Chapter 342: Profiting from Chaos (Part Two)

Li Xuanxuan waited for a while in the neighborhood. He saw only blood covering the ground, with no people in sight. He took a jade talisman from his storage pouch, sensed it carefully, and thought to himself, "Qiu Yang's location is still changing. I don't know if he's still alive or if his storage pouch has been taken." Given Li Qiuyang's mixed spiritual energy cultivation, he likely wouldn't last long in this market's catastrophe. Although Li Xuanxuan dearly hoped he was safe, he had little confidence.

Li Xuanxuan gritted his teeth, feeling a little uneasy as the person indicated by the jade talisman slowly moved closer. After a moment's thought, he slipped the jade talisman into a crack in the neighborhood wall. He then released a wisp of spiritual light from his hand, leaving a few lines of text on the wall: "If Qiuyang comes looking, please wait here." After encrypting it with his own secret method, Li Xuanxuan left in a hurry.

Li Xuanxuan walked a few steps down the street and saw corpses everywhere, young and old, all tragically deceased. Amidst the pools of blood lay scattered fragments of jade bottles, and two pale white pills, stained with blood, emitted a faint glow. Having managed a shop for many years, he immediately recognized the pills as Spirit-Cleansing Pills, commonly used by Qi Refining cultivators to calm the mind and aid cultivation. He quickly stepped forward, picked up the pills, wiped them on his robe, and used a spell to remove the bloodstains. Li Xuanxuan squinted and saw that they were smooth and round, appearing to be high-quality pills from a noble family, indicating skilled craftsmanship. Despite being blood-stained and having lost some potency, he was overjoyed. He sealed them in a jade bottle and gleefully began a thorough search. The corpses in the blood had withered, appearing gaunt and lifeless, their vital energy absorbed. Li Xuanxuan paid them no mind, searching them thoroughly for a while, but their storage pouches had long since been plundered by demonic cultivators. He felt the person's sleeve and found it to be made of good-quality spirit cloth, suggesting the person likely had a distinguished background. He quickly stripped the corpse bare, rolled up the robe, and placed it into his storage pouch.

As soon as Li Xuanxuan finished, he looked up and saw a brightly lit plaque on the opposite street, bearing golden characters: "Jia Dan Pavilion." Li Xuanxuan's heart skipped a beat, a burning sensation rising within him. Gazing at the empty, blood-scented doorway, he truly felt a surge of greed, thinking to himself, "The demonic cultivators plundered this pavilion earlier. They were in a hurry, so they might have left something behind!" This pill pavilion was a property of the Yu family on Guanyun Peak. Li Xuanxuan had bought a batch there just the day before yesterday, and the various miraculous pills had left him captivated. Snapping back to reality, Li Xuanxuan acted immediately. He cast a concealment spell and stealthily approached.

In front of the door, a cultivator in brocade robes knelt with his head bowed, bleeding profusely onto the ground. His chest was empty, his heart having been removed. Li Xuanxuan recognized him as the Yu family's manager. A chill ran through him as he thought, "If I hadn't recognized that lightning bead, gained the upper hand, and used a few tricks, my shop's people would likely have had no escape... and might have fared worse than this person!" Li Xuanxuan stepped around the body and searched the counter twice. It had been thoroughly ransacked; demonic cultivators also liked spirit stones, so naturally, they wouldn't leave a single one for him. Inside the pill pavilion, it was pitch black, with bloodstains and jade bottle fragments scattered everywhere. Li Xuanxuan swept his spiritual sense back and forth, finding five sets of robes, six Fetal Breath Pills, and one Qi Refining Pill. He glanced back at the naked bodies on the floor, feeling a pang of guilt. He pulled out a few strips of cloth to cover them, then took two steps into the backyard of Jia Dan Pavilion.

The backyard was even gloomier and partially collapsed, with exposed flagstones everywhere. Dark red flames burned quietly, not very hot, but enough to sting one's ears and nose. "Warm but not scorching, a continuous ochre flame... this is a fire vein. Right, the Yu family must have established an alchemy chamber here, drawing the fire vein for that purpose." Although the Li family currently had no alchemy chamber, Li Xuanxuan recognized the malevolent fire within this one. It must have been damaged by the demonic cultivators, who had removed the alchemy furnaces. Without the furnaces and formations to suppress it, the underground fire had erupted, creating this scene. He cast a spell over his mouth and nose and walked deeper inside. With a flick of his hand, he pushed aside a broken beam. Dark red flames burst forth, and indeed, he saw that both alchemy furnaces from the two chambers had been plundered, leaving only the glowing dark red fire veins.

"What a pity." Activating fire veins was troublesome, and the Yu family had spent a considerable amount of spirit stones to draw these two veins here. Li Xuanxuan sighed, lifted his foot to leave, but then faintly heard a groan. "Hmm?" He paused, cocking his head to listen, and followed the sound. He saw a furry arm hanging in the rubble, weakly extended, with sharp, black claws. It was feebly pushing against a large stone on its body. Li Xuanxuan was secretly alarmed, thinking, "A demonic beast?!" How could there be a demonic beast surviving in the Yu family's market? Li Xuanxuan cautiously took a closer look. The creature had no demonic aura; instead, it possessed authentic spiritual energy. His heart stirred: "There couldn't possibly be a demonic beast here! It must be a spirit beast that guards the Yu family's treasury or works as a helper!" Overjoyed, he stepped forward and, with a strenuous palm strike, shattered the stone. The creature beneath turned its body, revealing a face resembling a thunder god. "A spirit monkey?"

The monkey's eyes were weary and bloodshot, its face wrinkled, yet its gaze was clear and even somewhat ancient. It stared at Li Xuanxuan with tear-filled eyes, letting out breaths that sounded like a broken bellows. Li Xuanxuan gripped the spirit monkey's furry hand and was surprised to find that the beast had reached the fourth level of Qi Refining, a higher cultivation than his own. However, it was poisoned by fire and injured, barely clinging to life. Seeing the monkey's tear-streaked face and grateful expression, Li Xuanxuan felt a pang of emotion. He rummaged in his sleeve, pulled out two healing pills, and said gently, "Here!" The spirit monkey was very clever. It hunched its back, puckered its mouth, and eagerly swallowed the two pills. It then began to gesticulate incoherently, its body struggling, producing a clinking, metallic friction sound.

Only then did Li Xuanxuan notice a cold, heavy ring locked around the monkey's neck. Beside its feet lay a jade pestle and a chipped, emerald-green mortar. He instantly felt as though he had discovered a treasure. Picking them up, he saw they were Qi Refining-level magical artifacts, specifically used for grinding herbs. They were rare and highly prized by alchemists, worth a significant sum. These two artifacts alone were more valuable than any pill. Li Xuanxuan was immediately overcome with joy and couldn't help but exclaim, "Good monkey! With these two, my dear Ming'er will be spared a lot of trouble!"

Li Xuanxuan suppressed his delight and placed the items into his storage pouch. The monkey had already bowed, peeling back the charred fur on its back to reveal several finger-sized puncture wounds, oozing black blood, a truly horrifying sight. He suddenly understood. As he applied medicine to the monkey and simultaneously cast three spells to alleviate its injuries, he began to form some conjectures about the spirit monkey's appearance. He thought to himself, "This spirit beast was likely the Yu family's servant boy for grinding herbs and tending the fire. It must have hidden somewhere during the demonic cultivators' battle, which allowed it to survive..." He touched the monkey's scorched fur and blisters, then recalled the fire poison throughout its body. A sudden shock ran through him, and he instantly understood: "So it burrowed into the fire vein! What a clever monkey, what a resilient spirit!" A fire vein contained not only fire poison and malevolent fire but also chaotic spiritual energy that interfered with spiritual sense. For this monkey to know to hide there and endure such excruciating torment...

As Li Xuanxuan was still marveling, the monkey began rustling and digging on the ground. Before long, it unearthed a charred corpse and extracted a gleaming jade tablet from its sleeve. "Click." In just two breaths, the monkey used the jade tablet to open the dark iron spiritual ring on its neck. It then brought both the ring and the tablet to Li Xuanxuan, before squatting down to meditate. Li Xuanxuan had barely looked for a moment when the monkey suddenly opened its eyes, its ears twitching slightly. A hint of fear appeared in its large eyes, and it silently began to gesticulate, mimicking the strenuous act of pounding herbs. Li Xuanxuan's heart suddenly tightened. With a flick of his hand, he put away the two items, extending his spiritual sense to its maximum, and shrank into a corner, daring not to move. The monkey, looking anxious, carefully avoided making a sound, first bowing, then resuming its herb-pounding motion. Li Xuanxuan hesitated for a moment, then quickly pulled the pestle from his waist and handed it to the monkey. The spirit beast nodded, took the artifact, and scurried into the ruins.