sighted and cannot see the facts. If Li Chunyang really wanted to revolt, he wouldn’t have made such a scene. Right now, he is just picking up some flies and ants to fight. It doesn’t matter at all.”

　　“Is he just venting his grievances about his imprisonment?”

　　Lan Hong snorted coldly and looked at Lan Guang contemptuously. “Do you really think this old codger is so easy to be imprisoned? He had most likely turned Li Yi’s trick to his own use and deliberately hidden for a period of time. With that, he could see the current situation clearly and, at the same time, find out the enemies of the Li Family who were hidden in the dark. Oh, he also took this opportunity to make some money. Over the past few days, I reckon he must have obtained hundreds of millions of gold coins by confiscating the property of his political opponents.”

　　“So much!” Startled, Lan Guang blurted out, “Why didn’t His Majesty do anything to him?”

　　“His Majesty? Hmph!” Lan Hong said coldly, “His Majesty is too old to do anything. Moreover, he is also waiting. He wants to see what Li Chunyang is really up to. If I am right, Li Chunyang will turn over more than half of the money he has collected to the state treasury by the day after tomorrow at the latest.”

　　It dawned on Lan Guang at last and he said, “I understand now. Over the years, the Li Family has been suppressed by His Majesty, especially financially, which has caused them to make ends meet every year. He is taking the opportunity to refill his family’s treasury. But, hundreds of millions of gold coins is really a horrifying figure. If he doesn’t turn over half, how can His Majesty rest assured?”

　　Lan Hong took a sip of tea. His eyes became more and more cloudy as he muttered to himself, “Why did this old codger jump out at this time? Has he seen the situation clearly? How? Why can’t I see it?”

　　“Father, the situation you mentioned, could it be…”