The next morning Lan Sheng Zhe woke up at dusk, Cheng Yu was still sleeping on the tree. Lan Sheng Zhe went to see off Lan Zhi Zhou, who was going to Tianshan where the Jin Clan Sect is located to complete the wedding ritual.
Lan Zhi Zhou, “No need to worry about the sect, shifu will come out of seclusion soon, you can leave by today.”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “Okay”
Lan Zhi Zhou, “That guy named Cheng Yu… I’d like to meet him once I come back”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “Okay”
Lan Xi Zin being forced to come out of his seclusion again couldn’t wait to hand over the sect leader position to Lan Zhi Zhou. Whenever these brothers want, they just leave the sect forcing him to handle all the sect matters. He’s already so old and single handedly raised his brother’s children to adulthood. Why can’t he still catch a break?
…
This time, Lan Sheng Zhe maneuvered the sword and reluctantly let Cheng Yu on it, otherwise it’d take 5 days to get to Yanshan.
Yanshan is also known as the Mine of Wealth. There were many gem mines and iron mines making the Yan Clan prosper for many generations. While there wasn't a significant difference in wealth among the five major sects but when viewed from a broad perspective, the Yan Clan still stood out compared to the other four clans.
After arriving in Yanshan, Cheng Yu dragged Lan Sheng Zhe to change their clothing to blend in with their customs and not to alert the Yan Clan of their arrival. The air of Yanshan was slightly smokey therefore it was common for mortals and low cultivation cultivators to wear masks that cover the lower half of the faces.
Walking side by side in the Bizz market with Cheng Yu, Lan Sheng Zhe asked puzzled, “Why am I the only one wearing a mask?”
Cheng Yu, “Lan er gege, have you seen your face in the mirror? Jiezhi Xiande is ranked number one in the top 100 beautiful cultivators in every picture book there is to find. Even if we don't bump into Yan Clan elders, we’re passing by brothels, do you really think you won't draw attention?
Lan Sheng Zhe by now is used to Cheng Yu’s various ways to address him and couldn’t pay anymore heed to it. And wasn’t Cheng Yu equally as beautiful with those sea green eyes and perfect slender and muscular body? “There is books like that?”
Cheng Yu laughed at this guy’s ignorance and said “There’s even books that ranks the best dicks in cultivation world”
Lan Sheng Zhe’s ears grew tomato red at the vulgar words, exclaimed “Shameless!” and stopped talking to this unbearable guy and strode away inside of a herbal shop.
“Lao Yang! Wait for me! It’s not like I made those books ah” Cheng Yu chuckling followed behind.
The store they entered is the biggest herbal shop in Yanshan owned by the Yan Clan Leader, Yan Xuji’s uncle, Yan Muqing. Yan Muqing is the only elder in Yan Clan who specializes in medicinal cultivation, as a result he accepts as many disciples as he can to increase the number of medicine cultivators.
Inside the herbal shop, the light was dimly lit to preserve some of the herbs sensitive to light, so the face of Lan Sheng Zhe who was already covered was even more unrecognizable. An old man, who seemed to be in charge of selling and cleaning, upon noticing two esteemed guests, approached them with a big smile.
Old man, “Welcome, welcome to Yan herbal shop, how may I help you sirs?”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “What kind of container do you sell your medicine in?”
The old man was confused but still answered with respect, “Sir it depends on the type of medicine”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “What about bottles made of changhua?”
The old man, “We use that kind of container if the medicine needs to be kept cold in a hot environment. But these containers are expensive. We have other medicinal bottles that have similar cooling properties but they are not as efficient as Changhua stone. If you are looking for a pill and don’t know the medicine name, the shop has medicine practitioners. I'm sure they can recognize the pill for you.”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “No need, may I speak to elder Muqing?”
The old man couldn’t decipher the esteemed guest’s origin or power and dare not be disrespectful, “Apologies sir, he is not here at the moment however his disciple is. Come this way sir, I will go call her right away”
The old man took them to a room inside as he served them tea and said the disciple of Yan Muqing would be here in a few minutes.
Cheng Yu poured a cup of tea for himself as he spoke, “Lao Yang, if you want me to help, I need to know some basics don’t you think? What’s all this container and medicine about?” Although Cheng Yu had a vague idea as to what may be going on from context clues, it’s all still his own guesses.
Lan Sheng Zhe, after making sure with his senses that no one was eavesdropping, told Cheng Yu about the two things.
Cheng Yu started to laugh after learning Lan Sheng Zhe gave an empty container to Li Zhixin for investigation. “Oh gege, it’s really not easy being your friend”
Lan Sheng Zhe at first wanted to explain the reason for his action but after a second thought he didn’t feel like saying anything. Actually that day when he had casually asked to see the container from the village chief’s wife, he just wanted to see if there was any remnants of the medicine by any chance. However what surprised him is the faint smell of Lúsé flower emanating from the bottle.
Lúsé flower is a flower only found in Spring Flower Clove, it's a green flower that has a very strong pungent smell, a unique mix of blood and ink smell. Lan Sheng Zhe hates that flower, there was a time he had to take medicine made of this disgusting flower every day so he can’t be mistaken at all. Therefore when he asked Li Zhixin for his opinion, he mainly wanted to see if Li Zhixin would be honest about it but to his disappointment Li Zhixin acted as if he did not notice the smell at all. For a god-like medicine cultivator as Li Zhixin to not notice an ingredient that grows in his backyard is impossible.
Lan Sheng Zhe wondered if Li Zhixin was involved in this case too. He didn’t want to suspect his only friend that he considers to be his confidant and wanted to believe that the involvement of Lúsé flower may not necessarily mean involvement of Li Zhixin but if that was really the case then why would Li Zhixin not tell him about it?
Soon, a beautiful young woman wearing all red walked in. As soon as she walked in Cheng Yu choked on the tea he was still sipping.
Cheng Yu recognized her at first glance! She is Li Zhixin’s older sister, Li Sizhui!
When Li Sizhui was little she looked a lot like their mother, ever since their mother died she has never shown her face to the public as a result Lan Sheng Zhe only knows of her existence but never met her.
The only reason Cheng Yu was able to recognize her was because they both had come to Mist mountain a few days ago and Cheng Yu happened to witness a scene which confirmed her to be Li Sizhui. This happened right before the array formation had been destroyed. At that time they seemed to just come and look around and hunt like many other cultivators so Cheng Yu paid them no extra attention.
This time Cheng Yu didn’t know what he was more surprised about, the fact that a non Yan Clan member was able to enter as Yan Clan’s medicine disciple or that disciple turning out to be Li Zhixin’s sister.
Li Sizhui, “Sorry to make the sirs wait, I was helping with a critical child labor”
Cheng Yu quickly recovered from the surprise, “Hehe, ayo I didn’t know I was gonna meet a beauty in this trip”
Lan Sheng Zhe glared at Cheng Yu as if scolding with his eyes, impudent!
Li Sizhui laughed it off as she introduced herself “Sirs can call me Yan Qing, how could this humble one help you?”
Lan Sheng Zhe handed the list of ingredients which takes to make Taqidu. “I want a pill as described in the prescription”
Li Sizhui, “This…”
“I heard some lords were looking for me?” Yan Muqing cut Li Sizhui off as he walked in the room.
Li Sizhui handed the recipe for the Taqidu to Yan Muqing as she made way for Yan Muqing to sit and she stood behind him.
Yan Muqing was surprised to see such a precise prescription of Taqidu. Taqidu was not a common poison because of the difficulty in acquiring its ingredients and making it. The recipe of Taqidu was almost lost in history and it took Yan Muqing about 2 years of searching all over the world to finally obtain it. He only made a successful batch recently, to think someone has already acquired it right after, could it be a coincidence? “May I ask where the lords got this recipe from?”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “No”
Yan Muqing, “Then I’m afraid we can’t help”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “Okay”. Got up and left the shop. Leaving Yan Muqing a bit dumbfounded.
Yan Muqing to Li Sizhui, “Ah-Qing, find someone to report to young master about this”
Li Sizhui, “Yes”
Lan Sheng Zhe never came to actually acquire Taqidu in the first place, he just wanted to see Yan Muqing’s reaction after seeing Taqidu’s recipe and find out who Yan Muqing reports to afterwards.
Muqing is not stupid and would definitely keep an eye on Lan Shengzhe therefore before coming to this shop he had requested Xichen to send a few disciple to spy on Muqing and Muqing’s people.
…
It was already night time when Cheng Yu and Lan Sheng Zhe arrived at an inn to pass the night. Cheng Yu ordered a table full of food, happily freeloading off of Lan Sheng Zhe.
Cheng Yu, “It’s so delicious! You’re really not gonna try some?”
Lan Sheng Zhe ignored Cheng Yu as he poured himself tea.
Cheng Yu, “Wanna bet whom will Muqing report to?”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “Boring”
Cheng Yu, “Um we all know Jiezhi Xiande is boring person, no need to announce it”
Lan Sheng Zhe left silver on the table, got up and went to his own room.
Cheng Yu, feeling bored with no company, also left for his own room.
After a few hours Lan Sheng Zhe heard a window opening noise from Cheng Yu’s room.
Lan Sheng Zhe followed Cheng Yu behind, wondering where was this trouble making guy going in the middle of the night?
After a few shifts and turns Cheng Yu noticed Lan Sheng Zhe was following and in a blink of an eye a carriage passed by and Lan Sheng Zhe lost him. Lan Sheng Zhe was gonna keep up the chase but saw the ally Cheng Yu disappear too, it seemed to lead to the red distric1 where brothels are located so Lan Sheng Zhe didn’t bother anymore.
When Lan Sheng Zhe came back to the inn a falcon bird came to find him with a letter. The bird was a gift from Lan Sheng Zhe to Li Zhixin. It's very intelligent. As long as the bird has smelt the blood of a person it can find that person.
Lan Sheng Zhe took the letter, it didn’t say much,
“I was experimenting with a drug on me that dull my sense of smell before. Just now I smelt Lúsé flower in the container, someone from my sect could be selling herbs on the market for personal gain. Don’t worry I will investigate it”
Lan Sheng Zhe thought no wonder Li Zhixin didn’t tell him about the smell at that time. So this was the case and he wronged Li Zhixin by suspecting him.
…
After getting rid of Lan Sheng Zhe’s tail, Cheng Yu sneaked into Li Sizhui’s living quarters. Cheng Yu and Lan Sheng Zhe came to Yanshan unannounced, and if they get caught breaking into Yan Clan’s restricted area, it’d harm Lan Sheng Zhe’s esteem reputation and even implicate the Lan Clan. Although the chances of getting caught were little, Cheng Yu didn’t want to involve Lan Sheng Zhe based on only guesses. It’d be best to confirm his doubts before letting Lan Sheng Zhe in on this.
Cheng Yu concealed his breath and footsteps as he peaked inside Li Sizhui’s study from a safe distance.
Li Sizhui was speaking to a person wearing a black cloak.
Li Sizhui, “Lan Sheng Zhe had come and confirmed we use changhua containers. Zhixin do you think Shengzhe is stupid? If he gave you the container then he must have smelt the stench of Lúsé flower.”
Li Zhixin, “Ah-jie2adoring way to call older sister, he would even trust me with his life, he wouldn’t suspect me over this. He would rather doubt his judgment than doubt me. I already sent him a message explaining the situation. If he had doubts, it’d be gone by now.”
Li Sizhui, “Why are you going this far?”
Li Zhixin, “Ah-Jie wouldn’t understand even if I tell you”
Li Sizhui, “You’re right, I don’t understand, neither do I want to”
Li Zhixin, “Shengzhe, he…”
Li Sizhui, “Soon or later Shengzhe will find out that it was Xu Yi who killed that masked cultivator and eventually the reason behind it all. You stay out of this. If anything happens here, I’ll find a way to safely escort Shengzhe out of Yanshan”
Li Zhixin, “I know. Thank you, ah-jie”
Li Sizhui, “Since you have eavesdropped till now why don't you show us your face before you leave?”
Cheng Yu instantly became alert and was ready to flee, almost exposing his location but someone on the other side moved a step ahead of him and was fleeing. So he was not the only person spying tonight.
Cheng Yu had an insanely keen hearing therefore he was far enough not to get caught however the other party was much closer and was caught in an instant.
Turned out the other party was a spy of Muqing keeping an eye on her from far everyday, but today this spy just happened to witness what he shouldn’t have and was killed in an instant.
Li Zhixin, “Would Ah-Jie get in trouble because of this?”
Li Sizhui, “You don’t have to worry about things on my end. Muqing dared to put a spy in my house. I shall send the corpse back as reply. You go back. Don’t get involved in the mess here anymore and don’t come here again.”
Cheng Yu did not delay anymore and swiftly left with light steps. The information Cheng Yu acquired was not complete and it was hard to make any sense out of this. Based on the conversation just now, it was safe to assume Li Zhixin or Li Sizhui was the one who made the pills which were given to the village chief by the masked cultivator. But it was Yan Xu Yi who killed the masked cultivator, and it didn’t matter much to these two siblings if Yan Xu Yi was caught or not. If this is the case then Yan Xu Yi is unaware of the involvement of the Li siblings indicating Yan Xu Yi and Li Zhixin were not working together. What was going on here? Cheng Yu could not fathom the mystery. Should he tell Shengzhe about this?
Cheng Yu suddenly remembered what Li Zhixin said ‘ “Ah-jie, he would even trust me with his life, he wouldn’t suspect me over this. He would rather doubt his judgment than doubt me…” ‘
Cheng Yu, even if I told Shengzhe, without any proof, would Shengzhe believe me? Probably not.
