White-Robed Chief

After the two women had gathered more than ten fruits each, Chu Li brought them back to the High Duke’s Public House. Instead of returning to Tianshu Courtyard, the women went to Jade Guardian Island to spend the night there.

There had been people managing and taking care of Jade Guardian Island all along. They were prepared to welcome Xiao Qi back at any time and would bring out the bedclothes and blankets to air them in the sun once every few days. Therefore, the women still had a place to stay despite their abrupt return.

After they showed up, Jade Guardian Island instantly fell into a busy state. Xiao Tieying, his wife, and Xiao Baihe came rushing over upon receiving the news of their return. Judging by their excited chatter, it was likely that none of them would be sleeping that night. Jade Guardian Island had become very lively all of a sudden.

Chu Li did not join in the excitement and went straight back to his island instead. Xue Ling came out to welcome his arrival.

Under the pale moonlight, she was dressed in white clothing while her dark, silky hair fell over her shoulders like black satin. Her entire body emitted traces of cold aura, which was an indication of her extremely high cultivation level in the Crescent Cryptic.

“Young Master.” A smile appeared on her cold face as she came forward to welcome him.

Chu Li asked, “Have you found an alchemy furnace?”

“Yes, I’ve found it. The construction for the alchemy room has also been completed,” Xue Ling replied.

Chu Li nodded. “Let’s go and take a look.”

While he was speaking, he handed five fruits to Xue Ling. As they walked ahead, he proceeded to ask, “Nothing serious has happened in the residence lately, right?”

Xue Ling replied, “There was a huge fight between Eldest Master and Madam. Then, Madam ran away and went back to her parent’s house. Eldest Master had to personally go and bring her back. They’ve just returned two days ago.”

Chu Li said, “It seems like Madam isn’t going to be the usual submissive wife. What caused the fight?”

“Eldest Master destroyed one of Madam’s flowers while he was practicing his fist technique.” Xue Ling shook her head. “That was Madam’s favorite flower.”

“Eldest Master did it on purpose, didn’t he?”

“Yes.” Xue Ling nodded. “Madam had devoted too much time and energy to this flower. Previously, when this flower fell sick and became droopy, she was very anxious about it. Fortunately, the flower eventually regained its health. Who knew Eldest Master would go ahead and destroy it again after that? How can Madam not be upset?”

Chu Li shook his head and chuckled.

Xue Ling laughed and said, “Eldest Master is a mature and composed man, but he seems to turn into a different person when Madam is around. They would become like young children and would fight over the most trivial things.”

“That’s good then. They’re an affectionate couple,” Chu Li replied with a smile. “Nothing else happened?”

“All other martial art sects and factions have been rather quiet,” Xue Ling said.

Chu Li nodded.

The two of them came into a newly constructed room. Xue Ling had personally built this alchemy room.

With windows in all four walls, the room looked bright and spacious. In the middle of the room, there was a medium-sized alchemy furnace with some firewood and anthracite coals beside it. Anthracite coal was the highest-ranking coal and could produce very high temperatures. If he had to depend only on firewood, he could never achieve the desired temperature for refining and producing pills.

He examined the alchemy furnace and felt satisfied with it. This was obviously not an ordinary item. Indeed, the High Duke’s Public House had sufficient financial resources to obtain such a high-quality alchemy furnace.

Chu Li immediately began to refine and produce pills. After fetching some water and lighting a fire, he tossed the Wind Speed Grass into the furnace and added several other types of spirit herbs according to the required amounts before kindling some coals at the bottom of the furnace.

Then, Chu Li sat beside the alchemy furnace as though he could not feel the high temperature at all.

Meanwhile, Xue Ling waited upon him by serving him tea and light refreshments.

She did not mind the high temperature since the Crescent Cryptic she had cultivated could keep her body temperature cool. No matter how high the surrounding temperature would get, her body temperature would remain constant.

Within one night, he had managed to refine and produce two batches of pills. The first batch was the Wind Speed Pill while the second one was the Giant Spirit Pill.

He produced twelve pills in each batch and gave Xue Ling two pills from each of them.

“Consume them immediately when you go back to your room,” Chu Li said. “These are good stuff.”

“Young Master, what are they good for?” Xue Ling asked as she held the four grape-sized pills, which Chu Li had just finished shaping, and stared at them in confusion.

“This is the Wind Speed Pill. It can enhance your speed. This is the Giant Spirit Pill. It can enhance your strength,” Chu Li explained while pointing at the respective pills. “You should take two of each at most. It’ll be useless to consume any more of them. Let’s see to what extent your speed and strength will be increased.”

“Such spirit pills actually exist?” Xue Ling looked amazed.

The Yi Public House had always possessed medicinal drugs of the highest quality, especially since the Spirit Blessing Pill was among the rarest pills in the Ji Dynasty. However, they had never come across spirit pills like the Wind Speed Pill and the Giant Spirit Pill.

Spirit pills that could directly transform a person’s physique were legendary spirit pills that could only be found during ancient times. Nowadays, such spirit pills no longer existed. Therefore, she was surprised that Young Master had managed to refine and produce these pills.

Chu Li said, “Don’t let anyone else know about this. Take the pills as soon as possible.”

“Understood.” Xue Ling nodded.

She knew how valuable such spirit pills were. If anyone else were to find out about this, a bloody war would follow, and the Yi Public House would lose its peace of mind.

Chu Li waved a hand. “You’ve been working hard through the night too. Go back and get some rest after taking these pills. I’ll be making a move first.”

“Young Master, why don’t you stay here and rest for now?” Xue Ling seemed reluctant to see him leave.

Chu Li shook his head. “I still have a couple of things to take care of over there.”

When he came back to Jade Guardian Island, the sky was still dark as the early morning sun had not yet risen. He found the two women still sound asleep.

He woke them up, brought them back to Tianshu Courtyard, and then gave each of them four spirit pills just as he had done with Xue Ling earlier. After that, he returned to the Spirit Medicine Nursery.

The Spirit Medicine Nursery was filled with silence and stillness since everyone else was still in deep sleep. Chu Li swallowed one Wind Speed Pill and felt it taking effect on his body. After some time, as the effects from the pill spread all over his body, he channeled to thoroughly absorb its effects.

He could feel his body getting lighter. With a sudden movement, he appeared outside his house. He was so fast that his moving figure had been barely obvious.

Chu Li could not help but smile to himself. This Wind Speed Pill had twice the efficacy of the one he had obtained previously, so it had been capable of increasing his speed just as effectively as the first Wind Speed Pill he had consumed. In that case, he should be able to further enhance his speed by taking more of them. Therefore, he consumed two more Wind Speed Pills.

This time, after his body had absorbed the effects of the pills, there was a smaller increase in his speed, so he knew that it would be useless to consume any more of it.

Nonetheless, Chu Li’s speed had already increased beyond his expectations.

With his current speed, he was able to perform his body movement technique and launch his attacks at a faster rate, which would cause his skills to improve immensely.

Then, Chu Li consumed three Giant Spirit Pills at one go, and his strength skyrocketed immediately. With that, he had increased his strength to the greatest extent possible, and no one could ever compete with his extraordinary strength now.

By improving his strength, he would increase the speed of his attacks and body movement technique again. Thus, his skills would be further enhanced.

Chu Li was now very confident that he could leave the mountain and compete with all the other martial arts masters in the world. Even if his cultivation level was lower than theirs, his speed and strength could make up for it. Therefore, it should not be a difficult task for him to become a patrol as long as he had the opportunity!

…

At dawn, the summit of Great Light Peak was covered in ice and glimmered radiantly in the morning rays.

Li Ruolan wore a white tunic as she gracefully entered the Divine Light Basilica. She gave a fist salute and bowed. “My Saint.”

“Ruolan, you have another errand to run,” Sun Mingyue said. “Have you recovered well?”

Li Ruolan nodded. “I didn’t suffer any injuries. My Saint can go ahead and assign the task to me.”

Sun Mingyue said, “I need you to deliver some medicinal drugs to Falling Autumn City.”

“Falling Autumn City…?” Li Ruolan paused to think. “It’s a border city, right?”

“Yes,” Sun Mingyue replied. “It’s located close to the boundary between the Li Dynasty and the Qiu Dynasty. To invade our territory, the Qiu Dynasty’s military troops will have to take over Falling Autumn City first… Falling Autumn City used to belong to the Qiu Dynasty, but it had been taken over by us later on. After that, they’ve been constantly trying to regain ownership of the city. If Falling Autumn City ever falls into their hands, they’ll be able to open the northern entrance and enter directly through it without any resistance.”

“The war situation in the city must be very intense,” Li Ruolan said.

Sun Mingyue shook her head. “The war hasn’t started. At the moment, only the martial arts masters there are fighting in secret. The Qiu Dynasty’s martial arts masters have been trying to sneak in to become informers while the Li Dynasty’s martial arts masters have been busy getting rid of them. The situation is extremely dangerous, so you should go there with Ji Xin.”

“Senior Brother Ji…” Li Ruolan frowned.

Sun Mingyue asked, “What’s wrong? You don’t wish to go with Ji Xin?”

“Senior Brother Ji is still recovering from his injuries,” Li Ruolan replied. “He should take some time off to recuperate, right?”

Sun Mingyue’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “Do you feel bad for him?”

Li Ruolan hurriedly shook her head.

“He was the one who requested to go,” Sun Mingyue said with a smile. “I’ve already agreed to it, so the two of you should go together.”

“But I’m worried…” Li Ruolan knitted her brows together.

“In that case, I’ll let you take another person with you,” Sun Mingyue said. “I can’t give you any more people than that since we’re really short of manpower right now. Who would you like to take?”