Chapter 65: How to start a Drug Empire?

Chapter 65: How to start a Drug Empire?

I looked at the seed for a moment, picking it up, as I sensed the Gu present in it. My eyes shifted to the scroll present inside the box and I picked it up, opening it to reveal the contents within.

I continued to read, my frown growing deeper the further I read. It was a short note, with details on possible methods to grow the seed of Gu without letting it spread. A formation was inscribed on the scroll itself that would prevent the vicious plant from spreading.

At the end section, some mentions and possible ways to improve the lotus bloom I’d set in Zhang’s core were written as well, alongside the flaws caused by my impromptu method.

A thought lingered in my mind as I read through the scroll a couple of times, trying to see if there were any other hidden messages. How did he know any of this? That I needed a seed of Gu, much less providing me with one. Explore the labyrinthine roots of this substance at Nøv€lß¡n

A strange anxiety filled me at the idea that someone might be observing me from afar, and if so, why reach out to me like this? It’d likely been naive to hope after causing a tribulation that no one would notice me. Yet, why would anyone think the old outer sect disciple who likes to hole up in his room surely must’ve been the one? I’d banked on the fact that my presence was barely noticeable within the sect to keep people from figuring things out.

Did Yan Yun or any of the others mention something about me?

I shook the thought out of my head. I doubt they would, but even if they did, who would believe them? Another thought occurred to me, at that same instance. Perhaps this is a test? The elder could’ve figured out that since we’d freed Sheldon from the cave, and the miasma had been present there that I might somehow be related and left this as a way to gauge my reaction.

“What’s eating at you boy?” Granny Lang asked you, looking at me and I turned to stare at her. Her eyes shifted towards the seed in my hand and she squinted. “Ah, so it had been bloodroot. Figures.”

“Bloodroot?”

“It’s one of the few demonic plants that can absorb Qi from the blood of living creatures. Nasty thing, that, but it’s good to form some elixirs as it can suck up all the impurities, leaving the pure Qi at its flower. It’s a rare herb, boy, but just as deadly as well.”

“They allow the use of this?” I asked, surprised. I’d think something like this would be set aside and eradicated on the spot, due to the miasma present in it.

“The halls don’t allow the sale of bloodroot, but using it to craft pills is fine, as long as you can prevent its spread. There’s a hefty fine, if you do. If allowed to grow out of hand, it can become a danger to powerful cultivators as well.”

The image of Sheldon suffering, struck under the ties of this plant, with Qi slowly being drained out of his at all times came to me and I nodded. I put the seed back in its box, closing the lid as the seal reactivated.

I guess I had the miasma plant I’d come looking for. That was a bit underwhelming.

“I don’t understand the purpose behind this, but my life is already yours Lu Jie. I’d gladly help out,” Zhang said, with a bow.

“No need to be too stiff. It’ll be a slow process, but one, I anticipate will have a long lasting impact, if things somehow work out. In either case, I plan to open my lab here, and I’ll need people for those. Not to mention, I’ll need herbs, and I’ve got some notes there for methods on how to start a spirit herb farm using Zhang’s lunar blossom. It probably won’t work, honestly, but with Granny around, I’m sure you guys can find a way.”

I looked around, sensing a presence nearby, whoever it was quickly ran away in a rush. Odd. I let the thought go, as I turned back to face everyone around.

“The prize from the spirit herb hunt will likely help with the money side of things, and I do plan to win. I’ve got just the thing being prepared for the tournament afterall,” I said, as my grin grew wider as the closer I reached to creating my drugnade 2.0.

“Let us start preparation, for the seeds of our future Drug Empire,” I announced to the world and this time, I did get a theatrical rumble from the heavens as I broke out in merry laughter.

***

Yin stumbled back, her hand covering her mouth as she ran back to her home. She knew that eavesdropping was shameful and no matter how friendly these cultivators appeared she should've been more careful.

Yet, the cultivator Lu Jie had simply been too strange for her to ignore. Too familiar in the strangest way. And with what she’d just heard...

Yin rushed back to her home, walking in as she went to her own chamber, the chamber her grandfather had lived in, and had gifted to her, in his will. She walked up to the rows of books on medicine and herbs kept by her mother, and found crouched down, pulling on an old dusty drawer that she hadn’t opened in years, ever since she’d lost her grandfather.

She opened the drawer, taking out his diary. The only thing he’d let no one but her look at. Yin stared at the diary, slowly opening the pages, to the words written underneath. It were words, everyone else in this world was unfamiliar with. Words that curved and squigled and twisted and turned, instead at the regal sharp strokes.

A language that only she and her grandfather had known in this whole entire world.

She flipped through the pages, eventually finding his musings about historical advances from his home, as he’d said, and her eyes soon stumbled upon the “printing press” written in one of the pages, as something he’d thought about building himself one day.

Yin covered her mouth, as tears welled up in her eyes. Was Lu Jie truly... no, the cultivator would’ve been born long before her grandfather died. Yet, the similarities were all there to notice. The attitude, the disregard for customs, the strange method of talking. It had been different enough to not be in her notice instantly, but the more she thought over it, the more similarities she saw.

Yin closed the book, hugging it close to her chest. She didn’t know yet, but she would watch. And if he truly knew... then perhaps there truly would come a day when her grandfather’s dreams would finally come true.