Xu Qing didn’t say anything in response to what the Captain said. However, the story sounded very familiar. He remembered encountering a cultivator who claimed to cultivate the Ultimate Poison Resistance Body. After concluding a transaction with him, Xu Qing had warned him not to directly consume the pill he’d given as payment. That cultivator had disappeared afterward. However, after Xu Qing got busy concocting pills using Li Youfei’s body, he didn’t pay much attention to the situation.

Is it the same person? Xu Qing thought.

“I bet the fellow is crazily anxious by now. That’s why the reward for the mission is so amazing.” A peach appeared in the Captain’s hand. Taking a bite, he continued, “I figure that with grandpa here, if this poisoned guy is on a fishing expedition, we’ll still be safe. But if he really needs help, then your skill in the dao of poison might be of some help. In other words, this could be a chance for us to earn a quick profit.”

The Captain handed an apple to Xu Qing. “What do you think, little Ah Qing? Want to give it a shot? You might not have joined the Moonrebel Congregation, but that doesn’t matter. I’m here!”

Xu Qing looked at the apple and considered the matter for a moment. “Sure.”

He was curious to find out if it was the same person. And if it was… then it really would be a simple thing for him to get rid of the poison. After all, the information that person provided about the curse was accurate.

The Captain was pleased that Xu Qing had agreed. Glancing at the Heir Apparent, who was seated in meditation, he said, “With a Smoldering God here, it would be a big waste to not do this.”

Truth be told, he had another reason for wanting to do this, and that was to make a name for himself in the Moonrebel Congregation. After joining, he had learned a bit about how the Moonrebel Congregation worked. Considering that the place was essentially a big marketplace, word of mouth was extremely important. Since he didn’t have anything worth selling, he figured he needed to take a different approach. His golden ticket was going to be helping people.

And then there’s that Grandmaster Pill Nine. There are so many people crowded around his temple that I haven’t even been able to get inside. I need to think of a new strategy for that.

As the gears in his mind spun, he looked up at Xu Qing. “Say, little Ah Qing, how has your curse research been going?”

“I have some ideas,” Xu Qing replied. Considering how proud the Captain was about joining the Moonrebel Congregation, he figured it wouldn’t be appropriate to explain that he himself had also joined. That would definitely be very disappointing to the Captain.

“Well, I wouldn’t worry. How could you expect that curse to be something easy to research? Later on if you have time, you might think about looking at painquelling lozenges.” The Captain’s eyes suddenly shone with longing. “Little Ah Qing, you have no idea how significant painquelling lozenges are to the people in the Moonrebel Congregation. Remember I said that something big happened there recently? And remember that grandmaster I became best friends with?”

Xu Qing nodded.

“Well he’s no simpleton. He’s a genius in the dao of alchemy, and can even mass-produce painquelling lozenges. I’m really lucky to have gotten to know him and have some very, very interesting conversations. I’m a fan of his genius, but he’s also a fan of my profound insights. That’s why we’ve become bosom buddies. Thanks to our conversations, I’ve seen his genius firsthand.”

The look of reminiscence in the Captain’s eyes caused Xu Qing to blink a few times. However, he didn’t say anything.

“Don’t feel discouraged, little Ah Qing. It’s fine. During one of our conversations, the grandmaster promised to give me a painquelling lozenge. Once I get it, I’ll hand it over to you so you can study it. Maybe you can unlock some of its secrets and concoct a few.”

The conversation had attracted the attention of Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu, as well as Li Youfei. None of them were members of the Moonrebel Congregation, so they had no idea what had been going on there recently.

When Li Youfei heard the Captain mention that this grandmaster could “mass-produce” painquelling lozenges, he couldn’t help but glance at Xu Qing briefly.

Meanwhile, Ning Yan asked, “Elder Brother Erniu, how could this grandmaster from the Moonrebel Congregation be so amazing? Can he really mass-produce painquelling lozenges?”

After coming to the Moonrite Region and having a bounty put on their head by the Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect, both Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu had come to understand how valuable painquelling lozenges were. Because of that, this information from the Captain was actually shocking to both of them.

The Captain stuck his chin up and smiled proudly. “Why do you think he’s not amazing? After Grandmaster Pill Nine made his debut, he shook the entire Moonrebel Congregation for two whole months with his dao reverberations. His neighbors were incredibly lucky. Apparently, the curse within them was suppressed significantly afterward. That’s why some people suspect that the Moonrebel Congregation personally extended an invitation for him to join.”

Ning Yan gasped and Wu Jianwu’s eyes went wide. Li Youfei was also visibly moved. Everyone was now paying keen attention to the Captain’s story.

“The most shocking thing of all is that his painquelling lozenges sell for a tenth of the standard market value, but they’re actually more effective! Since none of you are members of the Moonrebel Congregation, you have no way of knowing that every single day, Grandmaster Pill Nine’s residence is surrounded by a crowd of hundreds! When he puts a pill up for sale, hordes of cultivators go crazy trying to find whatever he lists as the asking price. It’s a really spectacular sight!”

The Captain sighed emotionally. Wu Jianwu and Ning Yan were reeling mentally. It was only Li Youfei who was truly starting to feel shocked, as he was now convinced that the grandmaster in question could only be Xu Qing. Xu Qing, meanwhile, plastered a shocked look onto his face.

“That being said, as the saying goes, celebrities deal with both fame and controversy. My good friend the grandmaster has his fair share of difficulties.” The Captain cleared his throat and then sighed. “Because his painquelling lozenges are so cheap, it’s affected the market as a whole. As his fame has grown in the Moonrebel Congregation, he’s picked up a lot of detractors. In fact, it’s hard to say how many there are.

“In any case, he hasn’t put any new pills up for sale in quite a while, and his detractors have taken advantage of that to spread a lot of bad rumors.

“Other grandmasters of the dao of alchemy have made public statements about him. Some praise him, but others disparage him. There are even people who claim that his products are dangerous, and that they’re not really painquelling lozenges. There are also people who claim that the pills he put up for sale weren’t made by him, and that he acquired them with shady methods.

“Some rumors claim that he’s actually working for the Red Moon Cathedral, and that the pills are secretly poisonous. Opinions differ.”

The Captain sighed. Wu Jianwu and Ning Yan sat there feeling blown away. Li Youfei didn’t say anything.

As for Xu Qing, he sighed softly. He hadn’t been to the Moonrebel Congregation in a while, so he had no idea about the things the Captain was describing, especially the slanderous things some people were saying.

“The tree may crave calm, but the wind will not drop,” Xu Qing whispered. “The best thing is to not worry about what other people say.”

“That’s right!” the Captain said, his voice tinged with emotion. “And that’s exactly what I said to my dear friend the grandmaster. Because of that, he’s in a good mood despite all the bad rumors.” 𝑖𝘦.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Xu Qing looked at the Captain and nodded.

The Captain appeared to be very pleased with himself, and was about to continue talking when the parrot opened his eyes from his position on the Heir Apparent’s knee. Looking arrogantly at Xu Qing and everyone else, he squawked, “What are you people sitting around talking for? Get to work! And by the way, Niu what’s-your-name, it’s too hot in here! Get over here and fan grandpa immediately!”

The Captain’s eyes widened into a glare. However, when he noticed that the Heir Apparent was finishing a session of cultivation, he sighed inwardly. With a fawning look on his face, he hurried over with his fan.

The parrot then contemptuously started scolding everyone else, even his father. Ning Yan, Wu Jianwu, and Li Youfei all got to work immediately.

Things were like that every day in the sun.

Xu Qing took it all in and sighed. It seemed to him that the parrot was setting himself up for a very bad end. And he was right. A few days later when the Heir Apparent was resting, the Captain brought Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu over to Xu Qing.

Grinding his teeth, the Captain said, “Big Jianjian, that parrot of yours needs to be taught a lesson. It’s so annoying!”

Ning Yan nodded, and his eyes glittered with killing intent. The parrot’s dramatic behavior had only continued to become more detestable. Li Youfei kept his head bowed and didn’t say anything, as he knew it wasn’t his place to add anything. But he felt exactly the same way.

Wu Jianwu thought for a bit, then took a deep breath. Eyes glimmering with pain, he lowered his voice and said, “The unworthy son’s actions bring great pain; does any love within him remain?”

He was also annoyed by the behavior of his rebellious son. The parrot had been yelling at him left and right as well, and definitely was not acting in a filial manner. If things kept going as they were, Wu Jianwu could see a day in which the parrot demanded to be called dad.

Therefore, they started to come up with a plan. The downside was that the Heir Apparent was always around, and the parrot never left his side. At the Captain’s suggestion, they decided that they would take action after they reached the Bitter Life Mountains.

And thus, time passed. When they were still about half a month away from the Bitter Life Mountains, the Captain ingratiatingly asked the Heir Apparent if they could make a quick side trip. The Heir Apparent agreed.

As a result, the artificial sun shifted directions and went to the Whitecloud Mountains, the location of the hiding spot of the cultivator who practiced the Ultimate Poison Resistance Body. It was located in Skywater County, which was two counties away from Greensand County. It was a place with a lot of vegetation, which made the place seem very alive.

Given the environment, there were a lot of sects and species there. What was more, because the Red Moon Cathedral’s godchild was injured and in seclusion, the resistance movement in the region was flourishing. Much of that activity was among the organizations in the Whitecloud Mountains, and as a result, the Red Moon Cathedral was working hard to keep the area under control. When they arrived, it was immediately possible to see the effects of the cathedral’s actions. Everyone in the artificial sun could see it.

As they proceeded along in their concealment of invisibility, one of the Red Moon Cathedral’s church temples appeared off in the distance.

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