Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Allegiance
A small, three-story building near the martial arts training ground.
It was the only tall structure in the Zhuangzi.
On the top floor, by the window.
Qian Fugui’s plump, round body was stuffed into a lounge chair, leaving not a single gap.
Beside him, a young maid gently waved a fan, driving away the heat.
As the cool breeze wafted over him, Qian Fugui wore a lazy and carefree expression.
Occasionally, he would rise to glance at the two hundred or so refugees on the training ground. Some were brandishing swords and spears, while others ran laps around the field with stones on their backs.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion, so he lay back down with peace of mind. His fat, restless hand, however, brushed against the hem of the fan-wielding maid’s skirt.
Before long, a hazy mist clouded the maid’s eyes, and the motion of her fanning hand slowed.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
Just as Qian Fugui was about to press his advantage, a burst of hurried footsteps from downstairs interrupted him.
"You may go downstairs for now." Qian Fugui’s gaze cleared, and he spoke faintly.
"Hmph!"
The maid pouted and left the room, clearly displeased.
As Hu entered, she shot him a fierce glare, annoyed that his timing had ruined her opportunity and cost her a few Qi Blood Pills.
Hu, covered in dust, had no time for such things. Clutching two booklets, he strode quickly to Qian Fugui.
He said with the utmost respect:
"Lord Qian, the three thousand defective Qi Blood Pills, two cartloads of waste from the Blood Circulation Powder, and all the grain from the sect have been delivered."
"Everything has been tallied and confirmed. This is the ledger, please look it over."
Hu handed one of the booklets over.
Qian Fugui glanced at it before setting it on the table to his side.
Only then did Hu hand over the second booklet, saying:
"My lord, I happened to run into someone from the training ground downstairs who was delivering this. It’s the results from today’s realm assessment for the refugees."
"There are eight at the Ninth Layer of the Body Tempering Realm, twenty-six at the Eighth Layer, sixty-three at the Seventh Layer, and more at the lower layers... down to one person at the Third Layer."
As Qian Fugui skimmed through it, Hu, who had already read it, gave a simple report of its contents from the side.
After summarizing the general situation, Hu asked with a somewhat puzzled expression:
"My lord, the sect said the disciples’ trial requires some people at the Flesh Refining Realm for practice."
"So why don’t we just abduct a batch of refugees already at the Flesh Refining Realm? Why go to such great expense to cultivate these useless people?"
"Hah. What those guys say is a load of useless crap."
Hearing this, Qian Fugui cursed with a helpless laugh and said:
"Of all the refugees who made it all the way from Qingzhou to Cangzhou, which one of them survived without a few tricks up their sleeve? Which one hasn’t gotten their hands bloody?"
"If I actually listened to them and gathered a team to abduct seven or eight ruthless individuals at the Initial Realm or First Layer of the Flesh Refining Realm, fed them well, and threw them into the mountains..."
"...when the trial begins and the new disciples enter the mountains, do you think those old geezers wouldn’t lose their minds and start worrying sick about their precious, talented Direct Disciples?"
Hu nodded thoughtfully.
Qian Fugui continued with a helpless look on his face:
"Those old geezers in the sect want their precious disciples to practice the Ghost Howl Saber technique using human lives."
"They’re worried the refugees will be too weak to be effective, that the saber practice won’t be fast enough, or vicious enough."
"But am I not supposed to worry that the people I abduct will be too strong and kill all their disciples?"
"You’re new to the ’Medicine-Planting Zhuangzi’ so you don’t know, but there was a time when someone killed a Direct Disciple. In the end, I had to pay several hundred silver taels to settle the matter."
"Ever since then, I’ve basically just used Martial Artists at the Sixth or Seventh Layer of the Body Tempering Realm and force-fed them medicinal ingredients. Their realms aren’t weak, and their strength isn’t bad either."
"These people are perfect for the sect’s disciples to practice their sabers on. There’s no danger."
"And if a disciple of the sect can’t even beat a refugee who was force-fed with medicinal herbs, then you can only say he deserved to die!"
Qian Fugui finished in one breath, rapping on his head with a pained expression. "So you see, the work at this Medicine-Planting Zhuangzi isn’t easy, and my job as the ’medicine planter’ isn’t easy either. It’s a huge headache!"
He paused at the end and sighed deeply.
"Hah! Once this trial at the Medicine-Planting Zhuangzi is over, I should have enough Contribution Points. I need to hurry back to the sect and exchange them for a cushy post, get out of this godforsaken place."
After listening, Hu was still a bit confused:
"My lord, the sect specifically requires a few people at the Flesh Refining Realm. We don’t even have one yet. How are we going to report back?"
"We’ll just focus on cultivating those few at the Ninth Layer of the Body Tempering Realm. Increase their dosage. We still have twenty days, that should be enough."
Qian Fugui’s finger tapped the booklet a few times, on the names at the very top of the list.
"Anyway, as long as their realm is high enough, they should be able to last three to five moves against those talented disciples."
Hu nodded. With an increased diet of medicinal soups and Qi Blood Pills, even a pig would be forced into the Flesh Refining Realm. It stood to reason that these people would be able to break through.
But then... he thought of the last name on the list.
"My lord, the sect’s Qi and Blood medicinal herbs are quite valuable. Some of these refugees are truly useless, with exceptionally poor talent."
"There’s even a guy at the Third Layer of the Body Tempering Realm in this group. Should we..."
Hu made a throat-slitting gesture.
"Hah, no need."
Qian Fugui waved his hand. "You’re at the First Layer of the Flesh Refining Realm, for crying out loud. So what if you slaughter this small fry?"
"Besides, are we really going to miss his bowl of rice and a few Blood Qi Pills?"
"It’d be better to just throw him into the trial and let everyone have some fun with him."
’He had seen plenty of people mocking and even trying to pick a fight with the person being tested on the stage earlier. It was, without a doubt, the one named Wu Chen, who only had the strength of the Third Layer of the Body Tempering Realm.’
Since Qian Fugui had spoken, Hu could only agree, but he still felt a pang of regret for the vast amount of medicinal ingredients. Then he heard Qian Fugui speak again:
"Don’t worry, none of it will be wasted."
"Feeding it to these guys isn’t just about helping them break through realms. The main purpose is to use their bodies to dissolve the toxins in these defective medicinal ingredients, while also cultivating physiques rich in Qi and Blood."
"Everything they eat, they will ultimately repay with their lives, becoming nourishment in the bellies of my sect’s disciples!"
Hu’s gaze shifted to the crowd outside, who were practicing martial arts and running laps full of vigor. His pupils constricted as he finally understood the origin of the name ’Medicine-Planting Zhuangzi’.
’The Great Medicine! These refugees were the Great Medicine! In the trial twenty days from now, they would be freely harvested by the disciples of the sect!’
...
「In the blink of an eye, several days passed.」
On the training ground, Guards wheeled in a flatcart loaded with bottles and jars. On the cart were also over a hundred tattered but neatly arranged Martial Arts Manuals.
Calling out names from a roster, they distributed the items to the crowd of refugees.
Although there were over a hundred manuals, they were actually just twenty copies each of five basic Martial Arts.
Liu Linshan first tipped out the contents of a porcelain bottle. Looking at the dark red pill in his palm, his astonishment was plain to see:
"Qi Blood Pill!"
Although a closer look revealed the pill was pitted and uneven—a defective product—it was something they could never normally afford. Their eyes instantly widened.
"This is good stuff!"
Liu Linshan remembered the Blood Supplement Pill he had taken when he was injured before. This one Qi Blood Pill was more than ten times stronger than a Blood Supplement Pill!
Remembering the Guard’s warning from earlier—’Anyone who hoards this without consuming it will die!’—he immediately abandoned the thought of saving it for his daughter and swallowed it with a GULP.
Many of the refugees recognized the pill and gasped in shock.
It wasn’t just because the item was expensive, but because practically every refugee present received one, including the man at the Third Layer of the Body Tempering Realm!
What an incredible display of wealth this was!
For a moment, as they held the pills in their hands, the crowd had only one thought about the rarely seen Master Qian:
’Loyalty!’
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