Chapter 21: Thunderous Sword Intent

"I have discovered something, but whether it is actually an issue remains to be verified by someone you appoint, Eldest Miss."

Chen Fei hesitated for a moment. As for the profit split, he didn't particularly care; the lion's share would eventually come from the black market anyway. However, what Zhang Sinan had mentioned—the Spirit Light Pill—had completely piqued his interest.

The Spirit Light Pill was a cultivation pill one grade higher than the Grass-Returning Pill, generally consumed by martial artists in the Bone Tempering Realm or even the Marrow Refining Realm. Consequently, its medicinal efficacy was much stronger, and its selling price was naturally much higher.

If Chen Fei could obtain the recipe for the Spirit Light Pill, he could replace the current Grass-Returning Pills. Whether he consumed them himself or sold them in the black market, both were viable options.

"Speak!" Zhang Sinan said flatly.

"The scent of Spirit Light Pills on Manager Sun is quite potent."

Chen Fei spoke in a low voice. An alchemist's nose was more sensitive than that of other martial artists, especially regarding medicinal herbs. Chen Fei had seen Spirit Light Pills and had even consumed them, so he was very familiar with them.

It was normal for Sun Shu, as a manager of a medical clinic, to carry the scent of medicinal pills. However, it was abnormal for the scent of Spirit Light Pills to overpower all other medicines—unless he was an alchemist.

Only through daily contact, or even years of continuous consumption, would the scent of a Spirit Light Pill be that thick.

The price of a Spirit Light Pill was not cheap; one pill cost fifteen taels of silver, fifty percent more expensive than a Grass-Returning Pill. Although Sun Shu was a manager at the clinic, his wages were far from enough to support taking one Spirit Light Pill every day.

Zhang Sinan's eyes lit up. Whatever Chen Fei had thought of, Zhang Sinan had naturally thought of as well. If things were truly as Chen Fei described, then Sun Shu's problem was a massive one.

"We can have Old Qin go and confirm it," Zeng Defang said with a smile. The "Old Qin" he referred to was a physician who was extremely sensitive to the scent of medicinal pills. Whether things were as Chen Fei said could be determined by having someone go and make contact once.

"If things are truly as you say, the recipe for the Spirit Light Pill will be yours after the matter is resolved," Zhang Sinan said, looking at Chen Fei.

"I thank the Eldest Miss!" Chen Fei said, cupping his hands.

As night fell, Chen Fei changed his appearance and form, wearing a mask and a bamboo hat, and appeared in the black market.

Upon seeing Chen Fei, Chi Defeng led him into a room and pointed at the medicinal herbs on the floor, saying, "After several days of effort, the herbs are finally collected. You have no idea how much hard work went into this; the last price was truly a bit too low."

Chen Fei said nothing. He stepped forward to inspect the herbs. After a moment, he stood up and looked at Chi Defeng calmly.

"What is it?"

Chi Defeng felt a bit unnerved by Chen Fei's gaze and said somewhat displeasedly, "You're not suddenly deciding you don't want these herbs, are you? I'm telling you, the price is negotiable, but you must take all the herbs."

"Did you prepare those counterfeit herbs yourself?" Chen Fei asked calmly.

"What? Counterfeit herbs? How is that possible!"

Chi Defeng shouted loudly, looking incredulous, before walking toward the herbs to inspect them earnestly.

Chen Fei wanted to roll his eyes. This performance was so good that an uninformed person might actually be fooled. If Chen Fei weren't an alchemist himself, he might not have spotted such imitation methods.

Without a certain level of foundation, one could not produce fake medicine of this caliber.

"There really are fakes! Those damn refugees deceived me!"

Chi Defeng cried out in mock anguish. After shouting a few times, seeing that Chen Fei showed no reaction, he awkwardly lowered his voice.

"So, what now?" Chen Fei asked, looking at Chi Defeng.

"I took a look; there aren't actually many fakes, just a tiny bit," Chi Defeng said with a smile.

"I want ten portions, and only six of them are real. It truly is just a tiny bit," Chen Fei nodded.

"That many? I didn't notice just now! Those damn refugees!" Chi Defeng shouted loudly again.

"This is the silver for the six portions of herbs. Next time, I'll take ten portions. I'll collect the goods in three days."

Speechless, Chen Fei took out the silver, handed it to Chi Defeng, picked up the herbs, and turned to leave the room.

Chi Defeng weighed the silver in his hand. Watching Chen Fei's retreating back, a smile crept onto his face. It had been a long time since he had encountered such a shrewd young man; truly interesting.

Carrying a bundle, Chen Fei left the black market.

Ten portions of herbs was a quantity Chen Fei had calculated to be inconspicuous. Otherwise, carrying a massive bundle out of the black market would easily attract unnecessary trouble.

As it was now, it was just right.

After confirming there was no one following him, Chen Fei carefully returned to his rented courtyard.

This was a different courtyard, one he had rented anew after changing his appearance and form. Since he would be selling Grass-Returning Pills in the black market from now on, it was safer to be cautious and avoid any overlap with his original identity.

He had specially tidied up a room and converted it into an alchemy lab.

Chen Fei organized the herbs in his bundle and began refining the Grass-Returning Pills. With his current proficiency in Grass-Returning Pills being near Great Perfection, the time required to refine the six portions of herbs was actually quite short.

Once one masters the technique, many things that seem extremely complex to outsiders can sometimes be very simple.

An hour later, the alchemy was complete. Looking at the fifteen whole Grass-Returning Pills inside the medicine bottle, a smile appeared on Chen Fei's face.

This was over a hundred taels of silver. Later, if his proficiency with the Grass-Returning Pill reached Great Perfection, the number of pills produced per batch would increase again.

It wouldn't take long before Chen Fei could amass five hundred taels of silver.

Placing the medicine bottle in his robe, Chen Fei glanced at his panel.

[Name: Chen Fei] [Profession: Martial Artist] [Techniques: Green Mountain Sword (Great Perfection), Wind-Suspended Breathing Method (Great Perfection), River-Crossing Cloud (Great Perfection), Disguise Technique (Great Perfection), Immortal's Path (Not Started)] [Realm: Flesh Refining (17/10,000)] [Alchemy: Blood Qi Pill (Great Perfection), Detoxification Pill (Great Perfection), Healing Pill (Great Perfection), Grass-Returning Pill (Perfection 7,931/10,000)] [Status: Bone-Deep Malady (-)]

With almost everything at Great Perfection, the fact that the "Immortal's Path" sword technique was not yet started looked somewhat glaring. Because he had broken through to the Flesh Refining Realm, the status of "Bone-Deep Malady" had changed, adding a minus sign at the end, which significantly reduced its impact on Chen Fei.

At the same time, the assistance provided by the Wind-Suspended Breathing Method and the Grass-Returning Pill to his cultivation had decreased considerably. However, they were still effective, providing about 20 experience points per day.

Converting this, in this state, Chen Fei would likely need over a year to break through to the Bone Tempering Realm.

It wasn't slow; it was already faster than most martial artists, many of whom spent their entire lives treading water.

If Chen Fei wanted to accelerate his cultivation progress, he would need to switch his pills to Spirit Light Pills and strengthen his Wind-Suspended Breathing Method. Achieving either one would cause his cultivation speed to skyrocket.

Thinking of this, Chen Fei pulled out a manual.

According to Chi Defeng, this was also a technique from the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect: the Thunderous Sword Intent!