Chapter 299: Chen Qingshu

At Wangjiapu, Qi Shanshan stood beside a large lake. Beside her was a large pot, filled with a pile of purple radishes cut to fingernail size. From time to time, she would grab a handful of purple radishes and throw them into the lake, attracting a swarm of small purplish-gold fish to compete for them.

Two members of the Wang family stood beside her, watching.

“Hey, why are you feeding them like this? If the spirit fish can’t finish the food, it will rot and pollute the water quality, which will then affect the growth of the Water Moon Algae.” Wang Qingzhi walked over, frowning as he spoke.

“Qingzhi, she is the spirit fisher we hired. She has unique insights into raising spirit fish. Ninth Sister-in-law said to let her work freely.”

Hearing this, Wang Qingzhi’s expression softened. He said, “Since my mother allowed it, then it’s fine. I want to check on the growth of the Water Moon Algae.”

Wang Qingzhi walked to the lakeside, formed a hand seal, and a faint blue light barrier appeared close to his body, protecting him. He then jumped into the lake.

“Twentieth Brother, I’ll just watch her. You go keep an eye on Qingzhi; we can’t leave that boy unsupervised. Last time, he stayed at the bottom of the lake for two hours to check on the Water Moon Algae’s growth. Fortunately, nothing happened.”

A Wang family member responded, applied a protective shield to himself, and followed him into the lake.

Upon hearing this, Qi Shanshan’s face showed curiosity. She secretly mused, “Wang Qingzhi, this person’s identity must not be simple if an elder needs to watch him even when he goes into the water.”

In the council hall, Wang Changhuan was speaking with Wang Ruyan.

“Facial features can be changed, but accents are very difficult to alter. Eighth Brother, could this person be a cultivator from a neighboring country? Just passing through Wei State?”

“According to Qingyuan, he has received cultivators from several surrounding states, so this person is definitely not from a neighboring country. Most importantly, this person keeps a low profile and purchases large quantities of Houttuynia cordata, likely for healing. It’s better to kill a thousand innocent than to let one guilty person escape. If this person is the one wanted by the Taiyi Immortal Sect, we will make a huge profit. This is a quota to enter the Taiyi Immortal Sect.”

Hearing this, Wang Ruyan no longer hesitated. She nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll go invite Twenty-First Uncle out and see what he says.”

Upon receiving Wang Ruyan’s communication talisman, Wang Mingjiang quickly arrived at the council hall.

After listening to Wang Changhuan’s report, Wang Mingjiang quickly made a decision: “Changhuan, have you sent anyone to keep an eye on him?”

“No, I was afraid of alerting him. This person wants to buy Houttuynia cordata, and Qingyuan told him it wouldn’t be available for another four months. He shouldn’t leave Qingyue Market City anytime soon.”

“Good. Changhuan, you and Qingqi will watch the house. Ruyan, you go to that cave in Yunzhou, take a batch of century-old Houttuynia cordata, and hurry to Qingyue Market City. I will go to Bailong Valley to find Changsheng and the others. Changhuan, if Changsheng and the others return, tell them to rush to Qingyue Market City. This person, we would rather kill by mistake than let him go.”

“Understood, Twenty-First Uncle.”

After the discussion, Wang Mingjiang and Wang Ruyan split into two groups, heading respectively to Bailong Valley and Yunzhou.

In a secret chamber in Qingyue Market City, a pale-faced, beardless middle-aged man sat cross-legged on the ground, enveloped in a dazzling green light.

A moment later, the green light around him dissipated. He opened his eyes, frowning deeply, and murmured to himself, “The fire poison has already infiltrated my bone marrow. It must be removed as soon as possible, otherwise, it will affect my future cultivation.”

He was Chen Qingshu, the one wanted by the Taiyi Immortal Sect. Chen Qingshu came from a small family. His ancestor was a disciple of the Taiyi Immortal Sect and left behind a Taiyi Token, which allowed entry into the sect.

He was a concubine-born son, and his aptitude was not the best. His clan originally intended to send his elder brother, Chen Qinghong, into the Taiyi Immortal Sect. However, Chen Qingshu stole the Taiyi Token and went to the Taiyi Immortal Sect himself, successfully gaining admission with it.

Since the deed was done, the Chen family could only accept it.

He joined the Thousand Swords lineage, practicing sword arts. At the same time, he took on numerous missions, fighting demonic beasts many times, and nearly died on several occasions.

At the age of thirty, he used his accumulated contribution points to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill and successfully established his foundation.

After establishing his foundation, he returned to his family, where the entire clan welcomed him. The patriarch didn’t even mention the theft of the Taiyi Token years ago, instead giving him a sum of cultivation resources.

From that moment, Chen Qingshu understood that as long as he was powerful enough, others would not dare to hold him accountable, even if he committed wrongdoings.

In the cultivation world, strength reigns supreme.

To accumulate contribution points, he desperately undertook missions. With his sharp sword manipulation technique, he amassed a large amount of contribution points, which he exchanged for cultivation resources.

The contribution points required to exchange for spiritual items that aid in Core Formation were astronomical. During one mission, he was critically wounded. Although he survived, he spent most of his accumulated contribution points on elixirs and spiritual medicines to heal his injuries. This made him realize the difficulty of Core Formation. To achieve Core Formation, he would need to turn danger into safety every time, but who could guarantee such consistent good luck?

By chance, he learned that a fellow disciple possessed a spiritual item for Core Formation. That person was a descendant of a Nascent Soul cultivator, possessed four spiritual roots, and had reached the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment through the use of pills.

Chen Qingshu was extremely resentful. He had toiled relentlessly, almost dying several times, while others, with good ancestors, had everything arranged for them and didn't need to take any risks.

His worldview crumbled; so-called fairness was nonsense. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and wickedness grew within him. He found an excuse to lure that fellow disciple out of the sect and killed him. Before leaving the sect, the disciple had informed his relatives of his whereabouts and left a soul tablet in the sect. The moment the soul tablet shattered, the enforcement team quickly moved to apprehend Chen Qingshu.

Chen Qingshu, relying on his extensive combat experience, fought his way out of the encirclement. However, he also contracted a strange fire-attributed poison that, if not removed promptly, would affect his future cultivation.

While evading pursuit, he searched for spiritual herbs to refine pills to remove the toxins from his body.

The Taiyi Immortal Sect dispatched a large number of people to hunt him down. He fled frantically, eventually hiding in Qingyue Market City in Wei State, believing that the most dangerous place was the safest.

In recent years, Wei State had been frequently at war, leading to a large number of cultivators coming and going, a mixed bag of people, which made it easier for him to hide.

Houttuynia cordata aged over a century has miraculous effects in removing fire poison. However, due to its specific growth environment, century-old Houttuynia cordata is relatively rare. He purchased a considerable amount of it and refined it into pills. Most of the toxins were neutralized, but because he delayed too long, some toxins had already seeped into his bone marrow. He needed to remove these toxins soon, or it would impact his future cultivation.

The Houttuynia cordata in the large shops were all sold out. Someone introduced him to a shop called Wang’s General Store, but the shopkeeper said that the Houttuynia cordata was out of stock and wouldn't be available for another four months.

“That good-for-nothing Shangguan Rui! He didn’t even carry the Core Formation spiritual item with him, making all my efforts for naught.” Chen Qingshu said bitterly, a look of remorse on his face.

If only he had known, he wouldn't have harmed his fellow disciple. Now it was too late for regrets; he could only take things one step at a time.