Chapter 143 - 112: Beating Them at Their Own Game, A New Deal, Massive Gains

Chapter 143: Chapter 112: Beating Them at Their Own Game, A New Deal, Massive Gains

Su Chen could naturally tell that Cai Xiaoyue liked Zhu Yan. Her invitation was merely given out of respect for him. However, he didn’t dwell on it. After pondering for a moment, he politely declined. Cai Xiaoyue was slightly disappointed but didn’t force the issue.

The two walked together, eventually arriving at Zhu Yan’s personal clinic. This was a courtyard specially set up for Zhu Yan by the Lihexie Bang, dedicated to treating the gang’s injured members. Because of his brilliant medical skills, there were patients coming for treatment every day, and they all treated him with great respect.

Watching Zhu Yan bustling about inside and out, Cai Xiaoyue said, "Originally, I wanted to assign some assistants to Brother Zhu, but he said it was too much trouble and refused."

"Perhaps he enjoys this kind of state," Su Chen replied after watching for a long time.

As if spotting something interesting, Su Chen walked into the courtyard. Cai Xiaoyue noticed that his gaze was fixed on a row of bookshelves in the main hall. She followed him, making sure not to disturb the busy Zhu Yan.

Su Chen stood before the bookshelves and scanned them. Sure enough, they were all medical books. He had read some of them, but most were entirely new to him. Judging from their arrangement, Zhu Yan must have organized them meticulously.

He thought, "These medical books seem to correspond to different stages of learning."

He picked up a book and glanced through it, forming a vague conclusion in his mind. These books were generally placed side by side from the easiest to the most difficult. This piqued his interest.

After all, he was self-taught. Even though he studied every day, the books he read were a jumbled mess with absolutely no systematic progression. Zhu Yan came from a family of doctors with generations of heritage. Naturally, he knew what to read at each stage and could systematically train his disciples.

"Benefactor, are you also reading these medical books?" Su Chen had been reading for an unknown amount of time when Zhu Yan walked over and asked with a smile.

Su Chen nodded. "Could I borrow these medical books to read?"

"If you like them, Benefactor, feel free to take them."

These medical books were not worth much money—certainly not as precious as the secret medical tome he had given Su Chen. Giving them away was no problem at all.

Su Chen simply picked a few medical books he hadn’t read yet and stacked them in order. The books themselves were not as important as the order in which they were read. With the correct order, he would save himself a lot of time.

"If you want more, Benefactor, I’ll find some time to borrow a few more from the library for you," Zhu Yan offered, his eyes lighting up when he saw Su Chen grab over a dozen books.

"The library?" Su Chen paused his movements and looked at him.

Zhu Yan nodded. "Yes, these were all borrowed from the library. Some of them can’t even be found on the market. However, they are all copies, so lending them to you is no issue."

Standing to the side, Cai Xiaoyue rolled her eyes, momentarily at a loss for words. Although these medical books were copies, they couldn’t be bought outside for dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver. Yet, from Zhu Yan’s mouth, it became a casual "feel free to borrow, there’s plenty more."

She was quite curious about what this "Benefactor" had done to make Zhu Yan so utterly devoted and selflessly generous.

He thought, "A library? Is it the kind of library I’m thinking of?" Su Chen pondered this, but since Cai Xiaoyue was present, it wasn’t a good time to ask, so he let it go.

After borrowing the medical books, Su Chen bid farewell to the two of them. Because things had suddenly gotten busy, Zhu Yan could only see him to the door. Su Chen didn’t mind. He took the books back home and spent the following days reading them in order.

It wasn’t until the Black Market opened at the beginning of the month that Su Chen changed into his Lu Xiaofeng disguise and left the city.

He had two main objectives for this trip to the Black Market. The first was to purchase Qi Blood Pills, and the second was to inquire about a channel to procure Profound Essence Pills.

Even though he had learned from Cai Xiaoyue that Profound Essence Pills were exclusively provided to disciples of the Profound Water Sect, Su Chen didn’t believe that in the massive Dafeng City, not a single faction or individual needed them. As long as there was demand, there might be an opportunity. If not, he would just have to think of another way.

Upon arriving at the Black Market, Su Chen headed straight for the stall that sold Qi Blood Pills. When he saw that the person manning the stall had changed, his heart skipped a beat, and an ominous feeling washed over him.

"Excuse me, do you have any Qi Blood Pills for sale?" Su Chen asked, lowering his voice as he approached the stall.

"You’ve got the wrong person!" the vendor shot back impatiently.

Even though he had expected this, his disappointment was hard to hide. Su Chen sighed and thought, "Yu Xian was indeed the supplier of the Qi Blood Pills. With him dead, no one in the Black Market sells them anymore. Now, my purchasing channel is completely cut off!"

Feeling somewhat helpless, Su Chen still didn’t regret killing Yu Xian. Afterward, he had no choice but to continue wandering through the Black Market to see if he could find another stall selling Qi Blood Pills.

After scouring the entire market, he ended up empty-handed. With no other options, Su Chen went to the signboard-less stall and wrote down his two requests.

To his dismay, the immediate response was just a shake of the head for both.

Su Chen’s heart sank, and his expression turned slightly grim. He thought, "Even without Qi Blood Pills, at least I have alternative medicines. But without Profound Essence Pills, I’m afraid I won’t be able to improve my Profound Yuan Technique for a very long time."

He had finally managed to obtain the subsequent Cultivation Technique for the Profound Yuan Technique, only to be bottlenecked by resources. It was as frustrating as it could possibly be.

He thought, "If I had known earlier, I would have kept one Profound Essence Pill to carefully study its medicinal ingredients. Who knows, I might have been able to find an alternative for it."