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

Chapter 143 Success in Alchemy, Hidden Void Blade
Upon hearing Su Chen's question, Qiao Qiliang immediately understood Su Chen's intentions; he was definitely after the Hong family.

Although we cannot eliminate the Hong family for the time being, it is something to celebrate if we can make them suffer.

So he said, "I'll let you know when it starts."

Su Chen nodded, then suddenly said, "By the way, I'm planning to leave Dafeng City for a while."

"Ah, why is that?" Qiao Qiliang was taken aback and asked in surprise.

When he noticed Su Chen's gaze fixed on the three corpses, he suddenly realized what was happening and asked in a low voice, "Are you worried that the Hong family won't let this go?"

"Yes!" Su Chen nodded and added, "The fact that the Hong family has dispatched their secret guards shows that they are going to officially start dealing with me. Now that I have killed the secret guards, the Hong family will not let me go. I will definitely face a storm of attacks from the Hong family next."

“But if you leave, wouldn’t that give the Hong family a chance to make a move?” Qiao Qiliang asked, frowning.

Su Chen shook his head: "Not necessarily."

Qiao Qiliang was speechless, recalling Su Chen's incredible disguise skills, which could not only change one's appearance but also one's physique.

If Su Chen can really leave without anyone noticing, the Hong family might not be able to find him.

Thinking this, Qiao Qiliang fell silent, his brows furrowed, lost in thought.

Su Chen spoke again: "Don't worry, I won't go too far from Dafeng City. I still need you to provide me with Fire Blood Grass. I can take advantage of this time to study Qi and Blood Pills. Otherwise, people will always come to bother me, and I will inevitably be distracted."

This idea wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision; it was something I had prepared for a long time. It just so happened that I was ambushed by the secret guards, so I only brought it up now.

The conflict with the Hong family has reached an irreparable point, but Su Chen's strength is not enough to completely contend with the enormous Hong family. He must improve his strength as soon as possible.

Refining Qi and Blood Pills is undoubtedly one of the shortcuts.

Upon hearing this, Qiao Qiliang looked up at Su Chen and said, "I do have a solution that satisfies both sides."

"any solution?"

“You just want to find a quiet place to refine pills and avoid the interference of the Hong family.” Qiao Qiliang turned to the three corpses on the ground. “I can announce to the outside world that you died together with three guards, that you faked your death to escape, and that you joined the Four Seas Gang as an alchemist.”

The Four Seas Gang is the second "Six Harmonies Gang" selected by the government. Now that everything is in need of rebuilding, having Su Chen join as an alchemist would not be a problem even if the Hong family becomes suspicious, since the number of people in the Four Seas Gang is growing rapidly every day.

After listening for a moment, Su Chen replied, "Okay!"

How many times have I moved?

Su Chen couldn't remember exactly, but it must have been the fourth or fifth time, anyway, quite a few times.

That very evening, Su Chen packed his things, disguised himself as a middle-aged alchemist, and joined the Four Seas Gang.

After he left, Qiao Qiliang set fire to the villa and burned it to the ground. The next day, he announced that Su Chen had died along with three bodyguards.

He knew that the Hong family wouldn't believe him easily, but as long as they couldn't find Su Chen, they had no choice but to believe him for the time being.

Even if the investigation continues, it will give Su Chen some time to prepare.

What Su Chen lacks now is time. With time, he can refine Qi and Blood Pills and improve his strength. This is why Su Chen agreed to Qiao Qiliang's plan.

What Su Chen didn't expect was that Qiao Qiliang would arrange for him to stay at the Cai residence.

The Cai residence is now bustling with activity, having become one of the headquarters of the Four Seas Gang.

Su Chen found the courtyard where Zhu Yan had lived and moved in. It was relatively quiet, and there were many medical books that Zhu Yan had previously placed on the bookshelf.

It's perfect for him to live here.

After checking in, Su Chen began to study the Qi and Blood Pill.

Ten days have passed in the blink of an eye.

inside the room.

Su Chen stared intently at the alchemy furnace, adding various materials in the correct order and proportions. The furnace emitted a boiling sound, which quickly subsided.

Time passed slowly, and the alchemy furnace suddenly began to shake violently. Just when Su Chen thought that this alchemy attempt had ended in failure again, the shaking alchemy furnace slowly stopped shaking.

This change made Su Chen's eyes light up. He took a deep breath and stared intently at the alchemy furnace with expectant eyes, afraid that there might be the slightest mistake.

After an unknown amount of time, white smoke suddenly emerged from the alchemy furnace, rising in wisps and quickly filling the sky.

However, Su Chen showed no sign of panic at all; on the contrary, he became even more expectant. This was a sign that he was about to succeed in forming the pill!

After some time, the white smoke dissipated, and everything returned to calm. Su Chen waited for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before opening the alchemy furnace.

"It's done!"

When Su Chen saw a slightly reddish pill lying alone inside the alchemy furnace, he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

After a moment, he picked up the pill and examined it carefully.

"It contains impurities, has a dull color, and a rough surface. This doesn't seem like Hong's Qi and Blood Pill."

After observing for a few moments, Su Chen muttered to himself, a look of suspicion on his face. Compared to the Qi and Blood Pill of the Hong Clan, this one seemed more like a defective product.

He wasn't sure if it was actually a Qi and Blood Pill.

He reached out and picked at some of the residue on the pill, tasted it lightly, and then nodded slightly: "It's a bit like a Qi and Blood Pill."

It tastes almost identical to Qi Xue Dan (a traditional Chinese medicine formula), and it can also boost Qi and blood.

“Try again!”

Su Chen felt relieved. The therapeutic effects of the Wudinggong gave him confidence, and he planned to test the medicine on himself.

Su Chen cut off half of the Qi and Blood Pill, swallowed it, and then waited quietly. About fifteen minutes later, Su Chen's smile spread across his face.

"It's most likely a Qi and Blood Pill, but it's inferior to the Hong family's Qi and Blood Pill in both efficacy and appearance. But that's okay, it means I'm on the right track. With some further improvements, it might be able to achieve the same effect as the Qi and Blood Pill."

After swallowing the entire pill, Su Chen concluded that this Qi and Blood Pill was at best a defective one, with an efficacy estimated to be only half that of the original Qi and Blood Pill.

He was not discouraged. His immediate priority was to continue refining the pills. He needed to master the current refining method and see if it could only produce this type of Qi and Blood Pill. If not, he would see where improvements were needed.

In the following few alchemy sessions, Su Chen followed this method to refine pills, and he was able to successfully refine pills almost every time, ranging from one to three pills, with roughly the same effect, about half that of Hong's Qi and Blood Pill.

This means that this method can only produce the effect of five layers of Qi and Blood Pills. Su Chen needs to make further improvements on this basis in order to achieve better medicinal effects.

Su Chen had been refining pills until evening, and had already produced ten flawed Qi and Blood Pills. He planned to continue cultivating after dinner, but unexpectedly, Qiao Qiliang, whom he hadn't seen for many days, arrived with a group of people.

"These are the medicinal herbs you requested; they're all in the courtyard." Qiao Qiliang brought a large quantity of medicinal herbs, the most abundant of which was Fire Blood Grass.

After driving away his men, only the two of them remained in the courtyard. Qiao Qiliang took out a stack of papers and handed them to Su Chen: "We can't find a complete sword manual for the time being, only these incomplete ones. Take a look!"

He didn't know what Su Chen wanted these incomplete sword manuals for; he simply brought all the ones he could collect, some incomplete and some complete, but none of them contained any entry-level techniques.

Su Chen took the incomplete sword manual and examined it carefully.

Seeing this, Qiao Qiliang continued, "I have some bad news to tell you this time."

"What?" Su Chen looked up at Qiao Qiliang.

"It's related to the Qi and Blood Pill!" Qiao Qiliang's face showed a hint of embarrassment, but more so, frustration and anger. "The Hong family learned that the government planned to support the Four Seas Gang, so they tried to stop it. When that failed, they stopped supplying the government with the Qi and Blood Pill, so this time..."

Before he could finish speaking, Su Chen understood and asked, "Then will we continue to support the Four Seas Gang?"

Qiao Qiliang did not answer, but sighed deeply. He pursed his lips, shook his head, and looked helpless.

After a long silence, he said, "I'm afraid it can only be nipped in the bud!"

His voice carried the resentment of unfulfilled ambitions and anger towards the Hong family.

He looked at Su Chen, whose expression remained unchanged, and gently comforted him, "The government can only continue to support the Chu family once they have successfully refined the Qi and Blood Pill. For now, the plan has to be shelved."

“Then what if…” Su Chen opened his mouth, seemingly organizing his thoughts, “then what if there were similar blood and qi medicines? The effects might not be as good as blood and qi pills, but they would be much better than the blood-strengthening pills on the market.”

"What do you mean?" Qiao Qiliang looked puzzled.

Su Chen took out the flawed product he had refined and introduced it: "This is what I refined. It should be considered a low-end version of Qi and Blood Pill. It doesn't look very good, but its medicinal effect is about 50% of that of Hong's Qi and Blood Pill."

"I'll try it!" Qiao Qiliang was delighted upon hearing this, and then picked up a pill and swallowed it.

After carefully tasting it, a look of shock gradually appeared on his face, and he was greatly alarmed: "The efficacy of this medicine... as long as it can be mass-produced, it will definitely be able to win over a group of martial artists!"

The Qi and Blood Pill with 50% efficacy is much worse than the Qi and Blood Pill, but it is definitely better than most Qi and Blood Pills on the market.

Perhaps one is not enough to win over a martial artist, but two, three, or even more?

The more Qiao Qiliang thought about it, the brighter his eyes became, and when he looked at Su Chen, his eyes almost lit up: "Old Su, you're a real pervert!"

Su Chen: "???" Why are you swearing for no reason!

Qiao Qiliang didn't explain; comparing oneself to others is just asking for trouble.

Su Chen's martial arts talent is astonishing, and now his alchemy talent is not bad either, completely outshining him. It's infuriating!
However, he was mostly happy.

He then looked at the pills on the table, stood up, and said, "Give me these pills first. You continue refining them, and it would be best if you could improve them; they will be very useful in the future."

After saying that, he picked up the pills on the table and left in a hurry.

Su Chen quickly reminded him, "Don't forget to change your name."

"The Boiling Blood Pill? Don't worry, I'll save you the trouble!" Qiao Qiliang said without turning his head.

Seeing this, Su Chen shook his head and chuckled, but didn't take it to heart.

He guessed Qiao Qiliang's intentions; he probably planned to use these pills as leverage against the Hong family, so he gave him a warning to avoid being exposed.

After all, it's a low-end version of the Qi and Blood Pill, so we changed the name just in case.

After Qiao Qiliang left, Su Chen asked someone to bring him food and ate while looking at the sword manual.

I originally planned to continue refining pills tonight, but it seems I'll have to postpone it. I should first sort out these incomplete sword manuals.

They worked on the manuals until midnight. Qiao Qiliang brought a total of thirty books of sword techniques, but after breaking them down, there were only seventy different moves.

Most of them are new, but a small portion were purchased by Su Chen from the black market a long time ago.

After tidying up, Su Chen read some medical books for a while before falling into a deep sleep.

For the next period of time, not only was Qiao Qiliang extremely busy and nowhere to be seen, but Su Chen also became even busier than before.

On one hand, he had to refine a low-end version of the Qi and Blood Pill; on the other hand, he had to find a way to improve the refining method and enhance the efficacy; and on yet another hand, he had to constantly combine the sword techniques he had acquired into new sword skills.

It can be described as multitasking.

This kind of busyness is worthwhile.

Su Chen felt that his life was very fulfilling every day, and he was making progress every day. It was as if he had returned to the days of preparing medicine and practicing martial arts in White Stone City, and he felt extremely comfortable.

Seven days passed in a row.

Su Chen has made new progress in alchemy.

The average number of pills produced increased from one pill per attempt to three pills per attempt, and the efficacy of the low-end version of the Qi and Blood Pill was barely increased from 50% to 60%.

Don't underestimate these two numbers.

The increase in the number of pills produced allows Su Chen to refine more pills in one batch, and the improvement in the efficacy of the pills means that Su Chen is getting closer to the right direction.

Over the course of seven days, he refined a total of forty low-end Qi and Blood Pills, with their efficacy generally around 55% of that of the full-version Qi and Blood Pills.

In addition, with double happiness on their side, their knife skills have also made new progress.

He has successfully created half of a new sword technique; he only needs half more to complete this secret manual.

Over the next three days, Su Chen focused on perfecting his swordsmanship. Finally, his hard work paid off, and he completed the improvement of his swordsmanship during a chance test.

In fact, this was all thanks to the two previous assassination attempts.

One assassination, one bodyguard.

It was because of these two assassination attempts that Su Chen gained a new understanding of swordsmanship. When combining techniques, he had a flash of inspiration and completed the swordsmanship.

Of course, it is also related to Su Chen's own desire to combine sword techniques in this direction.

Through the two assassination attempts, Su Chen became very interested in assassination-related sword techniques. If he could combine such techniques, it would surely greatly improve his strength.

"This is a sword technique that reveals its killing intent in secrecy. It is inspired by Shadow Assassin and Dark Guard. Let's call it Hidden Void Blade!"

Su Chen hastily gave the new sword technique a name, and then began to spend money to practice it.

Fifty strikes, one hundred strikes, two hundred strikes, five hundred strikes—the sword swings are finished, and the Hidden Blade technique has been mastered to its limit.

The panel automatically merged, and I swung my sword again, raising my sword-drawing technique to the fifth level.

With a single strike, five layers of sword shadows appeared, becoming more concealed than before, like ferocious beasts lurking in the darkness, all waiting for the final moment of assassination.

"Simply testing it probably won't reveal its true power. To verify the true power of the sword-drawing technique, it seems we'll have to find someone to test it on!"

With Su Chen's current strength, he cannot test his true strength by relying solely on his own testing.

After all, the cultivation method he practiced was too complex, and only real combat could reveal the results.

"I heard that the Xuan Shui Gang has a new deputy leader. It's a good opportunity to ask the Hong family for some interest and use them as a test case."

Su Chen's eyes flashed, radiating a hint of danger.

……

"Pooh!"

In a dark corner of a small alley in Dafeng City, a handsome man spat lightly. His slightly disheveled figure looked like a beggar from afar, but he tried his best to maintain a graceful demeanor.

"That damned Hong Jinnian is as disgusting as a maggot, relentlessly pursuing me!"

The handsome young man gritted his teeth in anger. He had been having a terrible time lately, either being hunted down or on his way to be hunted down.

The Hong family stalked him like wolves, and he couldn't shake them off. Hong Jinnian, the leader of the Xuan Shui Gang, even chased after him repeatedly.

If it weren't for his agility, talent, and handsome appearance, he would have been ambushed by the Hong family long ago and would have been on the verge of death.

Although he had temporarily escaped Hong Jinnian, he dared not check into the inn directly, lest he be discovered by Hong's spies, and could only hide here.

but--

"A gentleman will not leave this grudge unavenged, Hong Jinnian. You've hunted me down so many times, it's time for me to get my revenge!"

After sitting on the ground to heal his wounds for several hours, the handsome man got up and quickly disappeared into the darkness, intending to make a move against Hong Jinnian.

He arrived at a magnificent mansion, like a hunting beast lurking in the darkness, waiting for his chance to observe.

“Hong Jinnian, I can’t deal with you for now, but I can deal with your subordinates. Didn’t the Xuan Shui Gang just appoint a new deputy leader? I’ll strike at him first, so you can taste what it’s like to lose your men!”

Having dealt with Hong Jinnian for so many days, he wasn't just fleeing for his life; he also gathered a lot of information.

Hong Xi, the newly appointed deputy leader of the Xuan Shui Gang, is Hong Jin Nian's brother-in-law. Killing him would still appease his hatred.

"Ok?"

Just as he was about to find Hong Xi and make his move, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a ghostly figure darting across the rooftops in the distance, seemingly heading in the direction of Hong Xi.

"Who is this guy?"

This made the handsome young man suppress his restless heart. He crouched down and concealed himself, watching the sneaky figure from afar. The other person was dressed in black and looked like he was up to no good. He wanted to see what the other person was planning.

Watching the other person leave, the handsome young man's expression turned somewhat solemn.

This guy seems to want to deal with Hong Xi too!
"No, I can't let him get there first! Hongxi is mine!" The handsome man was startled when he saw Su Chen's figure disappear quickly and rush towards the courtyard where Hongxi was. He leaped away.

"who?"

Hong Xi, who was in the room, suddenly heard a faint sound outside the door. He sat up abruptly, looking around warily to find the source of the sound, only to see a dark shadow flickering outside.

"Could it be..."

His heart skipped a beat as he thought of the recent misfortunes of his two 'predecessors,' and his body tensed up involuntarily.

boom!
Just as he was pondering this, the window suddenly opened, and he looked in the direction of the sound, only to see a figure suddenly rushing towards him.

"Humph!"

Hong Xi snorted coldly, a hint of anger rising to his face. Such a blatant assassination attempt—did they think he, Hong Xi, was easy to bully?

With a light step, he moved swiftly, raised his arm, clenched his fist tightly, and unleashed a surge of power.

He was actually a Blood Transformation Realm martial artist!
Upon seeing this, Su Chen's gaze sharpened slightly, but his expression remained unchanged. He was only three meters away from Hong Xi, and his hand was already on the hilt of his knife.

However, at that moment, the sound of a window breaking suddenly rang out, and then a figure rushed over, walking with graceful steps, and collided head-on with Su Chen.

(End of this chapter)