Chapter 34: Great Zhou Dynasty Strange Man Refining Alchemy

Chapter 34: The Great Zhou Dynasty's Eccentric Alchemist

On a painted boat on the Yuzhou River.

Jiang Sanjia sucked on a chicken bone and muttered to himself, “This roast chicken is truly delicious. If I had a pot of wine with it, it would be a life like that of an immortal.”

“How unpromising,” Mu Xiaoyun snorted. “When the big matter is done, I’ll give you ten or eight of these roast chickens.”

Jiang Sanjia enjoyed the delicious food, seemingly not wanting to talk to Mu Xiaoyun at all.

“Hey, Sanjia, do you still have Wan’er in your heart?” Mu Xiaoyun asked.

Wan’er.

Upon hearing these two words, Jiang Sanjia’s movements paused noticeably, then he continued to eat on his own.

Mu Xiaoyun played with the jade pendant in her hand and muttered to herself, “Wan’er, you could say she has a good life. She became the imperial concubine, enjoying endless glory and wealth, serving the most powerful man in the world, and she even has a devoted man like you. But you could also say she doesn’t have a good life, trapped deep in the palace, serving a man she doesn’t love every day.”

“What about you?” Jiang Sanjia sneered.

Most marriages among aristocratic families involved利益, and a strong woman like Mu Xiaoyun was no exception.

“Me?”

Mu Xiaoyun chuckled, her laughter tinged with mockery: “I already considered myself dead.”

Jiang Sanjia spat the chicken bone into the river, “But you’re still alive now, aren’t you?”

“To me, there isn’t much difference between life and death.”

A seductive smile appeared on Mu Xiaoyun’s lips. Her foxy eyes seemed to contain countless emotions and desires, but a closer look revealed nothing.

“Sanjia, your morals are questionable. Everyone is responsible for protecting water resources.”

Just then, a faint voice sounded.

“Brother Zhou, you haven’t left yet?” Jiang Sanjia looked up at the figure appearing on the deck ahead.

The person who came was An Jing.

Mu Xiaoyun also looked puzzled.

An Jing said indifferently, “Madam Liu, I have fulfilled my promise. Tie Yunshan died too horribly, so I didn’t cut off his head.”

“This is his token. See if it belongs to the Cao Gang.”

Then, An Jing threw a token onto the deck.

“Oh!?”

Mu Xiaoyun’s pupils slightly constricted. She glanced at the token on the ground. It was indeed a Cao Gang Elder token, and it even had the character ‘Tie’ engraved on it.

An Jing really killed Tie Yunshan.

Who was Tie Yunshan?

One of the Seven Vajra of the Cao Gang, Liu Qingshan’s confidant, a master on the Jianghu dragon and tiger rankings. Any one of these titles made him a prominent figure.

A person who could make the entire Yu Prefecture tremble with a stomp of his foot.

He could easily control the joy, anger, sorrow, and even life and death of most people.

But for such a person, his life and death were not in his own hands. How could this not be a tragedy?

And Jiang Sanjia’s movements also paused. He had just finished his roast chicken when An Jing returned after killing someone. How swift was that?

Who exactly was this Peerless Swordsman in front of him?

What was his identity?

What did he represent behind the scenes?

This question instantly filled her mind.

Not only her, but Jiang Sanjia also felt a growing doubt in his heart. Who exactly was this Brother Zhou in front of him? Why had he never heard of this person’s name in the Jianghu?

No, once his injuries recovered a bit, the first person Ghost Valley Heavenly Secrets would calculate was this person.

He must figure out this Brother Zhou’s identity, Jiang Sanjia thought to himself.

“I think Jiangnan Province will change soon.”

An Jing muttered faintly, “But the Cao Gang is powerful, so you still need to be extra careful.”

Tie Yunshan was dead. There was no need to think much; the Cao Gang would definitely make a big move next.

The storm is brewing!

The Cao Gang Leader had his schemes, and Mu Xiaoyun, this profound woman, also had hers.

“Brother Zhou has indeed attracted Liu Qingshan’s attention.”

Jiang Sanjia smiled and said, “Perhaps it will disrupt some of Liu Qingshan’s steps and rhythm.”

“No, he is terrifyingly rational,” Mu Xiaoyun said slowly, a glimmer of light in her eyes.

No one understood the terrifying nature of the current Cao Gang Leader better than her.

An Jing thought of something, “By the way, I haven’t asked Brother Sanjia why he was imprisoned in the Cao Gang’s dungeon. Since we are allies now, I hope you can tell me?”

At that time, Jiang Sanjia was trapped in the dungeon, and Cao Anmin and Liu Haoping seemed to want to get something from him.

“Prompt: Jiang Sanjia has a yellow Opportunity (the whereabouts of the Golden Pill).”

Suddenly, the Earth Book emitted a ray of light.

“Actually, even if Brother Zhou didn’t ask, I would have told him,” Jiang Sanjia pondered for a moment and said, “The Ghost Valley Heart Sutra is said to be able to deduce Heavenly Secrets and know all things, but this is an exaggeration. The Ghost Valley Heart Sutra can only deduce some Qi, such as finding people or objects. Heavenly Secrets cannot be known.”

“Liu Qingshan imprisoned me in the dungeon because he wanted me to find the Golden Pill for him.”

“Golden Pill!?”

An Jing heard this name for the first time, and a hint of confusion appeared in his eyes.

“Not many people know about the Golden Pill. It’s normal for Brother Zhou, who doesn’t frequent the Jianghu, not to know,” Mu Xiaoyun explained from the side. “Legend has it that several hundred years ago, an eccentric in Great Zhou gathered dozens of Heaven And Earth Treasure and spent forty-nine days refining a batch of Medicinal Pill. There were nine pills in this batch, and each pill had extremely strong effects, so only those with profound Internal Energy could take them. Ordinary martial artists who swallowed them could gain a hundred years of Internal Energy, directly reaching the First Rank Realm. And those with First Rank cultivation who had already condensed the three flowers, upon swallowing these pills, could directly achieve the three flowers uniting, reaching the Grandmaster Realm.”

“And these pills were called Golden Pills. At that time, three of these Golden Pills were kept by the eccentric himself, three were taken by the masters who assisted in the refining, and the last three were obtained by the imperial court. Two of the Great Zhou Dynasty’s pills were taken by the Great Zhou Dynasty’s princes, and then one scattered across the world as the Great Zhou Dynasty disintegrated, its whereabouts unknown.”

An Jing secretly clicked his tongue upon hearing this, “It’s actually so miraculous.”

A single Golden Pill could directly provide a hundred years of Internal Energy, and even allow someone to achieve the three flowers uniting.

An Jing didn’t yet know how difficult the three flowers uniting was, but just condensing the three flowers felt incredibly strenuous to him.

In the past, when he Cultivated, his progress from Ninth Rank to First Rank was very rapid, only getting stuck for two years when going from Second Rank to First Rank.

But from First Rank to condensing the Human Flower, he felt it was difficult to make any progress. A year seemed to yield no feeling at all, and in the end, he had to break his virginity to condense the Human Flower.

Condensing the Human Flower was already so difficult; the Earth Flower Realm and Heavenly Flower were even more challenging.

It is recorded in martial arts ancient texts that the three flowers uniting is the most difficult, and countless people throughout history have been stuck at this unification.

The three flowers uniting meant becoming a Grandmaster.

The might of a Grandmaster!

What kind of existence was that!?

An Jing’s heart surged, and he yearned for this Golden Pill.

Jiang Sanjia said in a deep voice, “That’s natural. This Golden Pill is a rare treasure. Liu Qingshan coveted this rare treasure and wanted me to deduce its whereabouts.”

So Liu Qingshan wanted to rely on Jiang Sanjia to find this Golden Pill!

An Jing raised an eyebrow and asked, “So, does that mean Liu Qingshan is a master who has condensed the Heavenly Flower?”

“I’m not sure about the Heavenly Flower, but he has definitely condensed the Earth Flower Realm,” Mu Xiaoyun said slowly. “To my knowledge, he is planning a huge event and urgently needs to rapidly increase his strength.”

Planning!?

Liu Qingshan was the Cao Gang Leader, so what he was planning must be a major event that would shake the Jianghu.

“Liu Qingshan’s ambition is not small,” Jiang Sanjia exclaimed.

An Jing remained silent for a while upon hearing this. Even if Liu Qingshan had condensed the Earth Flower Realm, he was still a master one Realm higher than him, so he was also in danger.

“Brother Sanjia, do you know the whereabouts of this Golden Pill?”

Jiang Sanjia shook his head, staring at An Jing with vigilance: “How could I know? I would have to use the Ghost Valley Heart Sutra to deduce it, which consumes too much vitality. My body is already riddled with holes from using the Ghost Valley Heart Sutra’s deductions over the years. Besides, even if I tried to deduce it, I might not be able to.”

This old fellow wouldn’t make him deduce the whereabouts of the Golden Pill, would he? Thinking of this, Jiang Sanjia subconsciously shifted his butt.

An Jing sighed: “That’s truly a pity. I wonder how that eccentric refined it.”

“There are very few records about that eccentric, just as mysterious as Brother Zhou.”

Jiang Sanjia lamented, “It is said that when he refined the Golden Pill, he used the fire of the earth, and above the sky, lightning was like snakes, thunder rumbled, and the phenomena were astonishing.”

Mu Xiaoyun also nodded slightly, “That eccentric was related to the Great Zhou imperial family, but even the Great Zhou imperial family didn’t know much. It seems this person’s identity was top secret.”

Jiang Sanjia was a Legacy of the Ghost Valley Sect, a sect with an ancient and profound Legacy, considered a veteran in the Jianghu. Mu Xiaoyun was from the Mu Family and also Liu Qingshan’s wife, privy to many secrets. Even the two of them didn’t know who that eccentric was, so it seemed this eccentric was truly an eccentric.

Jiang Sanjia sighed, “Brother Zhou, don’t think about that eccentric anymore. So many years have passed, the Great Zhou Dynasty has disintegrated, and after the Nine Kingdoms’ turmoil and a thousand years of changes, that eccentric couldn’t possibly still be alive.”

An Jing nodded, then turned to Mu Xiaoyun, “Madam, let’s get back to business. I wonder about the reward you promised me…”

“Brother Zhou, rest assured, the reward I offer will definitely satisfy you.”

Mu Xiaoyun gave An Jing a seductive glance and took out a parchment scroll from her plump waist, “It’s this item.”

Jiang Sanjia also curiously leaned over, then exclaimed, “You’re actually willing to bring this out?”