Chapter 34 - 34 The Great Zhou Dynasty’s Miracle Worker Refining Pills

Editor: Atlas Studios

Yu State River, on a pleasure boat.

Jiang Sanjia sucked on a chicken bone and muttered to himself, “This roast chicken is truly delicious. If I had another pot of wine, it would be like living the life of an immortal.”

“Such a lacking ambition.” Mu Xiaoyun snorted softly, “When the big task is accomplished, I’ll give you ten or eight roast chickens.”

Jiang Sanjia enjoyed the delicacy, seemingly uninterested in talking to Mu Xiaoyun.

“Hey, Sanjia, do you still have Wan’er in your heart?” Mu Xiaoyun asked.

Wan’er….

Upon hearing these two words, Jiang Sanjia’s hand clearly paused, then he continued eating on his own.

Mu Xiaoyun played with the jade pendant in her hand and muttered to herself, “Wan’er, you could say she’s lucky. She became an imperial concubine and enjoys endless wealth and glory, serving the most powerful man in the world, and she has a devoted lover like you. On the other hand, you could say she’s not lucky. She’s trapped in the deep palace, serving a man she doesn’t love every day…..”

“What about you?” Jiang Sanjia sneered.

The hemp rope snaps at the thin part, and bad luck finds the unfortunate.

Sometimes Jiang Sanjia thought he was very pitiable, but sometimes he felt his suffering was insignificant because there were people in this world having worse fates than his.

The woman before him was one of them.

“Me?”

Mu Xiaoyun chuckled softly, a hint of mockery in her laughter, “I’ve been dead for a long time.”

Jiang Sanjia spat the chicken bone into the river, “But you’re still alive, aren’t you?”

“For me, there’s not much difference between being alive and dead.”

Mu Xiaoyun’s lips curved into a sultry smile, her enchanting eyes seemed to hold countless emotions and desires, but upon closer inspection, there was nothing.

“Sanjia, you have a moral issue, everyone must protect the water resources.”

Just then, a faint voice sounded.

“Brother Zhou, you’re still here?” Jiang Sanjia looked up at the figure on the deck ahead.

The newcomer was An Jing.

Mu Xiaoyun looked equally puzzled.

An Jing spoke calmly, “Mrs. Liu, I’ve fulfilled my promise. Tieyun Mountain’s death was too ugly, so I didn’t cut off his head.”

“This is his token. See if it belongs to Cao Gang.”

Then, An Jing tossed a token onto the deck.

“Oh!?”

Mu Xiaoyun’s pupils slightly contracted. Looking at the token on the ground, it was indeed an elder token of Cao Gang and engraved with the character ‘Tie.’

An Jing really killed Tieyun Mountain.

Who was Tieyun Mountain?

He was one of the seven Vajra of Cao Gang, Liu Qingshan’s trusted aide, and a master on the Jianghu Dragon and Tiger List, a notable person with any title.

A person who could shake the entire Yu State City with a stomp.

He could easily control most of the joys, sorrows, and even life and death.

But such a person didn’t have control over his own life and death, wasn’t that a kind of irony?

Jiang Sanjia’s hand paused again. Just as he finished eating his roast chicken, An Jing had already returned from killing someone, such speed.

Who was this exceptional swordsman before his eyes?

What was his true identity?

What did he represent?

These questions instantly filled her mind.

Not just her, Jiang Sanjia was also puzzled and curious. Who exactly was this Brother Zhou before him, and why had he never heard of him in the Jianghu?

No, once his injuries healed a bit, the first thing to calculate with the Ghost Valley Heavenly Mechanism would be this person.

He must find out Brother Zhou’s identity, Jiang Sanjia thought to himself.

“I think Jiangnan Dao is about to change soon.”

An Jing murmured, “But Cao Gang is powerful. You must still be very cautious.”

With Tieyun Mountain dead, it was certain Cao Gang would soon take significant actions.

The mounting storm was about to break!

The Gang Leader of Cao Gang had his schemes, and Mu Xiaoyun, a deep woman, had hers too.

“Brother Zhou has indeed attracted Liu Qingshan’s attention.”

Jiang Sanjia smiled, “It might disrupt some of Liu Qingshan’s plans and rhythm.”

“No, he’s rational to a terrifying degree.” Mu Xiaoyun’s eyes gleamed as she spoke slowly.

No one knew better than her the terrifying nature of the current Cao Gang Gang Leader.

An Jing thought of something, “By the way, I haven’t asked Brother Sanjia why you were imprisoned by Cao Gang in the dungeon. Since we are allies now, could you tell us?”

When Jiang Sanjia was trapped in the dungeon, Cao Anmin and Liu Haoping seemed to be trying to obtain something from him.

“Enhancement: Jiang Sanjia has a yellow opportunity (the whereabouts of the Golden Pills).”

Suddenly, a beam of light appeared from the Earth Book.

“Actually Brother Zhou, even if you didn’t ask, I would have told you.” Jiang Sanjia pondered for a moment and said, “The Ghost Valley Heart Method is said to be capable of divining the heaven’s secrets and knowing everything, but this is an exaggeration. The Ghost Valley Heart Method can merely deduce some qi mechanisms, like seeking people and objects, knowing the secrets of the heavens is impossible.”

“Liu Qingshan imprisoned me in the dungeon, actually wanting me to find the Golden Pill for him.”

“Golden Pill!?”

It was the first time An Jing had heard this name, a trace of doubt appearing in his eyes.

“Not many people are aware of the Golden Pill, it’s normal Brother Zhou is unfamiliar with it since you don’t mingle in the Jianghu.”

Mu Xiaoyun explained, “It is said that hundreds of years ago, during the Great Zhou era, a miraculous man gathered dozens of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and spent forty-nine days refining a batch of elixir. There were a total of nine pills in that batch, each one exceptionally potent, so only those with profound inner power could take them. Ordinary martial artists, upon swallowing one, could gain a century’s worth of inner power, reaching the First Grade Realm directly. Those with First Grade Cultivation who had already condensed the three flowers could unify the three flowers immediately, becoming a Grandmaster.”

“And these pills are called Golden Pills. Back then, three were taken by the miraculous man himself, three were consumed by the masters assisting in the refining process, and the last three were obtained by the court. Among these, two were taken by the princes of the Great Zhou court, and the last one was scattered across the world following the disintegration of the Great Zhou court, with no one knowing its whereabouts.”

An Jing was astonished to hear this, “Such miraculousness.”

A single Golden Pill could grant a hundred years’ worth of inner power, or even allow someone to unify the three flowers immediately.

Currently, An Jing didn’t know how difficult it was to unify the three flowers, but he found even condensing the three flowers very taxing.

In the past when he cultivated, the progress from Ninth Grade to First Grade was rapid, but he was stuck from Second Grade to First Grade for two years.

But reaching First Grade and condensing the Human Flower made it hard for him to progress. A year had passed without any apparent progress, and he only managed to condense the Human Flower after breaking his celibacy.

Condensing the Human Flower was already so difficult, the Earth Flower and Heavenly Flower were even harder.

According to ancient martial art texts, the most difficult step was to unify the three flowers, one in which countless people had been stuck throughout history.

Unifying the three flowers meant becoming a Grandmaster.

The prowess of a Grandmaster!

What an existence that must be!?

An Jing felt a surge of excitement and an immense desire for the Golden Pill.

Jiang Sanjia said gravely, “Indeed, this Golden Pill is a wondrous treasure. Liu Qingshan covets this treasure and wants me to deduce its whereabouts.”

So Liu Qingshan intended to rely on Jiang Sanjia to find this Golden Pill!

An Jing’s brow furrowed and he asked, “Does that mean Liu Qingshan has condensed the Heavenly Flower?”

“I’m not sure about the Heavenly Flower, but he has definitely condensed the Earth Flower.” Mu Xiaoyun slowly said, “As far as I know, he’s plotting something immense, urgently needing to enhance his power rapidly.”

Plotting!?

Liu Qingshan, as the Gang Leader of Cao Gang, must be planning something that would shake the Jianghu.

“Liu Qingshan’s ambition is not small.” Jiang Sanjia clicked his tongue.

An Jing remained silent for a while. Even if Liu Qingshan had only condensed the Earth Flower, he was still a higher-level expert than himself, which posed a danger to him as well.

“Does Brother Sanjia know the whereabouts of the Golden Pill?”

Jiang Sanjia shook his head and looked at An Jing warily, “How could I know? It requires deducing with the Ghost Valley Heart Method, which consumes too much life force. Over the years, my body has been riddled with scars from the deductions. Moreover, even with deducing, one might not necessarily find it.”

This old fellow wouldn’t expect me to deduce the whereabouts of the Golden Pill, would he? With this in mind, Jiang Sanjia instinctively shifted his seat.

An Jing sighed, “That’s really a pity. I wonder how that miraculous man refined it.”

“There are few records about that miraculous man, he’s as mysterious as Brother Zhou.”

Jiang Sanjia sighed, “It’s said that during the refining process of the Golden Pill, the ground’s fire was utilized, and in the sky, lightning flashed like serpents, thunder roared, extraordinary phenomena appeared.”

Mu Xiaoyun also nodded slightly, “That miraculous man was related to the Great Zhou royal family, but even they didn’t know much about him. It seems his identity was top secret.”

Jiang Sanjia was a descendant of the Ghost Valley Sect, an ancient and well-established tradition in the Jianghu. Mu Xiaoyun, on the other hand, belonged to the Mu Family and was also Liu Qingshan’s wife. Both were privy to many secrets, yet neither knew the identity of this miraculous man. It seemed he truly was a miraculous man.

Jiang Sanjia sighed, “Brother Zhou, you shouldn’t think about that miraculous man. After so many years, with the disintegration of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the turmoil of the Nine Kingdoms, and a thousand years of changing fortunes, that miraculous man could not possibly be alive.”

An Jing nodded, then turned to Mu Xiaoyun, “Madam, back to the business at hand. About the reward you promised…”

“Brother Zhou, don’t worry. The reward I offer will satisfy you.”

Mu Xiaoyun gave An Jing a flirtatious glance and took out a skin scroll from her plump waist, “This is it.”

Jiang Sanjia also curiously leaned over, then exclaimed, “You’re actually willing to bring this out?”