Within the Blackwater Office, Cheng Zhishan woke from his dream.
He slowly opened his eyes, a trace of exhaustion still lingering in them.
Zhao Qianjun, who had been waiting by his side, stepped forward and asked in a low voice, "Commander, has the Bodhisattva replied? Is it confirmed to be those from the Bone Temple?"
Cheng Zhishan rubbed his temples. "Lord Jieyin is still in seclusion. He is at the critical moment of condensing an arhat's body and must not be disturbed.
"I only saw Lady Zhi."
At the thought of the peerless beauty in the rainbow dress from his dream, a trace of awe inevitably rose on Cheng Zhishan's face.
"What did Lady Zhi say?" Zhao Qianjun asked.
"Lady Zhi will personally go to Qudao County to investigate the truth.
"She said that if the Bone Temple is indeed being restless and wants to lay a finger on our Thousand Isles County to get a piece of the pie...
"Lord Jieyin will not hesitate to end his seclusion early to deal with it, regardless of the cost."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Qianjun breathed a visible sigh of relief. "That is good. With Lady Zhi personally taking action, everything should come to light soon.
"I heard that Lady Zhi is already at the half-step eerification stage. If we could invite her..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear. If someone of her caliber—nearly a sixth-stage existence—intervened, those eccentrics in the Heart's Desire Hall likely wouldn't be able to cause much trouble.
Cheng Zhishan was not as optimistic. His right eyelid was twitching incessantly, and he felt as though something major was about to happen.
He waved his hand and asked instead, "Setting that aside for now, has there been any movement from the Heart's Desire Hall over the past two days?"
At this mention, Zhao Qianjun’s expression immediately turned solemn.
He reported everything that had happened in the outer city district this morning from start to finish.
By now, the news had already spread throughout the city: a divine pill had appeared at the Heart's Desire Hall.
"Commander, this is absolutely true!
"Countless people saw it with their own eyes. After those little beggars took the pills, they achieved qi induction on the spot. Their foundations are stable, and there are no side effects whatsoever.
"Now the entire outer city district has gone mad. So many people are blocking the entrance of the Heart's Desire Hall, hoping they'll be the fated ones tomorrow!
"The major families in the city can't sit still either. They've all sent people over. I'm afraid..."
As Cheng Zhishan listened, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
A divine pill that could allow a mortal with no spiritual energy to directly achieve qi induction?
Such an effect was simply unheard of!
He knew all too well what kind of lethal attraction such a pill would have for ordinary people, and even for those cultivators who had been stuck at low-stage bottlenecks for many years.
Putting himself in their shoes, Cheng Zhishan had been stuck at the peak of the fourth-stage for many years, with no sign of the bottleneck loosening.
If a divine pill that could allow him to step directly into the fifth-stage essence devouring stage were placed before him right now... would he go mad?
The answer was almost certainly yes.
But because of this, the worry in Cheng Zhishan's heart grew even greater.
He signaled for Zhao Qianjun to withdraw, then sat alone at his desk and picked up a brush.
The cinnabar ink bled out, looking much like Fatty Qian's face, which was flushed red with excitement.
"Master! Master! Great news! The young master's strange illness can be cured! He's saved!"
At Lin Manor in the south of the city.
Fatty Qian practically crawled and stumbled his way back to the Lin family home, rushing directly into the study of the family head, Lin Zhixue.
Because he was so agitated, his fat face was flushed crimson, and his voice cracked as he shouted.
Lin Zhixue was currently fretting while staring at the withered branches outside his window, only to be startled back to his senses by the sudden commotion.
He turned and saw it was Fatty Qian.
Hearing the content of the shouting, Lin Zhixue’s already gloomy face instantly turned ashen, and he erupted in fury.
"You piece of trash!"
Lin Zhixue slammed his hand on the table, making the fine red sandalwood desk shudder.
"What kind of madness has possessed you to come here and babble such nonsense? What do you mean he's saved? Get out!"
The young servants and maidservants standing in the study were terrified into silence, each bowing their heads deeply.
They stared at their own feet, not daring to even breathe too loudly for fear of being caught in the master's wrath.
Everyone knew that the once-brilliant eldest young master of the Lin family, Lin Shaobin, was now a taboo subject in the manor.
In the past, Lin Shaobin was the pride of the younger generation in Lantao City. Not only was he exceptionally handsome, but more importantly, he was naturally gifted—a star of literature descended to earth.
At a young age, he was already a cultivator in the second-stage bone coiling stage, the greatest hope of the entire Lin family.
Lin Zhixue had taken immense pride in him, pouring all the resources of the Lin family into assisting his cultivation.
He had been counting on Lin Shaobin to go to the provincial capital and join a true immortal sect.
But just a few months ago, for some unknown reason, Lin Shaobin had suddenly contracted a strange illness.
His entire cultivation inexplicably stagnated and could no longer be circulated. Following that, his entire body began to rot and break out in purulent sores.
He soon fell into a coma and had not woken up since.
Lin Zhixue had exhausted himself for the sake of his son.
He had sought out every famous physician and alchemist in Lantao City and the surrounding commanderies.
He had even visited some moderately famous lone cultivators. Spirit stones were spent like water, yet no one could explain the cause, let alone provide a cure.
Even more terrifyingly, recently, even the few servants and maidservants responsible for Lin Shaobin's daily care had started to show similar symptoms.
Their skin rotted, and sores broke out.
Where the sores clustered together, the surface was faintly distorted, as if they were forming a human face.
All of this weighed on Lin Zhixue's heart like a heavy stone, leaving him mentally and physically exhausted, and his temper increasingly volatile.
Terms related to the 'strange illness' and the 'young master' had become absolute taboos in the Lin manor that no one dared to mention.
It was no wonder Lin Zhixue was so enraged to see Fatty Qian shouting so out of turn.
Fatty Qian shrunk his neck after being scolded, but thinking of the miraculous scene in front of the Heart's Desire Hall and the bedridden young master...
He endured the reprimand and said urgently, "Master! Master, please calm your anger!
"I am not babbling! There really is hope!
"A new Heart's Desire Hall has opened in the outer city district. There is a master with profound Buddhist knowledge inside... He has divine medicine that can bring the dead back to life and grow flesh on withered bones!"
Like beans pouring from a bamboo tube, he recounted everything he had seen and heard today with added embellishment.
He emphasized the miraculous transformation of those little beggars after taking the pills, highlighting the medicine's heaven-defying effect of changing one's fate.
If the Heart's Desire Hall could fulfill wishes and even possessed such divine pills, how hard could it be to treat a few measly sores?
Lin Zhixue was initially full of rage, but as he listened to Fatty Qian's description, the anger on his face was gradually replaced by a look of uncertain shock.
He knew Fatty Qian. As the Lin Manor's manager, though the man liked to take small advantages, he never faltered on major matters, and he certainly wouldn't dare to deceive him about something like this.
"Is everything you said... true?"
Lin Zhixue’s voice trembled.
It was the sound of someone seeing a faint spark of light in total despair, yet being terrified it might be a hallucination.
He had been disappointed too many times.
"It's absolutely true, Master! I'll bet my life on it!
"The whole city is talking about it. Many other families have already sent people to wait there. We should hurry too; the master only receives one fated person a day!"
Fatty Qian urged repeatedly.
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