Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 6 - Psychedelic Powder

“These are some herbs I require. Send them to me once they’re collected. As for the cost of these herbs, deduct them from the profits.”

Lei Tao picked up the list and locked his brows together. After their discussion, his attitude towards Liu Wuxie had changed significantly. He suspected the rumors about Liu Wuxie in the outside world to be fake. That superior aura he emitted could only be grasped by an expert.

Lei Tao put the list on the table and said unhappily, “This branch has almost all of them, but we need to bring the Nine Yang Fruit and Scarlet Spirit Grass from the imperial city. That will take at least five days.”

“I’ll come again five days from now.” The two herbs were the main ingredients for refining the Pulse Guarding Pill, and he had to get them at any cost. Since he had already achieved his goal, he stood up and left the room.

Lei Tao and Master Huo also stood up. Master Huo, who had completely changed his attitude, trailed behind Liu Wuxie like a loyal servant. He knew that his life was in Liu Wuxie’s hands, and he had to please him well.

Lei Tao asked Master Huo, “Are you sure the formula is genuine? A failed cooperation of this magnitude will hurt the Treasure Pill Pavilion, and the Pavilion Master will punish us when he returns.” Lei Tao had not been involved in the negotiation from the start. Master Huo handled most of the Treasure Pill Pavilion matters, and Lei Tao only dealt with the sales.

“I ran over a dozen simulations in my mind, and this formula is very likely real. The moment it goes public, it’ll greatly raise our Treasure Pill Pavilion’s position in the Great Yan Dynasty. Go and send him off and fulfill any request he has. We’ll know the result in five days.”

But Master Huo’s gaze flashed with a hint of coldness when he said the last sentence. If Liu Wuxie failed to produce the Heavenly Spirit Pill in five days, Master Huo would personally visit the Xu Clan and kill him.

Liu Wuxie came out of the inner hall after an hour. The main hall was crowded with people, and the broken counters were already fixed. The servants who were beaten up by Liu Wuxie glared at him with resentment.

“Brat, you’re still alive? So what! Die!” The purple-robed man attacked Liu Wuxie as soon as he saw him, swinging his ruler down. This sudden attack shocked everyone because they didn’t expect Liu Wuxie to come out from the inner hall unharmed, and this was illogical.

“Is this how the Treasure Pill Pavilion treats its guests, Manager Lei?” Liu Wuxie didn’t react and noticed Lei Tao hiding behind the door curtain with his sharp senses.

Lei Tao wanted to probe Liu Wuxie’s true strength, but he knew he couldn’t continue to hide because of their deal. He strode into the main hall and yelled, “Zhou Tong, stop!”

Zhou Tong stopped swinging his ruler when he heard Lei Tao’s roar. Lei Tao’s Xiantian Realm aura almost blew Zhou Tong away. Zhou Tong’s hair was messy, and his face was fierce. He didn’t understand why Lei Tao prevented him from killing Liu Wuxie.

“Manager Lei, I have an additional condition for our deal. I never want to see this person in the Treasure Pill Pavilion again. If you can’t agree to this condition, I’m afraid our cooperation is over!” Liu Wuxie said and walked out of the Treasure Pill Pavilion. The crowd parted for him, staring at his back.

“Zhou Tong, pack your things and leave the Treasure Pill Pavilion. I will compensate you with three months’ salary, but you will no longer be associated with the Treasure Pill Pavilion from this moment onwards,” Lei Tao spoke calmly, but his words shocked everyone like a thunderbolt. The main hall erupted in an uproar because Liu Wuxie was the reason Zhou Tong was fired, and they couldn’t understand what had happened. They wondered what had transpired between Liu Wuxie and Lei Tao.

“NOOO!” Zhou Tong roared as he fell on his butt. He enjoyed a lavish lifestyle as a supervisor in the Treasure Pill Pavilion, where he received high treatment. Without the Treasure Pill Pavilion, he had nothing. Losing his job there meant losing everything.

“It’s because of that garbage! I’ll kill him!” Zhou Tong retorted with bloodshot eyes. He left the Treasure Pill Pavilion without even taking the compensation.

Lei Tao didn’t stop him. He took out the list Liu Wuxie gave him and said, “Prepare all the herbs listed here and send them to the Xu Clan.”

“Yes!” The supervisor in charge of herbs naturally noticed the change in Lei Tao’s attitude. He grabbed the list and went to get the herbs himself. As for Zhou Tong, everyone neglected him as they were more curious to know how Liu Wuxie had managed to change the Treasure Pill Pavilion’s opinion of him.

After leaving the Treasure Pill Pavilion, Liu Wuxie didn’t return to the Xu Clan and headed towards West Street instead. The ‘friends’ who invited him last night resided in West Street, and he wanted to investigate who wanted him dead.

When he turned the corner of the street, two servants of the Xu Clan were passing by. They saw Liu Wuxie heading to West Street and said, “Hurry, tell master. That garbage is off to see his friends again.”

It was no secret that the Xu Clan’s servants called Liu Wuxie garbage secretly.

Liu Wuxie passed through two alleys and appeared before a courtyard. The previous Liu Wuxie often visited this place to eat, drink and have fun with his three friends. They would surely have some information about what happened last night.

But the courtyard was empty when he pushed the gate open and stepped in. The residents of this courtyard had most likely fled Azure Billow City last night.

Liu Wuxie scanned the main hall, and his eyes stopped at a small sachet in the corner. It was the size of a baby’s fist and looked out of place. He went over and picked it up, sniffing it. He knew from his memories that his three ‘friends’ didn’t use this kind of sachet, so who did it belong to?

“The Psychedelic Powder!” Liu Wuxie narrowed his eyes. The fragrance of this Psychedelic Powder could make someone hallucinate and lose their reason with just one sniff.

He muttered to himself, pocketing the sachet, “Just as I thought...someone paid them off last night to trick me into going to the brothel. Then they killed me with a palm strike and made the brothel collapse, making it look like I died under the rubble.” The Psychedelic Powder was not easy to refine. Who wanted him dead?

Liu Wuxie found no more clues and hurried back to the Xu Clan. A crowd of servants was outside the main hall, trying to see what was happening inside.

Xu Yilin had a frown on his face, and a few baskets of weapons were in front of him. There were blades, swords, forks, and halberts. The Xu Clan was famous for producing weapons in Azure Billow City, and forging weapons was their primary source of income.

The Xu Clan had five workshops, and they made thousands of weapons every day. But they still couldn’t meet the demand.

Yang Zi was also there, sitting like a pure white lotus with a worried look on her face.

Liu Wuxie heard whispers outside the main hall as he made his way through the crowd. “The Tian Clan poached Our Xu Clan’s master blacksmiths, and they even took our unique forging techniques with them. This is a huge loss for us.”

Among the four big clans in Azure Billow City, the Xu Clan made a living through forging weapons, controlling about 70% of the market in the city. The Tian Clan held the remaining 30%. This was because the Tian Clan’s forging technique was inferior to the Xu Clan.

When Xu Yilin was young, he made a living by forging weapons that allowed him to rise to fame in Azure Billow City.

But lately, the Tian Clan had hired a master blacksmith from somewhere and showed signs of overtaking the Xu Clan. Although the Tian Clan’s forging techniques caught up to the Xu Clan, the Xu Clan still monopolized the market because of their affordable weapon prices.

This naturally resulted in competition between the two clans. But the Xu Clan was more conservative and wouldn’t take the initiative to provoke the Tian Clan. This caused the Tian Clan to become more hostile, and they snatched away some blacksmiths from the Xu Clan.

Xu Yilin had taught those master blacksmiths himself, and they had a bond like master and apprentice. But they turned their backs on the Xu Clan, and this shocked the Xu Clan greatly.

The weapons in the baskets were crude. Xu Yilin picked up a blade and gently gave it a flick, easily creating a chip on it. This proved that this blade was defective.

He put the blade down, looked around, and fixed his eyes on Liu Wuxie, who could only walk in bearing the pressure. Everyone he passed by had a smug expression on their faces as they watched him.

“You went to West Street again?” Xu Yilin’s face sank. He hadn’t punished Liu Wuxie for last night’s incident, and he ran off to West Street again to fool around, especially when the Xu Clan was in trouble.

“You trash! How can you still show your face here? If it weren’t for you, our Xu Clan’s reputation wouldn’t have fallen so low!" Yang Zi stepped forward, pointing at Liu Wuxie, and blamed him for everything.

The upper ranks of the Xu Clan smiled behind their hands, looking down on Liu Wuxie.

“Mother, let’s focus on the weapons first.” Xu Lingxue stepped forward, interrupting Yang Zi. Liu Wuxie was her husband, no matter how awful he was. So mocking him was no different from mocking her. She also shot a fierce look at Liu Wuxie and ignored him.

Liu Wuxie knew he was unwelcome and could only step aside to watch quietly.

“Deacon Lan, how much of these defective products are sold?” Xu Yilin frowned and turned to look at Deacon Lan, who was in charge of the weapon sales. All the transactions and accounts had to go through him.

“Roughly five hundred in total, but we immediately cut off the supply after realizing it. These are all the defective products we managed to retrieve. There aren’t many left on the market,” Deacon Lan replied. They were lucky to find and retrieve them in time, or they would face serious consequences.

Liu Wuxie picked up a blade and gave it a light tap, making it emit a complex vibration, and he swiftly analyzed it. The blade was made of high quality materials, but they were not fully utilized because the forging technique was poor.

“Young Master, someone claiming to be from the Treasure Pill Pavilion, came to deliver a huge package of herbs. You are required to collect it.” The Xu Clan’s butler came in.

When Liu Wuxie heard that the herbs were delivered, he greeted Xu Yilin before leaving the main hall.