Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 583: You’re Scared? Me Too (part 2)

As word continued to spread about the Green Spirit Pharmacy, business picked up even more. That was especially true after Chen Fanzhuo from the Epactic Soil Sect purchased that lot of antidote pills. Those pills resolved the crisis in his sect, and as a result, every member felt deep reverence for Xu Qing.

Thanks to the threat of that sect, a host of smaller organizations all decided not to cause problems for the Green Spirit Pharmacy. Medicinal pill sales were going great, to the point where Ling’er was selling well over a hundred white boluses per day. Thankfully, Xu Qing had built up quite a stockpile of them, although he would occasionally concoct more to keep supplies up. In terms of ingredients, he had a lot stockpiled, but he would also buy certain ingredients when he could.

What was more, Chen Fanzhuo was always very respectful when he came to visit, and would bring along some medicinal plants as a gift. If Xu Qing wasn’t around when he came, he would simply hand over the plants, clasp hands to Ling’er, then leave.

When someone acted as politely as that, it was hard to feel ill will toward them. Chen Fanzhuo had come again, but instead of using his status and cultivation base to push his way to the front of the line, he just waited patiently. In fact, only when the line had died down did he finally enter the shop.

“Uncle Chen!” Ling’er said, smiling and waving.

“Miss Ling’er! Is the grandmaster busy concocting pills?” Chen Fanzhuo took out a bag of medicinal plants, put them on the counter, then glanced in the direction of the back room.

Ling’er was about to answer his question when the curtain to the back room flipped to the side and Xu Qing stepped out.

“Greetings, Grandmaster!” Chen Fanzhuo said, clasping hands in a very solemn fashion.

Xu Qing nodded. Upon scanning the man, he noted something surprising.

Chen Fanzhuo should have been able to purge all of the poison within himself by using Xu Qing’s pill and method. But looking at him, Xu Qing could still see poison. Some was left over from before, but there was also new poison there.

Xu Qing thoughtfully produced a white bolus and handed it to Chen Fanzhuo.

“Put that in your mouth and then perform one minor circulation of your cultivation base, except in reverse. As you do, let the pill melt.”

Chen Fanzhuo could sense from Xu Qing’s wording that something was off. After a brief moment of hesitation, he put the pill in his mouth and then rotated his cultivation base in the manner Xu Qing had described. Shortly after, the pill in his mouth dissolved, and the effects spread through his body.

“Focus your cultivation base power on your index finger,” Xu Qing said. “Force out a drop of blood onto this leaf.”

He held out a yellow medicinal plant.

Without any hesitation, Chen Fanzhuo forced a drop of black blood out of his index finger. When a noxious odor spread out, Chen Fanzhuo’s face fell. He had previously believed himself to be purged of poison, except clearly he wasn’t.

Not wanting to be careless, he very carefully guided the drop of blood onto the yellow medicinal plant Xu Qing had given him. When the blood landed on the plant, it caused hissing sounds, plus a greenish smoke. As the smoke writhed up into the air, it was possible to hear a howling sound that could pierce into the soul. When Chen Fanzhuo saw that, his pupils constricted. Waving his hand, he summoned some defenses. Apparently, he was worried that the smoke could contaminate the medicine shop. Although his actions were partly a show, they were also a display of sincerity.

Xu Qing examined Chen Fanzhuo again, then took out a transparent pill bottle. When he opened it, the energy inside seemed to exert a powerful force of extraction on the smoke. A moment later, all the smoke had been sucked into the bottle. Afterwards, Xu Qing corked the bottle and looked at it. The smoke swirled back and forth inside the cramped confines of the bottle. Eventually, it converged into the form of a green centipede. It looked vicious, and if you examined it closely, you would see that it was actually made up of a host of much smaller centipedes.

“Grandmaster, that....” Chen Fanzhuo was clearly horrified. The fact that his blood had such gruish centipedes in it made him shiver.

“It’s the soul of a centipeck crawler,” Xu Qing said. “It’s a fairly rare medicinal ingredient with mildly poisonous characteristics. It’s not very dangerous, and is usually used to track or identify the location of a target. That said, by combining it with other things, it can be turned into an effective poison.”

Xu Qing was actually pleasantly surprised. How could he have ever guessed that he would find a precious item from Grandmaster Bai’s medicinal codex here?

“Someone has their sights fixed on you,” Xu Qing continued. “Look, the centipeck crawler soul is very active, which indicates that the person targeting you probably isn’t very far away.”

As he spoke, the green centipede in the bottle thrashed back and forth for a moment, then smashed against the inside of the bottle.

The bottle vibrated, but Xu Qing kept his grip on it. “Hmm. The person targeting you is on the way here right now.”

Expression flickering, Chen Fanzhuo bowed solemnly to Xu Qing, then turned to the door. He knew that this grandmaster from the Green Spirit Pharmacy wasn’t duty bound to help him solve all his problems. It was already an expression of benevolence and righteousness for him to help with the poison. If he didn’t know what was good for him, he might have dragged Xu Qing into his personal issue. But that was not how he did things.

With such thoughts on his mind, he hurried to walk out the door. However, just when he was about to push it open, Xu Qing said, “He’s here.”

As the words left Xu Qing’s mouth, the sky above the mudbrick city filled with roiling clouds, along with a sound like the weeping of ghosts and howling of wolves. It was so horrifying that the common citizens in the city all slammed shut their doors and windows, and huddled trembling in their bedrooms. In the blink of an eye, the city streets emptied.

Meanwhile, the dark clouds swirled into the city itself, where they shrank down into the shape of a person. It only took moments for his features to become clearly visible. He was an old man in a voluminous robe, who pulsed with Nascent Soul fluctuations. He had flowing white hair, cold eyes, and a derisive smile. The edges of his robe were actually wisps of cloud, causing him to look particularly gruish.

“How dare you steal from me, ya little punk! Tired of living, I suppose?”

This old man was the true form of the same one-eyed cultivator who had provoked Xu Qing. Their initial clash had left the old man edgy and alarmed. He had gone into hiding to avoid Xu Qing, until he’d felt the coast was clear. Then he had cautiously come out, only to find that his old mansion grotto had been cleared out by someone else. Upon examining the evidence and finding that the thief was a Gold Core cultivator, his fury had burned. Given that he was accustomed to poison, he had been able to easily track down the culprit. Thanks to the connection to his poison, all it took was a glance at Chen Fanzhuo to determine that he was the thief. Eyes gleaming coldly, he prepared to approach.

However... Chen Fanzhuo was currently standing right in front of the Green Spirit Pharmacy.

During the process of looking at Chen Fanzhuo, the old man couldn’t help but take in the medicine shop as well. He saw the ugly girl behind the counter, and he saw Xu Qing standing there, his face completely expressionless. The moment the old man saw Xu Qing, his pupils constricted. He stopped in place and began to shake from head to toe.

Th-th-this.... It’s him! I can’t believe he’s here!!

The old man felt like his mind was being struck by 1,000,000 lightning bolts. Although he wasn’t completely scared out of his mind, he certainly wasn’t interested in escalating the situation. He was truly terrified of Xu Qing, and still felt his heart pounding in fear at the thought of the battle prowess he had sensed that day.

What was worse, he was convinced this person was a monstrous freak who had more assets to fear besides his cultivation base. For instance, Xu Qing’s keen senses were definitely something to fear. Then you added in the fact that the old man’s poisons were ineffective against him, and it was no wonder that he suddenly felt a deep sense of deadly crisis. Most relevant of all was that he was here in his true form!

Meanwhile, Chen Fanzhuo was as terrified as this old man. The truth was that recently, he really had led a group to plunder a mansion grotto. The mansion grotto had seemed abandoned, but there were still a lot of valuables inside. After the job was done, Chen Fanzhou had been worried that someone would come back to the mansion grotto, but hadn’t ever seen it happen. At first, he had been relieved. Later, when he realized he’d been poisoned, he came to the Green Spirit Pharmacy for help.

Moments ago when Xu Qing had mentioned a poison that could ‘track or identify the location of a target,’ he had suddenly felt very nervous. Now that he realized the person targeting him was apparently a Nascent Soul cultivator, he felt himself descended into pure terror. Unfortunately, he couldn’t flee. All he could do was stand there with the pressure weighing down on him.

Trembling, he managed to say, “Calm yourself, Senior. I know I made a mistake... I still have all your things....”

His words had absolutely no effect on anything. In fact, the old man actually seemed more scared than he was, and wasn’t moving a muscle. As of this moment, the old man wasn’t even thinking about the things that had been taken from his mansion grotto. The only thing he was thinking about was how to stay alive.

From a distance, it was actually a very strange scene. Chen Fanzhuo was staring fearfully at the old man. And the old man was staring fearfully at something straight ahead of him. Neither of them dared to move.

Everything was completely quiet.

The fact that the old man wasn’t saying anything caused Chen Fanzhuo’s terror to build. The fact that Xu Qing wasn’t saying anything caused the old man’s terror to reach ocean-like proportions. As the crisis feeling built, the old man’s mind raced as he analyzed the situation.

This is a medicine shop. That ugly girl is the source of the fragrant aroma. From her clothes, she looks like a shop worker. This is that freakish monster’s medicine shop! Given how terrified the Gold Core thief is, he’s obviously not working with the freakish monster. I bet he doesn’t even know the monster’s actual cultivation level. Obviously the monster doesn’t want his cultivation revealed. But if so, why’s he hiding out here?

He must be working on some mysterious plan! My arrival could potentially force the monster to reveal his cultivation base, and thus ruin his mysterious plan. And if that happens, he’s obviously going to be angry at me.

But if I just turn around and leave, the same thing could happen! I can’t beat him in a fight. And I can’t run away....

The old man’s eyes turned bloodshot as he realized he was in a no-win situation. Gritting his teeth, he took a few steps forward and plastered an expression of solemn joy onto his face.

“Benefactor!” he said. “What are you doing here, sir?”

Chen Fanzhuo’s jaw dropped.