A Pawn's Passage

Although Qi Xuansu was frightened, he calmly returned to the bed, put on his boots, and inspected his cutlasses carefully. Since he entered the Xiang Residence, the Divine Dragon Pistol and Qing Yuan had never left his body. Only these two cutlasses had been touched by other servants.

After Qi Xuansu confirmed that there was no problem with the cutlasses, he took out an antidote pill and swallowed it.

This pill was a general antidote for detoxification. It worked effectively on most poisons that were widely circulated and could be taken as a precautionary measure. More importantly, this general antidote was cheap, each costing about one Taiping coin.

According to Madam Qi, this kind of antidote used to be expensive and rare. However, after Huasheng Hall started to mass produce these pills, the cost plummeted to one Taiping coin.

The reason was simple. It took the same amount of time to cultivate a medicinal herb or ingredient. The Huasheng Hall furnace could produce about 1000 pills per batch. It required the same time and cost to heat the furnace to refine one pill as it did 1000 pills.

Moreover, most ingredients would be cheaper when bought in bulk. Therefore, after Huasheng Hall established plants for mass production, the cost was reduced, and hence the price also dropped.

This was the case for other types of pills and elixirs. If Huasheng Hall mass-produced something, it would be sold at a reduced price due to the reduced cost, creating a new demand for these medicines. With more demand, Huasheng Hall would continue to expand production, creating this endless cycle of supply and demand.

Under such circumstances, Huasheng Hall eventually monopolized the medicinal market. A number of small pharmacies shut down or got bought over because they were no match for the massive Huasheng Hall.

Nowadays, the so-called miracle doctors often mentioned in legends were rare, as it became common knowledge to visit the Daoist Huasheng Hall if someone was seriously injured or diseased. As long as one had money, there was nothing the Daoist Huasheng Hall could not cure. If Huasheng Hall had no way of treating someone, it meant that even the gods would not be able to save them. In that case, it would be advisable to prepare for the funeral.

The Imperial Court had its own Imperial Medical Office, but it was not open to the public. Only powerful court officials or the royal family had the privilege of being examined by the Imperial Medical Officers.

Some from Huasheng Hall coveted the benefits of the Imperial Medical Office and decided to jump ship. In addition, the Imperial Medical Office had strong support from the royal family, so they had strong financial backing. They could afford to buy various precious elixirs and other valuable items, like the Auxiliary Heart and so on, from Huasheng Hall.

In the past hundred years, medical technology was advanced enough that most babies could live till adulthood.

However, there was only so much these medicines could do. Some elixirs could bring someone back to life as long as the patient still had one last breath. However, most of these elixirs were too potent. For people with low cultivation levels, these elixirs were no different from poison; those who consumed them would die instantly.

Thus, one must have a minimum required cultivation level to withstand the medicinal power. Therefore, even with the existence of Huasheng Hall and the Imperial Medical Office, ordinary people could not escape from aging, illness, and death.

One had to start as Houtian Beings and advance to Xiantian Beings and Heavenly Beings before becoming an Immortal.

After taking the antidote, Qi Xuansu felt a little more at ease.

In fact, the underhanded tricks common in the real world could be roughly categorized into two types.

One type of drug could disturb one’s mental state. After being drugged, the victim could fall into a deep sleep, become limp, or have frequent hallucinations. This method was not very effective for Martial Arts Practitioners and for Diviners.

The required amount of drug needed to incapacitate a Martial Arts Practitioner was proportional to their body weight. For example, when the drug was mixed with wine, it would take more than 10 liters of wine to successfully drug a Martial Arts Practitioner, which was too unrealistic.

On the other hand, Diviners could separate their soul and body, so even if their body became limp and powerless, their soul could still leave the body.

Another underhanded method was to administer potent poison. However, Banished Immortals, Qi Refiners, and Rogue Cultivators could temporarily suppress poison by using their innate qi.

Of course, there were other methods that even a Heavenly Being could not withstand. However, such poison would be very expensive, so ordinary people would not be able to afford it. It was more cost-effective to hire an assassin from The Inn.

Qi Xuansu thought that since he had the physique of a Yuxu-stage Martial Arts Practitioner and had taken the antidote, he should be able to withstand ordinary drugs. After all, this was a small village, and resources were quite limited.

If Qi Xuansu had misjudged this place and there really was some master hiding behind the scenes, there would be no need for dirty tricks. It would have been easier to just beat him to death.

Qi Xuansu smoothed out his clothes, put his cutlasses back on his waist, and counted his weapons.

List of weapons:

- Qing Yuan

- Divine Dragon Pistol

- 2 spiritual cutlasses

- 7 rounds of Grade-B Series Two Dragon Eye Bullets

- 15 rounds of Grade-B Series Three Dragon Eye Bullets

- 2 rounds of Grade-B Series Three Phoenix Eye Bullets

- 20 rounds of ordinary armor-piercing projectiles

These were all powerful weapons for killing people, but they were ineffective on ghosts and the like.

In this regard, a Diviner who could draw talismans would be better at defeating ghosts.

Although a Martial Arts Practitioner’s blood qi could restrain ghosts and spirits, it could only be used as a defense mechanism.

Rogue Cultivators dabbled in a little bit of everything but were not proficient in anything.

Qi Xuansu took a deep breath and thought of leaving immediately. However, he was afraid of alerting the enemy. He just wanted to survive the night and leave bright and early tomorrow morning, feigning ignorance of whatever was going on.

As a result, Qi Xuansu could not sleep. He blew out the candles and sat on the bed with his hands tightly clutching his weapons. Then he closed his eyes to rest.

Around midnight, Qi Xuansu abruptly opened his eyes when he heard a faint sound coming from his window.

This rustling sound was getting closer. It did not sound like human footsteps at all.

Not long after, a shadow appeared outside the window. The moon was bright, so the room was dimmer than the outside. Thus, he could vaguely see the slim figure of a woman.

Qi Xuansu had already used his Yin-Yang Eyes and discovered that the figure outside was not a ghost. That figure even exuded an intense yang energy. This made him relax a little, but he still remained vigilant.

How strange... If there were no ghosts here, why would someone draw these talismans to ward off ghosts on the walls of this room?

At this moment, the figure outside raised her hand and gently knocked on the window.

Qi Xuansu was silent for a moment, trying to keep himself calm. He pretended that he had just awakened and said in a hoarse and confused voice, “Who is it?”

“Sir, are you asleep?” A delicate voice came from the window.

Qi Xuansu deliberately moved around in bed to create a rustling sound similar to getting dressed. He also increased his volume as he asked, “Is something wrong?”

The woman outside the window responded. “It’s chilly tonight. Master Xiang was worried that you would catch a cold, so he asked me to bring another brocade quilt over for you to keep warm.”

Although Qi Xuansu could not see the woman’s face, her voice alone was sultry.

It was the middle of the night, and a woman with a seductive voice came over to deliver a warm quilt. Under these circumstances, it was easy for a young man to let his thoughts run wild with desire.

However, Qi Xuansu only felt nervous because he knew that the woman had a motive.

Qi Xuansu kept quiet for a moment and pretended to be tempted by her offer. “I’m used to living in tents, so I never lock the door. You can just walk in.”

“Yes, sir...” The figure outside the door responded in a soft, coquettish voice. Then there was another rustling sound before the woman opened the door to enter the room.

The room was dark, so the woman could only vaguely see Qi Xuansu sitting on the bed.

“Sir, why are you sitting in the dark?” The woman was holding something bulky, which she set aside after entering the door.

Qi Xuansu answered, “Why should I turn on the lights? It’s always better to do these things in the dark, don’t you think?”

“Oh, sir...you...” The woman covered her mouth and giggled sweetly. “You’re so old-fashioned. I think it’s more interesting with the lights on.”

As she said this, the woman went to light the lantern.

Qi Xuansu did not stop her.

The dark room instantly lit up.

However, what the woman saw shocked her. A fully dressed man was sitting on the bed, holding the weapons at his waist with both hands, his gaze sharp and murderous.