The First Sword of the Universe

Chapter 179 Stealing the Ten Fragrance Softening Powder

It was late at night and the world was quiet. All nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lights were turned off, leaving only a few places for entertainment and the wind-killing lanterns hanging under the eaves of the wealthy homes, which were still emitting bright light.

The Prince of Ruyang's palace was like a giant beast lurking in the darkness; the lights under the eaves only illuminated a small part of its body.

Even at three o'clock in the morning, there were still teams of guards patrolling the night.

In the dark, there are countless skilled fighters, alarm agencies, and frightened vicious dogs.
As time passed, a cloud floated in the sky, blocking the light of the bright moon.

The earth is dark!
A slender and thin body floated silently over the wall, sneaked into the night with the wind, and disappeared in a corner of the courtyard in an instant.

At this point, the Prince of Ruyang's palace remained quiet and silent.
Xu Xingchen was dressed in black and masked, standing in the shadow of the roof under a three-story attic.

This place is not likely to be discovered easily, and can see far away, covering the entire Ruyang Prince's Palace.

No matter where in the palace there was a noise, it could be discovered quickly.

The Green-Winged Bat King once boasted to Xu Xingchen that his ability in gathering information was absolutely the best in the world.

He also had a secret medicine on him to deal with the sharp sense of smell of vicious dogs, so he didn't have to worry about this operation.
Xu Xingchen naturally believed in the ability of the Green-Winged Bat King, but just in case, he still focused his attention on every courtyard in the Prince Ruyang's Mansion, fearing that there would be sounds of gongs and drums or shouts of "thieves breaking in".

There are many experts in the palace of Prince Ruyang, so it is not an exaggeration to call it a dragon's den and a tiger's lair.

Xu Xingchen and the Green-Winged Bat King, relying on their extraordinary lightness skills, could quickly move around inside and perhaps escape unscathed. However, if they wanted to gather some information or look for something, they would need to be extremely careful and cautious, otherwise, if they were unlucky, they would fall into it.

Time continued to pass slowly.
The clouds in the night sky drifted away, and the bright moon once again sprinkled silver frost all over the earth.

Xu Xingchen's heart was as tense as a string, waiting for rescue and support at any time.

However, two hours passed and the Prince of Ruyang's palace remained quiet, with no sound coming from it.

By the time of Mao, it was already the last hour of the long night.
I saw a white line appearing in the eastern sky and seemed to hear the sounds of some people getting up early nearby.

Everything in the palace seemed normal!
Xu Xingchen, who had been standing under the eaves of the attic all night, raised his eyebrows in confusion and thought to himself, "There is no movement and no one has come out. What is going on?"

After standing for a while, he saw that the sky was getting brighter and brighter. Some people had appeared on the street and started their busy morning life. Xu Xingchen could no longer stand on the eaves under the attic in all black.

He turned around and jumped down the alley, turning left and right, quickly returned to the base hut, changed into normal clothes, came out again, and quietly returned to the street near the palace.

I found a breakfast stall, sat down, ate wontons and drank soup, and gulped down three big bowls.

There is still no movement from the direction of the palace!

Xu Xingchen wiped his mouth, and like a normal common man, he took out a few copper coins from his sleeves, paid the bill, and walked leisurely on the street, muttering in his heart: "Could it be that Bat King is unlucky enough to be trapped?!"

"But, with the Bat King's ability, even if he gets stuck, he should be able to make some noise."

"Could it be that I got caught accidentally?!"

Xu Xingchen wandered around the palace for a whole morning but still didn't hear any movement coming from inside. Even though he pricked up his ears and listened carefully to the chatter of the servants who came in and out of the front door and backyard of the palace, he didn't hear any useful information.

"Oh, never mind. Tonight, if the Bat King doesn't come out, I will find a way to sneak in and find out what's going on."

"We can't just ignore this French king who just surrendered to us, right?!"

The whole day, like every ordinary day, is like sand held in the hand, slipping silently through the fingers.

The sun sets and night falls.

The pedestrians on the street returned to their homes, and the lights of thousands of houses lit up their warm homes again. Smoke curled from the chimneys on the roofs, rising straight into the dim sky.

There were sounds of children calling their daughters to eat, couples quarreling, and a series of beatings and children crying caused by broken dishes.
This time of day is the busiest time for every household.

After dinner, Xu Xingchen returned to the courtyard of the base, changed into night clothes again, and climbed over the wall to leave.

We moved forward quickly along the deserted streets and alleys and soon arrived outside the walls of the palace.

"It's a pity that I didn't ask the Bat King for some secret medicine to suppress the smell of the vicious dogs. Now that I've broken in, I don't know if I can fool the noses of those vicious dogs."

Xu Xingchen looked at the courtyard wall not far away, then raised his head to look at the full moon in the night sky which was brighter than last night, and waited quietly for an opportunity.

Unexpectedly, the opportunity did not come, but a blurry and indistinguishable shadow came, climbing down from a corner of the wall, with his feet landing on the ground like cotton wool, and a bulging package on his back.

Xu Xingchen took a closer look and realized who else it could be but the Green-Winged Bat King. He couldn't help but feel delighted and sent a secret message, "Bat King, you finally came out!" The Green-Winged Bat King looked towards Xu Xingchen, waved his arm lightly, and ran towards the stronghold first.

Xu Xingchen followed closely behind.

The two of them walked one after the other and quickly returned to the courtyard of their base.

An oil lamp was lit in the room. Wei Yixiao put the package on the table, and the sound of bottles and jars colliding could be heard from inside.

He grinned and explained, "Master, the palace is too big. When I went in last night, I couldn't find the warehouse where the medicines were stored for a while, so I was delayed for a day."

"I was lucky tonight. I happened to see the wife of the King of Ruyang fall ill, and she sent her maids and servants to the storehouse to get medicine. I followed them and found these things."

Xu Xingchen smiled comfortingly and said, "I'm glad you're okay. I was thinking of sneaking in tonight to find out what's going on."

"Thank you for your concern, Master!" Wei Yixiao said gratefully, and then opened the package on the table, revealing dozens of porcelain bottles and jars of various sizes: "Master, there are quite a lot of medicines collected in the warehouse of King Ruyang. I picked out one or two bottles of each, and the number is less than one-tenth of the amount in the warehouse."

"Oh, so the King of Ruyang is much richer than we thought!"

Xu Xingchen walked forward with a smile and looked through the porcelain bottles and jars one by one. He saw some with words and labels on them, while others were blank.

Every porcelain bottle and jar was heavy, either filled with pills or medicine powder.

"Ten Fragrance Muscle Softening Powder?!" When he saw one of the porcelain jars, his eyes lit up and he laughed happily: "Haha, I really found this thing. It's much easier than I thought!"

Wei Yixiao asked curiously: "Master, what is this?"

Xu Xingchen said, "This is a kind of poison from the Western Regions. It is colorless and tasteless and can be spread by the wind. Once a martial artist inhales it, his muscles and bones will become sore and weak that he can be slaughtered at will. After a few days, the poisoned person can recover to the point where he can move freely, but he cannot use any of his internal energy."

Wei Yixiao was horrified when he heard this and exclaimed, "This kind of poison is most suitable for dealing with people like us in the martial arts world."

"If one day, the Yuan court wants to deal with a certain sect or gang, all it needs to do is to sprinkle a large amount of this poison at the upwind position, and it will be easy to wipe out that sect or gang."

Xu Xingchen looked at the porcelain jar in his hand and sighed, "Yes, I am not afraid of a direct battle with King Ruyang, but I am afraid that he will use this poison. At that time, he will be able to capture us without any soldiers."

"After I learned this secret, I couldn't sleep at night, thinking about how to deal with this poison."

"I have also thought about going into Ruyang Palace to look for this poison myself, but my Cloud Escape Technique is too special. Once I use it, strange phenomena will appear on me, and it won't be able to conceal my whereabouts at all. Once I enter Ruyang Palace, I will only alert the enemy."

"In this world, I'm afraid you, Bat King, are the only one who has the ability to steal it quietly from the Ruyang Palace."

"Master, you are too kind!" After hearing the praise, Wei Yixiao quickly responded modestly.

Being praised in person by the leader who also had outstanding martial arts skills, even with his calm mind, he couldn't help but feel a little happy.

Xu Xingchen put the porcelain jar in his hand aside and rummaged through the package again. After a while, he found a porcelain bottle with Ten Fragrance Softening Powder on it. However, the words on it were written in red pen.

He turned around and glanced at the words "Shixiang Soft Muscle Powder" written in black brush on the porcelain jar next to him, and his brows furrowed.

Wei Yixiao was also confused by the two bottles of the same poison, but with different colored labels. He asked in confusion, "Could it be that this is a mixed poison? Normally, they are kept separately, and only when they are used will they be mixed together?"

Xu Xingchen shook his head and said: "Perhaps, one of the bottles is poison and the other is the antidote"

Then, he smiled and said, "We don't have to worry about these. We can take them back together and give them to Hu Qingniu to study. Are you afraid that he won't be able to figure out the situation?!"

Wei Yixiao nodded: "Master, what you said is very true!"

Early the next morning, the two men disguised themselves again, left Dadu, and headed towards northern Anhui.

On the way back, since there was no need to compete in lightness and leg strength, their speed naturally slowed down a lot.

Stop and go along the way, chat and gossip to deepen the relationship.
Five days later, we returned to Butterfly Valley.

When Xu Xingchen and Wei Yixiao walked into the wooden house where Hu Qingniu lived, Hu Qingniu was shocked and thought to himself: "Even the Green-winged Bat King has returned to the command of this young leader. This young leader seems to be the one that everyone wants."

Xu Xingchen put the package on the table, took out two bottles of Ten Fragrance Softening Muscle Powder, told Hu Qingniu about its effects, and asked Hu Qingniu to study it to see if he could develop the composition of the poison and the antidote.

After listening, Hu Qingniu said that when it came to curing diseases and saving lives, he was the best, but when it came to poisoning people, his wife Wang Nangu had to do it.

Xu Xingchen smiled and said, "In that case, I'll trouble you two!"

(End of this chapter)