White-Robed Chief

Chu Li handed over the jade bottle that contained four pills to Li Ruolan. “Senior sister, please send someone to deliver this bottle to the forest that Wen Tingdao and I decided on.”

Ji Xin immediately rebuked, “Wait a minute!”

He looked at Chu Li. “Junior Brother Zhao, are you really going to give these to Wen Tingdao?”

Chu Li did not understand the situation. “Why not?”

“He’s not our friend, he’s our enemy. Why should you honor the promise?” Ji Xin asked. “If you were to hand these pills over to him, wouldn’t that mean you helped him increase his strength? Doing this doesn’t benefit us at all.”

Chu Li replied seriously, “It doesn’t matter if they’re a friend or foe, I’ll always honor my promise.”

“Junior Brother Zhao, you’re making life difficult for yourself by honoring your promise with the enemy!” Ji Xin blurted.

Ji Xin heavily rejected the motion. There was no reason to honor the promise with Wen Tingdao at all. There was no guarantee that Wen Tingdao would honor his side of the promise even if Chu Li did. Wen Tingdao was incredibly cunning and would definitely take advantage of this situation. Hence, it would be a slap in one’s own face.

“Hear me out just this once,” Chu Li said. “His injury is on his left hand. His strength has no play in his recovery!”

Ji Xin looked at Chu Li with disapproval.

Zhou Jinchun butted in, “I agree with Junior Brother Ji. There’s no need to honor your promise to a cunning enemy.”

“I won’t burn any bridges after crossing it,” Chu Li said. “We wouldn’t have any Detachment Pills if not for his Common Knotgrass.”

“It’s not like he gave the Common Knotgrass to us voluntarily,” Zhou Chunjie explained. “We defeated him and he was forced to hand it over to us. All he spewed out was nonsense!”

Chu Li shook his head. “Senior Sister Li.”

Li Ruolan said, “Alright, I’ll send someone to deliver it!”

She then glanced at Ji Xin and Zhou Chunjie. “These Detachment Pills are made by Junior Brother Zhao. He’s free to give it to whoever he wants. You guys are crossing the line. If you have the time to worry this much, why not use your time to further improve your martial arts instead? Don’t be lazy!”

“Sigh…” Ji Xin and Zhou Chunjie looked at Chu Li as they shook their heads in hopelessness for they found this choice to be unwise.

Chu Li stood firm with his decision.

Lu Zhen took the jade bottle and left together with Li Ruolan. As they left the small courtyard, she turned around to look at him with her brimming eyes.

Chu Li smiled at Lu Zhen as she scoffed. “You’re incredibly stubborn when it comes to unconventional rules!”

Chu Li’s smile froze on his face.

Lu Zhen laughed lightly as she turned around and left.

Chu Li then went back to his small courtyard before he laid down to rest. He had no desire to train at all.

If he were to kill Wen Tingdao, where else would he obtain Common Knotgrass?

Furthermore, one could only catch a big fish by casting a long line. How would Wen Tingdao react when he obtained the Detachment Pills?

…

15.5 miles away from Falling Autumn City was Skyhawk Mountain that had a Taoist temple upon it. It was primitive, ancient, and well hidden among the trees, so much so that it was incredibly hard to be discovered by outsiders.

Wen Tingdao and two other middle-aged men were sitting beside the stone table in the courtyard located behind the Taoist temple.

The jade bottle sat atop of the stone table. It glimmered mildly as it bathed under the afternoon sunlight.

All of them were in blue robes and looked very tidy, clean and at peace. They fit perfectly well with the atmosphere of the Taoist temple.

“Junior Brother Wen, is Zhao Dahe so kind to the extent that he would deliver the Detachment Pills?” Zhou Haoran, a middle-aged man with a round face shook his head as he said, “I’m afraid that he has ill-intent. Could it be poison? Perhaps poison is hidden inside the pills?”

There were quite a lot of scars on his round face. It was the mark left behind when he was still in puberty. He was not tall but his eyes were incredibly intimidating, so no one dared to meet his gaze.

Wen Tingdao wore a white glove on his left hand. His handsome face was emotionless as he stared intently at the jade bottle.

The other middle-aged man, Zheng Xiabo, had a square face. He said, “Theoretically speaking, he wouldn’t have used such an underhanded technique. After all, The Holy Church of Light is a very reputable faction.”

He was short, handsome, and had a gentle smile.

“There’s still the what if,” Zhou Haoran warned.

Suddenly, Wen Tingdao picked up the jade bottle. He then took out a pill and popped it into his mouth.

“Junior Brother Wen!” exclaimed the pair in shock.

Wen Tingdao swallowed the pill and retorted angrily, “I don’t care if I die, I just want to see what trick did he pull!”

“Fine, since you’ve already eaten it. I can only hope that this Zhao Dahe kept to his word.” Zhou Haoran shook his head. “However, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the enemy to keep his word.”

Wen Tingdao was annoyed as he waved his hands. “My two brothers, I would appreciate some peace and quiet!”

“You…” The two shook their heads.

Junior Brother Wen was good at anything. He was a martial art genius, had high intellect and would often force his opponent to dance within his palm. However, he had one major flaw; he loved being handsome and cared about his physical appearance too much, so much so that he would rather cripple his fingers.

It was only his left hand. While he might be affected if he were to wield a sword with his left hand, his right hand was more than enough to compensate for a swordsman at his level.

However, he was still willing to take such a risk for two of his left fingers. Nobody knew what was hidden in this pill.

His brothers possessed sharp instincts so it was only natural that they would be able to detect any poison hidden inside the pills. Although these four pills should be clean, there were all sorts of pills in this world. While poisonous pills could be lethal, there were also unique pills that could be even more torturing.

Wen Tingdao sat on the couch and trained his martial arts after he consumed the pill. He felt the medicine taking its course in his body and his blood started boiling up as his blood flow rate started increasing.

His fingers were incredibly itchy and soon became extremely painful. The root of his index finger started twitching and he started having a headache. He felt restless as he sat on the couch and could not focus on his training at all.

He gritted his teeth as he remained silent, acting as if nothing was happening. When night fell, he consumed another pill.

The pain in his fingers intensified and he could not sleep for the entire night. He gritted his teeth as he endured the pain, not mentioning a single word about it to his two Senior Brothers for they would have given him an earful and scolded him to not have trusted Zhao Dahe.

The pain during the second day was even worse. His face was extremely pale and his seniors noticed it when they were having their meal. He was so pale that it was practically certain that there was something wrong with the pill. Hence, they forced him to take off his glove.

Wen Tingdao could not go against them so he had no choice but to take off his glove. He revealed his left hand and saw that his left fingers were still the same; they were still entirely broken.

The two of them sighed as they shook their heads. “We were right. Zhao Dahe can’t be trusted!”

“Junior Brother Wen, please stop eating those pills. It’s very difficult to bear, isn’t it?” Zheng Xiabo shook his head. “Looks like Brother Zhou is right. Zhao Dahe can’t be trusted.”

Wen Tingdao remained silent as he lowered his head and continued eating his food.

“Junior Brother Wen!” Zheng Xiabo groaned. “Do you really trust Zhao Dahe that much?”

“There’s one more left.” Wen Tingdao raised his head, his originally clear eyes had turned red. “I want to eat them!”

“You…” Zhou Haoran was furious. “You’re always this stubborn! Can that guy be trusted at all? You’ve suffered so much, don’t you think you’ll agonize to death if you take another one?”

“That’s right!” Zheng Xiabo nodded. “I’m sure Zhao Dahe has taken you as a fool. Although you’re not poisoned, you’re suffering a lot!”

Zhou Haoran harrumphed. “Junior Brother Wen, I’m not trying to offend you. You’re a very smart man, but why are you so obsessed right now? Why do you keep insisting on believing your enemy? It’s hard to comprehend your actions!”

Zheng Xiabo waved his hand as he signaled the former to not say such a word.

Zhou Haoran harrumphed as he turned his head, refusing to look at him.

Wen Tingdao put his white glove back on and continued eating his meal silently.

“Call us if you’re really unwell.” Zheng Xiabo patted his shoulder as he sighed before the two left.

Wen Tingdao smashed the bowl onto the ground as his expression darkened.

He fished out the jade bottle from his embrace and placed the last pill in his palm before taking a closer look. His expression kept alternating between temptation, hesitation, belief, and denial.

After a while, he raised his head up to swallow the last pill. Soon, a gust clear air rushed into him as the flow rate of his blood increased once more.