“There’s no need to look, no need to look.” Zhang Xiaohua smiled and waved his hand. “With Senior Brother Bai and all the other senior brothers helping out, how could I not be at ease? Besides, I still have confidence in the character of the disciples of our Tuodan Hall on Tianmu Peak. Oh, right, with Boss Chen and Boss Wu presiding here, who would dare come looking for trouble?”

  “Very well. Since that is the case, all the disciples’ wagers have now been settled. Junior Brother, please take these records.” As he spoke, Bai Huan handed the record in his own hand, along with those held by the others, all over to Zhang Xiaohua.

  Zhang Xiaohua accepted them with a smile and casually tucked them into his robe. “It is all in the past now, so why pay it any mind?”

  Indeed, the jade boxes piled up before his eyes like a small mountain. Who still cared what was written in the account books? Had it not been too eye-catching, Zhang Xiaohua would have almost torn those records into pieces and scattered them into the air, letting them flutter like snowflakes to proclaim the joy in his heart.

  When Chen Fengxiao saw that Zhang Xiaohua was not as wildly delighted as he had imagined, his heart also skipped a beat. Although Zhang Xiaohua had said earlier that he did not care about the position of Tianmu Peak’s Boss, Chen Fengxiao could not relax his vigilance in the slightest. Turning to Wu Zhouxu, who also seemed deep in thought beside him, he said, “Boss Wu, shouldn’t you urge your Vajras a little? Have them hurry up and settle those medicinal pills worth one hundred and fifty taels of gold as well.”

  At the mention of the word “gold”, Wu Zhouxu’s heart ached for no reason. He said awkwardly, “That is no small amount. Although they do have extra medicinal pills, having them produce so many at once may be beyond them. I’ll probably have to support them myself…”

  Seeing Wu Zhouxu speak this way, Zhang Xiaohua naturally understood what he meant and said, “Boss Wu, don’t worry. If there aren’t enough medicinal pills, can’t medicinal herbs be used to make up the difference?”

  Wu Zhouxu shook his head. “Junior Brother Ren has only recently arrived at Tianmu Peak and does not yet understand the market. Medicinal herbs are not in demand. Even those with considerable age cannot compare to medicinal pills. The Ten Great Vajras under me are all the type who stockpile medicinal pills. Where would they have medicinal herbs lying around? Asking each of them to hand over a Jade Restoration Pill would be absolutely impossible.”

  Then, glancing at Chen Fengxiao, he said, “Just now I saw that Junior Brother Ren was willing to take even some rather unremarkable medicinal herbs. As it happens, I have a batch of medicinal herbs around forty years old. Neither the disciples nor the Consecrated Elders of our Tuodan Hall know what they are. You…”

Before he could finish, Chen Fengxiao interrupted: “Oh my, if Boss Wu hadn’t mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten. Isn’t it that batch of medicinal herbs collected by the disciples of my Herb Division during the last Youlan Twilight Trial?”

  “Youlan Twilight Trial?” Zhang Xiaohua frowned. He had heard that name once again.

  Wu Zhouxu laughed. “Boss Chen, that’s the batch. However, several years ago, you lost them to our Pill Division in place of medicinal pills. They belong to our Pill Division now.”

  “But although that batch of medicinal herbs has a fair amount of age, in the end, no one knows what they are used for. Even the Consecrated Elders of our Tuodan Hall cannot identify them. That is why they were left on Tianmu Peak for us to deal with ourselves. Although our Herb Division lost them to you, they cannot possibly be worth one hundred and fifty taels of gold, can they?”

  “When did I ever say that this batch of unknown medicinal herbs alone would be worth one hundred and fifty taels of gold? Honestly, your Herb Division is really something. Whenever you don’t have medicinal pills, you use medicinal herbs to settle the debt. You do it, and your disciples do it as well. Do you know how many medicinal herbs your Herb Division has paid us over the past dozen years in place of medicinal pills?”

  “Well…?”

  Chen Fengxiao was infinitely embarrassed.

  “Besides, look at all these medicinal herbs in front of us. You could say they all came from your Herb Division. Where do you think our Pill Division gets its medicinal herbs from?”

  Chen Fengxiao continued stroking his chin without saying a word.

  Wu Zhouxu pressed the attack. “And the Ten Great Vajras have won no small amount of medicinal herbs from you either, but they don’t want to keep them in their hands. So what do you think should be done?”

  Without waiting for Chen Fengxiao to reply, or perhaps not expecting an answer at all, Wu Zhouxu continued: “All those medicinal herbs could only end up in my hands. Tell me, after all these years, how much have I accumulated?”

  Then he pointed at the piles of jade boxes and said, “More than this, not less!”

  Zhang Xiaohua’s eyes lit up, but he did not respond. He knew that Wu Zhouxu had his reasons for saying so much. If he rashly joined in, he would lose the initiative.

  Seeing that Zhang Xiaohua remained silent, Chen Fengxiao smiled and said: “Boss Wu, isn’t this perfect? I thought Heaven had sent Junior Brother Ren here to lend me a helping hand, but who would have thought he was actually here to solve your greatest problem? Didn’t Junior Brother Ren already say it? As long as they’re medicinal herbs, it’s fine. Even unidentified medicinal herbs can be used in place of medicinal pills. Heh heh, I’ll make the decision—let’s do it this way! That batch of medicinal herbs our Herb Division lost to you will still be calculated according to the original quantity of medicinal pills, and the ones in your possession will be calculated the same way. What do you think?”

  After talking until his mouth was dry, wasn’t this exactly the promise Wu Zhouxu had been seeking? Seeing this, he was overjoyed and said: “If Junior Brother Ren has no objections, shall I have the disciples bring over the medicinal herbs and summon the three Vajras?”

  Zhang Xiaohua nodded. “Since Boss Chen has put it that way, how could I refuse?”

  Chen Fengxiao suddenly added: “Boss Wu, as for the wager between our two sides, that still has to be settled with medicinal pills. I don’t want those medicinal herbs.”

  Wu Zhouxu looked at Chen Fengxiao and narrowed his eyes. “If Junior Brother Ren hadn’t wanted those medicinal herbs, I really would have liked to use them to settle the medicinal pills I owe you. However, since Junior Brother Ren needs them, even if you wanted them now, I don’t have any to spare.”

  Then he turned and asked, “Junior Brother Ren, this senior brother is rather curious. What do you want all these medicinal herbs for? Ordinary medicinal herbs are one thing, but these unidentified herbs are completely useless. Could it be that you want to refine pills?”

  The moment those words were spoken, Chen Fengxiao’s eyelids involuntarily twitched.

  Zhang Xiaohua smiled and said, “Ai, Boss Wu, you don’t know. Back when I was talking with Senior Brother Bai about medicinal herbs, I felt that carrying so many medicinal pills around would attract too much attention. I am originally a disciple of the Herb Division, so having a few more medicinal herbs shouldn’t be a problem, right? Besides, I had only just arrived at Tianmu Peak. Exchanging medicinal pills for medicinal herbs could also be considered making a small contribution to the brothers of the Herb Division and building some goodwill!”

  Then he gave a bitter smile. “But who would have thought that the senior brothers of the Pill Division would also want to exchange them? Tell me, should I accept the exchange or not? To be honest, as for your medicinal herbs, I… I don’t even want to take them. What would I want all these medicinal herbs for? I don’t know how to refine pills.”

  Then, putting on a mournful face, he said, “How about this, Boss Wu? Have a little sympathy for your junior brother and repay those one hundred and fifty taels of gold with medicinal pills instead!”

  “Eh?” Wu Zhouxu raised his head and said, “The moon is already high in the sky. It’s really getting late. Junior Brother Ren, you’d better get some rest. Tomorrow morning I’ll have people deliver the medicinal herbs. As for these piles of medicinal herbs, there’s no need for you to keep such a close watch on them. I can guarantee that no disciple on all of Tianmu Peak has more medicinal herbs than this. Heh heh, actually, nobody is interested in your medicinal herbs anyway.”

  After saying that, he left in long strides without even saying goodbye to Zhang Xiaohua or Chen Fengxiao, afraid that Zhang Xiaohua might change his mind and bring up the matter of medicinal herbs and medicinal pills again.

  After Wu Zhouxu left the small courtyard, Chen Fengxiao also burst into hearty laughter and cupped his fists. “Little Brother, get some rest early. Tomorrow, gather your energy and complete the transfer of the Pill Division’s medicinal herbs. Hahaha, it has been a long time since I’ve felt this satisfied. Today I actually got to see Boss Wu suffer a setback again!”

  Chen Fengxiao departed with Bai Huan and the others. The courtyard, which had been bustling for the entire afternoon, finally returned to silence. Zhang Xiaohua escorted them to the gate of the courtyard and watched them disappear into the distance before closing the door.

  Looking at the mountain-like piles of jade boxes, he felt both delighted and helpless.

  The helplessness came from the fact that he had genuinely intended to keep a low profile and remain calm, yet things had escalated into such a spectacle. Although these medicinal herbs were as common as weeds, if they became concentrated in the hands of a single person, questions would naturally arise. Hadn’t Wu Zhouxu been probing him just now? Presumably Chen Fengxiao also knew that he intended to refine pills, but because it touched upon his own interests, he had chosen not to expose it. Heh heh, could he really refine pills? Perhaps he could!

  What delighted Zhang Xiaohua was that, leaving aside the mountain of medicinal herbs, these jade boxes alone seemed to be worth more than one hundred taels of gold. The sweat he had shed in those three matches had certainly not been wasted.

  The only problem was how he was supposed to take all these medicinal herbs and jade boxes away. The space inside the money pouch had already been completely occupied by those jade coffin lids.

  Ai, to think that one day he would actually be troubled by having too many valuable things. That was something the money-loving Zhang Xiaohua had never imagined in his life.

“Forget it, just pile them here for now. In their eyes, they’re nothing valuable anyway!”

“As for the medicinal herbs, we’ll refine them into pills when we have time later. There are still plenty of jade bottles in the money pouch; they’re probably meant for storing pills anyway. As for the jade cases, they can’t be wasted either—when refining pills, we’ll temper them casually along the way, and they can be sold for a good price then.”

After thinking it over, seeing that the hour was indeed getting late, Zhang Xiaohua did not dare to delay. He activated a jade talisman, set up restrictions, and began cultivating the Carefree Heart Sutra.

Within the Incense Spreading Sect, on Baiyue Peak, inside the Hundred Herbs Hall, an old man with a purplish-red complexion and a bald head—only a ring of white hair remaining around the sides—sat lazily in the central chair. Although his hair was already white, his face was unusually smooth and fair; only the deep crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes revealed his age. This was precisely the Hall Master of the Tuodan Hall, Elder Zishen.

Beneath him, standing respectfully, was Yang Yao.

At this moment, Elder Zishen was frowning tightly, scratching his smooth forehead, as if troubled by something. Seeing this, Yang Yao, below him, cautiously asked, “Hall Master, you were away for several days this time—why is it that upon your return…”

“Ah,” Elder Zishen sighed, “It’s all internal matters of the sect. They don’t require our Tuodan Hall to worry about them. It’s just that the matter of Shixin Peak seems to have given the Sect Master a headache, and some of the blame has fallen on our Tuodan Hall. Sigh… what does this have to do with us? It’s only because the Piaomiao Hall relies on its closeness with the Sect Master to bully us. What can we even do about it?”

“Ah? Shixin Peak… this humble one has always known they are not on good terms with the various halls, and friction often occurs. We are only responsible for managing medicinal herbs and pills; it should have nothing to do with us, right?”

“Sigh, you don’t understand… forget it, why tell you this? I’ll think of how to reply to the Sect Master first. Right—how did things go this time at Spring Rebirth Valley?”

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Orluros’s Vault of Secrets: Hi everyone, I’m taking a small vacation from posting this novel. I’ll see you all in September 🙂