Yin Yang Soul Searcher

"You three can leave too," Zhou Dahai said. The two martial artists and the waiter left the room.

Bai Jueming squatted beside the shopkeeper, holding the portrait. He began to find the differences; "A goatee, a thin face, and slightly sunken eye sockets. Tsk tsk, the painting skills are truly remarkable! Even the swollen areas on the face are highlighted, and it was painted with a brush." ​​Indeed, the best resources in the world are always in the hands of the imperial court...

"Kneel properly," Zhou Dahai said, sitting on the stool. "I'll ask you questions, you answer. I don't want to hear lies, otherwise you know the methods of the Yin-Yang Palace."

The shopkeeper, kneeling on the ground, didn't speak, but simply nodded resignedly.

Bai Jueming added from the side, "Of course, fortunately this matter did not lead to a major mistake, so you have a chance to live after the case is investigated."

A glimmer of hope ignited in the shopkeeper's eyes; "Sir, I was confused for a moment and did such a thing. Please ask me any questions, and I will answer them to the best of my knowledge."

Zhou Dahai glanced at Bai Jueming in surprise, then at the shopkeeper whose face was full of hope. Had this kid done something like this before? He'd already pried his words out? Zhou Dahai fell into deep thought...

"Who gave you the herbs? Where would an ordinary person like you get such valuable herbs?" Bai Jueming asked after putting away the portrait.

"Replying to your question, sir..."

In the three-story pavilion of the Craftsmen's Hall, Qiao Shou, with his white hair, sat on a futon, his eyes closed as if dozing. His limbs were hidden under a wide black robe, and a whisk was tucked into the crook of his arm.

Cheng Yanbing, with an unremarkable face, knocked on the door and walked around the alchemy furnace that occupied a third of the room. He first bowed to Qiao Shou, and then said, "Master, my junior sister and I went to the pharmacy yesterday and checked on everyone there. Basically, everyone is fine."

At this point, Cheng Yanbing pondered, "Master, Junior Sister said she didn't find a trace of array stones. That's very strange. I remember you said there's only one situation where you can set up an array without array stones, something like a magical artifact made from the corpse of a mythical beast?"

Cheng Yanbing remembered his master teaching him that there are always some mountains, rivers, lakes and seas in the world with spiritual energy so rich that it cannot be dissipated, and they are called blessed lands.

Because of the abundant spiritual energy, all sorts of auspicious beasts and immortal flowers will be born. Some wild beasts, when cultivating in blessed lands, will suddenly receive the favor of the heavens and break through their bottlenecks to become auspicious beasts. Their strength will at least advance to the second rank, and their appearance will change. They will also develop some special supernatural abilities within their bodies.

One of the auspicious beasts possesses the supernatural power to create formations with a mere stomp of its foot...

By killing the auspicious beast and refining its remains into a magical artifact, one can unleash the beast's supernatural powers. Therefore, once it is known that a blessed land possesses an auspicious beast, various factions will spare no effort to hunt it down and obtain its remains.

Of course, besides refining them into magical artifacts, there was another important reason for killing the auspicious beasts. It was because these beasts viewed humans as enemies, slaughtering human cultivators and befriending demon cultivators...

Upon hearing this, Qiao Shou opened his eyes with a grave expression and asked in confusion, "There are no traces of array stones?"

Cheng Yanbing nodded: "Junior Sister knows more about formations than I do, she shouldn't be mistaken. Master, which dynasty's magic weapon is this? Western Shu, Beichen? After all, besides our Great Xia, only these two dynasties have the ability to refine the corpses of auspicious beasts into magic weapons." At this point, Cheng Yanbing's eyes widened, staring incredulously at Qiao Shou; "Could it be that, Master, you..."

Cheng Yanbing was greatly surprised and suspected that it was his master who did it. After all, the Great Xia Craftsmen's Hall was the place with the most magical treasures in the world. Although he did not know if there were any magical treasures in the treasure vault that could set up formations, he could not help but suspect his master.

"What?" Qiao Shou looked at Cheng Yanbing in surprise, then a vein throbbed on his forehead. The whisk in his arm flew up and lashed out at Cheng Yanbing's back.

"Ah! Master, you're not going to kill me to silence me, are you?" Cheng Yanbing dodged the whisk around the alchemy furnace, shouting, "Master, spare me! I'll keep this a secret!"

...After an incense stick's time, the whisk flew back to Qiao's arm. Cheng Yanbing stood in front of Qiao, grinning, and even through his clothes, one could see some whip marks on his back.

Then, a letter flew out from under Qiao's wide black robe and hovered in front of Cheng Yanbing. He then said, "Send this to the Yin-Yang Palace and give it to the Imperial Advisor."

"You want me to deliver this letter? But there's nothing written on it!" Cheng Yanbing picked up the letter and looked at it in the candlelight beside her. Both sides were completely blank.

"You just need to hand it over to the Imperial Advisor; he'll take a look himself," Qiao Shou said.

"This kind of thing makes Junior Sister..." Cheng Yanbing's voice trailed off, and then she ran out of the room without looking back.

Watching Cheng Yanbing's departing figure, Qiao Shou's face showed confusion and a hint of solemnity.

Inside Zhengshan Hall.

"Reporting to you, sir, this herb is indeed not mine." The shopkeeper sighed and slowly said, "I am merely the manager of this 'Jia Family Pharmacy,' the owner is someone else. A couple of days ago, the owner said that this pharmacy isn't making money under my management, and if it doesn't improve in another month or two, he'll have me pack my things and go back to my hometown."

"Just when I was frowning in worry, a man in black came. He had heard about my situation and wanted to help me. I asked him what his purpose was," the shopkeeper said with a self-deprecating smile. "Of course, he wouldn't tell me. He just said he was willing to help me, handed me some herbs, and instructed me that as long as I sold the herbs to any pharmacy on Hua'an Street, that pharmacy would close down within three days."

It turns out that selling the herbs to "Chen's Pharmacy" wasn't the mastermind's idea, but the shopkeeper's. The mastermind only set up the formation after the herbs went to "Chen's Pharmacy." Bai Jueming seemed thoughtful.

"So you accepted the herbs and sold them to 'Chen's Pharmacy' because the pharmacy across the street is the most popular on the street?" Zhou Dahai chimed in at the opportune moment.

"My lord, I was confused for a moment. My boss clearly couldn't compete with the pharmacy across the street, so I had to find that gambler Li Changzhi and sell the herbs to 'Chen's Pharmacy' through him." The shopkeeper continued, "After selling the herbs to 'Chen's Pharmacy,' I kept an eye on things on the second floor every day. It wasn't until I saw this gentleman that I knew this matter could no longer be kept secret." He then looked at Bai Jueming.

"Me?" Bai Jueming pointed to himself.

"Wait a minute," Zhou Dahai shouted from the side. "How do you know he's the one investigating the Yin-Yang Palace? He wasn't wearing these clothes that day. And he was all alone." He then stared at the shopkeeper with hostility.

The shopkeeper avoided Zhou Dahai's gaze before replying, "I didn't know this gentleman was from the Yin-Yang Palace, but when he left, a man on horseback said, 'Brother Bai is truly skilled...' which I overheard. That man also threw something to you; if I heard correctly, it was something called a Blood Qi Pill?"

After hearing what the shopkeeper said, Zhou Dahai looked at Bai Jueming in surprise: "Qi and Blood Pill? A pill unique to the Craftsmen's Hall? Are the people from the Craftsmen's Hall really this generous?"

You think your hearing is that good, you're just an ordinary person? And don't even mention the "throwing pills" part, you little brat! Fatty Zhou is still here...