Chapter Thirty-One: The Mustache Pill

As night approached, Li Mu finally brought Li Ying back to the Jade and Wood Hall.

He had spent all his stock of several hundred medium spirit crystals to purchase a first-grade treasured artifact and two common medicinal recipes.

The recipes were bought for Sun Sanjiu, whom Li Mu hoped to cultivate as his best alchemist. Not only could Sun manage various cover-ups for him, but it would also save Li Mu much time.

For now, he could not use the first-grade artifact, but since such treasures were exceedingly rare, he could not let the opportunity slip by. He bought it without hesitation, planning to make use of it in the future.

Before stepping into the Jade and Wood Hall, Sun Qi came out to greet him in person. “Brother Mu, there’s a customer inside.”

“A customer?” Li Mu was slightly taken aback and glanced into the shop. Clad in a long robe of green, her face veiled with gauze—who else could it be but Apothecary Shen? His brows immediately drew together.

Seeing his expression, Apothecary Shen waved her hand gently and chuckled, “Why? It seems the manager Li does not wish to see me?”

With a faint smile, Li Mu entered the shop and looked around, noticing that Wang Qi was not present. “You jest, Apothecary Shen. With your face covered, even if I wished to see you, I could not.”

“Ying’er, go upstairs and rest,” he said.

Li Ying bowed respectfully to Apothecary Shen and obediently headed upstairs.

Apothecary Shen’s gaze lingered on Li Ying, and her eyes flickered slightly. “Your sister is quite endearing.”

Li Mu casually set up an isolating formation, then dropped his smile and asked, “Apothecary Shen, what brings you here today?”

Apothecary Shen glanced around, then undid Li Mu’s formation and set up one of her own.

This struck Li Mu as somewhat odd. Aside from Apothecary Shen, there were no other Foundation Establishment cultivators here. Whom could she be so wary of? But he let her do as she pleased.

Once the formation was in place, Apothecary Shen wasted no time. With a flick of her jade-like hand, she produced a jade slip. “This is a recent pill I’ve been researching on my own—the Interdiction Beard Pill. The primary herbs are correct, but it seems I’ve erred with the auxiliaries. I’ve tried more than a dozen combinations and still haven’t found the right ratio. But the main idea is, I believe, correct. The main herb is very precious, so I dare not experiment further. Thus, I came to ask for help from the friend of the manager Li.”

“Interdiction Beard Pill?” Li Mu was puzzled.

“You may not have heard of this pill, but any alchemist would know of it.” Apothecary Shen’s expression grew grave as she explained, “Although it is a third-grade pill, it is rarely used by cultivators—it is a poison pill.”

“A poison pill?” Li Mu’s suspicion deepened at her solemnity. “What is Apothecary Shen planning?”

Li Mu had seen many jade slips about alchemy and understood a little. Poison pills were indeed pills, but their effect was not to benefit cultivators, but to harm them.

Very few alchemists would dare refine poison pills, fearing calamity would befall them. In towns like Deyang, such pills were banned and prohibited from sale.

Moreover, the process of crafting poison pills and the herbs required were even more numerous than those for high-grade pills, and the success rate was abysmally low. It simply wasn’t worth the effort.

Apothecary Shen smiled faintly. “That is not for you to worry about, Manager Li. In fact, what I’m planning may be of benefit to you. My senior brother has caused you no small trouble, hasn’t he?”

“Wang Qi?” Li Mu was a bit surprised, then smiled and looked at her. “So, Apothecary Shen wishes to contend with one from her own sect? I must say, I didn’t expect that.”

“Contend?” Apothecary Shen shook her head, meeting Li Mu’s gaze without evasion. “Is it so? I merely wish to protect myself. Though this poison pill cannot kill a cultivator... Manager Li, would you be willing to help me?”

“How can I help?”

Apothecary Shen handed over the jade slip. “All my ideas and methods for refining the Interdiction Beard Pill are recorded within. I hope your friend can help me produce a single pill. I am deeply grateful.”

“But this is a poison pill.” Li Mu took the jade slip but did not respond immediately. “Have things between you and Wang Qi really come to this?”

A hint of sorrow flashed across her face. “The reasons I dare not speak of. I can only ask for your help.”

Li Mu infused a strand of true essence into the jade slip, examined it, and nodded. “All right. It doesn’t seem too insidious. I can help you attempt this.”

Apothecary Shen bowed slightly. “Thank you, Manager Li. I shall return in half a month. Will that be enough time?”

“It’s enough.” Li Mu thought to himself that though this was a third-grade pill, since the main ingredient was known, the Spirit Tower was sure to be able to synthesize it.

However, he couldn’t help but wonder: he hadn’t yet made a move against Wang Qi, yet it was Apothecary Shen who struck first. Truly, events were hard to predict.

A trace of relief appeared on her face. “In that case, my thanks. Fifteen days from now, I will offer a handsome gift in thanks. I’ll take my leave.”

“Wait.”

Letting his spirit sense return from the jade slip, Li Mu had already comprehended much about the Interdiction Beard Pill. With a wave of his hand, he said, “Perhaps you won’t need fifteen days. Come back in five.”

Apothecary Shen was stunned, her hair slightly disheveled, her face filled with disbelief. “How is that possible? Even if the right auxiliary herbs are found, it would take more than five days just to test all the proportions. Even a prodigy of alchemy could not manage it!”

“The sooner it’s done, the better for you, isn’t it?” Li Mu smiled and shook his head. “Rest assured, you can come for it in five days. But if your gift isn’t generous, I might not hand over the pill.”

“Oh.” Seeing Li Mu so confident, Apothecary Shen could only reply, “I will prepare a very generous gift.”

“Then you may leave.” Li Mu waved her off and went straight upstairs.

Apothecary Shen stood in a daze for a moment. When the shock faded from her face, she left the shop.

She could not believe it. How could an alchemist refine a new pill in just five days, even with her methods and experience? Her research into the Interdiction Beard Pill had taken her several months of painstaking effort, and she had only just grasped the basics. Her speed was unmatched within thousands of miles of Deyang City.

Could it be that this friend was truly a greater prodigy of alchemy than herself?

The Pan Pill had only piqued her curiosity, but this time, she truly had no other options—using a desperate remedy in desperate times. Now, seeing it solved so easily, she was shaken to her core. Her confidence was deeply shaken.

After leaving the shop, she muttered to herself, “If he really manages it in five days... Impossible, impossible.”

After Apothecary Shen departed, two shadowy figures emerged from the darkness and conferred in low voices.

“Brother Wang wants us to follow her, but we can’t even tell what she’s doing.”

“Who knows? It should be alchemy-related. In any case, we’re to report back everything about Senior Sister Shen, no matter how small, to Brother Wang.”

“Oh, I hear if Master Gu doesn’t return, our Flower Grove Sect will be thrown into chaos.”

“They say he clashed with someone from the Open Source Sect. How could he return? And even if there’s trouble, half the sects are under Brother Wang’s control now. We’d best just do as we’re told. Strange, isn’t it, how Brother Wang’s cultivation has suddenly improved so much?”

“Enough, let’s go. We need to keep following.”

The two cultivators nodded and stealthily tailed after Apothecary Shen, disappearing quickly.

Upstairs, Li Mu watched his little sister quietly reading, then sent his spiritual sense into the Spirit Tower.

The Interdiction Beard Pill—a third-grade poison pill. After taking it, for three months, a cultivator’s true essence would circulate more slowly, and their cultivation would progress more sluggishly. What would normally be gained in a single day’s cultivation would now take three days to achieve.

This pill could not kill, but to a cultivator, it was a truly fearsome thing.