We're practicing all martial arts, so why did you switch to easy mode?

Chapter 138 Killing Hongshan Again, Finally Obtaining the Elixir Formula

The same moves, different opponents, but the results were surprisingly consistent.

As the hidden knife fell, Hong Shan's life came to an end.

Su Chen severed his neck with a single stroke, and his head suddenly floated up. The blood stagnated for several seconds before gushing out like a spring.

boom!
The immense inertia propelled Hongshan forward several steps before he lost his footing and collapsed violently, his massive body slamming into the ground and flattening the low trees and flowers below with a dull thud.

"call!"

Both Qiao Qiliang and Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this scene. Although the time and number of times they had fought with Hong Shan were relatively short, the pressure on them was immense.

After all, Hong Hai was poisoned by two kinds of poison, which seriously affected his strength. In the end, he was killed only after Su Chen slowly maneuvered him. However, Hong Shan was only injured, and it seemed that the injury did not affect his combat power much. The two were really worried that this sneak attack would end in failure.

Fortunately, the result was encouraging.

"I never dreamed that I would be able to kill a Bloodthirsty Warrior one day." Qiao Qiliang looked at Hong Shan's corpse and sighed.

Su Chen was already looting the corpse, but he was still standing there, completely oblivious.

This shows how much killing Hongshan impacted his world, to the point that he forgot to even touch the corpse.

"Damn it, you're done touching me? You didn't leave me anything, that's too much!"

After a long while, Qiao Qiliang reacted. When he saw Su Chen get up, his expression froze, and he shouted loudly.

Su Chen frowned, slightly speechless. This guy...

"Let's not talk about this now. Let's dispose of the body properly and leave quickly," Su Chen said, patting Qiao Qiliang's shoulder.

Qiao Qiliang nodded, then found an open space, piled up some wood, placed Hong Shan's body on it, and lit a fire.

"go!"

The small fire quickly blazed up, and Su Chen looked at Qiao Qiliang and said something before turning around and leaving with him.

After running for a short while, Qiao Qiliang asked curiously, "What are you running for?"

"somebody is coming."

"From the Rebirth Sect?"

"It's uncertain; it could be the Luo family, but whichever it is, we are no match for them."

"That's true. So where do we go now?"

"Find a place to hide those big boxes, and then frame the Rebirth Cult and the Luo family."

Qiao Qiliang: "..."

……

"Uncle Yun, it's Hongshan!"

The Luo family members who rushed over following the firelight were stunned by what they saw. They stared blankly at Hong Shan's corpse in the flames, a strange chill running from their heels to the top of their heads, making them tremble with fear.

First Hong Hai, then Hong Shan; both of the Blood Transformation Realm experts in the Hong Clan's team died tragically.

"Who did this?" A member of the Luo family swallowed hard, muttering to himself, his voice tinged with fear.

No one answered his question; they all fell silent.

Luo Yun frowned, his eyes filled with doubt. For a moment, he was also unable to figure out who the murderer was.

Religion of the dead?

Unlikely.

But apart from the Rebirth Sect, he couldn't think of any other force that could kill Hong Hai and Hong Shan in succession.

After watching for a long time, Luo Yun shook his head and said, "It's a pity that the two of them fell into the trap and separated. Otherwise, with the two of them working together, they would never have ended up like this."

Even more regrettably, the formula for the Qi and Blood Pill was likely obtained by the murderer.

"Let's go."

Luo Yun sighed softly and was about to take a step when a bad thought suddenly flashed through his mind, and his expression changed slightly.

He then said to the men behind him, "Go back and check on Hong Hai's body!"

Before the others could respond, Luo Yun transformed into a gust of wind and drifted away. The others exchanged glances and followed closely behind.

When they arrived at the camp, they saw the raging fire again. Hong Hai's body had been completely burned by the fire and there was no way to save him.

"Destroy the body and cover up the evidence! Destroy the body and cover up the evidence!" The ominous feeling gradually intensified, and Luo Yun's voice trembled as he guessed the murderer's intentions.

This is an attempt to frame the Luo family!
No, there's also the Rebirth Sect.

Of all the teams that intercepted the Hong family, the two most obvious forces were the Luo family and the Rebirth Sect. Now that the Hong family's team has been completely wiped out, it will be difficult for the Luo family and the Rebirth Sect to clear their names.

In particular, now that the body has been destroyed to cover up the crime, there is no way to defend themselves. The Hong family will definitely believe that all of this was done in collusion between the Luo family and the Rebirth Cult.

Thinking back to the scene of exchanging accusations with the Rebirth Sect, Luo Yun felt like crying but couldn't express his suffering. However, at this moment, what he felt more was not regret, but a strong killing intent towards the person behind all of this.

"Don't let me find out who you are, or I, Luo Yun, will spend the rest of my life wiping out your entire clan!"

Luo Yun gritted his teeth fiercely. He had been used and made a huge scapegoat. Once he found out the murderer's identity, he would never let him go!

"Hmph, let's go!"

……

After spending some time, Su Chen and Qiao Qiliang found a secluded spot and hid all fourteen large boxes.

After dawn, the two changed their clothes, disguised themselves, and left Funiu Mountain. They didn't return to Dafeng City until noon.

The trip was very fruitful; the two returned laden with spoils, chatting and laughing all the way, showing no signs of having just gone through a life-or-death battle.

After returning to the villa, the two went to the study, dismissed the maids and servants around them, and then sat down facing each other, taking out everything they had gained from the trip.

In front of Su Chen were a few silver notes, three porcelain bottles, and two sheepskin scrolls.

In front of Qiao Qiliang was a pile of strange and unusual things, including stones, sculptures, and other bizarre objects.

Su Chen realized that Qiao Qiliang was only enjoying the pleasure of looting corpses, and didn't care what he found. After all, given his status, only rare and unusual items could attract his attention.

Shaking his head and ignoring Qiao Qiliang's delight in playing with the stones, Su Chen began to check his haul: a total of twenty-seven Qi and Blood Pills in the three porcelain bottles.

Not many, even pitifully few.

But that's normal. After all, who would kill someone and carry so many pills? Besides, not everyone is qualified to obtain Qi and Blood Pills. The vast majority of these pills are carried by members of the Hong Clan.

The scattered silver notes totaled 50,000 taels, which was quite a lot.

Actually, there was more, but Su Chen and Qiao Qiliang only took silver notes. There was too much silver, and silver notes were not as convenient to carry, so they simply didn't take any.

Su Chen now possesses some assets, and having just acquired fourteen large chests of wealth, he naturally doesn't care about those loose silver coins.

Of course, the biggest gain this time was neither the silver notes nor the fourteen large chests, but the formula for the Qi and Blood Pill.

Su Chen picked up the two parchment scrolls and examined them carefully.

Strangely, he found these two parchment scrolls on Hong Shan and Hong Hai respectively. The words on them were completely different, but they seemed to have a continuity, as if a complete scroll had been split into two parts.

"So, did you figure anything out?"

At this moment, Qiao Qiliang stepped forward to ask, as he couldn't understand the pill formula at all.

"Hmm, the handwriting is quite nice," Su Chen replied casually, causing Qiao Qiliang to exhale heavily.

"How about I find an alchemist?" Qiao Qiliang asked.

Su Chen shook his head: "No, this matter cannot be known to others. I will study it over the next few days to see if this pill formula is genuine."

"also!"

Qiao Qiliang did not object and nodded solemnly.

……

At the foot of Funiu Mountain, beside the only mountain road.

"Vice Master, we've been waiting for ages. The Luo family left early this morning, but the Hong family hasn't shown up yet. Could something have happened?" The burly man looked around anxiously, but still couldn't see any sign of the Hong family's group, so he asked in bewilderment.

Ding Yi remained silent, lost in thought, and also felt something was strange. Given Hong's speed, it shouldn't have taken half a day to travel this distance without any movement. Could something really have happened?
"Let's wait a little longer!" He Quan said at this moment.

And so, the group waited until evening, but still saw no sign of the Hong family's group. "Let's go!"

Ding Yi glanced at the end of the mountain road one last time, then spoke to the group.

The group left the Funiu Mountain area and arrived at a nearby town. They found a restaurant and sat down to eat and drink together.

"What? You said the Hong family's wedding procession was completely wiped out? That's impossible!"

"It's true. This matter has already spread. The Hong family is furious and has dispatched various forces to investigate the real culprit behind it."

"I heard it was done by the Rebirth Sect."

"Wait a minute, I heard it was made by the Luo family."

"You're all wrong. I heard it was done by the Rebirth Sect and the Luo Clan."

"..."

The surrounding diners started discussing it heatedly.

This caused Ding Yi and his companions, who were enjoying their meal, to gradually slow down. They looked at each other, puzzled and then filled with shock.

"Vice Leader, the more I listen, the more something seems off. We haven't done anything, so how did they put this label on us? These people are going too far!" the big man said in a low voice, clearly dissatisfied.

"Shh, this isn't the place to talk. Be careful, there are too many people watching. Hurry up and eat, we'll talk after you finish!" He Quan pressed down on the big man, shook his head, and signaled him to shut up.

The group, who had been enjoying their meal, suddenly found themselves unable to eat anymore. They hastily paid their bill and left, finding an inn to stay at temporarily.

Snapped!
"Outrageous! The Luo family are a bunch of beasts! They actually framed us!" The burly man slammed his fist on the table, his face full of indignation.

He had been unhappy with the Luo family before, and when he revealed his background, he framed them. Now he is blatantly spreading rumors that they are the murderers.

He felt both angry and wronged; they hadn't even avenged their grievances, so how could they be the culprits?

“Vice Master, I feel that things are not so simple. I'm afraid the real culprit is someone else,” He Quan said after a moment of contemplation.

Ding Yi gestured to stop the burly man, then looked at He Quan and asked, "What makes you say that?"

"Judging from the discussion just now, not only us, but even the Luo family could be the murderers. If it really was the Luo family, I'm afraid that only our Rebirth Sect would be left in the public eye now. Therefore, I dare to speculate that this matter has nothing to do with the Luo family."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "The murderer may be someone else. They slandered us and the Luo family, inciting the Hong family's hatred towards us. Their intentions are malicious and they deserve to be punished!"

He Quan subconsciously assumed that the murderer was a powerful force, unaware that there were actually only two people.

"Regardless of whether other forces are involved, the Hong family will probably take action against us now. Let's pack our things and leave the inn. We should first send a message to the gang leader and then investigate this matter secretly."

After listening to He Quan's analysis, Ding Yi made a decisive decision and then led the group away from the town.

Xuan Shui Sect.

From the upper floors of the building, one can overlook all directions.

The three men—Hong Jinfeng, the patriarch of the Hong clan; Hong Jingrui, the sect leader of the Xuanshui Sect; and Hong Jinnian, the leader of the Xuanshui Gang—gathered here, all with solemn expressions.

"This is a message from Hong Jinchen. The entire wedding procession was wiped out, and it is suspected to be the work of the Rebirth Sect and the Luo family."

Hong Jinfeng, the patriarch of the Hong clan, said with a gloomy face. He didn't care much about the deaths of others, but what really angered him were the deaths of Hong Shan and Hong Hai, two martial artists at the Blood Transformation Realm.

A Blood Transformation Realm warrior is enough to establish a sect in Qinzhou and dominate a region. They are top-tier combat power in any force. Now that two have been lost in succession, even the Hong family can't help but feel a little heartache.

Furthermore, with the two dead, the formula for the Qi and Blood Pill on their bodies would likely fall into the hands of others, which would undoubtedly be a further blow to the Hong family. However, he was not particularly worried about this. The formula was indeed genuine, but refining the Qi and Blood Pill using the formula would not be so simple.

Upon hearing this, Hong Jingrui coldly replied, "This is my responsibility, and I will send someone to investigate it thoroughly."

Hong Jinfeng gave Hong Jingrui a deep look, then turned his gaze to Hong Jinnian. Hong Jinnian knew what he was going to ask, so he said, "After Hong Shan, Hong Hai and others died, our people found Chu Qing, and he has agreed to bring the pill formula back to the Chu family."

Upon hearing this, Hong Jinfeng sneered. He really had a clever plan: to wait until everyone was dead before showing up.

"Then let him take it back," he said in a deep voice, completely unconcerned about the pill formula.

After a brief pause, Hong Jinfeng continued, "Now that we've given the Chu family the pill formula, it's time for them to fulfill their obligations as in-laws. Send a message to the Chu family, asking them to put pressure on Qian Xinghai. Our people will lead the effort to join forces with the government to eradicate the Rebirth Sect."

The two nodded.

Hong Jinnian asked, "What about the Luo family?"

“The Luo family can’t be touched for the time being,” Hong Jinfeng said, shaking his head.

Hong Jinnian didn't ask any more questions. Just because they couldn't act now didn't mean they couldn't act later. In short, if anyone dared to make a move against the Hong family, they would eventually take it all back from the Luo family with interest.

Afterwards, the three briefly discussed the matter of eradicating the Rebirth Cult before parting ways.

……

While the outside world was in turmoil, the villa was quiet yet bustling with activity.

Since returning from Mount Funiu, Su Chen has been staying in the villa researching two pill formulas.

As he guessed, the two sheepskin scrolls together formed the complete formula for the Qi and Blood Pill, but its authenticity remained to be verified.

However, he did see the reason for the love-hate relationship between the Chu and Hong families from this prescription. It turned out that the most crucial ingredient in the Qi and Blood Pill was called Fire Blood Grass, and only the Chu family of Yunzhou could provide this herb.

The Chu family monopolized all medicinal herb businesses in Yunzhou and prevented any cultivation of Fire Blood Grass from taking place in the market. Once discovered, they would take swift and decisive action, resulting in no one in Yunzhou cultivating Fire Blood Grass. Anyone who wanted Fire Blood Grass could only purchase it through the Chu family's channels.

Because of the special properties of Fire Blood Grass, only Yunzhou meets the planting conditions, which means that the Hong family has to purchase a large amount of Fire Blood Grass from the Chu family. The Chu family takes advantage of this to get the Hong family to exchange it for Qi and Blood Pills.

Of course, this was just a minor incident in the research process and is not surprising.

Next, Su Chen began to study the pill formula. The complete formula only described the names of the required herbs and the order in which they were added, without providing detailed descriptions of the heat, steps, etc.

Therefore, even an experienced alchemist, upon seeing this complete formula, would find it unlikely to be able to refine the exact same Qi and Blood Pill as the Hong family's in a short period of time.

Su Chen doesn't have such worries for the time being. Right now, he's finding it extremely difficult to even refine a normal pill. After studying it for several days, he still hasn't managed to refine a complete batch of Qi and Blood Pills. All he gets are residues and leaks, making it look terrible.

This made him start to doubt the authenticity of the pill formula. Surely it couldn't be that the failure to refine the pills was entirely his fault?

Whether it's true or not, he's definitely not going to admit it!
Despite repeated setbacks in refining elixirs, the medicinal materials were plentiful, so a few... even dozens of failures didn't matter.

This day.

Su Chen continued refining pills, but the magpies in the yard started chirping. A little while later, Qiao Qiliang walked into the basement, which was filled with the smell of medicinal herbs.

To avoid being discovered by the Hong family, Su Chen mostly refined pills in the basement, which resulted in a strong smell of medicinal herbs mixed with various other odors.

"Stop refining pills, look what good stuff I brought you." Seeing that Su Chen was still refining pills, Qiao Qiliang pulled Su Chen out of the secret room.

Outside the courtyard, even the air felt fresher.

"This is……"

Su Chen looked at the things on the stone table and asked in confusion.

Qiao Qiliang smiled and said, "This is a complete sword manual I found for you, and it also includes a method for cultivating internal energy. These are Qi and Blood Pills, a total of seventy, which should be enough for you to use for a while."

"What's wrong?" Seeing that Su Chen didn't speak but just looked at him, Qiao Qiliang was stunned for a moment and asked inexplicably.

Su Chen shook his head and smiled slightly: "It's nothing, you've really brought me some fantastic news!"

A complete sword manual—it feels like I've struck it rich! And seventy Qi and Blood Pills—it definitely feels like I've struck it rich.

"Haha, I'm glad you like it!" Qiao Qiliang thought there was something wrong, but couldn't help but laugh out loud after hearing this.

Seeing Su Chen pick up the manual, he introduced it, "This sword technique is called the 'White Rainbow Sword Technique.' Although it's not top-tier, it's still quite remarkable, and it's rather difficult to master. You can decide for yourself."

Not top-tier?
It doesn't matter; as long as it's incorporated into the art of drawing the sword, it will become a top-notch swordsmanship.

His swordsmanship is so advanced that he has even slain a Bloodthirsty Warrior; calling him top-tier is entirely well-deserved.

"Oh, right, there's one more thing," Qiao Qiliang suddenly said.

Su Chen looked at him.

"It's about the Rebirth Cult." At this point, Qiao Qiliang's expression turned strange. "As you predicted, the Hong family is going to take action against the Rebirth Cult, but they plan to join forces with the government to wipe out the remnants of the Rebirth Cult."

"Oh? When?" Su Chen raised an eyebrow.

"It hasn't been finalized yet, but it should be around in the next few days. The official document has already been issued. I've also heard another piece of news: this operation is very likely to be led by the Xuan Shui Gang."

"Why?"

"Because the Xuan Shui Gang occupied a large amount of the Liu He Gang's territory, they wanted to consolidate their territory and gain fame, so they sent people to wipe out the Wang Sheng Sect."

(End of this chapter)