I'm just a swineherd, not a beastmaster.

"Stop hitting me. What's wrong with me? What kind of world is this? Even beggars are bullied."

"Stop talking nonsense and tell me! Where is the Qiu family?"

Yuan Feng didn't want to take action, but this old beggar was going too far.

Asking for money once was not enough, he asked for it a second time. The key point was that after I gave him the second time, he still asked for it a third time.

He is simply treating Yuan Feng as a sucker.

"You are looking for the Qiu family, right? They are in the barren mountain three miles outside Donglin City." The old beggar said submissively.

Yuan Feng grabbed the old beggar by the collar and raised his fist: "You are kidding me, right? I just came to the deserted mountain. There is only a cemetery there, no living people."

"Stop hitting me. If you continue to hit me, I'm going to die." The old beggar was trembling with fear. "I'm not lying. Aren't you looking for the Qiu family? They are buried there."

"Dead people?" Yuan Feng was stunned. "I want living people. I'm not a tomb robber. Why would I look for dead people?"

"You are looking for the Qiu family. It is said that the Qiu family's wealth is buried in the tomb. If you want to dig it up, just go and dig it up. Why are you looking for a living person?" The old beggar curled his lips.

"Who told you I'm here to ask for money?"

"If you don't want money, what do you want? Are you asking for a marriage? All the women in the Qiu family are dead."

"I'm here to become your disciple."

"Become a disciple? Become a disciple of what?"

"Of course I would worship the master who makes the alchemy."

The old beggar looked at Yuan Feng strangely: "Are you sick in the head?"

"Hey, you're taking your time when asking me a question, and you're scolding me. Are you asking for a fight?"

"Hey, stop hitting me, I'll really die." The old beggar shrank back, "The alchemy of the Qiu family has a huge flaw. The Qiu family members have already killed themselves by refining the elixirs. You still want to learn it. Are you crazy?"

"You mean the Qiu family's alchemy technique consumes Yang energy. I have overcome it, so it's okay to consume Yang energy."

"How did you overcome it?" A light flashed in the old beggar's turbid eyes.

"Just... Hey!" Yuan Feng suddenly realized, "What can I say to you? You cheated me of so much money, and you still want to lie to me, right?"

"I took some silver from you, but you beat me up anyway." The old beggar felt aggrieved.

"You deserve to be beaten. You are so greedy that you ask me for money for every question I have."

"Who told you to ask unclearly?"

Yuan Feng sighed: "Forget it, it seems that you don't know where the heir of the Qiu family is, so it seems hopeless to become his disciple."

After saying that, Yuan Feng walked back disappointedly.

"Hey, the Qiu family tomb is not over there." The old beggar reminded.

"I told you, I'm not here to make money." Yuan Feng didn't even bother to argue with him.

"Silver, don't you want to go back?"

"This is for you." Yuan Feng waved his hand indifferently.

"The living people of the Qiu family are not there either."

Yuan Feng quickly stopped, slowly turned around and looked at the old beggar.

"Do you know where it is?"

"Turn around in a circle and you'll see the Qiu family."

"Are you the heir of the Qiu family?" Yuan Feng looked at the old beggar in surprise.

"Boring." The old beggar shook his head. "How did you guess it when you didn't even turn around?"

Because Yuan Feng is not a fool.

Yuan Feng smiled awkwardly: "If you hadn't told me earlier, we wouldn't have to be so unhappy."

"That's enough." The old beggar waved his hand. "You don't have to be polite to me. You want to learn the alchemy of my Qiu family, right? I want you to give me the method to solve the flaw in exchange."

Yuan Feng thought about it and nodded solemnly: "No problem."

"Mr. Qiu, do you need me to pay my respects to you as your disciple?"

"Forget the apprenticeship ceremony. The Qiu family is gone. There's no point in doing this. And don't call me old gentleman. I'm only thirty years old."

This is thirty?

Yuan Feng was completely shocked.

Looking at the old beggar's appearance, he was as shriveled as a dried sweet potato, and it would be fair to say that he was about eighty years old.

The old beggar sighed deeply, "Isn't it similar? This is the flaw in the Qiu family's alchemy technique. They lost their Yang energy while refining the elixir. They aged from thirty to eighty."

"That's why I said you have a problem with your brain. You are so young and you want to learn the alchemy of the Qiu family."

"But it would be different if you had a solution."

Yuan Feng nodded: "The mental method I practice can absorb the power of the stars. The power of the stars can replenish Yang Qi, so there will be no loss of Yang Qi."

"Oh?" The old beggar showed a delighted look, "There is such a solution? Mentality that can absorb the power of stars is rare. It must be a very high-level mental method, right?"

"It's not very high either. It's a low-level mental method." Yuan Feng took out the Star Picking Technique and said, "Take a look."

The old beggar took over the "Star Picking Secret" and became more and more frightened the more he read it.

“This isn’t some inferior mental method, it’s at least a heavenly-level mental method! If I had this mental method earlier, I wouldn’t have to give it up! I can only say, it’s God’s will, God’s will!” The old beggar howled to the sky.

Yuan Feng's focus was elsewhere: "No way? My master told me that this is a low-level yellow-level mental method."

"Your master must have been talking nonsense." The old beggar's complexion became much rosier after he finished speaking. "Your mental method is of a very high level. Aren't you afraid that I will learn it secretly and not teach you the alchemy technique?"

"Can I tell the truth?"

The old beggar nodded: "Go ahead."

"If you don't teach me, I will beat you to death."

“Haha…” The old beggar smiled awkwardly, “You are also a sincere person. Since you are so sincere, I will give you the alchemy skills of the Qiu family.”

Yuan Feng took the Qiu family's alchemy method thrown to him. The book was surprisingly clean, which was in sharp contrast to the old beggar who was covered in stains.

"Can I ask about your identity?" Yuan Feng looked respectful.

"Me? I'm the last generation of the Qiu family. Now the Qiu family is gone and I'm dying soon. The name is not important. You learned the alchemy skills of my Qiu family, so you can be considered half a descendant. If you want, wrap me up with that straw mat and throw me somewhere. If you don't want to cause trouble, you can just leave."

Yuan Feng felt mixed emotions when he heard this: "Even if the alchemy technique has flaws, just don't make the elixir. How could the Qiu family become like this?"

"No, the Qiu family doesn't want to make any, but the court won't agree. The Qiu family's elixirs are supplied to the court. In recent years, the court has been pressed for payment, and the amount of tribute has doubled every year. In order to avoid being beheaded, the Qiu family can only spend their lives to make elixirs."

"I was lucky enough to survive until now, but I didn't have a good ending. I watched my wife and children being beheaded. The court forced me to continue refining pills, but I no longer had any yang energy left, so the court let me go."

Yuan Feng was speechless. The imperial court was unjust and the people of the world were suffering. He could only pray that this turmoil would end soon.

"If you take the Star Picking Technique, can it help you regain your Yang energy?"

The old beggar threw the Star Picking Technique back and said, "Hahaha, you are too naive. My body has long been depleted. Even gods can't save me. I can't practice this anymore."

"I've changed my mind. I don't want your method anymore. Please buy me a bottle of wine. There are too many lice tonight. It's hard to sleep without wine." The old beggar looked up at the sky with a faint smile on his lips.

"Don't you have some silver? I just gave it to you. If you go to an inn, take a bath, and buy some clean clothes, won't it be easier to sleep?"

"I'm too lazy to move. If you don't want to buy me some wine, forget it."

"In that case, I'll buy it for you."

It’s really hard to buy wine late at night.

There were no bars open at all.

Yuan Feng had no choice but to knock on the door. After being scolded several times, he finally bought three taels of wine.

"Mr. Qiu, just buy it back!"

"Mr. Qiu?"

Yuan Feng lifted the hay and found that the old beggar was already dead, with his legs bent at a horrible angle, and it seemed that he had been disabled for many years.

No wonder the old beggar didn’t move just now, it turned out that he couldn’t move.

The old beggar's body was covered with horrific scars. It was hard to imagine that he could still live after being tortured like this.

Yuan Feng felt guilty. If he hadn't punched the old beggar in the eyes twice, maybe he could have held on for a while longer.

"This wine...if you hold on a little longer, maybe you can drink it."

Yuan Feng sighed, poured the wine on the ground, and left the old beggar to drink it underground.