Elder Chen was stunned for a second, then laughed it off. “There’s no need to be humble, Master. Those Grade 5 Marrow Cleansing Pills are the real deal. There were more than a hundred of them. Everyone in the Holy Pill City has now succeeded in their marrow cleansing, and they are all very thankful to you.”
“Who sent them?” Feng Tianlan asked, her voice steely. If she said that she wasn’t able to refine Grade Marrow Cleansing Pills, then she genuinely couldn’t do it. Let alone gift them!
“It was a man. He said that you sent him, Master. Apart from us, no one else knows about the Holy Pill City,” Elder Chen explained. The small town had since changed its name to the Holy Pill City. Even so, not many knew about it. If anyone found out about it, they would only mock their complacency and overestimation of self. Mostly, they shrugged them off.
The Holy Pill City was just being set up. In its infancy, no one paid it any mind.
“His unique features?”
Seeing how grave Feng Tianlan was, Elder Chen suspected that something was amiss. He thought long and hard, trying to recall the appearance of the man who had delivered the pills.
“He had a squarish face, very common and forgettable. He had no special features, either. However, he had strong killing intent. He was a man of few words. He left right after delivering the pills without a word. He was well-trained.”
While suspicions still shrouded Feng Tianlan’s heart, she again nodded in acknowledgment. She instructed, “My uncle will depart for the Holy Pill City in a few days to help with the training. Once I finish my mission in the Misty Forest, then I’ll look for a chance to make for the city too. A hundred men are hardly enough. We need to build up our faction and expand it.”
“Master, didn’t you already send a trainer to the Holy Pill City?” Elder Chen stared at Feng Tianlan with bewilderment. If not for that prominent scar on Master’s face and that overpowering, inimitable regal pressure, he would have thought that this man before him was an imposter.
“Hmm?” Feng Tianlan was thrown off yet again. “I have sent no one. A lot has happened in the Feng Manor recently, and I just enrolled in the Academy. I have had neither the time nor any suitable candidates to send to the Holy Pill City.”
Now that they had settled the matter of Tu Xiang and his family, her uncle was the best candidate for the trainer. However, now they were telling her that someone was already training the men at Holy Pill City?
“That can’t be. Master, you already sent a Spiritual Master and a Grand Alchemist. The Spiritual King is an experienced trainer who is training our people like soldiers. The Holy Pill City is developing rapidly and has started to establish itself. We have also set up a branch in the Beiqi Nation.”
Elder Chen was beginning now to question in earnest whether the Master in front of him was the real deal. When he realized that the person who had been dispatched to the city was a Spiritual King and a Grand Alchemist, he had been utterly astounded by Feng Tianlan’s power. She had so many powerful men under her command at such a tender age. How could someone like that be worthless?
“Will you accept anything that’s given to you if the one giving it uses my name?” Feng Tianlan’s expression turned icy at once.
Elder Chen was stunned, then he immediately paled. He fell to his knees and begged, “Please, punish me, Master.”
“This is negligence. It is for the best that you never drop your guard simply because a select few in the Holy Pill City know that I am ‘Master.’ If you accept a gift so easily from someone with ill intentions, would you also commit heinous crimes under their command so long as they gave my name? What if they impersonated me and drugged the medicinal pills?”
“I did check them,” Elder Chen insisted. As an alchemist, he surely could have detected if they were laced with poison.
Feng Tianlan’s voice turned a notch colder as she said, “Let me ask you, then, can you tell me what I put on the Marrow Cleansing Pill that Tu Xiuyu won at the auction?”
“Your subordinate is guilty. Please punish me.” Elder Chen was beyond embarrassed, and his wrinkly face instantly reddened. To this day, he still had no idea what Feng Tianlan had put on that pill.
“Not only did you neglect your duties, but you also tried to dodge the blame. As the leader, you ought to receive double punishment.”
Elder Chen readily accepted his penalty. He then asked, “What about the Holy Pill City? Should we make any changes?”
“There’s no need. I know who sent them. When you return, start making Holy Pill City Jade Tiles. Those should stop the imposter.”
